Well, I had to use the EA downloader to get our review copy, and anytime I ran BF2142 the downloader opened and ran a mysteriously blank window in the background. I'm not sure if it was for 'authentication' purposes or to harvest that precious personal info. Maybe someone who got the old-fashioned disc version could answer whether or not the downloader runs with all versions of 2142.
As far as any adverse effect on the gameplay, if I wasn't aware that I'd see 'targeted' ads, I wouldn't have noticed them. There's no time to find billboards in a firefight, much less read them and become enticed by their extrapolation on what I might like.
It does bother me, but unfortunately these sort of things seem inevitable as a money-making ploy by the VG industry at large, and it's just going to get worse. That's my two cents.
