Mass Effect News, Walkthrough, and Screenshots

We are only a few months past the launch of Mass Effect, and now one of Bioware’s senior developers is saying we could see Mass Effect 2 “soon.” Matt was asked when we could be seeing the sequel and he replied, “Well, the first one took three and a half years, but because we’ve got a lot of the tools and a base level now, it’s not going to take that long. I’d say soon, but not real soon.”

So the question everyone is asking is, how soon is soon? To me, soon means a couple of months. But in the timescale of video game releases, soon probably means a year or more. At the very earliest, I would predict a Mass Effect 2 launch around the Holiday 2008 season. But that’s not very likely since we haven’t seven seen any footage of Mass Effect 2.

For it to be released that soon after Mass Effect, it would have had to been in development during the original game… much like how Peter Jackson filmed all three Lord of the Rings movies at the same time.

I think a more realistic launch date would be Q3 2009, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

Enjoy Mass Effect? Discuss this topic, along with anything Mass Effect related, with hundreds of other fans at the unofficial Mass Effect Forums.

Enjoy Mass Effect? Discuss this topic, along with anything Mass Effect related, with hundreds of other fans at the unofficial Mass Effect Forums.

Mass Effect has a great storyline and of course is filled with lots of memorable quotes. Some of the quotes (like those from Wrex) are quite funny, while others are serious. Below is a list of some of my favorite Mass Effect Quotes.

“You exist because we allow it and you will die because we demand it”

“Don’t piss in my ear and tell me it’s raining” - Wrex

Cole: He’s not a bad guy. I don’t want to get him in trouble. Besides, I’m not a snitch!
Shepard: Would you rather be a Snitch or a Corpse?
Cole: Powell! His name’s Powell!
Ashley: No honor among thieves…

Garrus: Orders Commander?
Shepard: We find a way out. Someone up there needs my boot up his ass. See if theres anything here we can use.

“This place has some nice…sights” - Kaiden

“You want the respect you deserve you piece of crap? Well, here you go”- Commander Shepard

Enjoy Mass Effect? Discuss this topic, along with anything Mass Effect related, with hundreds of other fans at the unofficial Mass Effect Forums.

In a recent interview, one of Bioware’s senior Mass Effect developers Matt Atwood said “I love the individual squad command. If you play with the individual squad control, it’s a deeper tactical game—it has more impact than I think people realize. As is the hot keys for the biotic powers. You can really play it more action style.”

Since when did Mass Effect go from being an RPG to an action game? I hadn’t quite thought about the idea of having hot keys all over the keyboard to control your skills, such as warp or throw. Having hot keys will really speed up the game. And just like Atwood said, you can play it more action style.

Part of what I love about Mass Effect is that you should take your time playing the game. You need to be careful and plan your tactics. With the hotkeys on the PC, I’m worried some people will play the game as a run and shoot game and just breeze right through it.

Who did you choose for your romance scene? Liara or Ashley?

vs.

You can choose your “sex” partner by the order you talk to them in the game. Once you start showing a lot of attention to one, it will kind of cancel out the other. On one hand you have Liara, and super hot, sexy alien that is just itching for a good time. And on the other, you have Ashley… a more laid back, yet sometimes spunky human.

Some people may get weirded out by having a romance with an alien, while others may be intrigued to see what it’s all about. When I play through the game, I always pick Liara. She just has way more sex appeal to me.

What about you?

Xbox 360 fans may now rejoice! While PS3 and Wii fans may now be pissed!

Bioware announced that Mass Effect 2 will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 at least for a short period of time? What does that mean? Well, similar to how Mass Effect will be released on PC in another two months… Mass Effect 2 will follow the same way. It should reach PC several months after it’s debut on the Xbox 360.

Here’s a quote from one of Bioware’s senior managers. “I believe we’ll be Xbox 360 exclusive for at least a short period of time,” said Matt Atwood. “We’re still working out the details on that, but we’ve had a great relationship with Microsoft and done very well.”

The only thing that saddens me about this announcement is that even after the recent release of Bring Down the Sky, we’re already starting to talk about Mass Effect 2. Come on folks! Let’s keep Mass Effect alive for a little longer before we start talking about the sequel.

One of the most popular additions fans want for Mass Effect is the ability to reallocate skill points.

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, people make mistakes… and not having the ability to undo those mistakes is a pain. Plus you will put points into skills you need at the beginning, but can become somewhat useless once you reach level 60.

The only thing that is stopping the developers from adding this feature to the game is that Mass Effect was created so that your character is a result of the actions you take. The choices you make while leveling up won’t matter as much if you can just undo all your skills later on.

So what do you think? How do you feel about the idea of reallocating skill points? Maybe it becomes only available once you reach level 60?

You should all know by now that Bring Down the Sky is available for Mass Effect. In case some of you didn’t download it (maybe you’re waiting for reviews or didn’t have the 400 points), I wanted to post a quick video of some of it. This is a video of a Batarian Beast. Enjoy!

The first Downloadable Content for Mass Effect (Xbox 360) has been released in the Xbox Live Marketplace for 400 MS Points. Bringing Down the Sky is the first of a series of planned content, each expanding the Mass Effect universe.

It’s up to Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy to save the day after a Batarian extremist group hijacks a mobile asteroid station in the Asgard system, setting it on a collision course with the nearby colony world of Terra Nova.

We’re told the content should take approximately 90 minutes to complete, with an additional 50 Gamerscore points also to play for.

I know a lot of you wanted more content to play, but it’s important for Bioware to make this first step with the DLC. If everything runs smoothly and a lot of gamers download it, we should see more DLC within 2 or 3 months.

Mass Effect: Revelation was released in May 2007. It was the first novel in the Mass Effect series. Mass Effect is a very popular game, but the books still remain somewhat under the radar. I can’t claim that I’ve read the book, but the a lot of members at MEF have and they rave about it.

The second novel, Mass Effect: Ascension, has been announced for the summer of 2008 and should be more popular than the first one. For some reason books are more popular after a game has been released. Since the first book came out many months before the video game was released, the general public didn’t know about it. That won’t be the case with the second novel.

So be sure to head over to Amazon and preorder your copy. If you’re a Mass Effect Fan, you won’t want to miss it.

Many of you may be aware that Bioware has officially announced the release of new downloadable content for Mass Effect on March 10. The DLC is called Bringing Down the Sky and will cost users 400 ms points (about $5). This is great news for those of us who beat the game a long time ago. Hopefully Bringing Down the Sky is just the first of many Mass Effect downloadable releases.

Here’s the official word from Bioware:

Bring Down the Sky includes a new uncharted world that introduces the notorious and feared alien race of the Batarians. A Batarian extremist group has hijacked a mobile asteroid station in the Asgard system, setting it on a collision course with the nearby colony world of Terra Nova. Only Commander Shepard can save the millions of innocent civilians before the asteroid completes its deadly descent.

Bring Down the Sky contains approximately 90 minutes of heart-pounding action and a new Achievement worth 50 Gamerscore points.

I know some of you might be concerned about paying for only 90 minutes of added content, but that 90 minutes doesn’t include replay and exploration time. If you take your time and explore hidden details without just sprinting through everything, you will find added value in the download.

Bioware has said this is just the first of many downloads. I wonder if we’ll be left in a cliff hanger so they leave us wanting more?