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Preorder Mass Effect PC, Get Dead Space Stuff
Posted by Mike Fahey at 12:20 AM on April 30, 2008
While the practice of offering preorder incentives for video games is ages old bow, generally you want to give things out that pertain to the game the customer is buying. Leave it to those innovators at the EA Online Store to blaze new marketing trails by sweetening the Mass Effect preorder pot with official Dead Space merchandise. While folks preorder the game through traditional PC outlets get a nice $10 off retail price, preordering at the EA Store snags you a copy of the first issue of the Dead Space comic book and a Dead Space poster.
Great! If you preorder now, we'll include you in our special marketing program for a completely unrelated game. It makes sense, doesn't it? People who preorder are already buying Mass Effect. Why promote a game they're already sold on when you can open them up to a whole new experience they might otherwise not give a damn about? Of course it switches the vibe from "Thanks for buying our game" to "Here, buy this other game", but why worry about semantics?
BioWare Announces Special Pre-Order Offer for Mass Effect on PCEDMONTON, Alberta—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), is proud to announce that key retailers across North America will be offering $10 off for all pre-orders of Mass Effect™ for the PC1, shipping to retailers May 27, 2008 in North America and June 6, 2008 in Europe. Gamers will receive the $10 discount by pre-ordering Mass Effect at both specialty and online retailers including GameStop, Amazon.com and GoGamer.com.
Gamers who pre-order Mass Effect through the Electronic Arts online store will receive bonus items2 from the game Dead Space™, the highly anticipated sci-fi survival horror game by EA, including the first issue of the Dead Space comic book and a Dead Space poster while supplies last.
Published by EA and re-designed for the PC by Demiurge Studios and BioWare, Mass Effect invites players to take the role of Commander Shepard as they set out on an adventure to save the galaxy from imminent destruction. Wrought with treachery, heroism, difficult decisions and a universe filled with unique and colorful species, Mass Effect delivers a truly compelling storyline.
Fully optimised for the PC, Mass Effect includes a new Tactical Heads-Up Display, higher resolution visuals, an enhanced inventory system, fully optimised controls designed specifically for the PC, individual squad control and a new decryption mini-game. The "Bring Down the Sky" downloadable content for Mass Effect on PC, featuring 90 minutes of new gameplay, will also be available free for registered BioWare Community members at the launch of Mass Effect PC.
Originally released for the Xbox 360™ videogame and entertainment system, Mass Effect has received critical acclaim throughout the world with more than 80 awards including 2007 Console Game of the Year and Role-Playing Game of the Year (http://masseffect.bioware.com/previewsawards/).
The $10-Off pre-order offer is available now at all participating retail and online retail outlets. The Dead Space pre-order offer is available now at the Electronic Arts online store at www.eastore.ea.com. Mass Effect is rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB. For more information about Mass Effect, please visit www.masseffect.com.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
NitrousO
Posted 1:26 AM 30/4/08
If you didnt play Mass Effect on the Xbox, please, please, please give it a shot. Its just a darn good game.
NitrousO
Bluecell
Posted 1:23 AM 30/4/08
I like the sound of a Dead Space poster, so long as it's a decent size and doesn't have a ton of fine print on it. I like my posters to be a big, clean graphic.
And yeah, it's marketing, but so what? I've seen lots of unrelated games on the back of my game manuals.
And this is EA we're talking about here. Given that Mass Effect and Dead Space are both set in a place that's hard for them to advertise ADIDAS and The Gap, what else are they going to do?
Bluecell
ara
Posted 1:20 AM 30/4/08
Ah, I was wondering when this would be hitting PC, now I have a date on when I should start looking for it. Saw it at Xbox360 and the texture popping and loading times did seem rather annoying, good thing I have a decent 3D workstation that doubles as hefty gaming rig, should be a smooth ride at full HD.
ara
Tiber
Posted 12:54 AM 30/4/08
@homernoy: I have never pre-ordered a game before either, and this changes nothing.
I'll probably pick up the PC version at some point, but free stuff trying to get me to buy other not-so-free stuff doesn't interest me at all.
Tiber
ShaggE
Posted 12:45 AM 30/4/08
@PearceShea: Yup. Not to mention the shareware games included on the disc, and sometimes various multimedia for upcoming games... Good times.
ShaggE
mescalineeyes
Posted 12:43 AM 30/4/08
I think it's awesome. I can't wait for Dead Space.
mescalineeyes
Derigor
Posted 12:43 AM 30/4/08
"is ages old bow"
Dude, I had an age old bow of vanq on ultima online and it ruled ass! then a GM deleted it.
Anyways, typo!
Derigor
PearceShea
Posted 12:42 AM 30/4/08
@ShaggE:
Yeah, I was just thinking that. Didn't we all get like flyers for three or four different games every time we opened up a our brand new pc games?
PearceShea
Juthan
Posted 12:35 AM 30/4/08
HAHA! That dialog in the picture is hilarious! I wouldn't put it past EA to add that for real.
Juthan
homernoy
Posted 12:31 AM 30/4/08
I have never pre-ordered a game before, but this is tempting.
homernoy
DigiMish
Posted 12:28 AM 30/4/08
Mass Effect is about space... and so is Dead Space... wait... I see what they did there.
DigiMish
ShaggE
Posted 12:28 AM 30/4/08
Sweet deal. Similar things were actually somewhat prevalent in mid 90's PC games.
ShaggE
unangbangkay
Posted 1:57 AM 30/4/08
@Tiber:
You might want to consider it for this one, at least. It's $10 off the ticket price, and at most online retailers you don't get taxed, which cuts a significant portion of your final cost.
That's Mass Effect and its DLC for $40, and on Amazon that qualifies for free shipping to boot. It's not like you need a Dead Space poster and the comic'll be out on .cbr within a week of release, so don't bother with the EA online store.
unangbangkay
phicaluk
Posted 1:52 AM 30/4/08
@ShaggE:
There was a character in Monkey Island who had a badge which said "Ask Me About Loom", and if you did he gave you the sales pitch.
phicaluk
eskimo-bob
Posted 2:32 AM 30/4/08
wow... this just proves that Dead Space will fail.
eskimo-bob
EnigmaNemesis
Posted 2:21 AM 30/4/08
@ara:
Yeah, it annoyed me to the point to not play it.
Waiting for the PC version cause of things like this.
EnigmaNemesis
dbushik
Posted 3:14 AM 30/4/08
So, $10 off or a comic and poster. Hmm...the comic is $3 and isn't selling. Anyone think the poster is worth $7?
I'd say take the $10 off at gamestop and if you are really interested in the comic, wait a couple months and snag it out of a bargain bin at your local comic store. Assuming they even ordered and stocked any to begin with that is...
The cross promotion I don't think is a big deal. Should I really be taking Fahey even remotely seriously spinning this as odd? I mean, it's not like we've ever seen a game released with a demo or promo for another game included, or anything even remotely similar, right?
Oh wait, we have. Regularly.
EA has a lot of Deadspace comics on their hands they couldn't get sold. That's what this tells me.
dbushik
Tiber
Posted 3:10 AM 30/4/08
@unangbangkay: Okay I must have missed the $10 off (and yes I do read articles, with the possible exception of sales pitch text). Saving money is appealing to me.
I'm not lacking in things to do lately, but I'll consider it.
Tiber
MasterDex
Posted 3:54 AM 30/4/08
Dead Space! Sweet!
ah, who am I kidding, I never even heard of it but a tenner of Mass Effect, now that is nice of them. It's like saying 'here, take this DLC, no,no, we don't need your money, it's not like you're a console gamer, oh and have one of these tenners back too'
People who payed for the DLC on Live must be feeling pretty angry right about now.
MasterDex
Stormwaltz
Posted 3:37 AM 30/4/08
Investigates like "Have you heard about Dead Space?" should be placed on the far left side of the conversation wheel.
Stormwaltz
ph15h needs followers
Posted 5:04 AM 30/4/08
Was going to pre-order it regardless. I'm not really into Dead Space, so I guess the pre-order is going to be ebay'd
ph15h needs followers
Melonfodder
Posted 8:07 AM 30/4/08
The things that Bioware does for this... conversion seems to be the right word, is something PC gamers should take for given.
But I'm still very glad they did it proper.
Given pre-order for me, since I don't have a 360.
Melonfodder