Buy Mass Effect Art Book, Get Free DLC

[Andy Chalk]

Buy Mass Effect Art Book, Get Free DLC

Gamers who preorder The Art of Mass Effect Universe from Barnes & Noble will receive exclusive DLC for BioWare's upcoming Mass Effect 3.

Good news for die-hard Mass Effect fans who can't stand the idea of missing out on anything: not only will you have to buy a bunch of Dark Horse Comics [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115439-Buy-Mass-Effect-Toys-Get-Free-DLC] announced today that preorders for The Art of the Mass Effect Universe made through Barnes & Noble will include "a code that can be redeemed for bonus content for Mass Effect 3 multi-player including character boosters and the deadly Collector Assault Rifle to give you a leg up on the Reaper invasion."

Nothing is said about what the booster packs will actually contain and I'm pretty sure I picked up the Collector assault rifle in Mass Effect 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Mass-Effect-2-Xbox-360/dp/B001TORSII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327438433&sr=8-1], so whether or not this "extra" content is also exclusive is a little unclear at this point. It's not particularly relevant if you're planning on grabbing this thing anyway, but if you're one of those nuts who can't stand the idea of someone else having game content that you don't, this is a pretty expensive chunk of DLC, so knowing what you're getting becomes rather important.

The Art of the Mass Effect Universe does look like an awfully sexy book, with concept art and commentary on the game's characters, locations, vehicles, weapons and more, but I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of tying game content to other products. That may be a bit hypocritical, since I did very briefly become a Pepper [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97308-Dr-Pepper-Giving-Away-Free-EA-DLC] to score some extra crap for Mass Effect 2, but there's a substantial difference between a 79 cent can of swill and a $30 coffee table book.

The Art of the Mass Effect DLC offer is live now and runs until February 20, while supplies last, at barnesandnoble.com [http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/art-of-the-mass-effect-universe-various/1102878870].


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[Quiet Stranger]

I was gonna say "What's next? Take a shit FREE DLC!!"

But it's only MP DLC so fuck that!

 

[Loop Stricken]

Fuuuuuuuuucking hell; is ALL the game fecking DLC?

 

[Waaghpowa]

I wonder how much content is going to be dlc...

Also, they're coming off as desperate with this, despite the fact that they wont have to worry about making money off this game.

 

[Irridium]

At this point it's probably simpler to list things that don't give you DLC.

Seriously, why the hell are they sticking DLC on goddamn everything even remotely related to the game? This is just getting stupid.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Whenever I hear the phrase DLC, it makes think of a sexually transmitted infection.

I don't know why, but I can imagine someone sitting in a waiting room quietly waiting for the nurse, who comes in and says bad news I'm afraid, you've got DLC.
Then presribes you some antibiotics and orders you to 'talk' to everyone you wou've 'been with' in the last twelve months...

Anyway, the artbook for Mass Effect was pretty good. I'm interested to see what's in the ME: Universe art book, but will wait until after release and a couple of reviews, art-of-game books can be hit and miss.

 

[Erttheking]

Ok, how many comments are going to be about people shouting the standard arguments about EA being money grubbing, Bioware being sellouts and that ME3 is going to be awful...I'm guessing 90%. Seriously people calm down, if you said something once you don't need to say it ten more times on different threads, it's redundant we get the message. Yeah, yeah I know discussion value and all that, but I get bashed for making threads will similar topics that already exist, saying that I should just search for those, so why don't you just do that? Also, I do believe that you're overreacting, wait until the game comes out to declare it a cash in. Also why are you assuming that the point is to buy the art book solely for the DLC? It's like saying "buy a large meal now and we'll throw in a free drink" you don't buy the meal to get the drink, you get the meal because you wanted it and the drink is simply a bonus.

Also on a different note, in ME2 you don't pick up a collector assault rifle, you pick up a particle accelerator, not an assault rifle, an assault rifle is more of a lightweight primary weapon where as the particle accelerator is a heavy secondary weapon that does more damage but ammo is harder to find....god I'm a nerd.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Also on a different note, in ME2 you don't pick up a collector assault rifle, you pick up a particle accelerator, not an assault rifle, an assault rifle is more of a lightweight primary weapon where as the particle accelerator is a heavy secondary weapon that does more damage but ammo is harder to find....god I'm a nerd.

I must respectfully disagree.

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Collector_Assault_Rifle [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Collector_Assault_Rifle]

 

[Erttheking]

Ok, how many comments are going to be about people shouting the standard arguments about EA being money grubbing, Bioware being sellouts and that ME3 is going to be awful...I'm guessing 90%. Seriously people calm down, if you said something once you don't need to say it ten more times on different threads, it's redundant we get the message. Yeah, yeah I know discussion value and all that, but I get bashed for making threads will similar topics that already exist, saying that I should just search for those, so why don't you just do that? Also, I do believe that you're overreacting, wait until the game comes out to declare it a cash in. Also why are you assuming that the point is to buy the art book solely for the DLC? It's like saying "buy a large meal now and we'll throw in a free drink" you don't buy the meal to get the drink, you get the meal because you wanted it and the drink is simply a bonus.

Also on a different note, in ME2 you don't pick up a collector assault rifle, you pick up a particle accelerator, not an assault rifle, an assault rifle is more of a lightweight primary weapon where as the particle accelerator is a heavy secondary weapon that does more damage but ammo is harder to find....god I'm a nerd.

Oh look, it's mister company apologist telling everyone everything is okay, didn't see that one coming xD

Let's recapitulate:
- "Mandatory" Online Mode
- Origin only Integration
- Game looks like it could fit more into the Gears of War series than Mass Effect
- Collector's Edition/Deluxe Exclusive DLC (Bonus Mission + Character, Arsenal Pack, Hoodie, Robotic Dog, Squad Appearence Pack)
- Pre-Order Boni from certain Retailers, like AT-12 Raider Shotgun or Warfare Gear
- Cross Promotion forcing you to play Demos of other games (e.g. Kingdom of Amalur Launcher + Armor)
- Exclusive Bonus DLC on Action Figures and Artbook
- Anyone wanna bet there's gonna be a Failbook game to play too and maybe they'll offer Dr. Pepper codes like Battlefield 3?

Oh look, someone berating me for taking the other side of the argument and not mindlessly jumping on the dog pile...not gonna lie saw that one coming a mile away. Here's why I'm not jumping off of the ship
-Playing it on xbox
-playing it on xbox
-Key word being LOOKS I made a thread way back when describing how the game had changed up a bit from what I read in a game informer article, you can probably find it in my recent post. P.S. what's wrong with GOW? ME2's combat kicked ass, way better than the lousy stuff in ME1
-EVERY game does that, Halo does it, Call of Duty does it, Fallout does it, Space Marine did that ME2 did it, and I doubt that your experience will fall apart from not having every little gimmicky piece of armor or weapon.
-Yeah, you have to play a demo for a ridiculous looking gun and set of armor, how tragic. You know I honestly think that that's a great idea, put up a free demo and offer prizes for playing.
-See my original post and look for the bit about the meal and the free drink
-Oh I get it, you put fail book instead of Facebook ha ha ha. Pure speculation.

Maybe I don't like to jump to conclusions and automatically assume that everything will be crap even before the game comes out, ever think of that?

 

[Erttheking]

Also on a different note, in ME2 you don't pick up a collector assault rifle, you pick up a particle accelerator, not an assault rifle, an assault rifle is more of a lightweight primary weapon where as the particle accelerator is a heavy secondary weapon that does more damage but ammo is harder to find....god I'm a nerd.

I must respectfully disagree.

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Collector_Assault_Rifle [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Collector_Assault_Rifle]

Huh, well I didn't get the Collector's addition (wait, collectors edition, collector particular rifle) so I wouldn't know about that. I thought that you were talking about the particle accelerator on Horizon, my bad.

 

[xedobubble]

On the one hand, this is a great reward to fans that want the merch... buy merch, get an in-game reward. But I feel a lot more like if I don't have dlc, I get an incomplete gaming experience, and so the dlc comes off as a bribe to buy the merch.

Idea: what if a company used a DLC scheme where you could redeem codes for one of several items/costume parts, your choice, and then included codes with all the merch? And then allowed you to purchase codes directly? People who want the merch get their freebie and people who just want the dlc can buy it upfront? Of course the company wouldn't want to do that because why sell a $2-10 code when you can sell players the $20 toy or book...

 

[putowtin]

and once again the world outside of the USA get's shafted, I had already planned to pick up the book, but now I'm sulking!

 

[Raithnor]

The Collector Assault Rifle was pointless in ME2. Not many classes got to use Assault Rifles in ME2 and even if you picked up the Rifle training later most classes had better methods for taking down shields at range.

I'm going to buy the Collector's Edition, but I'm not buying any DLC I have to spend more than $5 getting. Given what happened in ME2, they're going to resell most of it 6 months to a year later on their online store anyways.

To be honest the best DLC they released came after the game was out there for a while and they wanted to drum up Hype for ME3.

The 7-11 thing I didn't mind: "Buy a Soda get a Hat." was about the right pricepoint for this stuff.

 

[Chrono212]

What about international buyers?

I love art books, mainly because I use them as portfolio inspiration, but I'd like to have something in game as another reward for getting it.

Personally, and this is a silly idea admittedly, I'd get the art book if I could get the art book in the game. Like on the coffee table on the Normandy as a little prop.

 

[The Last Nomad]

Looks like a cool book and I would probably like it more than the DLC, but I'm still not sure about getting ME3 so there probably isn't much point in getting the book, its certainly not cheap (Seems like it includes the DLC price already).

Also, there is already so much DLC being given away with other stuff, if this DLC is anything more than a single piece of equipment each then there is already probably more DLC than game already, and the games not even out yet. For shame Bioware... and to think, you once made the greatest game of all time.

 

[MrTub]

Can EA/Bioware stop shitting on non USA players?

 

[ecoho]

Ok, how many comments are going to be about people shouting the standard arguments about EA being money grubbing, Bioware being sellouts and that ME3 is going to be awful...I'm guessing 90%. Seriously people calm down, if you said something once you don't need to say it ten more times on different threads, it's redundant we get the message. Yeah, yeah I know discussion value and all that, but I get bashed for making threads will similar topics that already exist, saying that I should just search for those, so why don't you just do that? Also, I do believe that you're overreacting, wait until the game comes out to declare it a cash in. Also why are you assuming that the point is to buy the art book solely for the DLC? It's like saying "buy a large meal now and we'll throw in a free drink" you don't buy the meal to get the drink, you get the meal because you wanted it and the drink is simply a bonus.

Also on a different note, in ME2 you don't pick up a collector assault rifle, you pick up a particle accelerator, not an assault rifle, an assault rifle is more of a lightweight primary weapon where as the particle accelerator is a heavy secondary weapon that does more damage but ammo is harder to find....god I'm a nerd.

Oh look, it's mister company apologist telling everyone everything is okay, didn't see that one coming xD

Let's recapitulate:
- "Mandatory" Online Mode
- Origin only Integration
- Game looks like it could fit more into the Gears of War series than Mass Effect
- Collector's Edition/Deluxe Exclusive DLC (Bonus Mission + Character, Arsenal Pack, Hoodie, Robotic Dog, Squad Appearence Pack)
- Pre-Order Boni from certain Retailers, like AT-12 Raider Shotgun or Warfare Gear
- Cross Promotion forcing you to play Demos of other games (e.g. Kingdom of Amalur Launcher + Armor)
- Exclusive Bonus DLC on Action Figures and Artbook
- Anyone wanna bet there's gonna be a Failbook game to play too and maybe they'll offer Dr. Pepper codes like Battlefield 3?

Oh look, someone berating me for taking the other side of the argument and not mindlessly jumping on the dog pile...not gonna lie saw that one coming a mile away. Here's why I'm not jumping off of the ship
-Playing it on xbox
-playing it on xbox
-Key word being LOOKS I made a thread way back when describing how the game had changed up a bit from what I read in a game informer article, you can probably find it in my recent post. P.S. what's wrong with GOW? ME2's combat kicked ass, way better than the lousy stuff in ME1
-EVERY game does that, Halo does it, Call of Duty does it, Fallout does it, Space Marine did that ME2 did it, and I doubt that your experience will fall apart from not having every little gimmicky piece of armor or weapon.
-Yeah, you have to play a demo for a ridiculous looking gun and set of armor, how tragic. You know I honestly think that that's a great idea, put up a free demo and offer prizes for playing.
-See my original post and look for the bit about the meal and the free drink
-Oh I get it, you put fail book instead of Facebook ha ha ha. Pure speculation.

Maybe I don't like to jump to conclusions and automatically assume that everything will be crap even before the game comes out, ever think of that?

well said man well said.

OT: like the guy i quoted said you should not be buying this for the dlc you should be buying this because its a kick ass art book.

 

[Formica Archonis]

I think I'll just blame everything on Pokemon.

But seriously, all of these items with bonus DLC is just marketing to the completionist crowd. I used to be a completionist until I realized they were using it against me to sell me stuff. Then I broke myself of the habit.

All these items with DLC have done for me is make me think that the products aren't good enough or popular enough to stand on their own, and that I already knew. Not to criticize the Mass Effect series, but action figures? Has the audience really been clamoring for those?

And when I think of "The Art of X" books I think of popular artists, cultural touchstones, or at least long-running franchises, not a two game series.

a 79 cent can of swill

I hear ya, man. I hear ya.

 

[weirdee]

If I just cobble together enough of these packs, I won't have to buy the actual game.