Who's going to download the January 17 demo for38 Studios fantasy action-RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning? Now that folks that play it earn exclusive armor and weapons for Mass Effect 3, I'd say everybody.
In a completely brilliant marketing move, BioWare and 38 Studios have inexorably linked the incredibly popular Mass Effect series with the new and untested Kingdoms of Amalur series. Downloading and completing the demo for the fledgling RPG franchise unlocks a pair of striking in-game items in the full version of Mass Effect 3.
The Reckoner Knight Armor brings the pain up-close while enhancing projectile speed for ranged weapons, earned by simply downloading and playing the Reckoning demo. To earn the disc-spitting Chakram Launcher you'll have to finish the demo and sit through a brief movie.
In exchange, BioWare is lacing the upcoming Mass Effect 3 demo with in-game items for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a fact I'm sure will drive plenty of Amalur fans to try Mass Effect for the first time. Actually it might work the other way around in this instance. That N7-inspired armor is damn sexy, and the Onmiblade Daggers are just what this rogue-at-heart needs to get pleasantly pokey up in here.
I bet Curt Schilling is just thrilled.
"We are thrilled to have the opportunity to deliver this massive one-two punch with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and Mass Effect 3. We wanted to provide fans of the Mass Effect franchise with a unique set of rewards for diving into the expansive universe of Reckoning," said Curt Schilling, Chairman and Founder of 38 Studios via official press release.
BioWare co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka is on the record as being excited. And heck, I'm excited too. I was planning on downloading both demos anyway, and now I'll have pretty things to show for it. What a perfectly lovely way for new franchise to gain a boost from an old, and all without costing the consumer anything more than bandwidth and hard drive space.
The Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo drops January 17. The full game hits February 7. Mass Effect 3 is March 6, but then you probably already knew that.