When EA and BioWare recently announced that Mass Effect 2 would be landing on the PlayStation 3 in January 2011, it’s safe to say that the news was accompanied by mixed emotions on behalf of the veteran RPG-maker’s fan-base. Obviously, it’s great that PS3 owners will soon get their hands on one of the most highly-praised RPGs of this generation, but in the grand scheme of things, should BioWare fans feel the need to be concerned over the announcement?
On this week’s edition of EpicBattleCry we try to make sense of it all by discussing whether or not the BioWare many fans have come to know and love is fading away under the outstretched arm of new publisher Electronic Arts. After all, does the simple fact that the renowned “quality over quantity” developer is going to release a second installment of a franchise to an entire audience with no way of playing the first say anything meaningful about its core values? Now that we can almost guarantee a simultaneous PS3, PC, and 360 launch of Mass Effect 3, should we be worried that the game itself will suffer from “going mainstream”?
Obviously, there are A LOT of questions and very few answers, but the point of this week’s Member BattleCry topic is to evaluate the state of BioWare from YOUR perspective and productively discuss the scenario we gamers are faced with. This is NOT a conversation about PS3 vs 360, so check your inner fanboy at the door…This is about discussing a talented studio coming from humble beginnings and evolving into a much larger company that took a boat load of cash to become a part of a much bigger corporation. Does BioWare’s position within EA simply mean that more gamers will have the chance to experience their great games? Has joining EA made BioWare a slave to the “bottom line” where games are less about quality and more about units sold? What should long-time fans of the developer feel about their current objectives and the quality of the experiences they put forth? So, It’s with these thoughts in mind that we post the following Member BattleCry Topic Starter question to you:
DO YOU THINK BIOWARE IS HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
Again, this topic is in NO WAY meant to be a battle about PS3 vs. 360, PC, or any other platform…It is simply about BioWare becoming one of the big boys for EA and the ramifications that will have (if any) on their ability to create the types of experiences fans have come to enjoy so much. If you need a refresher before speaking your mind, you can check out the most recent BioWare news on EBA right here. Bring any angle to the discussion you like, but please stay on point and do your best to contribute to a quality discussion this week on the ‘Axe. Of course, we’ll be selecting the Member BattleCry of the Week to be featured on the next Skirmish of EpicBattleCry, so be on the lookout for that!
Also, take a moment to vote in the poll about BioWare this week as we collectively Cry Havoc and Let Our Voices Be Heard!!! Thank in advance for your input and enjoy this week’s Member BattleCries here on EpicBattleAxe.com!
Cheers,
DK
Hello my fellow AxeHeads.
My battle cry goes out to EA and Bioware. Bioware has gotten so much better when they were given the assets of EA. I think that Mass Effect 2 on the PS3 is a good thing. More people will get to experience what I think is one of the best games out there. But PS3 owners will not get the full experience since Mass Effect 1 is still only on XBox. I am also looking forward to Dragon Age 2. I think that one is going in the right direction. I just wonder if Dragon AGe would be around if Bioware was not bought by EA? I really hope Bioware makes another new IP soon, cause I would so get it. Their rpgs are the only ones I play, besides Bethesda’s. I really want SWTOR on Mac, but I can live with Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
For me, as long as the games maintain the same standard of quality I have come to expect from Bioware (which they have since being purchased by EA) it doesn’t really bother me. When the product starts to suffer, that’s when I’ll sound off.
Whats up my Conquistadores of Carnage, my Heroes of Hammering, HOW ART THOU!!!
This week my Battle Cry goes out to Kinect. HUH, Kinect? has this dude fallen of his hardcore gamer chair? well actually not at all, to be quiet frank. Microsoft is coming out with thé answer to Nintedo’s Wii (at least in their mind). I think Microsoft has taken the right route with the Kinect. This device is NOT implemented at the moment for the hardcore games. Us hardcore gamers dont have to buy this thing to play our games, OUR games are not being delayed for updates and implementation just as is going on with the PS3 Move. We dont have to wait for a couple of years till hardcore games come out just like with the Wii, because there are several hardcore games for us. Im glad that Microsoft only aimes with this motion camera at the casual gamers, without delaying our funtimes as hardcore. So kudoo’s to MS for NOT forcing Kinect down our throat. And no im not being sarcastic, I am really glad that hardcore games are not delayed, or being held back for Move implementation. Only sad thing is that Rare is now only making Kinect things, instead of great new games…
I would have been worried about the quality of upcoming Bioware games 10 years ago when EA was just mass producing crap.
Right now EA is for me the maybe only publisher who is taking some risks in supporting new IPs and also responsible for a tone of great games with high standart.
Bioware as well is allways focused to deliver great games and creating or redefining IPs.
This is by far the best partnership I could imagine right now.
Now now, my fellow DK…You are wayyyyyy too nervous. You are reading too much into this. Your complaints started because of Dr. Ray saying they wanted to sell a lot more. Well guess what, I think we all kind of do. I really scratch my head wondering why MW2 sells 20 million copies and ME2, by all means a superior game, only sells 2 million. It’s normal for Bioware to ask themselves why they can’t seem to get to more people.
Having said that, PS3 owners needed this. Multiplatform rules and I celebrate their decision. But Bioware’s standards always come first and you should really know that. They want to sell more, granted, but first they want to create a perfect game. Bioware will not disappoint, as Blizzard never does btw, so stop whinning all the time DK and just chill (pun intended pun-isher Kaiser,lol). Just for the record, love your website, your puns and your show. Greetings from Spain!
What’s up my crew of carnage, my conspirators of chaos?!
When it comes to the question “is bioware headed in the right direction?” I think the answer is: its too early to tell. Games like Mass Effect have been landmarks of player immersion and RPG design in this generation, so for them to offer an…ahem…abridged experience to the PS3 crowd bugs me more for being disservice to the franchise than an attempt to make a few bucks. It’s cheap to say “sorry PS3 players” and offer them an “option” other than the full first iteration of Mass Effect. It’d be like Uncharted 2 coming out for the 360 next year, with the first chapter being covered in a 10 minute cutscene glued to the intro of the sequel (Hideo Kojima take note, MGS 4 cannot migrate to 360, thank you very much).
I don’t know guys, I just don’t know. I’m sure BioWare has an ear turned towards their fans, and hopefully EA has not extended its reach to cover it. We can hope that they listen to what the community is saying and make a more concerted effort to offer the full Mass Effect experience to a new fanbase, otherwise I fear for what is ultimately the ideology of one of the better developers around today.
Good day sirs, and I’m looking forward to the next episode!
Bonjurno my mobsters of DA MOB.How art thou?My EpicBattleCry goes out the announcement that Mass Effect 2 is coming out for the PS3.While its great that PS3 owners are able to enjoy ME2,they won’t really experience it since part of ME2′s strength is consequences of actions made in ME1 affects the game and ME1 is still only availible for the 360 and PC.Another thing that worries me is the PS3 version itself.9.5 times outta 10,the PS3 version of multiplatform games were inferior and lacked proper support with some 3rd party games.In addition,Bioware might catch the same heat that PS3 owners are giving 2K Czech for its PS3 version of Mafia 2.As for EA?Its too early to tell but I hope EA doesn’t turn Mass Effect into “Pepsi” like how Activision turned Call of Duty into “Coca-Cola”.
Hey come on we are talking about bioware here they know what they are doing. Besides it is better this way everybody can enjoy their games
How is console non-exclusivity for one of the best games ever made a bad thing? Considering Bioware’s attention to detail and massive staff of writers, I’m sure that the transitional content for PS3 owners who never played the original will be more than enough to orient new players.
I’m sure that the only reason that ME1 hasn’t been announced for the PS3 is that it was published by Microsoft. So why get on Bioware and EA’s back for pushing a boundary that Microsoft refuses to? Sure, it’s a financially motivated decision, but getting a game like Mass Effect 2 into the hands of more people can’t be a bad thing.
Frankly, I think this is a needlessly incendiary battle cry topic. We’ve seen absolutely zero proof that Bioware’s move to EA Partners has had any impact on the quality of their games. I know that we as gamers are ready to cry havoc at the industry at the slightest provocation, but I just don’t see the justification here. Bioware’s a great studio, and EA has proven itself in recent years to be a great publisher.
Whats up my Brothers in gaming, my Team mates in killing zombies, how are thou?
Ithink that Bioware is doing what it should have done in first place, puting theyr game on every platform available, its good for both sides, the gamer and the company:
The gamer that owns only the PS3 can play that great game, and the company can sell more copys of the game.
Theres only one problem here, its the second game…
Bioware should sell it in a bundle together with the first game, like a option, for those who want the both games.
I have only a PC, so i guess what the owner of the PS3 are felling, is the same thing that i felt when Microsoft,is doing Fable 3 for the PC too, but i cant play Fable 2…thats just wrong…
What’s up fellow Axeheads?
To be honest i’m a little worried where Bioware might be heading with their partnership with E(gotistical) A(sses).
As a long time fan of Bioware i can’t deny seeing some minor but negative changes in their recent games. Shit started to get real with ME2 (sorry DK), but come on, there was a real lack of story in the game. It was basically just gather your squadmates and wreck havoc.
Some might think that there is nothing wrong with it, but we are talking here about Bioware, those fucking guys that developed the Baldurs Gate series … and i’m sure that everybody who played those games agrees that the whole storyline was beyond epic. ME2 and almost certainly DA2 are following a more action oriented path, which is not the thing that Bioware is renowned for. Don’t get me wrong, Mass Effect and Dragon Age are some of my favorite current-gen games but the direction Bioware is taking with those franchises is a little alarming.
First they scratched the a big chunk of story and inventory/character managment in Mass Effect and now they are apparently revamping Dragon Age in some kind of hack and slash type of game. I’m still hoping for a new game with the scale of a Baldurs Gate form Bioware but it seems unlikely at this point.
Oh and how about some more appearances by Mr. Baumgarten in the upcoming podcasts? Dude rocks, much love from Poland and keep up the good work guys!
Edit: Wow, seems like i am the only one who finds this topic justified. Oh well let the hate commence.
Greetings my friends! Let me start by stating a few unrelated points. I love how abstract you guys get when describing your likes and dislikes regarding the video game industry. You guys sound like musicians discussing the latest Tool album. It’s great to hear that type of passion. Last weeks episode of EpicBattleCry was a great example of this. Also, I thought that the MemberBattleCry that was read during that episode was stellar. Good on you all for appealing to an artist like myself, because in all honesty there are very few other places to turn to for an intellectual conversation about the industry we all love. Now to the topic at hand. Bioware’s ascension to the top of the RPG summit, along side great developers like Blizzard and Squarenix, only became possible once the deep pockets of a well established publisher like EA joined them in that climb to the top. In my view their relationship can only serve to benefit Bioware and its fans, past, present and future. I feel this way because like Blizzard, Bioware knows where their strengths reside and what their fans want. Sure Bioware has made controversial changes to their games when they feel it’s necessary, but they also listen to their fans feedback regarding those changes. Moreover, the deep pockets of EA allow Bioware the financial flexibility to polish a game and release it when it’s ready, similar to Blizzard and their partnership with Activision. Personally, I can not wait to play, no, experience Diablo 3 and Mass Effect 3. I’m sure both games will ooze with the love that both Blizzard and Bioware poured into them. This fact is in large part due to their relationships with DEEP DEEP POCKETS. Lastly, the more people that get to play Bioware games the better it is for all of us, so good for PS3 owners, of which I am one.
Hey guys, not so much a battlecry as a battle criticism.
In the past I know that Brent has given DK shizzle for the fairly limited, or biased, options on offer in the poll:-
DO YOU LIKE OXYGEN – YES / MAYBE / NOT REALLY, BUT IT HAS ITS USES/ NO.
I feel this weeks poll is the same. The latest EBC is not up yet, so I’m not sure how the discussion will pan out, but a poll which has 3 negative options vs 1 optimistic option really isn’t a fair poll to be asking us. Bioware are probably feeling the pinch, and no doubt want to shift a few more units of product, and the obvious market is the PS3 (would you buy Mass Effect Wii DK?)
My point is, as a PS3 owner, I nearly agree with option 2 – they are becoming more mainstream but I’m NOT concerned. If ‘selling out’ to EA, and making sequels asap (Dragonage 2) is what they have to do to make money, then fine. If the games are poor quality, the stories not so sharp, the graphics a bit rough, then people (smart people) will choose not to buy Bioware games for those reasons.
I was going to buy Dragonage, and have been tempted now and then, but friends of mine bought it (on PS3 and PC) and neither one really got into it, so I chose not to. People shouldn’t stop buying Bioware just because they are in partnership with EA. People should, as always, vote with their money, and see what effect EA actually has on Bioware. Would Dragonage have been any better without EA – we’ll never know. Will Dragonage 2 be a better game – I hope so.
Your poll still sucks cock though dude’s
Laters
I agree 100 percent! As long as Bioware keeps producing outstanding games and delivering the goods, then I see no problem with them branching out, but the minute I see that they are going the “Quantity over quality” route that’s when I will start to worry.
What is up, my fellow Commanders of commander sheppards, my Masters of Mirandas, how art thou?
To address the fact that they’re starting at the second game for a new platform- they do this all the time. Silent Hill 2 was the first of that series to go to xbox. Because Dk writes these so I understand why there was no battle cry like this about metal gear going to the xbox and getting dumbed down (which it clearly is).
Dk has constantly said he has faith in Bioware and so do I. Multi platform just means more people will appreciate the work of art that is Mass Effect.
Hey guys!
Long time listener, first time commenter.
Commenting on the internet is something I don’t often do, but I thought I would weigh in since BioWare is probably my favorite development studio of ever.
I just wanted to give my thoughts on the notion of BioWare ‘selling out’.
“Has joining EA made BioWare a slave to the “bottom line” where games are less about quality and more about units sold?”
Just for some perspective lets look at BioWare’s track record. With only a few exceptions, their games sit in the 90+ range (which in itself is something that VERY few developers are able to pull off with the consistency that BioWare does). So until they start releasing flop after flop, I’m going hold my tongue before claiming that they’ve abandoned their pursuit of quality in favour of making more money.
Something else to consider is the fact that 90% of all the dollars spent on video games, are spent on titles that sit in the top 10% of review scores (I can’t remember where I heard that statistic… it might have been something that Michael Pachter said). So really, does that not suggest that striving for quality is in line with striving for commercial success?
greetings, Masters of the Axe and fellow axe wielders. How art thou?
This is good thing for Bioware, methinks. Mass effect 2 was a much more refined experience than ME1. Not that ME1 was bad, quite the opposite. But the changes made enabled the player to become more immersed in what was happening in the game. The game was an overall better experience.
I think the talent of bioware and the marketing machine that is EA, can only lead to good things. I cannot wait for Mass Effect 3, and I think Bioware will be deliver.
Fare thee well, cry havoc and let your voice be heard!!!!!!!
man i couldn’t agree more and personally i think it’s just another excuse for DK to type “Mass Effect 2″ agaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn-n-n-n-n-nnn—n.
i’m by no means a fan of EA, but if, as rumours may have already suggested, Valve go with EA to publish Portal2 will you be asking the same question? OK so it’s not exactly the same but frankly Money Shizzle, there’s more to the industry and this site than ME2 (and i think deep down you know that).
sorry didn’t mean to bitch, and as much as i love the show i’m pretty sick of hearin DK go on about it. Brent’s a self confessed fan but doesn’t harp on about it.
OK there are a large section of the community who wanna talk about this and i accept that but jesus couldn’t somebody other than DK have posted?
i voted option 1BTW
As much as I love Mass Effect I will not be buying it for my PS3… For one very reason and that is that Mass Effect 1 wont be released on the PS3 EVER due to the bullshit that is “exclusive rights”!
As long as Bioware had a that agreement with Microsoft before they were bought by EA (which cannot be undone, apparently) ME1 will never become multi-platform.
But to the more important point, you cannot play Mass Effect 2 and expect to be fully filled in on what happened in Mass Effect 1 though some 10-20 minute interactive cut scene or something that Bioware had promised to provide. THAT IS NOT THE POINT… the point of it all is that you played/experienced the first game, got involved in the consequences of your actions of the one and only Capitan Shepard… which for all of it’s technicality… IT’S FUCKING YOU!! (you are not to meant to laugh at that
)
When I say this I would probably be doing you a massive favour… go out and get Mass Effect 1 AND 2 and play them on the X360 or the PC… as much as I hate to say it… quoting a Microsoft representative “It is the only way to get the full experience”
On the other hand… Bioware to go multi-platform on a title that should be an exclusive shows good signs of a step forward in the right direction. I bet you they will try to pull some strings to create a trilogy of some sort, I’m sure that if you throw enough money at M$ then they’ll bite, but even I think that is far fetched!
Oh please, don’t make an elephant out of an mosquito. It’s a port of a game. I don’t see any connection to Bioware and the quality of their games because of this. It was probably planed and made for a long time (I mean I knew it since EA made the deal with Bioware). It doesn’t mean anything. Dragon Age was also made for both and no one even thought about what Daniel writes now. It’s just a such big deal because everyone thought that ME was exclusive to Microsoft. Which obviously only counts for the first part.
Come on Daniel: “it’s safe to say that the news was accompanied by mixed emotions…” What mixed emotions? Perhaps by Microsoft Fanboys, hrhr. No seriously if there are mixed emotions, than only because part 1 isn’t coming to the PS and you can’t take the decisions from the first one with you.
And this sentence: “DO YOU THINK BIOWARE IS HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?” Let us say, we never saw it. Daniel was never here. His mind was never full of Mario mushrooms.
Wassup my Sadist of Sedition, my masochists of mayhem how art thou LOL. ME2 on the PS3 is a good thing, I know a lot of people are thinking that Bioware is selling out, but it opens the game up to a whole new audience. I’m pretty sure that a lot of PS3 owners have played the original on the PC and are caught up with the story, so what if their saves don’t roll over to the second at least they can now experience one of the the better RPGs this console generation. Just like with the MGS franchise, if MGS 4 would have been released on the 360 I’m pretty sure that the players of the game wouldn’t have minded not playing any of the older games in the series just so long as they got to play MGS4, but now they get to start over with a new MGS series with MGS Rizing. Let’s not forget what’s important here it is the experience in gaming and not the my console is better than your console aspect of it. D2K out
I don’t have any problems with Mass Effect 2 going to PS3. Then again, I don’t follow or play the Mass Effect games so my opinion isn’t very valid in that regard.
However, I am a PC gamer, and a very big fantasy RPG fan so naturally, I am worried about where Dragon Age 2 is going. You talked about Bioware changing aspects of their games and losing a few people who really enjoyed those aspects, while gaining a large new audience. I think this is what they are trying to do with Dragon Age 2. The PC version has already been confirmed to have no toolset at launch, and no more isometric camera view. Everything else in terms of combat on the PC has been very ambiguous. A lot of people would support all these changes and additional combat changes, but I see the main problem with this being that Bioware said the Dragon Age franchise would be their attempt to give Baldur’s Gate fans another RPG to thoroughly enjoy.
These fans don’t want streamlined combat and lack of tactical play to be a part of Dragon Age 2, so they are obviously worried the PC version is going to take the same route as the console version. Anyway, I can understand moving a franchise in a different direction, developers do it all the time, but in this case, I feel Bioware is obligated to give the PC Dragon Age and Baldurs Gate fans what they want.
So as for the question, as far as Dragon Age 2 is concerned, no I don’t think Bioware is headed in the right direction.
I think Bioware is doing a great job developing for all platforms, simplifying the game has little to do with hardware, it’s more a design thing. Hopefully they take the hint from fans who want more complex games, while still keeping it simple. I loved ME1 as much as the next guy, but damn was the inventory system hell.
Honestly though, once EA bought Bioware, they should have begun ME2 on PS3 and released it simultaneously in January this year. Why did we have to play the guessing game of, “is it coming to PS3 or not?” for the entire time ME2 was in development. If your third party, you should work on all platforms. It pisses me off to see a game release first one console, then when a port’s announced 6 months later. The fanboys get all excited or pissed off. In the case of ME2, Xbox/PC crowd you got the game a whole year early and loved it so don’t hate on Bioware, and PS3 crowd: you got the game a year late and are paying full price, WTF do you have to brag about? We’re almost used to it now when a third party exclusive is announced that people end up waiting to see what happens instead of supporting the game day 1.
I hate when third party companies develop exclusively for no reason. Developers are getting their act together like Itagaki from Valhalla Games or Gabe from Valve (both talked shit about PS3) and both are making games now for the PS3. Don’t tell me Kojima wasn’t talented enough to bring MGS4 to 360 if he wanted to, Crytek could put Crysis 2 on consoles when they set their minds to it. Obviously if MS or Sony are publishing the game, that makes sense, but otherwise, bring it out on all platforms day 1, even if you have to delay the game, you’re delivering the experience to everyone without worrying about exclusive content or remarketing.
Don’t block out a potential audience of fans just because you couldn’t, “talk about that version of the game” or “it can’t be done on another platform”. John Carmack just put Rage on a fucking iPhone…
Bioware is getting a little more main stream but their games continue to be solid. I’m less worried about Bioware than I am Blizzard when it comes to the publisher influence on the games.
On the old Evil-O-Meter EA sits at 6 (shoplifted a carton of cigarettes), Activision sits at 9 (Lit you on fire, slipped your grandma some roofies, and kicked a puppy).
My Battle Cry goes out to Merchandising. Where did it go? I just wanted to state my opinion on all the bullshit around Collectors Editions, Pre-Order content and Press Events, as it was a big topic of this weeks EBC, DK, this is for you. Firstly, I heard about the Bioshock event, where they unveiled Bioshock Infinite, and from what I heard, they gave out special items to all the press guys, like Joystiq and such. That’s 1. Second, Pre-Order content. Example of Demon’s Forge, the different items you get from each place. That’s 2. And finally, Collectors Editions, example of WoW Cataclysm. That’s 3. So, with that said…what the fuck. I do not understand the thought process at all, and I am flippin’ mad about it. Here’s how I see it, if I’m stoked for a game, I want it all, truth, and I’ll buy the CE and the pre-order content that I want, and I’ll be happy. But in the cases of the different places having different things, the game is just ripping at my heart. And this is where I just go absolutely insane: If I’m on the fence about a game, say Bioshock Infinite, I just don’t know if I want it, and it comes out, I hit up a friend and play the beginning, and I just get INTO it, I’m fucked out of any little piece of extra content, pre-order, collectors, press give away, I can’t get any of it, but it’s the stuff I want, and I want it bad. Assassin’s Creed II came with a little statue, I got the CE of it, and I’m extremely happy that I did, because if I hadn’t, I’d be crying myself to sleep at night because I was a fool not to spend the money, though the thing is, I hadn’t entirely felt I should have from the get go. I could have wasted a whole bunch of money of extra stuff that I would end up throwing out. I’m not going to go out and say that I know how much it costs to make all this extra stuff, the items, sound track, dvd extras, but It’s the stuff that I want because I fell in love with the game that you sold me for the standard edition, and I think I deserve to get it. If you know you just made a great game, then you know you can sell the knick knacks, it’s incentive for making a great game, creating a franchise that your fans will support and want more of. Don’t put me into a yes or no situation, where I have equal chances of missing out on something great, or wasting a whole extra money on your crap, and if I choose the first, and miss the CE, there’s no way for me to get those great items unless I buy another copy of the game, sinking an additional 60 some bucks. As well, if you’re reading this going “you’re crazy to even want all of that,” well, I’m about as crazy as anyone buying a Collector’s Edition for any game, I buy it for the extras, and I expect the goods, make it easier for us to love you developers. Those are my thoughts.
As for Bioware, whom I love so very very very much, I think they can’t fail unless they pull some stupid Collectors Edition and Pre-Order shit.
(This message was not proof-read.)
Amen brutha I couldn’t agree with you more, EA is no longer the Big Evil Corporation that they once were back in the day, Activision has taken that torch from them, so now they EA is just an evil corporation, LOL. I believe that Bioware will “mature” more as a developer because of this especially broadening their horizons with their releases.
Hey guys,
My Battlecry deviates a little from the topic but it still has the same premise because to be honest the original topic is far to focused on 1 developer and not the whole issue at hand.
It goes out to how multiplatform games are handled who is doing it right and who has done it wrong.
First off as far as i’m concerned the issue of “dumbing it down” is only an issue between a series that was originally PC only and then moved to consoles for a wider audience and to generate more income from the game. This has been a pretty well known fact that it happens with pretty much every franchise that goes from PC to consoles.
The issue of Bioware going from PC/360 to PC/360/PS3 isn’t going to have a negative outcome unless of course they do a lazy port eg. RDR or Mafia 2. The PS3 and 360 being at around the same level of technical capabilities (with the PS3 having the slight edge) means that it SHOULD NOT have an effect on the overall product at all.
What I get worried about is when a developer goes from PC only to all 3 platforms. Now we see it happen all the time because developing for PC only doesn’t bring in as much money as all 3 platforms (no shit). But in doing this they have to develop to the weakest platform because that is the most cost effective and easiest way to do it.
If you look at Biowares games from the past and look at ME2 or the details of DA2 it’s case in point that going from PC only to multiplatform drops a significant amount of content and focuses far more on streamlining things for people who don’t want to bother learning mechanics on their own.
This also shows to happen with consoles being the main focus in a game you probably havn’t heard of called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with the removal of modability and Dedicated servers.
I see it as if you’re already developing to the technical incapabilities of the weakest platform then it isn’t going to effect the development quality if you move multiplatform. Though if it’s the other way around then it takes a drastic downfall.
Which brings me to which developer I believe is doing it correctly.
That is CD Projekt, a little developer who debuted with that little known game (no sarcasm) The Witcher.
CD Projekt, are now coming out with the sequal to the the first and it is looking INCREDIBLY promising. Now the approach they are taking with The Witcher 2 going multiplatform is abnormal but from where I sit it pleases every platform.
CD Projekt are first and foremost building the game for the PC, then once the PC version is done they will start working on the console versions. I see no downside in this because the PC players get the quality they expect from their platform and the console gamers will get the same brilliant game later down the track minus a few features. This is instead of making a game without those few features in the first place because consoles can’t handle it.
Splitting the development of the PC and the consoles also allows more focus on specific things for specific platforms.
So I ask, if a small developer from Poland with only the funding of the sales from the original game can approach multiplatform development this way why can’t huge development companies such as Bioware adapt this aswell?
Not to mention The Witcher 2 looks better (in my opinion) then anything Bioware has put out scince Baldurs Gate.
What’s up fellow axeheads,
My battle-cry goes out to Bioware & EA this week, and it’s two fold.
Firstly great move on going multi platform, the more games out there for everyone to enjoy the better, a move that EA seems to have made responsibly.
Secondly, and more importantly, I am nervous and slightly disappointed with the changes that I am hearing for Dragon Age II. Dragon Age was marketed at the more hardcore RPGers out there, and was even called ‘the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate’ and here they are chopping it up into a more action based game. Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed both M.E. 1&2 on PC, and can appreciate the more action based RPGs but I feel that Bioware are now taking away the deep and complex combat that sold the game as a more hardcore focused RPG.
All said and done; Know your audience, cater to them, don’t give me steak the first time, then only offer me salad.
Grug09
The Diablo 3 lead designer himself said that he has never seen or felt any pressure from Activision whatsoever, and that it is mainly a partnership of convenience because Activision is good at distributing games. So no, Blizzard isn’t dumbing down anything that blizzard doesn’t already want to dumb down. You can believe a guy who actually works in Blizzard, or the internet can continue with the stupid conspiracy theories that Kotick is bringing the hammer down on Blizzard in the background.
Blizzard is an exception to the Activision rule. Mainly because Blizzard brings in 70% of Activisions total revenue. So Activision just allows Blizzard to do what they want. That and they’re partners, Activision doesn’t own Blizzard.
This is the same comment I posted in the comment section of the EBC 87 post…
“Well I honestly think that Daniel sounds really pissed that mass effect 2 is coming out on the ps3. I’m not gonna pull any punches because when Mass Effect 2 came out he praised it as the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ and now all of a sudden he thinks that biowares franchises are being watered down to feed the greed of EA. That’s BS. Mass Effect didn’t sell enough copies on 360 for Bioware to recoupe costs, I think, and that is because the 360 fanbase isn’t really into RPG games. You might not like it but it’s true. I knew from when I started playing mass effect 2 from mass effect 1 that it was sooo watered down and dumbed down that it might as well have been gears of war in space with some character recruitment and planet scanning. Now that it’s coming out on ps3 I think it will sell well enough to satisy Bioware because of the ps3′s more mature audience. Look, the same thing happened to Final Fantasy 13. Square-Enix, when they decided to bring it to 360, knew that they had to cut content and make the story more linear and shallow and go from point A to point B to make the 360 user base who are used to that sort of thing more comfortable and allow them to get sales on the 360. It sucked for all the fans who have supported it for 15-20+ years because it turned into one of the worst FF games to be released. I’ve finished every FF game that i’ve played except for FF13 and it makes me sad so I sort of feel your pain Daniel, but this is not EA’s fault nor is it because Bioware put ME2 on the ps3. It’s just how they think they’ll get more sales. It’s the fault of the userbase of its respective console and of the userbase of this generation really. That’s how I feel and I enjoyed this episode very much that in fact this is my first time posting here. I hope you guys respond to this with your opinions and look forward to more shows and maybe more debates on here or gametrailers and etc….Keep up the good work guys.”
Anyone can feel free to discuss this as I would like to have an intelligent discussion about what direction certain developers are heading.
Hello my fellow Axe Heads!
My Battle Cry goes out to studios like Io interactive (who brought us Kane and Lynch, Hitman etc.) this is a company controlled by a HUUUUUUGE publisher; the ever powerful square enix and yet they have shown no signs of losing any artistic integrity to get better sales. Just look at Kane and Lynch, the story in dog days is probably one of the most uncompromising and truly brave yarns I’ve experienced. ever! And without a doubt unique.
So the good folks at Io stand as a perfect example of how a massive publisher can take the reigns of an Ip but still leave the art to the artists; (F**k you Roger Ebert, go play Zeno Clash before picking up Huckleberry Finn again…)
EA is making good. a couple of years ago they gave us Dead Space, Bad Company and Mirrors Edge. They understand the importance of Integrity.
Bioware is smart, They know what makes an incredible game, and if anybody were to experiment by crafting the game to each platforms strengths, I’m glad its them. As long as EA gives them room to breath.
I am confident that they will; It’s Mass Effect, not Madden.
Top show guys. My Crystal Ball tells me to look forward to your 100th.
Greetings! My brothers in blood, gods of devestation, how are thou?
I already felt like Bioware to some degree took Mass Effect 2 in the direction of the “mainstream” audience. Mass Effect 1 is to this date my favorit game of all time because it gave me an experince like I’ve never had before. Yes it had it’s flaws but it’s still my favorit. It is possible that I had to high expectations from Mass Effect 2. But after finishing the game I couldn’t help but feel like they almost had tried a little too much, to bring in the “casual” crowd that likes to play some Gears of War or Halo. Don’t get me wrong I love what they did with the gameplay, I didn’t feel the need to stop time and look at my powerwheel as much as in ME1. But the RPG elements like finding loot and leveling up was almost completly gone (yes I know the inventory menu in ME1 wasn’t the best, but they could have tried to fix it).
I also have mixed feelings about the story. In ME1 I loved the overall story but the only squad members I really cared about was Wrex and Liara (liked the others but to have a well balanced team they where the one’s I mostly used). In ME2 I loved just about every new squad member and their personal stories, but as soon as u got them all u where off to battle and that’s it. So the overall story was a little dissapoitning. If u compare the 2 games their sort of Yin/Yang. I am really hopeing though that they will truly use ME2 as a gap for a fantastic ending and use the best from ME1 and ME2 for the big finale in ME3.
What’s up, my Darkspawn of Death-dealing, my Reapers of Ruination, how art thou? (this is a Bioware related topic, after all).
For now, I’m not sure whether Bioshock is turning to developing games that are more mainstream. Why? Because I can’t provide a certain answer after they changed the gameplay of only one game (Mass Effect 2) in order to appeal to a larger audience. I like ME2 exactly as it is, even though it’s much more fast-paced than the first one. It still offered the same epic experience. And ME is not as complex as other RPGs (it was a console game before being ported to PCs), so I guess the primary market for the franchise is made of console users.
On the other hand, before ME2 came out, Dragon Age, a more complex RPG, was released. As you’ve said, the ultimate Dragon Age experience is to be found on the PC. It offered a sub-par experience on consoles. Why? Because it was a PC centered game.
Anyway, now we have the announcement that DA2 will have fast-paced combat. Is it more accesible just to console users? Will PC gamers get the same complex experience? We don’t know. (If you guys saw any gameplay footage, can you provide some insight?) So, for the time being, I remain cautiously optimistic, and hope that BioWare doesn’t turn into a 3rd person shooter and action-adventure developer.
PS: as I’ve said in the “Original sequels” topic, a case where a game was changed to appeal to a larger audience is Splinter Cell: Conviction. Sam Fisher was basically The gameplay was so dumbed down (no more careful planning, less emphasis on striking from the shadows, more emphasis on cover shooting) a pissed off Sam Fisher that WANTS ANSWERS OR HE’LL KICK YOUR ASS), that it could have been called 24: The Game, and nobody would have noticed that this used to be a stealth 3rd person shooter.
What’s up, my sinners of sacrilage, my abominations of antiquity, HOW ART THOU!
I’ve recently been introduced to Epic Battle Axe by a work colleague and I can’t get enough; I’m addicted to Brent’s welcomes, DK’s puns and Tony’s entertainingly thin tolerance of them!
For my member battle cry, I whole-heartedly agree with the vivacious “viking” that is Brent Adams in this week’s Epic Battle Cry: the disolution of games is an extremely negative direction, one that the industry seems to have begun to take at the start of this console generation. Publishers (including all of the “evils” of the development approval process, such as marketing) make the “mistake” of trying to please everyone in order to increase sales figures. I say “mistake” because to them, it’s business, something that players often forget or don’t want to realise but, to us, it irrecvocably ruins the games that we love to play.
I’m a game designer and, obviously, if the games that I develop have high sales figures, I get to keep my job. However, I’m very passionately against “dumbing down” games for everyone, especially when it comes to Japanese development catering to the Western audience.
The traditional JRPG no longer exists and the line of thought behind gameplay changes from Mass Effect 1 to 2 is proof as to why. When a game is developed so that it caters to everyone, it loses what makes it an appreciated and unique game in the first place. Brent hit the nail on the head when he said that, and I paraphrase: “…[Mass Effect 2] is more of a standard third person shooter.” The combination of RPG and third person shooter gameplay mechanics is what made Mass Effect, Mass Effect.
I certainly share a lot of people’s fears when it comes to Dragon Age 2. If Bioware continue in this direction are they going to develop numerous games that are exactly the same but simply have a different skin? What works for one game does not—and should not—work for all. Otherwise, what’s the point in making different games at all?
Whats Up My Master Effectors, my Dragons of the Age, how art thou.
That’s all I have to say.
Maybe I have a simplistic point of view but with this whole situation.
What EA is currently doing is what any film company would do with a high quality film just in a game scenario, try and get it on as many platforms as they can (Digital, Blu-ray and DVD etc). The film never changes during that.
Is Bioware going in the right direction? It depends on who you talk to, but the change might not be due to EA, it could be due to Bioware themselves. In my opinion, yes they are going in the right direction but I consider this more of a side road it may not be the path people first saw but it’ll still lead to the desination. I was one of those people who stepped back from ME1 because of all deep RPG elements. ME2 to me was more inviting and not a barrier.
Also DK on a side note you say because it’s published by Microsoft Game Studios “ME1 is never coming to PS3”, wasn’t Braid and other games that were originally published by Microsoft Game Studios are now going to the PS3. Never say never.
But why should those who originally bought Mass Effect and supported the franchise now have to miss out on RPG elements just to serve a more “mainstream” audience?
i just want to see the frame rate on ps3 cause most game on ps3 suffer. 360 suffer little bit with mass effect 2 lets see how bioware gana do it
Just trying to kinect here.. This is my legendary edition reply..
Sometimes I don’t get game publishers/developers.. They bring out trailers/teasers way too early in my opinion.. It’s like you’re watching a trailer and you think like DAMN that looks nice I want to play it.. **screen fades out** and it says ‘coming fall 2011′.. Then when you’re halfway through 2011 the game gets delayed, maybe gets delayed again and during that time gamers are getting so hyped up that the game MUST be good in their eyes, and if it’s not, we all are disappointed..
IMHO, product dilution comes from interation with little change to the same audience. Extending the Mass Effect experience to Playstation owners is a great move for the company. Each game Bioware develops is a great experience and as long as Bioware retains its identity, it will be fine.
Now Ubisoft is an example of bigger not being better. I love Ubi’s products but lately it’s been fairly evident that time is not on their production schedule’s side. Conviction could have been a better game while Assassins Creed removed chapters only to offer them as DLC. This is poor planning brought on by stubborn release deadlines dicated by corporate financial needs.
Bioware is on the good side of this argument.
GREETINGS HUMBLE AXE LORDS,
As everyone should know Bioware has four studios under its name. BioWare Edmonton, BioWare Austin, BioWare Montreal, and BioWare Mythic(I live right near Mythic). In a way bioware was eventual going to become the next EA-like company had they continue to grow in revenue without the help of publishing giant EA. So making a PS3 version of their greatest title EVER, is a smart move for EA. Bioware’s dragon age origins was multi console because they(EA) worried that a sci-fi genre is more popular than the Fantasy genre in sales. Those ****kers at EA were right to make it multi-console, Dragon age origins sold 3.2 million units worldwide, while Mass Effect 2 sold 2 million units just on the PC and 360 worldwide. So If EA and bioware want that extra 1.2 million units(PS3)money in their wallets, by all means do it.
P.S. I love your show, I’ve been following you guys since episode 1( when you weren’t as funny). I’m seriously thinking about doing sculptures of you guys in clad heavy metal, viking like outfits, equipped with Wii, PS3, PC, and 360 peripherals smashed beneath you. With Swords, axes, spears, guitars, drums, basses, mics, and of course the hair.
Why do we game? Why do we game a RPG?
think!
So they are going to launch half a game and it’s cool because it’s “the most commented ‘RPG’ game of this generation”, come on!
I think this is just for selling, and i didn’t like it – they better find a way to bring ME1 for ps3 too, would be even better if they announced ME1 first…. @&*%!
definitely not buying – already own ME1 for PC – i want to continue the history of my commander shepard! – for me it was that alone that made the game so attractive. That aside it’s just a shooter with some purple sparks (joke)!
think of buying a trilogy for bluray that doesn’t come with the the first part, well that’s it.
If Dragon Age 2, fails (with it’s new mechanics, PC was perfect) i think it’s the beginning of the end
No, broader audience not better than good quality
(Do not compare to crysis, that’s ridiculous – because the game sucks)
My battlecry goes to EA – I fear that EA might begin to punish the Xbox 360 gamers. I can’t afford 3 Nex-Gen consoles and ever since Microsoft began announcing exclussive Call of Duty deals with Activition I feel likke EA is rallying behind the Playstation brand. First it was exclussive content for Dantes Inferno, then it was a delayed Beta for the Xbox owners and at E3 they announced exclussive content for Dead Space 2 and Medal of Honor. I loved the first Dead Space and I would really like to get the complete experience with Dead Space 2 but now I can’t when it launches next spring.
I fear EA will give the same treatment to Bioware’s products so we end up with Mass Effect 1 being superior on X360 and 2 & 3 on the PS3. Otherwise I’m happy that more gamers can enjoy the best game of 2010 – as long as Bioware deliver the goods in Mass Effect 3 for all gamers and not just PS3 owners.
What’s up my Plaintiffs of Punishment my Defendants of Devastation, How art Thou?
My BattleCry goes to DK talking out both sides of his mouth.
I normally agree with alot of what DK has to say but this week it just seemed contradictory. He says “I love that ME2 is coming to the PS3″ then makes the argument that Dragon Age’s multi-platform release diluted the experience.
So which is it? Is it better to make a game for as many people as possible or to limit your target consumer in the name of resource management to ensure the quality of the title? I constantly hear on this show how it’s great for more people to be able to play a game by removing it’s exclusivity from a certain platform. Now the argument is that by developing for multi plat your diverting resources away from the game thus reducing it’s quality?
I personally think Bioware is moving in the most sensible direction possible. Limiting your audience by both making as complex as possible interface and only developing for certain platforms is a formula that hasn’t worked out well for JRPG’s, so why would developers of western RPG’s like Bioware and Bethesda want to repeat the same mistakes?
It just seems like the argument on this show is “I want gaming for the masses…until it effects something near and dear to me, then that mantra goes in the shitter.” Listen, we all loved KOTOR but gaming companies have to evolve and open themselves up to different markets if they want to succeed.
In closing DK is the man but someone has to call him on his bullshit on this one. (Tony was trying to it seemed)
P.S. Does anyone think for a second that an ambitious project the The Old Republic would have ever seen the light of day without EA behind Bioware? Cause I seriously doubt it.
Hi my first contribution, been watching the pod caster for a while now, but the “dumbing down” of Mass Effect and Dragon Age has made me want to voice my concerns.
Does it matter that Bioware is releasing across multile platforms? well as long as each version is the same, and give the same love and care then no. The more people that can play again and enjoy it the better. If they do something silly like dlc or new content for just one version, i.e. Batman Arkham Asylum, or Tales of Vesperia, then that’s just wrong.
However, what I have a problem with is Bioware, dumbing down games like Mass Effect and Dragon age. While Mass Effect 2 did have better controls for combat, simplifying the RPG elements was just painful. Why should the NPC characters only have four abilities when they had so many before?
There is a very simple way around the problem of having a great RPG element mixed with a shooter or action game like Mass Effect or Dragon Age and which is already to an extent in Mass effect. All that’s needed is a question when you start the game, do you want auto-levelling. Those that don’t like RPGs can just select yes and the game handles it all under the hood (could be applied to weapon management as well). As you play through you get new abilities to use automatically and the game just selects weapons that do the most amount of damage etc.
This way the core element of the game doesn’t change but both types of player can access the game happily, surely that would get the game to the most number of players?
Basically, I hope that Bioware don’t dumb down Mass Effect or Dragon Age any more as there is no need!
in my opinion biware IS headding in a right direction
several reasons:
1.More people enjoy their games
2.Even tough ME2 wasnt a role playing game as ME1 was its still fun and the RPG elemts in the game are much better done than in ME1
i would rather choose between 2 guns then have 54742 wich i have to equip and unequip every 10 minutes
3.except for a few bugs that had nothing to do with gameplay i enjoyed the game on my ps3 i think they did a very good job with the controls and interface,i dont think they could have done it better with this type of a game
p.s cheers and keep it up with awesome intros (brent),funny puns (DK) and…all of the above (tony)
the fact that Mass Effect 2 is coming to PS3 doesn’t worry me. What does worry me is the fact that Bioware are releasing Mass Effect 2 on PS3, Dragon Age2 and Mass Effect 3 all in the same year. Hopefully the company has done most of the work already regarding a PS3 port for ME2 and I’m sure that they’re big enough to handle the task. But any excuse for quality to drop is an issue and seeing as Mass effect is probably my favourite series of this generation, I hope that what should be and epic conclusion to a great trilogy and story doesn’t end up tarnished through the studio juggling all of their properties.
Mass Effect 3 hasn’t been officially announced yet how can you know for sure it will come out next year
Hail my fellow Axe Murderers,
My battle cry lashes out at the unnecessary compromise that is made when porting PC games to the consoles. I personally enjoy playing on all platforms, but was raised on the PC. It is much to my dismay that this compromise must be made when bringing Dragon age on to the consoles because I am a HUGE fan of Baldurs Gate 1&2 and Dragon age was slated as the spiritual successor to this franchise. I believe that Dragon age did a solid job of filling the XL sized shit kicking shoes of Baldurs Gate, but I am really concerned about where the franchise is going. By “de-PC-ing” the game for consoles they are straying farther and farther from the original experience that I loved. Many people who played Baldurs Gate are D&D fans and relish in the pause and play strategic gamestyle. By removing this aspect or streamlining it they are detracting from what I valued in the original product. It was already bad enough that they removed spell memorization and gimped leveling up. Unfortunately, myself and other like minded individuals are few and far between and cannot speak enough with our dollars to make an impact.
The WORST atrocity is that this concession does not even have to happen. I played the PS3 version of Dragon Age and was disappointed with the inability to zoom out among other things (Though still enjoyed the game). However, the issues in porting this product could have ALL BEEN AVOIDED by simply enabling mouse and keyboard support for the console versions of the game. I am not sure if the x-box is able to use these devices but I know that any mouse and keyboard is compatible with the PS3. Why have they not used that functionality????? This argument is not limited to dragon age either, I personally would love to be able to play first person shooters and strategy games with a mouse and keyboard. However, I know that this brings up the topic of unfair advantage. Despite this I think by intelligently implementing this feature the disparity between the console and PC versions could be completely resolved! Furthermore, i believe this would actually attract more people to the consoles who are holding out on the PC. Most of my friends wont buy consoles because they believe the controller to be an inferior device for many games. This is one of the most common complaints about consoles from PC gamers and yet neither Microsoft nor Sony have made any attempt to resolve this.
Ultimately I hope Bioware can stay true to its roots while improving the process. Hopefully in the process someone will think of including mouse and keyboard support for the consoles.
Great Show and Hail to the Axe!
Hey Axe Lords
I’m not the first one to say this but I think this is going way to deep. Ever since Bioware was bought by EA they still haven’t brought out a bad game, so even if they were making more mainstream games they still will be awesome.
For example Dragon Age, I acknowledge that the console version is inferior to the PC version but only in a few things: the battle system isn’t as good as the pc version and the graphics are just horrible. But all the other things like the story, the lore, interaction with the characters, all the different decisions to make etc. are all the same. So if you are a console only gamer you still get the best version you know.
And as for Mass Effect 2 maybe it got a little main streamer with the no leveling up thing, it is still a very deep game with its conversation system, planets to explore etc. It still doesn’t appeal to the audience play like allot of Call of Duty Multiplayer who would like games like Uncharted and Gears of War (straight forward in your face awesome third person shooters)
Also the problem that people may see when they think of multiplatform simultaneously releases is also, in my opinion, i bit useless. As I mentioned when talking about Dragon Age, you’ll get the same amount of content only maybe it doesn’t look as good or plays a little different then the other. The thing is: the most people get to play it, and that’s why I totally agree with Tony that that isn’t a bad, or a thing to worry about, thing at all. Like for example when you buy a strategy guide for the game, you don’t have 3 different guides focused on every single platforms content because they are different. You’ll get the same content as the other consoles, enjoy for 99% the same game, only it plays different to match the platform you play on, which is great for people that only own a PS3 or a 360 or a PC.
Keep up the good work with the show!! Love it!! Thumbs up all the way from The Netherlands!!
http://www.nowgamer.com/news/2336/mass-effect-part-3-in-2011-more-to-follow
That’s just the first link, I’m sure they’ve talked about it in the axe as well. I think they put out a PR saying both DA2 and ME3 would be out in 2011.
blizzard was blizzard until they merged with activision, now they’re called activision blizzard. BUT! blizzard is still blizzard, they make their games, they decide when to release, when to patch, when to do everything, and they did it all without changing their style as developers while maximizing profits by merging with activision. this is just an example of the same situation bioware and EA are in, bioware being the smaller of the two(as blizzard was in my example). however this can go two ways, it can be a huge success or it can go down the crapper and turn mass effect 3 into another RE5…
Hi guys! Sincerely I don’t give a damn.. I just want to play games.. I own a PS3 myself and LOVE the idea of Mass Effect 2 coming out on this system.. I bought it for the PC without knowing the franchise and neither if it was going to work on my PC.. So I knew nothing about it.. and played it with low graphics.. BUT NOW with the game already finished and knowing something, playing it in the PS3 looks awesome.. (I just don’t know if I’ll buy it lol).. I hope more of this stuff comes out on both consoles and I hope to see more bioware goodness..
No hate here, just disagreements.
While I agree ME2′s overall plot was rather simple, I didn’t mind it all. I loved ME, but come on, it suffers from the same “save the world/universe” plotline we’ve seen in EVERY rpg since…forever. For me, Bioware’s greatest strength is in how they develop the characters that join you on your journey, and in ME2 they gave us a great cast.
On the topic of Gameplay of ME vs ME2:
I agree Bioware went a little far when they gutted the inventory system in ME2, but then I remember what a mess inventory management was in ME, and I find myself not caring as much. When it comes to combat, I used to be on the fence, but now I prefer the path of “action oriented” approach because:
a) I’m tired of turn based, or psuedo-turn based combat. I want to really feel like I’m in the mix, not just laying out the strategy
b) they still left us control of our party
Here’s how I fought enemies as a Vanguard in ME:
-I wait for the enemies to come to me because they are retarded. For some reason, they have guns, but want to run directly at me like morons. I have very little incentive to rush them, even though a Vanguard is made for close quarters combat. Instead, I chill in one place, and use my party’s powers to thin their numbers. I then run in with my shotgun for clean-up. It was alright, but it didn’t really feel like I was kicking ass and taking names. Compared to ME2…
Here’s I how I fight enemies as a Vanguard in ME2:
-I use a Biotic Charge to send my first victim flying. As I’m coming out of my charge, I’m already lining up a second poor soul for a shotgun blast to the face. After my shotgun goes off, I pause the game by bringing up the Power Wheel and hit anything not in love with Commander Shepard with my teammates powers. I then move behind some boxes to let my shields regenerate a bit, but my enemies are closing in fast. I can either run back to my teammates or hold my ground. I decide to hold my ground, so I begin to slide in and out of cover while blasting anyone who gets too close. I hold them off long enough for both my powers and my teammates powers to recharge, so I let loose with the everything we have, and the fight is won.
Maybe it’s just the way I play, but I just find ME2′s combat system more fun. In the span of 10 seconds, I can do some awesomely cool looking moves, use my party’s abilities, and concoct a strategy FTW. After playing ME2, I’m all for Bioware making changes. To me, they’ve still kept the essence of RPG games while adding something new to mess around with. I’m not happy with all the changes, but I’m still far more happy than I am disappointed.
There’s just 1 thing about that message and that’s the word ‘could’
I agree that mass effect 2 did lose some of its role playing elements from the first, although i do like the fact of not picking up a million roman numeral guns its unfortuante when bioware was acquired by ea, I wish that bioware blew off ea’s proposal like rockstar did, i just hope that ea doesnt slam the creativity that bioware wants to make. Also as a bioware fan, i hope they do take consideration into not packaging the ps3 version of mass effect 2 with free dlc we as consumers paid for and supported them with. Dragon age 2 already kind of lost my intrest already when they said it was more action oriented, losing its role playing element
Hello my fellow AxeHeads. I love the show, and I’ve been watching it for a while now, but just decided to join.
My battle cry goes out to Guild Wars 2. This is because of the videos released from GamesCom. I loved the first one and enjoyed that there was no subscription fee. The second one was always on my radar, but after seeing the gameplay, and reading the details on the game, it is now a must buy for me. A persistent game world, unlike in the first, 5 races to choose from, their system called dynamic events where events randomly happen in the game world bringing players together to complete a common goal ranging up to 60 players to take down a dragon in some of the videos, to the 8 classes to choose from, and to the totally redesigned combat system. And all of this with no subscription fee!!! After seeing these videos, and all of the features in the game, I must really consider why some games require a subscription fee then, if this game can accomplish this without one.
I truly believe that Bioware is headed in the right direction. I’m not too crazy on exclusives (whether it be console or content) and I feel that companies have the potential to make more money releasing titles to a wider audience (while somehow forgetting the wii) than they would on just one platform. Its better than trying to milk us with lame dlc, though Bioware seems to be delivering on that end as well. Sure, technical issues often due arise on either side, but Bioware seems to know what they are doing.
Though I would say, I’m a bit disappointed with Mass Effect 2 coming to the PS3. Not so much the game itself, but the fact that more and more 360 “exclusives” seem to be on the ps3 as well. I have so many games (just to name a few: Bioshock, Enchant Arms, Eternal Sonata) with the “only on xbox” logo that just aren’t. Now I wouldn’t really mind this, the industry shouldn’t be so selfish. My problem is that you’ll never see 3rd party ps3 titles on a 360. Where’s Demon Souls, or Infamous, or that deluxe Metal Gear Solid 4 (8-disc box set)? Sony is way too greedy, getting what they want and not sharing the goods. And just because it was announced on ps3 1st, before finding out that it was multi-platform to begin with doesn’t qualify as a loss of an exclusive. I don’t mind God of War. After all, it is made by Sony. Its ok for 1st party titles (though I think Microsoft just publishes games), but I don’t really see the need for 3rd party exclusives.
Greetings, my Protégés of Pestilence, my Faculty of Famine! (Brent, feel free to borrow) I’ve got a battlecry on the subject of BioWare that deserves an indecent finger pointed at it.
After just recently playing through the masterpiece that is Mass Effect 2 on the PC, I experienced a craving for more content. And after having fully discovered all star systems, side-missions and planets in the game, I thought I’d try out this “DLC” thing all the kids are raving about these days.
Having never bought any DLC for any title (aside from a few downloadable games on my PS3) I looked around biowares Mass Effect site for interesting missions and add-on characters. When I was just about to follow through on the purchase I noticed to my incredible frustration that there is no way for me to just buy the mission I want. Before getting the content I have buy some bullshit “BioWare Points”, and I can only buy preset amounts leaving me with a retarded, and for me, otherwise unusable currency.
I can see why Microsoft implemented the system with XBLA, since that’s a huge platform, where the points system at least gives you a wide range of options and content to distract you from how they’re screwing you over. But for a single game developer to have this ass-backwards payment module that’s really only relevant for 2 games is just pissing me off.
If buying the DLC legally directly from the developer is more of an inconvenience and a hassle than just straight up pirating the stuff, why in the world should I even consider paying for it?
I have nothing but utmost respect for BioWare as a company and a developer, but just let me buy the damn content for the price that’s on the fucking tag.
My battle cry goes to the whole “going multiplatform fiascos”. I feel that going to other consoles is great but sometimes sticking to one gives out great results because of hardware limitations and their advantages over the other systems. Most of the First/Second party games we see are usually great and we might have never seen them if said company was a multiplatform company. The downside in exclusives though is that it will feed the fires of “Fanboy wars” but we shouldn’t hate exclusives because of this but rather ignore this stupid bull and focus on the good, which is THE GREAT GAME WE GET TO PLAY.
WHAT’S UP MY VETERENS OF VENGENGE!?
MY XENOMORPHS(foreigners) OF THE XEBEC(small pirateship)
How art thou?
my battlecry goes a little of topic today, it goes to game developers and their pre-order bundle stuff. I want to know WHY we can’t choose the things that come with the bundles. Take SC2 for example, why can’t retailers ask what we want like the art book/Wow pets. The reason I didn’t get the collector’s edition, is because i only wanted the game and the tag usb drive with SC1, the three or four other things I didn’t want and didn’t want to pay the money for extra crap that I don’t need. why can’t we choose a custom pre-order option? If people on the community have a logical reason to disagree, let me know I’ll gladly listen.
I have to break my silence on this, because too many factors are attributing to an effect that is frustrating us all.
There are always a number of reasons why console ports are shitty, and when you come across one, it’s usually because of a selection from the grab-bag of corporate excuses. Money, time(which equals money) and overall apathy are among the highest causes. We all know how time and money affect the course of a game’s production, it’s been talked to death ever since the internet gave the game players a voice.
But what I don’t see people talk about very often is how when you’re working for a corporation, you tend to lose faith in the direction of your company. The very same effect has been experienced by hundreds of thousands of people, and anyone who has will know immediately what I’m talking about. BioWare’s decision to work with EA may have been lucrative, but let’s not forget that EA is starting to call the shots. Once the developers and creative team start to lose their creative freedom, they start to systematically care less and less about how their product will end up, and more and more about when the project simply ends. This may not be the -exact- case with BioWare, but I can guarantee at least someone on their team has felt this way since the deal with EA. With every decision that is made that may not have been in the interests of the entire team, the less of a team it becomes.
The question I pose is; Is this the case with BioWare? Is this another corporate decision that will alienate the developers further, and begin to unravel the company until all that is left is the name?
my battle cry is:
When you guys were talking about how you were concerned that dragon age 2 would have the same watered down fell that mass effect 2 had, I couldn’t help but think that a better more responsive combat system dose not mean that the RPG elements will be lost. All of my favorite games are games that strive to create the best of both worlds in this regard, games like Diablo, Oblivion, Demon’s Souls and to a lesser extent Borderlands. All the the aforementioned games had a strong RPG focus while still taping into that twitch reflex gaming i love so much. Anyway if dragon age 2 has more better action i have no qualms with it as long as it does not come at the cost of losing that wonderfully deep RPG base.
Aloha, my mighty Battle Axes,
My battle cry goes out to Bioware before AND after the “getting together” with EA. I am, always have been an always will be a PC gamer EXCLUSIVLEY! (it almost feels like its SOMETHING to mention nowadays…) and so I kind of grew up with Bioware being a good friend I shared a hobby with, one of my first games being Baldurs Gate. And for me, this is one of the few companies, that has always kept to their philosophy of game design. This goes also and, being this weeks topic, especially for the time since they joined with EA. As an example, Mass Effect 2 will serve quit good I think. And this goes especially to what Brent mentioned on the Show.
Mass Effect 2 broke with quit a few things, the first chapter of this trilogy (and this will become important in a few seconds) established. The “RPG-System” of the first was toned down (or was pretty much trown over board), the whole game got more mature and focused on the action. Me personally, I liked the first one more aswell. But still, I don´t think that the second one was a step in the wrong direction. I see it more in the whole context of a trilogy. And thats why I also do not think, that they made the changes to appeal to a wider audience. Because the whole purpose of the second part of a trilogy, is to change the formula of the first one. It is kind of a the rule for trilogies, not only for gaming, but for books and movies aswell. The second part always breaks to some degree at least, with what the first part did. The first one is for getting you into the world, the story, the experience. The second one then focuses on the action, on drama, on some fast-paced, colour-exploding whatever, that gets your adrenaline pumping. And last but not least, the thrid and final part gives you the climax.
Mass Effect, as an experience planned in the form of a trilogy, fits beautifully in this “formula”. And a good sign, that Bioware didn´t make all those changes just to get more people on the Mass-Effect-Train, is the feeling of the game. I think, when one would ask those that loved the first Mass Effect and that played the second, 99% of them would say, that the second one, though making quit some changes, still FELT 100% like a Mass Effect game. And you can only accomplish that, when the changes you made, were not a decision of money, but of design.
For me, Bioware just always sticked to their idea of developing games and they do it with so much compassion, that they can hardly fail.
Thats just my 2 cents.
For Axe and Excitement!
Greetings my Spectres of slaughtering , my Grey Wardens of gruesomeness!
As you might have noticed I am a huge Bioware Fan and that is because I’m a big RPG Fan.
But I am seriously worried about the direction that Bioware is heading with Dragon Age 2.
I’ve always felt, that Bioware dumbded down the RPG Part of Mass Effect 2 so much, that you can hardly call it an RPG anymore. The only thing that felt “RPG” were the conversations while combat, character developement and so on were so shallow that it was hardly worth mentioning.
And every news on DragonAge 2 sounds like they are taking the same approach with this franchise as well.
No different races, no tactical view (even on the PC), no cool-downs for spells etc.
I do love my stats, skill-points, different races/classes and so on but I can understand Bioware wanting to bring in new gamers to this genre but is watering it down really the best way to do so?
Isn’t that the whole purpose of difficulty settings?
Easy for people who don’t care if their courage is higher than their wisdome an who just want to decapitate some orks and higher difficutly settings for boring, lonley people like me who want so see numbers appear whenever I try to hit something.
(Good) hardcore RPGs are rare thats why I love Dragon Age and was excited for Dragon Age 2 but now I can’t even say if I’m still interessted in the game
If Dragon Age falls, this might be the death for the entire genre.
I know that as a hardcore RPG Fan (on the PC nonetheless ) I’m pretty much a unicorn in this industry but please Bioware. Please! Don’t forget the guys who supported you since Baldur’s Gate!
Just want to use this opportunity to say that I love your show.
It’s so refreshingly different from all the other “profässionell” (yeah….) podcasts about gaming.
You are like a parrot in a cage full of boring, obdurate penguins and I love you for that.
Greetings from an Austrian in Norway
I would cry havoc along with the fellow axeheads, but right now, we would just be crying wolf. There is no issue with simply putting the game on another system so that PS3 owners such as myself get the chance to play such a critically acclaimed game. The only way this would be an issue is if after this point, Bioware would tweak the games so that they can cater to a much larger audience than they had before. Instead of focusing on a target audience, they would try to accommodate the needs of many audiences so that the game will sell tons of units. At that point, the games would lose their edge that make them unique and instead be a mish mash of ideas put together, kinda like pop music on the radio. Is there anything musically interesting in Justin Bieber’s songs? Nope.
EA has been putting out some better games than they have in the past years where they simply rushed just to get products out there and cash in on the profits. I would be a little more worried if Bioware went with Activision because by tomorrow, Mass Effect 5 will already be out. But in all seriousness, if EA will let Bioware do it’s own thing and simply provide the backing and the assets, then this is actually a good move for them. Only if EA were to get involved with the development and steer them in a different direction I would be worried about what will happen with their games.
Whats up, my calvary of corruption, my dreadnoughts of desolation, how art thou?!
Is Bioware heading in the right direction? I’d like to think so. Using myself and a friend as examples, we’ve both been fans of RPG games, with myself preferring the western style and him preferring the eastern. Previous Bioware games interested him, but far more for the story than the mechanics behind the game. With games like KotoR and Jade Empire, he was happy to watch the story as I played through the game, but wasn’t interested in going through the combat to get to it. With mass effect, I was able to to at least get him to attempt to play the game. While he praised the characters and dialog, the combat and stat management were enough to turn him away. With Mass Effect 2, I was able to get him to play through the game long enough for him to want to play through the first game simply to be able to import his own characters and enjoy the sequel. The thought behind the characters, the codex with history and explanations of the universe and ease of jumping into the sequel made him into a new customer to the company.
With the “mainsteaming” Bioware did to the series, I think they opened the game to a new market that wouldn’t have ventured into the realm before. Removing the need to put points that could go into a new attack or health instead of your ability to scowl at peasants lets new comers to the genre ease into it by following a similar game type, in this case being third person shooters, and possibly making them interested in making the step to the Dragon Ages and Baulder’s Gates that came before and will likely follow. Role playing games are supposed to be about the story and the characters and how you, the player, interact with them, and is what makes it different from other genres where you simply follow a story instead of taking part in it. If mainstreaming the game opens it for more people to enjoy without sacrificing story, characters or immersion in their worlds, then I think its a change for the better. More customers means more support for the company and the genre, and more of the games we love will be able to be made.
hey guys (sorry 4 my poor english)
I really love Bioware and it’s games… but recently I’m a little worried about the quality of the ports.
I played the 360 version of Dragon Age and it’s sucks monkey’s balls… it’s pratically unplayable
But, you know, while they do not make ports for DS, PSP, iPhone, Wii or another shit platform (like the assassin’s creeds poor mobile ports) I’m not THAT worried.
Hail my Masters of Dismembering, my Dreadlords of… Dread?
My Battlecry goes out to COMMON SENSE.
I will always hate exclusives. Everything exclusive (only in gaming of course) is a stupid idea to me. Sure it may be a good idea for buisness if you get a very good deal from Sony for instance. But to only make a game for 1 console is rediculous in my opinion. But I like the way that EA / Bioware is going. They are going multiplatform, which means that many more people will be able to enjoy their games and we’re one step closer to killing fanboyism (It will never happen I know). But just because they are creating their games for the PS3 aswell does not at all mean they should “downgrade” their products. I didn’t like Mass Effect 1 that much so I didn’t play it much, but SO many people praise it as the best RPG of all time. And there is no reason for Bioware to take a new approach and remove the kinks that made their original games so memorable. Even if it does mean more sales it also means you lose much of the fanbase. So it’s either a choice between (perhaps) more sales and losing over half of your fanbase.
As for the EA as their publisher, I don’t know what people mean here honestly. I like EA. They may not be the most customer helping company out there, but I can think of FAR worse *cough* Activision, Ubisoft *cough* EA is in no way a bad publisher nor developer. So I think them partnering with EA was a good thing.
Gotta say i think Brent had it on the axe, this is like being given return of the jedi without a new hope or empire being available OR and other trilogy with adjoining story lines.
In such a story driven series, and from such a story driven developer, this seems a bit lame.
Yes i would love to play Mass effect, but the whole thing.
Im planning on waiting till i purchase my next PC so that i can play the current and next gen games that are either only available on PC or infinitely better on the PC like Dragon Age
OH and FYI in Europe the Dragon Age Awakening DLC on PS3 is still only DLC at a higher price point than any other platform and like most DLC content does not look like it will be changing anytime soon. It will be cheaper to buy everything dragon age for the PC than it would be to buy the just the DA:O Awakening epansion on the PS3.
This sort of reminds me of Valves old antics with the PS3 and outsourcing the orange box to anther company.
Look, Bioware do not care about gamers, EA just want to make money to fuel more projects that will then double they’re money, mass effect 2 is a brilliant game, i complited it about 3 times, but i also own a ps3, so i will not be getting it for the ps3! but for people who are waiting for the game on ps3, i hope ull be happy finally playing a master piece that is mass effect 2!
I actually preferred Mass Effect 2 to the original.
In fact, I kick started ME1 again after completing ME2 and it was even less fun than I remembered.
Sure, ME2 is more “shooter” than “RPG”. But heck, as a shooter, and as a game in general, it’s (to me at least) a lot more fun than ME1. And isn’t that what gaming’s about? Fun?
Sure there’ll be purists who’ll disagree. But I say, the more people there are playing and having fun with a game, the better!
Just look at Farmville and Just Dance… Oh wait. CRAP.
What was the point I was trying to make again?
WHAT UP EPIC TRIO! you guys ROCK!
I wanted to put ” Malicious ” on your radar as a coming soon PS3 download-only BEAST of a game. Its by a Japanese developer “Alvion”
Its got very slick graphics and a potentially intense gameplay system.
Imagine a colourful Japanese God Of War – Instant Buy.
Gameplay Trailer – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN_3jhcrX4s
HD Images – http://uk.media.ps3.ign.com/media/077/077357/imgs_1.html
My battlecry goes out to MAFIA II.
I’ve avoided its reviews like the plague as I’ve been waiting 12 years for the sequel to one of my favourite games ever (and don’t want any spoilers), and despite the immense hype and hope my mind’s built up for the game, this title’s lived up to everything I’ve hoped for (I must say I haven’t completed the game yet, but am 70% through).
It’s made me think back on a recent EBC topic on sequels. This sequel truly has everything a good sequel needs. Rather than simply being content recreating a high definition version of the world the first game was set in, the developers have obviously looked deeper into what made the first game a cult classic.
- Deeply engaging story -> Check
- Believable, 3-dimensional character who feels more like a real human being the player can transpose himself on to -> Check
- Slow build up to missions which involve lots of driving around in vehicles that don’t move like Formula 1 cars -> Check
- A well placed variety of “slow”, “fast”, and “shootout” missions that ensure the player is always anticipating, yet not knowing exactly what’s round the corner -> Check
- Good mix of dramatic, emotional, or just conversational cutscenes mixed throughout the game -> Check
- Sticking to the life of 1 person so the player can build up a slow but intense relationship with the main character -> Check
I may not have been looking at the reviews, but I’d seen comments on what the “new generation” of gamers think of the game. They hate the methodical pacing and want a game that “ROCKS MY BALLS!!!” from the moment they press “Start”.
Mafia II isn’t that type of game, and honestly, I love that it’s not a GTA IV clone (fast, comic book-style action, over the top whores and “gangstas”.
I sincerely hope that my voice, and the voice of others who also appreciate this finely crafted game, CAN BE HEARD.
There are lots of “soft drink” games out there, and I do play and enjoy them.
Mafia II however, is like “fine wine”. If you can appreciate it, and you’ll be rewarded with an experience far beyond what any “soft drink” can offer you.
In the hope of seeing more “fine” games being produced – CHEERS!
What’s up my fellow axe heads.
I don’t really have a battle cry this week but I do have a topic I would like your thoughts on. Recently, I have heard a bunch of news stories on your website and others such as CNN.com about video game addiction. As industry insiders, I would like to hear how this would affect the video game industry. Do you think this would be sort of a small problem that companies would look over or do you see them taking some sort of steps in the future? If they take steps, what would that be? I would love to hear your feedback on this topic.
My feeling is that if you create something, you’re supposed to build on that core by improving what works and discarding what doesn’t work for the sake of making a better sequel to the original. In the case of the mass effect franchise, they seem to have just done away with some of the rpg elements in order to be more marketable to the shooter happy western market right now. Thats not making the game better in my eyes its just trying to make it into something else to make it more appealing to everyone but the people who bought the original game in the first place. I don’t understand why they felt they needed to kill the rpg part while buffing the shooter part when they could have buffed up both sides of the game and made and could have made something that really have blown our minds. Not to say i dont understand all the things they have to do please the share holders and all that, its just that seeing this makes me wonder if the pedigree that comes with the name bioware in the field of role playing games is beginning to erode because of trying to get into the mass market. The direction they’re going in just feels a little wrong
Whenever a new IP is made it has the chance of hitting it big, and whenever a game hits it big, its sequel is expected to be bigger,better and more badass. So when a bigger budget is needed more than often developers will have to turn to big name publishers like EA. Mass Effect is one of the most creative games out there but since becoming bigger it has to sell way more units and I think bioware might have to sell a little of their soul to appeal to the masses and get more consumers to buy their product due to EA probably throwing a ton of money into Mass Effect 3. So in the end bioware might be expected to sell so many units and might sacrifice a little bit of itself to appeal to everyone in the gaming industry to make more money.
Now another thing I have noticed is that anytime EA supports a new IP and it sells they allow developers to go their own way now and don’t brutally rape it with sequel after sequel but allow developers to do their thing for the most part.
Now as for the game coming to PS3 I think the only downside to this is the fact PS3 owners will miss out on the few main story elements from the first game and their decisions that will carry over to mass effect 3 won’t be felt from the first game like 360 owners.
The pros of working for a big publisher are obviously the tools you have at your disposal. It’s a lot easier for a game like Dead Space to meet the vision the developers had for it with a bigger budget and top of the line tech. However, LESS games like Dead Space are made because unless the publisher knows they have a new IP that’s going to make them millions they aren’t going to take a chance on it and are going to keep a close eye on production. You will have that publisher breathing down your neck with everything from release date to gameplay because they have a market statistics sheet in their hand that they’re using like a playbook for how to make the most money. This is why sequels and remakes are running rampant in the industry because they’re sure fire cash cows and taking a risk on a new IP isn’t worth the risk compared to a guaranteed holiday hit.
Why should Activision ask Infinity Ward or Treyarch to come up with a new IP when they have a multi-billion dollar check in the mail for them every year from COD? Why even tell the devs to reinvent the gameplay when all they have to do is add a remote bomb car to justify a $60+ sale? It’s a sacrifice of creativity for money. This is what people fear will happen to Bioware. Let’s hope this won’t be the case.
Hello my fellow axeheads
I know its off-topic, but I just saw the trailers for the Call of Duty Black Ops multiplayer, and I have to give my battlecry to all the fucking winy assholes that bitch about madden every year, but are gonna line up to buy the new YEARLY Call of Duty witch is the same damn thing as last year, sound familliar? I saw the trailers, and Madden 11 has added more stuff than Black Ops, seriusly! its just a wallpaper over Modern Warfare 2, just like World at War was for COD4!!! It should be called not-very-modern warfare!
Anyway thainks if the battlecry makes it, and sorry for the poor spelling english is my second language.
WASSUP, MY KNIGHTS OF MIMICRY, MY PLUNDERERS OF TYPOS, MY MASSACRES OF MANNEQUINS??!! HOW ART THOU?? HA. HA. HA. HA.
(trying my best here, apologies if it still sounds terrible)
Just wanted to ask, with fanboys pervading every inch of the interwebs like locusts and killer bees, how do you guys manage to keep only epic axeheads on your site? (Thus keeping it the most rockin’ site on the internet)
p.s. Even more amazing an achievement considering your CEO’s a 360/bioware fanboy himself. Then again, love his puns so guess you guys have no choice but to keep him on the show.
Sup
I beleive that Bioware is heading in the right direction because i think that reason why some people aren’t into RPGs is not becuase of the indepth character building systems like leveling up or massive worlds, i beleive that it is because of the unresponsive gameplay. okay you can control groups of chracters like a strategist but i want to be in the action, thats why Games are fun (for me). i want to “be” the character and the usual combat systems like the one in dragon age and many other RPGs pull me out of that fantasy.
Now on the general issue of diluting games, i believe that it is a problem that is creeping up on the industry, but i think that companies like bioware should be able to keep there integrety while utilising EAs resoures. Blizzard is one such company that has done just that. However if both sides of the company are strong the result will be what happened to Infinity Ward, which may not have been a bad thing depending on their next game.
Anyway, HADOUKEN, lol, first post, had to do it
Cheers
Hey guys I just recently started visiting the site and I’m hooked you guys have great, educated discussions. Regarding the topic, Im kind of split because I like the fact that they are expanding to the PS3 because they are broadening their audience and can introduce a great series to a fan base that is starved of good western rpgs. What i dont like is the way the games are being watered down. I loved mass effect 1 and was disappointed when i got mass effect 2 and the citadel, a place where I spent hours just talking to every NPC when i 1st got the me1, into a closet in a sense. They completely did away with key rpg elements like an inventory system and made the game more framed. The story and presentation were great but what put me off was the way they basically tore down cornerstones of any rpg to reach a broader audience. Mass effect 2 took away the things that made the series a hardcore rpg and turned it into a single player 3rd person shooter with light rpg elements and a dialogue system. I may be exaggerating but i felt that mass effect 2 was as much as an rpg as borderlands was…
Skiddlee beebop a we rock a scoobie doo, I’m writing a Battle cry to you! Evening gents, I’m here to write down what I feel about the new price tag of xbox live. Initially I didn’t really have any problem with the higher price at all, prices will go up, and they will go down (hopefully). I didn’t even care that it was to “fund” their little upgrade of bringing ESPN and whatnot to the service…till I saw that it was only available in USA. If I recall, they said “We’re going to charge you this little extra money and in return you’ll have some new features”. Now this would be all fun and games if we could all enjoy it. But I think it’s unfair that the whole world’s going to pay extra for something only Americans can enjoy.
To put it simply, it’s bullshit. And if any Microsoft employee from this moment is running and slipping in mud, they’d better look twice, because they will slip in BLOOD.
Signing out, Gravskopan the angry Swede.
My Battle cry goes out to Brian Wood, a designer at Relic who sacrificed his life to safe his wife and unborn child’s life.
On Friday the third of September he and his wife Erin where involved in a car accident which, tragically, resulted in him loosing his life. But in a last act of heroism he turned the car sideways taking the full impact of the on coming vehicle in doing so he saved their lives.
“All the policeman say that if we had hit the car head-on all of us would be dead. At the very last second (Brian) braked really hard and turned right so that he would be put in the path of the SUV and not me and the baby, and that is the only thing that saved us both,” Erin said.
Respect to this man.
Read more on: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/707360/Game-Developers-Last-Act-A-Heroic-One.html
I’m personally fine with the way Bioware’s going with the Mass Effect franchise at least (Dragon Age wasn’t really my bag). I loved the first Mass Effect but the second was definitely the better game. Sure, I enjoyed the deeper RPG elements but at times they bogged down the experience a little; I wasn’t a fan of carrying several hundred of virtually the same guns and looking at numbers and percentages so much.
I think what’s wanted of Mass Effect 3 is for Bioware to strike a balance between the RPG elements of the first game and the superior, intense action of the second. Of course this’ll be tricky to do but I trust that Bioware will achieve something fantastic none-the-less and the fact that anonymous player data collection is part of the development this time round might help them along the way.
Really good point but you have to remember that Mass Effect 2 (Bioware with EA) was seen often as the better game than Mass Effect 1 (Bioware without EA). It can’t be seen as a bad omen that the series improved after the partnership can it?
And we’re not talking about about the same old big bad scummy EA of yesteryear now are we: they’ve really improved now and it actually becoming difficult to find the crappy cash-in titles by them that were so common in the early naughties. We’ve got some true gems in the form of Dead Space and Burnout as a couple of examples. Honestly the EA partnership is most likely a good thing. I think we’d have cause for concern if it was someone like Activision; look what they did to Infinity Ward!
My Battle Cry go’s out to one of the best shows about gaming (outside of EBC that is) and that is Extra Credits from the escapist website. This weeks episode was about gaming and how it can enrich lives much like how more “legitimate” art like literature and cinema can enrich lives. They used Mass Effect 2′s A House Divided mission as their example and while that was a good example it never truly gave me great pause. It simply asked do you want to be responsible for a genocide or a mass brainwashing? I have always chosen brainwashing purely as a necessary evil. If you could magically stop ignorance,hatred and violence without having one drop of blood wouldn’t you take it? Anything is better than Genocide no matter how evil the alternative. I wonder how many real life tyrants have chosen genocide purely for their “ideals”.
Instead the gaming scenario that I felt that was more truly fully realized and thought provoking was the Tenpenny Tower mission in Fallout3. That game truly gave you a damned if you do, damned if you don’t conundrum and no matter what option you chose you would get blood on your hands. That section of Fallout 3 took it out from just being a game with entertainment value to a fully realized Art in my opinion. It took a game from just being art in a pure craft sense and put it in the realm of art in how a really good book or cinema is art. That was the first time I was ever upset with a game not because it was too hard or too easy or too foolish but because it actually made me think and for the most part feel completely helpless in a serious situation. You know, kind of like in real life. So in closing my Battle Cry is we need more games that have situations like the Tenpenny Tower mission in Fallout 3 or the House Divided mission in Mass Effect 2. It would take the argument that Gaming isn’t true Art and put it on its ASS.
Rockin on My Lords of Axes, Kings of all Bloody Gamers lol.
just to comment on Skirmish 88, i like your theory on short series and long series (tv shows as a comparison to games, ya you get better quality with shorter series but it is annoying havin to wait another yr before it continues. unlike BLEACH, which seems tobe every going – but this one is annoying sometimes as you get alot of fillings and side stories,(god dammit want to watch it, the story is great i dont want all this crap). anyway not all long games are bad E.O.S 4: Oblivion is about 60hrs and i consider it one of my top games and i always recomend it. Now COD MW 1+2, GOW 1+2, GRAW 1+2 are short but great and again i recomend them.
(this bit has 2 parts to it)Mass Effect is a great top long game it blow me away, (also recomend), i havent got ME2 yet as i want the Limited Edition,(because i got the 1st LE so ya just have to with the 2nd iwont settle for less). The other week i heard PS3 wass getting it, i was pissed with this, ME is one of the best games ive bought and one of the best things about it was that it was an exclusive(YEAhhhhh 360 only, look this is wat the 360 can do, this is a game that the 360 has and u dont), i was abit suspitious when ME2 was coming out and it did not have an exclusive label on the box like the 1st one. the dession to go to ps3 has throught my plans to get ME2 and maybe ME3. I tried ME2 Demo i wasnt to keen.
alot here guys.
any games i reccomend are my fravourite games, the most at the mo is Alan Wake great game, story, lots of twists and graphics wow(on the 360 lol) a game that gets ur heart pumping and can shit u up during the day, is a good game lol.(like the FEAR series.
I REALY HOPE THE MAKE lol A SECOND SERIES TO Alan Wake.
Keep bring the goods, always agreat show. im off to slaughter or most like get slaughtered on COD MW2 (reccomend lol)
I’m really happy for those guys at Bioware for becoming so huge but I’m kinda concerned about the (massive) effect this is going to have on their future games.
And here’s what I mean — the problem I had with Bioware before is that in my opinion they always reused their own stuff in different games. Like when you play Mass Effect you have that feeling that you’ve seen that NPC or that sidequest in KOTOR. And with Dragon Age they broke that stereotype inside me, making such an awesome and original game within a genre so heavily ruled by cliches. And now with they announcement that there will be no character creation in the sequel I’m feeling like they returning to borrowing from their own titles to repeat the success of Mass Effect, instead of letting the DA franchise develop on it’s own.
God. I hope I’m just reading to much into it.
Greetings my gremlins of groove my nibblers of nipples(Ooh that smarts). http://www.trumpf-powertools.com/en/products/cutting-nibblers.html
My battlecry goes out to a game called Venetica. It’s an adventure RPG that reminds me very slightly of Mass Effect games. But it’s set in fantsy/middle age Venice. Little tongue to cheek stuff in there but it fits the art style.
I play it on PC but I think it’s also available for PS3/XBOT…XBOX360.
Great show (except for this one, I bet, but thats just how I roll, yeah I’m a gambling man… well not really but if I was then I’d put atleast a dollar on it. Wait WTF?).
Continuing the theme of foreign listeners, i want to tell you about how gaming is in Russia.
Guess you never knew that, but almost every PC game(even triple-a games) cost here about 15-20$.
They come out on the same day, have the same content and features(“No Russian” level was cut tho) and the only downside to them is that they are fully localized, meaning only Russian voices or texts.
Reason for that being, so they can’t be re-exported to the western world.
Watched like 30 shows, love the discussions and sorry for english, i’m only learning to become a spy
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You can check out the prices yourself:
http://www.ulmart.ru/computers_notebooks/?r=1__75076;1__84649;1__89918&scroll_count=4&orderby=retail_price&orderdir=asc&nav_type=super&go_search=1
1$ = 30 rubles
I would like to give a Battle Cry to Sony for their efforts to rerelease some of the greatest classic games of all time on the PS3. It is a great service to fans of great games to be able to replay these games at crisper resolutions, have trophy support and get extras added in a lot of these new releases. First we had the God of War Collection. Then the three Sly Cooper games were announced, and I almost cried. After that came the announcement of Oddworld: Strangers Wrath on the PS3, and I almost creamed my pants. Now it has been leaked that the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus pack is coming out in April (http://www.walmart.com/ip/ICO-Shadow-of-the-Colossus-PS3-PlayStation-3/15061046). I am really more excited about these classic collections getting the treatment they deserve than another iteration of Halo, COD or any of the other big sequels coming out. Furthermore, these collections are being priced at 40$, games I would gladly pay a much higher price for. Say what you will about the Playstation Move and 3D, but games like Shadow of the Colossus and Strangers Wrath could be pure awesomeness with these innovations. Good stuff, here is hoping for an Onimusha pack.