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PS3 Mass Effect 2 to have 'seamless introduction,' integrates 'a lot' of DLC
BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka has revealed to VG247 that Mass Effect 2's Cerberus Network DLC will be available for the PS3 version in a "full way." While he didn't get too specific, he indicated that "a lot," if not all of the post-release content that's been released for the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game will be integrated into the initial PS3 release. Additionally, the PS3 port will feature some form of an "introduction experience that provides the backstory and the things that have happened" in the first game (which is not available on PS3). "We haven't revealed what that is yet," Muzyka said of the introduction for first-time Mass Effect players. "It'll be something that provides a good introduction and provides a lot of the backstory and introduces you well to the story-arc, and kind of makes you feel like you're part of it all. And then you can jump right into the action in Mass Effect 2." Muzyka also touched on the possibility of Mass Effect 3 launching simultaneously on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, teasing, "That'd be a good guess, but we haven't announced any details on any future formats or anything -- or even formally announced Mass Effect 3 yet." Of course, BioWare "wants to support different platforms, reach different audiences," Muzyka added, "we're part of EA and we want to make sure we can embrace that as well. I think we're trying to do that with all of our products, whether it's Dragon Age or Mass Effect."
Interview: BioWare's Casey Hudson on the making of Mass Effect 2
With arrival of the final piece of Mass Effect 2 DLC today, executive producer Casey Hudson took a few moments to talk with us about how the series got to where it is today, and give us the smallest glimpse of where it's headed. Be aware: If you haven't played Mass Effect 2, you might find a couple of the things in this interview a mild spoiler. Joystiq: When you started development on Mass Effect 2, was there a priority, one thing you wanted to achieve more that any other? Casey Hudson: That's a good question, because there are two things that we look at in terms the next game that we make, and one of them is our list of goals, but there are only a few of us making this game, and millions of people playing it, so it's kind of egotistical to say we know best about what it needs to be. There are people who play it five times, seven times, unbelievable. That's the other part we try to mine and really understand is, for people who become experts in the game by playing it, what's their perspective on what needs to be better? So it's really those two halves that we put together. It ends up creating a big list of our goals and goals of our players. With Mass Effect 2 we tried to do literally every single one of them, and there were basically 40 different categories of things we wanted to add or improve or change. %Gallery-70022%
Mass Effect 3 pulls in over 1,000 variables from Mass Effect 2
We'll have an interview with Mass Effect chief Casey Hudson for you soon, but we wanted to give you this interesting little tidbit from the interview. Hudson says, "We're pulling in probably over a thousand variables from Mass Effect 2 into Mass Effect 3 if you're importing your save game." It's an impressive number to be sure, but keep in mind, they're not all reality-shifting choices. For example, Mass Effect 2 is slightly different depending on what advice you give to Rebekah Petrovsky regarding her baby (remember her?). So maybe not 1,000 earth-shattering variables.
BioWare Montreal seeking multiplayer programmers with Unreal Engine experience
A job listing for "multiplayer programmers" has appeared on EA's official website, specifically for BioWare Montreal -- a studio that describes itself in the same listing as "working on Mass Effect, one of the industry's most beloved and acclaimed franchises, as we build our way toward becoming a fully self-sufficient BioWare studio." EA's Montreal-based recruiter, Jeff Goldstein, apparently had a similar listing on his LinkedIn page (no longer available but captured by CinemaBlend), which pegged the multiplayer programmers as working on the "Mass Effect Franchise." The position additionally requires "experience with the Unreal Engine" -- out of BioWare's current and known franchises, Mass Effect is the only one to use Unreal. Alarmingly, the listing fails to point out that, if applicants are to work on a Mass Effect 3 multiplayer component, they'll be working on the hardest game development task of all time. We can't even begin to wonder how multiplayer dialogue trees work. When contacted for comment, an EA rep told Joystiq, "Mass Effect is a rich, dynamic fiction designed as a trilogy. The team at BioWare is working on new downloadable content for Mass Effect 2 and are in the early stages of Mass Effect 3 development." [Thanks, Khai; via NeverKnowTech]
Gap between Mass Effect 2 and 3 filled with future DLC
Mass Effect 2 is already outstripping the original in terms of DLC, and it looks like the downloadable bounty will be getting even more interesting in the future. In a recent interview with VideoGamer, BioWare's Casey Hudson made it known that upcoming DLC will link the stories of Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. "We'll start to have packs that'll tell the story between Mass Effect 2 and 3," said Hudson, adding that it will be "quite a few months" before BioWare is ready to start talking about Mass Effect 3. We're all for more Mass Effect 2, especially DLC that extends the story. Honestly, though, how can BioWare top the fact that Saren is actually Commander Shepard's father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate?
Interview: BioWare's Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka
"Are you saying BioWare fast turnaround?" company co-founder Greg Zeschuk asks jokingly. The respected RPG developer has been known for taking its time with producing hits like Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate, but has seemingly never been as prolific as it has been in recent months -- just over two years after being acquired by EA. How's this for fast turnaround? Dragon Age: Origins in November 2009, Mass Effect 2 in January, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening in March and several DLC packs in-between (and more on the way). We spoke with BioWare co-founders and super-doctors Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka at the Game Developers Conference about their improved production pipeline, the practical challenges of creating DLC and, of course, how fast the turnaround could be on Mass Effect 3*. *"It's not official!" - Greg Zeschuk
BioWare's Christina Norman defines goals for Mass Effect 3
In a panel titled "Where Did My Inventory Go? Refining Gameplay in Mass Effect 2," BioWare's Christina Norman talked about the radical changes made to the second chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy. A key goal for Mass Effect 2 was to introduce "more satisfying combat," with an "intense feel" missing from the first game. One of the admitted failures of the first Mass Effect game was the incongruity between its look and feel: it looked like a shooter, but it didn't exactly play like one. With that in mind, Norman decided that the team needed to focus on rebuilding the combat in its entirety for Mass Effect 2. "BioWare is strong on RPG and story," but "not so strong on shooter combat." BioWare needed to rebuild its gameplay core, because the game's "other features depend on shooter combat." The streamlined gameplay and GUI of Mass Effect 2 made it a huge critical success, but Norman pointed out some major criticisms from vocal members of the official BioWare forums. Threads titled "Mass Effect 2 is not an RPG" and "Gears of War with interactive dialogue" were highlighted as examples of fans disappointed by the strong shooting focus of the second game. As with the transition from the first Mass Effect to the second, BioWare is taking these criticisms to heart for the third game, with Norman hoping the third will offer "richer RPG features" and "more combat options." What we can probably expect less of, however, is the mining minigame, which Norman described as the part that "nobody liked."
EA: Something 'far-reaching' coming for Mass Effect in early 2011
Well now, this is a little perplexing. Speaking on today's EA earnings call, a spokesperson for the company said that something "far-reaching" for Mass Effect would arrive in Q4 of EA's fiscal 2010, which translates to sometime between January 1 and March 31 of 2011. The perplexing part is that no mention was made of the multiplatform Dragon Age release referenced in the pre-call release for the same period. So, did someone misspeak and confuse BioWare releases? It's possible. We've put a line in to EA to sort this out. Update: We heard back from EA spokesperson Jeff Brown, who told us, "Both Dragon Age and Mass Effect are referenced in the FY11 SKU plan. That's all I can tell you for now."
The Mass Effect bible is 'quite large,' BioWare's Muzyka assures
Thank the Enkindlers! Encompassing an entire galaxy's worth of alien beings, uncharted worlds and tattooed psychopaths, Mass Effect's bible doesn't exactly make for light reading. "We probably spent 6-12 months with a team of designers, artists and so on doing concepting, world building, design and character iteration, timelines, and the history of the universe," BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka recently told IGN. The "IP bible" is consulted for all Mass Effect games, he explained, comparing it to an "iceberg that's down there, giving it weight and gravity, credibility and depth." Echoing earlier statements made by BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk, Muzyka pointed to the franchise's considerable backstory as a viable source for "future extensions, ancillary products, things like that." Things like that may include spin-offs like Mass Effect: Galaxy for iPhone, novels, further expansions to Mass Effect 2, and, obviously, Mass Effect 3. Sadly, if there's one thing the Mass Effect bible can't teach us, it's the virtue of patience. Who wouldn't kill for the next part of the trilogy right now?
Ray Muzyka: Bioware producing a lot of content, more to come at E3
Bioware's Ray Muzyka has been spilling some Bio-beans over on Eurogamer today. In the public interview, he says that while there is both PDLC (the "P" stands for "Premium") being developed for Mass Effect 2 and expansion content planned for Dragon Age: Origins, most of the core team for the sci-fi series has already started working on the as-yet-unannounced Mass Effect 3. He does promise that there's been a vision from the beginning and that the vision has been tweaked and changed as the games are coming along, so hopefully the trilogy will lead to a worthwhile conclusion. He also hints that there's lots more to see coming from Bioware -- Muzyka is working on both PS3 and 360 titles (some still secret) "across the studios I manage," and of course The Old Republic, which he describes as "KotOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 in one project," is in development as well. And at the very end of the interview, to a question about what we can expect at this year's E3, he only answers a cryptic, "Yes!" Maybe Muzyka should have been in charge of the dialog trees in Dragon Age; the game would have been a lot shorter. [via NeoGAF]
Video Interview: BioWare's Dr. Greg Zeschuk on Mass Effect 2 & 3
"You may not even see the impact of a decision in Mass Effect 1 in Mass Effect 2, but in Mass Effect 3," BioWare's Dr. Greg Zeschuk told us while elaborating about the whole Mass Effect franchise. The pedigreed co-founder of BioWare isn't simply set on promoting the upcoming Mass Effect 2, but a vision for the entire trilogy. "In planning out the overall trilogy, we know what general story beats we want to hit along the entire thing. So we know the key events we want to have in 3, and right now the team is starting to flesh that out, fill in the spaces. And of course, we're going to be waiting for the fan response to Mass Effect 2, to see what works and what didn't work, what we can strengthen." Fan reaction is a huge part of the BioWare design, but according to Zeschuk, the Mass Effect team still goes with what they want to do. "Fan reaction is usually a really important part of what we do. We listen to everything the fans say, everything the press says. And when we make a sequel, that's one of the guiding things. Overriding that though really is the team's choice. And I think that's interesting because obviously the fans have been very vocal about who they want to see and how they want to see them. We've made our choices, and they may or may not be happy with what we did. But at the end of the day, they're going to think the experience was incredible. And you have to remember there's a third part, as well. Hey maybe you didn't see who you wanted to see in number two, but maybe you'll see them in number three. We're going to keep fans guessing." %Gallery-70022%
BioWare looking for 'short turnaround' on Mass Effect 3
BioWare is looking to complete the Mass Effect trilogy and get the "epic conclusion" out the door before the current console cycle is over. Speaking with IGN, Project Manager Casey Hudson states that the developer is already at work on Mass Effect 3 and "definitely" wants to make it "a fairly short turnaround." Considering that the first Mass Effect rocked our galaxy in November 2007, followed by the sequel two years and a couple months later, it remains to be seen what qualifies as a "short turnaround." A 2012 release is the natural expectation at this point, but the impatient among might prefer the kind of turnaround associated with the Left 4 Dead sequel. Is that even enough time to finish all that DLC?
BioWare has 'never confirmed any plans' for Mass Effect 360 exclusivity
"Dude, I totally heard that Mass Effect 2 is going to be an Xbox 360 exclusive. Not only that, but my friend's brother's girlfriend's chiropodist who worked with guy who played a BioWare game with me says that the entire trilogy will be exclusive to Microsoft and will eventually cross over with the Halo and Viva Pinata universes. It's going to be an awesome dose of rad-tacular sweetitude." - Hypothetical Joystiq tipster.While there's no question about the rad-tacular sweetitude that's bound to emanate from BioWare's future entries in the Mass Effect franchise, it's time to hang up on another telephoned rumor -- this one has the unannounced trilogy locked into Xbox 360 exclusivity. According to the eloquently named Australian blog, XboxOZ360-gamer, BioWare bigwig Ray Muzyka told Australian 360 magazine that the RPG developer was committed to bringing the Mass Effect trilogy exclusively to the Xbox 360. Yeah, not so much.Speaking to Joystiq, a BioWare representative deemed the information "incorrect," noting that Muzyka has "never confirmed any plans of Mass Effect exclusivity for the trilogy." So ... there is a trilogy, right?[Via X3F]
