Mass Effect available today in Australia

360 News | From EB Games, anyway. UPDATED: Not so fast...

EB Games Australia has posted word on their official website that they will be selling copies of Mass Effect from today (Friday 16th of November). Emails confirming this have also been sent to purchasers. The website suggests that customers call their local store for delivery times.

BioWare's highly anticipated sci-fi action-RPG was supposed to have been released in Australia on the 22nd of November, but it looks like EB has got the drop early. This comes of the back of news from this week that EB Games was also selling Crysis a few days earlier then expected. Nonetheless, the announcement will be welcomed by those who have pre-ordered Mass Effect, as they will be the ones getting first dibs on the game.

Mass Effect is an exclusive Xbox 360 game and is built on Epic's Unreal Engine. BioWare's latest title is promising around 30 hours alone to complete the main quest, so it looks like our holidays just got a whole lot busier!

UPDATE: Mass Effect Community Coordinator Chris Priestly has posted the following on the official BioWare forums: 'We have spoken to Microsoft Australia and they have spoken with EB Australia's head office. NO copy of Mass Effect will be sold before it's Nov 22 launch date.'

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112 Comments

B3NBO

4 years ago

LeonJ wrote

Yes, JB in the city only had the 'pre-order' discs. They said they didn't know where the game discs were.

I would have prefered to get it from JB for $79. Perhaps I will take it back to EB next thursday and get a 7 day return policy and then pick it up at JB. I hate paying full price for new games.

You can take it back within 7 days with your receipt, and ask them for the $20 back.

I assume you were made to pay full price because JB didnt have it in stock?

Well when they do just take your receipt back to EB with a JB catalogue and they will give you your $20 back.

I did the trade in deal. And on my new receipt it says $99.95 and does not state method of payment, so when i next go to EB i will put $20 on something else

arbok

4 years ago

phatmike128 wrote

Also picked up COD4. My wallet is crying. In the past week I've bought PS3, GH3, MP3, COD4, MassErect and Galaxy in 2 weeks.

Arrrgh!

Yes but not a single bad game there.

Are you getting Uncharted?

LeonJ

4 years ago

Yeah cool B3NBO, I might try that on Monday.

From IGN

Quote

Update: We just spoke to a senior member of the EB Games Australia head office team. He confirmed that there was no embargo issued on the game, unlike Halo 3 or the upcoming release of Assassins Creed. He also stated that it was EB Games' policy to adhere to any requested street date release provided and, since there was none for Mass Effect, the decision was made to sell it.

The official EB Games Australia website currently displays an image promoting the early release of the game. It is not currently known what impact this will have on the sales reactions of other retail chains; however a JB Hi-Fi games manager indicated to us that they were adhering to the original release date.

bradc1988

4 years ago

I think I might trade in Halo 3 and Metroid Prime 3 and pick this and CoD4 on Monday, but my EB probably won't price match JB

phatmike128

4 years ago

arbok wrote

phatmike128 wrote

Also picked up COD4. My wallet is crying. In the past week I've bought PS3, GH3, MP3, COD4, MassErect and Galaxy in 2 weeks.

Arrrgh!

Yes but not a single bad game there.

Are you getting Uncharted?

yeah, my bro is coming back from the US next week with Ratchet and Uncharted.

Too much goodness, nowhere near enough time. I just graduated my uni course and start FT work on Monday

A13x

4 years ago

Anyone got any impressions yet? Or are those too under an embargo?

Crestfallen

4 years ago

Fetidchimp wrote

Is that the game where they get a bunch of emo's to try and run a store, big combos for ignoring customers.

mipac

4 years ago

Im about 2 hours into the game

LeonJ

4 years ago

Are you people playing it with the grain filter on or off? I think the game looks way better with it off.

B3NBO

4 years ago

On. I think it looks alot better with it on and alot more cinematic

Fetidchimp

4 years ago

whats with the tunnel vision though

GroovySamurai

4 years ago

My mate bought the game yesterday and came over for a few hours so I got to play a fair bit of the game, really has got me excited to get own copy. Its almost like playing a movie with all the dialogs but its all done really well, massively improved from KOTOR and the combat system is awesome - I love it how its real time like gears really fun and the graphics man the graphics are great. This is a must buy for me, some of the games elements reminded me a bit of the show Battlestar Galactica, good stuff.

BovineDeath

4 years ago

They're still selling it, they just rang me this morning. I'm off to pick my copy up, I had to work late yesterday and didn't get a chance to pick it up then.

borgster101

4 years ago

Despite EB apparantly not being able to sell it, I got my copy!

Peveus

4 years ago

I am playing it with motion blur and grain both on and I'm telling you right now this is the best game I've ever played, and I don't even like shooting games!

I find the whole level up thing very complex but when I saw the ship in the first level take off into the sky, the sight.... the sound... oh my gosh I almost died right there.

Fetidchimp

4 years ago

yeah it made me clutch my skull at the start, s'good

ObsoletE

4 years ago

finally got my copy.

there seemed to be only 1 EB in WA that got it, and when it became clear that the EB i pre-ordered/paid it off at weren't going to get it yesterday, i rang one that definitely did get it, only to find that they had already sold out.

i was annoyed. if you were on my Friends list, and were playing it last night, you probably know this already.

the final straw came when 2 of my RL friends came online and were playing Assassin's Creed. apparently a GameTraders here imported a few copies.

of course, now i've got it, my next 3-4 days are all booked up that i don't know when i'm going to get to play it. and since it's probably my most anticpated game of the year, if not the generation to date, that makes me a sad chocolate cake.

BovineDeath

4 years ago

I got mine today. It's a bit of a drive to my EB (I'm in a small town in rural NSW) so when they rang me and confirmed that they could definetly sell it, I picked it up. Haven't had a chance to play it yet, but when the kids go to sleep I'll definetly give it a shot.
EB in Orange had a few copies on the shelf as well.

el_rezzo

4 years ago

I saw a whole row for sale at my local EB today. EB also sent me an email letting me know they were selling it, but after buying The Orange Box and COD4 last week I will have to wait until it goes on special for like $70 or so.

ZNMS

4 years ago

Quote

The official EB Games Australia website currently displays an image promoting the early release of the game. It is not currently known what impact this will have on the sales reactions of other retail chains; however a JB Hi-Fi games manager indicated to us that they were adhering to the original release date.

What? No, that's not true. A memo from head office gave us the go ahead to sell copies of Mass Effect upon delivery.

Michael Kontoudis

4 years ago

Howdy y'all, managed to pick up a copy on the 16th also, returned it on the 17th.

Controversial, I know, and I will be accused of having no taste in games and being a 'casual' or a 'n00b', but I simply think that games like Mass Effect (at least from the 3-4 hours I played) are just too big and vast for their own good.

The graphics were kinda average due to a chunky framerate and generic designs, the combat seemed a little janky and unrefined, and my gosh I just despise all those stats and so on, they bore me to tears. Applying 'omni gel' and all that garbage every five minutes, URGH, snooze. Lol, I guess I just don't like RPGS.

I s'pose what I am getting at is that while I can objectively see that an RPG fan would LOVE this game, I just don't care for it and prefer more streamlined gaming experiences...

...things like Gears of War, Uncharted, Call of Duty 4, Shadow of the Colossus, etc, where you are a defined character with a pre-determined set of abilities (which may or may not upgrade) and where the mechanics may be few, but are done really well. Also see God of War, Devil May Cry, etc.

Ah well - I will give it one thing though - the story seemed intriguing, and the dialogue was great - OH, and the SOUNDTRACK was amazing, just about the only thing which would have kept me playing.

ObsoletE

4 years ago

^ '+'ed for trying it before forming an opinion.

borgster101

4 years ago

Yeah I can see how the game certainly isn't for everyone, it's so god damn huge that it might in fact be a turn off for some people.

It's a fantastic game, but only for certain people.

Lord Haart

4 years ago

Hm, I think I'll pick this up tomorrow if possible.

Buy list (approx prices):
AC $99
ME $79
GH3 $139
COD4 $89

total = ~$410

=> Chances of getting a 24" lcd these holidays = none.

BovineDeath

4 years ago

It comes down to personal preference. Mass Effect IS a brilliant game, but if you don't like RPG's or Sci Fi it's not going to be the game for you. No game is going to be perfect to everybody, I love the freedom this game offers, but sometimes it's nice to play a linear game too - depending on my mood. I can see how the depth could put some people off, but those who like it get a huge game that will more than pay for itself.
Good on you for actually listing what you did and didn't like intelligently, not just "mass effekt sux0rs!!1111! n00bz!".

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Mass Effect

Pre-order or buy:
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Australian Release Date:
  22/11/2007 (Confirmed)
Standard Retail Price:
  $99.95 AU
Publisher:
  Microsoft
Genre:
  Action RPG
Year Made:
  2007
Players:
  1

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