BioWare

Mass Effect 2 Launching in January 2010

Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

Mass Effect 2It seems Mass Effect 2 isn’t as far off as we thought. With the upcoming release of Dragon Age: Origins early next month, it was almost assumed that the titles would be spaced out a little further apart. But BioWare announced yesterday that ME2 will be following close on the heels of DA:O, dropping on January 26 2010 in the US, and 29 in Europe. The announcement came with details of the preorder options available and their in-game bonuses.

It’s been a relatively quiet month for ME2 as BioWare has been focusing its efforts on spreading the word on DA:O. With the almost ridiculous extent to which gamers have been given choices on preorder bonus DLC, it’s no surprise that the developer will be using some of the same ideas with ME2. There’s already a bit of cross-pollination with the Blood Dragon Armour (usable in both games) awarded in one of the DA:O preorder options, and now there are two more opportunities. Currently it looks like these options are available to US preorderers only, the choices being between getting the game at Gamestop, and everywhere else. The Gamestop bonus is the Terminus Armour and M-90 Blackstorm Heavy Weapon, and the everywhere-else bonus is the Inferno Armour. Both outfits look quite dapper as you can in the screens below.

Terminus Armour Subject Zero Inferno Armour

As I mentioned earlier there has been less attention on ME2 as of late, though there is still media being trickled out from time to time. The latest trailer (embedded after the jump) introduces a new character, Subject Zero (pictured above), whom you can ask to join your ranks. This new video most certainly didn’t drop with any lack of ripples; the general “edgy” direction of the sequel’s promotion seems to have finally strayed a bit too close to the current debacle that is the DA:O marketing campaign. The knee-jerk reactions to this worrying shift were so drastic it prompted a cautionary counter-reaction from Martyn.

(more…)

Read More

Avataritis

Martyn Zachary 18 Comments

There’s a condition spreading rather like wildfire in the gaming medium – and no, it’s not a strain of the influenza. The latest game to fall prey to this affliction is Obsidian’s Alpha Protocol:

“Michael Thornton is you. He’s been specifically designed as a blank canvas; a host for your own personality and playing style.” 1)http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=223828

The "Original"
The "Original"

This is avataritis, or, the video game industry’s highly emotional, pandemic response to finding the easiest, most efficient solution to the very unique dilemma presented by its ever-widening player base. Leigh Alexander framed the problem appropriately – though in relation to difficulty – a mere week ago at Gamasutra: “the concept of ‘everything for everyone’ won’t help.”

Now, to offend half the blogosphere offhand: For the purpose of this article, we will consider avatar customization a convenient narrative cop-out. We shall also assume that no mechanisms are in place stopping developers from writing and designing heterogeneous yet fully structured, narrative-based computer games with carefully constructed and immutable, unchangeable characters.

Therefore, the current rat race for the best, most customizable avatar shall thus be perceived an abhorrent one, damaging to the maturing and growth of the narratives in video games. (Obviously, there are occasions wherein the “tabula rasa” scenario is a fully motivated one, either by its ludic or narrative function, but assuming this to be a default state to be aspired to seems ultimately misguided beyond the MMO.)

The remaining half, then, shall also be offended as we sequence into a discussion of the representation of ethnic (and other) minorities. I’m not going to discuss these themes directly, instead drawing attention to how egalitarian, census-oriented game criticism and research sometimes intentionally avoids the more literary functions and realities of video gaming narratives.

(more…)

References   [ + ]

Read More

Cherry-Picking Easy Targets

Martyn Zachary 4 Comments

Dragon LollipopI have been, for some time now, ever-so-slightly weirded out by the overall response to recent trailers for both Dragon Age and Mass Effect II. I hope you guys aren’t getting all high-brow on me now, because with each release of a new trailer, a progressively growing influx of critics seems to creep out of the woodwork, fighting for a better seat in the great ivory tower of condescension.

Beyond the hyperventilative and the hyperbolical, I am nevertheless genuinely surprised at the magnitude of the negative reaction; Even several favourite blogs and bloggers of mine – that I thought were above and beyond this sort of moral mongering – have engaged in the beatdown. Obviously, I’d rather not single any particular example out (sorry Nabs!), but I do hope you’ve seen and read posts discussing the trailers so as not to think I’m stark raving mad!

Finally, because this post is essentially complaining about complaining – or torpedoing, as this activity is called – we’ve dedicated an all-new category, the Devil’s Advocate, to it. I do detest this type of thing out of principle, harping in on someone’s cause in an attempt to prevent any potential success in its very infancy. If you really are that worried about what BioWare or EA are doing, by all means, continue to try to get your voices heard.

(more…)

Read More

Mass Effect Pinnacle Station DLC Released

Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

BioWare has released new DLC for Mass Effect, for the 360 and PC. Priced at $5, Pinnacle Station provides a new space station for players with a Spectre character to board and face 13 battle challenges, approximately 2-3 hours of content.

Pinnacle Station Pinnacle Station Bring Down the Sky

What makes this release interesting is the complete lack of a formal announcement from BioWare. The DLC was hinted at for months, leaked on the Swiss Live Marketplace, and then eventually released to the rest of the world with no acknowledgement from the developers. Moreover, the launch was less than smooth, with some users facing problems getting the mission to work 1)http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/26/bioware-looking-into-mass-effect-pinnacle-station-dlc-gli/. Additionally, this DLC pack is not free for the PC, which the first one, Bring Down the Sky was. There is a marked difference in the kind of gameplay offered in Pinnacle Station, being primarily a combat-focused mission with little story. Bring Down the Sky featured a meaty side mission, introducing the previously mentioned but unseen Batarian race. Whether or not this latest pack is worth your hard-earned bucks is most likely down to how much you enjoy the combat in the game 2)http://kotaku.com/5347695/mass-effect-pinnacle-station-micro+review-a-curious-experiment; here’s hoping that this progression (or would that be regression?) in depth doesn’t extend to the next pack, if there will be one.

References   [ + ]

Read More

Mass Effect Galaxy Review

Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

Mass Effect Galaxy was released a couple of months back for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This $2.99 top-down shooter tells a story that takes place between Mass Effect and the upcoming sequel. The main characters will appear in ME2 and the story touches on threads that will be picked up therein, too. So is it worth checking out for fans of the series?

Mass Effect Galaxy

(more…)

Read More