Mass Effect 3 Demo Provides Temp XBL Gold Access

@ptys:

It is not just a MP demo, there is a bit of SP content in there as well.

@DeadDorf said:

@patrickklepek This is incorrect, from the way I read it. Silver users will be able to play the demo, but will not get all the other Gold benefits.

If you're a Silver member, you'll still have to wait a week before you can download it.

@patrickklepek This is incorrect, from the way I read it. Silver users will be able to play the demo, but will not get all the other Gold benefits.

@Zaxex said:

@MordeaniisChaos: That's a little hostile. People have every right to complain if they're losing value on what they're paying for. Some people might also care about the small amount of money they're technically spending on nothing. Free Xbox Live Gold just seems a little inelegant of a way to publicise Mass Effect 3 to me.

You are not losing any value. None. Nothing about this has any direct effect on you. Stop pretending you're a victim.

It's nice that the demo is multiplayer only so you can get an idea of the mechanics without spoiling the real deal in the main game when you import Shepard!

I understand the benefits to Xbox Live Gold but online play should be free. No quarrels. No bullshit.

@MordeaniisChaos: That's a little hostile. People have every right to complain if they're losing value on what they're paying for. Some people might also care about the small amount of money they're technically spending on nothing. Free Xbox Live Gold just seems a little inelegant of a way to publicise Mass Effect 3 to me.

I just gotta have sex with that Turian again. Thats the end goal right?

@laserbolts: What? I don't really care myself, but I don't see any reason people can't complain about paying for a membership everyone gets for free for a while. Technically we're losing value. Unless you cancel your subscription when the free membership begins and re-up when it ends, you've been paying for a free subscription for a few weeks.

The whole thing's kind of weird. That they're pushing ME3 (specifically its multi-player?) so hard as to allow everyone access to it. The main reason people have Xbox Live Gold is to play online (I would expect). So, again I don't care, but technically this demo should be exclusive to Gold members on the Xbox 360, at least the multi-player portion.

@DefaultProphet said:

@Huey2k2 said:

@CosmicQueso said:

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

Oh for f's sakes... isn't the entitlement thing going just a tad bit far here?

Yes, how dare people who have been paying for Xbox Live for years and years be a little upset over the fact that people who haven't spent one single penny will be getting the same service as us, even if it is only temporarily.

FOR SHAME!

Man next you're gonna be upset at HBO for having a free weekend! OH NOES!

Or Baskin Robbins for offering ice cream samples. I paid perfectly good money for this Tooty Fruity, you freeloading pinkos!

Weren't people who bought Battlefield 3 supposed to have Beta Access in like. January? When did that go away and become a demo for everybody at the same time?

i was going to ask how can people argue over this but then internet

@Brodehouse: The game-play wasn't the draw for me personally. I didn't find it as satisfying as Gears of War, and tactically I usually was exploiting the game's mechanics on higher difficulties. There was a lot of running around boxes waiting for cool-downs as I recall. Given, I'm not great at the ME games but I generally enjoyed them despite that.

I don't know whether the multi-player in ME3 has any context or not; that would be what I find interesting. Especially as your team aren't the usual soldiers or space marines, but actual characters. I think ME has space for that too, you could probably gin up some reasons for co-operation with other people while still letting people use their characters.

Beyond that, my favourite parts of ME are the world and the dialogue, neither lend themselves particularly well to multi-player. Multi-player is generally of a higher quality than a few years ago when it was thrown in most every game, but I really don't think ME needed it.

@altairre said:

@MordeaniisChaos said:

You'd save what, 3 dollars? Fuck off. I have payed for Gold for a good few years now, and I'm perfectly a-ok with this. You're a fucking frugal idiot if you think you need those couple of weeks. Seriously, it's not even a month. Next thing you're going to ask that all your games come with Gold Extension cards because it's not fair that people who haven't spent anything can use those 2 days of gold, it should only be for paying members!

This is business, and it's a good thing of them to do. Are you going to bitch when Whiskey makes happy hours occasionally free to show people what their missing? No. But You're going to bitch about less than 5 dollars you aren't saving? Get over yourself.

I have nothing to add to this. Great post.

Spread the word!

@HatKing said:

@Rasgueado: I'm fine with free trials, those are offered to everybody (and most require some sort of purchase anyway). This is a free two week period of a service that some members are being charged for and others are not. I'm not that upset over it, I think the internet did a good job of completely misreading what was written--as usual--but simply pointing out that it would be pretty cool if Gold Members saw something for the money they are paying (ie: a couple week extension or even a coupon for a few points off a XBLA title).

How pissed were you when they had a free Gold weekend for Gears of War 3? Or MW3? Did you expect some XBLA points or some extended Gold time?

@wumbo3000: i think he meant just for the demo dude, not for the full game.

oh God, why do I read the comments? WHY!?!?!?

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

Why not cancel your Gold subscription to become a Silver member, take advantage of the this kind offer and then continue paying for your Gold?

ps. you sound like a miserly b*stard!!! *cough*

@MordeaniisChaos said:

You'd save what, 3 dollars? Fuck off. I have payed for Gold for a good few years now, and I'm perfectly a-ok with this. You're a fucking frugal idiot if you think you need those couple of weeks. Seriously, it's not even a month. Next thing you're going to ask that all your games come with Gold Extension cards because it's not fair that people who haven't spent anything can use those 2 days of gold, it should only be for paying members!

This is business, and it's a good thing of them to do. Are you going to bitch when Whiskey makes happy hours occasionally free to show people what their missing? No. But You're going to bitch about less than 5 dollars you aren't saving? Get over yourself.

I have nothing to add to this. Great post.

@Huey2k2 said:

@CosmicQueso said:

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

Oh for f's sakes... isn't the entitlement thing going just a tad bit far here?

Yes, how dare people who have been paying for Xbox Live for years and years be a little upset over the fact that people who haven't spent one single penny will be getting the same service as us, even if it is only temporarily.

FOR SHAME!

Man next you're gonna be upset at HBO for having a free weekend! OH NOES!

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

@wumbo3000: Only for the demo, to cut down on the bandwidth requirements. Voice audio files take up a heck of a lot of space and consequently increase the download time, so it's not surprising that they cut down on as many as possible by ignoring possible past player actions and just focusing on a few.

Keep in mind that services like Netflix and Hulu Plus require a separate subscription in addition to Xbox Live Gold. 
 
I never understood why they did that. Requiring two entirely separate paid subscriptions to access one service is shrewd.

@Rasgueado: I'm fine with free trials, those are offered to everybody (and most require some sort of purchase anyway). This is a free two week period of a service that some members are being charged for and others are not. I'm not that upset over it, I think the internet did a good job of completely misreading what was written--as usual--but simply pointing out that it would be pretty cool if Gold Members saw something for the money they are paying (ie: a couple week extension or even a coupon for a few points off a XBLA title).

@wumbo3000 said:

Wait. You can't import your custom Shepard to ME3? I thought this was gonna be a feature in all of the games! I really enjoyed how ME2 handled it. Damn that sucks.

You just can't bring it into the demo.

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

Oh for f's sakes... isn't the entitlement thing going just a tad bit far here?

As patently against typos as I am, Patrick, you should really leave it as "Hulu Plux", because that sounds like some sci-fi shit.

@Huey2k2 said:

@CosmicQueso said:

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

Oh for f's sakes... isn't the entitlement thing going just a tad bit far here?

Yes, how dare people who have been paying for Xbox Live for years and years be a little upset over the fact that people who haven't spent one single penny will be getting the same service as us, even if it is only temporarily.

FOR SHAME!

Cripes... only *now* does this practice annoy you? For years developers used to include thick card in their games that gave all those people who don't spend a single penny on xbox live a free MONTH gold access?

On the list of consumer deficit problems with the Xbox Live service... this doesn't rank all that high. I guess if it *really* bothers you... Steam is free.

@MordeaniisChaos said:

This is business, and it's a good thing of them to do. Are you going to bitch when Whiskey makes happy hours occasionally free to show people what their missing? No. But You're going to bitch about less than 5 dollars you aren't saving? Get over yourself.

This, 1000x this.

Oh, and this probably isn't the right time or place to ask (especially without doing the research for myself first), but given that Kinect for Windows is coming out now, will the PC version of ME3 support it too?

@Sharpless said:

@CosmicQueso said:

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

Oh for f's sakes... isn't the entitlement thing going just a tad bit far here?

Agreed. People complain when Microsoft's tight-fisted and restrictive, and people complain when Microsoft loosens up and throws users a bone. I'm pretty sure we gold members can live with paying a few bucks for something some people are temporarily getting for free.

The entitlement thing is about what is unearned. Gold members actually pay money for a service. That service is free for two weeks, but I highly doubt that Microsoft will be showing those who already paid for it any compensation. I don't care that Xbox Live is free for two weeks, but it should be free for everybody. Hardly entitlement.

Wait. You can't import your custom Shepard to ME3? I thought this was gonna be a feature in all of the games! I really enjoyed how ME2 handled it. Damn that sucks.

@Huey2k2 said:

@CosmicQueso said:

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

Oh for f's sakes... isn't the entitlement thing going just a tad bit far here?

Yes, how dare people who have been paying for Xbox Live for years and years be a little upset over the fact that people who haven't spent one single penny will be getting the same service as us, even if it is only temporarily.

FOR SHAME!

You are still receiving the exact service you agreed to pay for, nothing less at all. So there is absolutely zero injury to you that this promotion exists. You are not being hurt, you are not a victim.

Huh, that's cool. I just renewed, but that's still cool.@Huey2k2 said:

@CosmicQueso said:

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

Oh for f's sakes... isn't the entitlement thing going just a tad bit far here?

Yes, how dare people who have been paying for Xbox Live for years and years be a little upset over the fact that people who haven't spent one single penny will be getting the same service as us, even if it is only temporarily.

FOR SHAME!

You'd save what, 3 dollars? Fuck off. I have payed for Gold for a good few years now, and I'm perfectly a-ok with this. You're a fucking frugal idiot if you think you need those couple of weeks. Seriously, it's not even a month. Next thing you're going to ask that all your games come with Gold Extension cards because it's not fair that people who haven't spent anything can use those 2 days of gold, it should only be for paying members!

This is business, and it's a good thing of them to do. Are you going to bitch when Whiskey makes happy hours occasionally free to show people what their missing? No. But You're going to bitch about less than 5 dollars you aren't saving? Get over yourself.

That's kind of cool.  Hopefully it means that they believe in the MP and that maybe it's actually good.

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

I seriously hope you are kidding with a comment like this or I have lost all faith in humanity because of you.

My membership went out recently so this is pretty neat until I can save some. I will have to skip on Mass Effect 3 for a bit though.

@Lazyaza said:

Was it ever confirmed how much of the demo needed to be played to unlock the armor/daggers in Reckoning?

Check your Bioware account it should say if you have it or not.

@Sooty: The demo won't focus on MP, it will have both components. In fact, the MP section won't be active for a couple days after the demo is released.

There was a demo for ME2 which has the first mission and a mission in the middle (with a disclaimer about being spoileristic), and using the default male character... It worked pretty well.

Whats up with Shepard's tan?

Thanks EA for the gold membership. I fucking hate having to pay for some basic functionality in most of my games on the 360, so I decided to not do it anymore. But I hate EA even more, so having them pay for it instead works out just beautiful.

@CosmicQueso said:

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

Oh for f's sakes... isn't the entitlement thing going just a tad bit far here?

Yes, how dare people who have been paying for Xbox Live for years and years be a little upset over the fact that people who haven't spent one single penny will be getting the same service as us, even if it is only temporarily.

FOR SHAME!

@HatKing Don't get me started on those assholes who get to use a month of Netflix and quit after their free trail is over. While I sit here paying like a chump. Dumbass.

@HatKing said:

A little rubbed the wrong way that I'll be paying for a service Silver Members get for free. Maybe they'll extend existing Gold Members accounts a few weeks.

You're kind of a jerk.

Favorite Xbox feature is Hulu Plux!

including access to Hulu Plux, Netflix, etc.

Haha if only it worked like that in Europe.

@JoeyRavn said:

I wonder how much EA paid Microsoft for this. Still, I can't get excited about anything Mass Effect these days. Pity.

My guess is probably nothing, since they're already shilling for Microsoft with the whole "better with Kinect" feature when voice commands have worked in previous games on other platforms without Kinect, using headsets.

Can Gold just have a free month by downloading it?

Cool I guess.