MCVUK

EA's space-age campaign has already had an astronomical effect, with pre-orders placing ‘well ahead’ of where the publisher was at the same point with Mass Effect 2.

The publisher has been sending weather balloons into space with copies of the new game and GPS devices attached to them. Consumers can track their movements on the Mass Effect website and try to find them when they land. 

On top of this, Electronic Arts is building a ‘triple-A campaign’ to support the game, the publisher told MCV.

“TV, cinema, online, print and outdoor activity will help capture the mainstream audience,” said EA product manager Will Graham. 

“For the core Mass Effect fan, we’ve been building on the immersive nature of the game with a host of trailers, social media activity and fan site activation.

“Currently our pre-orders have broken the targets set, we are well ahead of where we were at the same point with Mass Effect 2 and we have all of the platforms aligned for launch, which is a first for the Mass Effect franchise,” Graham added.

“Mass Effect 3 follows on from a 96 Metacritic-rated game and everything suggests that the third iteration in the franchise is going to have the same, if not better, quality.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/mass-effect-3-pre-orders-smash-targets/091840

I predict a 92 Metacritic for M.E.3. All of these "3" titles seem to be a slight step down.

Hopefully, 1st week sales of a million. Agree with post above. I cant wait to play ME3, but I am not expecting it to be better than 1 or 2.

Actually, I have high hopes for it. They seem to have combined the superior gunplay of the second with the superior RPG elements of the first

That being said, I have already pre-ordered (about 2 months ago) and won't be reading reviews or watching trailers for fear of spoilers, I have also refused to play the demo

Anyway, sales do seem very good, but I fear this will be a very frontloaded title, but on the otherhand, I hope it doesn't sell TOO well, so that Bioware make a new space RPG rather than continuing with Mass Effect, as Shepherd's story SHOULD have been told

EA is publishing it. Whether sales are good or not, this franchise will be raped into the ground with spin offs, if not by Bioware, by one of the other studios.

If only they could do that with Mirror's Edge too...

Anyway, I am not so sure. I think forcing publishers to work on 2 year schedules is actually a good idea (though probably not for the first game), and they have treated Mass Effect the right way. While I am not sure about multiplayer, if it means that it gets more money from EA and makes more money, then it is okay, especially the way that they have handled it by not forcing people to play it