Tag: bioware

Bioware giveth, and Bioware taketh away:

Giveth: “The latest patch for Mass Effect: Andromeda is out now, and BioWare says it will address many of the game’s shortcoming, including tweaks to multiplayer and the game’s opening cinematics.”

Taketh Away: “Mass Effect Andromeda developer BioWare Montreal has put the series on hiatus, according to a report.” I think that what this means is that they’re still supporting Mass Effect: Andromeda, including DLC; but BioWare Montreal is apparently not in good odor with the parent company right now, and they’re not going forward with a sequel until the situation is resolved..  Which is, honestly, something that BioWare Montreal kind of deserves. Just because I had fun playing the game doesn’t mean I didn’t notice its developmental flaws. Maybe they need to shake up that office a little.

Mass Effect: Andromeda to drop 3/21/2017?

Very likely – and very cool, if true: that’s going to be a week before my birthday. Here’s the rationale for that date:

Several report states that the official release date of “Mass Effect: Andromeda” was accidentally leaked because of a book listing in Amazon. The book is entitled “The Art of Mass Effect: Andromeda” has a  March 21, 2017 release date, as stated on IGN’sYouTube report. The Amazon listing has gone viral and hinted fans that this might actually be the official release date of the game because of its description saying the book will be launched simultaneously with the game.

They’re probably going to reveal more about Mass Effect: Andromeda on N7 Day (November 7th), obviously.  Looking forward to it: I haven’t gotten my Paragon on in a while…

Is a @Bioware BOOM coming down today? (Link to Playstation Meeting site)

Maybe: “BioWare could be revealing something during Sony’s PlayStation Meeting today, if a series of Twitter teases from developers at the studio are any indication.”  People are going “OOOH, Mass Effect Andromeda!” Or “OOOH, new Bioware IP! (Which would probably-maybe-possibly be a new Dragon Age)!” Or “Hey, BioWare just figured out how to get people to watch the Sony PlayStation Meeting at noon!” …Which you will be able to watch here [UPDATE: show starts at 3 PM Eastern time],  because I like traffic as much as the next fellow.

Personally, I’d rather have new Mass Effect news.  I liked Dragon Age: Inquisition, but the game engine felt… sluggish.  Aggravatingly, sometimes.  I’d rather they fixed whatever was wrong there first.

Single-player DLC for Dragon Age Inquisition?

I’ll believe it when I see it.

…fans can now rest assured that there will indeed be more content coming to Dragon Age: Inquisition in the future after Bioware’s Mark Darrah announced that DLC is now officially in development. Darrah, who works as the executive producer for Dragon Age: Inquisition, tweeted to fans to confirm that Bioware is now working on the first DLC add-on.

However, the content is still too early in development for Bioware to reveal details on what exactly the upcoming add-on may contain.

Continue reading Single-player DLC for Dragon Age Inquisition?

The Dragon Age / Mass Effect Companions, rated worst to best.

There are 43. The rankings from #42 to #2 are absolute bull[expletive deleted]. But #43 (the worst) is spot-on, and so is #1 (the best).

No, really. I tested this. With SCIENCE. Which is to say, I asked my wife, and she confirmed both the best and the worst Companions without breaking a sweat.  So that’s three data points, right there.

So @Xbox kind of hates all those people living in flyover country, huh?

Short version: Adam Orth of Microsoft was getting into it with Manveer Heir of BioWare over why some companies were (bizarrely, or nastily, depending on your point of view) requiring always-on internet connections in order to play some games.  We turn now to Cheezburger:

Manveer Heir, a developer at BioWare, pointed out to Orth that “always-on” DRM was particularly unfair to customers in rural areas who aren’t always afforded the best internet connections to begin with. Orth’s response? “Why on earth would I live there?”

Sweet, dude. Not only does Orth not care about customer’s grievances surrounding their poor DRM model, he thinks that all those backwoods country folk have just made bad life decisions by living in sparsely populated areas.

I understand that Orth has since made his Tweets private.  Can’t imagine why…

Moe Lane

 

 

Bioware closes San Francisco office: ‘too expensive’ to do business there now?

It was the part of the company that did mobile games that I can’t play on the iPad because of Flash and can we please have Flash for the iPad, already?  Seriously, people, there’s a limit to how much nose you should cut off to spite your face.

Anyway, take a gander at this:

The studio, which focused on social and mobile games, was brought under the BioWare label in August 2011. Our source tells us Electronic Arts found it was “too expensive” to do mobile development in Redwood Shores, CA.

…No!  REALLY?  To paraphrase Jonathan Coulton: I don’t want to go off on a political rant here.

Let me solve Bioware’s two problems for it.

OK, so Bioware has two ‘problems.’

  1. There will be no more Dragon Age 2 DLC.  This is a problem.
  2. Many people don’t like the Mass Effect 3 ending.  I do not consider this a problem, but never mind that right now.

So… the answer is simple, is it not? Continue reading Let me solve Bioware’s two problems for it.

So, I was at TV Tropes…

…yeah, it’s a miracle that anybody leaves that site before they fall unconscious from lack of food/sleep; anyway, I came across this as part of the “Video Game Caring Potential” page:

Picking the Colonist backstory in Mass Effect results in a sidequest where you find a character who was from the same colony as you, but who was captured and enslaved and became severely messed up. She was rescued, but grabbed a weapon away and hid. She talks about herself in the third person, and you can either rush in and jab her with a sedative or talk to her, approaching slowly, and administer it without spooking her. On the way you can learn some of the details about what happened and tell her it’s not her fault. If you play it right, you can convince her to take the sedative herself, then, as she falls asleep in your arms, whisper the following to her:

  • Shepard: You’ll dream of a warm place. And when you wake up, you’ll be in it.

Yup.  Dragon Age got me looking at Bioware games; Mass Effect got me hooked on them, and it was with stuff like this.