Mass Effect 3 multiplayer event to give players a new Resurgence class
The ongoing battle against the Reapers, Cerberus and rogue Geth forces is ticking along quite nicely in Mass Effect 3′s multiplayer mode. New maps and races have been added this week with the release of the free Resurgence pack. Now, Bioware announce a new weekend operation to gently offer those of us who haven’t tried the new maps some incentive to check them out.
Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut free DLC to expand ending this summer
Bioware announce that they’ll be releasing an extended cut of Mass Effect 3 that will expand upon its controversial ending with extra cinematics and epilogue scenes that aim to provide “more closure with even more context and clarity,” and deliver an ending that “will feel more personalized for each player”.
“Since launch, we have had time to listen to the feedback from our most passionate fans and we are responding. With the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut we think we have struck a good balance in delivering the answers players are looking for while maintaining the team’s artistic vision for the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe,” says Bioware co-founder, Ray Muzyka.
EA wins “worst company in America” Golden Poo award
The Consumerist have announced EA as the winner of the 2012 Golden Poo, awarded to the company voted by readers as “the worst company in America.” EA won the final showdown against the Bank of America easily, taking 64.03% of the votes.
AT&T, Comcast, Walmart and Citibank were among the contenders that fell by the wayside as the vote-off progressed. In the end, the collective weight of the voting gaming community ploughed EA into first place. “Readers ultimately decided that the type of greed exhibited by EA, which is supposed to be making the world a more fun place, is worse than Bank of America’s avarice, which some would argue is the entire point of operating a bank,” say the Consumerist.
Star Wars: The Old Republic friend free trial invites expanded
It’s a common problem. I’ve invited three fellow sith into the friend invite free trial to help me devastate Republic forces, but there’s 22 more out there in the cold, gradually murdering each other for a chance to become one of the chosen three. In a move designed to quell this sort of murderous Sith infighting (entertaining though it is), Bioware have given everyone 25 friend invites, where previously, everyone only had three. As wise Chewbacca would say “WWWOOAAAARGH!”
Mass Effect 3 Operation Raptor multiplayer event kicks off this weekend
The last multiplayer event for Mass Effect 3 asked players to survive all Reaper waves on silver difficulty, kill as many Brutes as possible, and extract to safety. The prize was a victory box full of random goodies and a powerful N7 weapon. The second event, codenamed “RAPTOR,” kicks off this weekend. Sadly, it does not involve dinosaurs.
Now you can pay £32 to unlock everything in Battlefield 3
The huge 1.5GB Battlefield 3 PC patch has arrived, bringing tons of balance changes, bug fixes and new, paid-for “shortcut boxes.” These will let players pay to get hold of unlocks like weapons, attachments and vehicle add-ons without having to level up.
According to the Battlefield blog, the bundles are supposed to be available on Origin now, though they don’t seem to on there yet here in the UK. When the collection does go live, it’ll include a Kit Shortcut bundle that “immediately unlocks all items unique to the four playable classes,” a Vehicle Shortcut Bundle that unlocks all items for all vehicles, and the “Ultimate Bundle” which unlocks “all items from all other available shortcut packs,” which is basically everything.
Each class kit can be unlocked separately, as well. The Battlefield site has a rundown of the prices for each kit. A class kit costs £5.49 / $6.99, the Ultimate bundle costs £31.99 / $39.99, eight pounds less than the full game.
SimCity will require an internet connection to play
Speaking to Joystiq, SimCity Lead designer Stone Librande has revealed that the new SimCity will be an “internet-dependent experience.” You’ll need to stay connected to the net through Origin if you want to keep playing. He cited SimCity’s multiplayer features, like the global economy that will let players sell excess resources on a massive connected market, as the reason for the always-online requirement.
Though SimCity will maintain its connection through Origin, we won’t have to buy it through EA’s digital store. SimCity will be available to buy through other digital distributors, and at retail, but that’s small comfort for those with unreliable internet connections. As we’ve seen with Ubisoft, you can have the most stable connection in the world and still be at the whim to server switches and meltdowns at the developer/publisher end.
Battlefield 3 PC patch will land tomorrow
A tweet from DICE community manager Daniel Matros says that we’ll be getting the humongous Battlefield 3 patch tomorrow. “Coming in hot we will go into maintenance mode from 9-11:30 CET,” he says. The comprehensive update will affect almost every aspect of the game, from weapon balance to UI bits like the minimap, it’ll even add an improved command rose with extra contextual options to help players communicate more efficiently when driving vehicles.
The patch will also fix a ton of bugs, hopefully removing some of the niggling problems that we’ve been putting up with since Battlefield 3 was released back in October.
Battlefield 3 PC patch delayed by console certification. “It’s very frustrating,” say DICE
The gargantuan patch packed full of balance changes and tweaks that will hopefully fix many aspects of Battlefield 3 is hitting the Playstation 3 today, but we’ll have to wait a little longer to get it on PC. That’s unusual. With no arduous certification process to deal with, patches are typically much easier to deploy on our open platform, which means we tend to get small, incremental updates regularly. Tim recently asked DICE executive producer Patrick Bach if the Battlefield 3 PC patch was being delivered in one big lump because of console manufacturer’s requirements.
“Yes,” said Bach.
Isn’t that a frustrating way to deliver a patch?
“Yes, that is correct,” he admitted, adding “there are benefits to it, because you get proper testing. There’s a lot of process that is there to guarantee a great gameplay experience.”
I hate Kaidan Alenko, but that’s okay
Saren tried to wipe out the galaxy. The geth shot more lasers and rockets at me than I could count. They weren’t that bad, really. But Kaidan? That guy’s the worst.
Let me explain. It’s not like Kaidan was a bad squadmate. He could be the most nuanced character in the entire Mass Effect universe, for all I know. The guy seemed fine, really. Until he opened his mouth.
Star Wars: The Old Republic free trial kicks off today for new players
A free trial for Star Wars: The Old Republic ran last week, but not everyone got a chance to play. On the Bioware blog, the devs announce that they’re kicking off another free trial weekend today for those who weren’t involved in the last one. It’s set to run until Monday at 2:00 am CDT / 7:00 am GMT and you can sign up now on the Star Wars: The Old Republic site.
Mass Effect 3 devs working on “game content initiatives” to clarify ending
Bioware co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka has released an open letter to fans expressing Bioware’s feelings towards the recent controversy over Mass Effect 3′s ending. “it’s incredibly painful to receive feedback from our core fans that the game’s endings were not up to their expectations,” he says. “The team and I have been thinking hard about how to best address the comments on ME3’s endings from players, while still maintaining the artistic integrity of the game.”
He says that Casey Hudson and the Mass Effect 3 team are working on “a number of game content initiatives” designed to provide “more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey.” More will be revealed next month, he says. Before you read on, note that while this post contains no spoilers, there might be a few in the comments.
