Like its 360 predecessors, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, Bioware's latest offering, Mass Effect, will also be released on the PC come May 2008.

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars...g-to-pcs-in-may

I'm not sure if the PC version will include the newest DLC (Downloaded Content) now available on XBox Live --- it would be nice though (a la Gears of War).

UPDATE

Mass Effect will be released on May 28 in North America and on June 6 in Europe. Although the DLC, Bring Down the Sky won't come with the game, it will be made available to be downlaoded free of charge to registered Bioware community members on the game's release day.

http://kotaku.com/381399/bring-down-the-sk...-pc-mass-effect

UPDATE

Not sure if anyone has already heard the news requiring legit owners of the game to re-authenticate the game every 10 days online but after numerous complaints by the PC gaming community and from soldiers on tour duty, EA has backed down from this ridiculous attempt to curb the inevitable piracy of Mass Effect. Glad to hear it was done before the launch date otherwise there would have been another debacle that was game publisher Take Two and Bioshock a year or so ago.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=1726#more-1726

Good news, loud, complaining denizens of the internet! Bioware have backed down on their draconian copy protection for Mass Effect.

Edit: And EA say the same goes for Spore.

Community Manager, Jay Watamaniuk, has posted to the Mass Effect forums saying,

“There has been a lot of discussion in the past few days on how the security requirements for Mass Effect for PC will work. BioWare, a division of EA, wants to let fans know that Mass Effect will not require 10- day periodic re-authentication.”

The reasons jumpward.

Watamaniuk explains that the change of heart comes as a result of listening to quite so many people pointing out how an every 10 day authentication would make the game impossible for them to play.

“BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.”

So what instead? A one-time online authentication (and additional checks whenever you add new downloadable content), and no need to have the disc in the drive after that. Blimey - it’s like being treated with dignity as a customer!

Things do get a bit BioShock with the news that this alternative method means it can be installed on up to three computers, and further authorisation will require a call to EA. However, it does appear that you’ll be able to install it on three separate machines without the disc, which, er, no one point it out.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/05/ea-loosens-spor.html

In response to criticism of the security measures that it had planned for its major upcoming PC game releases, Electronic Arts has backed off of the harsher parts of its plan.

Specifically, EA's plan to dial in to game owner's computers every ten days to check whether they were running a legitimate version of their software has been scrapped, ShackNews reports. EA had planned to use the validation method for upcoming titles Mass Effect and Spore (pictured). EA now says that validation will now only occur when a user attempts to download new content for either game.

Chief among the voices in opposition to this measure were members of the armed forces, who pointed out that they could not rely on having an internet connection every ten days.

Edited May 15, 200818 yr by jedicri

Posted but edited from Currently Playing Thread:

Well, I finally got my copy of Mass Effect PC version. I've been playing a few hours and so far no problems save for the minor issue of having the game crash upon starting.

The solution for Vista 32-bit, as shown in the Mass Effect Bioware forum, was having to make some configuration changes:

1) opened up the shortcut in Games, right clicked, selected customize, selected edit

2) selected shortcut, advanced - clicked run as administrator

It seems that Mass Effect does not support SLI as also reported by others with SLI builds ( http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums...433&forum=127). Framerates dropped dramatically upon entering the Citadel Tower; however, after I disabled SLI, the game ran very smoothly in same said location.

I like how the HUD has been changed; it is more user friendly not to mention the addition of very accessible quick keys --- on-the-fly action as opposed to long pauses in firefights to issue commands --- the pauses here have been dramatically shortened.

Demiurge Studios did one heck of a job porting this game over to PC. Graphics are crisp and of course improved and gameplay more immersive (for me anyway being more of a k/b and mouse gamer).