Retailer-exclusive Mass Effect 3 items detailed

By Fred Dutton Published 4 January, 2012

Origin, GameStop offer in-game extras.

A handful of retailer-exclusive Mass Effect 3 items have been announced.

According to GameInformer, purchase the PC version through EA's own Origin store and you'll snag the AT-12 Raider Shotgun.

"The AT-12 Raider Shotgun fires a large pellet spread, ensuring maximum coverage for close-range targets. Designed for superior rapid fire, the AT-12 allows for optimal recovery time between shot," states the announcement.

Customers who pre-order through GameStop get the N7 Valkyrie Assault Rifle and N7 Defender Armor.

The former is "exceptionally well-crafted, accurate, and packing ample firepower" and "a hot black-market item on the rare occasion it surfaces," while the latter "is a variation on the N7 Special Forces' combat gear, built to protect soldiers in long-running engagements where reinforcements may be sparse."

The third entry in BioWare's sci-fi RPG is due out on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 from 9th March.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (37) Latest comment 5 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Daddy-Doom-Bar #1 5 months ago

    Fuck off.

  • oceanmotion #2 5 months ago

    On the bright side it's just weapons which are usually meaningless exclusives. At least it's not a mission or the limited fabric edition Shepard thong.

  • Shikasama #3 5 months ago

    These won't be the only ones, expect PLay and Game at least to have their own.

  • Mr.Spo #4 5 months ago

    Game have the very nice sounding collector's edition as an exclusive for £70. A shame it isn't at Amazon, it'd be cheaper and I'd be able to get £50 off thanks to some vouchers I have. This retailer exclusive pre-order/edition stuff is really starting to take the piss.

  • WinterSnowblind #5 5 months ago

    If we all close our eyes and ignore it, maybe it'll go away.

  • PaulieWaulie #6 5 months ago

    Post deleted at 13:34:06 08-05-2012

  • MatMan562 #7 5 months ago

    Eurgh, this is completely pointless. I, and I'm sure most people, will still buy it from wherever's cheapest. But, as has been said, at least it's nothing meaningful

  • riz23 #8 5 months ago

    @WinterSnowblind "If we all close our eyes and don't buy it, maybe it'll go away."

    Fixed that for you.

  • bad09 #9 5 months ago

    I would say the best way to stop this kind of rot in gaming is to make sure you don't buy from the retailers who get involved in this sort of thing, still like oceanmotion says it's useless crap for silly people to get excited over from the looks of it so let 'em get on with it.

    Funny thing is someone in the industry admitted CUSTOMERS don't like this nonsense in a recent article on it but they continue to do it anyway because they think it gives them some cheap marketing...gotta love how this industry ignores the people it takes money from.

  • jamielfc25 #10 5 months ago

    A gun...wow.

  • Gunship #11 5 months ago

    No, no, no. They should have made the "exclusive" a 'sleep with Tali' unlock. That would have ramped up the Origin preorders threefold.

  • Nova1977 #12 5 months ago

    Bonus is they'll probably pull some of these special editions from certain countries just so they can sell it through Gamestop or whatever the ffff.

  • baconsauce #13 5 months ago

    meh

  • HAL9000 #14 5 months ago

    If you buy a retail copy...do you have to install Origin to play it?

  • Bremenacht #15 5 months ago

    pew

  • Stuz359 #16 5 months ago

    Surely I have the right to buy a game for £40 and get all the associated content with it? I don't mind proper DLC but this stuff is taking the piss. The thing is, how much extra does it really cost the developer? I can create a weapon in a day and a character in a week in a 3d package at home, and that's with having to work a full time job. It's a fucking joke.

  • PearOfAnguish #17 5 months ago

    @JAGUARCD32x

    I'm no fan of Origin but ME3 is unlikely to have any browser-based nonsense, that was there in place of an in-game server browser.

  • Darren #18 5 months ago

    I wonder if EA will actually have a final working version of Origin in time for Mass Effect 3's release on the PC? I've been forced to use this awful buggy piece of software when I bought FIFA 12 and I can't believe it's still beta/pre-release software after all this time. I've had lots of problems downloading patches as Origin loves to just keep redownloading them over and over and over again. I end up having to uninstall then reinstall the games just to update them, which works until the next patch is released. Even the Favourites option doesn't work properly as it shows games that aren't even Favourites (they have an Add to Favourites option)!

    I don't buy games to be your beta tester, EA!!! I'm praying that the retail disc version of Mass Effect doesn't use Origin but since the last three EA games I've bought have I'm guessing this one will too. Joy! :(

    *sigh*

  • Po1ymorph #19 5 months ago

    I would not mind if they choose to put this extra content in a limited edition, but retailer specific content is wrong.

  • jonfon #20 5 months ago

    @Darren
    I'd be fairly sure it will, most likely because Origin is supposed to handle the patching (I realise the irony of this statement given your current woes with it).

    I don't have Origin on my machine at the mo, no EA game has appealed to be enough recently.

  • kickerconspiracy #21 5 months ago

    @oceanmotion

    Yeah, totally agree with this.

    As lame as retailer specific exclusives are at least it isn't a mission or range of missions that could effect the plot.

    That would smell like a tramp's wanking sock.

  • Rens11 #22 5 months ago

    All this dlc pisses me off people who buy the game should expect the full game off the disc, working with minimal glitches all this time wasted on dlc could go into bug finding! the Cerberus crap inmass effect 2 made it a pain on more than 1 console as you couldn't just move your gamer tag as the game would refuse to load why can't I just stick the disk in and play the game that I've paid good money for!
    Edited by Rens11 at 05/01/12 @ 02:16

  • uninspiredcup #23 5 months ago

    @Daddy-Doom-Bar Exactly. Not much more needs said on the matter.

  • Mentat_Idaho #24 5 months ago

    Daddy-Doom-Bar has said it all.

  • marblepuke #25 5 months ago

    the next big thing will propably be that different retailer copies will come with different game endings in them.. "collect them all!"

  • penfold_007 #26 5 months ago

    Pffft. I managed to preorder from Tesco for 31 with a promo they had before christmas. Thats all the preorder bonus I need.

  • Inmediasress #27 5 months ago

    Oh well I'm pretty sure the weapons packs will be on torrents on day one.

  • Casserole #28 5 months ago

    I've never seen a Fuck off get so many positives. Well done.

  • Murton #29 5 months ago

    Retailer specific bonuses are universally hated by gamers and yet it continues. The stupid thing is, it doesn't even matter as the savvy gamer will simply buy the cheapest one and then if he wants the pre-order stuff buy it a few weeks later when it's inevitably released to everyone as a DLC.

    Also don't see the point of a pre-order weapon in an RPG as they're generally available from the beginning of the game and you'll loot or buy a better weapon less an hour into the game.

  • FanBoysSuck #30 5 months ago

    Retailer exclusive in game content can fuck right off.

    Edit : The collectors edition is exclusive to game and will be sold at the full £70 due to no competition, including the PC version? Grr if I wasn't so invested in the story I'd be picking this up second hand on console just to make a point.
    Edited by FanBoysSuck at 05/01/12 @ 09:55

  • Baihu1983 #31 5 months ago

    I had this ''lame idea'' what if devs just put all the game on the disc so that everyone who bought it got the same game? Crazy.

  • Whitster #32 5 months ago

    I'm really torn on this one. I have the collectors edition of ME 1+2 as the phyisical content, like the codex and art books are quite nice. However neither of these cost me more than £50. Game group are taking the piss with the new collectors edition by charging £70 as they know we can't go elsewhere with it being an exclusive. So at the moment one half of me wants it, as it will complete the collection, but the other half of me want's to send a message to EA and Game that this shit won't fly by getting the vanilla version from Amazon for £30, however if the collectors edition still sells out, what have I achieved?

  • Inmediasress #33 5 months ago

    @Whitster
    Well if you and the others who are torn on it don't buy it, then it sends the message that its a shit move and does not work.
    Then again they probably anlyze it and twist it to their liking, and say that it was because they wanted to do something good for you and those that didn't buy it are stupid for not doing so.

    If you do buy it then expect the same shit over again with next game release.

    The end result in either case doesn't do much unless the game sales start to drop and Publishers start to lose money.
    Even then probably the least tought of thing would be that it drops because we are greedy shitheads who try every possibility to fuck over customers.

  • TeaFiend #34 5 months ago

    I dislike that Game Group order in so many copies and therefore get the limited edition. I am happy when it backfires, you can now get the ~£120 Skyrim CE for £70 on Game's website.

  • Darren #35 5 months ago

    @jonfon - Origin updated last night to v8.4.0 and in a moment of excitement I thought it would lose the Pre-release header but, nope, it is still there, as it has been for the past six (or is it eight?) months. To add insult to injury, Origin now 'forgets' my password so I have to type it in when my PC boots into Windows despite the 'Remember Me' box being checked. It was working fine until this update; the ONE thing that DID work perfectly actually!

    Origin is an embarrassment compared with rivals. Steam might not be perfect either (lacking custom installs and a Validate backup option for example) but it is leagues ahead of EA's travesty IMO.

    P.S. The Favourites and Ready to Play view settings still do not work showing all games even if they're not favourites and not even installed! How anyone bork that up?
    Edited by Darren at 05/01/12 @ 10:28

  • FanBoysSuck #36 5 months ago

    @Whitster

    I'm in the same boat, I've got the collectors for both 1 and 2 but I really don't want to shell out £70 so I'm sticking with the standard version for now. I didn't mind paying an extra £10 for the collectors stuff but at more than double the price on PC I won't be bothering.
    Edited by FanBoysSuck at 05/01/12 @ 10:56

  • agparrot #37 5 months ago

    I grumbled and mumbled when they had the cheek to separate out content in ME2 with the Cerberus network stuff to make sure that everyone bought it new. Which I suppose is kind of fair enough, and at least everyone gets a chance to buy the content associated with it if they want to.

    That didn't stop me waiting until ME2 was £15 in ASDA, though, and my disdain towards retailer-specific content means I'll be doing the same thing for ME3. I don't really have a better way to express my annoyance at this than to simply not buy the game for many months. I might even go out of my way to secure a second-hand copy, depending on what that means I'll be excluding myself from.