A studio led by former Mass Effect director Casey Hudson have shut down before being able to show the sci-fi narrative adventure they were working on. Humanoid Origin posted the announcement of the studio's closure on LinkedIn yesterday, saying that a "shortfall of funding" was responsible for the decision. They had been making a "multi-platform AAA game, focusing on character-driven narrative in an all-new science-fiction universe", according to the studio's website.
]]>I don't tend to do a lot of videogame discount posts because I have a mortal fear of enriching my backlog, but when I see the entire Mass Effect trilogy and all of its expansions for around the price of a slightly aristocratic sandwich, I am compelled to share. The Legendary Edition of BioWare's ravishing sci-fi RPG series is 90% off on Steam until 13th May. That translates to 6€, $6 or £5 for all three main games and 40 DLC packs, plus bells and whistles such as 4K Ultra HD and beefed-up character models. If you haven't played a Mass Effect game before, this is a pretty good place to start.
]]>Former Dragon Age: Dreadwolf production director and veteran Mass Effect scribe Mac Walters has founded a new studio, Worlds Untold, with funding from NetEase. According to the official site, the studio will develop "triple-A action adventure games with an emphasis on narrative and worldbuilding": its first project is a single-player-focussed, "near future action adventure game in a breathtaking world filled with mystery and exploration".
Amongst other things, this reflects Walter's desire to move away from the "space opera" RPGs he's made in the past and develop a more linear, story-driven sci-fi game, whose universe might also host TV or novel adaptations. Which might not sound very appealing to BioWare diehards, but you can rest easy on one count: the game will have plenty of lore, though how it's served up to the player is another question.
]]>Laid-off Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and Mass Effect developers are attempting to turn this year's "N7 Day" of Mass Effect-themed festivities into a day of mass revolt. The developers in question are a mixture of former full-time staff and former Keywords Studios QA testers who have worked on Dreadwolf under contract. They've organised pickets outside BioWare Edmonton's offices in Canada, and are calling on BioWare fans to get involved on social media, while trying to engage current BioWare staff in conversation about unionisation.
]]>Often when we talk about "hype" surrounding a release, it’s in anticipation of shared cultural euphoria more than that of a great gaming experience. Either way, a great RPG game hits different. Recently, Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 have both been landmarks. Not to mention the enduring sweep of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the Minesweeper-esque ubiquity of Skyrim. When studios get the RPG right, the end result inspires excitement and devotion in ways that feel utterly unique to the genre.
To this end I chatted to Dragon Age, Baldur’s Gate, and Mass Effect maestro Mark Darrah, some of the folks at Studio ZA/UM, and the minds behind the two definitive tomes on CRPG history: Matt Barton of Dungeons And Desktops, and Felipe Pepe of The CRPG Book. I wanted to ask these genere experts about all things choice and consequence, player freedom, and Baldur’s Gate 3’s phenomenal success. What turns a niche into a phenomenon? What goes into creating a great RPG? And what makes the genre so special to people? Turns out that last one is a big question to ask.
]]>We’ve seen Austin Powers take a stab at running the Normandy, but the 60s spy is probably too old school to be fighting Reapers in the year 2183. The head of the Normandy requires a modern managerial style, someone with the diplomatic skills necessary to bring the galaxy together. So, obviously, the natural choice to replace Commander Shepard is… Michael Scott? Someone made a video editing The Office’s nutty boss into scenes from the Mass Effect trilogy, and the results are hilarious.
]]>Dragon Age: Dreadwolf apparently hit alpha in October last year, suggesting development was advancing as planned. Now production director and BioWare veteran Mac Walters has left the studio - one of several lead developers to depart over the past couple of years.
]]>If you’re a Mass Effect aficionado then you’d definitely have been aware that yesterday was the annual N7 Day celebration of the series. You probably also noticed that BioWare shared some concept art of an in-construction mass relay from Mass Effect 5, along with a snippet of jumbled audio for people to download. Enterprising Shepard stans set to work cleaning up the noise to see if anything meaningful was held within and, lo and behold, there was a short message from everyone’s favourite asari scientist Liara T’Soni.
]]>Horror games are great and all that, but what about games that make you the monster? Yeah. Chew on that for a second.
I'm not just talking about games that belong to the horror genre, either. In fact, spare those asymmetrical multiplayer games that are all the rage with their worryingly young audiences, there are few actual horror games that let you assume the role of the villain. But that doesn't mean there isn't a deluge of titles where you play as a creature so vile, so menacing, that the residents of their worlds undoubtly view the player as evil incarnate. Far from it. The games on this list may not all be spooky in tone, but your character is still the stuff of actual nightmares.
]]>The wag behind videos editing Austin Powers into Mass Effect and Mr Bean into Cyberpunk 2077 has returned to the shagadelic font. Just as Shepherd was reborn for Mass Effect 2, Powers rises again in the new video retelling BioWare's sci-fi RPG sequel with England's greatest secret agent. It remains funny and silly and an unexpectedly good fit.
]]>Amazon Studios are "nearing a deal" to develop a TV series based on Mass Effect, according to a recent Deadline report. Excellent stuff. I'm all for it! If Mass Effect were to be adapted into anything, I'd much rather it be a potentially long-running series rather than a film so it has enough time to establish its excellent sci-fi setting. However, we need to talk about what story Amazon could potentially take from the games. To me, it seems likely they'd follow the trilogy, which I reckon is the right move. But I don't think we need to see more of Shepard's side of things, you know? They should put Liara front-and-centre instead.
]]>Yesterday was N7 Day, an annual celebration of all things Mass Effect, and this year was a little quieter than the last. In 2020, BioWare revealed they were working on a brand new game in the series, but this year they looked back on the Mass Effect trilogy remasters that came out in May. I thought that was all they had in store until the very end of the day when they tweeted a new teaser poster for Mass Effect 5, featuring a crater shaped like a giant geth head. Geth! Mass Effect trilogy villains! Get your goggles on, reader, it's time to investigate this pic.
]]>The geth have begun launching seemingly random attacks on human colonies. Rumours are circling that ancient machines will soon emerge from darkspace. There is only one man equipped to deal with these threats: Intergalactic Man Of Mystery, Austin Powers. Someone has made a video editing Mike Myers' 60s spy into Mass Effect and I'm astounded at how well it works. I don't know what else to say. This is Mass Effect in its ultimate form. Please watch it, it's the best minute I've spent all week.
]]>Last night, BioWare released a fun infographic with stats about player choices in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Most of it is pretty unsurprising, with players mostly choosing to be the good guys, opting into peace and Paragon points. But it also has info about what backgrounds and classes players chose. And I have to know, in a game where you're able to play as techno wizards and space sorcerers, why did 40% of you decide to play the class in which your only special skill is "has several guns"?
]]>Sad news my fellow BioWare game-enjoyers: they don't have anything to show at EA Play Live this month. Truly, can EA even do a livestream without showing some rocks from Dragon Age 4? How could they just whack Liara in the trailer for Mass Effect 5 and leave us hanging like that? Oh well. I had been holding out hope that they might announce Mass Effect 3's multiplayer for Legendary Edition, but I guess we'll just watch more Battlefield 2042 gameplay again. Sigh.
]]>It's a wonder why I enjoy Mass Effect so much considering I think third-person games are a bit rubbish. Would it be the perfect game if it were all in first-person? I don't know, but someone has made a mod that adds a first-person mode to each game in the trilogy in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, so now we can find out.
]]>Last night, the Mass Effect Legendary Edition got a new patch, nerfing Commander Shepard's bank account and reducing the noise from those deafening Mass Relays. Sure, it got some performance tweaks here and there, but more importantly, you'll now find an imported Shepard from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 might have considerably fewer credits than before. Perhaps it's all linked to the Mass Relays, I wouldn't be surprised if Shep splashed out for some sound proofing on the Normandy.
]]>Leading up to the launch of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, I was looking forward to comparing the decisions I made when I first played the trilogy in 2013, versus the decisions I would make now, so many years later. How much could my opinions have changed? Surely things wouldn't be too different, but I imagined there'd be at least some nuance to my actions.
Alas, much like playing the sneaky archer in Skyrim, I have immediately fallen back into old habits. But you know what? So be it. They're all the correct choices, and you can't make me change them. You're not my mum.
]]>The Mass Effect Legendary Edition has been out for nearly two weeks now, and modders are already making some handy changes to the remastered version of BioWare's space RPG trilogy. Someone has made a mod that lets players bring up the in-game console in the ME1 and ME2 remaster, allowing them to give themselves a cheeky XP or Paragon/Renegade points boost, clip out of bounds, and even add in items and powers.
]]>No Man's Sky's most recent expedition sounds like a toughy, but stick with it, because it's hiding an excellent Easter egg at the end. Hello Games have revealed that players who complete the Beachhead expedition before May 31st will be met with Mass Effect's Normandy SR1 arriving in style right over their heads. You get to keep it too - Shepard's ship will be a permanent part of your No Man's Sky frigate fleet.
Man, I always thought No Man's Sky wasn't for me, then they add something super cool like this.
]]>For those unaware, Garrus Vakarian is a kind of space-cop who joins your squad in the Mass Effect series. He's a Turian, a race of aliens who look like spindly mummified cats made of pummice. The recent Mass Effect Legendary Edition means you can play the first Mass Effect and look at the mandibles on his face in higher definition.
He's also a potential love interest for a girl protagonist from Mass Effect 2 onwards. And Garrus appears to be a popular choice vis. alien smooching, much like how everyone just knows who is objectively the best Hollywood Chris. But though Chris Evans' supremacy is self-evident, I cannot wrap my head around wanting to shag Garrus. The title is not a facetious question. I am a curious person and would like detailed answers from the Garrus-fanciers in the comments.
]]>I have played a lot of Mass Effect since the remaster came out on Friday, but I haven't really... done anything. "I know we're busy hunting for Saren," a member of the crew will say, before asking if we can make a personal detour for them. I look back at our flight history: the last six planets we landed on had nothing but space debris and the occasional Thresher Maw. Since picking up Liara, we've essentially been on a joyride through every solar system in the galaxy. Look, Saren could be hiding on any one of these uncharted worlds - it would be irresponsible of me not to check everywhere.
]]>Do you like Mass Effect?... If you answered, “I, SPACEMAN,” then you probably already own the Legendary Edition and may find the conversation that happens in this week's Weekspot redundant. If you checked the box that said, “the only renegade I know of is one-time WCW Television Champion, The Renegade, but I'd love to hear some chat on a remaster of a celebrated RPG trilogy," then I've got just the podcast for you.
]]>Mass Effect Legendary Edition received its first big update last night, bringing some helpful calibrations to BioWare's freshly remastered sci-fi RPG trilogy. Oddly, some of the changes include improved textures and lighting, which I thought was the point of the remaster in the first place. Other tweaks include achievement-tracking fixes and cutscene improvements, but the patch notes are pretty vague - especially for a patch some players report was an 11GB download.
]]>In celebration of the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition release, a big group of the trilogy's voice actors, writers, and producers got together to answer questions from fans and tell old stories over the weekend. Spearheaded by femshep voice Jennifer Hale herself, you can also hear the voices of dudeshep, Tali, Liara, Joker, Samantha and more all together in the same nostalgia-ridden video call.
There's talk of the developers' kids now playing the games for the first time, actors hugging lots of fans, and getting a little emotional in the recording booth. It was honestly just swell to hear the team talk about the joy of working together, whether or not you're planning to jump back in for the remaster.
]]>The snazzy new packaged up and fancied up version of the original Mass Effect trilogy is now out, so I imagine there are plenty of you who clocked double digit hours into it over the weekend. As they do, modders spent the weekend remastering the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition even further. There are a good handful of mods available for the new edition already, utilities and reshade presets and all.
]]>Striking up a romantic relationship with a character in Mass Effect 3 will earn you a lovely picture of their face that sits on the desk in Commander Shepard's quarters. It's a nice touch, but for Tali romancers it's particularly special, because it means you actually get to see her face without her helmet on. Unfortunately, in the old ME3, that picture of Tali was a stock photo of a model edited to look a bit alien. But now in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, BioWare have swapped it out for a much more "realistic" pic.
]]>It's here! It's here! Put on your best space shoes, it's time to chat up some aliens. Mass Effect Legendary Edition is out right now, remastering Commander Shepard's trilogy of adventures, and bringing back all your extraterrestrial pals with some spruced-up graphics. It's been a long while since I last explored BioWare's epic sci-fi RPG series, and I can't tell you how excited I am to zoom off into the Milky Way again.
]]>I love Mass Effect. I am the BioWare liker. Give me an RPG with a weird setting and some non-humans to be friends with and possibly smooch, and I'll have a hell of a time. When people ask "what is your favourite game?" (which used to genuinely be on the interview set questions for Gamestation when I worked there) I usually say "Mass Effect 2, but with the context of having first played Mass Effect."
As such, I am the consumer who is targeted by the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. All three spaceventure ME games in one remastered package? Sign me up! So far I've only played a bit of the first game, in its spiffy new 2021 get up, and all I can say is "Hooboy, this sure is some Mass Effect!". That's good, because Mass Effect is good. And it's the only thing that really needs to be said, because it doesn't really matter what any of the reviews say: you already know if you're getting it or not.
]]>Bioware have taken great pains to show off all the swanky new visual enhancements coming to their remastered Mass Effect Legendary Edition tomorrow, including support for 4K resolutions, ultrawide monitors, revamped lighting, sharper textures and loads more. The difference is plain to see in screenshots and their before and after comparison video, but in terms of being able to fiddle around with those settings yourself in the game's PC settings menu... well, what's the equivalent of an intergalactic tumbleweed?
]]>Which Mass Effect has the best control scheme can be a pretty dividing topic. Now I don't want to shame anyone who enjoyed how Mass Effect 1 controlled, but to be clear, I do think you're all masochists. I was delighted to find out that BioWare would be bringing the first game more in-line with the sequels with the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. As well as tweaking the combat, the devs are making some much-needed changes to the Mako. However, if for some reason you want to experience the infamously unwieldy vehicle just like old times, you can.
]]>We're but a mere eight days away from the release of the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. In writing that, it's just dawned on me how close I am to seeing my hi-res alien pals and bombing around in the improved Mako. To tide fans over until the remaster's launch, BioWare have released a free content package containing loads of Mass Effect's iconic music, as well as digital art books and comics. They've also created an online tool that lets you select your favourite squadmates to make some personalised cover art.
]]>Mass Effect: Legendary Edition has the tough job of upgrading the visual appearance of games originally built to run at 720 or 1080p on an Xbox 360. That's a mammoth task even if it was just one game and not the entire Mass Effect trilogy.
A new trailer and blog post on the remaster's official site breaks down how BioWare went about upscaling 30,000 textures, and shows exactly how the results look.
]]>I've twice tried to get into the Mass Effect series and both times I've given up a few hours into the first game. 'That's where it starts to get good!' my friends tell me, while also saying that Mass Effect 2 fixed a lot of the first game's problems.
I'm therefore pleased to learn of how Mass Effect Legendary Edition will tweak the first game to make it more consistent with its sequels. A new blog post on the RPG remaster's official site goes into detail on how they're tuning combat, boss fights and the Mako "without outright scrapping the spirit of the original games."
]]>He's Superman, Geralt Of Rivia, and now it looks like Henry Cavill might be a Mass Effect fanfiction writer to boot. Yesterday, he posted a picture on his Instagram of some unassuming blurry text, with a caption teasing a "secret project". As it turns out, that text is actually from a Mass Effect 3 Wikipedia entry. So, is he studying for a secret live-action Mass Effect role? Could he be lined up to voice a character in the new Mass Effect game? Nah, he's definitely writing fanfic.
]]>I suspect we all saw this coming when it was reported earlier this month that Electronic Arts would be deciding the fate of BioWare's sci-fi romp Anthem. BioWare have announced today that they will no longer be working on their overhaul called Anthem Next and will instead be focusing their attention on the next Mass Effect and Dragon Age 4.
]]>The remastered trilogy of Mass Effect Legendary Edition contains almost all of BioWare's sci-fi RPG epic, with two notable exceptions: ME3's multiplayer, and ME1's Pinnacle Station DLC. While the absence of multiplayer is a glaring absence (I'll honestly miss it), when BioWare announced the release date yesterday I'd initially not noticed Pinnacle wasn't in the big long list of included DLC. Turns out, the source code was corrupted, and rebuilding it from scratch would've taken ages.
]]>The adventures of Commander Shephard, legendary hero and shopper, will return revamped on the 14th of May in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. BioWare today announced a launch date for the remaster of their sci-fi RPG trilogy, which is coming with new prettiness and character customisation options, plus a whole heap of old DLC. No multiplayer, though. Have a gander at the refresh in the new trailer below.
]]>The Amazon Prime series The Expanse is great. It's really excellent sci-fi, and shares many parallels with one of my most loved game series, Mass Effect. Today, I would like to tell you about how The Expanse made me less annoyed at one of the major plot points in the very first Mass Effect.
Fair warning, I'm about to drop some spoilers for The Expanse here (not for Season 5 though! I haven't seen any of that myself just yet), so read on at your own risk.
]]>I can hardly believe my eyes, but BioWare just revealed a teaser trailer for the next Mass Effect at The Game Awards - and Liara was in it. Blue space-wife Liara from the Mass effect trilogy was in the new Mass Effect teaser, exploring a snowy planet and picking up a discarded piece of N7 armour. What does this mean for Mass Effect 5? Will it be set in the Milky Way after all? Is Andromeda done? Who knows! Watch the trailer below and come be excited with me.
]]>After a long and bumpy road, two companions have this week chosen to leave BioWare's adventuring party. Casey Hudson, the project director for Mass Effect before becoming the studio's general manager, has departed the company after 23 years along with Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah. Those are some big departures, but BioWare insists they'll have no effect on the studio's upcoming remasters and long-distant sequels.
]]>If you fancy having a go at Mass Effect's daft hacking minigames without loading up BioWare's big old space RPG, then look no further. Someone has made a virtual museum with recreations of the hacking puzzles from both Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2. It's inspired by the virtual lock picking museum I reported on a few months back - a post in which I said the exact words: "I’d love to see a hacking museum with all the awful minigames from Mass Effect."
]]>Hello and welcome to the corner of the RPS Treehouse where we sit and chant, "Mass Effect! Mass Effect! Mass Effect!" to will news about BioWare's sci-fi series into being. This week, our dark magic has summoned three (3!) new images of some lovely artwork for the next Mass Effect game, which the developers revealed they were working on during their N7 Day celebrations.
Oooh but what can we decipher this time? Well, I already said it about the first teaser image, but I reckon these new ones even further suggest that Mass Effect 5 will be a sequel to Andromeda.
]]>Look at this official Mass Effect PC case. I love it, but I hate that it's a Mass Effect case. It's as though NZXT thought: "What would Commander Shepard herself play video games on?" But they should not have done that because - for as amazing as she is - Shepard clearly has boring taste.
Shep's casual clothes are like, what, an N7 logo hoodie, an N7 logo leather jacket, or *checks notes* an N7 logo bodycon dress. All stylish clothing items, obviously, but to follow that pattern for a PC? No! It should look like a spaceship.
]]>I called it. I bloody called it. On Friday I asked: "What if BioWare announced Mass Effect 5 this weekend?" So you'll imagine my surprise and delight when the devs revealed they're currently working on a new Mass Effect game. They didn't provide many details, it's all very early days. However, there is an image. A teaser image with some alien silhouettes that suggests to me Mass Effect 5 will be set after the events of Andromeda.
]]>It's been seven years since the original Mass Effect trilogy ended, and even now modders are working on all kinds of additions and improvements to Commander Shepard's adventures. During the N7 Day celebrations on Saturday, BioWare announced the official Mass Effect remasters, but the modding community also took it as a chance to show some of the unofficial upgrades they've been working on over the last year.
They made a video to showcase it all - and it even has a cameo from DudeShep himself, Mark Meer.
]]>Three years after Mass Effect: Andromeda failed to ignite a new sci-fi RPG saga, developers BioWare today announced they are working on "the next chapter of the Mass Effect universe." Huh! Sure, everyone expected them to announce remasters of the original trilogy today (because chat about them has been leaking for months) but this was a surprise bonus. BioWare give no hints about the new Mass Effect's plot, setting, or anything, simply saying they're in the "early stages" of development. While I imagine it's yonks away, I'm quite excited.
]]>Talk about the worst-kept secret in the galaxy. After months of rumbling and speculation, BioWare today announced the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, bringing all three (quiet, Andromeda) Mass Effect games into one remastered collection next year. While not full remakes, the Legendary collection spruces up Commander Shephard's ageing space saga with better visuals, smoother performance, and all the extra DLC packed into the Normandy's cargo bays.
]]>N7 Day, or Mass Effect day as you might know it, is right around the corner. This Saturday, a couple of BioWare devs and a load of the original trilogy's voice cast are holding a "very special" panel to celebrate. Now, there are suspicions and whisperings of what may or may not be said at this panel - it would be baffling if all this fanfare wasn't to reveal the long-rumoured remasters of Commander Shepard's adventures. But what if! What if they threw a complete curveball and announced Mass Effect 5?
]]>Ah, N7 Day. A time for Mass Effect fans to come together and be sad because there hasn't been a new game in the series since 2017 (even then, we don't particularly like talking about that one). This year could be different, though. On Saturday the 7th November, a couple of BioWare developers and a bunch of voice actors from the Mass Effect trilogy are holding a "very special" panel.
]]>Everything's delayed this year, even the games no one actually announced. The oft-rumoured remasters of the original Mass Effect trilogy have been delayed, according to a new rumour, though this isn't too surprising/disappointing given that we don't know for certain they're actually real. Rumours had said EA were revamping the first three Mass Effect games for release this October, or at least by March 2021, and the latest whispers say Mass Effect: Legendary Edition come in early 2021. I mean, given that EA still haven't even announced any such project, I'm not surprised that it wouldn't be coming next month.
]]>Regicide is once again a topic at dinner, thanks to the release of Crusader Kings III. Your aunt passes you the gravy, and asks about council matters. Your mother comments on the rise in guillotine stocks. Your father, the king, chews his mutton with a rueful and distant glare, probably thinking about war. A cloaked advisor enters and hands you a note on parchment. “The ten worft kingf and queenf in gamef,” it reads. You cough politely, put it in your pocket for later, and continue pushing poisoned food around as if you are eating it.
]]>Electronic Arts have rebranded their Origin Access subscription service to EA Play, and announced that it will launch on Steam on August 31st. As before, it lets people play many of EA's games for as long as they pay, with a pricier tier giving access to their newest games. However, it seems only the basic version of EA Play is coming to Steam - EA are keeping their Pro tier to their own platform, Origin, for now.
]]>Though EA's notE3 showcase has come and gone with nary a mention of a remastered Mass Effect trilogy, rumours persist. Now they're being stoked again by an Amazon listing apparently revealing an expanded version of the art book, The Art Of The Mass Effect Trilogy is coming in March 2021. Which makes some fans wonder: why expand the art book now? Hell, we all need something to believe in.
]]>Say those three words and I'm yours forever: Mass Effect remaster. The rumour mill has lit up today following a titbit of news from EA stating that a HD remake or remaster of one of their games is planned to release sometime this year. VentureBeat claim it's going to be a remaster of the Mass Effect trilogy. Or maybe a remake. The article uses both words which is a little misleading.
But, what would we actually want from a Mass Effect remaster? I think it's an important distinction to make that these games don't need to be remade. But at the same time, there are plenty of things I would love BioWare to fix.
]]>Drew Karpyshyn is the next former BioWare developer to join the ranks at Archetype Entertainment, Wizards Of The Coast's brand new development studio. You might recognise Karpyshyn as one of the writers behind Mass Effect 1 and 2, Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic. He's joining a studio that says they're dedicated to creating "epic story-driven role playing games" - and to be honest, it's shaping up to be a bit of a dream team.
It's a team that's geared towards bringing back the good parts of BioWare and steering away from what the studio became, as Karpyshyn says that they ended up so "corporate" they could no longer make the games they wanted.
]]>On Wednesday, EA raised the prices for a large portion of their game catalog on Steam. The increases seem to have affected most regional currencies outside the United States. Price changes are inconsistent, with some regions seeing small increases and others being slapped with 300% price hikes on certain games.
]]>Cyber Monday is, of course, a pure and honest celebration of all things cyber. We hack the planet as one, united against corporations, capitalism and the class divide. Then we all burn our 4K televisions and go off to have a massive rave-orgy in an abandoned sewer. Such is the way of the Cyber Monday Warrior.
But it's not all talking in C++ and overthrowing distant tyranny. Cyber Monday is also a time to remember the sacrifices made in the name of the hacking. None of these are quite so tragic as otherwise great games laid low by poorly-judged hacking minigames, forcibly inserted by executive pressure to pad out the running time. Today, let us honour the fallen.
]]>It's November 7th, and according to Bioware that means it's N7 Day, where we salute the (colour-coded) hard choices made by Commander Shepard in defence of Earth. This year, an alliance of Mass Effect 3 modders have gotten together to release a slew of complimentary updates, polishing up old content, adding entirely new missions and expanding the player's impact on its galactic war. Below, an official video celebrating this day in future fictional space-time, and a peek at some of the mods rolling out or being updated today.
]]>With all the coverage that Anthem is getting, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that BioWare had ever developed anything else. Fortunately, they haven't. In their Summer Update dev-blog post, the studio talk about what they've been up to over the past few months, including promoting Anthem art-books and comics at the San Diego Comic-Con. In amidst all this they did find time to let slip that they've got "some teams hidden away" working on projects that Dragon Age and Mass Effect fans may like.
]]>You look a little tired, friend. Let me just adjust this slider for you. There, wide awake. Now you’ve got some energy, how about listening to the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show? This week we’re talking about character creation. Which games spoil us with choice? And why do we always end up creating the same sneaky elf?
]]>Asexuality is one of the most misunderstood identities under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella. Among other issues, it’s extremely rare to see asexual characters in games or wider media, and when they do appear, they often fall into harmful stereotypes. January’s Ace Jam invited developers to go some way to change this by creating games that feature characters on the asexual spectrum, and treat them respectfully.
]]>To celebrate Mass Effect’s 10th anniversary (crikey!), animator Jonathan Cooper, currently at Naughty Dog, has shared 10 animation-related facts about the game on Twitter. There are a lot of interesting titbits, like the mo-cap being filmed on the same sound stage as Gone With The Wind, or Cooper being inspired by Ricky Gervais’ Extras when it came to picking the close-up camera style for conversations, but nothing beats the story behind Anderson punching Udina in the face. Udina was a worm, so it’s a popular scene, but probably not with the actor playing Udina. He actually got clocked on the jaw. It happens to the best of us.
]]>Mass Effect Andromeda was so tremendously dull -- just read John’s Andromeda review -- that it appears to have killed off a whole franchise (or at least put it in a coma). While I absolutely don’t think it earned a sequel, it is a shame that there are so many story threads left hanging. Like what the hell happened to all the other aliens from the Milky Way? Well, we may not be finding out in a game, but Mass Effect: Annihilation, a spin-off novel, will fill in some gaps when it appears in June next year.
]]>Former Mass Effect project director Casey Hudson is returning to BioWare to become the studio's general manager, coming back from three years in wandering the desert of Microsoft. He'll replace Aaryn Flynn, who is leaving the studio entirely after seventeen years. Hudson left BioWare in August 2014, after helping lay the foundations of the game that became the Destiny-lookin' action-RPG Anthem. After several games that haven't quite clicked, can Hudson get the studio back on track?
]]>If you've been holding off on Mass Effect Andromeda [official site], which is entirely understandable whether you're a fan of the series or not, perhaps a ten hour free trial is just what you need to decide whether the trip is worth your time and money. Previously available to EA Access subscribers, the trial is now open to everyone. It gives you ten hours of play-time, which you can spend in singleplayer (up to the first planet) or multiplayer, and saves will carry over to the full game if you choose to buy it. You'll need Origin, EA's digital storefront, and post-trial, the game is currently £24.99.
]]>Newbie Mass Effect game Andromeda [official site] has proved to be the most controversial since, well, the last Mass Effect game. The fuss this time is not to do with convenient space magic endings and dangling plot threads, but instead a tri-gripe of its feeling somewhat routine, a shower of bugs and a feeling that its facial animations are a little bit Christmas panto.
Devs Bioware have been relatively quiet during the storm, but are now offering the first details on how they plan to get their new era for Mass Effect back on track.
]]>Strap in. Mass Effect Andromeda [official site] is out on Tuesday in the US, and then because EA still lives in 1987, in Europe on Thursday. I've played it for over 70 hours, seen the main ending, and am entirely ready to tell you wot I think. It's well worth reading my previous piece on the first few hours, as there's much there that's relevant that I've not repeated below.
]]>I had, by purpose or distraction, not found out anything about Mass Effect Andromeda [official site] before playing its review build, beyond that it was set in a whole new galaxy. Ooh goody, I thought! A sci-fi RPG series I completely loved, but with a fresh start, baggage shed, and the extraordinary potential of a setting in a galaxy entirely unlike our own.
Yeah, about that. The first few hours of Andromeda are a gruesome trudge through the most trite bilge of the previous three games, smeared out in a setting that's horribly familiar, burdened with some outstandingly awful writing, buried beneath a UI that appears to have been designed to infuriate in every possible way.
I had gone in assuming this would be more BioWare pleasure. So far - and let's be clear, there's lots of room and time for it to pick up and turn things around - the first few hours have been just awful.
]]>I'm not going to pretend that I understand the setting of the Mass Effect games all that well, but even though I've only played bits of the first, you can't work in this job for long without learning all about the adventures of FemShep. That's how I know that Andromeda [official site] is about a new crew searching a new galaxy for a new home, because somebody left the taps running on Earth during the events of the original trilogy, and now the whole place smells of mildew.
A new, hefty trailer shows some adventuring, some chatting, some fighting and some gorgeous hub world wandering. Mass Effect may not be my thing, but good grief, this looks very much like it might be my main squeeze of Spring 2017.
]]>I write this with the hesitation of someone who worries it might provoke someone else into starting an online petition. "Boycott Mass Effect Andromeda [official site] unless it has that one alien that looks like a space-cow made of jelly in it!" But, I am curious as to just how much of the existent Mass Effect universe the game they don't want to put a 4 after will cherry pick to remain.
Some familiar knobbly faces will return, others will not - not yet, anyway.
]]>Mass Effect: Andromeda [official site] is boldly going where no Mass Effect has gone before, taking BioWare's sci-fi RPG series to a new galaxy, in the far future of the original trilogy's far future setting. Because of the N7 designation held by Mass Effect protagonists, November 7th is to Mass Effect what May 4th is to Star Wars, and today brought a new cinematic trailer showing some giant monstrosities, a bland default player character who you'll probably want to edit immediately, and some ominous voiceovers. Take a look.
]]>Space: one of the frontiers. These are the trailers of the videogame Mass Effect Andromeda [official site]. It’s mission: to explore strange new worlds, discover new lifeforms, and then have sex with them. As November 7 comes closer, a day which Bioware has stolen for itself during which they will likely reveal something important about the upcoming guns ‘n’ conversation game, the developers have decided to tease some plot in a brief moon-based video. Not much plot, but a little.
]]>BioWare are holding an open competition to find a voice actor for Mass Effect Andromeda [official site], releasing tidbits of story as they do it. They’re asking interested folks to read two audition scripts and send in either video or audio recordings of their best takes. The video below explains the competition exclusively via the medium of jokes, so this blog post about it may also be helpful. Before you enter - remember that Mass Effect games are known for their literate conversations and complex characters. Are you ready for your first scene? Okay, you are playing the role of Tough Mercenary.
]]>I'm a big fan of artbooks, which is quite lucky since not only are there plenty of them around right now, the quality of them has never been better. Forget the scrappy little affairs that used to be used to bolster out the Collector's Editions of games, much as concept art used to fill in for interesting secrets to unlock. Today's artbooks are typically huge, prestigious affairs, that come hardbound and printed on excellent quality paper. You might not put them on your coffee table, but they certainly look great on the shelf. This week, I thought we'd take a look at a few of the RPG ones that have found their way to mine - not all the recent ones by any stretch, but a few.
]]>Today, a little bit of heresy. I'm going to talk about adventure games. Specifically, about a thing I've always loved in them, when they offer the chance - that sense of being given a ship and a universe to explore. I get a shiver when I look at the star-map. I feel proud of my usually low-resolution, 256-colour VGA vessel. And yet, jump genres to something like RPG or strategy and the moment is just gone. Why does No Man's Sky, a game that actually supports that wanderlust, not give me anything close to the same thrill that something like Space Quest V still does, even knowing that Space Quest V is a) limited to a handful of worlds, each only a few screens in size, and b) makes your cool ship a garbage scow full of people who pretty much hate you?
I don't know, but I love this screen. This, more than any Galaxy Map, is a screen that whispers "You can go anywhere. Do anything. The universe is yours..."
]]>Last week I wrote about how Mass Effect: Andromeda [official site] wasn't chained by the choices you made at the end of Mass Effect 3, and how that left a lot of questions unanswered. Well, answers are coming next month in the first of four Mass Effect tie-in novels published by Titan Books that aim to bridge gaps between Andromeda and the events of our own Milky Way.
]]>There is a lot of questions floating around the big black hole of Mass Effect: Andromeda [official site]. Who is the lead character, Ryder? How did they get to a whole other galaxy? Can I romance the Mako? But perhaps an equally important question is what kind of impact the final decision of Mass Effect 3 might have on the story. According to an interview with Eurogamer, the answer is not a whole lot.
]]>Hello there. This week, I'm writing not just as an RPG columnist, but as president of the newly formed League Of Folks Who Don't Really Play MOBAs But Are Bizarrely Hooked On All The Trappings. As far as I can tell, our membership is roughly a billion people and counting. That's what happens when the likes of Blizzard and Riot spend literally tens of dollars creating gorgeous videos to promote their worlds, yes, but it goes somewhat deeper than that. Have you ever watched a new character reveal for a game you know you're never going to play? Then the sickness might have spread.
]]>BioWare have been keeping a tight lid on Mass Effect: Andromeda's [official site] plot, but it seems some details have appeared in the form of a customer survey. Not the world's most reliable format, as these tend to be, "How would you feel about a game that featured a race of evil melons as the main antagonists?" before asking you about your mobile phone usage, but likely indicative of the direction in which the game is heading. So if you want all your news about the game to be carefully spoon-fed to you via the appropriate PR departments, look away now.
]]>Most RPGs ask you to save the world, but not all of them offer a world worth saving. Honestly, there's been quite a few where given the choice I'd have joined the evil overlord just to beat up all the potion vendors who wouldn't even give me a discount before the final battle, and for the mere chance of stabbing the guard in Act 1 who wouldn't let me into The Town Where The Actual Bloody Game Starts.
This week though, I'm interested in the other side of that - the worlds that become more than just a place to grind for loot and XP. The places that feel real. Beloved worlds, which don't necessarily correlate with beloved games. I really enjoyed Skyrim for instance, but Skyrim as a world largely leaves me cold for reasons that have nothing to do with the Frostfall mod. That's not the same as saying it's bad, or any real quality judgement at all, simply that for me it never became a second home, more than a playground. Fallout New Vegas meanwhile, despite its problems, ticked all of the boxes. It was a world I could believe in, get immersed by, and not want to leave, which given the current political climate around the world is quite probably for the best.
Here are some of the most special worlds for me. How about you? Note, we're talking entire worlds, as in the settings for whole games, not specific places like, say, Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII or FFXIV. Those are cool too, but... another week!
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
The original Mass Effect was one of my entry-points to RPGs, a genre I'd bounced-off-of throughout the 90s. But Mass Effect's sci-fi, Star Trek and 2001 trappings held my interest even as the indifferent combat and dull planet-exploration did their best to convince me that I should call it quits.
]]>I have no flupping idea what to expect from Mass Effect Not-4, aka Andromeda [official site], given all signs point to it being a clean break from the Shepard saga. But the reveal that combat will be similar to Mass Effect 3's frantic shooty fare does start to make it a solid thing in my brain, rather than an entirely abstract concept with a few twinkly stars in it.
]]>The first time I ever wrote anything about games, it was because I was still brokenhearted about a relationship that had dissolved years ago. PC Gamer edited the 4000 word essay into a six pager about Dota in 2012 and it is still one of the best things I have ever written. But wherever I go, whatever I do, games participate in a meaningful way in many of the relationships I see. Welcome to a special edition of S.EXE: the love letters edition. Brace yourself, you are in for chop. Here are seven stories about falling in love next to a loading screen.
]]>Every Sunday, we reach deep into Rock, Paper, Shotgun's 141-year history to pull out one of the the best moments from the archive. This week, John's interview with voice actress Jennifer Hale. This post was originally published July 27, 2011.
Jennifer Hale has appeared in a great many more games than you probably realise. The person behind the voice of the female Shepard in all three Mass Effect games is also responsible for Metal Gear's Naomi Hunter, SOCOM's HQ, the spookily good British accent of KotOR's Bastilla, and even the grunts and groans of Metroid Prime's Samus, among literally hundreds of others in gaming, TV and film. We caught up with Jennifer as she drove through LA, to ask how she came to provide so many of gaming's iconic voices, the combination of anonymity and fame, and which of the Commander Shepards she's voting for to appear on Mass Effect's cover.
]]>BioWare have spoken openly about making another Mass Effect game for over a year now (not that it was ever in doubt). They've told us that Shepard's story is over, that it's time for someone new, and that it's not called Mass Effect 4, but that's about all. Surely, one might think, that by E3 2014 they'd be ready to say something solid about the game. Perhaps a cinematic teaser trailer. A few plot hints. A name, at the very least. They named it, didn't they? Well, no. But BioWare have shown off a few seconds of "conceptual prototype" footage and some model renders.
They've also announced they're working on something entirely new and no, they don't have much to say about that either.
]]>As long as this planet continues to spin, there will be a new Intriguing Kickstarter From Folks Who Used To Work On Major Triple-A Franchise X Of The Day. In this case, that Kickstarter is one for Epoch: Return, and the games that once - at least, in pieces, like so many tinker toys scattering from a bucket - emerged from developer Innate's collective brain are Mass Effect and Dragon Age. But to be perfectly honest, Epoch doesn't really bear much family resemblance to its distant BioWarian cousins. It takes place on a colossal, open planet that's ripe for exploring, and you traverse it by way of high-flying momentum-based leaps that strike me as a midpoint between Mirror's Edge and Tribes 2. It still looks rather floaty, insubstantial, and, well, early, but I definitely like the idea. Watch below.
]]>Consider this your daily dose of nice. Artist Joey Spiotto, aka Joebot, draws films and videogames as the covers of children's books. His game work includes imagined covers for Half-Life 2 (above, in part), Skyrim, BioShock, Portal, Mass Effect and more.
]]>See - because it rhymes with "war", and that's a reference to a thing a man said in a TV show 37 years ago. The ever-watchful eye-turrets of Eurogamer spotted that BioWare community manager Chris Priestly took to the studio's forums to declare calling Mass Effect 4 "Mass Effect 4" is "doing it a disservice". It's a game that "does not have to come after. Or before. Or off to the side." Meanwhile, BioWare Montreal's head Yanick Roy has explained that Mass Effect 4 could take place after Mass Effect 3.
]]>There are a few different ways BioWare could have reacted to their game, Mass Effect 2, being accidentally shipped in boxes of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2. It's looking like they've picked the best possible one. Rather than getting upset, the studio is seeing it as splendid marketing, a promotional opportunity, and explaining to those who've received a copy of their game that "the universe thinks you should be playing Mass Effect right now." They've gone so far as to create a competition for those with the wrong disc.
]]>Whaaaaaat! How is it possible for there to be another Mass Effect game? Surely everything was tied up and the game universe so profoundly changed by the conclusion(s) of ME3 that there's simply no room for more? Unless there was somehow some way to tweak and retcon a story that's already built around ad-hoc pseduo-mythology, resurrections and space magic.... No, surely no such thing is possible. While we wait to see how Bioware take ME's prophecy-blighted space opera to new places (I'm going to bet you play as a new character who encounters/searches for a long-lost Shepherd), what we do now know is that it'll be departing its mucky-textured Unreal-based engine of yesteryear and moving to DICE's impressive (and, thus far, very PC-sympathetic) Frostbite engine for the next instalment.
]]>I tend to lose my sense of connection to science fictional narratives once they get into the realm of prophecies and pseudo-deities, so the idea of a return to the Mass Effect universe that's only about the neat spaceshippy stuff and none of the Circle Of Destiny soapboxing appeals enormously. Frinstance, this unofficial mod for the TIGHT space strategy game Sins of a Solar Empire which plans to recreate the Normandy and its multi-species chums' war against the Geth, Collectors and Reapers.
]]>After hearing the news that both members of BioWare's doctoral duo are headed for greener (or beerer) pastures, you might have worried that the studio would lose its flair for role-playing epics and start churning out farming sims, 1990s FMV adventures, or tasteful ballroom gowns. In a shocking twist, however, it's instead going to make more Dragon Age and Mass Effect. On top of that, though, Mass Effect lead Casey Hudson and some members of his team are putting together "an all new game set in a fictional universe." Which could mean just about anything, but anything is better than nothing. Or something. Words!
]]>Hurrah! It's the first proper trailer for the upcoming anime prequel Mass Effect: Paragon Lost in all its glory. And by glory, I mean of course... oh good lord, you have to be kidding. It may have Production IG involved, but we're not exactly talking Ghost In The Shell here. The fun series, I mean. Not the boring, over-rated movie and its even more tedious sequel.
Mass Effect fans, put down your plussedness. You shall need non of it today.
]]>Here's a thing that looked fake but isn't. The notorious Mass Effect 3 ending - could it have really been hinted at in Mass Effect 1? A post on Reddit showed a planet description that seemed to describe, well, that's a spoiler I'll put below. But apart from the picture that had been rather hastily added, that planet is really there. I've flown there myself. Take a look below.
]]>So I am busy playing through Mass Effect 3 at the moment, with my collected thoughts on the events, happenings, and systems therein to appear on Tuesday. I've been doing a bit of retrospective browsing over the first two games, too, and comparing events in those to the events in the third game. This process led me to wonder this: what has been your favourite event in the games so far? And why?
]]>God forbid we'd post yet another Mass Effect 3 trailer, but... well, here's another Mass Effect 3 trailer. It stars, at long, long last, the female version of Shepard, finally getting just a tiny fraction of the official marketing acknowledgment she deserves. You will, I trust, understand.
]]>It's going to be Mass Effect trailers from here until March I reckon, at which point we can finally play the game and enjoy the conversation as well as the guns. This new'un resolutely focuses on the latter, or more specifically giant space beasts at war as tiny ManShep legs it around a collapsing cityscape in their wake. Spectacular stuff, but scripted from here to eternity and all a bit Gears of Warsy.
]]>Here are some details about Mass Effect 3 combat abilities. They've been encapsulated in video form so you don't even have to read anything to find out about the new class-specific powers. However, if you don't want to watch a man enthuse over the contents of the game's special edition you should skip forward to around 1 minute 50 seconds. There's nothing too surprising, with such things as floating turrets for engineers, improved melee combat across the board and shockwave-inducing ground-punches for vanguards. I suppose the most surprising reveal is that the collector's edition contains a working model of the Normandy but I just made that up.
]]>Two female aliens and a human man probably. Whatever the logistics, it's sick. Either that or I'm not referring to Kirkesque feats at all but rather to the fact that according to leaked beta assets, Mass Effect 3 will allow players to choose from three different playstyles: Action, RPG or Story. The full text from the menus is below but the names are fairly self-explanatory. I certainly wouldn't want to play a Mass Effect game in 'Action' mode, although Mass Effect 2, eh? Improved combat did lead me to believe all traces of RPG had been completely erased and that only guns remained were once there was dialogue. Or not.
]]>
.jpg?width=1200&height=630&fit=crop&enable=upscale&auto=webp)
