Mass Effect fans planning to pick up the sequel on PC can likely shed fears now about whether or not they can play the game: both the digital rights management (DRM) and system requirements have been announced, both of which should please (most) everyone.
Like with Dragon Age: Origins, The Sims 3, The Saboteur, and likely a bunch of other recent EA titles, this one will feature a disk check only. Even more specifically, SecuROM or any other such thing it appears will not be in use. We've been playing Dragon Age ourselves on the PC recently, and we must say it's a relief not to have to worry about limited installations or whether or not we'll be able to play the game at any given time due to online authentication. Definitely, in the case of Mass Effect 2, this is a huge improvement over the first game's DRM, largely criticized by the community, including ourselves. It would seem the trend means EA's new methods of fighting piracy (offering free downloadable content around launch), have been more effective than previous methods.
As for the system requirements, these aren't much increased over those for Mass Effect, so if you can run that one fine, you should be good here, too. Below is a comparison of the minimum and recommended specifications:
Mass Effect Mass Effect 2 Mass Effect Mass Effect 2
Processor 2.4GHz Intel or 2.0GHz AMD 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD Processor 2.6GHz Intel or 2.4GHz AMD 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo Intel or equivalent AMD
RAM 1GB (XP), 2GB (Vista) 1GB (XP), 2GB (Vista & 7) RAM 2GB 2GB
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT or better, ATI 1300XT or better NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or better, ATI Radeon X1600 Pro or better Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or better, ATI X1800 XL series or better ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, or better
OS Windows XP or Vista Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP1 or Windows 7 OS Windows XP or Vista Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP1 or Windows 7
Hard Disk 12GB 15GB Hard Disk 12GB 15GB
Sound Card
DirectX 9.0c compatible DirectX 9.0c compatible Sound Card DirectX 9.0c compatible DirectX 9.0c compatible
Note naming conventions for video cards are rather convoluted, so check the product page (see above) to be sure yours is supported, if you are not.
Mass Effect 2 will launch January 26 on PC and consoles.
Source:Mass Effect Community
Section:PC Games
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