Mass Effect 3 Collector's Edition: What A Cluster...

Gameinformer writes: "I am usually one to bypass collector's editions of games. Most of the time they're overpriced, full of total useless crap, and take up eight games' worth of space on my shelf. I was fully prepared to pick up a nice standard copy of Mass Effect 3 when it releases on March 6.

Recently, the "From Ashes" day one DLC info leaked and was later confirmed. It sounds like it'll be an important mission and feature a new squad member. This will cost $10, unlike the free Cerberus Network content all new game buyers received with Mass Effect 2. Now BioWare and EA are saying that this will be free with all copies of the collector's edition, which is $80 instead of $60. Okay, I want the DLC so I guess I'll get the fancy version for an extra ten bucks.

Nope."

[Newsman]

You missed the boat buddy, get over it.

[SITH]

^ if ever there was a true statement to this article.

I got my 360 collector version as soon as it was announced. I missed mass effect 2 collector reservation due to procrastination. I was determined not to fail this time.

[da_2pacalypse]

I had mine pre ordered. I then cancelled due to the fact that I think bioware and EA have sold out in trying to make this game appeal to a way too large of an audience. I have played the demo, and read the leaked game scripts... I know this game will be a huge disappointment to real RPG fans. It's shame :/

[Echo307]

I get that they don't want the CE sitting on shelves for months after the game's launch, but there are a TON of gamers trying to find the CE for a day 1 purchase and everywhere is sold out. Bioware/EA are literally screwing themselves out of revenue by not making more of these versions available.

What's funny is this same publisher will turn around and piss and moan about losing revenue to used game sales, yet they have a chance to make a boatload more money here by making more of this version, and they're choosing not to partake.

[Tr10wn]

@da_2pacalypse i played the demo, idk what leaked script you are talking about but as far as the demo goes is still Mass Effect i wont say ME1 but i didnt see the loot system on the demo but it looks like a faster ME2.

[wicko]

I just wish they had done this battlefield style - limited edition that comes with the first batch of DLC free, but every copy is a limited edition so long as you pre-order. Can still have a collector's edition as well, but this way there's more temptation to preorder even if you don't want to pony up the extra $20.

[snipes101]

How about this: collector's editions are all idiotic money pits. Pretty much everything in there minus there character and the soundtrack is crap that will be looked at once and then tossed aside.

The character should really be offered as a preorder bonus instead of something packed in with a limited quantity edition.

Matter of fact maybe they just shouldnt be throwing together another mission to be released on launch day just for a cash grab. It just comes down to greed.

Im not too butt hurt about missing the boat, I usually never get CE editions because of what I said above. I think the bigger issue at work here is companies being greedy.

[MAJ0R]

Actually I think he was lucky that he missed out. The people who bought ME3 CE, or even ME3 in general got screwed over. I'll be waiting for the ultimate edition which will include all 10... 15.. maybe even 20 of the future DLC packs.

[ljh217]

Oh yea I've seen loads of those ME2 ultimate editions around.. oh wait.

[MAJ0R]

Dragon Age Origin has an Ultimate Edition. Bioware was developer of both and from them announcing day 1 DLC, you have to know a lot more is coming.

[Baka-akaB]

but like he said again and unlike your example relevant to the case at hand , you are still waiting for the ultimate edition of ME2 .

I wouldnt hold my breath on it , till they release a trilogy box of sort many months later

[Deputydon]

I preordered ME3:CE about a week ago for PS3 from Amazon. I got the last copy because after that the option was no longer available.

Yay for me.

[CraigBaker]

same for me on the 360 version. had to resort to bestbuy.com cuz gamestop and amazon were sold out.

[MsclMexican]

Ok... this guy has a problem reading

Did you not see THE SUPPLIES ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED?
in the trailer?

Thats why I pre ordered this thing in Summer

[Basjohn]

Supplies of digital goods are there to trick you into purchases. Congratulations on proving their marketing team to be competent bastards with your pre-order!

But really, does the DLC cost them ANYTHING to give you? No, nope and not at all. Yes the artbook might be "limited" but you're not buying it for the artbook. You're buying it for the DLC and E-penis.

Pro-tip: Supplies are never truly limited, but good judgement is.

[CraigBaker]

I totally agree. I always about the exclusive mission because i pay attention to details and make it a point to find out whats in the collectors editons. Thats your fauld for not paying attention. That being said I only just preordered my copy for 360 from bestbuy.com less than a week ago, so there was plenty of time to pre order this game. Shortly after I ordered mine best buy sold out so i am glad i just made it in. HA HA sucks to be this guy.

[MeatAbstract]

Cluster fudge?

[SilentNegotiator]

That sounds delicious.

But I'll pass. I'm on a no BS diet - no online passes, no day one DLC for a game they chose to make gold several weeks before launch (and especially since the XBL/PSN approval time is always several days time - not even a week going gold a week b4 launch makes a good excuse), no collector's edition screw overs, no accepting lies from pubs/devs, etc.

It'll go right to my thighs.

[Echo307]

Sounds like you're done with gaming then?

[SilentNegotiator]

Nope. Not everyone is doing these atrocious things. Especially not all in ONE game.

[SovereignSnaKe]

-I cannot Sympathize for this person at all, they had Months to Pre-order, fuck i pre-ordered in October from Amazon, is it really killing you to put something in a digital shopping cart months ahead of time, there not charging you a holding fee, and when March 5th comes and you realize, I CANNOT AFFORD THIS, then you log in, and cancel item... oh.. goodness.. sooo Back Breaking... -_-

[SKUD]

I'll just water thank you.

[luoshuigui]

lol, when they put stuff like OST, art books, etc in a CE people rant "full of total useless crap, and take up eight games' worth of space on my shelf.", when they put stuff worth something like a character or a mission, people rant "wahh greddy money grabbing corporations wahh", you can never win against those self entitled D-bags.
Spoiled kids asked "Why should i pay more to get more content?", i would ask them "Why should people who payed more to get same amount of content as people who payed less?"

[vortis]

Because everyone who pays $60 deserves the complete game from start to finish. There should NEVER be a moment where DLC makes up for the total experience.

Now if the CE DLC is all secondary side-trash, that's fine. But people who didn't even know about the CE or don't bother with extra crap will want to pay $60 for A COMPLETE GAME. PERIOD.

People like you probably also defended EA when they launched NFS: Carbon and NFS: Black with DLC already locked on the disc and you had to pay $5 to unlock content you already owned. Because, like you said, if you pay more you get more even if you already own it.

/Fail gamers feeding greedy corps

[Baka-akaB]

where did you even see people complain about such extras in a CE ? I've only seen people complain about CE not having enough stuff worth it .

[UltimateIdiot911]

I find this funny. So often, I hear the common complain that Collector Edition aren't really special anymore because it's often just a bunch of DLC, none of the special physical goods and how they aren't limited anymore. Thus making CE and LE pointless.

So they focus a bit more on the physical goods, and made it limited. Now, it's a big mess and we should all be angry face at Biowares and EA because they finally did right by the name CE.

Anyway, I have my CE preordered, PS3 but I'm happy.

[m23]

I've had my version pre-ordered since November, so happy I did. It's a nice change to see that a Limited Edition is actually limited.

[The_Devil_Hunter]

Definitely, I love how LE tend to be considered 'Limited' yet you see them available everywhere a year post-launch. I mean if your a core gamer or a collector you should be smart enough to pre order a month or two prior release.

[FrightfulActions]

I have to say. I have never seen a N4G comment page filled with this level of non-trolling. Too often I hear nothing but whiners and complainers, people who are upset that they don't get the content CE prorder's paid for, for free. "Waa you want us to pay for the exclusive content you advertised for CE monts ago" or "waa now I cant preorder it because its sold out". The game has been up for preorder. For. Freaking. Ever. If you don't have CE, it's your own fault, you apparently didn't think all that extra content, physical and digital, and the exclusive mission and character, were worth the extra 20 dollars. In a way you win, since you can pay just 10 bucks more and get it. For once though, the comments are filled with sane individuals who aren't fussing and crying over stupid things. Kudos N4G community. Maybe theres hope out there yet.

[m23]

Well said.

[AntiProton]

@Frightfulactions.

"game has been up for preorder. For. Freaking. Ever. If you don't have CE, it's your own fault"

Absolutely spot on. Various places (Obviously not all stores)started taking pre-orders as early as June 2011 and have only just stop now in February 2012 barring a few stores here and there. People have had nine months to decide if they wanted a copy or not.

[Megaton]

I just went with the Digital Deluxe pre-order after seeing the Collector's Editions sold out everywhere. Would have been nice to have a physical art book, but I don't care about the rest of the physical stuff.

[SneeringImperialist]

I did the exact same thing after GAME became sold out of copies of CE :(

[Getowned]

Pretty cool,not sure if I will be able to pre-order this but I want to!

[strange1986]

"I leave you with the promo video which also pushes the DLC mention way to the back and only flashes on the screen for an instant."

An instant? Give me a break. If you missed it, you must be blind.

[MasterD919]

There are still CE copies available...GoHastings has ps3/xbox 360 copies in stock. So I can't help but laugh when I see "well I missed out on the CE"...No there are plenty left.

I'm glad that some people will agree with me about the CE version clearly being the better version. We aren't the ones complaining about spending $10 more...when we are spending at least $20 more and have no problem with it.

[Perez]

I pre-ordered 3 CEs way back when they announced them and only recently cancelled the PS3 one cos of the lack of continuation (the comic was poor, good quality but poor content inclusion) across the trilogy. I'm pretty happy with the CE tbh and really like all the extra stuff in the box instead of to be released in god knows when DLC.

I always thought CE's were about collecting things that weren't going to be around in 3-4-5 years not DLC which you could download for ages since its a constant money pit.

As a side note GoHastings 360 CE isn't letting you preorder anymore, only add to wishlist. the PC and PS3 are still available.

[FlyGuyHung]

Pre Ordered my Collectors edition for 360 sometime last year... Early bird catches the worm in this case.

[Godmars290]

This whole thing is starting to sound like the typical gaming culture:

- Game company does something which basically screws over gamers.
-Gamers complain about it.
- Other gamers say tough, get over it.
- Screw over becomes standard practice.

[SilentNegotiator]

The 3rd part is more "Gamers defend and praise it" than "say...get over it"

[vortis]

Bubbles to you.

I can't believe so many people don't mind being wallet raped.

Remember when you bought GTA: San Andreas? Guess what you GOT THE FULL GAME AT RETAIL. There were no hidden costs, no extras, no BS.

Remember when Collector's Editions were just that? Full of collector's items and stuff. If you paid for that extra crap, good for you, that's obviously what you wanted.

Nowadays, it's a toss-up on whether you're getting screwed out of essential game content or not with pre-order bonuses, limited edition DLC and collector's edition content.

GAMERS SHOULD BE COMPLAINING WITH THEIR WALLETS!

Instead, we have a bunch of people praising BioWare and EA for releasing day-one DLC that COULD HAVE MADE IT INTO THE GAME. Seriously, even if another group was working on the DLC and it's included in the CE then why wasn't it simply slapped onto the game when it went gold? It doesn't take three months for a game to hit store shelves after going gold, most games go gold and two weeks later end up on store shelves.

In fact, DBZ: Ultimate Tenkaichi went gold TWO WEEKS before it hit store shelves. There's no excuse for day-one DLC not being included in the gold edition.

Anyway, Bethesda, while making buggy games, at least doesn't screw gamers over. I agree with them that if you do DLC it should ENHANCE the game and should work as an expansion to an already great title. Day one DLC ultimately diminishes the value of the product down to gimmicks and cash grabs. There's really no way to defend it unless you like being wallet raped.

[Krakn3Dfx]

I could buy the Digital CE on the PC pretty easily and get it.

But F EA/Bioware. I'm a pretty big Mass Effect fan, but I'm drawing the line. I'll wait til around XMas when I can snag it for $20-$30 digitally and then maybe I'll pay another 410 for the Prothean stuff if I feel like it's worth it.

I feel like they needed to just admit this is shitty and make it part of the game if you buy it new. Otherwise, I'm out until later this year. I got a Vita and a backlog of games a mile long that will keep me occupied.

[tigertron]

I pre-ordered the CE way back in June and I can't wait to get my hands on it. :D

[SageHonor]

I preordered and bought mines out back in november. Glad i did

[MilkMan]

Why does conversation like this always turn into who has the biggest d!ck contest?

This isn't about who ordered the CE of Mass Effect.

I ordered the CE edition and this news is horrible.
Its the intent and what is to come behind it that sends shivers down my spine.

I cancelled my order and I stand by the masses that will buy the standard edition to stand with the masses.

Rather than having a unifying voice and saying "no, we will not stand for that." What we say is "well at least I have it, oh you didn't get yours?"
Pathetic.

Next time you paying for everything from ammo, to guns, to clothes, to maps, levels...oh wait.

You're already doing it.

I cant even count how many sites I go to where gamers are complaining that they have no money, no jobs, or are scrapping and saving to buy that one or two games a year.

Sometimes folks just troll, but sometimes its good to take a stand for something. Don't let your "love" (for lack of a better word) get in the way of common sense.

[FlashBack]

This, I will pay for what's in the disk. SO I'll buy the normal one and p*r*t* the DLC, I love Mass Effect, but F U EA

[Dude420]

That's what's annoying me about a lot of people defending EA and Bioware to no end. They always complain that we whine because we don't want to pay premium for an "incomplete experience".

This DLC is tied to the overall main plot. For real Mass Effect fans out there, the story about the Prothean is important. If it was some unimportant squad member as DLC, then I wouldn't really care.

I was thinking of paying premium for this game, but with the direction EA/Bioware is going, I'm not. I'm going to wait until there's a sale for this game, EA and Bioware don't deserve my $60+ dollars. I never bought DA2 after what they've done with it, I think I can handle waiting for ME3.

[vortis]

Thank you, well said.

I hate how the gaming community is being used by popular companies to in-fight "You whiney B**** you can't afford it? Get a better JOB!"

$60 is already too much for 4-8 hour games. I beat Mass Effect 2 in less than 13 hours and haven't played it again because it was just an okay game with excellent writing.

We're constantly, as a community, being badgered by higher-ups that games are getting more and more expensive to make, yet the inverse is true given that indie studios are making higher and higher quality games on lower and lower budgets (i.e., QUBE, Hard Reset, MineCraft).

As a community we should be saying "No!" to day-one DLC, and "No!" to story-related limited edition and collector's edition content. Gaming should not turn into a nepotistic, aristocratic hobby, it was never about that.

I hate how instead of joining forces to fight the people who are dividing the community and ruining our pasttime, gamers instead point fingers and troll amongst themselves, furthering the corporate greed associated with less and less game content at higher and higher prices.

We're being gouged from our mouths to our rearends but we'd rather fight over who can afford what as opposed to fighting to support the hobby we love. Very unfortunate.

[FlashBack]

All of you complain about the DLC, all of you buy the collector's edition.
Just....ah forget it.
I love Mass Effect, but this sh*t is out of control

[MrCrimson]

I have both ME1/2 collectors editions, unfortunately there wasn't nearly enough produced for ME3...I really like the steel cases and ME is probably the only series i'd ever actually buy the collectors edition - sucks they were out of stock in october wondering if they produced like 6 of them or something.

[TheStorm]

Ya that's what makes a collectors edition a collectors edition, unlike Halo/COD where there are billions of copies, some are actually suppose to be rare.

Clint's score is worth the extra 20 bucks to me but there is a lot of great things. Glad I pre-ordered mine last year.

[Ness-Psi]

i pre-ordered the standard edition on pc...through origin...i know...i'm evil.

[SneeringImperialist]

You will find redemption through the Easter steam sale! lol

[Ness-Psi]

lol, my saviour!

[krazykombatant]

I'm loving the fact that people defend EA with total bs excuses.

This is character is too damn intergrated to the ME lore to charge people for it. total scam.

[rjgbyrne]

EA have milked and milled Mass Effect since they bought Bioware from Bono, just canceled my preorder and won't bother with this now until a definitive version with all content comes out. EA are way worse than activision and this tripe proves it. Bioware, unfortunately are now owned by this company that care about money over video games, it won't be long until they ruin a talented developer too. Am starting to think only Ninty understand the frustration of DLC for us gamers, we aren't made of money EA and they world is in recession you greedy $&@&&@s!

[gcolley]

EA are not worse than activision. they are as bad as each other. they both treat their developers and THEIR fans like shit. every game

[Basjohn]

And for the hundredth time pirates will get the complete game while people who paid $60 will be short-changed.

[cyclonus007]

Which is all good except for the part where pirates are stealing the game.

Stealing stuff is always cheaper than buying it.

It's also illegal.

[upallnightgamer]

It all comes down to personal preference, really. I LOVE the Mass Effect games, so when I heard about the Collector's Edition, I immediately secured my pre-order, determined not to miss out this time.

I don't care that GameMisinformer thinks the extras aren't worth it. I know they will be because I know BioWare's high standard of quality will make the guns and armor worthwhile on Hardcore and Insanity. The extra costumes, hoodie, and robodog, while nothing more than aesthetically pleasing, are still another reason I was excited to pre-order my CE.

And yes, even if I was getting just the standard edition, I'd still pick up the DLC and gladly pay the extra $10 because I know BioWare doesn't skimp on quality OR quantity for their DLC. I got every piece of DLC for both ME and ME2, and loved all of them, even Pinnacle Station.

So, all you ignorant saps talking about cancelling your pre-orders or whining about how much the DLC costs on Day 1, just remember that ME3 is already GotY to an absurd number of people. Losing a couple hundred whiners' pre-orders is worth less to BioWare and EA than a Mexican peso.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

The morning show I listen to on the radio (105.7 The Point) here in St. Louis does a gaming segment on fridays.

It came up today how they are promoting the game by sending copies of the game into space using balloons with tracking devices and you can follow on the site and see where the copies are landing/being found...

I have to commend them for a really unique/bad ass marketing idea!

I personally never got into this franchise but the gameplay seems different (more accessable in this game)... kinda like Gears? I dunno. Im willing to try it out if it is!

Hope this game is everything you guys want it to, cause I hear lots of negative stuff over DLC for this game non-stop!