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Mass Effect 2 Arrival DLC outed

How the Reapers found Earth?

The next significant Mass Effect 2 add-on has been spotted and goes by the name of Arrival.

A PS3 patch for the game revealed the name and three associated Trophies (via the BioWare forum): The Ultimate Sacrifice, awarded for completing the Arrival DLC; Last Stand, awarded for surviving all five waves in the battle for Object Rho; and Covert Action, awarded for rescuing Dr. Amanda Kenson without attracting hostile attention.

Dr. Amanda Kenson - didn't she pop up in a Cerberus Network bulletin recently? Yes, she did.

"Historians and astronomers alike are abuzz tonight over a new paper published by Dr. Amanda Kenson of the University of Arcturus. Her team claims that by testing the dust trapped in the gravity wells around a mass relay, and comparing its composition to that of dust clouds in the same system, scientists can create a timeline of when the relay passed through the dust. Her conclusion? 'Only a small fraction of the mass effect relays date back 50,000 years,' she writes, 'The majority are far older, indicating they were created by a species predating even the Protheans.' " the news flash read.

"Dr. Aurana T'Meles of the University of Serrice met the information with skepticism: 'While Dr. Kenson's methods appear sound, the asari tried a similar procedure centuries ago and discounted it. What civilization could have spanned the galaxy for not thousands, but millions of years? If this were the case, we should have found mountains of evidence of their passing. Where is this species now?'

Popular opinion among the Mass Effect 2 community is that this DLC will build towards Mass Effect 3 and, more importantly, how the ancient Reaper menace gets to Earth. There's also plenty of speculation about Arrival offering a different playable character to Shepard.

BioWare hasn't commented on the new DLC yet.

The last chunk of story DLC for Mass Effect 2 - Lair of the Shadow Broker - earned a whopping 9/10 on Eurogamer. Let's hope that winning streak continues.