Relax. Retail copies of BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins will not ship with the dreaded PC authentication software, SecuROM. In fact, according to BioWare’s community coordinator Chris Priestly, boxed copies of the PC version Origins won’t require players to hook up to the ‘net in order to play offline (a.k.a. single player).

“We’re happy to announce that the boxed/retail PC version of Dragon Age: Origins will use only a basic disk check and it will not require online authentication,” Priestly told enthusiasts through the official Origins forums.

“In other words, the retail PC version of the game won’t require you to go online to authenticate the game for offline play. We have chosen not to use SecuROM in any version of Dragon Age that is distributed by EA or BioWare.”

Boom. So, come this fall, you’ll be able to play Origins relatively shackle free. Talk in tongues and dance a jig, people! A developer is actually tackling copy protection in a sane manner.

[via 1UP, also thanks spartan!]