Mass Effect 3 is already shaping up to be one of the biggest releases this year. Electronic Arts, in what is perhaps one of the best marketing stunts ever, is taking Mass Effect into its natural element – outer space.

Starting next week, Electronic Arts will be launching copies of Mass Effect 3 into space using weather balloons according to USA Today. The balloons will be released above New York, San Fransisco, Las Vegas, Berlin, London and Paris. The copies will come back down to Earth for eager gamers to find and play it a week before its release.

The question remains though, how are gamers supposed to find these extraterrestrial copies of the game? EA is way ahead of you by attaching a GPS tracking device to each game. Fans can track the games descent back into our atmosphere via the game’s Web site. Additional details can also be found via the game’s official twitter feed.

Mass Effect 3 launches March 6 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. You can check out a new teaser trailer here.

Are you going to hunt down one of the early copies of Mass Effect 3? Who wants to bet on one or more of the copies landing in the ocean or somewhere else where it will be lost forever? Let us know in the comments.