It seems Mass Effect 2 isn’t as far off as we thought. With the upcoming release of Dragon Age: Origins early next month, it was almost assumed that the titles would be spaced out a little further apart. But BioWare announced yesterday that ME2 will be following close on the heels of DA:O, dropping on January 26 2010 in the US, and 29 in Europe. The announcement came with details of the preorder options available and their in-game bonuses.
It’s been a relatively quiet month for ME2 as BioWare has been focusing its efforts on spreading the word on DA:O. With the almost ridiculous extent to which gamers have been given choices on preorder bonus DLC, it’s no surprise that the developer will be using some of the same ideas with ME2. There’s already a bit of cross-pollination with the Blood Dragon Armour (usable in both games) awarded in one of the DA:O preorder options, and now there are two more opportunities. Currently it looks like these options are available to US preorderers only, the choices being between getting the game at Gamestop, and everywhere else. The Gamestop bonus is the Terminus Armour and M-90 Blackstorm Heavy Weapon, and the everywhere-else bonus is the Inferno Armour. Both outfits look quite dapper as you can in the screens below.
As I mentioned earlier there has been less attention on ME2 as of late, though there is still media being trickled out from time to time. The latest trailer (embedded after the jump) introduces a new character, Subject Zero (pictured above), whom you can ask to join your ranks. This new video most certainly didn’t drop with any lack of ripples; the general “edgy” direction of the sequel’s promotion seems to have finally strayed a bit too close to the current debacle that is the DA:O marketing campaign. The knee-jerk reactions to this worrying shift were so drastic it prompted a cautionary counter-reaction from Martyn.
I have been, for some time now, ever-so-slightly weirded out by the overall response to recent trailers for both Dragon Age and Mass Effect II. I hope you guys aren’t getting all high-brow on me now, because with each release of a new trailer, a progressively growing influx of critics seems to creep out of the woodwork, fighting for a better seat in the great ivory tower of condescension.
