In a very interesting publicity stunt, BioWare and EA are sending six copies of Mass Effect 3 into space via weather balloon and then bringing them back to Earth. Whoever finds the discs get to keep them, insuring themselves the chance to play through and beat Mass Effect 3 before anybody else. But how will this work exactly?
Well, BioWare is launching six games into space from six different locations around the globe. Weather balloons, with GPS devices and copies of Mass Effect 3 attached to them, will be released from New York City, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Berlin, London, and Paris. These balloons will reach the lower level of space, before making their return to land. Gamers will be able to track the water balloon locations via GPS at masseffect.com and use this information to obtain the first copies of Mass Effect 3.
It is a pretty great marketing campaign and it is getting lots of attention from the gaming community. If there is one thing you can say about gamers, it’s they like a challenge. Lets just hope none of these copies land in the oceans. Mass Effect 3 is coming out officially on March 6th, 2012 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Of course, true fans will be getting their copy when it makes its return back to Earth.
