Mass Effect 2 Torrent Downloads in Full Swing

Just a few days before its official debut at retail stores, BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 has become widely available on file-sharing networks. This is a shocking news really. The leak has resulted in massive piracy as more than 300,000 gamers have either downloaded or are in the process of downloading a copy of the highly anticipated game via BitTorrent.

Mass Effect 2 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, i.e 26th Jan 2010 in America and just 4 days before its official release, it was leaked on to the torrent websites for free download. Both the PC and Xbox-360 versions are available and being downloaded in full swing. This is really a shame and a huge loss for the gaming industry. TorrentFreak reports that the PC version of the game is about 14GB in size, while the XBOX 360 version is about 13GB.

This has come at a time when the very existence of bit-torrent websites is being questioned and so many people trying their best to bring out the positives of the peer-to-peer technology.

All purchased copies of Mass Effect 2, developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, will come with a ‘Cerberus’ Network Card. The card is required to download in-game items and new missions that will become available when the game is officially released, but it’s possible to play the game just fine without it.

A word of caution though – may be the leaked version works on your modded xbox, but you must remember what happened last year when Forza Motorsport 3 was leaked on torrent sites and later it was revealed to be a prank by Microsoft and Turn 10 to brick modded Xbox 360 consoles. Be safe. Stay safe. Purchase original games.

Pre-order Mass Effect 2 on Amazon

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Slipdisc

13 years ago Reply

Great piece Raju. It is indeed sad to see this. But looking at the big picture, piracy has cost the software industry in general billions of $$$. A quick scan of TPB will reveal hundreds of thousand of dollars (or Rs) in software that can be downloaded with nothing more than a high speed connection and a computer. So if you take $100,000 or more in software values and multiply it by just a fraction of the active users on TPB, it becomes clear that there is a real problem here.

Something tells me, even if Mass Effect 2 was just 5 bucks on Steam, people would still think that was too much or just easier to grab a torrent. I would also look for Bioware & EA to put the smackdown on these people trying to run the game. I just can’t envision either company sitting by and doing nothing. It will be interesting.
Ujjwal

13 years ago Reply

Hi,
I too agree on the fact that piracy is a menace, but what will people from developing nations do when the price of each game is sky high. Amazon is selling Mass Effect 2 at 56$ which is equivalent to approx Rs. 3000 INR.
Piracy could be reduced if companies start shedding their extra profits and keep the prices in check. Remember GTA4, its launch price was Rs. 450 INR and i believe it was mostly bought. :)
- Raju PP
  
  13 years ago Reply
  
  Though I agree with you on most points, people will still find a reason to pirate stuff – FREE is better than Rs 450 right? Original CDs and DVDs of local movies like Telugu, Tamil costs less than 100 bucks, still people buy pirated stuff for 50 bucks or download them on torrents.

Slipdisc

Ujjwal

Raju PP