BioWare Mondays
The Leviathan DLC for Mass Effect 3, which was teased a while ago, was given a release date last week; we’ll all be able to explore what is rumoured to be the story of a rogue Reaper on August 28th. Well, most of us will…for some odd reason, people playing the game on PlayStation 3 in Europe only will have to wait until the 29th. Because mua ha ha, that’s why. Here’s hoping the new DLC can boost the otherwise kind of pitiful completion rate for ME3!
Is Mass Effect 2 one of the greatest games ever made? It’s certainly a good game, though I’d hesitate to go so far as to list it among the greatest. Well…maybe I’d go that far, but I’d have to see how long a list I’m allowed to write first. Honestly, I still prefer the original Mass Effect to its two sequels. Though to be fair, it was only in Mass Effect 2 that you could pull off space graffiti…
Command & Conquer: Generals 2 was, in effect, re-announced last week, this time as a free-to-play title. It’s actually being released as the flagship title in what Electronic Arts is evidently hoping will be an ongoing series of C&C titles across all three of the franchise’s established timelines (Tiberium, Red Alert, and Generals). The game won’t feature a single-player campaign at launch, however; multiplayer is going to pave the way.
A new trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic was shown at GamesCom, which took place in Germany this past week. Not everyone was impressed. Still, it was announced that new content, including a new planet, would be coming to the game, which is certainly interesting. Honestly, I’m looking forward to playing the game again, once the single-player campaign is available as free-to-play. (I maintain my usual steadfast disinterest in its MMORPG elements.)
Oh, and in an interesting footnote, it would appear that many of those let go by BioWare Austin in recent months were picked up by Firefall developer Red 5. Good for them!
Now, here’s something that I’m sure many of you will wince and/or scream at: according to BioWare Montreal director of online development Fernando Melo, some players actually want day-one DLC. Which, I suppose, is technically true: most would want it in the game to begin with. (I’m a bit more sanguine about it, personally, though I can understand the frustration many feel with the concept.)
The big news this week — or rather, the big news letdown — was Dragon Age 3, however. Thanks to a typo, the game was briefly listed as being on the docket for GamesCom, and shortly thereafter some supposed plot details about the game surfaced. The French-themed land of Orlais is rumoured to be the game’s setting (which I suppose would make sense), and a fake logo (and probably fake survey question set) were also released. One of the possible titles of the game is apparently Inquisition, but don’t put any stock in that rumour just yet.
Here’s one piece of DA3 news you can take to the bank, however: BioWare are looking for artists to help develop the game.
There was nothing wrong with the day 1 DLC for Mass Effect 3. It was a part of the Collector’s edition. Unless people don’t want Collector’s editions to contain anything extra (which I guess means they would cease to exist) then they need to nut up. That “outrage” really annoyed me… That was the one good thing about the crappy ending. I didn’t have to hear about the poor people that didn’t get everything in the Collector’s edition after a few days because something else took the spotlight. They should have been happy that they still had the option of getting the extra DLC in the Collectors edition, instead of having to live without.
Anyway, the game completion rates doesn’t surprise me, but it is one of those things I do find weird. The idea of getting a game and not finishing it is just weird to me. I guess people just have very short attention spans, and aren’t playing games for the story.
I’m sorry but no: the ourtrage was deserved. “Day One DLC” are a crappy business model, which are only beaten by Day One DLCs which are already on the fraking discs (yes I’m looking at you Risen 2, SHAME on you!).
The fact that we’ve come to a day where a “Collector’s Edition” means we have the right to an extra DLC just outlines everything that’s wrong about the industry’s business model today.
I have nothing against DLCs per se, it’s legitimate we have to pay for this stuff… but at DLC that is released… on release ? Sorry but that should have been included in the game. Period.
I disagree with your disagreeing. Collector’s Edition content is *always* Day 1 content. Now that we’re moving into an age where games are being sold digitally, this is the sort of thing that will be included. The previous Mass Effect games had the exact same thing. Unique weapons and armour and such, on Day 1, that only the special editions received. This is a unique character. Yes, it’s more than a weapon, but it isn’t required to play the entire game. It is something extra. Complaining that they did an awesome job with the character isn’t an argument for everyone having access to it. I should hope that content released in a Collector’s edition is awesome.
We’re either gunna get it in x months from release or on day 1 and we’ll spend more money for it. The industry has changed, unfortunately. They plan on DLC being DLC, they aren’t going to start making games bigger when completion rates are at a lousy 50%.
Personally, I find myself putting a game down for several months at the 40 hour mark. No matter how into a game I am, I just have trouble going further: typically due to level grinding…
I found this interesting…
http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/pabush20/crazy-mass-effect-2-stats-and-what-theyre-used-for-20100903105831289_640w.jpg
Two people beat ME2, twenty-eight times? Four people beat it twenty-three times? How can that be right? I hope they got a plasma gun or a crossbow or something…