Randomizer

So anyway, another Mass Effect 2 trailer. Am I the only one who thinks they are going *slightly* over the top with the whole marketing scheme? A trailer for every single character class, a trailer for every single playable character… what’s next, a trailer for every single main menu entry? Oh, and the ‘FIGHT FOR THE LOST’ tag-line is just a bit lame, don’t you think? I hope they’re not actually gonna use it as a subtitle for the game or something like that.

Also, one can only hope that they’ve kicked out the female Shepard version out of the game. I really liked the option of playing her in the original game, but if you’re gonna have the male Shepard on every single game box and in every single trailer ever made then WHAT THE HELL?

Mass Effect 2 DLC Details Leak

Moar Mass Effect 2 news. HELL YES!

Anyways, at the mere sight the DLC acronym I feel a sudden need to empty my bowels. Forcefully. Into some random game developer’s face.

Also, what’s with the rumors of this particular DLC being both *free* and *available at game launch*? Is someone having a huge laugh at this or what? What the hell is wrong with, you know, including content in the actual game?

Answers to my 'in the moment' Mass Effect 2 questions

Can’t get Mass Effect 2 out of your head? I can’t either. I have questions, all of which tickle me, compel me to prod. But they aren’t about what happened in the game. Instead, I wonder about its characters, its genre and possible DLC.

With tons and tons of swirling thoughts, I approached EA about doing an interview. I didn’t ask many connected questions. That wasn’t the point — I wanted to learn more about what was in my head at that second, those hungry beasties filling my skull.

Wish granted, the game’s project director Casey Hudson unwittingly satisfied my desire to just know more in the moment — to know more about those curious flashes when Shepard talks to Thane, how BioWare defines Mass Effect 2, and the exclusion of a same sex relationship. Spoilers abound.

Well, I haven’t finished the game yet so I’m not gonna read this yet. But it sounds like a fun read anyway.

Are licensed RPGs dead?

D&D 4th Edition is out now, Warhammer Roleplay is stronger than ever with a fantastic new system, and there is a new Warhammer 40K RPG, Rogue Tradee, focusing on trading and intergalactic travel. Call of Cthulu is as strong as ever, but Betheseda has shown no signs of releasing another game based on the system. Yet in the late 1990s and early 2000s, you couldn’t move for Forgotten Realms games, or other D&D titles. So what’s happened?

I have fond memories of Baldur’s Gate, the game that introduced to me the concept of tabletop RPGs, however most of the ‘new-generation’ games based on D&D (Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, Temple of Elemental Evil, DragonShard… basically everything that wasn’t made in the Infinity engine) were just - meh. So, I guess I don’t really miss licenced D&D titles all that much.

The fact that they can’t use the D&D licence has, in a way, removed shackles from BioWare and ‘forced’ them to create wonderful new universes like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, so I’m cool.