Former Ubisoft Toronto big cheese and Assassin's Creed co-creator has now joined Electronic Arts. She is heading up their new Motive studio in Montreal, Canada. Raymond will be keeping her eye on Visceral and BioWare. Motive will be "in close quarters" with the upcoming Mass Effect: Andromeda but their first project is working with Visceral Games on their unannounced Star Wars title from Amy Hennig.
The next Mass Effect has been named as Mass Effect Andromeda and is being released in Holiday 2016. This is being worked on by BioWare and will be a sequel to the original trilogy with Commander Shepard. Teasing snaps of Mass Effect Andromeda were shown including a very fancy way to explore the new sections of the Milky Way we'll be travelling to. Sadly there's no solid gameplay or details yet.
There's more trouble only an Inquisition can solve on the way from BioWare, as creative director Mike Laidlaw confirms they're not moving on from Dragon Age: Inquisition yet. Sadly there'll be no Hero of Ferelden dropping by. Our original Dragon Age character "will not be appearing" in the Inquisition in person. The Jaws of Hakkon was the first major new story content from BioWare and looked to the Avvar tribes.
Casey Hudson, the former BioWare developer best known for his work as the creative lead on the Mass Effect series, has joined Microsoft Studios as the company's new creative director. Rather than helming a new game series, Hudson will specifically be working on the 'mixed-reality' Microsoft HoloLens, as well as on the Xbox and other “awesome projects.”
Publishing juggernaut Electronic Arts will begin their E3 2015 press conference on June 15th, and it will run for an hour and a half. It begins 1.00pm PDT / 9.00pm GMT+1 in Shrine Auditorium. What's expected up on stage? So far they haven't revealed what's in their E3 line-up but almost certainly it will have Star Wars: Battlefront, MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, DLC offerings for Battlefield: Hardline and hopefully the next Mass Effect.
Bioware has allegedly sent out a survey for the next Mass Effect game, which sheds a light on some potential features that might be introduced. I emphasise the word 'potential' there in big, red, glowing neon letters, because this is very much unconfirmed. However. The last questionnaire that the company sent out, for its fantasy epic Dragon Age: Inquisition, hinted that there might be a multiplayer element to the game. Which there was. Nobody really played it, admittedly, but it does show that rumours like this aren't necessarily always nonsense.
Humble has teamed up with EA for the Humble Origin Bundle 2, which features a collection of some of the publisher's most popular games. Titles on offer include the first two Dragon Age games, the Medal of Honor Warchest, Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare and more.
We'd sort of been assuming that Mass Effect 4 would be available on PC, given the history of the franchise, but it's nice to have some confirmation directly from Bioware. The game's creative director Mac Walters assured fans on Twitter earlier this month that he's been reviewing the PC version of the game and it's "looking great".
It's pretty much a done deal that the new Mass Effect - which BioWare stubbornly won't call Mass Effect '4' - will have an online multiplayer side of things. This is hardly surprising since Mass Effect 3 introduced a successful formula. The multiplayer wasn't directly connected to Mass Effect 3's main campaign, although it could have a slight impact on 'readiness'. The same sort of online component cropped up in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Dragon Age: Inquisition may have enjoyed developer BioWare's most successful launch to date, but the studio isn't going to use the game as a "template" for all its future projects, such as the highly anticipated Mass Effect 4. Posting on NeoGAF, Bioware's general manager Aaryn Flynn said that although some elements will be similar, the studio's flagship sci-fi and fantasy franchises will both maintain their individuality.
It may be currently winning plaudits for its expansive singleplayer campaign, but Dragon Age: Inquisition had something of an unorthodox beginning. Talking to Gamesindustry.biz, Bioware's Mark Darrah revealed that the game started out as a multiplayer prototype some time before the release of Dragon Age 2.
N7 Day took place last Friday, and several new pieces of concept art for Mass Effect 4 were revealed during Bioware's annual Mass Effect celebrations. There's a good chance that these fittingly spectacular shots of sci-fi loveliness won't even make it into the full game, but at least we know our trusty (untrusty?) Mako will be back.
Microsoft announced last night that new content will be available to Mass Effect on 10th March. The “Bring Down the Sky” Downloadable content pack will cost 400 MS points and is the first in a series of planned extras that extends the Mass Effect universe. 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.
Bioware announced this afternoon that Mass Effect will be released for the PC in May 2008. Published by EA and re-designed for the PC, Mass Effect invites players to take the role of Commander Shepard as they set out on an adventure to save the galaxy from imminent destruction. Wrought with treachery, heroism, difficult decisions and a universe filled with unique and colorful species, Mass Effect delivers a truly compelling storyline.
An independent developer, Demiurge Studios has been working alongside BioWare since before the Xbox360 launch of Mass Effect. They've been working hard to optimise the game for the PC and both studios were not content with simply porting it over. A new and better inventory system is a major enhancement over its console counterpart, along with better visuals and a new mini-game. It's unclear though whether the PC version will include the upcoming downloadable content "Bring Down the Sky" available March 10.
Greg Zeschuk, the BioWare co-boss has today promised to improve the side-quest content for when Mass Effect 2 is released. It follows complaints that the original game was lacking in side-content and that it was tacked on as an afterthought.
Mass Effect will be arriving on PCs this May with significant upgrades over its console counterpart. BioWare senior manager Matt Atwood revealed in an interview that they will be working to bring a PC version of their upcoming sequel "as quickly as possible". Mass Effect 2 hasn't been confirmed for any platform but the PC at this time so it remains to be seen if Microsoft has managed to secure another launch exclusivity deal.
Mass Effect will hit the PC not on the 6th but now the 28th of May in the US, while the European release slides to June 6th. The development team which is a close collaboration between BioWare and Demiurge agree they'd like just a little longer to "deliver the quality that our fans deserve."
The official Mass Effect forums have an update from Jay Watamaniuk, community manager of Bioware, which reveals the final minimum and recommended system requirements for the PC Version of Mass Effect.
We've published 21 new screenshots for Mass Effect, which is in development by BioWare and is currently set for release on the PC. Mass Effect will be released on 27th May, 2008.