Mass Effect 2 PSN Day 1 Download Pushes Digital Releases Forward

If you’re in the boat of people getting Mass Effect 2 on PS3, you might be interested to know that the game will be available both as a disc-based product as well as being downloadable on the PSN. Sure, other games have been downloadable before, but this is the first case of a major disc-based game being available for download on day 1. Could this pave the way for future day-and-date digital releases? Maybe, but we think not.

First of all, Mass Effect 2 has been technically available for over a year on Xbox 360 and PC. So while it’s new to PS3 owners, it’s not new to the world, meaning there was more time to perfect both versions of the game instead of a mad rush to get the product out the door. Second, it’s also going to be available as a Full Game Trial for PlayStation Plus — Sony may have struck a deal for that bit (however, Full Game Trials for new games might finally make PlayStation Plus worth getting).

If you’re going the digital route, make sure you have over 12GB of space free on your PlayStation 3. It’s going to be a monster download which is sure to eat up your bandwidth for quite a while. It may run a lot faster from your hard drive as compared to the Blu-Ray version, so it’s a tough call on which to pick up. My choice would be the disc-based version, but that’s just me.

Are you picking up Mass Effect 2 on PS3? Or have you finished it already on other platforms? Let us know!