I just found there's a handful of free DLCs for Mass Effect 3, including an Extended Cut that supposedly fixes some issues with the ending. So, of course I downloaded and installed them as soon as I could. However, after the DLCs were installed, the game would not load.
It would get past the opening credits, and the "Press START button" screen. But, at the main menu, it would then hang with a message that says "Checking downloadable content". The menu would still be animated, and the Loading icon would still be spinning. But I could let it sit forever like that and still not get a response. The only thing I could do is access the PlayStation menu and exit the game.
What causes this? Is there a patch or workaround?