Talk Video Games

Xbox 360 bundle gets subsidized, everything you need for $99 and a two-year contract

Master Devwi — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:59:00 GMT

If you haven’t yet jumped on the Xbox 360 bandwagon, Microsoft’s latest console pricing scheme might be somewhat enticing. As rumored, Microsoft Stores have begun offering an Xbox 360 4GB console, Kinect sensor, and Xbox LIVE Gold subscription for $99, plus a two-year contract of $14.99 a month.

Why is this deal so good? Well, it’s not necessarily the cheapest way to pick up a new Xbox 360 console and various accessories, but it significantly drops the barrier to entry. $99 has long been thought of as the “sweet spot” for console pricing. While this new bundle hits that mark, it also adds a monthly fee to help subsidize the low cost.

Sold separately, the Xbox 360 4GB console with Kinect will run you $299.99, with an Xbox LIVE Gold subscription tacking on an additional $59.99 a year ($9.99 per month if you prefer to go that route). Added up, it costs $419.97, $38.79 less than the $458.76 that the subsidized bundle will run you when it’s all said and done. Of course, while the $99 deal ends up being slightly more expensive, you also get the benefit of paying it off over the course of two years, rather than all up front.

Customers are used to paying $10-$15 a month for entertainment services like Netflix and Hulu Plus, and smartphones are almost always sold at a subsidized price in the US, so $15 a month for an Xbox 360 and all of the entertainment it encompasses isn’t bad at all.

[Microsoft Store via Kotaku]

Call of Duty: Black Ops II announced, coming out on November 13

Master Devwi — Sat, 05 May 2012 01:21:00 GMT

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Love it or hate it, Call of Duty is a massive juggernaut. And this week, Activision finally revealed the sequel to Black Ops and the follow up to 2011�s Modern Warfare 3�Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The game is scheduled for release on November 13, one week after the launch of Halo 4.

Activision and developer Treyarch have revealed a surprising amount of information about the game, despite the launch being just over six months away. At first glance, the game�s trailer seems somewhat reminiscent of Battlefield 2143, complete with a futuristic setting and towering mechs. But upon closer examination, it�s obvious that this is certainly not the case.

Black Ops II�s story is split between the 1980s Cold War and a fictional second Cold War, set thirteen years in the future in 2025. The developer plans to tie the two together with Raul Menendez, the villain in both eras. Characters from the original Black Ops like Frank Woods will return, and Mason�s son will play a large role in the �future.� What happens when terrorists attempt to take over the very technology that was created to protect us? This is the question Black Ops II attempts to answer.

The game will feature all of the things you�ve come to expect from a Call of Duty title, as well as new additions like branching storylines, player choice, and consequences for death. The game�s writers are also attempting to put more of an emphasis on the story, making players care about what�s going on.

The biggest departure from previous games is Strike Force Operations, which �have a very meaningful influence on how the story progresses.� And by that, the developers mean that you can literally take control of anyone and anything in a non-linear sandbox, be it a fellow soldier on the ground, a quadrotor drone in the air, or Overwatch.

Multiplayer and Zombies will, of course, return. Treyarch aims to make multiplayer much more accessible. �Supporting the broadest range of players and play styles� is one of the main goals. Additional details about these modes, however, will have to wait for a later timeframe.

Black Ops II still features relatively basic AI and it�s running on the same engine�updated for improved graphics�but the game is already garnering a lot of excitement. In fact, first-day pre-orders for Black Ops II are ten times higher than the original Black Ops. Will the game�and the Call of Duty series in general�be able to keep up this momentum?

[One of Swords]

Cave Johnson recruiting test chamber designers in new Portal 2 DLC

Master Devwi — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:27:00 GMT

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Cave Johnson is fed up with paying employees to design new test chambers, so he has concocted a new scheme to acquire the blueprints for free: the Perpetual Testing Initiative (PeTI). This Portal 2 DLC will take advantage of the Steam Workshop and a “powerful, easy-to-use Puzzle Maker” to give gamers the best experience for creating, sharing, and playing custom Portal 2 test chambers.

The free “Perpetual Testing Initiative” DLC, which will be released on PC and Mac on May 8, is the second digital add-on to be made available for Valve’s hit puzzle game. The DLC was actually revealed last fall, but like all Valve projects, the development process took much longer than expected. Unfortunately, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners are out of luck. It’s too bad, since a Portal 2 test chamber could have been a big hit on consoles, which have proven to be just as effective at level editing.

[Think With Portals]

Nintendo lost $460 million last year

Cptnodegard — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:17:15 GMT

Even with some of my favorite games ever coming out of Nintendo, I smile from ear to ear when I see Nintendo failing. I don't particularly care for neither Microsoft nor Sony, but I will give them one thing: they're going with the times. Playstation certified phones, Xbox integration in Windows Phone 7, the PS Vita, and so on and so forth. Nintendo? Refusing to play ball with modern technology, and instead releasing c...reative products like the 3DS.

Granted this is just my opinion, but it seems to be shared by many if you go by the earnings report that Nintendo just released. The company lost 37.3 million yen last financial year, roughly $460 million, despite the price cuts it introduced as some sort of emergency measure half way through last year. It says that the coming year will be better, with the Wii U, price cuts and strong game titles helping achieve that. I wouldn't hold my breath though, a company that sits on so many fantastic game franchises yet completely refuses to get with the times really has no business in 2012. Nintendo is trying to make money the same way now as it did 20 years ago, and that just isn't going to work.

[Engadget]

Halo 4 to be released on November 6

Master Devwi — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 06:10:00 GMT

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The Halo 4 marketing effort is in full swing now. Microsoft and 343 Industries have followed up last week�s news that Neil Davidge will be scoring the highly anticipated game with an even bigger announcement: Halo 4 will be released on November 6, 2012.

If that date sounds familiar to US residents, that�s because it should. Tuesday, November 6 is also Election Day in the US, so today�s announcement has already spawned a number of "Master Chief for president" jokes. The real release date humor, however, comes straight from the machinima masters at Rooster Teeth. The video (above) depicts the popular characters from Red vs. Blue humorously debating how they will keep the date fresh in their minds. Remember not to forget, folks.

With Halo 4 officially marking its fall release slot on the calendar, it�ll be interesting to see what the competition does. Call of Duty, for example, regularly comes out during the first or second week of November. Interestingly, this is the first Halo game to be released in the eleventh month of the year since Halo 2 in 2004. The last three titles, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo Reach, were released in mid-September.

[Halo Waypoint]

Neil Davidge to score Halo 4

Master Devwi — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:18:00 GMT

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The Halo series is known for its groundbreaking multiplayer, but it has also been widely recognized for its engaging story and emotional soundtrack. So it was with great fanfare that 343 Industries announced that Neil Davidge would be taking over the musical reins from Marty O�Donnell, the man responsible for giving Halo its iconic sound. Davidge is known for his work with Massive Attack, and his resume includes scores for film, television, and advertising.

Along with this announcement, 343 Industries has decided to give fans a preview of Halo 4�s music through a ViDoc and a soundtrack sample (available in both MP3 and video form). It already sounds fantastic, even though our initial impression is based solely off of these limited samples. O�Donnell will always be the man who created Halo�s classic score, but it sounds like Davidge was the perfect choice to succeed him. We highly recommend taking a listen.

[Halo Waypoint]

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BioWare gives in, announces upcoming Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC

Cptnodegard — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:03:37 GMT

The ending to Mass Effect 3 is still one of the most talked about issues in the gaming world right now, and the people who have been actively campaigning for an alternate ending has sort of won through. This summer, there will be a free DLC that doesn't as much change the ending as expand on it. The ending being depressing and practically identical for everyone regardless of whether they've played this or that way aside, one of the major complaints was that the ending storyline makes no sense. Despite some "evidence" of it being foreshadowed, many players feel that too many previously unknown concepts were suddenly introduced in the last 15 minutes of a 100 hour game trilogy for it to be a valid ending to the story.

This is one way of "fixing" the ending that I've seen suggested by players, and perhaps the way of doing it that's the least likely to upset those who liked the ending. I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with, and my biggest wish is that they make the ending more customized. Some cutscenes here and there that actually show the war assets you've collected, instead of the current system where you have 200 ways of increasing your war assets without any reason to do so beyond a certain (low, compared to maximum possible) number that unlocks 20 more seconds of video at the end.

Still though, I'm not sure if the extended cut will make me pick up single player again. I love ME3 multiplayer, but one of the absolute biggest problems with the ending as it is right now for me is that it makes me completely apathetic about what happens before that point in the story, and doesn't give me any reason to do anything but rush through it. That's quite a failure for a game that is at best average without the story, and I think a lot of people who don't understand the criticism towards the ending aren't seeing what it does to replay value for those who don't like it.

[Engadget/Press release]

Unboxing the Kinect Star Wars Xbox 360 bundle

Master Devwi — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 05:45:00 GMT

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The long-awaited Kinect Star Wars Xbox 360 bundle is every geek's dream, perfectly blending the fantastic hardware of the Xbox 360 S and the iconic imagery of R2-D2 and C-3PO. The special edition console was obviously created with the utmost care, going as far as to include some subtle Easter Eggs that should make Star Wars fans squeal with glee.

We decided to take one for the team--we couldn't have resisted, in all honesty--and pick up one of these special edition consoles for ourselves. In addition to the system itself, styled like R2-D2, the bundle comes with a gold metallic controller--obviously a homage to C-3PO--and a stark white Kinect sensor which evokes memories of Stormtroopers. The Kinect Star Wars game, the reason for the console in the first place, and the standard Kinect pack-in, Kinect Adventures, also come with the bundle. For the full details on what's included, check out our unboxing video.

Mass Effect 3's finale foreshadowed in the first game

Master Devwi — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 06:15:00 GMT

Mass Effect 3 is one of the greatest games of all time. Unfortunately, it also has one of the most controversial endings to date. Fan reaction to the game�s final moments has been strong and ranges from unabashed love to a general acceptance and even a very strong dislike which left gamers with a bad taste in their collective mouths. Some fans in the latter category have even gone as far as to file frivolous lawsuits and submit complaints to the Better Business Bureau. But could BioWare have actually foreshadowed how the saga would end way back in 2008?

Players can explore a galaxy full of planets in the Mass Effect series, and each one comes with a Journal entry containing additional details about the fictitious world. Believe it or not, one of these in the original Mass Effect (2008) actually reveals the twist presented to players in the final moments of Mass Effect 3. WARNING: Spoilers to follow.

�Klencory is famously claimed by the eccentric volus billionaire Kumun Shol. He claims that a vision of a higher being told him to seek on Klencory the "lost crypts of beings of light." These entities were supposedly created at the dawn of time to protect organic life from synthetic "machine devils."

Shol has been excavating on Klencory's toxic surface for two decades, at great expense. No government has valued the world enough to evict his small army of mercenaries.�

The planet�s Journal entry was again updated in Mass Effect 3 with further details about the eccentric billionaire:

�Klencory is famously claimed by the eccentric volus billionaire Kumun Shol. His once-ridiculed visions of "beings of light" protecting organic life from synthetic "machine devils" don't seem quite so far-fetched now. His private army of mercenaries are well-established on the planet, waiting for husks to come knocking in on their door. In all likelihood, they will be obliterated by the molten metal of a Reaper orbital bombardment, on its way to somewhere important.�

What�s even more amazing, however, is that one perceptive gamer actually picked up on this tidbit during a replay of the original Mass Effect two years ago. And, like the game�s fictional character, his theory went largely ignored until now. Fascinating.

It�s impossible to know whether BioWare had this planned from the start, and BioWare�s writers aren�t talking. However, Drew Karpyshyn, former BioWare storyteller and lead writer on the first two Mass Effect titles, had this to say on his personal blog:

�The collaborative creative process is incredibly complicated, and the story and ideas are constantly evolving as you go forward. Yes, we had a plan, but it was very vague. We knew we wanted to focus on some key themes and bring in certain key elements: organics vs synthetics; the Reapers; the Mass Relays. Beyond that, we didn�t go into detail because we knew it would change radically as the game continued to evolve.�

One has to wonder if the game�s final reveal, the deus ex machina, was one of those �key themes� brought forward throughout the series. We may never know the truth, but if that was indeed the case, then BioWare�s masterful storytellers managed to hide the controversial ending in plain sight for five years.

[Reddit via Kotaku]

Xbox NEXT to feature Trials Evolution, Minecraft

Master Devwi — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 22:08:00 GMT

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When Microsoft announced Xbox LIVE Arcade�s House Party promotion back in January, we couldn�t help but wonder why some games, like Trials Evolution, weren�t included. The reason, as we now know, is that the Redmond software giant was holding them back for Arcade NEXT.

Arcade NEXT will feature another set of four fantastic games, comprised of Trials Evolution, Bloodforge, Fable: Heroes, and Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition. Trials Evolution (1200MSP) is the sequel to the amazingly addicting Trials HD; Bloodforge (1200MSP) is a dark, brutal fighting game; Fable: Heroes (800MSP) takes the hit franchise in a more fun, lighthearted direction; and Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (1200MSP) brings the PC-hit to the console, complete with both four-player split-screen and Xbox LIVE multiplayer.

The fun starts on April 18th and will run up through May 9th. These four titles will also be the first to take advantage of Microsoft�s increased Gamerscore policy, serving up 400 Gamerscore and up to 30 different achievements.

[Major Nelson]

Blizzard upgrades WoW Resurrection Scroll, getting desperate?

Cptnodegard — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 06:17:09 GMT

It's no secret that World of Warcraft has been losing subscribers in the last year or two. A lot of subscribers. I myself stopped playing in January as a result of some rather gameplay breaking issues with the 4.3 patch, and haven't really looked back. Yesterday I got a message from someone I used to play with who sent me a Scroll of Resurrection, Blizzard's inactive player version of recruit-a-friend. It basically gives both sides rewards if an active player brings back someone who canceled their account.

Blizzard has had such systems int he past, but the upgraded version of the scroll is definitely something else. The most eye catching reward is the new spectral mounts, a Griffin for Alliance and a Wind Rider for Horde. Anything that is shiny and glows is sought after in games, so having semi-transparent shiny new blue mounts is bound to make existing players think for a bit longer if they know anyone who might be interested. The mount is only awarded if the resurrected player subscribes for at least 30 days though.

To help convince the resurrected player to stay, Blizzard is throwing some nice things at them too. First off, you get 7 days of free game time, so you can come back for free and look around. You also get a free upgrade to Cataclysm if you don't have it, regardless of what version of the game you originally had. People who left in vanilla WoW can that way skip through TBC, WOTLC and right to Cataclysm for free. To make sure you're ready to play the new content, they're also letting you bump a character to lv 80, complete with some items, flying skill and so on. Finally, you get a free character transfer to your friend's realm and faction, so that you can play together.

Definitely a nice offer, and since this is a new version of the scroll that was released just 11 days ago, the cutoff limit for being eligible is as recent as March 4th. This means that in theory, people who have only been inactive for a little over two weeks are eligible for this, which should bump up the numbers quite nicely. I accepted my friend's request simply to go in and see how my new computer handled WoW, but I'm not sure if I'll bother staying. I was already in the same faction and realm, but had a lv 20 shaman I never bothered leveling that I could suddenly bump to 80. Based on that alone I'd be interested in leveling it up to 85, which again could make me extend the game time, proving that the rewards work. Just a few weeks before the new scroll was announced Blizzard also announced the availability of PayPal payments in Europe, which to me is a huge deal, so who knows.

In any case, it's hard not to see this as an indication of how bad the times are for WoW. Just this fall Blizzard had a deal where you could subscribe to WoW for a year and get Diablo III for free, another example of how the company is trying to keep subscribers. WoW is still massive and is likely very far away from not being profitable, but when you count loss of subscribers in hundreds of thousands per quarter that makes an impact.

[Blizzard]

Microsoft dispels rumors of a new Xbox console announcement at E3

Master Devwi — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 06:36:00 GMT

It�s not a stretch to say that the next generation Xbox console is currently being developed in the most secret depths of Microsoft�really, the company would be foolish if it wasn�t working on Xbox vNext on at least some level�but don�t expect any sort of announcement at E3 in June. The Redmond software giant has confirmed that it will not be revealing its plans for the next generation console at this year�s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, despite the upcoming release of the Wii U from competitor Nintendo.

The reason why is simple: the Xbox 360 is currently at the top of its game, outselling the competition for fourteen months straight and sporting a lineup of critically acclaimed titles and entertainment apps. And with Kinect�s red-hot success, the seven-year-old console is doing quite well for itself. Announcing new hardware would only serve to harm current sales.

�For us, 2012 is all about Xbox 360-and it's the best year ever for Xbox 360,� said a Microsoft representative. �The console is coming off its biggest year ever-a year in which Xbox outsold all other consoles worldwide. Xbox 360 didn't just outsell other consoles, it also outsold all other TV-connected devices like DVD players, as well as digital media receivers and home theatre systems. And in our seventh year, we sold more consoles than in any other year-defying convention.�

So what can we expect from Microsoft at this year�s E3 media briefing? Games, and lots of them. The company is also likely to announce new media apps, dashboard features/refinements, and additional details about Xbox LIVE on Windows 8. This should make for an exciting event, even without the presence of a new Xbox console.

[Kotaku]

A commentary on the Mass Effect 3 ending (heavy spoiler)

Cptnodegard — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:30:25 GMT

This post contains very heavy spoilers in regards to the Mass Effect 3, and Mass Effect storyline, ending, as it is a commentary on it. Do not continue reading if you do not want spoilers.

Wow. Just wow. I seriously don't know what to say, as I don't think I quite believe it. It's hard to imagine something like the Mass Effect 3 ending, because you never expected it. Three games, three games that have given us perhaps the most detailed, logical science fiction universe in history. Coming from someone who has more hours on the receiving end of science fiction stories of any kind - books, movies, TV series, games - than a decently sized city, the Mass Effect universe is among the best, if not the best, universes I've encountered. The story in the three games is no worse, captivating people for years now with a storytelling art that seems lost on other game developers.

Then came the last 15 minutes of Mass Effect 3. Thrice, as I went through all endings, trying to find out if they were all like that. They were. It left me speechless. The story that has kept my glued to the screen for 30 in-game hours over the last few games, being harder to put down than anything I've had in years, ended with the absolute worst ending I have seen to any story, ever. I don't care if it's a soap opera, a TV series or a book, there is no worse ending than the ending to Mass Effect 3 - and Mass Effect as a whole. I'm not even exaggerating, I wish I was, but just look at the official discussion forum and you quickly see thousands of people backing me up.

The producer of the game has tweeted a message that many take to mean a DLC to fix the issue is coming. Normally I wouldn't hold my breath, but the reception that this has gotten pretty much guarantees it. The response has been so overwhelming, and so bad, that considering the view of and value of the rest of the franchise, they don't have a choice. It's a business, like any other, and the reaction to Mass Effect 3 is probably going to cost the company untold millions.

To those who have read this without having experienced the game - or the ending - yourself, the game itself isn't bad. It's epic. It had me glued to the screen up to the last 15 minutes of the game. Yes, the last 15 minutes. Up until that point, I have yet to see a complaint about the game, with the exception of a "minor" storyline that leads up to the ending. The last fight in the game is simply epic, the conversations you have with your crew before heading into that battle are astounding, and everything is building up to a "happily ever after" ending with certain blue children I was promised. It just doesn't happen.

The story goes something like this: The reapers, machines designed to wipe out advanced civilizations every 50000 years to start the galaxy all over again in terms of intergalactic travel, attack Earth in force and other places in less force. The hero of the story escapes and goes out to rally every race, from the mighty council races to mercenary groups, in an attempt to fight them off. The next 25+++ hours is spent traveling the galaxy, doing various missions to this end. You fight epic bosses, unite species that have been at war for hundreds of years, see old freinds sacrifice themselves in moments worthy of the history books, and generally experience one of the best games ever written.

However, the reason you rally the forces is to create a distraction while the real weapon against the reapers is deployed: the Crucible. A weapon that was started many 50000 year cycles ago finally gets completed in our cycle, in the Mass Effect 3 story, and is in the end what makes this the worst game series you can ever start playing if you don't know to turn off the game and never touch it again before the last 15 minutes of the game.

Those 15 minutes basically introduce you to the being that created the reapers, and teaches you that the reapers were made in order to make sure complete destruction of all organic life wouldn't occur. When races get too advanced the create synthetic beings, and those will sooner or later take over and destroy all organic life. By wiping out only the advanced civilizations every 50000 years, this can be prevented, and the cycles can go on.

The being gives you choices based on how well you've done in the game. I had all three choices available to me, and tried them all. All three endings end up with you dead (with a special 22 second "bonus" that hints at your survival if you played enough of the multiplayer and iOS games to raise your "Galactic Readiness Score" above the normal 3-4000 you get by playing the game normally). The Mass Relays, means of getting around the universe fast, get destroyed. Either all technology will as well, only the relays, or technology and organic material will unite to a new type of "biology". A short cutscene shows some of your crew crawl out of a crashed Normandy (the spaceship in the story) on a new planet, and the game ends with a grandfather and a child looking up at the sky and it being told in a way that hints to the hero having become a legend and you just witnessed the retelling of the story, who knows how long after it actually happened.

What fans are so furious about is the lack of a real ending. One where the galaxy returns to normal. Assuming you've played all three games, any one full playthrough of all games will come close to 100 hours. Investing in the lore and backstories will raise that significantly. You've developed in-game romances, united former enemies, been promised on several occasions that children should be named after you or someone in your crew, spent time learning about your friends' families, what they want to do after the war, basically anything you can imagine to create the kind of detail that makes the Mass Effect story what it is.

And then the last game more or less renders all of that inert, useless, pointless. There won't be any blue children between you an Liara. You won't meet up with your crew in Rio for a drink, retire in a warm place, or any of the other things you talked to your crew about minutes before the last battle. It's all gone. It's not just a bad ending, it makes you never want to play the games ever again. Mass Effect prides itself on replays, but all anyone is going to think now whenever they do anything - be it making the decision to save or sacrifice the Council in Mass Effect 1 or finding some spare parts for the engineers in Mass Effect 2 - is that there's no point, it all ends badly anyways. Stories can have unfortunate endings without the endings being bad stories. The ending to Mass Effect, however, ruins the entire story from the moment you started up Mass Effect 1 back in 2007. It has to be, without a doubt, the worst ending ever. To anything.

As I finish writing this post I still don't know what to think about it. It's unthinkable that something this bad gets released. People have even suggested that it is to sell a $10 DLC to fix it later, in other words an intentional fail. I seriously hope that's the case, as it is the only explanation that can explain this.

EDIT: Here's a discussion that is very interested in regards with how this can be fixed, regardless of whether it was intended to be that way from the start. It has given me back some hope, but either way, this is one of the biggest fail in gaming history.

Mass Effect 3 hits stores

Cptnodegard — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 01:21:00 GMT

This week one of the biggest game releases of 2012 hit the stores: Mass Effect 3. The Mass Effect series is a science fiction RPG shooter that stands out among other games because of its extremely well written and dynamic story. The three games are linked as a trilogy, and choices you made all the way back in game 1 will affect how the story unfolds in the second and third games. One player might spend the entire game getting to know a character that another player got killed two games ago. On top of the dynamic story, the game also has a Galactic Readiness System that affects how the game ends. This is affected by things you do in single player as well as multiplayer and an iOS spinoff game, Mass Effect: Infiltrator. The game was released in the US a couple of days ago, and today I could pick up my copy here in Norway as well.

(Spoilers ahead)

My first impressions of the game from playing it for a few hours is that it's great. Mass Effect 2 was great, and this builds on that, implementing very obvious fixes to issues with the previous games. These fixes range from no longer having to play those stupid bypass and hacking minigames to unlock stuff to being able to buy an aquarium that automatically feeds your fish so that your only interaction with the fish you buy for your Normandy fish tank isn't just to clean out the dead ones.

A lot of the characters from the previous games are back, either as people you just happen to run into here and there, or as squad members. Having Liara as a squad mate again is perhaps one of the best features of the entire game, and I'm sure I'm not the only one in her fan club. Everything links together like you'd expect, at least for the most part. I might have missed something in a conversation, but I still have no explanation to how Andersson became an admiral again after being on the council.

There are also minor inconsistencies in logic. Cerberus is back on our bad side, and frankly, if I had half the gear that those people have now in ME2, I would have skipped gathering a team completely and just gone off to kill the collectors right from the get go. Tediously scanning planets for minerals is also a feature that is gone, instead being replaced by having everything be purchased with credits. While that is a lot easier and less annoying as a game mechanic, it is a bit puzzling from a continuity point of view. Here we are, with the backing of the entire galaxy and a space ship worth something like 300 billion credits (if I remember the ME2 dossier correctly), and for some reason we're on a budget that allows you roughly half a new gun for every mission you do, and makes saving up for the Spectre gear a bigger task than taking back Earth. At least when you had to scan planets to give Mordin access to the necessary resources to build updates, it made a bit more sense. I'm not saying they should have done it any differently though, don't get me wrong, it's just that with the story and back story that is woven into Mass Effect being as good as it is, those sort of things end up bugging you for no real reason.

The biggest disappointment is the battle system though. It's also one of the best new features. Powers are a lot more useful now, to the point where I actually use cloak as an Infiltrator in battle instead of just wondering why they put it in the game. The upgrade paths for each power is longer, and has more either/or-choices. However the actual battle system itself is still taken straight out of Gears of War, meaning hiding behind a wall until it's safe to fire off a few shots. Even on lower difficulties, trying to be clever with using your powers - at least in big battles - is going to get you very killed very fast. It might just be me, but give me an advanced cloak and an Omnitool blade for my melee, and I'm going to cloak, sneak behind an enemy, and stick the thing so far up his *** that it it needs to be replaced to get rid of the smell afterwards. To some degree you can do things like that, but it's very easy to get overpowered. Sometimes even from enemies suddenly appearing behind you using jetpacks. I died 3-4 during one specific battle where I tried to be clever and make Shephard the hero they make her out to be. I cloaked, used charged melees, stuck more explosive sticky rounds to the back of the heads of enemies than I had ammo for when I entered the battle, and essentially ran around like crazy. I ended up dying every time, and that was on normal difficulty. I finally went back to hiding behind walls more, and then the battle was naturally not a problem at all.

It seems that Mass Effect 3 is sticking to the hide-behind-walls recipe a bit too much here, not allowing much choice in how a battle progresses. In some way it feels like Gears of War, while the amount of powers and non-gun-stuff you have available somehow makes me think it should be more like Prototype. I mean, Shephard is the galactic hero of all times, and the battle system sort of makes you wonder if the reason for that is that she's the only person in the entire galaxy who learned how to duck behind a wall. That might be how some people want the story to be told, and I respect that, but personally, I'd rather be told the story of Commander Shephard, the invisible ninja who fought 500 Cerberus troops by sticking Omnitools up where they don't belong. There's just something about the feeling of killing an enemy in a way other than from behind a wall that is best summed up with my favorite Kasumi Goto quote from ME2: "ha-ha". Then again, perhaps my liking of that particular character's fighting style in ME2 is why I'm so determined to use stealth and melee to kill everything.

These minor subjective quirks aside though, Mass Effect 3 is great. I'm the kind of guy who plays through most games by rapidly tapping the "skip cutscene" button and wishing that they would just remove those completely, because there are so very few games out there these days that present you with a story worth getting involved in. With Mass Effect, I watch every cut scene, look around everywhere, and treat it like an interactive movie. Perhaps that's why I hate that the battle system reminds me of Gears of War so much, as that game series has a level design and story that both seem to come from used toilet paper in some way. BioWare has created a universe that is more detailed and makes more sense than pretty much any other fictional universe I can think of, and my history of science fiction stories include everything from having seen every episode of Star Trek multiple times over to having read decades-long science fiction book series that no one else has even heard of. Being a science fiction fan is also almost a requirement in order to enjoy Mass Effect completely. If anyone is trying to tell me that the reaper walker design has nothing to do with War of the Worlds, or that EDI's Android avatar and romantic involvement with Joker is in no way a reference to Andromeda, then I don't want to live on this planet anymore. Krogan poetry, Richard L. Jenkins, starship model display case, organic batteries.. the list of references and tips of the hat to every conceivable aspect of geekyness is so immense that someone could write a book about it, and I wish they did.

Xbox 360 Spring Showcase brings with it tons of game announcements

Master Devwi — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:12:00 GMT

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Microsoft�s annual Xbox 360 Spring Showcase has arrived, bringing with it a whole slew of announcements, reveals, and first-looks.

Halo 4 was undoubtedly the biggest head-turner at the show, thanks to the big reveal by 343 Industries. Other noteworthy announcements included Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, which is scheduled for release on June 19, the long-awaited Trials Evolution, and Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition.

Many of the titles in Microsoft Studios� stable of triple-A titles will receive new installments or add-ons this year. Two new Fable games�Fable: The Journey and Fable: Heroes�are on the horizon, with the former being designed for Kinect and the latter a more lighthearted take on the franchise destined for Xbox LIVE Arcade. Forza Horizon will bring the racing series into the pick-up-and-play realm, while new downloadable content (DLC) for Forza Motorsport 4 will keep core fans entertained. New DLC for Gears of War 3 (entitled �Forces of Nature�), Dance Central 2, and Kinect Sports: Season Two (which adds an entirely new game mode�Basketball) rounds out the list of high-profile game add-ons.

Other announcements include Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Dragon�s Dogma, and Darksiders II for Xbox 360; Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 13 and Kinect Rush: A Disney�Pixar Adventure for Kinect; and Wreckateer, Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD, South Park: Tenorman�s Revenge, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Quantum Conundrum (created by Kim Swift, one of the minds behind Portal), Bloodforge, Deadlight, Diabolical Pitch, and Joe Danger: The Movie for Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Mass Effect 3, Kinect Star Wars, and Microsoft Flight were also on hand at the Spring Showcase, as were a whole host of Windows Phone games. This is just a small selection of the Xbox LIVE-enabled titles headed to Xbox 360, PC, and Windows Phone this year. Once again, it looks like we�ll have a large selection of fantastic games to choose from.

[Major Nelson]