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!

K, who do I have to do to get a weapon upgrade?

Well, we have been back from Seattle a bit over a week now and I still haven’t completly landed. It was a great time up there, sure beats Texas weather, but I think we win on alcohol because we brew Shiner beer! And Shiner is one of many, many cool things that come from the Longhorn state. So since I’m talking about things I like, I’d like to talk about some of the highlights of the trip for me. These are totally one sided but that’s what makes them kick ass. Yes, crutch in the ass. Take it.

My top 5 Games at PAX09:

1. Mass Effect 2 by BioWare – This title is fantastic. The graphics and re-skins look even better than its predecessor. The addition of the heavier weapons is a nice boost to your arsenal. The look and feel is dark, very ‘Blade Runner’-esque. It appears there is still a lot of dialogue going on so if that was didn’t catch your fancy before, then maybe skip this one again. I’m not all about tons of lines of boring stuff but the story was great in ME 1 and we want to know what happens to our Shepard now. So let’s go and ruffle some feathers, maybe we get another sexy alien scene, who knows? I’m down.

Star Trek Online - it's whats chillin for dinner!

2. Star Trek Online by Atari – I’m a straight up pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies fan and that’s what this Star Trek MMO reminded me of. The look of it may heat up your graphics card a bit but if you can run this baby (even on low res settings), I’m sure you will lose a large chunk of your life to it. It’s a hard choice choosing between Star Wars and the Trek but, considering what we have to work with in Sci-Fi MMO’s, I really want to give this one a go. You can combat on your ship (and with your ship), land on planets, team up with other players in co-op play (as with all MMO’s), pretty much all you expect in an online massive multiplayer. Play as a Klingon or other alien species, all in a very polished interface. Now I really couldn’t dig into an MMO in a 20 minute demo but this game is going to pack a solid punch. Sci-Fi nerds will play because of what it is and how it will immerse us in the Trek-Verse. The character design at the beginning is awesome. The screens literally gave me chills.

Brink - My outfit looks way tuffer than yours...Puss.

3. Brink by Bethesda – Guns. Chiseled tough guy soldiers. FPS. And more GUNS. Oh, plus some role-playing levelin’ up action. Bethesda really put on a spectacular demo for this game. Just their presentation had their booth filled and others standing watching from the back. I am such a sucker for stylized art and in depth character creation. And Brink has both. You can take on the role of a freedom fighter archetype or police riot trooper bad ass. Both with a varied assortment of weapons. With several types of classes available on both sides of the law, this game looks tough. You can co-op play online with friends through the missions and actually switch classes during gameplay via a command terminal (depending on what type of carnage the mission requires). My favorite is the unlockables. The outfits and customizing features change as you progress through the game. So online, you won’t look like every other mercenary mofo out there. Individuality and creativity are awesome in this game plus being a first person shooter/co-op make this a unique experience indeed.

Dungeon Fighter Online - Screw casting, I'm shooting!

4. Dungeon Fighter Online by Nexon – Arcade. Say it with me, arcade side scroller. Old skool. But let’s add a twist to it, RPG leveling system. You mean I can level up, walk away, come back and my character is still the same level and I can join in some dungeon pillaging with my friends? Yes. Several classes are available from summoner to brawler to priest, to specialty classes that open up as you progress through the game. Tough as iron this game looks and the system requirements look pretty sweet, too. During my demo they said any average laptop will run it fine. Up to four players online can rock this title out (co-op, player vs. player, and all out battle modes) with new dungeons being added, of course, after launch. Oh, and guess what? It’s free to play. Snap!

LNOE - Zombies, Prom Queens, Explosives. Nuff Said.

5. Last Night on Earth by Flying Frog – Did I say they all had to be video games? Well, Last Night on Earth is one helluva board game. Heroes vs Zombies bash it out or really try and outdo one another in this superbly done horror movie styled game. I demoed this game last year, and with the several new expansions that have been released since then, it makes a great way to spend your eve, Xmas or Halloween! Each unique character has its own perks and neat abilities. Whether it’s the Priest faith being able to cancel out a zombie’s effect cards or the Prom Queen’s hiding from all the action while the male characters around her gain pluses to their attack rolls (we all love that). Whatever your role is (ha roll, like dice), there is something for you in this game with cards, awesome sculpted pieces, the ever changing game board and multiple add-ons and game variations. Even being the zombies is great because there is pleasure in foiling the escape plans of the heroes and finishing the night off with a bucket of brains right? Yup.

So there you have it, I really could not go into the depth of what all these titles can offer, it’s just quick blast of my time in Seattle, and with all the alcohol we consumed during the trip (thank you Dead Space Extinction party, Eve Online and Hudson Soft for all the food and drinks we could down), I needed to write them down while I still remembered them.

Anyhow,
Crutchboy – Out

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.