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Mass Effect 3 initiates Operation: Detonator this weekend
Commander Shepard is relaxing on a beach somewhere with a Mai Tai and a copy of I Am Not Spock, but you poor saps are still out in the deep recesses of space, fighting the good fight against gross bugs and robots. Someday, dear marines. Someday. Until the lot of you are finally loosed from the perpetual bondage of your galactic servitude, try and get some better equipment! This week's Mass Effect 3 multiplayer event is "Operation: Detonator," which tasks individual marines with earning 20,000 Biotic Explosion Points during a match, regardless of map or difficulty setting. Explosions must kill an enemy for the points to be registered, however successful extraction from the mission is not required.
Mass Effect 3's 'N7 HQ' web portal now online
N7 HQ, the Mass Effect 3 online portal briefly mentioned during BioWare's last multiplayer briefing, is now online and operational. Available for anyone who's purchased the game (and visible to the general public), N7 HQ allows players to view their multiplayer profile, track their progress through ME3's recently added Challenges, view leaderboard information and assess the state of the Galaxy at War.User profiles contain information on every character an account has made, including character level, XP and skill tree allocation details for each character. As profiles are public unless otherwise specified, it's now possible to look up the builds of people you encounter online so you can steal their ideas emulate their successful layouts.Progression through Challenges can also be closely monitored via the Challenges tab (natch), which tracks advancement through both individual and meta-Challenges in three categories: General, Aliens and Weapons. Once gold-level challenges have been completed, the titles and banners awarded can also be managed online.Checking in on your Galactic Readiness is accomplished through the Galaxy at War section, which displays a familiar map of the galaxy (and its various stages of readiness), as well as information regarding increased readiness from external sources like Mass Effect: Infiltrator.Unfortunately, N7 HQ doesn't have the ability to tell members of the Alliance Military that the war ended months ago, and that they can all come home. Oh well!
Download the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC soundtrack for free
If you're going to give away nearly two gigs of extra content for your wildly successful game, you may as well give away the soundtrack that underscores it, right? The seven-song soundtrack to Mass Effect 3's Extended Cut DLC is now available for free directly from BioWare, provided you have an Origin or BioWare Social network login.Composed by Sam Hulick, the album also comes packed with this note from The Mass Effect Team:"It has been a long journey - for Shepard and for the team here at BioWare - and like Shepard, we couldn't have done it alone. The Mass Effect trilogy began as a vision of a small team, but over the years it has grown. That growth has been fueled and shaped by the feedback and support of our player community. Thank you for joining us on this journey, and we look forward to sharing further adventures with you in the Mass Effect universe."
How to cut to Mass Effect 3's 'Extended Cut' even sooner
While BioWare said that loading a save file that places Commander Shepard roughly two missions before the actual ending of Mass Effect 3 is necessary to experience the Extended Cut downloadable content, players can view the new ending of the game even more quickly.To cut out the middleman (and potentially any fresh content included in the missions prior to the end of the game), players who have completed the game can load up an auto-save that zips Shepard to the end of the game, labeled (spoilers!) "Citadel: The Return." Again, while you might miss added scenes during the final missions in the game, you'll go straight to all the explanatory stuff at the end.It's worth noting that we performed this act of trickery on Xbox 360, so we can't confirm that this works on PS3 or PC just yet.
Mass Effect 3 weekend: 'Operation Silencer', retroactive Commendation Packs granted to PS3 owners
At ease, soldiers. The brass is remarkably proud of each and every one of you for making Operation Exorcist such a rousing success, but unfortunately the completion of that mission doesn't directly translate to the end of our war against the Reapers, Cerberus and the Geth. Starting tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern Earth Time, Operation Silencer will require the full force of the Systems Alliance Military as we work towards our collective goal of exterminating three million banshees.Now granted, that's two million more baddies than you were responsible for during Operation Exorcist, but now that PlayStation Division has been allowed into combat, we think you can handle the difference. Each individual squad will receive a Commendation Pack for every successful extraction from a Gold-level encounter, until Operation Silencer ends at 8 a.m Eastern Earth Time on Monday morning. Successful completion of the Alliance's universal goal results, as usual, in Victory Packs for all.Speaking of PlayStation Division and Commendation Packs, we've got some good news for you prune-fingered dish washers: Now that KP duty is over and you're out in the field, HQ has dispatched Commendation Packs to compensate for the gear you couldn't earn during Operations Goliath and Raptor. Check the shop to redeem yours and get in shape before heading into the field this weekend.
Report: Mass Effect 3 face patch causing crashes for some folks
For those of you excited about dusting off the ol' ME1 Shepard and giving those Reapers what for, know that there may be one more hurdle between you and Mass Effect 3's intergalactic glory. Apparently, the patch that fixed the face import bug has broken things elsewhere – specifically, some players are experiencing crashes when connecting to EA's servers.Shepards encountering this issue are encouraged to post about it in this BioWare thread, where development is currently farming user data in order to better understand the problem and find a solution. The good news is that the error appears to be periodic rather than consistent, with some affected players able to connect via persistence and willpower. There are also reports that re-patching can resolve the issue, but for heaven's sake please be careful when deleting ME3's system cache from your Xbox's hard drive. Save files are precious, fragile things.
Mass Effect moaners kinda get their own way as people power strikes again
SPOILERS. Who can't name a beloved TV series that didn't end the way you wanted? BSG? Lost? Sapphire and Steel? Blake's Seven? Quantum Leap? The Sopranos? All of which ended either with tear-inducing bum-notes or confusing conclusions that caused furious head scratching. Despite that, the traditional reaction is to say "Well, I didn't enjoy that, but I respect the writer's artistic decision." Not so for gamers who felt short-changed by the intentionally devastating conclusion to Mass Effect 3. Fans of the game poured their outrage online, developer BioWare saying that the feedback it had received was "incredibly painful." A fan campaign that raised $80,000 in under a fortnight for Child's Play was enough to make the team behind the title concede defeat against the geo-political disruptor that is the internet with a cause. The company is now devoting all of its efforts to producing an "extended cut" DLC for the summer, but fans expecting a fourth ending where they can watch Commander Shepard on a sun-lounger, margarita in hand had better start complaining now -- the new content will only offer more depth and an extended epilogue to those tragic scenes you've already witnessed. SPOILERS END
Mass Effect 3's 'Resurgence Pack' DLC free on April 10
Mass Effect 3's first bundle of multiplayer DLC, the "Resurgence Pack," is set to hit on April 10 in North America and April 11 in Europe, for the low price of zero dollars. The pack includes two new maps: Hydra, an abandoned Quarian facility converted by humans into a hydroelectric generator, and Condor, an outpost crucial to the defense of the Turian home planet.The pack also includes six new characters, a Batarian Soldier and Sentinel, a Geth Engineer and Infiltrator, a Krogan Battlemaster Vanguard and an Asari Justicar Adept, as well as new weapons, all of which can be seen in the trailer above and gallery below. %Gallery-152548%
The MMO Report: Shut up about Mass Effect edition
This week on The MMO Report, Casey tells everyone to stop whining about Mass Effect 3's ending, laments the loss of the "online" part of Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online, touches on the World of Darkness keynote, and outlines The Secret World's preorder plans. He also reveals the identity of one of TERA's key voice actors: Michael Hogan (of Battlestar Galactica fame), who will play Samael in the final game. Finally, he pulls one measly letter from the mailbag and debates which class he represents in TERA. Enjoy the full MMO Report after the cut!
Child's Play shuts down fundraiser aimed at changing Mass Effect 3's ending
Recently, part of that whole "We're the Internet and we're upset about Mass Effect 3's ending" thing manifested itself in a Child's Play fundraising initiative called "Retake Mass Effect 3." The movement attempted to combine raising money for the charity with convincing BioWare to change the ending of its game.BioWare was completely unaffiliated with the fundraiser, however, and no amount of money raised would guarantee a new ending -- a fact severely misunderstood by many people that donated. "We were dealing with a lot of very confused people, more every day, and that told us we had a problem," said Penny Arcade's Jerry Holkins in an update on his site. "Apparently some of the people giving to the cause seemed to think that they were paying for a new ending to Mass Effect."Holkins also said that Child's Play project manager Jamie Dillion was "buried under mail" about the fundraiser from people wanting to know "what the goal is, and how much they need to raise in order to get the ending produced." The charity was also contacted by PayPal, on account of a "high number" of donors requesting refunds. As a result, Child's Play requested that the fundraiser come to an end.As an organisation, Child's Play has guidelines regulating how money is raised (Child's Play can't be used to sell anything, for instance). Since Retake ME3 technically fell within the boundaries of the charity's existing framework, Holkins has created a new rule to prevent future misunderstandings: "Child's Play cannot be a tool to draw attention to a cause. Child's Play must be the Cause."
Mass Effect 3 player feedback spawns 'content initiatives,' details in April
BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka has become the latest company exec to address his constituents' myriad of complaints regarding Mass Effect 3's contentious ending. In addition to reiterating BioWare's company-wide policy on seeking out and consuming constructive criticism, Muzyka also gave a small bit of insight into the developer's plans for said feedback:"Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions," he said, "providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey. You'll hear more on this in April." Muzyka stressed that BioWare is actively working to maintain the story's artistic integrity, and that these new "content initiatives" are separate from the company's pre-existing plans to continue the Mass Effect universe's expansion. "Rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue."
PSA: ME3 on the 360 can't import ME2 saves in (or transferred by) the cloud
Despite Mass Effect 3's impressive mastery of the atmosphere, it still can't quite handle clouds. EA is "aware of an issue" that prevents Mass Effect 2 save files that either exist in the cloud, or were transferred to a new 360 through the cloud, from being imported into ME3.EA's help guide for the problem makes no mention of plans to implement such functionality, but it does offer solutions, provided you still have access to the 360 that birthed your ME2 save. If your ME2 save exists in the cloud and you're playing from its original console, simply move it back to your hard drive and it should import fine.If it exists on a new console and was transferred through the cloud, it'll need to be moved back to its original 360, and then re-transferred to the new system using a memory card or USB thumb drive. If you no longer have access to that original 360, it looks like you're going to be spending some time on the character creation screen. But hey, don't feel guilty, all right? Shepard would have wanted you to love again.
Freddie Prinze Jr. to voice Mass Effect 3's James Vega
We've already heard about James Vega, one of the new companions for Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 3, and now we know that when you hear him it'll be Sarah Michelle Gellar's husband talking. Freddie Prinze, Jr. has signed on as the voice for the rambunctious soldier companion, and talks about his role in this official video from BioWare, which you can watch below. He also waxes poetic about the characters in the series overall, saying that "sometimes you want to be evil. Sometimes you want to punch somebody instead of saying, 'You should have been there.'" Hey, Cole Ortiz -- remember in day eight when you messed up and lost both Jack Bauer and the nuclear rods to the terrorists? Yeah, about that. You should have been there.
Mass Effect 3 will/won't have multiplayer, part 4: Xbox World cover edition
First it did, and then it didn't, and then it might, and now it seems the plot has thickened once again. Mass Effect 3's on-again-off-again love affair with multiplayer is decidedly on again, as the cover of Xbox World Issue 108 (above) teases new multiplayer details, indicating that hey, this game has multiplayer. We're hoping this means BioWare has finally listened to our mailing campaign and implemented an Xbox Live/PSN-enabled head-to-head argument mode.
Not even BioWare knows what Tali looks like
If a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, would a space-babe by any other face... uhm, be as spacey? Or something? Forget it. In a recent interview with CVG, Mass Effect 3 Art Director Derek Watts admitted that his team tends to avoid discussing the visage behind Tali'Zorah's lavender visor, primarily because they still have no idea what's in there. "That's something we're going to have to decide." says Derek. "We've had a lot of debate over Tali's face, but that's the one we kind of dread a lot." While it hasn't been confirmed that Tali will be unmasked at some point during BioWare's upcoming space odyssey, Derek laments that "Obviously people are going to be pissed off either way." Hit the source link to check out the rest of the interview, unless you want to go into Mass Effect 3 completely in the dark
