Mass Effect 2 to pack free DLC

360 News | Launch day DLC detailed.

With its release date hurtling towards us at the speed of light, BioWare has lived up to its twittering and unveiled the company's downloadable content plans for Mass Effect 2.

Those who purchase a new copy of the title will receive exclusive access to the 'The Cerberus Network,' an in-game hub for downloadable content. The Cerberus Network will also inform gamers of upcoming DLC releases, daily messages and other Mass Effect 2 news at no additional cost to gamers. All retail and digital copies of the game will be sold with a single-use unlock code that once activated, will grant players access to the hub.

Players will be able to access the first bundle of DLC at the game's launch, which is said to include "new missions and in-game items" as well as a new character named Zaees - who BioWare describes as "a rugged and deadly gun-for-hire who is recruited to join Commander Shepard's mission to save mankind."

More downloads packs are scheduled to follow post-launch, with BioWare teasing that players will be able to purchase the Hammerhead, a new hover tank for players to take out for a spin around the planets, alongside "new missions and unique in-game items, including Cerberus Assault Armor which boost shields, health and heavy weapon ammo and the M-22 Eviscerator Shotgun." No price point has been announced for the DLC at this time.

For those that chose to buy the game second hand, you'll still be able to get access to The Cerberus Network for a fee. Though how much you'll pay is any one's guess at this stage as BioWare is keeping mum about the pricing for now.

Mass Effect 2 is due to steal away all of our free time from 28 January 2010.

Related Mass Effect 2 Content

Mass Effect 2: The Arrival Review
03 Apr, 2011 Was it worth the wait?

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19 Mar, 2011 Arriving very, very soon.

Mass Effect 2 PS3 demo hits PSN next week
14 Dec, 2010 Demo the trilogy on the triple.

13 Comments

el_supraman

2 years ago

This is becoming the thing to do. Give a dlc that should be in the game with new copies so no one purchases the game pre owned. genius

Buttmouth

2 years ago

Soon they will have games that only work on one machine, then self destruct. Killing pre-owns forever.

Or they'll just go digital distro. Wait.

GreyWolfJai

2 years ago

Are they trying to make everyone wait for a gold/enhanced release? I don't understand why you wouldn't give this sort of DLC to everyone. It means they are given the opportunity to buy more and have the ads in-game. I guess I'll just wait it out. Plenty of other games to play.

ashlar

2 years ago

GreyWolfJai wrote

Plenty of other games to play.

Exactly, I'm only just playing through the first
Mass Effect ($5 on steam sale!.. also had it floating around on Xbox somewhere... Hmmm) and the way I figure it, between ME1, Bioshock 1, Fallout 3 GotY and then Final Fantasy XIII.. I'll just wait for GotY edition, I'll just pick up what cheapens up first, Bioshock 2 or this.

Not to mention i picked up a crapton of stuff on the steam sale that I can play through. ME2 can wait... DLC whores

legend166

2 years ago

so the DLC is.....a room to access DLC?

After Dragon Age, where one of the speech options was "buy DLC", I'm starting to get annoyed by BioWare.

Island_Wolf

2 years ago

^OMG, same!!! Like at the camp, you can see the exclamation mark . It just reminds me of the DLC every time I'm there. I know what they have in that DLC since I read up on it, you can get a storage to store your loot? why should that be in the DLC?, should be in camp, free!!!

Also said, they already thinking about DLC after launch. Sad...

RichieT23

2 years ago

Get over it people. It's the way of the future. If you don't want to pay, don't buy it. The game will still be totally insane with or without DLC.

Chopbusted

2 years ago

I'm not seeing this as a problem at all really.

If you buy the game new you get access to free DLC. Sure it's a tiny bit of an inconvenience to access that extra stuff but its purpose is to help increase new sales (by discouraging people to buy pre-owned), which in effect, helps BioWare make more awesome games.

If you only buy your games pre-owned and really can't live without the extra DLC, then you can pay a small fee to access it. Seems fair to me.

JackSlack

2 years ago

Chop, but the problem is that it then punishes those who buy the games new if they do choose to resell them, since it devalues the game somewhat.

Other businesses handle resale fine. Book companies don't feel the need to clamp down on preowned books. Record shops go gangbusters on preowned records. Preowned DVDs seem fine. Why is it that game companies go insane over second hand games?

Chopbusted

2 years ago

JackSlack wrote

Chop, but the problem is that it then punishes those who buy the games new if they do choose to resell them, since it devalues the game somewhat.

I don't think it will reduce the resale value too much (if at all). I'm sure BioWare won't charge more than 10 bucks for entry into the Cerberus Network for those that really want it. Besides, a lot of pre-owned purchasers are more casual gamers who'd probably not know anything about DLC anyway. And those that are fans of Mass Effect and care about the DLC would have most likely bought the game new.

JackSlack wrote

Other businesses handle resale fine. Book companies don't feel the need to clamp down on preowned books. Record shops go gangbusters on preowned records. Preowned DVDs seem fine. Why is it that game companies go insane over second hand games?

I guess it's because games are a lot more expensive than those products you mentioned, which makes the pre-owned games market pretty massive.

JackSlack

2 years ago

Chopbusted wrote

I guess it's because games are a lot more expensive than those products you mentioned, which makes the pre-owned games market pretty massive.

But how much of that is markup? The common complaint from a lot of quarters has been that the game industry knows how it could cull a lot of the resale market: Drop prices. But that's been a verboten suggestion.

I honestly don't know what the overall markup ends up being in the industry, where the money goes, etc. So maybe it's misguided.

And this is from someone who hardly ever buys second hand games and sells them even more rarely, keep in mind. Yet still, I feel uneasy about any industry who tries to stop their customers from doing whatever they want to do with a product they buy themselves, including reselling it. If you buy it, you own it. Do with it what you will.

Chopbusted

2 years ago

JackSlack wrote

I feel uneasy about any industry who tries to stop their customers from doing whatever they want to do with a product they buy themselves, including reselling it. If you buy it, you own it. Do with it what you will.

If the DLC was significant and completely changed the game (for the better) and they didn't give you the option to access it by making it available for purchase, then I'd agree and be concerned.

But I think in this case BioWare have gone about this in a reasonable way. The DLC is not really game changing and it is still available to pre-owned purchasers (at a small price).

But I can see where you are coming from. If this starts a trend in the industry where other developers start making extra content exclusive to new buyers ONLY (without the option to access it if you bought the game second-hand), then it is a bit worrying.

Hopefully it won't go that far. They must know that even pre-owned sales are good for their overall bottom lines. More players = more fans = more word of mouth and hype for sequels = more new sales.

JackSlack

2 years ago

Yeah, I can agree with that. It's not at this point a huge concern, but it makes me uneasy.

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Mass Effect 2

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Australian Release Date:
  28/01/2010 (Confirmed)
Publisher:
  Electronic Arts
Genre:
  Action RPG
Year Made:
  2008
Players:
  1

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