After an image popped up showing off the innards of the Mass Effect 2 Special Edition, rumors began circulating that the RPG would ship on not one, but two disks. In the image, above, there are actually three shown, with one getting the label of "Bonus DVD," leaving two remaining. Before speculation could get out of hand, because people have nothing better to do with their Thursdays, BioWare confirmed that they have, indeed, decided to split the game's content onto two DVDs.

On the game's forum, the developers explained how it will work, giving a list of facts that leaves very little to the imagination:

1. Yes, there are 2 game discs for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions, both the Collector's and standard editions.
   
   
2. There is a 3rd disc with the Collector's Edition. This is a movie DvD containing making of and other bonus information.
   
   
3. The PC version is a standard install. You install the information from both discs and then play with 1 disc in the drive. No swapping.
   
   
4. The Xbox 360 does not have an install and does require disc swapping during play.
   
   
5. Even though there is a disc swap, it occurs at a carefully planned place in the game (that does not interfere with gameplay) and is done once. You do not swap back and forth. 1 swap and then done.
   
   
6. Why 2 discs? Answer: Because you cannot fit this much awesome on one disc.

Anyone actually upset by this is simply being silly. Or they're missing arms or legs, thus making it harder to open a disk drive. Sure, it's a minor inconvenience to need to swap disks, but they say very clearly that it's done only once, and it's "carefully planned." Hell, it might actually add to the situation for all we know, we'll need to wait and find out. This is hardly the first game to require multiple DVDs this generation, and, if anything, should mean good things for the game. It was startling how much fit on one disk in Mass Effect, imagine how much more they must have added?

I'll tell you how much more: a few hours.