chris-priestly
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BioWare investigating fix for Mass Effect 3 face import errors
Some instances of Commander Shepard are embarking on Mass Effect 3's climactic campaign with some alterations. The galaxy's most important (and most imported) face is not being properly preserved in the transfer between some games of Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 (ours included), prompting BioWare to work on a correction.According to BioWare's Community Coordinator, Chris Priestly, "The issue is likely in how faces were detected when imported from Mass Effect 1 into Mass Effect 2, and we're working on the best way to correct it for affected players." In our experience, a wonky import process only messes with facial data, and none of Shepard's recorded actions throughout the previous games.If you're driven mad by inconsistent canon -- or can't bear the thought of Shepard being vain enough to get some touch-ups before his last stand -- BioWare is pointing you to a set of user-made tools for the PC version. As far as we know, this is the only time we'll ever recommend DIY facial surgery.
Mass Effect 3 isn't launching on Steam, requires Origin
Mass Effect 3 is yet another entry in EA's stable of PC games that can't be purchased via Steam. At least it can't be purchased "initially," that is, according to BioWare community manager Chris Priestly, who posted a variety of FAQ answers on the EA division's forums late last week. "During initial release, Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time," he said. Unsurprisingly, this also means that all PC versions of Mass Effect 3 will require EA's Origin service to launch the game -- regardless of where you buy it -- just like Battlefield 3 before it. And despite EA's wording, which implies the game may end up on Steam at some point after launch, we're doubtful that's around the corner. Alongside the confirmation that ME3 won't end up on Steam, Priestly goes on to list the issues his company sees with launching on Steam ("restrictive terms of service," BioWare claims). Given Steam's ubiquity across the PC gaming landscape, not to mention the vast majority of its clients not complaining about said terms of service, we're gonna go ahead and wager that the terms aren't being altered anytime soon.
Mass Effect 2's 'Cerberus Daily News' to go on hiatus, pick back up before more DLC
One of the key props in the grand illusion of Mass Effect 2 is the Cerberus Daily News, a news feed that has displayed daily happenings from around "the universe" (in 2185 CE and into the new year) on Commander Shepard's computer terminal -- the game's title screen. These briefings began on launch day, January 26, 2010, and kept us hooked into a wide array of galactic goings-on over the months: from a Cerberus "torture den" to a trapped family in decaying orbit to the long-term effects of performance-enhancing drugs on athletes. Then, yesterday, a fourth wall–smashing "out-of-game notice" confirmed that the Cerberus Daily News would go on hiatus beginning January 24, ending its surprisingly long run of (phony) news updates. It seems that even a hundred and seventy-five years from now, we'll still be struggling to keep the news in business. (Read the update in full after the break.) On the bright side, the CDN editors will get some temporary work during three weeks this year (2011 CE). The first week of updates will precede what we assume will be the final Mass Effect 2 DLC release, which BioWare has continually insisted is in the works and will likely feature the completion of that treacherous bridge ... to the next game. Speaking of Mass Effect 3, two additional weeks of Cerberus Daily News reports will lead up to its release at the tail end of this year. Is it wrong to want 2011 to be over already? [Thanks, Anthony]
Return to Ostagar returned to sender, conflicting title update to blame
After some minor delays and a recent "now you see it/now you don't" routine on Xbox Live, the Dragon Age: Origins DLC, Return to Ostagar, seems to have introduced a new bug to those who picked up the most recent title update. According to a BioWare forums post by community manager Chris Priestly: "This morning a title update on the Xbox 360 for Dragon Age: Origins was made available in preparation for the release of Return to Ostagar ... this title update introduced a previously undetected issue that causes specialization classes to not work correctly." Additionally, he apologizes to those affected and notes that the DLC has been removed from Xbox Live "until the issue is resolved." We're also ensured that more information will be provided on this as soon as it's available. Oh, and in case it wasn't already apparent -- if you're thinking about downloading the title update, you probably shouldn't. %Gallery-81143% [Via Eurogamer]
GenCon Indy 09: Mythic and BioWare and Cryptic, oh my!
Syp of the BioBreak blog drove five-and-a-half hours to Indianapolis to experience GenCon Indy 2009 for a day and he surely didn't waste any time chatting with a few of the biggest MMO developers out there. He managed to get some one-on-one time with Robert Mull and Andy Belford of Mythic, Chris Priestly of BioWare, and Jack Emmert of Cryptic.Andy discussed Mythic's revised approach to Warhammer Online's development, some misconceptions about server performance, and his role in the Second Skin MMO documentary amongst other things. Chris was unable to talk about Star Wars: The Old Republic specifically as he was there to pitch Dragon Age: Origins, however, there is a little tidbit about ehancements they're making to their morality system, which fans will be sure to speculate upon. Finally, Jack seems confident that Champions Online hype will drastically escalate via word of mouth once the NDA drops.Check out Syp's trip to Indy part one and part two. It's full of interesting information about the convention and boasts numerous photos of himself, some devs, and the growd in general. He notes a bit of disappointment that neither Blizzard nor Turbine were in attendance, otherwise, he'd surely have assaulted them with questions too.
