Army of Two has REGION LOCKED online play? What? WHAT!?

I actually cannot believe this, but in one of the most retarded bullshit moves ever pulled, EA has region locked online play with its latest game, Army of Two. What this means is that those who own a PAL copy of the disc cannot actually play the game with those who own the American version.

Upon searching through the PAL version's manual, this particular little tidbit of information was discovered, neatly tucked away and not actually promoted on the cover like it should have been -- because, y'know, CUTTING THE BALLS OFF OF YOUR ONLINE MODE IS PRETTY F'ING IMPORTANT:

"NOTE: The online game modes in Army of Two are not cross region compatible and is only supported between PAL discs."

If you happened to get hold of this game in the hopes of playing with someone across the pond, well sorry but it appears you're fresh out of luck. EA, in its infinite wisdom, has chosen to completely negate the entire point of online multiplayer by restricting a huge percentage of the players from each other. This is actually so mind-numbingly stupid I don't even know how to properly rant about it. It kind of speaks for itself.

Consumers from Europe who have tried to play with their American friends have been cockblocked thanks to this incredibly ludicrous situation that differentiates PAL versions of the game as "Army of Two (EU)" on Xbox Live. At least one PS3 player has said that both the MS and Sony platforms are subject to this region locking.

Just ... what the HELL, Electronic Arts? Despite the crappy reviews, I still wanted to play this, but now I certainly won't be bothering. European gamers demand a reason why you chose to do this to them and their American friends.