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Giant Bomb News

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Mass Effect 2: January 26

That's soon!

"Shepard." 
OK, this is waaaay sooner than I was expecting it, but that's by no means a bad thing. It just means that we'll be playing Mass Effect 2 relatively soonish, because BioWare and EA have announced a January 26 release date for the game on Xbox 360 and PC. That's for North America. Europe will see the game on shelves a few days later, on January 29.

I guess that's it, so... oh hey, they also mention a couple of pre-order incentives. What, you thought 2010 was going to be different? If you slap down your money at GameStop, you'll get download codes for the "Terminus Gear," which includes a weapon and some armor. Here's the company line on those:
  • The Terminus Armor is designed for use in extreme planetary conditions, increasing run speed and personal shields, and augmenting weapons with an additional magazine of reserve ammo.
  • The M-90 Blackstorm Heavy Weapon generates a high-powered localized gravity well, accelerating particles to near-infinite mass,  and ultimately expanding the selection of heavy weapons available to players when they gear up for combat missions in Mass Effect 2.
If you pre-order from some other participating North American retailer, you'll end up with "Inferno Armor," which offers a negotiation bonus, increased run speed, and a damage bonus for your combat powers.

If you don't pre-order, you'll get some kind of plastic "box" that has a disc or disc-like device inside that says "Mass Effect 2" on it. If this Mass Effect 2 thing is as cool as the last one, that'll probably still be a pretty good deal.
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

117 Comments

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deactivated-5aeccee38cdf9

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Awesome!  And pre-order incentives like this are idiotic, if I'm really gonna be on the fence about a game and the thing to tip me over the edge won't be some gay-ass free armor.

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smokepants

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Edited By smokepants

My mass is erect at this pleasant surprise.

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ravensword

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Edited By ravensword

huh, I was figuring a March release date. anyway, cool beans.
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ch13696

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Edited By ch13696

If I don't pre-order do I also get the cool looking booklet inside the casing? Or do I get to hear the GameStop clerk say "ooooohhhhh we're all out. You should have pre-ordered it"

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spacetrucking

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Edited By spacetrucking
@Cornman89 said:
" Dude.  I mean...DUDE. "
Is that a Brad special now ? :)
 
Either way, I don't care. Its MASS EFFECT DUDE!!!!
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Jayzilla

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Edited By Jayzilla

this will be great. i really hope they differentiate the terrain and building types in ME2. Those flaws made doing anything other than the main storyline unbearable after a while in the first game. Also I hope that the weapons aren't just Roman Numerals as they get better. Nothing worse in a game than when your level 5 character has the same looking gun as your level 55 character and the only difference is dmg and it is the Stryker X as opposed to the Stryker II.

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Aeterna

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Edited By Aeterna

Awesome, do want!

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sickVisionz

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Edited By sickVisionz

Woo hoo.  It sucks that the pre-order is only for Gamestop.  It's funny that devs and pubs claim to dislike their business practices then they turn around and do exclusive deals to give GS even more money.

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wealllikepie

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Edited By wealllikepie
@Death_Unicorn:
CALM DOWN CALM DOWN DONT GET A BIG DICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
-seiji and andrey
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TomA

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Edited By TomA

Pure win

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HitmanAgent47

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Edited By HitmanAgent47

Can't wait, for the pc version.

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WinterSnowblind

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Edited By WinterSnowblind
@Nictel said:
" Hmmm why do I have the feeling that this 'exclusive' content will be in some future DLC pack along with some other stuff making the whole pre-order useless?  "
Because it almost definitely will.
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Zabant

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Edited By Zabant

PREORDER NOW AND WE WILL SEND YOU A HOOKER DRESSED AS AN ALIEN TO GIVE YOU A COMPLIMENTARY BLOWJOB

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Nictel

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Edited By Nictel

Hmmm why do I have the feeling that this 'exclusive' content will be in some future DLC pack along with some other stuff making the whole pre-order useless? 

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GrindAxis

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Edited By GrindAxis

Oh yes! I am excite! I'm getting a 360 later this month and Mass Effect is the first game i'm going to pop in! :D

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Galv

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Edited By Galv

Awesome! 
I think I'm just gonna get the plastic box that contains a disc. Fuck gamestop.
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WinterSnowblind

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Edited By WinterSnowblind

Mass Effect is easily my favourite game of this generation.  The few complaints I had with it have hopefully been fixed with this one.
Not a fan of pre-order items though, would have simply prefered a nice collectors edition that came with some extra stuff.
 
Hopefully we at least get one in the UK, considering how badly we've been screwed over with Dragon Age.

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AndrooD2

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Edited By AndrooD2

Yay.

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Cornman89

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Edited By Cornman89

Dude.
 
I mean...DUDE.

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CharlesAlanRatliff

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I was expecting March or later. Nice to know it is so soon! I can't wait. Mass Effect is one of my most favorite games.

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dogmanstaruk

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Edited By dogmanstaruk

I honestly can't wait for this game to drop.  Loved the first one to bits despite the small niggling things.
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dagas

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Edited By dagas

I was expecting several months later. I guess this is good news. I loved the first Mass Effect. Seems a bit soon though, but I guess 2 years is enough since they use much of the stuff from ME1. Maybe it's because another Bioware game (dragon age) is released soon, but I feel it's a bit early...It's going to be quite a busy time the upcoming months. Bring it on!

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Death_Unicorn

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Edited By Death_Unicorn

YEEEEEESS!

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MeatSim

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Edited By MeatSim

Games used to never come out in January, this is great.

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Shabs

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Edited By Shabs

Pre-order bonuses are weak if they include stuff like new weapons.
 
Pre-ordering at GameStop/EB just means standing in a big line the morning of release to maybe get the bonus if the store was sent enough codes.
 
...or I could walk into any other store that sells games and buy the game I want. 
 
 
On the plus side, Mass Effect in January pleases me greatly!

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deactivated-5f00787182625

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I'll play through ME 1 again before the release of 2, It's such a great game I have high expectations for this one.

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pa21ris

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Edited By pa21ris

Man I will be so broke by the end of January. Too bad video games aren't nutritious.

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vendetta

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Edited By vendetta

I'm going to have trouble waiting even for that long.

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wh1terav3n

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Edited By wh1terav3n
@Roboyto: No not totally, but they said that you will get SOMETHING if you're like 50 or 60. Prob depending on achievements.
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Kohe321

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Edited By Kohe321

This is awesome, can't wait!

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ArbitraryWater

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Edited By ArbitraryWater

Exclusive In-Game content for Pre-Ordering = bad, even if it is just stuff like this.

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Edited By Andheez

I find a lot of times i can get the pre-order bonus material without preordering. I'll just call in and ask them to set it aside for me because I will come in to pick it up and that will work, either that or all they have is the games with the pre-order/exclusive stuff.  Picked up Demons Souls, without any kinda pre-order or anything and got a nice art book and soundtrack cd.....not that I will do anything with either of them, but they were free....

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ez123

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Edited By ez123

Armor for a pre-order is fine but increased run speed?  -_- Fucken EA

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General_D23

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Edited By General_D23

Thank you Bioware! Oh, and you too EA. Mostly Bioware.  
 
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skaune

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Edited By skaune

Coolbeans!

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NoXious

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Edited By NoXious

EA and BioWare have been siding with GameStop as madmen lately!

What's the use in pre-ordering Dragon Age for the armor in Mass Effect 2 if pre-ordering Mass Effect 2 gives (better?) armor aswell? 

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mordukai

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Edited By mordukai

Dragon Age: Origins and Assassin's Creed 2 dropping on November and now this. Man so many games so little time.  

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TheHBK

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Edited By TheHBK

They should give incentives for not preordering and instead buying on day one or something.
 
Hope this means that by that time, Biowares other RPG, Dragon Age will have come down in price.  I remember getting Mass Effect and then seeing that thing roll all the way down to 20 bucks only a few months after.

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Carlos1408

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Edited By Carlos1408

I can't wait for this I'm so excited! :D

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Damian

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Edited By Damian

I don't want extra-powerful armour off the bat, unless it's from my ME1 save file. This is telling me not to pre-order it.
And I sure hope my disc is more than just disc-like, or I'm gonna be pissed.

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church069

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Edited By church069

What?!...............This is awesome. 
 
Alot sooner than I expected.
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wolf_blitzer85

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Edited By wolf_blitzer85

Huzzah! Just finished my second play through as a lady Shepard. Totally can't wait for 2 to get here!

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warchief

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Edited By warchief

its a real shame your level does not carry over kind of feel like i grinded to the cap for nothing. 

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Xeiphyer

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Edited By Xeiphyer

Great!! So soon! I was expecting march or april or something terrible!

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PsychedelicET

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Edited By PsychedelicET

Yea!  I really want to play this soon, so this is great news.

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Sniipe

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Edited By Sniipe

Two days before my birthday... But I gotta finish ME1 first!  Damn games I'm behind on...

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FinalDasa

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Edited By FinalDasa  Moderator

Now I really need to finish mass effect 1

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guiseppe

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Edited By guiseppe

This is awesome news :D.

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PJ

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Edited By PJ
@GagnarTheUnruly said:
" That is awesome.  It'll make the wait for SC II and Diablo III more bearable. "
Are you planing on playing Mass Effect 2 for 2 years? or longer?
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CactusWolf

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Edited By CactusWolf

Awesome.