I'm about to pull the trigger and buy the Legacy Edition and try to resurrect my old 'Hood (it apparently being the only viable option). So I'm wondering, is there any difference between the EA version and the Steam version? I'm thinking particularly of the paths that will be needed to set up associated utilities such as SimPE, Bodyshop, and Homecrafter (if I can find it somewhere). Steam games being subfoldered several times in the "Steam" folder make the links longer, and I wonder if this will be an issue compared to having the game folder hang right off the C: drive.

What about copy protection/Internet validation, and all those intrusive things that make a piece of software not really your own and subject you to the whims of the provider? I mean, EA already pulled the plug on the Sims 2 once, is it still required to have some kind of Internet link to them to run the thing? In short, the question is which version will be more painless to install and run, and least likely to be inexplicably cancelled sometime in the future?

-- Mal