Rumor: Mass Effect 2 DLC details leaked

Yeah, where are all the pro-payfor-DLC idiots now?

I never had a problem paying for expansions, at least if they were good.

But this DLC B.S that people still defend idiotically, needs to go away. Of course I don't need to buy it and of course I won't buy it. So somehow, they are LOSING business AND creating an antagonized user base, but that's good business. BRILLIANT.

Go back to the expansion pack formula and if it's something small, just give it away for free, include it in the original release, or don't flippin' bother creating it. And at the very least don't release DLC until at least a month after the original release so when can at least imagine we aren't being abused.

We are their employers after all. If we don't pay them, they don't keep their jobs. Consumers are meant to be served not the other way around.

Except, people are actually buying DLC. People like the periodic content and it just happens to be that BioWare finishes their games and begins working on DLC right after doing so. They did it with Dragon Age, it's not shocking they do it with Mass Effect 2. Did EVERYONE forget the game was ORIGINALLY slated for a november release?

That's what people like to do now, forget shit happened and claim with wild accusations. The game has been done for about a month or two now, so they spent time working on DLC and it's going to be available at launch, just like with Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep.

God, this anti-day one DLC argument is getting tired. You're a vocal minority, just shut up and get over it, you're not required to buy it.

when was ME2 scheduled for a november release? It's been set at January for a long damn time, if there was a november release i doubt it was actually anything remotely concrete. It's funny that you're accusing people of forgetting and then making stuff up, because that's almost exactly what you're doing

Damn. I don't like this trend of day one dlc... they should wait a month or two and accumulate a bunch of cool things and just make an expansion with new armor, places, etc. Selling all these things individually cries out greedy corporate bastards... Of course that won't stop me from buying the game by it self and waiting on a expansion that's actually worth while.

My apologies on that release date. I will admit, I don't remember WHERE I saw it but it was either on gamefly or gamestop that had inaccurately posted that date.

Still, the game has been done for a while. If people actually expect that they have been working on it even today, they don't understand how things work. Typically, most games have to be done weeks to months in advance before physical disc production begins. So DURING that time between the game being finished and it actually being printed and released, they work on more content.

So, I made a mistake, but I am correcting myself. Though there's no press release or specific article out there saying, 'the game is done' if it hadn't been for a while now, it would have had a delay. Point is, there's nothing wrong with DLC as a whole. Granted, it's a little more understandable to be annoyed by day one DLC, sans Dragon Age which had it's grounds of being done almost half a year before launch, but I don't see why people are still anti-dlc as a whole. Instead of forcing us to wait months and months for new content, we get it in smaller bites more frequently. And then to expect it to be absolutely free? Oh, right, because to the above posters, the employees at BioWare don't matter. No, the work they do on the DLC should be complimentary, right?

That's the problem with the anti-DLC argument, the sense of entitlement people develop. You paid 60 dollars for the content that was originally produced for the game, not everything else that comes out afterwards. And if you don't want to have to download it, then wait and get a game of the year edition.

Or, they could keep adding things delaying the release, and end up like Duke Nukem Forever.

But that being said, having to pay for a new NPC, doubly so when it's important to make sure that you have a full well-rounded party (as in Dragon Age), is rather crummy.

@Phil - We 'anti-DLC minority' are NOT against DLC. We are against OVERPRICED and undersized content. The problem is that 'voting with our wallets' does not work because there are so many people out there that do not know the value of their money, and grab anything on the XBLM that looks shiny. I wouldn't be surprised if the money they are spending isn't even theirs, because I can't imagine anyone paying so much for so little if they are spending their own money. A dangerous precedent has been set, and if this shit keeps up half of games' content is only going to be accessible via microtransactions inside of 5 years.

Let me give an example in numbers so that everyone can understand what I'm talking about. DA:O costs $60 dollars, and provides, how much...40 hours of gameplay? Warden's Keep costs $7 dollars, and takes...20 minutes to finish? So...the retail release costs $1.5 dollars ($60 / 40 hours) per hour of gameplay. Warden's Keep is ($7 / 0.3333 hours) $21 dollars per hour. TWENTY ONE DOLLARS AN HOUR. You cannot seriously defend DLC like this as being worth the money. Even if you double the time it takes to finish WK, it's still $10.5 dollars per hour. Can you honestly say you would make a purchase like this at the grocery store?!

I loved Mass Effect, and Mass Effect 2 is my most anticipated game of 2010, but I'm really tired of DLC like Warden's Keep and horse armor that's a total ripoff. If you are as fed up with this kind of DLC as I am, join my facebook group. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=253196131524

@spritethirstman

First of all, most of us are willing to pay about $10 an hour for movie entertainment, so I don't think it's as big of a deal as you do. Second, the fact that you can get 1.5 dollars per hour is pretty much awesome, unmatched except by old games and long novels. I don't see why the precedent is so troubling unless that ratio of the main game goes down. If the game is still providing the same entertainment value, and you're not buying the DLC, what does it matter to you? Until they start selling incomplete games, don't complain about DLC.

Third, while YOU may be against only overpriced undersized DLC, there are way too many vocal idiots out there who decry DLC just because it's Day 1, or just because, I don't know, they just don't like paying extra for more. Some are more reasonable than others, but don't lump yourself in the same category as those people, you look stupid by association.

@ Michelobius - We're not talking about movies, we're talking about games. If you could watch a great movie for 1 dollar an hour, wouldn't you think another movie priced at 10 dollars an hour is a ripoff? This precedent is disturbing when you look at it from a business standpoint - if you can get away with making way more money for way less time and effort, why would you continue to give the consumer the great value of a jam-packed retail release? You would hold back and let the public continue to throw money at you. If you think that consumers should just keep paying more for less and trust game companies not to take advantage of us, you are naive. The world has a long history of big business wringing consumers dry whenever they get the opportunity.

Anyone who takes the time to read my posts or any of my thoughts against overpriced DLC will recognize that I have a valid platform to stand on, and that I am not the same as those who rail against all DLC. DLC is a wonderful and still developing medium in which gamers can get even more gameplay from their favorite titles. That is why it is so important to stand up and demand that DLC be priced in proportion to the content we receive in retail releases.

I think this DLC is Free with every single new copy of Mass Effect 2. So its like the Shale character in Dragon Age: Origins.

If you buy a new copy of ME2 you will get this character.

I don't mind at all.

unlocking content on day 1? that makes it sound like it's there but you have to pay for it a second time to play it.

Is it the same DLC that's on the LE/CE version of ME2. 'Cause if that's the case, I don't have a problem.

"$60 is never enough is it..."

$60 is enough for me. Also, big RPG's like this are not the sort of thing that I like to play every few months for a couple of hours, the way DLC is released. So I will be happy to use my Fallout 3 strategy for Mass Effect 2:

1. Buy the game day one, play through the whole (on-disc) experience at my own pace. Enjoy it for a good month or so.

2. Send it in to Goozex for 1000 points.

3. Wait a year until the GOTY edition is released with all of the paid DLC bundled in (probably this Christmas for ME2). Pick up the GOTY edition off Goozex for 1000 points. Play through, send it back in.

eh, 60 dollars is what i'd prolly be paying after i get the dlc.

Buuuurn

Crap, now I have to go change my pre-order...

Wrong, see:
http://meforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=716314&forum=144

The Cerberus Network card is in all copies. Someone just screwed the pooch when they wrote the product descriptions I guess.

Figures. Even the EA Store still lists it as such.

If it's in all copies, then it's not a big deal.

Yeah it's funny reading the replies in that topic because a few people are absolutely outraged that it is not CE-exclusive. Apparently they were only buying the CE for this card even though no one has *ever* said what the card was for (this is actually the first real confirmation that it's most likely for DLC). For all they knew, they were paying extra for some free desktop wallpapers :P

God forbid you buy the CE for the "collectable" content like the behind the scenes dvds, art book, etc :P

Given the Dragon Age CE's quality, I don't see why they wouldn't want the ME2 CE.

That, and you don't have to deal with the 'meh' coverart.

ITT:

Bradwart being a fail troll as always.

I don't see how this person is a troll. Maybe I'm blind to it but he's just making comments like everyone else...

Seems like people here just have that same attitude everywhere else. Fail to agree with me and I dislike you. It's like people can't accept that others will dislike an opinion or negative comment.

Phil, you just describe Bradworst right there. You obviously haven't seen him trolling the other articles.

Also, where did all these random accounts supporting Bradworst come from...

I'm not a random account. I just use my real name (sans my last) because it's easier.

And yes, I have seen him in other articles, compared to most, aside from making incorrect statements, it's not like I've seen him just flat out attack someone.

It seems like maybe he said like one or two things that everyone hated and now, he's considered some public menace. Unless someone can link me to whatever began this huge shitstorm of hate for him, I stand on my belief that he's hated for really idiotic reasons.

Can't we just cuddle instead?

if there was a brush with fame for all posts besides the podcast, this one should win

Looks like my She-ppard is gonna get busay!

She likes 'em blue.

5 points for Knoodling
10 points for heavy petting
15 points for standard naughtiness
25 points for a tight end conversion

he does appear somewhat misshapen, but that's the price you gotta pay to be a modern day Canderous Ordo

Canderous Ordo > Everything else.

HK-47 says hello.

Trials of Obi-Wan?

'Spose you're right. Just looks like his forehead is flopping to the right...space trauma?

Is there anything else you need?

@Bradwart
Downvote says hello

Yes, at first I thought it was Shepard with a photshopped face, but the photoshop went wrong.

He looks like Brit actor Billy Murray: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Murray_%28actor%29

I actually thought he was a real person at first glance. He looks so real it's actually a little creepy, I feel like he's going to punch me in the face. I just bought the first Mass Effect online, I've read enough comments on this site about it to know it's probably a game I'll enjoy.

He looks like Aussie actor Steve Bisley: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001950/
He's alot older than the photos on IMDB, but if you google him you'll find more recent photos.

Assuming this is going to be something you have to pay for, which at this point seems unlikely though not impossible... you were prepared to buy the game before you even knew of this content, and now that there's a slight chance you might not be getting a bit more then you originally bargained for, for free... the game is suddenly not worth buying?

SCIENCE!

You mean the one that comes with this content for free? Like...the one that comes out in 2 weeks?