The Mass Effect franchise has shown us time and time again that BioWare is onto a winning formula. Due to the success that the first two games have seen it’s been known for quite some time that BioWare would be going on to release a third entry into the series appropriately dubbed Mass Effect 3. While we’ve heard a lot about the game thus far it has yet to hit the streets as it’s release date has been slated for  later this year. However, if you have already taken off work in anticipation for the release of Mass Effect 3 you may want to reschedule.

BioWare has just let us know today that they will be delaying the release date of Mass Effect 3 from later this year to Q1 2012. Not that big of a delay but it’s sure to be an annoyance to those highly anticipating the game.

BioWare’s Mass Effect series has been quite popular ever since it first hit store shelves back in 2007. Now that the original game’s sequel has been on the market for some time and has proven itself to be successful, it’s time to start thinking towards the future. BioWare is way ahead of us and have already come forth to announce the next installment of the series appropriately named Mass Effect 3.

While the game won’t be launching until the 2011  holiday season, we do have official confirmation that Mass Effect 3 will be hitting the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC at the same time. This is gerat news as gamers will not have to wait for a port as they did with the previous titles.

We’ll keep you posted as more news regarding Mass Effect 3 is made known.

Press release included after the break.

READ ON »

It looks like the Alternative Appearance Pack won’t be the only think the Mass Effect franchise is getting as BioWare has just announced that a comic book series based on the franchise will be released. Dark Horse Comics will be in charge of this monthly comic and has said that it will follow the happenings in Mass Effect 2.

There’s no word exactly when this comic will be made available but we’ll let you know.

via joystiq

EA has released a bunch of new Mass Effect 2 screenshots, well, actually only 9 screenshots, but they give a good preview of the game and its visuals — unless we’re talking about bullshots, of course.

Dunno how we managed to let this slip by us, but apparently Steam is running a great weekend promo (like most other weekends), letting you buy Mass Effect for only $10.

Yep, $10 bucks gets you in on the Mass Effect universe — not a bad deal for a game that’ll net you a good 50 hours of gameplay time — and you should finish it just in time for the release of Mass Effect 2, which will be out early next year.

BioWare and Dark Horse Comics are teaming up to bring a Mass Effect comic book. Titled Mass Effect: Redemption, the story will take place after the events of the first game and lead up to the sequel. The comic “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.” Marc Walters will be writing the comic.

“Fans of Mass Effect are going to be pleasantly shocked by the events in these comics,” said 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.”

Mass Effect: Redemption will be out in stores on January 6th, 2010.

Read (ActionTrip)

The second Mass Effect is still undergoing development, but that isn’t stopping BioWare from making plans for a trilogy and beyond. In an interview with GamerZines, BioWare vice president Greg Zeschuk revealed that Mass Effect could be seeing more sequels than originally intended.

“We’ve said Mass Effect is supposed to be a trilogy,” said Zeshuck, “so you’re going to see at least a third Mass Effect, and even more if everything goes well.”

The Mass Effect universe is a pretty expandable one, so we could be seeing spin-offs and other types of installments to the franchise. At least we know now that the series is here for good.

Mass Effect 2 is slated for a first quarter 2010 release for the PC and Xbox 360.

Read (GamerZines)

While the self-appointed cultural crusaders raise an eyebrow at excessive violence, nothing gets them more frothed up and ready to bust heads than sexual content. Recently video games have begun to take the romantic component that some RPG makers have been including to the next level in a more visual format. This stirred up a mildly ricidulous hornets’ nest of controversy when Mass Effect was released, though most of those complaining hadn’t actually played the game.

Bioware’s newest RPG, Dragon Age Origins reportedly contains similarly racy content at some point as well and one can only assume that Mass Effect 2 will allow more boffing of sexy blue aliens (or aliens of some other hue). In an interview Bioware co-founder Greg Zeschuck defended his company’s decision, citing that that they’re doing this to reflect real human relationships in a “sophisticated mature experience”. He admitted that they’re not necessary for every game but “in certain types of games it makes sense to have them.”

Do digital recreations of sex scenes, no matter how tasteful, really improve the immersiveness of a video game’s romantic subplots? Public opinion still seems to be split on the matter, so what do you think?

EA is really taking out the big guns in an attempt to take down Blizzard and their World of Warcraft — Recently announced is the merger of Warhammer Online developer Mythic and Mass Effect developer, BioWare.

These two merged studios will form a new RPG/MMO studio group with most all of the executives from both studios staying onboard. However, Mark Jacobs, co-found of Mythic, has left EA yesterday June 23rd, 2009.

Both of these studios have come up with some great stuff, now let’s just see if they can pump out a game that will be enough to send Blizzard packin’.

First announced back at E3, BioWare has some Mass Effect DLC cookin’ but details are scarce. Luckily, a developer by the name of Evil Chris has tweeted about an impending announcement:

Getting the feeling some news about the next ME1 DLC may be coming this week. Keep your eyes peeled. – Evil Chris

So what does this exactly mean? Are we definitly going to hear about some Mass Effect DLC this week or is this just a mean joke being played by BioWare.

Chances are, we’ll see an announcement so continue to check back as the story unfolds.