Mass Effect 2 confirmed to be multi-platform

[Conjoshus]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2009/02/battlefieldbadcompany2announcement.jpg (http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/02/03/mass-effect-2-officially-announced/)

Listen up, fans of slow elevators and shooting everyone in sight. EA's recent financial earnings call divulged information indicating the publisher is readying sequels to BioWare's sci-fi RPG, Mass Effect (http://www.joystiq.com/tag/mass-effect), and DICE's multiplayer-driven FPS, Battlefield: Bad Company (http://www.joystiq.com/tag/battlefield-bad-company). There isn't that much else to report, other than EA CEO John Riccitiello saying that Mass Effect 2 would be available on "multiple platforms" and Bad Company would be "back on consoles" in Q4 of fiscal year 2010, which translates into normal people speak as sometime between January and March 2010.

We'll try to corner more information on these two titles and update as soon as we can.

[ShinobiWan1]

:O

[KANG the Crybaby]

wow, this will be interesting. I wonder if the PS3 will get a port of the first game.

[YankeeH8er]

LOL at people that thought there was any chance in hell of it being a 360 exclusive. The first one will definitely find it's way to PS3 also.

[jp]

Poor Microsoft. :frown:


To counter this, they need to announce Lost Odyssey 2, in all of its glorious exclusitivity. :sneaking:


But that probably won't happen... since Feelplus is currently making Ninety-Nine Nights 2 and Mistwalker is probably working on Blue Dragon 2 and some original IP.

[Conjoshus]

I fully expected 2 and 3 to be multi platform, but 1 was PUBLISHED BY MICROSOFT!

How is 1 going to be ported exactly? They going to pay Microsoft back for what they spent on the game?

[YankeeH8er]

I am sure that there are cases where one company publishes a game on one console and then another company publishes it on another.

[Hunter]

Im pretty sure they mean PC.

http://twitter.com/ncroal?page=2

[Conjoshus]

I am sure that there are cases where one company publishes a game on one console and then another company publishes it on another.

By region yes... by console? I can't really think of any. I don't know if the Orange Box between Valve and EA works there or not... I'm not sure who the actual "Publisher" was

Like Hunter said, it might be PC they're talking about.

[Frogacuda]

Speculation be ended, "multi-platform" is officially confirmed to be PC/360 as of the official announcement today.

[Hunter]

I called it.

[KANG the Crybaby]

the first game is 19.99 now with a 2nd disc, platinum hits edition incase anyone didnt know.

[YankeeH8er]

By region yes... by console? I can't really think of any. I don't know if the Orange Box between Valve and EA works there or not... I'm not sure who the actual "Publisher" was

Like Hunter said, it might be PC they're talking about.

Ninja Gaiden 2 was publish by MS and is now coming out for PS3.

[Conjoshus]

Ninja Gaiden 2 was publish by MS and is now coming out for PS3.

I see they are doing another Sigma thing...

EDIT: And yes, Hunter called it :)

[DarthArcturus]

as long as its on 360 I could care less!! :)

[Frogacuda]

So I finally finished off Mass Effect tonight. I've been picking away at it for weeks as my way of unwinding after work, but today I sat down and played it pretty much all day until I was done.

Really excellent stuff. I could nitpick it (the shooting lacks real weight and overheating thing is more annoying than interesting) but it's just an immersive game, with a movie-quality script, a credible world, well-developed mythology, and fantastic art direction. Really loved it, I'm 100% on board for the sequel now, especially since it's going to be on PC at launch.

The one thing I worry about is that with so much depth and complexity to the world and its back story, it seems unlikely that the second game will stand alone very well. I don't mind that personally now that I've finished the first, but when you make a game like that, you doom yourself to diminishing sales with each game, and this is why pre-planned trilogies historically have been jinxed in videogaming. I'd like to see this series finished.

Also, I never cared for Bioware's RPGs before (love MDK2, though) which might be part of why I put this one off as long as I did (although I was definitely a lot more interested in it since it looked more my speed). I like this trend of RPGs embracing elements of action gaming without losing their defining elements. I think it worked well in Fallout 3 and it works well here.

[Conjoshus]

Yes.. Mass Effect was a masterpiece :).

I could go through the game fifty times and still not be bored of it...

With the sequel, they could just do a very basic and quick "Previously... on Mass Effect" segment or use a new character :)

[Hunter]

A New character seems likely actually.

[Frogacuda]

With the sequel, they could just do a very basic and quick "Previously... on Mass Effect" segment or use a new character :)
The basic trajectory of the story isn't that complicated, but what I mean is more like having to reintroduce the universe's incredibly complex back story that took just about the whole game to get through already.

[Hunter]

Codex

[Frogacuda]

Even then, people will feel like they're missing something and it will mean the game will sell less than the first.

[Conjoshus]

I wouldn't feel like I'm missing something if I could just take the time to read about it in the codex. Good point Hunter...