Mass Effect 2 to ship with 2 discs

[Jason]

Yes, it appears that we're back to the days of good ol' disc swapping!
BioWare confirmed today that Mass Effect 2 will ship with two discs for both the PC and the Xbox 360.
The PC version will be standard multi-disc fare for the PC - you install the game and swap discs during the install progress, then you just need one disc in the drive while playing.
The Xbox version however, will not require installation, but will require a disc swap part way through the game, however BioWare have moved to confirm that it will only happen once, and that it will be strategically and carefully placed so as not to ruin the flow of the game.

This looks like an indication of the sheer size of the game if nothing else, not to mention a bit of a kick in the teeth for Microsoft, who elected not to ship the 360 with a built-in HD-DVD player or Blu-Ray drive.

[Rob]

I remember ranting to my friend years ago about how Microsoft was shooting itself in the foot by not including a higher capacity optical drive. I also said that if they didn't include the HDDVD drive then the format would die. FAILURE :(

Back on topic... If multiple discs means I get higher res textures and more content then I could care less if during a 30-60 hour game I have to lean over and swap out a dvd. Was it FF7 on PS2 that was a 3 disc game? It has been a long time but I actually liked the feeling of knowing I was x% through the game based on using physical media.

ME2 is so massive it requires two DVDs... that's just a bucket of WIN for fans.

[Jason]

I agree with you regards the swapping of discs. I'd have no objection to leaning forward every now and then to swap a disc too if it meant another 20+ hours of gameplay!
I'm not so sure about the HDDVD thing - whilst I do think going with a bog standard DVD drive was a mistake by Microsoft, in retrospect it turns out they were backing the wrong horse anyway, so they've probably actually saved themselves some money in the long term. I suppose that was the price they paid for 'going early' though - the 360 had a six-month period where it WAS the next-gen console market, and they reaped a lot of sales from it, so perhaps it's only now that the downside of that is starting to manifest itself.

[MyNameDidntFit]

Half-Life 2 has 5 discs, so I'm sure I can handle 2 for Mass Effect 2.

I want ME2 and I don't care if it comes in one of those 100 CD stacks, to be honest.

[Jason]

I wonder what the most discs a game has ever shipped with is? I'd say that 5 would have to be up there... I know Final Fantasy VIII had 4, I assume others have also weighed in at roughly that size... any advances on Half Life 2's 5 discs?

[MyNameDidntFit]

I still don't know what HL2 is doing with 5 discs...

[Jason]

No, I have to say... 5 discs seems a tad excessive, even for standard 700MB CDs.

[Jason]

I can go one better than five...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unreal-Tournament-2004-CD-ROM-Version/dp/B0000A5B7O

There are rumours that there was a special edition with ten discs (additional discs with mods etc), but I can't find proof of that.

[Rob]

I remember borrowing that game from a friend and never installing it because of the number of discs.

[Jason]

Well, it's less than 2 weeks away now if my estimates are correct, so who's starting to get excited about this? I have to say, even though I have no means of playing it (my PC likely won't run it, and my 360 is knackered), I'm interested to see whether this is as good as it has the potential to be.

[Rob]

I'm excited and if Gamefly cooperates then I will play it soon after launch. I can't see ME2 being anything but as good or better then the first ME. If Final Fantasy can get over to the xbox then why can't we get ME on the PS3. Wouldn't that be nice!

[Mikey]

I enjoyed the first ME, so I'm looking forward to this one ;)