Mass Effect 2 - Firewalker Pack Announced - Hammerhead Driving Vehicle Included

A DLC for ME2, called Firewalker Pack will be released in late March, has Bioware finally revealed. It will feature the Hammerhead assault vehicle as well as five missions for it. It will be available to all members of the Cerberus Network free of charge. Later this month, it seems that Bioware will release a brand new weapon as a free dlc, too, also available free of charge to all members of the Cerberus Network.

The Hammerhead assault vehicle is coming to the Cerberus Network in late March!
Free to all Cerberus Network members, the Firewalker pack includes 5 all new missions featuring the Hammerhead. Hovering over the battlefield at up to 120 kilometeres per hour, the Hammerhead also boasts a guided missile system ensuring accuracy even during aggressive maneuvering.
Additionally we will be revealing a new heavy weapon available to all Cerberus Network members very soon. Stay tuned for more info on this new addition to the Mass Effect 2 arsenal, coming this month!

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More information.

I liked the whole mission setup of Mass Effect 2 especially the companion ones. personally i'm in favour of EA's new trend with packaging the free stuff later on for original owners. Good thing I've been weaning myself of used games anyhow. In this case however I'd have been irked if it did cost something though because the Hammerhead was infact in the manual, which wasn't very expansive in the first place. On a side note did anyone else think Thane was voiced by Gene Hackman at first? One of my favourite characters in years.

Last time i checked the pirates were playing all those games with DLC, including the DLC. So this whole thingie of cuting content to later make into DLC for legit users is kind of stupid, i think. They'll be playing with the Hammerhead just as everyone else, the only ones who will get shafted are the second hand buyers.

Why does it matter what the pirates are doing? And why should second-hand buyers be guaranteed the same deal as new?

It matters what they are doing since this isn't really something created afterwards, as an expansion pack, but the evidence suggest it is something that was part of the game and was taken away, and the only reasons to do so and then release it as DLC is to add value to buying a new original instead of downloading the torrent or buying an used game. As long as the pirates have access to the full range of DLC, though, this isn't going to make anyone stop pirating so it is just a lame try to stop people selling the game afterwards. In other words they are taking away something that was going to be in the original game for no other reason than to lower the comparative value of your game if you later want to sell it.

Nyapocalypse said:

In other words they are taking away something that was going to be in the original game for no other reason than to lower the comparative value of your game if you later want to sell it.

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I think there´s one more - keeping the game on the map.
That doesn´t mean I like it. I don´t.

Nyapocalypse said:

It matters what they are doing since this isn't really something created afterwards, as an expansion pack, but the evidence suggest it is something that was part of the game and was taken away, and the only reasons to do so and then release it as DLC is to add value to buying a new original instead of downloading the torrent or buying an used game. As long as the pirates have access to the full range of DLC, though, this isn't going to make anyone stop pirating so it is just a lame try to stop people selling the game afterwards. In other words they are taking away something that was going to be in the original game for no other reason than to lower the comparative value of your game if you later want to sell it.

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And? I doubt anyone thinks it's going to solve piracy but it seems a reasonable corporate strategy to apply some gentle pressure that may (may) have some impact on casual pirates. I don't see why they shouldn't try to gently address the second-hand market, either.

Drawing some arbitrary line about the development timeline is a waste of time. Characters, quests and locations are routinely cut from games (how many mods are out there to re-instate existing, semi-complete content?) and even if they might have originally planned to include the Hammerhead, we can't be sure it might not have been cut, changed, scaled-back or whatever as the pointy end of the shipping date approached.

The only thing you can (and should) do is judge the game on its merits. Is it worth your cash as shipped? Pay your money - or not, as appropriate. Or wait a few weeks and collect all the DLC together. As for the seconds market, same thing applies. This DLC stuff is mostly frippery around the edges - an armour here, a new weapon there; the core game is still the same.

I must admit I find this dribbling out of bitty DLC very annoying. I bought the game and played it through - now, weeks later they release additional stuff that could have enhanced that play experience.I'm certainly not going to replay the game just so I can drive around in an armoured vehicle - if it was ready earlier, why not release it all at once? Or aggregate DLC into a sizable bundle that might encourage a replay? The only DLC worthy of the name was the mercenary bloke - the other stuff is really trivial frippery which I doubt any 'pirate' will miss (if that was their intention). It's like eating 0-calorie food - essentially pointless.

Another theory could be that the publisher actually HAVE realized that they can't stop the pirates in the long run and are instead trying to focus on 2 specific areas: The leaked versions that often hit the internet days or weeks before the official release and the used game market.

With day 0 DLC's as seen in both DA:O and ME2, the leaked versions become less attractive and with all DLC's being managed through the Cerberus Network, which is free only for the original buyer, they at least get a little bit of income from the used game market.

Not a bad idea at all as far as I'm concerned.

For free? I am surprised, as I was pretty sure that the vehicle would be the first DLC that would have to be paid for.

Oh well, if I'm still playing the game by that time, I'll be sure to download this. I kinda missed the Mako (in terms of combat).

@ Dhruin

"And? I doubt anyone thinks it's going to solve piracy but it seems a reasonable corporate strategy to apply some gentle pressure that may (may) have some impact on casual pirates. I don't see why they shouldn't try to gently address the second-hand market, either."

The presure on the pirates is the same than before, since the DLC is not precisely hard to fool and the only one that has been released so far and is, like, kind of hard to install is Pinacle Station for ME1, and that's just because no one cared enough to clean up the procedure a bit. One of Dragon Age's DLC thingies even got a scene release before there was a legit way to get it.

And let's not forget the pirates get all those pre order stuffies and thingies when you, the legit customer, don't.

And the second hand market i don't think is going to be affected in a good way. You can buy this game, that afterward you are not going to be able to sell to recover most of the money for another game or will only be able to sell for a much smaller price than before, or pirate it and buy that other game instead, which you can afterwards sell to recover most of the investment and buy another one. Which option is the smarter one?

Nyapocalypse said:

@ Dhruin

"And? I doubt anyone thinks it's going to solve piracy but it seems a reasonable corporate strategy to apply some gentle pressure that may (may) have some impact on casual pirates. I don't see why they shouldn't try to gently address the second-hand market, either."

The presure on the pirates is the same than before, since the DLC is not precisely hard to fool and the only one that has been released so far and is, like, kind of hard to install is Pinacle Station for ME1, and that's just because no one cared enough to clean up the procedure a bit. One of Dragon Age's DLC thingies even got a scene release before there was a legit way to get it.

And let's not forget the pirates get all those pre order stuffies and thingies when you, the legit customer, don't.

And the second hand market i don't think is going to be affected in a good way. You can buy this game, that afterward you are not going to be able to sell to recover most of the money for another game or will only be able to sell for a much smaller price than before, or pirate it and buy that other game instead, which you can afterwards sell to recover most of the investment and buy another one. Which option is the smarter one?

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You are rather foolish to think that the publisher cares about the second hand market, matter of fact they hate it. They make 0 profit on it, the game store makes all the profit. So yeah, they are hoping to ruin that.

Secondly, you sure know alot of what is required to pirate it...how much research did you put into it?

@ rune_74

Don't say? I know the publishers are trying to kill the second hand market, that's one of the reasons i'm taking potshots at those stuffies and the somewhat distracted people who go all Yay, free stuff! without first giving too much consideration to the fact we would have got it for free anyway if they had not took it away from the game to begin with, or start deluding themselves this has to do with stoping the evil zombie cyber pirates instead of limiting your chances of not being a collector.

On the other topic, and since i have yet to see an easy to recognize thingie titled forum rules where to clicky click, i'll only say i'm a firm believer on… unlimited and unrestricted demos, shall we say? Exhaustively trying thingies and stuffies by means of not removing them from an inventory, as those from Fair Codexia usually say? Fifteen men on the dead man's chest, etc? I'm pretty sure you get the drifty drift by now, ye landlubber. Nya.

Since the conversation has been intelligent so far, let's tread carefully with the piracy stuff, please.

I completely get most of the DLC - though not necessarily all - might have been included in the first place. Where we differ, is I believe businesses have a right to develop strategies to reduce both piracy and, for that matter, the second hand market. While I think BioWare has been pretty wobbly so far (in terms of both the delivery and the design), it's an approach that I think strikes a reasonable compromise between their interests and mine.

As for the "delusion" of their real target, I'm also quite aware that this is a battle. You are waging a PR battle as much as they. For all that companies might misrepresent the effect and scope of piracy, so do the pirates. As fatbastard points out, it's much harder to have complete 0-day wares if DLC is only released online on launch day. No, it won't effect the serious pirates - but casual downloaders who are looking forward to a major release might just decide to pony up the cash for this one.

Of course they can adopt any and all measures they want. I am not really discusing piracy here, but DLC and piracy went to be a side argument because the, i interpreted, somewhat malicious question Rune did. And as all ideas they come with this may have some merit on it's own, but the execution kind of fail. What have we have so far? Stuffies removed from the game (one companion on Dragon Age, one companion on Mass Effect 2, and that totally not stolen from warhammer flying tank for Mass Effect 2), total rip offs (a chest! A space station where you have bot machs with bots they forgot to give an A.I to! Go back to ostagar and get more loot to fill that chest you paid real money for!), or half assed side mission that were about two minutes long if i took my time exploring every nook and crany. Is someone really surprised those stuffies do not work?

DLC allows developers to both show they care about their product and they care about their customers. Most DLC so far, though, only comes to show they don't care for either: They don't love what they are doing beyond more moola and they don't care for the customer beyond, like, being the relative genesis of more moola. And, like, if they think giving that impression to the world will make people care for them and buy their games instead of sailing the release seas, well… Let me give them rolling eyes, so nya.

People will always buy the games they love. People will always pirate the games that are all the rage but do not go beyond the fashionable summer blockbuster status. In some cases people is, like, nice and decides to buy the games that are all the rage but do not go beyond the fashionable summer blockbuster status and then resell them afterwards to recover most of the magic stuff that makes the world go roundy round. If they want to remove those those individuals from the equation, one giving them money and word of mouth and the other giving them even more word of mouth, good for them. More seeders for the release seas, nya.

Neither should we forget we are talking people in here. Those who buy and sell second hand games are not evil monster from beyond the veil but people who, in many cases, may depend on lessened prices and stuffies to play games in any considerable amount, or at least depend on it for a considerable amount of their gaming. Yes, they may be selling games afterwards but they are then buying more games with that money. What do you think they will do if the second hand market stops working? Will they all of a sudden have a lot more money to spend, magic like? Will they all of a sudden have a lot less free time to invest in gaming? Or will they still have the same amount of money, the same amount of gaming time, and a lot less games to play? And those games will not come from Neverland, i'm sure you know.

I'm glad the corporates and the hard line capitalists say, like, fuck them since thanks to it i will be able to pirate twice as much next month before starting to feel guilty about any of it. And, like, if they go like this i will probably need to since there will be a whole lot of new leechers around.

So i don't really see how it makes sense. What's their songy song? We couldn't do jack shit against the pirates so, like, let's bully the second hand market so we can keep at least a small bit of our image as ZOGish overlords of the gaming world intact?

And i'm not fighting a PR battle for anyone here, buddy bud. It is not like i don't have the money or stuffies, it is that since most games today are kind of crap and i can't go on with them for more than one sesion, never really getting motivated to go for a second, i don't feel like going less clubing or buying less pretty clothes or stuffies and thingies in exchange for crappy generic game #457. You know how do you change that? You show peeps you actually love the games you are making, make amazing and witty and smart games, and act towards people like a human being instead of a corporate machine, then they will care for you in kind. Being more of a corporate machine is totally not smart when people doesn't care for you because they no longer see you as composed of people but bloody cogwheels praying to Bhaal Moola all day long.

Jeez, that did sound pretty emo now, right? Now they will discover i actually have a soul and there will go my reputation, nya.