Mass Effect 3 Delayed, New Assassin's Creed, and New Nintendo Console

Hey guys, lots of news. I've been busy with finals. Now that I'm done with them, I should be able to post a lot more. First of all I'll be starting to play through System Shock 2 this weekend for the retro review on that. Second, I'll be playing through Portal 2 co-op so I can finally get my review up on that. Now for the industry news.

I'm currently doing my last playthrough of Mass Effect 2 before the final game comes out and I'm treating this as my official playthrough of the series. As I predicted back when the debut trailer was shown during the 2010 VGAs in December, Mass Effect 3 has been pushed back to Q1 2012.

Who didn't see this delay coming? Don't worry, I'll be pumping you guys full of lead next year.

It was scheduled to come out sometime in Q4 2011 or during the holiday months. But due to reasons given out today, it has been delayed to early 2012. Personally, I don't have a problem with this. I knew it was going to happen and was not at all surprised. Also, I want this game to be as polished as possible seeing that it's the end of a trilogy.

Dragon Age II was rushed and EA and BioWare paid for it, I'm hoping this means they learned from that mistake. Unfortunately some people on the internet have taken the "We want to bitch about something" route. I'll get into that tomorrow.

For the moment though, with Mass Effect 3 delayed to 2012 and Portal 2 released, Batman: Arkham City is now my most anticipated game yet to be released this year.


A new Assassin's Creed game has been announced with the title Assassin's Creed: Revelations. The game will once again feature Ezio Auditore da Firenze in a trip to Constantinople.

I'm a little mixed on this. I love Assassin's Creed as much as anyone else but I'm iffy on returning to Ezio  after I felt Brotherhood could have closed off his arc perfectly fine. Also it feels like Ubisoft is trying to stretch this out as long as possible with it not being the official third entry in the series.

Also I don't really like the one-year development cycle. This was a release that I was expecting them to drop on us sometime soon and it took away the pleasant surprise. Also while Brotherhood was excellent, it wasn't quite as satisfying as ACII.

Still, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to check it out. It hasn't taken Arkham City's spot, but I'm still anticipating it and if I see any news on it from E3, I'll be posting it here.


A new Nintendo console is currently in development. Dubbed "Project Cafe" or Wii 2 (it doesn't have an official name yet), the new console is apparently set to come out in mid 2012.

Apparently it will be even more powerful than the 360 and PS3 though I personally cannot confirm that though there are sites that list the specs of the new console.

The controller, surprisingly, will NOT be a motion controlled...controller. It will be a more traditional type of controller with analog sticks and common button layouts. Where it's different is with a screen on the controller itself that not only shows the gameplay on the television but is also sensitive to touch. I'm not quite sure how this will work but I'm interested in seeing.

So, a bit of exciting news though now I'm worried that they're going to delay Skyward Sword for the new console like they did with Twilight Princess.

System Shock 2 Wins

The people have spoken and in what I would call a landslide victory, System Shock 2 has been selected as the next retro game I will review.

I had a poll on Facebook, one on this blog, I asked people in the comments on this blog, and asked people in regular conversation and while a few people wanted Baldur's Gate, people really seem to want me to review System Shock 2.

And why not? The game is remarkably influential and can be given a lot of credit for the FPS/RPG hybrids that are popping up all around today. So the next retro game I will be reviewing will be System Shock 2.

Since I'm getting out of school this week, I'll be starting a new playthrough this week and hopefully have the review up within the next week or two. I can't wait to write up about what is arguably the greatest FPS ever and one of the scariest games ever.

The next retro game I'll be reviewing is Baldur's Gate. The poll was just to see which one I should do first. Hopefully, by the time I review Baldur's Gate, I'll have some video equipment and I can make a video review.

So I'll be posting a lot more this month and DEFINITELY a lot more in June with E3.

Mass Effect 3 Locations

Oh boy, some new info has been released about planets that we'll be able to visit in Mass Effect 3. Now I don't have total confirmation on all of these but there at least two of these four that I can confirm and that already makes me excited.

So far in the Mass Effect series we've visited a grand total of ONE homeworld. In Mass Effect 2 we visited Tuchanka, the nuked out homeworld of the krogan. In Mass Effect 3 we're going to be on Earth because of the end of "The Arrival" DLC, and we'll also apparently be landing on Mars.

In Mass Effect 2 we visited Tuchanka, homeworld of the krogan.

Now in Mass Effect 3 it seems we'll be visiting many other homeworlds as well. A few have been confirmed already and others I'm not too sure about but I've heard rumors and I feel the need as a huge fan to get your hopes up.

So first up, we know that we'll be visiting the salarian homeworld, Sur'Kesh. This has been confirmed in images supplied by GameInformer which show the planet. This is the only one of the three council race (not counting humanity) homeworlds that I know will be in this game. Also, are we finally going to see some female salarians? I know we haven't so far since they only make up 10% of the salarian population so I'm guessing they're all at the homeworld.

We are definitely going to visit Sur'Kesh, the salarian homeworld in Mass Effect 3.

The other one that has almost definitely been confirmed is the quarian homeworld, Rannoch. The quarians are apparently attempting to retake their homeplanet from the geth and it's been confirmed that this will be a major part of the storyline in Mass Effect 3 and this thread was hinted at constantly in Mass Effect 2.

So unless I've been totally mislead, it appears that the quarian homeworld will finally be seen in this game. I've been really anticipating this since it's been over 300 years since the geth drove the quarians off of it. Now I'm hoping that I can get both on my side.

The quarian homeworld, Rannoch, has almost definitely been confirmed.

Now for the ones that I don't have full confirmation on but that I've heard news about. First is the asari homeworld of Thessia. As the most respected species in the Mass Effect universe, I'm very curious to see the asari homeworld, especially after how awesome Illium looked in Mass Effect 2, that was beautiful.

Also an entire planet filled with blue space babes who's entire species is one gender that can mate with any other species of any other gender? Count me in though Liara may not like it too much.

Thessia, homeworld of the asari, has been rumored.
A planet full of blue space babes? Count me in.

Finally, I've heard that the turian homeworld, Palaven, may also be in Mass Effect 3. It will be interesting to see given the incredible amount of radiation that planet apparently has which brought about the evolution that gave the turians the bony exoskeleton they appear to have. Also like the salarians, we haven't seen any female turians yet (okay we saw one in the most recent comic series but not in the games).

If we visit Palaven and Thessia, that will be all three of the council race planets out of the way: the salarian, asari, and turian homeworlds. If I get confirmation on the last two, I'll get back to you on those.

Palaven, the turian homeworld, has been rumored but I haven't seen confirmation yet.

There's no word yet on some of the other species' homeworlds. Will we visit Dekuuna, homeworld of the elcor, Irune for the volus, Kahje for the hanar, Parnack for the yahg, Turvess for the new species discovered, raloi, or Rakhana for the drell? We'll have to wait and see.

I do expect the batarian homeworld of Khar'shan to become important especially after the events of "The Arrival" DLC. If that's in the game that could lead to some very rich drama.

I expect the batarian homeworld, Khar'shan, to be in Mass Effect 3 after "The Arrival" DLC.

If you had ANY doubts about how big of a nerd I was before now, this post should put it to rest and I embrace that status. I love this series so much and I'm going to keep on posting about it until the third game's release. I'm hoping that I'll get confirmation on some of these homeworlds as well as some other homeworlds that haven't even been rumored yet. I'll keep you guys updated as best I can.

People Bitch About Optional Features, the PSN Shitstorm, and Casey Hudson Interviews

Quite a bit to get into, especially the second entry on my title. But first let's go over the thing that is further making me despise the people who share my hobby.

LA Noire is coming out in just a little over two weeks and I could not be more excited. I just hope the PS3 situation is somewhat resolved by then as I'm getting it on my PS3. The game was announced all the way back in 2004, before I even cared about big releases and industry info. After seven goddamn years it's almost here.

So everyone else must be excited too right? Well like everything on the internet, people have found reasons to bitch. LA Noire has a feature that allows players to skip action scenes if they're having too much trouble. If they die three times in a row, they will be given the choice to skip the sequence.

Now personally it's not something that I'll be using but I like the idea. It's more story-driven and it's more about the investigation than the shoot-outs. Typically, people in homicide don't fire their guns too often and if you doubt that, go watch The Wire (granted it's set in a different time period and city but it shows that cops rarely ever fire their guns, either way you should see it).

Besides it's optional. It's for people who are not big on action games to be able to continue the story when apparently only 20% of the game is made of action sequences. But of course, people on forums being the self-entitled and supreme dicks that they can be, see a problem with this. They're complaining about even being given a choice. Now to be fair it's kind of split down the middle.

This is not a traditional Rockstar game guys, this is more about investigation. Some have compared it to old point-n-click games with a great deal more depth. Since when is gameplay just about shooting people? We have games that are 50% made up of dialogue (Mass Effect and just about any BioWare game) that are critically acclaimed so why complain about this?

It doesn't change my opinion that this game is going to kick ass and I hope that an optional feature doesn't change any of your opinions either. LA Noire will be released on May 17th, so get ready to go back to 1947 Los Angeles.


On a less positive note, the PSN shitstorm. I'm going to be cursing a bit more than usual because quite frankly, it's the only way I know how to accurately describe this. The newest news is that apparently some people are offering to sell information that they got from hacking PSN. I kind of think this is bullshit as someone smart enough to hack PSN would be an absolute dumbass to publicly state that they wish to sell information online. Still watch your credit card accounts.

First off let me say this. I don't blame Sony for getting hacked. Any system can get hacked and I don't know how tight the security system for PSN was, therefore I'm not going to make judgement on whether it should have been tighter or not.

What I WILL blame Sony for is the utter failure of communication between them and their consumers. PSN went down 11 days ago. 2 days ago, Sony comes out and says that people's information might be compromised. We don't get that information until NINE DAYS AFTER THE SYSTEM WENT DOWN? WHAT THE FUCK SONY????

And for those who say that they may have just found out about it two days ago, that doesn't excuse. If that's the case, it shows an ENORMOUS bit of incompetence on Sony's part that it took them nine fucking days to figure this shit out. Either way this is an inarguable failure on Sony's part and it's starting to be reflected. Recent data shows that 20% of PS3 owners are planning on selling their PS3s for a 360.

I'm sure Sony will recover from this but it's going to take quite a bit to make up for this fuck up. There either should have been a greater level of communication or more diligence on Sony's part.

As for the hackers who did this crap, this is just fucked up. I know I'm probably not going to shame them but how do they sleep at night? I really don't have anything else to say, but I'll try to keep you all updated as time goes on and more news comes out.


Now on to more happy news. Well, not really news but some interviews and any Mass Effect related stuff is probably good stuff.

GameInformer is currently doing a series of interviews with Casey Hudson. Who the hell is Casey Hudson you might ask? Casey Hudson might be one of the best things that BioWare ever done. He's one of the game directors there and just about everything he touches is gold.

Casey Hudson

He directed MDK2, Baldur's Gate II which some still consider to be BioWare's masterpiece (yeah, that good), Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic arguably the greatest Star Wars game in history, Jade Empire which is one of BioWare's weaker but still great, and he's directed both of the Mass Effect games so far and is directing the third one. Mass Effect 2 is actually the most critically acclaimed game that EA has EVER published in its 28 year history. Let that sink in for a second.

Anyway in the interviews he talks about how the series started, how they listened to customer feedback, how they named EVERYTHING, and talks about the upcoming Mass Effect 3. I didn't watch the last one out of fear of spoilers but if I find out there are no spoilers, I'll check it out. The links to the interviews are below, and if you're a Mass Effect fan, you owe yourself to check them out.

How Mass Effect Began
Feedback and Names
Mass Effect 3

Releases in May

Hello everyone, this is a new thing I'm going to be doing. I'm going to be listing all the games coming out each month ahead and then give special mention to the game that I'm looking most forward to. I give GamesRadar credit for the idea of going over the different releases in a month and ScrewAttack credit for the idea of going over my personal pick.

So let's get into the games coming out in May (Note that these are all American release dates).

MAY 3

• Back to the Future: The Game Episode 3: Citizen Brown
• PS3
• Developed by Telltale Games
• Published by Telltale Games
• MotorStorm Apocolypse
• PS3
• Developed by Evolution Studios
• Published by Sony Computer Entertainment
• Thor: God of Thunder
• PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, 3DS
• Developed by Liquid Entertainment (PS3, Xbox 360) and Red Fly Studios (Wii)
• Published by Sega

MAY 10

• Brink
• PS3, Xbox 360, Windows PC
• Developed by Splash Damage
• Published by Bethesda
• The First Templar
• Xbox 360, Windows PC
• Developed by Haemimont Games
• Published by Kalypso Media
• Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
• PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Windows PC, Nintendo DS, 3DS, PSP
• Developed by Traveller's Tales
• Published by Disney Interactive Studios
• MX vs. ATV Alive
• PS3, Xbox 360
• Developed by Rainbow Studios
• Published by THQ
• Virtua Tennis 4
• PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Windows PC
• Developed by Sega AM3
• Published by Sega
• Deep Black
• PS3, Xbox 360
• Developed by Biart Company
• Published by 505 Games
• Fable III
• Windows PC
• Developed by Lionhead Studios
• Published by Microsoft Game Studios
• LA Noire
• PS3, Xbox 360
• Developed by Team Bondi and Rockstar Games
• Published by Rockstar Games
• The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings
• Windows PC
• Developed by CD Projekt RED STUDIO
• Published by Atari (in North America)

MAY 24

• Dirt 3
• PS3, Xbox 360, Windows PC
• Developed by Codemasters Southam
• Published by Codemasters
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS
• Developed by Griptonite Games
• Published by THQ

May 31

• Hunted: The Demon's Forge
• PS3, Xbox 360, Windows PC
• Developed by inXile Entertainment
• Published by Bethesda
• Red Faction: Armageddon
• PS3, Xbox 360, Windows PC
• Developed by Voliton, Inc.
• Published by THQ and Syfy Games
• Sims 3 Generations
• Windows PC, Mac
• Developed by EA Play (Windows PC) and The Sims Studio (Mac)
• Published by Electronic Arts

My Pick

This came down to three games for me. Two of them I'm looking forward to and one I'm interested in but still have to play its predecessor.

The first is The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings on May 17. This has been getting a lot of buzz around PC RPG fans. I haven't played the original yet so I feel that I need to do that first. I do know that CD Projekt, the developer, has stated that Mass Effect was a big influence (despite this apparently being more hack-n-slash) and they are also going to be using the save-file transfer system from Mass Effect. I'll look into The Witcher and then check out this at a later date.

The second one is Brink on May 10. The developer, Splash Studios, has done quite a bit of work with id Software in the past, working the multiplayer in the PC version of Doom 3, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (which was a freeware multiplayer released, thanks for that guys), and they developed Enemy Territory: Quake Wars for Activision. Brink is apparently going to follow in the footsteps of Mirror's Edge making an FPS with parkour thrown into the mix. If they can pull it off, it's going to kick ass.

But my pick for May has to be LA Noire.

With this new technique that Rockstar and Team Bondi are using to perfectly capture faces and eyes (one of the most difficult things to animate), an emphasis put on detective work, and the homage to classic noir films, I cannot wait for this game to be released on the 17th.

If it lives up to the trailers that I've been seeing, this is going to be an incredible experience unlike any other out there. I hope it can deliver and this is my most anticipated game of May.

System Shock 2 or Baldur's Gate

Hey guys (and gals if there are any on here) Happy Easter if you celebrate it. As you can probably tell from the shortage of posts, April's been a difficult month. I've had a lot of work to get done among a lot of other problems that have sprung up.

Next month should be different though as I get out of school in the first week of May. And for that I'm planning my next retro review. I was originally planning on doing Baldur's Gate but then I was able to find a copy of System Shock 2 and now I don't know which one to do. So I'm leaving the choice up to you to make up for the lack of posts this month.

Both of these games are legendary. Baldur's Gate is the game that put BioWare, my favorite developer, on the map with its DnD style gameplay and memorable storyline. It sold very well, helped revive the ailing cRPG (computer-RPG) genre, and was one of the critical favorites in 1998, one of the best years in video game history.

System Shock 2 is arguably the greatest first-person shooter in history. It combines three genres: first-person shooter (obviously), RPG, and horror. It sold very poorly and its unlikely that we'll ever see a sequel but its story was memorable, it's considered one of the most terrifying games ever made (even 12 years after its release), and it has one of the most respected villains in video games. Its influence can be seen in the incredible amount of clones that have come from it, the most notable being a little game called Bioshock.

So which one should I review? They're both classics and among my favorite games of all time. I'm going to review both of these next but which should I do first? You make the call.

Give your choice in the comment section below and whichever one you choose will be my next Retro review.

Mass Effect 3 Game Informer Article

Mass Effect is on its way to becoming one of the greatest sci-fi properties of all time. It's story is remarkable, its universe as rich as any out there, its characters compelling, and by Mass Effect 2 the shooting was very good. Mass Effect 2 is currently the most critically acclaimed game that EA has EVER published in its 28-year history. Let that sink in for a second. I would say Mass Effect 2 and Baldur's Gate 2 are my two favorite BioWare games.

So, with the trilogy near its conclusion, what can we expect? Well about two weeks ago, GameInformer had a 12-page article dedicated to Mass Effect 3 with most of the information provided by the game's director, Casey Hudson. A lot of info was given and most of it made me VERY happy to see. So let's go over the info given on my most anticipated game of the year.

STORY INFO (WARNING SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE FIRST TWO GAMES AS WELL AS THIS ONE)

For those who feared that the entire game would be taking place on Earth (fears that I don't understand given the way the last two games were set-up), you need not worry. Only the prologue will take place on Earth. The beginning will see Shepard on trial for his/her actions in the last piece of DLC. In the middle of the trial, the Reapers finally begin their invasion ready to repeat the cycle of galactic genocide over again. Shepard is forced to flee from the Alliance and the invasion fleet and goes out to raise an army against the Reapers.

Meanwhile Cerberus (for reasons not yet specified) has turned on Shepard and are attempting to hunt him/her down. Casey Hudson stated that the Illusive Man will play a very important role in this game which hopefully means Martin Sheen will be returning.

What's your game Illusive Man? And does this mean Martin Sheen is returning?

Hudson stated that the story will be more mysterious than the last go-around. The game is intended to give Shepard (and by extension) the player a feeling of hopelessness as s/he is at a complete loss as to how to defeat the Reapers. Remember that at the end of the first game it took two whole fleets to destroy ONE Reaper. There will be many red herrings but also there will always be a glimmer of hope which is the Mass Effect series has constantly been built on.

Other characters set to return are the Virmire survivor (Ashley/Kaiden), Liara T'Soni as squad members, Udina and Anderson will both return, if Garrus survived Mass Effect 2 he will be a squad member, and if they're alive Urdnot Wrex, Legion, and Mordin will also return. Whether they're squadmates is not known. For confirmed squadmates, it is not known if they will all be permanent as some people will only join Shepard temporarily or for one mission similar to Liara in The Lair of the Shadow Broker. Joker and EDI are also returning as confirmed by their voice actors Seth Green and Tricia Helfer on Twitter.

There's also one confirmed new character, an Alliance marine named James Sanders. For those of you who have read the books you might recognize the name Sanders from the character Kahlee Sanders. Whether there's a relation between the two and maybe a possible appearance by Kahlee is not yet known. Sanders is experienced in the military but unlike Shepard does not understand galactic politics. Shepard will basically instruct him on the political obstructions that s/he has had to go through. This will help get new players adjusted to the Mass Effect universe and story.

SAVE-FILE TRANSFER SYSTEM (POSSIBLE SPOILERS HERE TOO)

This is what I've been looking forward to. BioWare kept the impact of their transfer system limited in Mass Effect 2 to create a distinct continuity for Mass Effect 3 to work on. Now that the series is nearing its conclusion, it's no longer necessary and Casey Hudson stated that they are going all out.

If you think about the IP that we've built, really every one of the arcs that we've got going are leading towards this long list of incredible moments and that's what Mass Effect 3 is made out of.

All the major choices that you made in the first and second game will become important here. Most of the galactic races are reluctant to fight the Reapers as they do not fully understand the Reapers' desire for genocide and they do not want to provoke them. Some races will be impossible to recruit due to decisions that were made in the last two games.

Based on the races you recruit and the people still alive from the past two, BioWare has promised vastly different endings. All the other races are trying to get their own problems fixed in this crisis and that's what Shepard needs to resolve. S/he needs to get them to understand the magnitude of the Reaper threat and therefore gain their help. Whether you can convince them will depend on your choices.


GAMEPLAY

Some complained that Mass Effect 2 was "dumbed-down". While I don't fully agree and felt that the game was superior to its predecessor, I would love for the deeper elements to be brought back if they're done right. BioWare has heard the call and responded.

Talents and abilities will now have multiple branching points and therefore be much less linear than the last time around. Battlefields will be much larger and also ladders will be brought into play. Weapon customization is coming back. The customizations will not only change the attributes of the weapons but the look of them as well.

Shepard now has the ability to roll which was something missing from Mass Effect 2's improvements and combat system. Shepard will now also be able to jump over objects without having to cover behind them first which was a minor annoyance in the last game. There will be more planet exploration but vehicles will not play a major part in the main story. As for mining and planet scanning, it's back but BioWare has promised to change it up. This was the most common complaint against the last game and while I don't know the changes, I'm curious to see what they'll do.

Melee will also play a bigger role in Mass Effect 3 and each class will also have their own distinct melee style and heavy attack. While there were rumors that a new class, specializing in melee combat, was being created, the series' lead gameplay designer, Christina Norman, shot this down in a tweet yesterday.

A few people asking me about a new "heavy melee class". No new classes. All classes have improved melee and a class-specific heavy melee.

As for enemies, while expect to fight mercs every now and then, I'm predicting that the main enemies will be the Reaper shock troopers, husks. For those of you unaware, husks were originally organics who had the fluids drained from their bodies and replaced with robotics and tech. We've generally only seen human husks in the past but now we'll be seeing husks from every species in the series.

Apparently, this is the Salarian homeworld. I expect beautiful environments like the last two games.

Christina Norman noted that most people wanted the game to be more difficult and she and Casey Hudson have both said that the enemy AI is going to be worked on to make greater coordination. That's fine with me and I already generally play on Insanity (the hardest difficulty), as long as there's nothing like the ambush on the Collector ship.

Also there's no multiplayer. Really this is good news, as I want BioWare to focus on the story and while sometimes companies can pull off both equally well (Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood), it's rare. BioWare has hinted at maybe making multiplayer focused games in future spinoffs, which I have no problem with. I'm more of a single-player guy and I want to see BioWare give my Commander Shepard the send-off she deserves.

Finally, no information has been given about side missions but I think BioWare's going to need to be smart about how they pull off side missions. It's going to really strain credibility to have Shepard explore a random planet when the invasion that s/he's been trying to stop for two games is finally here.

Here's what I propose, make the side-missions all related to the invasion in a way. Whether it be husks attempting to soften ground forces for a larger invasion by the Reaper fleet or a few Reapers attacking a planet etc. Then side missions and exploration will be justified within the main story. And maybe have them affect the outcome of recruiting different races.


Well, that was a lot of information. And keep in mind, this is the only info we've gotten about the game since the debut trailer in December. I am so psyched and I'm now fascinated as to how this story will end.

So in closing, I say this to both BioWare and EA: