Mass Effect 2 Message Board older than one year ago

#cosplay Which is tougher, the female version of Mass Effect 2's Commander Shepard, or the female version of Dragon Age II's Hawke? When costumer extraordinaire Holly Conrad and crew take on both BioWare sequels, everybody wins. More »

#ps3 One of the great unfulfilled dreams of the present hardware generation is the ability to buy full, retail console games online. On the day they're released in stores. More »

According to a now deleted forum post on BioWare's official site, Mass Effect 2's action figures have been once again delayed, this time until April. Google, however, caught the quote from a BioWare spokesperson, who said "Once we get the ME2 Action Figure shipped we will not be working with DC Direct again ... Their handling of this issue has been extremely unprofessional and disrespectful to fans."

It also appears that a proposed second set of characters from Mass Effect 2 that were on-track for action figure treatment have been canned, as the figures have been removed from DC Direct's website. As such, the continuing battle for Planet Your Shelf will only be fought by Default Shepard, Grunt, Tali, and Thane when the figures launch on April 27.

[Thanks, Ryan]

EA sees positive results with day and day release.

#screengrab More »

#gdc2011 Of those who started Heavy Rain, 72 percent finished it, according to the president of the studio behind the game. That's a rather striking number for any video game, especially compared to another major hit released about the same time. More »

#bioware Plans for even more downloadable content for Mass Effect 2 is hardly surprising, given BioWare's extended post-launch support for the role-playing game. Somewhat surprising is how we've learned about Arrival, via a patch for the PlayStation 3 version. More »

The PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 has been patched, and in the process, has revealed details on an upcoming DLC pack called "Arrival." Featuring three new Trophies, the BioWare forums have been abuzz with theories on what the expansion will entail.

One of the Trophies, "Covert Action," refers to a Dr. Amanda Kenson, who was previously mentioned in a recent Cerberus Network update:
Historians and astronomers alike are abuzz tonight over a new paper published by Dr. Amanda Kenson of the University of Arcturus ... "Only a small fraction of the mass effect relays date back 50,000 years," she writes, "The majority are far older, indicating they were created by a species predating even the Protheans." ... What civilization could have spanned the galaxy for not thousands, but millions of years? If this were the case, we should have found mountains of evidence of their passing. Where is this species now?"Some believe that "Arrival" can refer to the arrival of the Reapers, setting up events for the upcoming Mass Effect 3. Others, however, are more fixated on figuring out how to acquire one of the more ominous Trophies for the DLC: "The Ultimate Sacrifice." Wasn't dying once sacrifice enough?

[Thanks, Shane!]

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominees for its GAME British Academy Video Games Awards, which manage to be prestigious despite the inclusion of a sponsor's name in the title. Even before any winners are announced, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is representing well, with nominations in seven categories including Action, Artistic Achievement, Gameplay, Multiplayer, Technical Innovation, and, of course, Best Game. Call of Duty: Black Ops is also nominated in seven separate categories.

Other nominees include Heavy Rain (six nominations), Mass Effect 2 (five), and XBLA favorite Limbo, receiving nods for Audio and Artistic Achievement. Best Game nominee Super Mario Galaxy 2 is also nominated for Technical Innovation, an area in which that game is not typically lauded. In addition, the first Social Network Game award includes Bejeweled Blitz, Farmerama, FIFA Superstars, My Empire, Zoo Mumba, and Zuma Blitz as nominees.

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on March 16. Until then, you can vote for the GAME Award winner online.

Red Dead Redemption rides off into the sunset with five IAAs, Angry Birds snags Casual Game of the Year.

Gamasutra has obtained NPD data that puts a new filter on last year's US box-copy software sales, ranking the top ten bestselling 2010 releases for each console and handheld platform (PC excluded). Like the monthly NPD breakdowns, these rankings don't include actual sales numbers, but they do reveal some interesting trends.

By omitting Nintendo's so-called "evergreen" titles (i.e., games released before 2010), Gamasutra found that -- perhaps unsurprisingly -- Just Dance 2 was last year's top-selling 2010 release for Wii, and among six additional third-party games that made the top ten in sales for the platform. On DS, however, Nintendo games filled out half of the top ten, and Pokemon SoulSilver and HeartGold were the only titles to surpass sales of one million units each.

At first glance, PSP software sales look even bleaker, with Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep on top and, according to Gamastura, the only PSP title to break 300K units sold; with the other top ten games each falling below 200K. Of course, these rankings don't include digital sales or box-copy games bundled with hardware, so it's unlikely that Birth by Sleep (which isn't available on the PlayStation Store) was the true #1 bestseller among 2010's PSP releases -- let alone the most pirated.

What is certain is that Call of Duty: Black Ops dominated torrents, as well as the games legitimately sold for PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2010. Still, both Sony and Microsoft saw two first-party releases make their console's respective top ten sales charts for the year; though each publisher's most critically-acclaimed release of 2010 -- at least, from Joystiq's perspective -- was not present. Perhaps telling of the two console's core player bases, Madden 11 beat out God of War 3 for the #2 spot on the PS3 chart, but fell to #3 beneath Halo: Reach in the Xbox 360 ranking.

Finally, we have to wonder just what were they thinking? They, of course, being all those Xbox 360 owners that purchased Fable 3 and Fallout: New Vegas instead of Mass Effect 2. Three and a half stars plus four still doesn't add up to the Game of the Year, people.

Check out Gamastutra for the complete breakdown of 2010's bestselling releases by platform.

#art These pictures are the work of artist Jason Martin. If you've played Mass Effect 2, Force Unleashed II, DC Universe Online or taken an interest in the upcoming Batman game, you may recognise his amazing work. More »

Fine, fine. We'll tell you.

It was worth the wait.

Earlier this week, we approached EA and BioWare and asked about workarounds for a nasty Mass Effect 2 save file corruption bug, occurring in the recently launched PS3 version. An EA representative tells Joystiq that the publisher is aware of the issue and is finalizing a patch that will be submitted to Sony for approval shortly.

According to BioWare's patch notes, which we've placed after the break, the corrupted save games are caused by a "crash related to memory fragmentation." For now, the developer's suggested workaround is to "simply restart your game every few hours." It's good to take a break every now and then ... though save file erasure is tad draconian when used as encouragement.

[Thanks, Nizam A.]

#masseffect2 The 2011 PlayStation 3 version of Mass Effect 2 is superior to the 2010 Xbox 360 in many ways, but not in the way of the printed instruction manual. More »

Don't look now, but Mass Effect 2 on PS3 is having a little trouble saving some people's games. Be cautious! More »

The very pretty, Britty build-a-palooza LittleBigPlanet 2 grabbed itself the top spot on Chart-Track's UK sales chart last week. According to the chart masters, the sequel's premiere numbers were "almost identical" to that of the original, being "only 95 sales short" of it.

Call of Duty: Black Ops and the magical Just Dance 2 took silver and bronze, respectively. While we're on the subject of the resilient dance game genre, Harmonix's Dance Central slipped one spot from 12 to 13, while Ubisoft's original Just Dance moved up two spots from 13 to 11.

LittleBigPlanet 2 wasn't the only game to have a big debut on PS3 last week, our top game of 2010, Mass Effect 2, premiered in the seventh spot overall and in second on the PS3-specific chart.

#gameoftheyear Because I tried to please everyone, my Commander Shepard didn't get laid the first time I played Mass Effect 2. Because BioWare tried to please everyone, Mass Effect 2 could be our Game of the Year. More »

Not satisfied with its analysis of the PS3 Mass Effect 2 demo -- which was apparently based on old code -- Digital Foundry has posted a lengthy comparison of the PS3 and Xbox 360 retail editions of Mass Effect 2. There's a lot of information to digest in the article, including several videos and screenshots. The upshot: Most gamers won't notice the differences between the two games, though it seems the 360 version barely edges out the PS3 one in terms of a consistent frame-rate.

The only significant difference, which boils down to personal preference, is the lighting in the two games. DF notes that the PS3 version's lighting is generally brighter than the 360 game, though not necessarily improved from a technical standpoint. The article also examines the effectiveness of the PS3's "Genesis" comic intro, as opposed to actually playing the original Mass Effect on 360.

In the end, if you just have to own the most technically impressive version, DF suggests you choose ... the PC version, of course.

See what the PlayStation 3 version of Mass Effect 2 has to offer! Sporting the new Mass Effect 3 engine, is this an indication of what we can expect from the next chapter on consoles?

After watching the initial cut scene and playing through the first bit of gameplay in Mass Effect 2 on PS3, those who have a Cerberus Network code will experience the interactive comic, Genesis.

The time has finally come and you can now play Mass Effect 2 on your PS3 via Blu-ray Disc or PlayStation Network download. Thanks for being patient and we’re thrilled that you can finally enjoy the full Mass Effect 2 experience.

The Mass Effect team is very proud of the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect 2 has already won multiple awards, including IGN’s Game of the Year and Gametrailer’s Game of the Year as well as Best Sci-Fi Game, Best Blockbuster Game, and Best Story, among many others. And early word on the PS3 version is extremely positive with a 5/5 rating from The Toronto Sun, 5 stars from The Guardian, a 9.5/10 from IGN and Official Playstation Magazine giving it 10 out of 10!

Now, I hear you ask “Won’t I miss out since I didn’t play the first game?” Well, the truth is that Mass Effect 2 is an incredible standalone game whether you have played Mass Effect 1 or not. Yes, there are some story choices from Mass Effect 1 that do give some background and flavor to the story of Mass Effect 2, but the Mass Effect team has worked out a very cool way to ensure you don’t miss either the back story or these story choices.

BioWare and Dark Horse Comics, the same studio that has created the Mass Effect Redemption and Mass Effect Evolution comics, have created an introductory motion comic narrated by Mark Meer, the voice of Commander Shepard, that provides you the story of what happened in the first Mass Effect and enables you to make important choices, like who lives or dies, and creates a starting point for your playthrough of Mass Effect 2. This way, you not only learn the background story from the first game, you also directly get to choose the important story options that carry over into Mass Effect 2.

PS3 users also get a huge heap of extra content (plus an upgraded game engine featuring enhanced graphics, the same technology used for Mass Effect 3 in Holiday 2011). Over the past year of Mass Effect 2’s release, we released downloadable content that enabled players to continue their Mass Effect 2 experience. For the PS3 version, we bundled much of this DLC into the game, so you get the Normandy Crash site, Firewalker, Overlord, Zaeed: The Price of Revenge, Kasumi: Stolen Memory, the Blood Dragon Armor and the award-winning Lair of the Shadow Broker as part of your game right from the start.

So there you have it. Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 is a multi-award winning game, with an interactive, motion comic introduction to keep you current with the story that allows you to make key storyline choices, plus a huge amount of bonus content bundled into one awesome package. This is the game that PS3 fans have been waiting for. Don’t just sit there — head out to your favorite game store and buy a copy on Blu-ray Disc, or go to the PlayStation Network and download your digital copy of Mass Effect 2 today.

The highest rated game on Xbox 360 and PC in 2010 comes to PS3, including six hours of bonus missions and new exclusive Mass Effect Genesis interactive comic.

Mass Effect 2's Cerberus Network is currently down on PS3. Joystiq has an email from EA support saying that the publisher is aware of the problem, and sources at Sony tell us it is working on a fix. There is also this EA support log which states: "The Cerberus Network and comic part of the Cerberus Network is currently down and hope to be up and working in next 24-48 hours."

We've contacted Sony and EA of an official explanation of the situation. Normally we'd guess this is a classic example of the "PSN hasn't updated yet" issue, but at the moment, neither corporation will confirm that.

[Thanks, Luke]

#ps3 BioWare is giving PlayStation 3 owners a chance to play Kotaku game of the year contender Mass Effect 2 next week, priming them for sci-fi excitement with a new launch trailer for the game. How does it compare? More »

"This is not a simple port," BioWare claims.

You'll be able to buy Mass Effect 2 for PS3 without bringing another massive Blu-Ray box into your house. You may have noticed advertising to this effect on the PlayStation Store, and now BioWare has confirmed via the PlayStation Blog that the game will be released simultaneously on both Blu-Ray and PSN, next Tuesday, January 18. No price has been announced for the downloadable version, which also includes the "Overlord," "Lair of the Shadow Broker" and "Kasumi" DLC, but the disc-based release carries the standard $60 MSRP.

Not only is the PS3 catching up with the other console, but Mass Effect 2 for PS3 will actually come out ahead of the Xbox 360 release -- the Xbox version has yet to be made available via Games on Demand.

Shepard returns for Mass Effect 2, now on PlayStation 3.

Mass Effect 2 for the PlayStation 3 goes on sale in stores on January 18th in North America, and will also be available in downloadable form through the PlayStation Network in North America on January 18th.

Mass Effect 2 is an amazing game. It has all of the benchmarks of a truly great science-fiction epic: a heroic main character, memorable companions each with their own personalities and abilities, terror-inducing villains, vast galaxies to explore, exotic alien races, strange worlds and locations, high-technology weapons and vehicles, and a story that will have fans talking about it and replaying it for ages.

In Mass Effect 2, you play as Commander Shepard who has to lead a crack team of mercenaries, scientists and soldiers on a mission to investigate the disappearances of human colonies throughout the galaxy. Who lives, who dies and the ultimate success or failure of the mission, is up to you. Now BioWare and the Mass Effect team are proud to bring Mass Effect 2 to the PlayStation community.

PlayStation fans have been asking for Mass Effect for years and we are very pleased to finally be bringing it to a new branch of Mass Effect fans. However, what I think Mass Effect fans on the PS3 will be most appreciative of is that this is not a simple port. The Mass Effect team has taken the time to utilize the PS3 hardware to the fullest in order to maximize your gameplay experience. It was also extremely important for the team to make sure playing with the PS3 controller worked and felt good. You will also see that the in-game graphics and cinematics are clearer and more vibrant on the PS3. As an added bonus, the PS3 version includes previously released DLC missions: Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker and Kasumi.

Mass Effect 2 takes place after Mass Effect 1 and some fans were concerned they would miss out on some of the important story choices available in the first game. The Mass Effect team, working with the fine folks at Dark Horse Comics, has created an interactive in-game comic that allows players new to the franchise to experience Mass Effect 1 while making the story choices that have repercussions in Mass Effect 2.

There is a demo of Mass Effect now available on the PlayStation Network. You can learn more about the demo here. This demo lets you play the start of Mass Effect 2 as well as introducing you to one of your potential party members, Dr Mordin Solus. Dr Solus, or Mordin to his friends, is a salarian scientist who can not only heal the sick; he can create new exotic weapons to use in battle. Finding Mordin and recruiting him to join you and your suicide mission will not be easy.

Look for Mass Effect 3 to come to the PS3 in Holiday 2011.