As Draconian as Microsoft has becomes with their software licencing and validation, you ain't seen nothing yet.
A game coming out later this month called "Mass Effect" will require the program to be validated every 10 days or it will stop working.
This isn't just for Online Multi-player, the single player will also require the game to go online and re-validate itself every 10 days.
If you don't allow the game to call home at least once every ten days, the game stops working.

I hope other companies don't follow suit.
I can see a several different ways something like this could be abused.

BTW I'm willing to bet, because of this it will be one of the most pirated games of the year.

One question EA games has yet to answer is what happens when they eventually shut down the validation servers.There is a chance your legitimately bought game will become a toaster.
Similar to what will happen to music bought off MSN Entertainment and Video Services.
After August 31, they will no longer support retrieval of license keys.
So if you transfer your music when you buy a new computer or install Vista, you will no longer be able to play music you legally bought from them.