Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (March 17th, 2009) – Leading video game developer BioWareTM, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. today officially announced Mass EffectTM 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the multi award-winning 2007 hit, Mass Effect. The Mass Effect trilogy is a masterful science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life forms and mysterious uncharted planets. In this dark second chapter, Saren’s evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, who are still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril…
“We’re going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA. “Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be an unforgettable RPG-shooter experience, taking players on a non-stop roller-coaster ride filled with stunning plot twists and no-holds-barred action.”
Mass Effect 2 is coming to PC and the Xbox 360 video game system in Early 2010. To see the exclusive new Mass Effect 2 teaser trailer check out the website here: http://www.masseffect.com/
No longer do I have to forsake the outside world in my quest for gamerscore, now I can do it while pretending to be social with a Zune gaming device. OK, it’s only a rumor … but I can wish.
Yes to the Xbox Zune. No to the Zune Phone. The phone market is already so saturated with a million devices that it’d be hard, even for Microsoft … to gain a foothold in a world filled with iPhones, Blackberrys and Nokias. And what of Windows Mobile? It would also be nice if the device, if it turns up to be a real device … focus on one or two things. Games? Music? … it’s a good fit. Add phone functionality to that and you end up with a mashup of mediocre features (lol Ngage?). Despite what everyone is saying, gaming on the iPhone is meh at best (ok fine, Sim City might turn out to be great).
First off, I love gamerscores(GS) because it makes me feel good all over about my e-peen. It is however a distraction to my gaming because …
It makes me play games that just aren’t fun solely because there is gamerscore to be had. I hate every minute of it … but … must … get gamerscore.
They aren’t done very well or very fairly. Games like Devil May Cry 4 give you less than 200 GS for beating the game even on the hardest levels … I mean what the fuck? On the other hand, NBA 2k6 gives you a full 1000/1000 GS in one game … I mean what the fuck? There really has to be a benchmark on how hard it is to obtain GS. You shouldn’t have to play a game until you want to gouge your eyes out to get a decent amount of GS in it. There really should be no online only achievements unless the game is specifically targetted as an online game. If you are going to have single player at all, you should never have online achievements. Call of Duty 4 for example has no online only achievements, but yet online play is such a big part of the game. Kudos COD4! Achievements should also be possible by mere mortals not the geek with bionic fingers. Congratulations to those bionic geeks, but hey lets throw the rest of us a bone.
It makes people cheat. For their love of gamerscore and big e-peens, people cheat their way to it. People love online e-peens, but the whole system of detecting achievements is fubar.
Gamesaves! Gamesaves! Gamesaves! Sometimes I just want to use a friend’s save or a downloaded save and dick around already completed levels, but for some reason Microsoft makes everyone feel bad about it. Sure there people who cheat, but what about the ones who just want to play around? It’s my game. I paid money for it, I should be able to do whatever I goddamn feel like. You can find PS3 saves in big gaming sites like GameFAQs, but if you want 360 saves, you have to go underground in some seedy forum shunned by the outside world. Because of Microsoft’s paranoia and it’s implementation of DRM, you can’t simply upload saves to the Xbox. You need a “resigner” to sign the games to your profile which you either have to go to said seedy forum or buy from Xploder. Hey Microsoft! … let us legitimately use someone else’s saves! Fix your gamerscore system so that you CAN’T get gamerscore from simply loading someone else’s save up.
To conclude …
I have a PS3 and a 360. GTA IV is coming out in a few weeks … I’m getting the 360 version because of achievements and gamerscore.
As a gesture of apology for Xbox Live downtime throughout the holidays, Microsoft has offered Undertow for free to all Xbox Live members. I begin to download my copy and I get an error. Is this a joke? I guess not. Oh well, I have until Sunday, 11:59 PM to download it.
