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Reader Comments (60)

Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:34AM CaptainProtonX said

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This is equivalent of giving away free stuff.

Wait...I'm so lost right now. I download a FREE demo, play it, and my future purchase will have FREE in-game items?

Was this idea approved by the "Assign Pre-Order Extras to Retailers" department?
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:49AM Gmail Calendar Rep said

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@CaptainProtonX

ME3 has tons of retailer DLC already, this is just a ploy to get people to play the Reckoning demo. Mass Effect isn't some deep involving universe anymore it's a marketing tool to sell things.
Look at the ME3 leak Bioware doesn't care about making actual consequences for the major choices of the last two games, they either retcon them or pull out clones of characters you killed, won't worry about killing one of a kind giant space insect queen in ME1 they have a spare!
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:26AM Brian333 said

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I love the idea of getting something from a demo. I was planning on playing Reckoning's demo anyway so this works out great. This is how you market extras in a game (as long as both Silver and Gold members on LIVE have the same access).

Bottom line: I won't say no to free stuff.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:28AM Brian333 said

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@Gmail Calendar Rep

Oh, and someone get this guy a detective medal or something. He cleverly deduced that this is all a marketing ploy. And can we stop whining already about how Bioware sucks and ruins everything. That was so 2011.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:33AM Ballistic H said

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@CaptainProtonX

It's been like that on previous BioWare and EA games: cross-game in-game promo items (Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 2, Dead Space) and playing Dragon Age 2 demo gave you free items. As long as you connect your Origin account.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 12:46PM houser said

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@Gmail Calendar Rep Wait, there's another Rachni? Ugh, if that's true, well there goes the gravitas of that moment.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 1:10PM captplut9465 said

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@Brian333

I was going to play the Amalur demo anyway and I'm a major ME fan, so it's fine. People complaining below about having to play a free demo to get free items? It's such torture, I tell you.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:40AM Drew327 said

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Usually I skip demos for games I know I am going to play... I wonder if you can just fire it up to get the goodies, or if you'll have to play through it.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:35AM Brian333 said

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@Drew327

One of the free items is earned just by playing it, the other is earned by completing the demo and watching a short video at the end.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:39AM swooded said

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@Drew327
The "Reckoner Knight Armor" for ME3 unlocks just by playing the Reckoning demo, the "Chakram Launcher" unlocks by finishing the demo.
I assume it works the same for the Reckoning unlocks with the ME3 demo.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:40AM Gmail Calendar Rep said

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At this point I'm more hyped for games that are a complete experience instead of having to jump through hoops for DLC nonsense.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:40AM swooded said

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@Gmail Calendar Rep
LOL. Why should I have to play a free demo for free bonus material. Thay are asking too much!
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 12:20PM CLIFTRON said

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@Gmail Calendar Rep I'm pretty sure Knight armor in Mass Effect and sci-fi armor and swords in Reckoning would not make sense without these "hoops." I planned on playing both demos anyways, as both games look fantastic, this is just icing on a very awesome cake. But people will find any excuse to complain....
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 1:12PM Timerider said

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@Gmail Calendar Rep
I don't like having to buy "Bioware points" to download DLC off their website for the Steam version of the games.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 1:25PM JasonA said

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@Gmail Calendar Rep

I agree with you.

With a game like Mass Effect 3, I know I am going to buy it so I don't need to play the demo and don't want to because it could be spoliery and is basically a waste of time.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 8:22PM Redeemer said

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@JasonA
Try reading it again but carefully this time. I think you misunderstood how this works, bud.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 9:56PM SBMfromLA said

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@JasonA

You didn't bother to read the article before posting your comment... You play the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo to unlock the items for Mass Effect 3... they're CROSS-DEMOS... you play a different game to unlock the other game's items.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:41AM Integral said

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"I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store on the Citadel"
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:38AM Brian333 said

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@Integral

You're Commander Shepard, and apparently the Lazarus project also brought some dead memes back with you. One more reason to hate Cerberus.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:48AM Mazrael said

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I expect Mass Effect 3 to be decent (after ME2 being less awesome than ME1).. but this might be the only way I'd end up playing Reckoning.. and with freemium goods for playing, I'll take one of each
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:10AM Styli said

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@Mazrael

ME2 was pretty good but it seemed they fixed a lot of what was wrong with ME1 and forgot to concentrate on the story. The controls and gameplay were generally better but the story was pretty much by the numbers team building that you see in those flashy Hollywood movies. That said, I have every optimism for ME3 being the Return Of The Jedi type end to a trilogy and less The Matrix: Revolutions.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 12:48PM houser said

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@Styli For a lot of things...if by fix you mean remove....

Though I do agree with the gameplay being better in ME2 but the story better in ME1.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 1:33PM sparkster said

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@Styli
At least in ME1 the cover system didn't fight you all the way through the game since you could basically ignore it and do an insanity run by using only singularity and a handgun while occasionally taking cover. In ME2 on the other hand... Maybe Gears spoiled me, but trying to have shepard strategically use cover was a nighmare. I remember screaming "stand up and shoot" and "don't just look at the wall, get into cover" at the screen more often than I'd like to admit.
Also in ME2 armored enemies were immune to gravitational distortion fields like singularity, lift etc for some reason (is this ever explained?).
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 7:20PM MarkezJM said

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@Mazrael

I'm with you in that I prefer ME1 and like it over ME2. I just think it was a superior story telling experience. ME2 seemed too by-the-numbers and tried too hard to make itself a 3rd person shooter. It was mostly nothing but 'fetch a new ally' quests and didn't give me that same sense of wonder I felt in ME1 as to not being certain how the story would unfold. Both are great games, I just think ME1 is the better game.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:49AM Alexisonfire said

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This is a wayyyyy better plan than pre-order DLC.

Now its not much. Its not like they are giving you a free game or something. But this is pretty much equivalent of getting TF2 hats for buying a game on Steam.

Congrats EA. You have completed step 1 of 100 of not being a company that is despised.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:58AM rullers said

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@Alexisonfire
What are you even talking about? There already IS pre-order garbage.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:13AM Styli said

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@rullers

It looks far from "garbage" to me. I pre-ordered the CE it as soon as it was announced. If you don't, that's fine, you can just buy it on release day or after and the game will still be just as good. They're just giving Mass Effect fans what they want. If we didn't want it, it wouldn't sell.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 1:11PM Timerider said

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@Alexisonfire
Is this coming to Steam or not? Still haven't seen anything. The other games were on Steam.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 1:35PM Alexisonfire said

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@rullers

I'm not saying that it doesn't have pre-order bullshit. I'm saying that this is a better option.

@Timerider

Doubt ME3 is coming to Steam after BF3 didn't and Dragon Age 2 was pulled. I'm betting it will be Origin exclusive.

Though I imagine there are... other ways of playing it.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:52AM YouAintFatYouAintNotin said

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Yeah I remember skimming through the plot and found that and I was thinking it was complete bull.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:50AM BrainZero said

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This is going to make my ME3 media block out even more difficult! I hope that the demos aren't time limited so I can unlock the stuff after playing throgh the demoed section...
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 10:56AM Kibbles XIII said

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Can i get the blood dragon armor again? I did like it in ME2 but having to wear it with the helmet always on was annoying.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 1:13PM captplut9465 said

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@Kibbles XIII

Hopefully ME3 will have an option like Dragon Age 2 to keep your helmet off, but not have it affect your stats.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 3:58PM Doctalen said

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@Kibbles XIII IIRC all DLC armor and weapon wise in ME2 you have will carry over to ME3 if you import your save
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:02AM Apakal said

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So wait... I have to play ME3, which I don't care about, to get an in-game item for Reckoning? And vice versa?

No thanks. I'll play Reckoning for Reckoning items though. Make that happen.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:36AM blessrok said

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@Apakal

really? you just have to play through a demo
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:41AM Sam406 said

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@Apakal

You sound like the kind of person who finds $5 on the street and then complains because it isn't $10.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 12:14PM Apakal said

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@Sam406

No. I'm just not willing to be baited into something I have no interest in doing.

I understand the marketing tactics, and for a lot of people its a cool deal, but I'm not one of those people.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 12:37PM Sam406 said

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@Apakal

I don't need your handouts!
I ain't gonna be part of your system!
I'm an adult!
You can't buy me hot dog, man!
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 1:44PM Alexisonfire said

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@Apakal

Think about it this way: Mass Effect? Pretty popular. Really Popular. Kingdoms of Amalur? Under a lot of people's radars.

Enticing ME fans to play Amalur? Its now on a lot more people's radars. Which means more people will buy it.

Amalur has had a long dev cycle and having disappointing sales probably would mean the end for any plans of that Amalur MMO.
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Posted: Jan 19th 2012 7:54AM Jimjamyaha said

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@Sam406

Hmm, looks like you're ready to throw whatever THE MAN is trying to buy you with on the ground.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:10AM Ospov said

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Well that's one way to get me to play a game I wouldn't play otherwise. I figure the demo for Reckoning won't be too long and I'll get some free stuff for ME3 so why not?
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 5:08PM Jenks said

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@Ospov

And that's exactly why this is a brilliant move on EA's part.

I expect this to be a huge success and expanded upon with future demos.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:12AM Snowblind said

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I hate pre-order bonuses, but this isn't a bad way of getting people interested in another game. Both look fantastic, so I'm not complaining.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:17AM ozlacs said

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this is such a facking win
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:20AM Styli said

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Why are people hating on preorder bonuses? It's not like they have a gun to your head to pre-order the game.

The bonuses are usually cosmetic stuff that were thought up for the sole purpose of being pre-order bonuses and wouldn't have been included otherwise.

Game developers have to stay afloat and this is just another way that they can guarantee some revenue.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with this article as these are demo-bonuses. I like the look of that armour for Shep for I might just look into playing that KoA:Reckoning demo. I might even like the game but it's cool they thought of a way to get me interested.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:40AM Rubbishy Me said

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@Styli
Exactly.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:22AM (Unverified) said

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This is an interesting approach, so by testing the games out I get some extra stuff for the game I want. I prefer this over pre order DLC any day.
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 11:32AM AllYourBAcesHigh said

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Great way to give people a reason to test out a new IP! I love this idea :) I will be sure to download and play both games and I can't wait until March 6th!!
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Posted: Jan 11th 2012 12:32PM arkweld said

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@AllYourBAcesHigh

I hate this idea.

I have to spoil the surprise of ME3 by playing the demo to get extra items. I'm going to by the game anyway so I don't want to jump in to any part of it out of sequence or before I can start the whole game.
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