hogso Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Quote New Mass Effect confirmed, as BioWare founders quit gaming BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have left the studio they created, just as a new Mass Effect game and a brand new IP are announced. In a shock move Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have announced they are to leave both BioWare and the games industry as a whole. The exact reasons are still unclear but the news comes just a day after Dragon Age III was announced and just as two other new games are revealed – including a new Mass Effect. Although the natural assumption is that the two doctors (the pair met while getting their medical degrees) had become frustrated at the corporate culture at EA, they had nothing but praise for the publisher in their leaving messages. But despite a lengthy blog entry each there’s little explanation for why they’re actually leaving. ‘After nearly two decades in video games, I’ve decided to move on to pursue an entirely different set of challenges,’ wrote Muzyka. ‘This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make; after thinking about it for many months, I made the decision to retire from video games back in early April 2012 – at that time I provided six months’ notice to EA, to help enable a solid transition for my teams at BioWare.’ In terms of what he’ll do next Muzyka doesn’t seem to have entirely decided, but makes reference to ‘mentoring new entrepreneurs, and more specifically, the field of social/impact investing’. Zeschuk meanwhile had this to say in his blog: ‘I’ve reached an unexpected point in my life where I no longer have the passion that I once did for the company, for the games, and for the challenge of creation.’ Zeschuk is a bit more specific about what he’s going to do next, but most of it seems to involve brewing craft beer and a web-based interview show called The Beer Diaries. Naturally enough BioWare is keen to assure fans that it will still be business as usual behind the scenes, and did so via a third blog entry - this time from BioWare Edmonton and Montreal general manager Aaryn Flynn. Flynn revealed that Casey Hudson – now the longest-serving creative at BioWare – is working on more multiplayer content for Mass Effect 3, as well as a downloadable story expansion called Omega, which is due out this autumn. Flynn also confirmed that there are plans ‘for another full game’ in the Mass Effect series. Flynn offered no further details but he did pose the question, ‘Where to go next?’ which could be construed as a hint about moving to the next generation consoles. But a new Mass Effect is not all BioWare are working on. Apparently Casey and his team are ‘putting together their vision for an all new game set in a fictional universe, built from the bottom-up with all new gaming technology.’ That also seems to be a reference to new console technology, but whatever exactly is going on it appears the doctors’ legacy is expanding more rapidly than ever… sauce + Bioware blog mentioning next ME Will be interesting to see what direction they head in with the series next. A game set in a time period prior to ME, during the First Contact Wars or Rachni Wars, perhaps? The assertion that the founders quit due to EA is curious, could the next games be co-op heavy (blergh!) ? It's all a very long way off yet though. Plus the new IP. They've done sci-fi, they've done Tolkein-esque fantasy, they've done licenesed stuff with Star Wars, they've done dungeon crawlers and an MMO. Plus some anceint chinese set RPG or something (Jade Empire). Where next? Next gen, probably. Maybe they could make an actual properly good Pirate game, which hasn't ever been done, has it...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legov Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Plus some anceint chinese set RPG or something (Jade Empire) If the next game is an Oriental-themed game and comes out on PC, I will buy it. Jade Empire was a decent effort but the combat was clunky to say the least, while the character animations were just horrendous. There's too much potential in that genre for it not to deserve a remake of sorts though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frobisher Posted September 19, 2012 Share Posted September 19, 2012 Not interested. EA has chewed up Bioware and shat it out. They are making games with Bioware label that are not Bioware games. Shame really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legov Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 For the life of me, I can't figure out why I suck so much at ME3 multiplayer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islingtonclaret Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 Maybe they could make an actual properly good Pirate game, which hasn't ever been done, has it...? You've not played Sid Meier's Pirates have you? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 You've not played Sid Meier's Pirates have you? I have, it was a decent effort, but it wasnt hands-on enough for me. I want to run around my ship and leap onto a rope with a dagger between my teeth to board another ship, etc. One of the Suikoden games (IV, I think) had your base of operations on a ship, wherein the more characters you befriended, the more facilites were opened up on the ship. Not a ground breaking idea by any means, but it was just the being able to walk around communicate with all your ship mates that made it interesting. Skies of Arcadia might be a decent shout for best pirate game now that I think about it... OK guys, this is now the pirate gaming thread (not to be confused with the pirated gaming thread) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 You've not played Sid Meier's Pirates have you? **** EPIC game. Loved it. Need to find a ROM so I can play it on Andriod....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islingtonclaret Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Back on topic, I've still not played Mass Effect 3 as EA didn't do anything (or didn't ask Bioware) to do anything about the ending. It seems painfully obvious to me that they had the ending sorted, the code/details leaked and they rushed out a completely different ending that cocked up everything. With Bioware gone from the series, I predict that Mass Effect 4 is going to be absolutely terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 What do you mean? They released an entirely new ending as a patch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted October 22, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted October 22, 2012 Back on topic, I've still not played Mass Effect 3 as EA didn't do anything (or didn't ask Bioware) to do anything about the ending. It seems painfully obvious to me that they had the ending sorted, the code/details leaked and they rushed out a completely different ending that cocked up everything. With Bioware gone from the series, I predict that Mass Effect 4 is going to be absolutely terrible. In fairness, given Bioware's recent record, I wouldn't have bet too much against Bioware making the next Mass Effect terrible regardless. Dragon Age 2 was **** awful and Mass Effect 3 wasn't exactly the series high point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted October 22, 2012 Author Share Posted October 22, 2012 Yep! Not only that but one of the DLCs also explored some of the endings revelations a bit. A little bit. A tiny little bit. OK SO LIKE LITERALLY ONE LINE. but that still counts, man. Anyone try Risen 2? It was a Pirate themed RPG. Risen 1 was complete trash though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islingtonclaret Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I was under the impression that the patch wasn't exactly a watertight conculsion to the trilogy, but maybe it did clear things up. What the hell was wrong with Dragon Age's Xbox graphics? By all means I'm no graphics ponce (very much a content over visuals type gamer), but whilst it had all the depth you'd expect for a decent RPG, the Xbox edition had shitty dead pixels all over the place. Maybe I hadn't configured my HDMI output correctly....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted October 23, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted October 23, 2012 What do you mean by a dead pixel? A dead pixel is usually associated with a defective pixel in the screen itself, something that can't be caused by a single game - it'd effect everything the screen had thrown at it. Dragon Age does look a fair bit more rough on the 360 but that's more down to Bioware not optimising the game terribly well and the 360's own inadequacies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islingtonclaret Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I meant they looked like dead pixels, not that my TV actually had them. 360's GPU should be similar to the PS3s so I'm not entirely sure why the Xbox's graphics were so appaling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted November 20, 2012 Author Share Posted November 20, 2012 The 'series lead' on ME has hit twitter recently and asked fans what they would prefer the direction of the next story to go in - prequel or sequel. Which is rather worrying, as it suggests that they havent decided yet, but we do know theyve started work on it. Hm. Although some of the lore points to some pretty interesting events in the pre-ME1/2/3 timeline, it would be pretty restrictive. And if they went for a sequel, well...how do they write themselves out of those endings? As has already been feared, this could turn out very, very badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juanpabloangel18 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Completed ME3 last night. I wish I'd known about the EC beforehand, I played with the original released ending. I knew it was going to be bad due to the outcry, and it certainly didn't disappoint in that regard. So what does everyone think about Indoctrination Theory? I did a bit of reading up on it after stumbling across it (before I knew/saw the EC endings), and actually found it quite compelling. But then the EC pretty much dispells any chance of it being a reasonable explanation. My main gripe with the original ending is that none of it is even in line with it's own fiction. The more you read up on the lore of the universe during the course of the series, and the more you invested into the franchise, the more of a slap in the face it was. Still, fantastic trilogy and ME2 will remain one of my all-time favourite games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phumfeinz Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Jade Empire is one of my all-time favourite games. Please please please make Jade Empire 2 or KotOR 3. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted April 29, 2014 Author Share Posted April 29, 2014 I'm more on the 'looking forward to playing through them again with an extra bit of sheen and sparkle' rather than 'flogging a dead horse' side of the fence, but rumours abound that the ME Trilogy will have a PS4/XBONE release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted March 31, 2016 Author Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) Time for a bump Mass Effect: Andromeda is now confirmed for a Spring 2017 release, pending any further delays of course. Info out today via a customer survey, also confirms the backstory to the game. It's set a significant amount of time after the first trilogy, with the player and his/her crew colonising a 'hostile new galaxy' where 'WE are the aliens'. It doesnt confirm that it's humanity doing the colonising, so it may be we can pick the species we want to be, as well as the sex. What I would give for a playable Hanar! That set up does a few very obvious things - puts us in the future so tech and transport will be different. Puts us in a new location, literally a whole new galaxy, so everywhere will be new, and unexplored not just to the player, but to 'our side' in regards to the story. And perhaps most significantly, it straight away sets up a very clear divide between good/paragon and bad/renegade - will you try to settle planets peacefully, and negotiate with the indigenous lifeforms, or go in all guns blazing and kill 'em all for the glory of the Milky Way Galaxy? One of my most anticipated games. Edited March 31, 2016 by hogso 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted March 31, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted March 31, 2016 My most anticipated game that has been announced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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