mass-effect-3 posts

This month's issue of Game Informer magazine has Mass Effect 3 on the cover and there's also the first detailed preview of developer BioWare's third game in its planned trilogy of sci-fi RPG titles. Someone at the NeoGAF message boards has already posted up some details of what's in the article.

We won't go into much of what's been revealed but two big things are that the RPG system will be deeper than Mass Effect 2. The other is that there will be no multiplayer in Mass Effect 3, despite lots of rumors to the contrary. There might be multiplayer features in future games and/or spin-offs but the core Mass Effect trilogy will remain single player only. The game still due out this winter.

Mass Effect 3 is Bioware's next highly anticipated game, and their latest DLC offering is bridging the gap between Mass Effect 2 and its upcoming sequel. Put into a situation where he must stop a Reaper attack on a Mass Relay, Shepard apparently must rescue somebody from a prison, fight off corporate thugs and Collectors alike, and do all the things we expect of him. In short, it's pretty much a standard BioWare DLC trailer. Lots of style, a teensy bit of gameplay, and a hook to make you want to buy the add-on.

Download Mass Effect 2 'Arrival DLC' Trailer
Check out all Mass Effect 2 downloads

Dark Horse Comics has already released two mini-series based on BioWare's Mass Effect RPG series and it looks like more are coming. Newsarama reports from this weekend's C2E2 comic book convention Dark Horse Comics reps have confirmed that a third Mass Effect comic book mini-series is due out later this year.

Details about the mini-series have yet to be revealed but since Mass Effect 3 is due out late in 2011 its likely that the comic could tie into the storyline for that game. During the panel Dark Horse reps said they would like to do even more game-based comics including perhaps some Dragon Age comics (rival IDW released a Dragon Age mini-series last year)

After lots of rumors and hints from developer BioWare, the team has now finally announced the final downloadable mini-expansion for its hit sci-fi RPG Mass Effect 2. Titled Mass Effect Arrival, the DLC will be released on March 29 for the PC.

The DLC's storyline will see Mass Effect's major hero Commander Shepard heading into deep space on a secret mission to locate a person who has info about the upcoming Reaper invasion. It's likely that the DLC will serve as a prelude to the story events in Mass Effect 3 due out late in 2011. Fans of the series will see the return of a familiar character in Mass Effect Arrival; Admiral Hackett who is voiced by actor Lance Henriksen.

Mass Effect Arrival will cost 560 BioWare points (about $7) for the PC when it's released.

Mass Effect 3 is already one of the most anticipated games of 2011 and this week it was revealed that BioWare's third game in the sci-fi RPG series will be getting a high profile movie composer who will be making his game soundtrack debut with Mass Effect 3.

According to an interview over at The Quietus web site, Clint Mansell has confirmed he will be composing music for the game. He made his movie soundtrack debut with Darren Aronofsky's π and since then he has composed music for a number of films including Smokin' Aces, The Wrestler and most recently Black Swan. He even handled the soundtrack for the movie adaptation of Doom. One of the tracks he composed for the movie Requiem For A Dream has been used extensively as music for a number of other movie and TV trailers.

[Via IGN]

PC gamers love role playing games in many different forms. Some prefer the huge sprawling single player RPGs while others like the fast pace of action-RPG titles. Still others like to gather with lots of friends and players in massively multiplayer RPGs. As Big Download continues our look into 2011's most anticipated PC games we give our picks for the top 10 RPG and related MMO games that we want most to play in the the next 12 months.

There are tons of sequels to previously released RPGs on this list. One developer, BioWare, has a whopping three games on this list. That includes perhaps the most anticipated MMO game launch in the post World of Warcraft world. Check out our top 10 list in order of their planned release date, plus two games that may or may not actually make it out in 2011, after the jump. You can also go back and check out our most anticipated 2011 games in the FPS and action categories.

The biggest threat to face the Mass Effect universe is that of the Reapers. Merciless, emotionless biomechanoids, they exist only to harvest more sentient life to propagate their species. While there are no real concrete details for Mass Effect 3 yet, one of the obvious major plot points is the return of the Reapers. This trailer explores what this means, especially for the people of a battered and bruised Earth. While a British soldier is helping out all he can, Shepard is mysteriously absent from the fight, and it looks as if Earth will fall. All in all, it's a slick cinematic trailer, just as we expect for the initial reveal.

Download HD Mass Effect 3 Teaser Trailer
Check out all Mass Effect 3 downloads

It's not exactly a shock, but tonight at the Video Game Awards it was officially announced that developer BioWare will indeed be releasing Mass Effect 3, the third game in its acclaimed sci-fi RPG series. The announcement and brief teaser trailer also came with a "holiday 2011" release date.

BioWare already has two games due out in 2011; the fantasy RPG Dragon Age 2 and the MMO title Star Wars: The Old Republic from the developer's Austin,Texas studio. There are rumors that Mass Effect 3 will feature a multiplayer component but so far there's no word on that feature. In the meantime you can check out the teaser trailer after the jump.

It looks like online gremlins, or maybe supporters of WikiLeaks, are on the prowl at Electronic Arts' online store. As our sister site Joystiq reports, a listing and even a description for Mass Effect 3 showed up briefly on EA's store site before disappearing very quickly.

This would seem to all but confirm that the official announcement for BioWare's third game in the sci-fi RPG series is about to happen, most likely on Saturday night during Spike TV's Video Game Awards broadcast. There was no release date mentioned on the site before it was yanked but we imagine that info is coming soon. You can check out the description from the now deleted page after the jump:

If you have been playing Mass Effect 2, you may not be aware that developer BioWare has been gathering info about your activities while you are playing the sci-fi RPG sequel. Don't worry; the info is strictly anonymous. BioWare sees you as just a number. However the stats collected by the developer do help the team make future games.

IGN has an article on this particular case of data mining with some interesting info. For one over half of Mass Effect 2's players used save games from the original Mass Effect which is much higher than what BioWare expected. Average play time for Mass Effect 2 was 33 hours and PC gamers averaged an hour longer. About half of all of the game's players got through to the end of the game. Two PC players actually played Mass Effect 2 all the way through 28 times.