Ordinarily, if a multiplayer-focused demo went up on Xbox Live, you’d need to have a Gold subscription in order to shoot at your friends, but that won’t be the case with Mass Effect 3.

When the Mass Effect 3 demo goes live on February 14, Silver members will temporarily graduate to Gold, and get all the benefits that come with that, including access to Hulu Plux, Netflix, etc.

According to Microsoft, the temporary lift will last “for the time leading to launch.” Mass Effect 3 is scheduled for March 6, so that’s a few weeks of playing around with Microsoft’s enhanced service.

Of course, there are no such requirements on PlayStation 3 or PC, so when the demo launches on both of those platforms on the same day, it’s business as usual. There is a single player component to the demo, as well, and you will not be able to import your save or custom Commander Shepard.

Ordinarily, if a multiplayer-focused demo went up on Xbox Live, you’d need to have a Gold subscription in order to shoot at your friends, but that won’t be the case with Mass Effect 3.

When the Mass Effect 3 demo goes live on February 14, Silver members will temporarily graduate to Gold, and get all the benefits that come with that, including access to Hulu Plux, Netflix, etc.

According to Microsoft, the temporary lift will last “for the time leading to launch.” Mass Effect 3 is scheduled for March 6, so that’s a few weeks of playing around with Microsoft’s enhanced service.

Of course, there are no such requirements on PlayStation 3 or PC, so when the demo launches on both of those platforms on the same day, it’s business as usual. There is a single player component to the demo, as well, and you will not be able to import your save or custom Commander Shepard.

A multiplayer demo of a Mass Effect game, it's exactly what I wanted! I'm a bit weirded out by it being focused on MP. Did they release a demo of 2? Did that demo work alright without MP?

Edit: aw hell naw no save importing? Well, I guess that makes sense.

I love hulu plux!

Sounds cool.

I guess expecting to import my custom femShep into the demo, oh well, now I'm wondering if I should even try the SP part of the demo. Mostly wanna play to see how my PC handles it

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

@HatKing: or they could just send you the two dollars in the mail.

@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?

@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.

Highly doubt we'll get any benefit. I'm sure EA (or whomever) paid for this specifically based on the number of silver members they would be supporting.

There was no more elegant solution to a multiplayer demo than giving everyone Xbox Live Gold? Unless they were pushing Gold and hoping people will buy it when their trial expires, it's a little odd. All the people playing Call of Duty have Xbox Live Gold, surely that's enough people who can play the demo.

I think ME3 will probably do fine, I still don't understand the inclusion of multi-player though. Is that what people want? I'm still looking forward to the game, it's one of those games that I know I will buy and enjoy so I don't usually follow its coverage, a la Skyrim.

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

Wow.

@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.

email them your home address and bill gates will personally send you a turd in a box

@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.

@CosmicQueso said:

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

you must be new to the internet. welcome and be cautious.

@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.

Thats a little ridiculous though. The people like myself who use Gold and re-up annually regardless won't be affected. If you play a lot of online games or just use the service you were going to get it anyway. It's not hurting anyone that they're giving silvers members 2 weeks of free gold out of the entire year. IF anything I thought this was unusually generous of Microsoft and knowing them someone dished out a lot of money for it.

I doubt that EA paid MS anything at all, sounds more likely MS are tripping over themselves to tag onto the the back of one of probably the biggest game this year.

After the huge expansion in gold services in the last fe months they'll be writing it off as trial advertising.

@patrickklepek I think you mean Hulu Plus

@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.

Are you serious. Like.....what the hell is wrong with you that you think this way?

Cool I guess.

Can Gold just have a free month by downloading it?

@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.

including access to Hulu Plux, Netflix, etc.

Haha if only it worked like that in Europe.

Favorite Xbox feature is Hulu Plux!

@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.

@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.

@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!

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.

Whats up with Shepard's tan?

@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.

@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.

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.

@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.

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

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.

@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.

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.

@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.

@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?

@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.

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

@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?

@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.

@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).

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.

@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.

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.