BioWare's Mass Effect Comic Con panel is now on YouTube

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A full-length recording of BioWare's Mass Effect panel at Comic-Con has been turned loose on YouTube. "Charting a Course: Developing the Next Mass Effect" doesn't reveal anything we didn't already know , but die-hard fans with 30 minutes to spare will probably want to check it out anyway.

Despite its half-hour running time, the video isn't a massive info-dump by any stretch of the imagination. As Mike Gamble puts it in the introduction, BioWare wants to share information with its fans but "we're years from being able to say, 'This is the exact game we're making.'" The Q&A that takes up the final two-thirds of the video is a bit flat for that reason too, and in fact the moderator almost immediately warns people to stay away from story-related questions because they can't be answered.

A few tidbits do make it through, though: Gamble said the game will feature "new races" and promised that the female casual outfits will be more in line with the male character's this time around. The highlight, though, has to be the crowd reaction to the news that the Mako is returning: It seems the old off-roader is a lot more popular than BioWare expected.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.