I'm pretty certain development actually ends sometime before a game ships, especially with the need to go thru MS and Sony's certification programmes for console releases. Who's to say they didn't have enough time in that period to put together a day 1 DLC package?
DLC is developed separately from the core game a lot of the time. And yes, they do start some of it well before the game ships. DLC is planned as such. It is not an idea they decided to strip from the game, it is an idea they decided to add on. I can see some of you will struggle with that distinction though. Think of it another way. DLC is something *you* don't have to buy to enjoy the game. But others buying it ensures that *your* future game doesn't go up in price. Also..day 1 DLC is another way to hook in pre-orders which...keep your games the same price. You can't have everything. You have to pay for it. Games are only going up in cost to produce, but retail prices stay the same. Magic??!!! No... get over it kids.
The statement I made was a general one about all day 1 DLCs in the past and future not just Bioware, but as this is about a Bioware game they are the target. Yes they do finish early you'd be stupid to think otherwise, but they would not have had the time to create story boards, animations, audios, create missions, quests, items etc. then integrate them into the main game, find the bugs then test the game and not to mention the legal stuff that games have to go through, plus have MS and Sony's certification programmes for the DLCs if they hadn't already had the DLC's created at the sametime. Don't get me wrong I love Mass Effect games, but I will not be paying for extra that could quite easily have been inside the game.
Actually, according to Bioware this DLC was started when the game went gold = 3 months ago, when EA started making all the DVDs and stuff. Or do you think Bioware sitts there and does nothing ? If you have played any Mass Effect DLC, they are not "hours of gameplay", so there is not much of voice acting, beta testing etc done. You don't need to modify the game code, it is pretty much down to the creative parts of game designing (voice acting, map designing,...).
DLC's and pre-order bonuses are different, the pre-order bonuses are to try and make you buy from there shop instead of somewhere else, that's why only some shops have bonuses, also they are free. DLC's usually come after the game has been released and they add re-playability to the games and are charged for.
No I don't think they sit there doing nothing, most of the time they are starting on the DLC's etc. Obviously the DLC's are not as long as the main game, but if they started as soon as the game went gold three months isn't that long for them to make a new set of maps, textures, sound effects, etc, then test the software have it approved, then shipped off to MS and PS. If they have managed to do all that within the time scale, I bet it will be bugged, and more of you will be complaining that the game's bugged. From what I could remember the DLC's from ME2 were not day 1's they came out like two months later as the DLC Arrival did. You can do whatever you want with your money you have hopefully earned it, I'm just on the boycotter's side on this one and I will not be buying it until I find it in the second hand shop and that's my choice and I expect it to be there within the month of release. Think of how many copies would have been bought if they released the day 1 DLC free with an original new copy, there would be less complaints if they release the DLC a week later, I know I would have bought the standard then the DLC a week later, instead of having the feeling that it could have easily been in the original game.
http://kotaku.com/5888816/buying-all-of-mass-effect-3s-dlc-will-cost-you-870 Hope you guys have 870$ U.S
Day 1 DLCs do seem to take the proverbial but I have no real interest in DLC in general unless I can see it adding a major extra dimension to the main game, whatever it was.
Every major release gets a boycott these days. Move along people. Nothing to see here. Edit. DLC is here to stay also. If you like it. Great! If you don't. Don't buy it. You don't have too.
My major gripe with this is when they have 'DLC' with a free code in the box. I know that this is done to reduce the second hand games market/get second hand purchasers to buy this DLC, however twice now I've bought a brand new game to find the code missing (ME2 & Batman AC). I also dislike being unable to get all the items in the game unless I buy the game from several retailers. I thoroughly enjoyed the first ME, but it is because of things like this I've barely touched the second one, and am fairly ambivalent toward the third.
Sadly, that's exactly what a lot of people will do. Personally? I don't have a problem with day 1 DLC, I don't generally buy games on day 1 anyway - with the rare exceptions of The Witcher 2 and Skyrim. Even if either of those had had any meaningful DLC available immediately I wouldn't have bothered. @ all the whingers: The devs and publishers write and finance these games, they can do what they like in terms of selling them as far as I care. Vote with your wallet, and don't whine about it. Nobody important is listening to you anyway, so save the oxygen for another day and get outside* for a few hours instead *Unless you have photophobia. Just stay indoors and do a jigsaw or something instead.
Mass effect 3 is not on steam and I refuse to use origin so simple enough boycott for me, did not really enjoy the way mass effect 2 became either as it's a total grind feast if ya want all upgrades, or spam probe feast as it is. I have all dlc for me2 and have a 100% save still little if any conformation that our saves will transfer Since last I checked my me2 save is on a steam server not on my hdd
It's in the C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect 2\Save folder, not on a server. And have fun being bored, you can expect all EA games use Origin.
Calling people 'whingers' for speaking their minds as paying customers just makes you look like a knob. Grow up and stop trying to seem like some sort of aloof spectator in the matter when you cared enough to post about it. If people didn't air their views on forums or in article comments then the message would never get back to the publishers that at least some people are getting sick of this kind of business. Will it change their practices when the majority of people just blindly lap it up and bend over for the likes of EA? No, probably not - But should people relinquish their rights to complain and stand against this kind of crap as paying customers? No.
There is always someone listening, either that person is important or not nobody knows (I'm not just taking about this forum, I'm talking about everywhere). Because I look after my disabled mother, the only time I can have to myself is when I play games in my free time when she is asleep at night, which is only a couple of hours a day and I have no money like I did when I was working, that's why I don't like what they have done it feels like they are saying to some of us, you have no money but we still want it. I get it that they're a business and out to make money, but to some of us £40 for a standard and £70 for collectors is a lot (I'm talking about consoles as that's where they make their money) what's wrong with throwing in a freebie, I know people buy more of an item if they're getting something free.
According to a statement by Casey Hudson, it is more than likely that save games will transfer over to the new game as he said: "Dead is dead. Mass Effect 3, as with the rest of the trilogy, is Shepard’s story. If you have a dead Shepard at the end of Mass Effect 2, that saved game won’t import into Mass Effect 3. You can play Mass Effect 3 if you died in Mass Effect 2 of course, but you’ll have to create a new Shepard." So basically, if you survived at the end of ME2 there shouldn't be an issue with importing the save.
Why boycott it because of it using Origin?.. I find it a lot more easier to use than Steam, its just...A bit more expensive..
whinge 1. to cry in a fretful way 2. to complain How is than not what some people are doing in this thread? Being overtly confrontational in the face of a lighthearted comment isn't entirely unknoblike. Big hitters like EA simply DO NOT take note of posts on message boards and forums, or boycotts. Please don't delude yourself. But by all means vent if it makes you feel better. In all seriousness though I can see both sides of the argument. It's like buying a new car. You have list price, then you pay for extras. The extras might make the car slightly more enjoyable, but you still need to decide whether or not you are willing to pay the extra. If not then you wait until it's cheaper and pick up an older model with all the stuff you wanted. As the DLC movement appears to be here to stay, gamers are going to have to get used to making these choices. I for one will be waiting until ME3 and games like it are available with all additional content for a lot less than the day 1 asking price, because I am poor.