A few copies of Mass Effect 3 are heading into space, and EA isn't responsible if they bring the Reapers back with them.
[quote]How far would you be willing to go to play Mass Effect 3 early? Many people jumped at the chance to download the newly available demo, while others will likely stay out late for a midnight release at their local game shops, or hope against hope that Amazon ships out a few early copies. However, six extremely impatient fans won't have to wait until March 6, provided they don't mind doing some legwork. Next week, publisher Electronic Arts will launch six copies of Mass Effect 3 into space. Fans will be able to track their descent back to Earth's surface and, with a little luck, pick up a free copy of the game well in advance of its official release.
Within the next seven days, EA will launch six weather balloons bearing copies of Mass Effect 3 over the cities of New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Berlin, London, and Paris. By monitoring the Mass Effect official website and Twitter account, fans can track the games' movement via GPS over the cities and out into the world beyond. Whoever arrives to the landing zone first can claim the game, although EA does not specify whether it is launching PC, 360, or PS3 versions of the games. One must also wonder what will happen if the game lands in water - you know, that stuff that covers 70% of Earth's surface.
While these balloons will not leave Earth's gravitational field (or even come anywhere close), they will technically arrive in the upper atmosphere, otherwise known as "near space." Weather balloons routinely reach heights of 90,000 feet or more, placing them well into the stratosphere, and can maintain this altitude for hours at a time. While it's not quite the system-hopping galactic exploration that has become almost synonymous with Mass Effect, it's still the closest that any game in the series has come to the distant star systems and planets it routinely depicts.
Whether you want to chase after a falling weather balloon for an early copy of a game that's only a few weeks away will largely depend on how much you like Mass Effect, and what your other plans for that day may be. If you do decide to pursue one of these games, just hope with all your heart that the hostile alien life is confined to the game itself; extremophlic life forms from near space can be really problematic.[/quote]
[img]http://media.gamerevolution.com/images/misc/mass-effect-3-space.jpg[/img]
Source: [url]http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2012/02/mass-effect-3-becomes-true-space-oddity-/1?AID=4992781&PID=4164945&SID=137f523p0mv15#.Tz-w8tT00sL[/url]
Wait, if those are complete, playable copies then surely the game is ready for release?
If those are complete, playable copies then surely they'll be uploaded and the pirate folks will be able to get a significant head start on cracking them, potentially having a cracked version completed BEFORE release date.
Not sure if this is a clever move on EAs part.
[QUOTE=Shibbey;34740336]Wait, if those are complete, playable copies then surely the game is ready for release?[/QUOTE]
Games are usually complete and ready to be shipped at least a month before the release date. The time between going gold and the actual release date allows them to search for weird bugs and such, so they can come out with a day-zero or day-one patch.
[QUOTE=Shibbey;34740336]Wait, if those are complete, playable copies then surely the game is ready for release?[/QUOTE]
It's always like that, games are finished and don't get released for like a month, I think they do that to coordinate worldwide releases and the likes so that it isn't a big clusterfuck of a mess.
Can you shoot them down?
Hell use a laser.
snip!
[QUOTE=Shibbey;34740336]Wait, if those are complete, playable copies then surely the game is ready for release?[/QUOTE]
You fool!
Those are only empty covers!
The Cd's will create themselves inside the covers once the release date is reached!
i can imagine them landing in the Atlantic ocean, killing everthing
but what if it breaks
-Null and void-
-offer not available in nebraska-
Wait until they land in private property where the landowner doesn't know what a video game is. First person to come get it gets shot on sight.
[QUOTE=Drsalvador;34741401][img]http://kcoy.images.worldnow.com/images/11895024_BG1.jpg[/img]
Seriously, EA can afford to do this shit because they've got more money than God.[/QUOTE]
you do realise that these are being sent up by balloons, right? It's not expensive in the slightest.
[QUOTE=BlkDucky;34741442]you do realise that these are being sent up by balloons, right? It's not expensive in the slightest.[/QUOTE]
In that case then, my statement is null and void. Disregard it.
[QUOTE=Drsalvador;34741451]In that case then, my statement is null and void. Disregard it.[/QUOTE]
Snip it.
[quote]While these balloons will not leave Earth's gravitational field (or even come anywhere close)[/quote]
Way to science, fellas.
Buy a shotgun, hide in a bush near the landing zone.
As soon as the disc is close to the ground, pop out, yell PULL and shoot it.
The weeks in hospital due to the horde of fans punching the fuck out of you will be worth the PRICELESS look on their faces.
LoL what if the moisture in the atmosphere gets inside the case and then freezes to the DVD, ruining it. So someone tracks it and manages to climb a tree that the parachute is stuck only to find that there is nothing but CORRUPTED DATA.
[QUOTE=Heigou;34740403]It's always like that, games are finished and don't get released for like a month, I think they do that to coordinate worldwide releases and the likes so that it isn't a big clusterfuck of a mess.[/QUOTE]
plus, those disks don't burn themselves.
[quote] EA does not specify whether it is launching PC, 360, or PS3 versions of the games.[/quote]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/xSRmS.jpg[/img]
PFFFFCHPBTPFFCH
Cue them falling in the ocean and never being found again.
[QUOTE=Saber15;34740397]Games are usually complete and ready to be shipped at least a month before the release date. The time between going gold and the actual release date allows them to search for weird bugs and such, so they can come out with a day-zero or day-one patch.[/QUOTE]
Well, that and press millions of DVDs and ship them out to retailers
I hate to say it, but this is actually an interesting thing for EA to do
I can imagine Valve doing this with EP3, but just hiding them around various parts of the country, and posting clues of their whereabouts on the internet
oh man that would be so cool for an ARG
[QUOTE=Jackald;34740078]Imagine how awkward it'd be if a bunch of fans started duking it out cause they all got to the same landing spot.
Tearing each others' cosplay costumes up, throwing weak punches at each other, spouting quotes from the game. Hell, i'd pay just to see that.[/QUOTE]
i've had enough of your snide insinuations
[QUOTE=DeadCow;34742539][img]http://i.imgur.com/xSRmS.jpg[/img]
PFFFFCHPBTPFFCH[/QUOTE]
It's a photoshop you dolt.
[QUOTE=G-Strogg;34742757]It's a photoshop you dolt.[/QUOTE]
I know, I just found it amusing they have that picture on the article page :v:
Wait till all of them go into the water and then add more fucking junk to the Ocean.
[QUOTE=Heigou;34740403]It's always like that, games are finished and don't get released for like a month, I think they do that to coordinate worldwide releases and the likes so that it isn't a big clusterfuck of a mess.[/QUOTE]I recall reading somewhere that games have to be finished something like 45 days before their release date.
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