BioWare’s superior power over the console’s/PC’s rpgs says its next Dragon Age Origins downloadable expansion pack will be out for Xbox 360 and PC on January 5th. Unfortunately all PS3 owners will have to wait a few extra weeks for the DLC pack, in which the company states “should be available later on in January.”

The new DAO downloadable content, entitled “Return to Ostagar”, will allow you to slip back in Ostagar to “exact…revenge and embark on a quest for the mighty arms and armor of the once great King Cailan when [you] revisit Ostagar, the site of the Grey Wardens’ darkest hour.” Get all that? Yep, so did we.

This expansion was planned for release in late 2009, but missed it’s chance for the holiday window. The prior DLC packs ‘The Stone Prisoner’ and ‘Warden’s Keep’ were launched simultaneous with the game in November. How’s that for extra grinding power? [/endlifehere!]

“Return to Ostagar” for Dragon Age Origins will be available for download next week and will set you back 400 Microsoft Points, or $5.

[Source]

As we get closer to 2010, Bioware is unleashing more and more info on the second release of the Mass Effect Trilogy. This trailer came out this week from G4TV.com and depics some stunning cut scenes that show some very ‘live action’ footage. This video looks spectacular, over the top, blood and guts, and we are very intrigued about the character ‘Miranda’ (the brunette seen in the white armor above) who is noted as being the genetically manufactured ‘perfect woman’ (hell yeah to that!).

The Mass Effect series continues on Xbox 360 and PC January 26, 2010. And you bet your Asari ass, BusyGamer.com will be on top of it. Well, yeah… that’s what she said.

[Source]

Gamespot released yesterday this video “12 Minutes of Mass Effect 2″ that highlights some of the new gameplay featured in Bioware’s 2010 sci-fi double disk release.

As seen in the reel, those of you familiar with the first game Mass Effect, will see some old and new places on the Normandy (your huge warship), new combat play, and what looks like a new ‘collecter’ feature not seen on its predecessor. We see in Shepherd’s private quarters a display area for ship models he can acquire, along with 2 wall aquariums where he can show off his latest catches. This will appeal to some of you hardcore explorers out there who like to unlock every item in the game.

Another very interesting detail is the new inventory system on the ship to view your weapons, and what looks to be some background info on your armory, some 3D imaging of the guns, and even new ways to customize your battle armor, on and off the ship including your casual wear.

Mass Effect 2 launches on Xbox 360 and PC January 26, 2010 worldwide. No release for PS3 is currently noted.

[Source]

What will a movie do for the franchise?

(IMDB) – With almost no talk about the movie since September when the rights were purchased by Avi Arad, Mass Effect movie adaptation has received an IMDB page. Avi Arad, known for his cinema versions of Spider-man and Iron Man, has not confirmed which studio he plans on to film the movie with. While nothing is posted in the credits, there is one important piece of information: 2012. The movie is due out before the world is supposed to end.

With a Mass Effect movie on the way, is there something that fans of the series would like to see put into the film? Would you like it to be shot in live-action or be developed as an animation? Would Shepard be a male or female? Give your thoughts below!

Editors Note: And in light of this story, we ran across a new trailer featuring the stars of Mass Effect 2. Bioware is hitting hard with this one,  check it!

Announcement Please!

(VG247 & VG247) After Geoff Keighly posted a tweet saying that there are “around 10 games still unannounced“, people have begun speculation of which companies these games have come from. On Daniel Roy’s Tumblr account, he has a post saying that he is indeed a Senior Producer on an unannounced original IP.

As for speculation on what kind of game that it is, it will most likely a shooter since he has worked on previous games such as Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Ghost Recon 2 from Ubisoft according to his LinkedIn. With the recent release of Dragon Age: Origins, now more workers from Bioware will have time to focus on this new project. But speculation still rises: will this secret game be revealed at the 2010 VGA’s?

Commander Shepard comes in peace. His "little friend", however, is angry.

If any of you have seen my Gamertag on Xbox Live, you’ll know that I’m a Mass Effect fan. I can honestly say that Mass Effect is one of the perfect examples of a game that a Busy Gamer will want to steer clear of unless you have: A.) Vacation Time or B.) The desire to completely alienate your friends and family by disappearing for a couple of weeks while you beat the game.

Mass Effect is the only game to date that has inspired me to complete every achievement for the 360. Yes, I even beat the game on the insanity difficulty and yes, I am proud of that fact. There have been very few games throughout my life which could inspire that level of ambition. It’s been over a year and the N7 gamer pic is still flying proud on my profile.

Having explained all of this, it should be no surprise to you that one of the games I was most looking forward to seeing at PAX ’09 was Mass Effect 2. It’s possible that I may have even trampled a small child to get to the BioWare booth for a chance at the playable demo. And once I was done, I had to take a deep breath. While I was mostly pleased with the demo, there were a few things I noticed that made me wonder if I would have the same degree of enthusiasm for the sequel as I did for the original.

The good stuff:
The combat system is intact. Moving into a firefight, the controls felt familiar and I picked them up easily having committed them to muscle memory from the first game. This was Mass Effect at its best. BioWare didn’t fix it because it wasn’t broken. I found myself instinctively taking cover and waiting to line up my shots.

There are now heavy weapons in the game. In the original, you could count on having to use the hell out of your grenades for any kind of area damage outside of making a weapon nearly useless with explosive rounds. The weapons we saw were perfect for clearing out enemies who refused to move from cover. No more suicide runs to try and flank enemies solidly entrenched in an area.

Shepard lets his fear of crash test dummies get the best of him.

While there are new characters, there appear to be a few favorites returning. One of the new characters is a Krogan who doesn’t appear to have anything to do with Wrex. Perhaps the story will explain why we replaced our favorite foul mouthed Krogan with the new kid. Tali appears to be around but whether she will be joining our squad or not appears to be unknown at this time.

The choices we made in the first game do apparently effect what happens in the second game. While it does not appear that Kaiden or Ashley will be joining us to wreck alien life forms, it is being said that the human you chose to save in the first game will be present in the sequel.

The graphics look largely unchanged and if anything, look to be even better. The backgrounds and cutscense are still beautiful.

The enemy AI appears to have been improved in many ways. I watched as one enemy used an assault rifle to keep me pinned behind cover as another tried to sneak around behind my cover for a clear shot. The improved AI also allows for greater squad control by allowing us to issue individual commands to our squad mates.

The bad stuff:
There isn’t much I can say about the game that is negative. Although I could go on a rant about not getting Wrex as a squad mate again. But that’s a personal preference.

Weapons have to be reloaded now. Whether this is a result of overpowered weapons in the original Mass Effect (two Frictionless Ammo X mods on your assault rifle resulted in a “Spray and Slay” weapon with practically no worries about ever letting off the trigger) or something the community requested, I can’t say I like this. Yes, my Soldier character had the insane assault rifle but not having to worry about running out of ammo let me concentrate on commanding my squad and making sure they stayed alive.

Old friends and new friends, the Squad you choose can make or break you.

This is more of a fear than a bad thing but it looks like we’re going to be seeing a lot more of the Citadel in the sequel. In my mind, I had created entire subplots that could be carried out in the massive space station and only being able to travel to certain portions only fueled the fires of my imagination. Hopefully the mystique of the Citadel will be preserved while allowing us more access.

Overall, the game is shaping up nicely and with a predicted launch date of 2/1/2010, it’s actually closer to completion than I initially thought. I imagine the Reckon Crew will be mysteriously silent that week. Or not if the game fails to live up to our expectations.

We’re watching you, BioWare.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

BioWare’s Pinnacle Station DLC for Mass Effect landed this week on Xbox Live. According to the DLC’s online description, Pinnacle Station will force you to “test the limits of your combat prowess aboard a remote, top-secret Alliance space station,” battling through 13 new “combat scenarios,” and adding 2 to 3 hours of play time to the soon-to-be-sequeled space opera.

Mass Effect has always been a hit with us at the office here at BusyGamer.com (we’ve all got several playthroughs), and we were excited to see this surprise new content, with very little notice and only dabs of rumors here and there.

And of course to make me want to spend a few more microsoft points, along with the announcment of the DLC comes a mess of new fashionable Avatar items to play dress up with. Helmets, armor suits and even T-Shirts are availible for purchase online via yet more microtransactions (heil Microsoft).

We hope to jump alittle deeper into Mass Effect 2 next week at the Bioware exhibit in Seattle Washington at the Penny Arcade Expo Sept 4-6, and get some good hands on reports and such to share back with you, so stay tuned!

-BG Crew

Sci-Fi Comic Prequel Bridges Heroic conclusion of Mass Effect and Mysterious Beginning of Mass Effect 2

(Press Release) – BioWare™, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. and Dark Horse Comics today announced a new comic book series based on Mass Effect™, the blockbuster sci-fi action videogame that IGN.com rated the #1 Xbox 360™ game of all time. In Mass Effect: Redemption, the story takes readers through the treacherous events leading up to Mass Effect 2 which opens with galactic hero Commander Shepard having mysteriously gone missing and left to fight for survival. What unfolds next will expose readers to new locations, aliens and extended storyline in the Mass Effect universe. Mass Effect: Redemption is scheduled to launch in January 6, 2010.

The Mass Effect: Redemption story is written by Lead Writer Mac Walters at BioWare. Walters is the script writer behind Mass Effect 2. He brings unique insight to the Mass Effect comic and nuance of the world within. The comic is scripted by John Jackson Miller (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, The Invincible Iron Man) and drawn by Omar Francia (Star Wars Legacy). This first four-part series explores the exotic and dangerous future Milky Way of Mass Effect, revealing previously unseen locations, aliens, and enemies of this rich science fiction landscape.

Mac Walters and Omar Francia will be autographing a Comic-con exclusive Mass Effect signing card at the Dark Horse booth (#2615) on July 24th at 4:00pm – 5:00pm at Comic-Con International 2009 in San Diego, CA.

“Fans of Mass Effect are going to be pleasantly shocked by the events in these comics,” says Mac Walters. “We worked very closely with Dark Horse to make sure this story was built in to the Mass Effect 2 arc, right from the ground up. Reading the series won’t just add to your experience of the universe, it will change the way you look at Mass Effect 2… and beyond.???

“Those familiar with Mass Effect are aware that it offers one of the deepest and most compelling universes in the history of space adventure,??? says Dark Horse President and Publisher Mike Richardson. “We have a long history of successfully adapting properties such as Aliens, Star Wars, and Serenity into comics, and we feel that Mass Effect has tremendous potential with regard to graphic storytelling.???

The narrative in Mass Effect: Redemption picks up just as Commander Shepard disappears and is left without the support of the crew on the Normandy in the lawless Terminus Systems. Shepard must fight for survival, and will be assisted by close companion, Dr. Liara T’Soni, to come home alive. This story is sure to be a must-read for fans looking to fill the gap between the first and second game.

Mass Effect: Redemption issue 1 hits comic shop shelves in January 6, 2010.

Mass Effect 2 is scheduled for release on Xbox 360 and PC in early 2010. Follow us on Twitter at: www.Twitter.com/masseffect2. For more information about BioWare please visit www.bioware.com.

We are thoroughly impressed with the Mass Effect 2 Trailer and inside info from GameSpot via E3. Bioware’s follow up is slated to release in the first quarter of 2010 and claims to have an improved combat system (which was already damn sweet from the get go), reskinned models and aliens, new alien races and the incorperation of your game saves from your Mass Effect Episode 1. This means that characters you killed off, or let live will effect the plot of your new sci fi immersion storyline.

This is quite the thrilling insight, being that we loved the game here at BusyGamer so much, even though this series is definitely not tailored for the BusyGamer lifestyle. It will swallow your soul. Who knows, maybe Mass Effect 2 will be more gentile in that area.

We’ll keep on top of this new title for sure.

(Gamespot) – Over the weekend, Mass Effect fans got their first look at Mass Effect 2, the follow-up to BioWare’s critically acclaimed sci-fi role-playing game. Clocking in at just over 1 minute, the first teaser trailer features data from the military record of Commander Shepard, the original game’s protagonist, superimposed over shots of his or her armor. (The customizable character can be either gender.) At the trailer’s end, the record says Shepard is, in fact, deceased, and the camera pans up to show that his armor is being worn by a Geth, the Cylon-like robot race, which is the game’s go-to enemy.

With its implication that the original game’s protagonist is dead, the Mass Effect 2 teaser trailer appears to quash rumors that saved games from the first Mass Effect could be carried over to the sequel. However, on the official Mass Effect forums, BioWare community coordinator Chris Priestly urged players of the original to keep their saved games. On the same thread, two other BioWare developers issued similar statements, though none of the three said exactly what Mass Effect 2 would do with the data.

Of course, with Mass Effect having been released on the Xbox 360 and PC, only those two platforms will be able to use saved original games. Currently, Electronic Arts is planning to publish Mass Effect 2 during the first quarter of 2010.The title is being officially designated as “multiplatform,” with no specific consoles yet mentioned.