I just bought one too, still in the plastic wrapper from Harvey Norman (a reputable national retailer in Australia). Same message.
Maybe the EA account server is playing up. I had a problem when I bought BF2 where I couldn't make an new account no matter what name I used becuase it kept saying that name is in use. So I tried a whole lot of random names until one worked, that's how I ended up with 'cospengle'.
Oh well, I knew when I bought a product with the EA logo I was in for a long night of fucking around before I'd be able to get it going.
If anyone can help I'll be your friend
EDIT: I downloaded the patch 1.20 while I was at the shop buying the game, and patched it straight away, so I'm pretty sure I've got the latest one.
Last edited by cospengle (2007-04-20 19:40:44)