Could be because they are not the license owners, so why would they care. ;)

I don't know if Atari would approve too, but whatever. Everyone is free to do what they think is right, if they can live with the consequences. And maybe there won't be any. I guess Atari even cares less about these modules than Bioware.

You can download them but they only work if you bought them before, the DRM is not cracked. There is no way to obtain them for the first time.

Anyway, NWN was sort of multiplayer focused anyway. Saboteur is the first example I knew of where a purely singleplayer game lost content forever. I didn't know about Burnout Paradise, and yes that sucks too.

I was almost thinking of console gaming in the near future but this shit turns me right off. At least on PC I can "pirate" the shit bought when EA turns asshole.

I heard the DRM is broken and lets you play if you haven't bought the games. I don't know about NWN being multi-player focused, but you're right, it's not a purely singleplayer game like Saboteur.

Now they are making me to think twice before I buy anything with "online activation" label. I used to buy games in order to "collect" them and then, probably, play them later whenever I might feel like - this month, year or maybe in five years. But now I don't think it any longer makes sense. Even if the game is on an insane sell, I would only buy it if I'm sure that I will play it right away, because otherwise - who knows, servers might go down any year, any month - they don't care. Just grab your money and run away...
Also for a while I was considering buying a console, but I guess there's pretty much the same deal. I guess there won't be any kind of support for games or hardware in like a five, six years (?). If my PS3 had broken I would be left with nothing - try to buy a used one or forget about all my games. Pretty sad. I know that all those kiddos don't care. They just move with the flow to play another newest, shiny, overhyped title, but for me it's a different story. So, long live the PC ! And no online activation - please!

It's likely covered in the consoles' EULA. To me, it's not much different from losing out in online multiplayer features. For games that are multiplayer focused (like NBA Street Homecourt, an awesome game IMO), I'd say the latter is more debilitating than losing something like this in The Saboteur.

Besides, the current console generation should be coming to a close soon (I hope), so this likely won't be the last SP DLC we see losing support. I bet that when the new XBox is released, entire games will cease to be supported (particularly poorly received titles with low sales numbers).

While 360 online support will eventually end it should be a long time from now. A long, long time. And that's assuming the next Xbox doesn't have 100% backwards compatibility, which they would be really stupid not to have.

In any case as long as the console is supported you should be able to redownload things you bought. That's just common sense.

In the current era of publisher control reaching Orwellian levels and the ADD-fueled focus on RIGHT FUCKING NOW, common sense hasn't prevailed. If publishers can save money by cutting server support for less popular games, they will do it in a heartbeat.

I understand them eventually dropping support for a game when it's not generating any more revenue.

However, the gallant thing to do in this case would be to legally allow some third party to distribute the extra content at their own expense if they feel so inclined.

But if I understand correctly, the console has built-in features to get the extra content directly to some server somewhere so you're stuck right?

Why people who realize how badly they are getting ripped off by consoles (all the exclusivity and middle-man fees that bog down console games for hardware that usually is far from revolutionary) continue to support them with their money is beyond me.

You agreed to be exploited by funding them so now take your suffering in stride.

Its a perfectly viable business strategy. They offer something while its hot, and when people stop buying / caring about a product, they amputate the now dead limb.

Now that doesn't mean gamers have to like the practice or be silent about it, but its sound enough business wise just as long as it doesn't cause any S. storm backlashing.

Theft is a big word that feels a little harsh or melodramatic.

With software purchasing being what it is these days, there is a very good chance all that stuff is bought with the expectation that you will read EULA's (though everyone knows nobody will) that say you are really just purchasing access to the content as long as it remains in service, and it was never really a piece of property you were entitled to.

That's not the kind of logic I like when I pay for something but its something of the way of things. Games aren't about art, or providing something for people to enjoy. Its about making money. Consumers feel the opposite, but unless we as consumers can somehow make what we want the profitable thing for game devs to do, then you can bet this sort of thing will keep happening and at a faster rate.

Why can't they just host it somewhere else? Why must it be hosted on their server?

Actually, at least in the case of Xbox Live, the DLC seems to be hosted on Microsoft's XBLA servers (and not on EA servers), which makes this whole thing rather puzzling. It's a pretty small download too (41 MB), so it's not like hosting it would be particularly expensive.

That's true. You just need to wait some time for "Authentication" to process, and it comes through, no matter if you bought it or not. I tested Wyvern's Crown , works perfect for me.

But it's not piracy if you paid for it. Same with getting rid of DRM out of a purchased game. It might violate the EULA, but you're not infringing on any copyright.

If the game is made to look for a specific server and that server doesn't exist then it wont know how to look for the content anywhere else. It comes down to how they made it, but It might actually require a game patch to do so which sounds unlikely. Then how do you get the patch anyway?

Are you saying that because you have to be on XboxLive to download it? They could just be acting as some sort of proxy and the file could be located at EA. Though what harm is a 41MB file going to do just sitting there JIC someone want/need it?

They should have allowed for manual installation of the DLC. When all this "MINE! NOT YOURS!" paranoid protection of IP backfires on itself, it really hurts the paying consumer.