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New Mass Effect DLC, avatar items now available

[UPDATE] Microsoft releases Pinnacle Station, a 13-mission, two-to-three-hour add-on to the popular Xbox 360 role-playing game; Mass Effect outfits hit Marketplace en masse.

173 Comments

Back in June, BioWare's Twitter page promised an announcement about new Mass Effect downloadable content within days. Now, over two months later, the second downloadable expansion has finally surfaced on Xbox.com--apparently by accident.

Hopefully, Pinnacle Station's
Hopefully, Pinnacle Station's "combat scenarios" won't pit players against Krogan warriors or Ansari commandos.

Titled Pinnacle Station, the add-on does not yet have a price or release date, and any attempt to purchase it results in a prompt for a special promotional code. However, the flat page for Mass Effect, which can itself be bought digitally via Games on Demand, does list a "Pinnacle Station Theme" for MSP240 ($3) as being available for immediate purchase.

The first Mass Effect DLC, Bring Down the Sky, cost MSP400 ($5) but only featured 90 minutes of gameplay set on a planet-threatening asteroid. By contrast, Pinnacle Station is described as having two-to-three hours of gameplay and set aboard "a remote, top-secret Alliance space station," which can be landed on a planet's surface. The expansion will have players "test the limits of [their] combat prowess" in "13 exciting combat scenarios," apparently confirming reports that it would feature a gladiatorial arena of sorts.

No Caption Provided

As of press time, Microsoft had not returned requests for comment on the Xbox.com Pinnacle Station page or whether the expansion would be released for the PC edition of Mass Effect. Reps for BioWare parent Electronic Arts politely declined to immediately offer further details.

[UPDATE] Those details came early Tuesday, when the Pinnacle Station add-on went live, costing MSP400 ($5) and weighing in at 246MB. Simultaneously, Microsoft also released a slew of premium Mass Effect avatar outfits ranging from MSP320 ($4) suits of Alliance armor to MSP80 ($1) shirts.

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caityful

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A new DLC mission would be good. I completed every galactic mission within 48 hours... :\

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mauro_rubens

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I loved Oblivion battles in Arena, solidsnake7882, and me too, I don't like those kind of Arena battles, but because I liked Mass Effect so much I want to give those two missions a try.

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mauro_rubens

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I loved so much Mass Effect for both Xbox and PC I can't wait to get my hands on second wave... Mass Effect 2. As for these download contents I'm going to get those for PC as I can't make my BXox works from here, Brazil. Those dammit guys from Microsoft, never fulfills their word.

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solidsnake7882

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Anything that extends the gameplay for me I'll gladly buy. I don't mind battle arena type games I quite liked that in KOTOR and Oblivion. Hopefully it will be good enough to tide me over for ME2 release.

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ManBearPig67

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What can you expect? EA owns them now.

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Keiner

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Please..Someone, for the love of that which is holy tell me your not spending actual money on avi clothing. That whole concept boggles the mind. I would like it more if it was free but theres no way in the firey pitts of hell that I'm spending money on avi clothing

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Bgrngod

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Surprise surprise... it's CRAP. I loved the original game, despite it's flaws, but I can't handle playing another Battle Arena. The review was spot on calling it a cliche. My soul dies a little inside every time a new game is released that includes a Battle Arena mode.

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Angry_Jawa

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It is unfortunate that for the wait, this DLC dissapoints. With fighting challenges replacing the more familiar mission style, the DLC suffers. There is little dialogue, chuggy frame rate, and it is as if the DLC was initially an attempt at a multi-player mode that was scrapped in development and they just used the maps. Not quite as bad as Horse Armour, but pretty darn close...

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HawaiiBen

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johnnyc3po, kinda dissappointing doesn't even begin to cover it. That was the worst DLC i have ever paid for. Frame rate was a joke, the "missions" would only be a challenge if you were level 1, and your "prize" was a crappy apartment where you get to pay for items that are a joke. Now don't get me wrong, i love Mass Effect, and for the most part Bioware. Yes this DLC is longer but at least Bring Down The Sky had a real story and tied into the game a little bit. Pinnacle Station is a f***ing joke. only took 2 hours because it froze forty thousand times. I was under the impression (was told by Bioware in a previous GameSpot article) that the next DLC would lead into the story of ME2. This did nothing of the sort. Not even close. If this (Pinnacle Station) is what ME2 is like then I will be boycotting it. I gave Bioware four dollars and they proceeded to take a huge dump on my face that took forever because of the choppy frame rate. Thanks Bioware. Give me my points back.

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johnnyc3po

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Kinda disappointing DLC from such an awesome game, kinda looks like they're trying to cash in ready for ME2 by getting people back onto the original game for 1 last spin. Would've been nice to have had some real missions on there, and a bit more variation in tasks and locations. All in all though can't complain with a cheap add on for easily one of the best games on the 360 to get us ready for ME2

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chefbabyryan

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Pinnacle station was (all three rooms of it) disappointingly short, and way too easy. Also sloppy and slow frame rates make it look like you're playing it on the xbox 1. And "Shepard's Apartment" is basically one room with an item dealer that can sell you crap that is worse than the dealer thats on your ship!! :o wtf man haha I would like to see more DLC though, I still love the game. Come on Q1 2010

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dirtygringo426

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Really, this seems to be more of an appetizer to the main course that is Mass Effect 2, and I'm fine with that. The DLC is cheap, so far pretty fun, and it's gotten me slightly more pumped for the sequel. Why complain? As was said below, it's a completely optional buy.

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sidewinder_na

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As much as i like an excuse to reboot my PC version of ME (as if it needs "special" circumstances), I really dislike the fact that this content shows up on the brink of the transition between two games. This is bad enough. but to actually charge players to get it as well makes me consider which is WORSE: That bioware take lessons in marketing from EA (see SPORE), or that they actually believe in coming up with new additions so late in the game players' attention span (whom probably moved on at this point). I should go in an uproar that one of the most admired and respected games in recent history is being jumpstarted in this crude manner, mainly for PR's sake but i will only say this: Mass effect is good enough as it is, it doesn't any last-minute additions to keep its position (as the attention to it's next chapter shows), And while it doesn't matter if this content was pushed at this time as a publicity stunt or not, it DOES matter that bioware wouldn't turn this into a habit, and start supporting it's creations and community based on this ill-mannered model. I do hope these words are a paranoid expression, and nothing more, but this wouldn't be the first time they weren't.

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008Zulu

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Maybe PC is so slow is because they have to reconfigure the puzzles for the pc version, add higher rez textures. You know, general optimisation stuff.

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BattleSword1

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Everyone always seems to freak out when something's overpriced. No one's forcing you to buy it...

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hunt270

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hunt270  Staff

Avatar Outfits sounds lame. Who likes them anyways? DLC sounds good. maybe I'll dip my toes in on this one?

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kardon16

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Great I will buy this as soon as I can!! but I could not care less for the avatar outfits

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pyire

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The PC always seems to be left out of the loop? The DLC was infact released for the PC at the same time as the 360, you can grab it from EA download service for a few bucks.

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heysharpshooter

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Seems kind of pointless to release more DLC for this game. Im pretty sure most people are just waiting on ME 2 at this point.

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bennie12

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Odd that they waited so long, whatver, probably will get it because the game rocks

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siarhei

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The new DLC is even worse than Mothership Zeta... At least there was some storyline... I guess that might explain why they released the DLC so quietly... And having to load a "half-way" file is annoying.

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FidelSarcastro

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Well I am glad they are releasing more DLC, motivating those of us who might have played the game a few times and then shelved it to pick it up and play again so that we can have save game files ready for when Mass Effect 2 to come out.

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TheGreyArea

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@JMizzle, hi. Thanks for responding. I did think that may be the case. which sucks on a count of this exspansion supposedly "leading into" the next story (especially owing to how long the original game has already been available now. The general assumption, would be that most lovers of this game - like I am, don't get me wrong! - will have completed it already) Guess I'll still be playing the new levels out. But it's a shame this wasn't a little more like what Bethesda did with the Broken Steel DLC for Fallout3

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futs22

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So where's the PC version of the DLC?

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JMizzle

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@TheGreyArea When you say completed game save, I assume you mean one where the last save you have is before you fight Saren on the Citadel? In that case no, you cannot access the DLC. Like 'Bring Down the Sky', you can access the DLC as soon as you have Spectre status but NOT after you have gone too far in the story - if you are playing the Ilos mission you've gone too far! Like many others, I will have to start a new game to play this, which is annoying, but oh well.

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TheGreyArea

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Guys, are any of you able to comment on how you access this DLC? Are you able to play from a completed game-save? Or will you need to play using a saved "half-way-through'ish" story?

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PyroSniper

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Its basically time trials and other combat tests. It does take two hours if you do EVERYTHING there including the extra senario. I was able to get all 150 extra gamerpoints in about 2 hours. The expansion includes 2 new places for you to visit, Pennacle station which is a combat simulator and "Shepard's Appartment" which you'll find out how to unlock once you get the top spot in all the combat simulations which isnt all that hard if you have all the Spectre X series weapons and Collosus X series armors, I actually had to completely sit in one spot letting the enemies pound on me for like 2 mins for them to finally kill me during the survival mode.

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andurilmat

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ok people asking how i made the assumption about the landable space station - on the marketplace it says in the description "landable space station and in this article above that theese comments are linked to gamespot even make the same assumption where they say "set aboard "a remote, top-secret Alliance space station," which can be landed on a planet's surface"

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NuKkU

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cool i might get it :D

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jazilla

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does anyone else find it amusing that Pinnacle Station costs 80 points more than the avatar Alliance costume? so supposedly 2-3 hours of game play only costs 80 cents more? Clothing for a virtual character seems over priced at $4.20.

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adammint7

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nope...not intrested

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fishnpeas1

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2-3 hours my ass, had it set to highest difficulty and ran through the training simulator in just over an hour. It crashed twice, and the framerate was awful.But on the other side, you do get a nifty apartment with optional elevator musak playing for completing it. (and 150 GS)

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OfficialBed

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Sounds good to me.

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newnhamlea1

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im personally outraged that they are yet to release a patch for people with the classics edition, if i dont get a patch by tomorrow i will be phoning up microsft and demanding a re-fund.

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Dynamo11

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Just sold my copy of Mass Effect >: ( Ah well I'll wait for Mass Effect 2

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rholding2000

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new dlc now? Why so long since the last one. Ive pretty much put this game to the bottom of the pile and totally forgot about it. Oh well looks like im getting out my spade.

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XanderKage

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Eh, never been a big fan of DLC... PS you misspelled "Asari", GameSpot.

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bencarps41192

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I dont see why ppl are complaining they are just giving ppl some more DLC i mean why should any oen complain and the mass effect DLC isnt that expensive for what you get. I mean at least it hasnt released like 6 different DLC things like Fallout 3

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Gruug

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I think the new DLC is here to get people more use to microtransactions. Thanks but no thanks.

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deactivated-64b7010800769

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@Jhoalot I think this new DLC is there to help set up the story for number 2. Like a miniature Mass Effect 1.5 of sorts.

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Jhoalot

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instead of working on DLCs why dont you work on mass effect 2?

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angelGP32

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i was under the impression this tied into the new game. if it doesn't then i will be passing on this. Also, andurilmat, LOL landable space station. that's funny

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Slaughtahouse

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I got the alliance helment. I wish they had a N7 helment but what you gona do? Also I had a extra 200 points on my account, I did not go out and buy points to buy avatar cloths lol.

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ssjdagas

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The DLC was not good. Unless you are a crazy Bioware fan like me I advice not to buy it.

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gandalf_storm

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ive been thinking of buying mass effect again, i never got to 60 or finished on hardest setting, with the new dlc its very tempting

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iamdanthaman

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How could you possibly think that? That is seriously the worst thing I have ever heard. You thought "landable space station" meant you could land the space station? How the heck did you come up with that?

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andurilmat

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Don't make the same mistake i did and buy this thinking it would be some cool DLC where a space station lands on a planet it DOES NOT, as it turns out the DLC description on the market place was badly worded and even gamespot misundertood it what the description actually means by landable space station is that the normandy lands at - in actuallity it docks with it. and all you get in the DLC is 13 simulated missions where you have to beat a taurians high score all to get one new weapon and at the end you can get an apartment on one of the planets in the system to be hones iwouldn't be so annoyed if it cost 200MS but 400 is a bit steep for what you get

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buffdaddy69

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I will never EVER buy Avatar Items when that **** should be free to begin with.

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SerOlmy

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IMO I am not interested if it doesn't advance the story, which it doesn't. The combat may be more difficult, but its still more of the same from the original game, why not just go back and play the combat missions on impossible. I will, however, grab the new N7 shirt for my avatar though.

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Dante2710

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overpriced clothing, but eh, nobody is forcing you to buy it

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