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Mass Effect Trilogy lands on 360 and PC November 6, PS3 later
Mass Effect 1, 2, & 3 are being released in an all-in-one bundle for Xbox 360 and PC on November 6, and for PlayStation 3 at a later date. The compilation, titled Mass Effect Trilogy, is priced at $59.99.Mass Effect Trilogy sees the first Mass Effect come to PS3 for the first time, and that game will also be released as a digital standalone on PSN. Also, there's crucially no mention of the compilation coming to Wii U, a fact that makes the Wii U release of Mass Effect 3 eleven days after Mass Effect Trilogy hits a bit awkward. We've reached out to EA regards whether or not the trilogy includes previously released DLC.EA also announced N7 Day, a "worldwide celebration of the Mass Effect franchise" that of course takes place on November 7. Whether or not fans can tear themselves away from the trilogy released the day before is another matter.%Gallery-166617%
Gallery: The Tokyo Game Show 2012 Square Enix/Play Arts Booth
So, I'm not a professional photographer or a professional action-figure critic or anything, but I am a professional Video Games Person, so I was duty bound by my strict code of VGP ethics to take a lot of pictures of some pretty awesome looking stuff at Square Enix's Play Arts booth during this year's Tokyo Game Show.Prototype figures from upcoming Halo, Batman and Mass Effect figure series can all be seen in the gallery below, as can my inadvertently-captured pasty reflection and a few bonus slimes that were thrown for good measure.%Gallery-166319%
BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk announce retirement
The doctors... are out. BioWare announced that Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-founders of the studio, are retiring from the gaming biz. The two have been instrumental in the creation of many hit RPGs, from Baldur's Gate to Mass Effect. For us MMO fans, they're best-known for helming the ship that brought us Star Wars: The Old Republic. The two are taking a break, perhaps indefinitely, from game creation and management. Muzyka is looking to engage in charities and social work, while Zeschuk is going to dive into projects involving craft beer. "This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make; after thinking about it for many months, I made the decision to retire from videogames back in early April 2012 -- at that time I provided six months' notice to EA, to help enable a solid transition for my teams at BioWare," Muzyka wrote in his farewell letter. "This decision isn't without significant pain and regret, but it's also something I know I need to do, for myself and my family. I've reached an unexpected point in my life where I no longer have the passion that I once did for the company, for the games, and for the challenge of creation," Zeschuk said in his. The two maintain that BioWare is in good hands and will continue to excel going forward.
New Mass Effect: Paragon Lost trailer has drama, Vega's beefy neck
We've discovered the real reason why Funimation's new anime movie, Mass Effect: Paragon Lost, was delayed until the end of December: Vega's massive neck must take forever to animate. Seriously, that thing is like an entire Christmas ham. His windpipe must be the size of a baseball bat.
NVIDIA, Epic Games bringing Unreal Engine 3 to Windows 8 and Windows RT (video)
NVIDIA and Epic Games have successfully ported the full PC version of Unreal Engine 3 to both Windows 8 and, more importantly, Windows RT. Demonstrating the achievement on a Tegra 3-powered ASUS Vivo Tab RT, it played a buttery-smooth version of Epic Citadel, suggesting that developers of both PC and Xbox games should have no problem in bringing them over to the new operating system. It also casually mentioned that both Gears of War and Mass Effect were built on the engine, heavily implying that we could see titles of that caliber coming to Microsoft's low-power OS once it makes it debut on October 26th, but we'll let you decide for yourself after the break.
Mass Effect 2 has highest completion rate in ME, Dragon Age series
BioWare's director of online development Fernando Melo presented the above player completion rates for Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 during a panel at GDC Europe. Mass Effect 2 topped the charts with 56 percent of players completing the entire game, followed by Mass Effect 3 with 42 percent, Dragon Age 2 with 41 percent, Mass Effect with 40 percent and finally Dragon Age: Origins at the lowest rate of 36 percent. The spike in Mass Effect 2's completion can be attributed to Mass Effect 3's recent launch, when an influx of players were reminded of the game and attempted to finish it before that release, Melo said.
Fan-made Mass Effect adventure game surfaces
A Mass Effect fan-game by the name of Finding Shepard popped up on the Adventure Game Studio forums recently. Created by AGS forums user Nightfable, Finding Shepard is an in-progress game set in the Mass Effect universe that directly follows the events of Mass Effect 3.Without spoiling too much of the story from the series, Finding Shepard stars Jack, who is searching for Commander Shepard after the "destroy" version of the series' ending. The point-and-click adventure style of the game lends itself to some interesting takes on the climactic points of the series' plot, and gives fans that weren't thrilled with the ending (or the Extended Cut DLC) an opportunity to experience other stories that folks like Nightfable wish to tell in BioWare's universe.In other words, we'd totally play it. Check out screens from the project in our gallery below.%Gallery-162245%
Total Recall meets Mass Effect in this trailer mash-up
The folks at Node Studios recently took the audio from the Total Recall (2012) movie trailer and set it to scenes from the Mass Effect trilogy. The result is legendary, and makes us yearn for either more Total Recall, or more Mass Effect.
This weekend's Mass Effect 3 event is 'Operation Broadside'
Hey buddy, still bummed out that your hand-knit N7 armor didn't arrive from Etsy in time for this year's San Diego Comic-Con? Well, just because you can't go rub elbows with cardboard Gundams and all the other cosplayers, that doesn't mean you can't spend your whole weekend pretending to be a highly-trained marine in the Systems Alliance military. Operation Broadside, which lasts until Monday, July 16, puts an emphasis on getting the hell out of dodge: Individual squads are tasked with successfully extracting at least one squad member from a Gold-level Reaper engagement. Meanwhile, the Alliance as a whole is striving for 400,000 successful squad extractions from any Reaper conflict. Squads that complete the Squad goal will receive the standard Commendation Pack, while all participants will receive a Victory Pack and a Medi-Gel capacity increase from five to six, provided the Alliance's overall goal is accomplished.
Documenting the changes in Mass Effect 3's Extended Cut DLC
Following the launch of the long-anticipated Extended Cut DLC for Mass Effect 3, we ran through the original and updated endings a few times to note some of the differences between the two. For those of you unable to access a convenient autosave or play through the game again, we've written up a summary of the differences between the new versions of the endings and the originals, which you can find after the break.We won't ruin all the fun for players, but the following definitely contains major spoilers for the ending of Mass Effect 3.
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.
EA 2012 financials: Q4 revenue and income up year-over-year, 2012 revenue up, income down
Publishing giant Electronic Arts has issued its financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2012 and fiscal 2012 as a whole and, wouldn't you know it, a year with a new Mass Effect game results in revenue totals that are much higher than years without Mass Effect games.Looking at just the fourth quarter of 2012, EA's total net revenue stacked up at $1.36 billion, a 24 percent increase over the $1.09 billion reported at the end of this same period last year. Net revenue generated from digital sales nearly doubled year-over-year, $419 million in Q4 2012 as opposed to $211 million in Q4 2011 – a 98 percent increase.Packaged goods still made up the majority of the publisher's revenue, however, at $949 million, up from $879 in Q4 2011. Net income for the period was also up year-over-year, $400 million for the period ending on March 31, 2012 as compared with $151 million for the same period in 2011. Naturally, EA contributes its successful fourth quarter to the release of Mass Effect 3 and the continued popularity of FIFA 12.Fiscal 2012 as a whole presents a slightly different story. While net revenue was up 15 percent year-over-year ($4.14 billion in fiscal 2012 vs. $3.58 billion in fiscal 2011), net income fell 263 percent, from $276 million in fiscal 2011 to just $76 million in fiscal 2012.Looking forward to fiscal 2013, EA expects an approximate net revenue of $4.07 billion, $950 million of which it expects to earn during the first fiscal quarter of 2013, which ends on June 30, 2012.
How Mass Effect 3's roleplaying roots empower the multiplayer
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. "I just want to see how this integrates with the single-player campaign," I thought, clicking on the multiplayer option in Mass Effect 3's main menu. I had no expectations of making it a habit. Like many people, when the multiplayer component was announced, I thought it sounded completely extraneous. Once I started playing, though, I fell for it, and have been putting more time into the multiplayer than the campaign.Arguments about whether Mass Effect 3 is a role-playing game or not have existed since the first game's release. Regardless of which side you take in those, Mass Effect does include many components of role-playing games, two of which are essential to the multiplayer's success: world-building and character development mechanics. Of course, there are simple gameplay reasons to enjoy the co-operative gameplay of Mass Effect 3 online. The levels are well designed for dynamic changes within matches, and waves of enemies seem ideal for both difficulty and time. But those things aren't what make it special.
Voice actor brokers unlikely alliance between Wesker and Legion
Here's something we didn't expect to see today, or ever: Mass Effect's Geth Legion and Resident Evil's Albert Wesker engaging in a bit of friendly trash talk.The two characters make fun of Charlie Sheen and discuss forming an alliance, in a video that serves as a goodbye of sorts from voice actor D.C. Douglas (who plays both) to the two characters. We're guessing the "goodbye" to Wesker is premature, something the pair even jokes about a little, but it's fun anyway.
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
Oh, The Places You'll Go: Mass Effect's Citadel
Oh, The Places You'll Go is a weekly column by Kimberley Wallace where she visits an in-game world, acting as a travel agent. Read as she explores the nooks and crannies of each (probably war torn) landscape. This week, we bring you to The Citadel, recently featured in Mass Effect 3. The view from space shows the Citadel teeming with life. Each of its five arms is illuminated with a criss-crossing series of lights, almost like a circuit board. These talon-like extensions connect to the Presidium ring, the center of Galactic commerce and politics. They can also change like a chameleon; when closed, the Citadel becomes a fortress, no longer looking like it's the bastion of life, but instead a sleek, clean cylinder into which nothing can enter - or from which no one can escape. Hey, if you're going to find a safe place during the war, this is probably your best bet.Yes, the Reapers are coming, ready to slay us with their steely tentacles and laser eyes. And in these moments when you feel so small and helpless in the fight to save the galaxy, there's only one thing to do: escape. Let Shepard worry about the Reapers; take a load off and come on down to the Citadel, a marvel of technology, not only full of mysteries, but also the core of civilization.%Gallery-149496%
Amazon knocks some space bucks off Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 downloads this week
Any good smuggler or bounty hunter knows you have to take every opportunity to save a space buck. With intergalactic tolls and the rising cost of crystal fuel cells, it's important. Also, you need something to do while you're sitting around in hyperdrive all the time, y'know? So retailer Amazon is offering discounts for your downtime -- specifically, savings on Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 downloads for PC.Both Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 can be downloaded for $5.99 each. The Digital Deluxe edition of Mass Effect 2 -- which includes several making-of videos, the game's soundtrack, some in-game items and a download code for more bonus content -- is also on sale for $8.99. Finally, a bundle of both the original Mass Effect and the digital deluxe edition of Mass Effect 2 can be had for $11.99. The sale ends on March 31.
Mass Effect 3 face import bug will be fixed in next patch
Did you encounter an error when trying to import your Commander Shepard into Mass Effect 3? Did you spend hours trying to recreate him or her, only to reach the conclusion that he/she just don't look right? There is hope, friend, as BioWare community coordinator Chris Priestly has revealed that the face import problem will be fixed in the next Mass Effect 3 patch. Unfortunately, the release date for said patch is still up in the air, as it still has to undergo certification at EA, Microsoft and Sony.The error arises for players who attempt to import faces from Mass Effect 2 that were previously imported from the original Mass Effect -- a sensitive issue given that these players are probably pretty attached to their Shepards by now. Rest assured, we'll be keeping track of the patch's progress. In the meantime, maybe it's finally time to finish that Mass Effect 2 Renegade run you've been putting off.
The Soapbox: The inevitable Mass Effect MMO
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. I don't know about you, but I've yet to play Mass Effect 3. This is not by choice, mind you, and now that I've returned from the wilds of last week's GDC, it's time to settle in for another 30-hour tour with Shepard and company. What does this have to do with MMOs? Well, nothing really, except that BioWare hasn't exactly closed the door on a Mass Effect title. On the contrary, the company's dynamic doctor duo have hinted at the fact that this, ahem, theoretical game would need to be somewhat different from the firm's maiden MMO voyage. At this point I think an ME MMO is inevitable, so join me after the cut to discuss whether BioWare can really break the mold with its second effort as well as what that effort could look like.
The best Kinect to come: Microsoft's Xbox 360 spring showcase
Like the Nintendo Wii before it, Microsoft's Kinect has been braving the storm of new peripheral adolescence, awkwardly shuffling users through jump, wave, lean and jiggling gameplay, typically at a leisurely pace. Sure it's had its moments on the dance floor, but aside from being a good listener, the spatially aware sensor hasn't exactly redefined core gaming. Almost a year and half after its launch, however, the often hacked device is taking another crack at reaching the hardcore. We dropped in on Xbox's spring showcase this weekend to find out how that effort is going -- see what we found after the break.
