BioWare Explains Mass Effect 3 Day One DLC

A post to the BioWare Social Network addresses reaction to the recent leak of details on From Ashes, a day-one DLC pack for Mass Effect 3. With some suggesting a boycott over the news (thanks Jason via PCWorld), BioWare's Mike Gamble wants it understood that this content was developed after the game:
As most of you know, yesterday there was a leak that revealed the upcoming DLC “ME3:From Ashes” on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. This leak took place before we were prepared to make an announcement about the details of that pack (slated for this Friday). There has been a lot of discussion about the DLC offering but we wanted to clarify a few things...

- “From Ashes” includes the Prothean squad mate, an adventure on Eden Prime, a new weapon, and an alternate appearance for every squad mate. Note that these alternate appearances are in addition to the ones already advertised in the CE.

- The Collectors Edition has been advertised from the beginning as containing a bonus character/mission, but we were not at liberty to provide the details. The Prothean is optional content that is certainly designed to appeal to long-time fans, which is why he is part of the CE offering (the version many fans would be likely to purchase). Mass Effect 3 is a complete – and a huge game - right out of the box.

- The content in “From Ashes” was developed by a separate team (after the core game was finished) and not completed until well after the main game went into certification.

- The Collectors Edition has been sold out in most places for some time now, and is becoming very hard to find (many players prefer not to purchase the digital version). As such, we wanted to make this content available so that SE buyers could also incorporate the Prothean into their game.

We’ll be releasing some images and video about this pack in the coming days.

As always, we are extremely thankful for all of your support. We pulled out all of the stops to make Mass Effect 3 the best game ever, and we can't wait for you all to experience it.
View : : :
75.
 
Re: BioWare Explains Mass Effect 3 Day One DLC
Feb 24, 2012, 19:14
75.
Re: BioWare Explains Mass Effect 3 Day One DLC Feb 24, 2012, 19:14
Feb 24, 2012, 19:14
 
briktal wrote on Feb 24, 2012, 16:30:
Beamer wrote on Feb 24, 2012, 16:16:
Do we know this is content?
If this stuff is half-baked it isn't content. If having this extra companion, even if they're an extinct species, adds nothing to the game (no quests, no special dialogue, nothing other than really something that looks different and yells different things during combat) I'd argue that it isn't content.

The real problem with these day one DLC characters is that they become half integrated into the game. They'll probably have as much personal quest stuff as the other characters, but they can't be as involved in the main plot of the game as the non-DLC characters, because the game has to work without them.

Why is this a bad thing? It might slightly diminish the quality of the DLC itself, but that's not an inssue with day-one DLC specifically...that's an issue with any DLC that has optional characters. Or really just a problem with non-universal content. Nothing in DLC can be "critical" to the core game.

The other thing with this day one DLC stuff: maybe they did work on it after the game was sent of to cert and blah blah, but it was almost a given, based on past games and industry trends, that there was going to be day one DLC made. If they didn't work on it until the "core" game was finished, did they talk about it before it was done? It might not be actual finished content cut from the main game, but it very well could be content they decided to schedule as day one DLC and not part of the "core" game.

So? You think every bit of content talked about, planned, or even started for a game either makes into the "core" game or is released as DLC later? A lot of the content of any creative endeavor like this ends up cut before a game is "done"...in various stages of completion. Again, what you buy as a game is what you get...not what you don't get, what the developers have decided to sell seperately, and certainly not a perpetual license to any future content.
Date
Subject
Author
5.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
11.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
8.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
12.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
15.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
14.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
16.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
60.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
87.
Feb 25, 2012Feb 25 2012
88.
Feb 25, 2012Feb 25 2012
24.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
26.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
29.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
30.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
31.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
34.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
36.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
41.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
53.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
61.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
62.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
64.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
66.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
67.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
 75.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
        Re: BioWare Explains Mass Effect 3 Day One DLC
76.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
79.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
85.
Feb 25, 2012Feb 25 2012
86.
Feb 25, 2012Feb 25 2012
90.
Feb 25, 2012Feb 25 2012
92.
Feb 25, 2012Feb 25 2012
70.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
71.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
72.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
89.
Feb 25, 2012Feb 25 2012
59.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
95.
Feb 25, 2012Feb 25 2012
58.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
81.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
82.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012
83.
Feb 24, 2012Feb 24 2012