Buy Dragon Age 2, Get Mass Effect 2 Free - UPDATED

[MercurySteam]

No Cerberus Network content.

Riiiiiiiiight:

"Cerberus Network is included and will be entitled to the account used to redeem your Dragon Age 2 Online Pass," it says. "This includes Zaeed - The Price of Revenge, Cerberus Weapon and Armor, Normandy Crash Site, Cerberus Arc Projector, and Firewalker Pack. Visit the offer page to download the necessary files."

OP: Looks like a great deal though, I'm sure by now that anyone who enjoys Dragon Age would own ME2 by now.

And people call EA evil? Pfft.

 

[geizr]

From what I've read, many game reviewers give high praise to Dragon Age 2; one even goes so far to call it "game of the decade"(a rather premature accolade, in my opinion). However, when I read the comments of people who have actually played the game(and were not paid, bribed, or otherwise coerced into giving it an extremely favorable review) it ends up sounding lilke a rushed, poorly made, shallow, boring, and over-priced DLC. That's even after discounting the flaming myopic, homophobic opinions.

These days, I consider the gaming press, when it comes to the reviewing of games, to have about as much trustworthy integrity as pudding on a sidewalk during a heat-wave in Pheonix, AZ.

(Generally, companies don't give away free stuff unless they are somehow hurting for sales to obtain an ROI for a product.)

 

[stuhacking]

Initially, I thought the feeling seemed to be: "How dare you give me ME2 for free when I wanted something else!"

Nothing is free, especially when there's a corporation involved:

1) They get free, positive press and image polish on any gaming site out there (and incur positive opinion from people like you going "arrr, those ingrates, it be free but they not be pleased!")

2) They get people using the EA Download Manager, an in-house sales platform / Setting up an Account and everything if they haven't already, Portal wasn't free but was a Promotion to get more people to use Steam, same thing with Alien Swarm.

3) They hope to increase Dragon Age 2 sales by offering a "package deal", something is inherently not free it it is bound to another product, it is an "extra".

4) They hope to get people that have gotten Dragon Age 2 (or haven't gotten it yet but are about to, see #3) to look into the Mass Effect series and increase their customer base that way, also generating extra press and word-of-mouth for their release of Mass Effect 3 in a few months.

5) They hope to sell DLC, they offered the "base package" bundled with Dragon Age 2 (which can be gotten for mere 10$/10pound by now) e.g. it has lost a lot of its initial value, but they are still selling their DLC which people starting the game now might be inclined to buy.

I'm sure there's more, but those should be a start.

Not to mention that it's more or less free for Bioware to give away a game over a digital medium: They have infinite copies. You could argue the lost sales angle, but I gather for a game that is over a year old, they already have the big sales out of the way. Fans already bought it. They probably got the Summer and Winter sales from people who aren't early adopters but tend to look out for the big titles.

At this stage they have more to gain from pushing the game out there and trying to evangelize the franchise to generate more potential sales of Mass Effect 3.

Don't get me wrong - this is a good move. It's good for gamers and it's good for Bioware. However, it is a major marketing stunt. Dexter111 basically hit the nail on the head with this.

 

[frago roc]

Do you think that maybe I use steam for its community features? Or perhaps because it has an offline feature? OR perhaps I would rather only have one game manager on my PC? You're not as clever as you think.

None of that changes the fact that Steam is DRM that phones home to ensure legitimacy. Also, yes I am.

The question I am raising is whether or not EA DL Manager is worth it over steam - simply put I do not think so. However, you seem to be taking my comment out of context to mean that I don't want EA DL Manager simply because it is a DRM program. This is erroneous and I will explain why:

Steam being DRM doesn't change the fact that if I were to buy DA2 from EA then I would need 2 DRM processes running just to play it, as I constantly have Steam running. One is often times less than two. If I were to choose my DRM software, I would rather one that has multiple other functions than one that is ONLY used for DRM (i.e., EA's DL Manager).

See, my problem isn't DRM. In most cases it is a necessary evil. But it also is an intrusive nuisance to people trying to minimize cpu load on their PCs. This is why steam works well as it has coupled the need for DRM with additional functionality, such as achievements, community, and a store. In addition its load on the CPU can be minimized with a few settings adjusted.

 

[adrian_exec]

I absolutely love it the way EA/Bioware is actually trying to fool everyone with this trailer, by saying that are rewarding their most loyal fans with this deal. I mean seriously? Your most loyal fans already have a copy of both Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 2, why would they want another one for both of this games? *sigh*

 

[Sonic Doctor]

*Snip*

Well I contacted EA support and got a new code, so now it's all fine and dandy and I love EA again :3

Well, it's one of those situations that my dad would tell me, "You maybe doing extra work, but you are getting something for free."

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I absolutely love it the way EA/Bioware is actually trying to fool everyone with this trailer, by saying that are rewarding their most loyal fans with this deal. I mean seriously? Your most loyal fans already have a copy of both Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 2, why would they want another one for both of this games? *sigh*

Well it depends, for me I like getting something for free. Yes I do already have a copy of Mass Effect 2, but it is on my 360(I got the Dragon Ages and Mass Effects on it, haven't bought a Bioware game for my computer since KotOR, so now I can play ME2 on my computer too.

 

[Paragon Fury]

"Buy our shitty new game, get one of our awesome (almost 3 year old) games for free!"

I see right through this little ploy Bioware. Just because you're now letting me experience ME2 again on my PC doesn't make up for the fact that DA2 is shit and either you or EA bought and paid for almost every single review out there.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I have to get a piece of this so late. 4 out of 5 stars? That is the best review score you could pull for the trailer?