The issue of LAN play has become a hot-button issue for PC gamers ever since we found out that StarCraft 2 will have no support for it. Be prepared for an even larger backlash against a well-known RTS franchise however, as EA has confirmed that Command and Conquer 4 currently requires an online connection at all times... even when playing the single-player game.

"As of right now, you need to be online all the time to play C&C 4. This is primarily due to our 'player progression' feature so everything can be tracked. C&C 4 is not an MMO in the sense of World of Warcraft, but conceptually it has similar principles for being online all the time," Community Leader APOC wrote. No matter what mode you're playing, no matter what you're doing, if you want to play Command and Conquer 4, you're going to need to have a working Internet connection.

If you're already enraged, don't be. We're assured that this is no big deal. "While some may be taken aback by this, we've been testing this feature internally with all of our world-wide markets," APOC continued. "We wanted to make sure it wouldn't take away any significant market or territory from playing the game. We have not found or seen any results that have made us think otherwise." You won't need a broadband connection, in fact you'll be able to use a dial-up connection to get the game to play.

EA is arguing that you'll like what it's doing with the game enough to put up with this inconvenience. This is reminiscent of Blizzard's insistence that the new Battle.net will make up for the lack of LAN play. "What we are doing for multiplayer for the game and with our infrastructure for this game is unlike any we've produced before and I think you will finally see the culmination of a lot of key learnings from past projects in C&C 4, in this respect," APOC finished, before saying we can expect more details as upcoming gaming magazines hit the newstands.

While online connections are becoming more plentiful every day, can EA honestly not imagine any scenarios where a gamer might be away from an Internet connection and want to play the game? Without more information about the game's mechanics, it's hard to know if this move is a shady excuse for extreme DRM... but we're going to go ahead and float the possibility.

In fact, in a prior interview, Designer Samuel Bass claimed "as a nice side effect, since C&C4 requires players to be online all the time in order to prevent cheating, we'll be shipping without any form of DRM."

RTS games are great for laptops, and a natural way to pass the time while traveling. For Command and Conquer fans, though, it soon might be crucial to make sure your flight features Internet access.