How To Unlock Mass Effect 3 From Ashes DLC For Free

(Update: EA has responded to people accessing the From Ashes content for free in Mass Effect 3.)

Light evidence surfaced a few days ago indicating that the "From Ashes" downloadable content for Mass Effect 3 was already stored on disc. Well, hackers have taken it one step further showing how you can unlock the day-one disc-locked content without having to pay EA a dime. There's potential spoilers ahead, just so you know.

Xbigy Games came across a YouTube video that found out that the downloadable content was not actually downloadable content but rather disc-locked content. Everyone who believed producer Casey Hudson and other Bioware employees about the DLC being separately designed from the main game have been fooled. The character content was there all along, although there is still a sizeable mandatory download for additional mission data.

So here's the thing, all you need to do is follow the steps below to unlock the Prothean DLC on the PC version of Mass Effect 3. Unfortunately, unless you have a modded Xbox 360 console you won't be able to gain access to the files:

1. Open Coalesced.bin with this http://wenchy.net/me3-coalesced-utility

2. Search for this: MemberValidCID=22, MemberAvailablePlotLabel=IsSelectableProthean,

3. Replace with this: MemberValidCID=, MemberAvailablePlotLabel=,

So what have we learned from this folks? That EA is still the top dog for being an evil corporation and here it is I thought Capcom was about to supercede them with having an entire third of the game's content disc-locked behind a pay-wall.

BioWare and EA will undoubtedly have a press statement to issue defending this, I'm sure they'll say that for the PC version it was just easier to include the content but that it wasn't possible for the Xbox 360 or PS3 version because certification is different. You know what's worse? I'm sure most people will believe them, allowing for more disc-locked content to become a normal trend in today's marketplace.

Hopefully gamers will wise-up before 75% of the entire game is locked away behind a pay-wall where you'll be paying $870 dollars and upward to access all the content.

Thanks again Xbigy Games, you've definitely helped turn a cornerstone on the matter, even though EA and BioWare are probably fuming about it. Have fun gamers, and game on!

And here's a little something, something for EA...