If you want to avoid the DRM fiasco, and you're in the US, you can buy the game over Steam. It appears that EA have decided to only use Steam's DRM for their Steam releases. To bad they won't release their games over Steam in Japan. As such I'll be giving this one a miss, not because of the DRM, but because of how hard it is to import EA PC titles from the US (Amazon won't ship them, for example).

Just ran a quick search out of curiosity, and it looks like it's already been cracked. I think we need to start putting the over/under for such betting pools in hours, not days.

No they didn't, that's just their copy and paste EULA information. It's on all their product pages, but the DRM used is Steams only. That means there is no SecuROM and no 5 machines activation limit.

erm, registration on their website is required for all their games? it doesn't say that for Mass Effect, it says "INTERNET CONNECTION AND END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY. MORE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT WWW.EA.COM. "
And crysis doesn't say anything..
nor does sin episodes..
dead space says "INTERNET CONNECTION, ONLINE AUTHENTICATION AND ACCEPTANCE OF END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY. EA MAY RETIRE ONLINE FEATURES AFTER 30 DAYS NOTICE POSTED ON WWW.EA.COM. "
Somehow I don't think it's standard copy/pasta.
EDIT:
on a plus side it looks like you just need to slap a www. infront of something to turn it into a hotlink!

I find it very hard to believe that Valve did a blind copy/paste of an EULA on nearly all of the EA titles available through Steam and has not fixed it yet. That says to me it is there intentionally, not by accident. It doesn't mean that they are using SecuROM, it just means that they are using a higher protection level through Steam that is virtually identical to SecuROM. Whether there are install limits is not the point (BTW - Steam is capable of doing that as well), the point is they are making it seem like the fact that they are using Steam's protection is somehow a concession to the fans, when it is really not. If they had gone with Steam's minimal protection that does not actually require internet access and a authentication to play (only to install), it would be different.

I can provide links to my claims if you like... they did not copy/pasta all their items.

The text for the store pages are provided by the publisher. Those were written by EA, not Valve. But it has already been stated in several places, for example the Mass Effect and Spore forums, that there is no DRM other than the Steam client. There is no SecuROM. Games that do have SecuROM on Steam have it specifically mentioned on the store page, for example Crysis (which is published through Steam by Crytek and not EA).

On the minus side, that also appears to automatically delete the preceding whitespace :-(

You completely missed the point. I know these EA games don't have SecuROM, but Steam is fully capable of doing the same exact things that we don't like about SecuROM (install limits, calling "home", etc.) if the publisher requests it. So the question is, did EA get rid of SecuROM only to replace it with equally bad Steam restrictions? Obviously, they did not do the install limit thing (it would be clearly stated on the game's store page if they did), but that EULA statement does say "INTERNET CONNECTION... REQUIRED TO PLAY". Why does a single player game require an internet connection to play?

yes, but it's still not the same copy/pasta. also, if we really have to know, we can ask eswat or catbus if they have any securom on their system, since they both have purchased mirrors edge and both traverse this forum. :)
edit:
just asked catbus
Weclock: securom in mirrors edge?
Catbus: nop
Catbus: retail yes
Catbus: but not steam
Weclock: you verified this, right?
Catbus: yes
Weclock: how about limited installs?
Catbus: nope
Catbus: retail yes
Catbus: steam is drm free
Catbus: retail DRM UP THE ASS
Weclock: Yep, I'm not looking to buy it myself, I don't care to play the game, don't like it. Just finding out for others, thank you.
Catbus: and the game is fuckawesome

Do you have any examples of games sold on Steam that only have Steam DRM that restrict installs? I have not heard of a single one. And can quote over 100 such games that don't do that. But Steam does call home. It calls home every time you are online and start a game. That's not at the publisher's request, that's how Steam works to verify the game is meant to be in your account. But so far, all the games I've seen on Steam that have limited install limits, have had to include optional 3rd party DRM to do so.
And yes, if your Steam client is online, an internet connection *is* required to play. And you must run every Steam game online at least once before you can even attempt to use the buggy offline option. So exactly what point was there to miss?

That is a shame. If I were to name the single game which I had most eagerly awaited, it would be Mirror's Edge. I guess I'll be spending my money on Prince of Persia 7 instead.

No DRM if you use Steam.

Steam itself is a DRM. :) But you are right there are no 3 party DRM's in EA Games on Steam, just Steam DRM.