During their GamesCom conference earlier today, EA announced that Mass Effect 2 is coming to the Playstation 3.
Earlier this year, Mass Effect 2, the stellar RPG/Shooter from the award winning developer Bioware, was released for both the Xbox 360 and PC. Garnishing more than 70+ perfect review scores, the game was truly missed on the PS3. At the time of the games release there was no information released regarding a PS3 version of the game, leading people to believe that the game series would never see the light of day on a Sony console.
Many assumed EA didn"t want to release the second instalment of the franchise with out releasing the first, as the first Mass Effect title can’t be released on the PS3 without consent from Microsoft, as the game was published by Microsoft back in 2007 before Bioware became apart of Electronic Arts.
However, the wait is finally over for PS3 fans, earlier today, Electronic Arts officially announced the Playstation 3 version of Mass Effect 2, stating that it will release sometime in January 2011.
The début teaser trailer for Mass Effect 2 on PS3, shown at EA"s GamesCom conference
Described by the developers to have "hours of bonus content," the game is looking to give the PS3 owners some extra content not seen on the 360, what this entails however, is not being revealed by anyone at this time. But seeing how EA has "no plans" to release the first instalment, the "bonus" content may just be a small prequel to ME2, that acts as a summary of the story for Playstation gamers that may have missed it back in 2007.
IGN approached Microsoft for their feelings about one of, if not the best series on the 360, now "jumping ship" and flying to their competitor Sony.
"With both Mass Effect titles launching first on Xbox 360 combined with the wealth of available paid downloadable content on Xbox Live today, Xbox 360 remains the best place to experience the Mass Effect franchise," a Microsoft representative said in a statement to IGN.
The representative went on to say "And the original Mass Effect is absolutely an Xbox 360 exclusive, making Xbox 360 the only place to get the full Mass Effect experience." The spokesperson seems to be forgetting that both games released on the PC as well, meaning that the 360 is not the only place to experience the whole series.
But all of this does not hide the fact that, one of the biggest reasons to own a 360, is now heading to its competitor early next year.
Update: It seems that the bonus content for the PS3 version is most likely be in the form of an introductory section to the world of Mass Effect. Bioware boss Ray Muzyka, spoke to VG247 about what the content is going to be, and he had this to say.
“We’re making sure there’s a really seamless introduction to the world of Mass Effect, for players that haven’t experienced it before,” and going on to say; “So even though it’s Mass Effect 2 specifically, we’re making sure there’s a nice introduction experience, that provides the back-story and the things that have happened up to that point in the universe, and makes it a really seamless introduction.”
He then added, “We haven’t revealed what that is yet. It’ll be something that provides a good introduction and provides a lot of the back-story and introduces you well to the story-arc, and kind of makes you feel like you’re part of it all. And then you can jump right into the action in Mass Effect 2.”