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Mass Effect 2's Cerberus Network $15 Without Activation Code

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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Earlier this week, BioWare revealed that Mass Effect 2’s downloadable content will be delivered via the in-game “Cerberus Network.” Access to this network -- and the promised launch-day DLC -- is granted free via a one-time-use code included with each new copy of the game.

You can still access the Cerberus Network if you purchase the game used, but you’ll have to pony up a fair amount for the privilege -- 1200 Microsoft Points ($15) to be precise.

Click“read more” to see the Cerberus Network membership card and screenshots from the network itself. Click any screenshot to see a larger version.

 

Why is it so expensive? Well, most used-game outlets sell the most recent games for $5-$10 less than the cost of a new game. Now add $15 to the price tag if you want the same experience out of the box as someone who purchased a new copy. Voila! It’s now cheaper for you to buy the game new, which makes BioWare and EA very happy.

I fired up Bitmob’s shiny, new copy of Mass Effect 2 to see what the Cerberus Network currently has to offer. The computer display in the main menu immediately informed me that new content was available. I was able to download the Normandy Crash Site mission, but was unable to download the Blood Dragon Armor and the bounty hunter, Zaeed. This could be because I had yet to start a new game, or because the game doesn’t come out until next week and the content simply hasn’t been added to the network yet.

Check out the gallery below for a look at the Cerberus Network membership card and screenshots from the network.

 
Tags: Mass Effect 2, Cerberus Network
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Comments (32)
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Robsavillo
Rob Savillo
January 21, 2010
I feel this is counter-intuitive. Charging for the access to spend more money on the game won't necessarily ensure that players buy new. That a certain segment of players will never have access to DLC is all but assured, though.
Redeye
Jeffrey Sandlin
January 21, 2010
i'm suprised at how viciously Bioware has been pushing DLC lately, and how clumsy and inelegant it feels when they do it.
There184
Alex Martin
January 21, 2010
@Rob I thought this thing was for little, free DLC. I would think they're more sensible than to charge $15 for the privilege of giving them more money. Notice all items on those shots are priced 0MSP. They'll probably put the paid DLC on the regular marketplace as well as here. If they like money, that is.
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Luke Flora
January 21, 2010
I think this is the best solution for developer's issues with the secondary market. They aren't leaving out essential content nor are they eliminating the secondary market by offering the game solely through digital distribution. It rewards you if you bought the game new, and gives you the option to give the dev a cut if you nought it used. Everybody wins.
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Jon Cole
January 21, 2010
[quote]i'm suprised at how viciously Bioware has been pushing DLC lately, and how clumsy and inelegant it feels when they do it. [/quote] I'm even more surprised how much people like to whine about "vicious" strategies that good studios are using to make money that they justifiably deserve. I imagine you're also referring to Dragon Age, which offers more quality game content for the $60 you pay than 90% of the games out there. Yeah, it sucks that you have to pay money for more stuff, but the simple fact that you're getting more than your money's worth for the initial product escapes somehow most people.
Redeye
Jeffrey Sandlin
January 21, 2010
@ Jon. To explain myself further. I was more reffering to the fact that bioware's interfaces and design for their games are spending more space and more effort pushing their DLC into the consumer's face in a clumsy fashion. Such as NPCs offering you quests that you then have to buy and having a seperate service and menu for DLC that complicates the normally simple procedure of just buying it from x-box live for x box users. I at no point wished to complain that DLC existed.
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Jon Cole
January 21, 2010
Sure, you addressed the second part of your statement, but you still didn't argue the point that I had a problem with: [quote]i'm suprised at how viciously Bioware has been pushing DLC lately[/quote] There's a pretty big difference between vicious and inelegant.
Redeye
Jeffrey Sandlin
January 21, 2010
and I consider including hooks for the DLC in the actual game to be rather vicious. So what? Please stop needling me on semantics. It's pointless and only draws attention away from the actual discussion.
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Brian Shirey
January 21, 2010
I personally like this decision in marketing. The only ones hurting are the used game market and lets face it, they are not the ones they help us all get great games made for us. The simple thing is to buy the game new like you should so the people that created the game earn the money they deserve, not the people that extort others to make huge cash. I certainly don't like the idea of this first day DLC though. That stuff needs to be put in the game, or have a code available to those that purchased the game to download it for free. Stop skimming people for more cash and underhandedly increasing the cost of the game for stuff that is most likely on the disk or could have been included on the disk.
Redeye
Jeffrey Sandlin
January 21, 2010
I personally don't have much of a problem with this specific solution to the used market cutting into their sales. I just think that it might not be the best time for Bioware to push such a thing forward. I stated earlier my general discomfort about their DLC policy lately. The design decisions, marketing, and general feel of Bioware DLC as of late makes everything they do feel like a mercenary money making venture to me. The DLC is not in the background enough. It feels like their attempts to push DLC is horning in on the respectability and finished feel of their games. I don't neccisarily think their motives aren't genuine but their marketing and design decisions put them severely off message and make me question if somewhere along the way Bioware's marketing branch got too seperated from it's game makers, or if maybe this sort of thing is something EA is encouraging. I'm also not a fan of mass effect being advertised on dr pepper bottles. It's an RPG with serious character development not a mass market shooter. Just doesn't seem like the people marketing it know who they are trying to reach. At least they are funding bitmob. That was marketing money very well spent ^.^.
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Ian Lucier
January 21, 2010
@Brian the thing about [i]this[/i] particular day one DLC as far as I can tell is that it's free. The purpose of it is to discourage sale of used games, or piracy. To the person who buys the game new at retail there is no downside to it unless of course you have dial-up or something like that. I'm not necessarily for paid day-one DLC however since that is stuff that should have been on the disc most likely, and I think of that as kind of slimy business.
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Jon Shults
January 21, 2010
I echo Luke's statement. This kind of thing was expected, given how big of a market used games are becoming. I think this is a perfectly reasonable way to handle it. Didn't Gears of War do something very similar? If you bought it new you got a code to redeem something that normally costs money?
Paul_gale_network_flexing_at_the_pool_2
Paul Gale
January 21, 2010
They certainly have to look out for their best interest.
Waahhninja
Tom Heistuman
January 21, 2010
@Jeffrey I actually enjoyed the way Dragon Age kept the game running while letting me know I could be getting content. The DLC is still available on Marketplace but for those that just threw in the game without looking, the option is there. As for how "vicious" a practice it is, blame EA. It's their strategy to include a menu option (as some games do now) and try to add the incentive of having this content be free if you buy it new. The Saboteur did it (although the content was garbage) but I wouldn't be surprised if Dante's Inferno releases with the same deal. I think it's a smart gimmick to get people to buy new.
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Ian Lucier
January 21, 2010
I retract most of my previous post. Brian's second paragraph was what I was replying to mostly, his first paragraph seems mostly in agreement with what I said. More of me making a fool of myself, oh joy.
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Kevin Xing
January 21, 2010
I found this to be pretty awesome because it combats used game sales. If you want to be cheap and not support the developers, then you can go do that, but that's just stupid. I'd also like to point out that even Saboteur battled against used game sales, by giving free nudity. Maybe more alien sideboob with the Cerberus Network? lol
Andrewh
Andrew Hiscock
January 21, 2010
I haaaaaate this type of business strategy. Loathe, in fact. Get Ron Popeil, because there's got to be a better way.
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Dan "Shoe" Hsu
January 21, 2010
I thought the mainstream marketing was a bit weird, too. I really didn't like that commercial for that special GameStop pre-order gun, where it teleports bad guys into the urinal. That really doesn't fit the serious sci-fi vibe of ME very well.
Redeye
Jeffrey Sandlin
January 21, 2010
I think Gamestop is solely responsible for the commercials for their pre order specials based off of how universally bad and inconsiderate of a game's audience they are. The halo ODST commercials were a little bleh as well. Well it seems like this is an example of 'too many cooks spoil the broth' then. In between EA shoving it's DLC marketing strategy and soda marketing down Bioware's throat and gamestop being the inconsiderate money hounds they are their isn't really anything Bioware can do to protect it's own image of quality and respect for the consumer. It's a shame, really.
Pax_dsi_01
Matt Giguere
January 21, 2010
I think this is a step in the right direction. I don't see the problem in getting something for free if you buy it new. I mean, this isn't Namco releasing unlock codes of game right after a release, and to Bioware's credit they have been toying with dlc since the first Neverwinter Nights.
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Eric Hwang
January 21, 2010
This is a good first step to fighting the used game market. Bioware is not punishing those who buy it used in this scenario; rather, they are just putting a dollar value for access to a non-essential component to the game (DLC). Removing the incentive to buying used will be an iterative process. As long as the core game is unaffected, I think this a suitable and fair solution.
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Toby Davis
January 21, 2010
@Dan maybe it is just another way to say Gamestop is headed to the toilet.
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Joshua Henderson
January 21, 2010
I like the idea of having this feature for free because I bought the game new. Being rewarded for such a thing is a refreshing change.
Robsavillo
Rob Savillo
January 21, 2010
Beware, Eric. Developers and publishers "fight" the second-hand market at their own peril.
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Chris Hernandez
January 21, 2010
Extra content for new-game buyers sounds fine to me so long as it's not abused. Bioware is just making a really bad decision in how they frame it in this case. Cerberus comes across looking like they're selling access to a store, rather than giving away bonus content. Also, it seems a little antagonistic of them to put content behind a pay-wall, and then name the service after the guardian of the gates of Hades.
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Luke Flora
January 21, 2010
@Andrew - Would you mind elaborating a bit? Is there a better solution for developers to encourage people to buy games new, but not punish people who buy them used, or worse yet, completely restrict people from buying used? I think the concept is a win-win scenario for everyone involved. Now, when developers start listening to Mark Rein's crap and make the ending available only as DLC or free only to new game buyers, then I'll find it reprehensible. As far as Dragon Age and the Warden's Keep situation, I guess I'm either in a small minority or a very silent majority that didn't mind the in-game pitch. While some folks say it took them out of the experience, I found it preferable to be pitched the adventure hook in-game during the natural course of my adventure. Look at Fallout 3, while I love the game, receiving a message about a quest my character should have no knowledge about while I'm wandering around the Capitol Wasteland is far more jarring.
Redeye
Jeffrey Sandlin
January 21, 2010
I see what you mean Luke, but it would have been better overall for the NPC to not show up at your camp until you bought it, IMO. I appreciate it actually being a part of the game world when you do buy it, but to build a game with in game in storyline advertisement for dlc built into the game on day one raises a lot of questions I don't think Bioware should be raising about their games.
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Jon Cole
January 21, 2010
Dr. Greg recently cleared up this situation with Joystiq, for those who are fretting about a paid marketplace. Cerberus will be a platform for the delivery of both free and paid DLC, the free DLC being exclusive to Cerberus. The other, paid content will be available through both the in-game marketplace and the standard Xbox Live Marketplace. [Source: [url=http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/22/mass-effect-2-dlc-not-only-available-through-cerberus-network/]Joystiq[/url]]
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Erik Schmidt
January 21, 2010
There's so much I want to say about this. Most of all I want to express that I pay for Xbox Live to be my hub for DLC. I think DLC is one of the biggest rip-offs in video games history. Although I purchased Borderlands, both DLC's and totally got MY monies worth. I would just like to see the DLC at a cheaper price overall. Remember Fable Pub Games? $15 dollars for a hub to download $10 DLC. Based on the DLC for the first Mass Effect I could care less actually. Don't be a Jimmy! What will other companies do with DLC after this comes out.?
Redeye
Jeffrey Sandlin
January 22, 2010
thanks for the clarification Jon. That makes this particular decision make more sense. It's pretty much a 'why not?' sort of thing now. More power to them.
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Luke Flora
January 22, 2010
@Erik - Read the comment above yours. You're not paying for a hub to be able to buy paid DLC. @Jeffrey - I agree that the NPC appearing in your camp was not the best place, but I think him pitching the DLC prior to purchase would be fine if he was in a better location. I thought the concept was kind of clever and made me more inclined to buy the DLC than if I had just seen it on the Live Marketplace.
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Kevin Xing
January 25, 2010
Pingback! I linked some of the images and linked this article to a thread on a forum. Hope you don't mind. http://wikicheats.gametrailers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1533

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