Not only do consoles being closed systems mean that it is extremely hard to get this content from elsewhere, it is also tied to your EA account meaning it is DRM'd and that access is gone.

The exact wording on the EA page is actually "access to" the DLC that is ending.

Not the first time this has happened. EA shut down the store for Burnout Paradise ages ago, taking the DLC with it even if you had purchased it, and as that was the only way to get the DLC on the PC, everyone who bought it and then uninstalled the game are SOL if they ever want to use it the next time they reinstall.

No, it's theft.

For someone to pay for something and then have it taken away from them or their access to it removed.. yep, that's theft.

EA was shutting down game servers since I remember. If you buy anything from EA, you should have it in mind, that ANY online based content will perish after some time.

For Mass Effect, I think it's not going to happen soon. But even if, well, I wouldn't have any remorse pirating the DLCs, if they won't work anymore with my copy. I paid for them, so I demand access to them.

Can you imagine the chaos when Steam will shut down ? People with 100 or more games on their account will go crazy .

You've got bad intel. All DLCs were released ass freeware and DRM free after some time. You may download them for free from NWN websites.

At least I've downloaded Infinite Dungeons, Pirates of the sword coast and Wyvern Crown without any problems.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/199/index/4746466/1
http://social.bioware.com/forum/Neverwinter-Nights-1/NwN-1-General-Discussion-Forum-No-Spoilers-Allowed/So-are-all-the-Premium-Modules-now-free-to-play-or-what-8178901-1.html
so the content is not "lost"

you can also download them here: http://www.neverwinterconnections.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=news&id=594

Pretty much the reason why I am so careful with DLC and DRM-games.

The funny thing is that just yesterday I was actually reading the Origin TOS, just to get an idea what I'm getting to if I ever decide to buy Mass Effect 3. This same thing raised once again my interest as well, ie. EA decides alone whether you are able to play your purchased games (licenses).

Bah, I'll continue with GOG, DRM-free indie bundles etc. for now... Let's check the situation again when I run out of games to play.

If you read the license agreement, it most likely would have stated that your license is valid so long the product is 'alive'.

Nope, I'm well aware that it's possible to play them because the DRM is broken, but I'd grant you that you know more than I do if you can point me to an official statement proving they're "freeware" or F2P. As far as as I know, they're just as legally "free" as Abandonware or any other "free stuff" you can find on shady sides on the internet. Just as much "freeware" as "System Shock" etc. is. The fact that well known NWN community members have openly discussed it on the BioWare forum and that NWN connections now offers them for download doesn't change anything about that. Bioware and Atari have kept silent about it and it's unclear if they tolerate it or have just ignored the issue so far. It's also possible that Bioware turns a blind eye on it because they're not obliged to Atari anymore, but we don't know, and even if that's the case, it would still be a legal grey zone or even illegal.

So, yeah, you have a point, they're currently not "lost" to anyone who doesn't mind taking what they think should be theirs but for all I know they don't have the blessing of the license owners. I'd much prefer an official release as freeware or GOG package, but to each his own; other people might think the links helpful nevertheless, and I appreciate you telling them. :)

Well, yea, it sucks, but no doubt the license probably mentioned that that kind of thing could happen at any time.

Yeah, I think this thread is about 'it sucks' part, not 'It was probably mentioned in the overy complicated and unreadable EULA that might very well be against your country's laws' part.

That's not a very good comparison since GOG allows for easy DRM-free backups, and EA isn't going out of business. What EA is doing is more similar to Steam removing all games from their service which are older than 3 years, preventing any re-downloads or re-installs of those games. Do you think they would be justified in doing that since they don't make any money from re-downloads?

Yeah, unfortunately, i'm one of those people with 100+ games and counting. Well, most of them were from indie bundles :) but still. Hopefully if Steam gets into financial trouble, they will be bought out by someone else and the games will transfer. Similar to the recent Gamefly purchase of D2D. I only had one game on D2D, Dragon Age Ultimate and it transferred over fine and i can download from Gamefly.

It has happenned to EA before. Burnout: Paradise comes to mind. The only DLCs you can get are the ones that came bundled on the PC version.

Blessing, no, but these links are on official bioware forums. If they haven't deleted them, it means they are ok with this ;)