As requested, by many of you, latest screenshots from Mass Effect 2.
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16Nov
Tags: Bioware, Mass Effect 2
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24Aug
Hey all.
Happy Monday. I hope you had a great weekend. As promised, here is the EA Press Conference at GamesCom…in full for you to view. If you are reading this article on Facebook or view our daily e-newsletter, to see these awesome videos, please come to our site at www.insideea.com.
I have split the Press Conference into three parts.
Part OneKicks off with an Intro by Jens Intat, General Manager of European Publishing. Peter Moore, President of EA SPORTS kicks off by introducing FIFA 10, with FIFA Producer David Rutter taking time out to demonstrate the new innovations. Peter Moore hits the stage in his shorts to demonstrate EA SPORTS Active More Workouts. After Peter has completed his rigorous workout, SIMS 3 takes the stage with World Adventures expansion pack. DICE takes the stage next with Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
Part Two
Part Two rocks off with Brutal Legend and Tim Schafer. Next up, Dante’s Inferno with the Sixth Circle of Hell, Heresy and a new gameplay mechanic, Righteousness. Bioware are next on stage to demonstrate Dragon Age: Origins.
Part Three
Part Three continues with Bioware and Mass Effect 2. Bioware concludes by bringing LucasArts onto the stage and showing Star Wars: The Old Republic. Need for Speed Shift hits the stage next with some awesome new gameplay footage.
© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners
Tags: Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Brutal Legend, David Rutter, Dragon Age: Origins, EA SPORTS Active, FIFA 10, GamesCom, Mass Effect 2, NFS, NFS: Shift, Peter Moore, Sims 3, SIMS 3 World Adventures, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Tim Schafer
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20Aug
This week we have been at the GamesCom Show in Germany. So much to discuss and show you. Lets start with a blog from our Sister site EA Underground, with an overview of the EA press conference by Black Pixel.
Enjoy. Over to you BlackPixel……
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I have a short time to reflect on all the things we saw at the press conference and I thought I’d flesh out the sentiments behind some of my earlier tweets.
It’s difficult not to sound too gushing or overly positive in 140 characters, but I genuinely thought that some of the stuff that was shown looked amazing. Some of it changed my opinion, some of it baffled me and some of it just hyped me up even more for stuff that I’m already really looking forward to.
So we started with “FIFA 10″. Difficult for me this one – I’ve never been a big fan of real-life football and have certainly never been able to master the intricacies of previous versions of FIFA, so I’m not the best person to judge. However, it’s obvious that the FIFA team have really taken the game to the next level (again!) this year, letting players control every detail of the beautiful game. And it really does look beautiful, the graphics are great. Like I said in my tweet, it makes football look really complicated – I guess the true fans already knew that there’s more to it than meets the eye.
Next up Peter Moore and special guest, sports star Katerina Witt, showcased “EA Sports Active: More Workouts”. Adding new exercises and thousands of customisable routines, new stretches and fun tasks, the expansion pack is released in November. Kudos to Peter for (literally!) running us through a routine in his gym outfit!
With 3 million plus copies sold and a community of over 2 million registered users worldwide “The Sims 3″ is quite simply, a phenomena. “Sims 3: World Adventures” is the first Expansion Pack, and it allows the Sims to travel outside of their hometown for the first time and head overseas to locations such as Egypt, France and China. We were shown some game footage and then some behind the scenes “blooper” videos of some of the featured music artists trying to sing in Simlish – not easy to do, try it some time!
Anybody hearing claims that a new game (ok, it’s a sequel!) was seriously considering taking on Modern Warfare 2 would be forgiven for thinking “not a chance”. But when the people making those claims are the brains behind the DICE studio,and the massively successful Battlefield franchise, you have to take notice. Introducing “Battlefield: Bad Company 2″ the producers told us that the vehicle warfare, squad play and “destruction 2.0″ really set this game apart from the competition. Although we didn’t see any actual gameplay footage, the trailer, which was made using the Frostbite Engine, gives a great impression of the kind of strategies that can be applied to win on the battlefield. It showcases a devastating surgical strike employing snipers, homing rockets and overwhelming force. And it looks awesome. March 2010 suddenly seems like a long way off!
“Brutal Legend” is a game that I really wasn’t sure about for a number of reasons (number one being: thou shalt not take THE ROCK anything less than 100% seriously) but after seeing Tim Schafer talk about the game and introduce the, frankly hilarious, “Mosh Pit” and the Axe Combat footage, I’m realy warming to this game. I’ll defintely give the demo a spin when it’s released on the 17th September.
Basing a game on a poem may seem like a strange idea, but when the poem is the classic “Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri, it all seems to make sense. “Dante’s Inferno” is a dark tale in which Dante battles through the 9 Circles Of Hell to try and rescue the soul of his lover from the clutches of Hell and the Devil himself. The “Righteousness System”, where you are rewarded for righteous decisions and punished for unholy ones is a novel idea in a novel game. It’s out next February so I’ve already set a date go to hell!
Dr Ray Muzyka from Bioware introduced 3 massive games – “Star Wars: The Old Republic”, “Mass Effect 2″ and “Dragon Age: Origins”.
Mass Effect 2 kicks off where the first one finished. I was always really impressed by the visual side of the first game and part two looks just as good, if not better. Your new AI partner-in-crime, Grunt, seems like he may become a liability eventually and it’s tricky to tell how he might effect the gameplay overall, but I really like the idea of a sidekick who is “irrationally violent”!
Some 25+ years ago the young me would also have loved Dragon Age: Origins. I was obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons and spent hours creating my own characters and their complex mythologiges. DA:O reminds me of all the things that used to thrash around in my teenage mind, but brought bang up-to-date and in blood-spattered technicolor. Looks like it might be fun to revisit those stories.
The breadth of detail in SWTOR is going to be amazing. Apparently in terms of “narrative, there are upwards of 40 novels worth of storyline in the game.The big news about “Star Wars The Old Republic” being released in 100% localised versions for France and Germany was illustrated by a version of the awesome trailer voiced totally in German. Having previously only seen it online, watching it on the big screen was a spine-tingling experience.
And then finally – and the one I’d really been waiting for – “Need For Speed Shift”. Now, I love racing games and I’ve seen a little of this game already so I knew I was going to be impressed. Watching the developers demo the game – driving a Pagani Zonda in cockpit view around the Spa Francorchamps circuit – totally reaffirmed that this is a must have game for me.
And that was it. A quick introduction to 11 of EA’s hottest forthcoming titles, whetting the appetite for the next few days. There’s loads more titles to see at the show, so looks like I really will have loads to talk about.
© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners
Tags: Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Brutal Legend, Dante's Inferno, Dragon Age: Origins, EA SPORTS Active, FIFA 10, GamesCom, Mass Effect 2, NFS: Shift, Peter Moore, Sims 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic
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23Jul
More Comic Con news….so if you are there….check this out. And this is just as exciting…especially for fans of Mass Effect. BioWare and Dark Horse Comics have announced a new comic book series based on Mass Effect, the blockbuster sci-fi action videogame that IGN.com rated the #1 Xbox 360™ game of all time.
Again sharing the press release for you:
‘In Mass Effect: Redemption, the story takes readers through the treacherous events leading up to Mass Effect 2 which opens with galactic hero Commander Shepard having mysteriously gone missing and left to fight for survival. What unfolds next will expose readers to new locations, aliens and extended storyline in the Mass Effect universe. Mass Effect: Redemption is scheduled to launch in January 6, 2010.
The Mass Effect: Redemption story is written by Lead Writer Mac Walters at BioWare. Walters is the script writer behind Mass Effect 2. He brings unique insight to the Mass Effect comic and nuance of the world within. The comic is scripted by John Jackson Miller (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, The Invincible Iron Man) and drawn by Omar Francia (Star Wars Legacy). This first four-part series explores the exotic and dangerous future Milky Way of Mass Effect, revealing previously unseen locations, aliens, and enemies of this rich science fiction landscape.
Mac Walters and Omar Francia will be autographing a Comic-con exclusive Mass Effect signing card at the Dark Horse booth (#2615) on July 24th at 4:00pm – 5:00pm at Comic-Con International 2009 in San Diego, CA.
“Fans of Mass Effect are going to be pleasantly shocked by the events in these comics,” says Mac Walters. “We worked very closely with Dark Horse to make sure this story was built in to the Mass Effect 2 arc, right from the ground up. Reading the series won’t just add to your experience of the universe, it will change the way you look at Mass Effect 2… and beyond.”
“Those familiar with Mass Effect are aware that it offers one of the deepest and most compelling universes in the history of space adventure,” says Dark Horse President and Publisher Mike Richardson. “We have a long history of successfully adapting properties such as Aliens, Star Wars, and Serenity into comics, and we feel that Mass Effect has tremendous potential with regard to graphic storytelling.”
The narrative in Mass Effect: Redemption picks up just as Commander Shepard disappears and is left without the support of the crew on the Normandy in the lawless Terminus Systems. Shepard must fight for survival, and will be assisted by close companion, Dr. Liara T’Soni, to come home alive. This story is sure to be a must-read for fans looking to fill the gap between the first and second game’.
Mass Effect: Redemption issue 1 hits comic shop shelves on January 6, 2010.
Mass Effect 2 is scheduled for release on Xbox 360 and PC in early 2010.
EArl
© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners
Tags: Bioware, Dark Horse, Mac Walters, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect: Redemption, Omar Francia
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07Jul
There is no doubting that Bioware is a great place to be at the moment. They are working on some of the most exciting and highly anticipated games in the industry right now. What with Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 2 and the partnership with LucasArts on Star Wars: The Old Republic, the studio is a great place to be at the moment. General manager of BioWare Dr Ray Muzyka and creative officer Greg Zeschuk have forged a highly creative studio that is changing the face of gaming.
Ray & Greg gave a great interview with Games Industry.biz called ‘Doctors on Call’ and discussed a wide range of subjects including the maturing games industry, and how innovations in hardware such as Microsoft’s Project Natal can help developers create more emotionally engaging storytelling experiences. Of course, Bioware are well known for their ability in story telling. Take a look here: http://tinyurl.com/lekach
And yes Bioware is recruiting!…..TODAY! As a quick overview they have 3 studios! I will try and give you a quick intro into each studio and location…..
First up, a studio in Bioware Edmonton, Canada. Edmonton is the capital of Alberta, a Canadian province. Interestingly, Canada has ranked among the top 5 countries in the world to live for more than 11 years in a row, claiming the number one spot from 1994 to 2000, according to the United Nations. Edmonton has a population of over 1 million, yet it enjoys one of the lowest population densities in North America. Edmonton is internationally reknown for its festivals, and has been awarded the title of Festival City. Edmonton has also has one of the most thriving and diverse urban economies in the world.
Next up, BioWare Austin is located in the vibrant city of Austin, Texas. What better balance can a city offer than being both the ‘Best Place for Business and Careers’ and the ‘Live Music Capital of the World’? Austin pleases all in rankings ranging from ‘Best City for Relocating Families’ to ‘Best Cities for Singles’. Other assessments consistently recognize the region as among the most inventive, creative, wired, rockin’, educated, fit and loved.
BioWare is also establishing a team of game developers in Montreal, Quebec, located at our EA Montreal studio in the citys downtown core. This is an exciting opportunity for BioWare; Montreal is a thriving and culturally vibrant city, with a long and storied history of triple A title game development. EA Montreal was established in 2004 and already employs more than 600 people. With the addition of a dedicated BioWare team located in Montreal working on Bioware’s amazing roster of IPs, we can all look forward to an even bigger and brighter future of critically and commercially successful titles! So what of Montreal? Montreal, Quebec is the second largest French speaking city in the world and also the most European metropolis in North America. This city is renowned for some of the most exciting cultural events in the world, hosting more than 40 festivals per year. Whether your interests are arts, music, food, or sports, Montreal offers venues, facilities and sights that will delight!
Check out those latest Bioware jobs on: www.jobs.ea.com
One of THE highlights at E3 was the announcement of Star Wars: Old Republic, with Bioware partnering with LucasArts. The trailer is one of the best I have seen. Remind yourself here of that groundbreaking announcement:
Did you know that: Star Wars: The Old Republic has received over 25 industry awards, including:Gamespy.com
Winner: PC Game of Show
Winner: MMO Game of Show
Winner: Best Trailer
Winner: Best Use of a License
Gamespot.com
Winner: Best PC Game
Winner: Best Massively Multiplayer Game
Finalist: Game of the Show
IGN.com
Winner (Overall): Best PC Game
Winner: PC Game of the Show
Winner: Best Persistent Online Game
Winner: Special Achievement for Technological Excellence
Runner Up: Best Artistic Design
EArl
Mass Effect 2
© 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners
Tags: Bioware Austin, Bioware Edmonton, Bioware Montreal, Dr Greg Zeschuk, Dr Ray Muzyka, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic
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