Here it is everyone, the release date for Mass Effect 2 has been confirmed for January 26, way earlier than the initial "Spring 2010" bit.

Of course there are retail-exclusive pre-order bonuses, which is both good or bad depending. GameStop, as always, hogs the good stuff, that being Terminus armor and a heavy weapon. "Other retail outlets" get the Inferno armor.

Really huge images of both armors (plus details) at the source.

Oh happy day, BioWare has finally announced a release date for Mass Effect 2. Looks like the game will be coming earlier than expected: January 26. Previously BioWare had pegged Spring 2010 as a general time frame.

The date is only for North America, as Europe will see a three-day lag with their January 29 date. But really, isn't this way better than a spring debut? The only damper here may be the retail-exclusive pre-order content -- yes, those things.

"Our fans are in for a genuine thrill in the New Year with Mass Effect 2 – the second installment in the trilogy will be of amazingly high quality," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, BioWare co-founder.

"BioWare’s fans worldwide have been eagerly awaiting this epic sequel, and we couldn’t be more excited to reward them for pre-ordering by delivering some awesome bonus content!"

RabidChinaGirl via neoseeker.com »