Mass Effect for PC?

[ExecutionerFive]

Any word on whether they plan a PC version?

[jafd]

Dammit, go back to your old way of formulating queries!

[ExecutionerFive]

Hey, Jafd, why dont you go back to anal sex with your eight-year-old sister?

[DragonPup]

Nothing announced as far as I know, but considering that BioWare is making it, I would not be surprised to see it on the PC down the road.

[Shadari]

Dammit, go back to your old way of formulating queries!
SELECT Company, OrderNumber FROM Orders ORDER BY Company, OrderNumber

[Dhruin]

BioWare staff have said that Microsoft paid for an exclusive. Therefore, I very much doubt they would say anything until the exclusivity period expires (A year? Two years?).

[BobJustBob]

Hey, Jafd, why dont you go back to anal sex with your eight-year-old sister?

E5, WHICH SISTER?

[Wholly Schmidt]

Hey, Jafd, why dont you go back to anal sex with your eight-year-old sister?
ExecutionerFive, which sister?

edit: Bah. Screw you Bob.

[Greatatlantic]

To answer the original question, in my unprofessional opinion, Mass Effect for the PC is inevitable, but be prepared to wait.

[jafd]

\o/

(For the record, I don't have any sisters and I don't like anal sex. Nice try, though!)

[DoomMunky]

This thread is confusing, and makes me feel funny in my bathing suit area.

[Wholly Schmidt]

This thread is confusing, and makes me feel funny in my bathing suit area.

Spoiler:

That's a Mass Effect.

[Derek French]

OK, I LOL'd. That is all.

[EvilIdler]

A Mass Effect port to the PC is inevitable, as said above, but it's going to take
from a year to..whatever. The controls will also suck with anything but a gamepad :P

[Greatatlantic]

A Mass Effect port to the PC is inevitable, as said above, but it's going to take
from a year to..whatever. The controls will also suck with anything but a gamepad :P

Let me just point out that the PC controls for Jade Empire were hailed as superior by reviews. If Bioware does there homework, and chances are they will, I see no reason for history to not repeat itself. Which, also, unfortunately means Mass Effect will have even less of an RPG element then JE.

[EvilIdler]

There was an emoticon after that ;)

[Greatatlantic]

There was an emoticon after that ;)

Wait, does that mean you were being sarcastic or something? :|

[Dravalen]

Mass Effect is UE3, they could put the thing on PC or PS3 if they wanted, contractual obligations with Microsoft aside.

[Sarkus]

OK, I LOL'd. That is all.

Insiders shouldn't be allowed into speculative threads unless they are willing to say something relevant to the discussion. :-)

I'm watching this thread closely; a very similar one on OO collapsed into a flamewar of Michigan College Football '07 badness proportions.

[rjcc]

I'm watching this thread closely; a very similar one on OO collapsed into a flamewar of Notre Dame Football '07 badness proportions.

FTFY.

[malkav11]

Since every single Bioware game has seen PC release either immediately or after some period of time has elapsed (unless there's some bizarre, obscure game I'm totally missing), I think it's a safe bet. Especially after Jade Empire - I'd expected the PC release of KOTOR because the initial previews and such had talked about simultaneous Xbox/PC development, even if the PC release later got pushed back, but Jade Empire offered no such hints that I can recall. And so I bought the Xbox version even though that absolutely wasn't the platform I wanted to play it on, and, oh, what's that? PC version in the works? Goddamn it...

*mutters*

I may still get Mass Effect for 360 if I wind up with one before a PC version is announced, though. I'm not sure I'm *that* patient.

[Iron Xides]

Since every single Bioware game has seen PC release either immediately or after some period of time has elapsed (unless there's some bizarre, obscure game I'm totally missing), I think it's a safe bet. Especially after Jade Empire - I'd expected the PC release of KOTOR because the initial previews and such had talked about simultaneous Xbox/PC development, even if the PC release later got pushed back, but Jade Empire offered no such hints that I can recall. And so I bought the Xbox version even though that absolutely wasn't the platform I wanted to play it on, and, oh, what's that? PC version in the works? Goddamn it...

Hasn't Microsoft been releasing formerly "exclusive to xbox (360)" titles since the original Halo?

[Midnight Son]

\o/

(For the record, I don't have any sisters and I don't like anal sex. Nice try, though!)

You don't have sisters and you don't like anal sex? Giving or receiving? You gots to be more clear, bwah! You sho have a purty mouf.....

[Kunikos]

A Mass Effect port to the PC is inevitable, as said above, but it's going to take
from a year to..whatever. The controls will also suck with anything but a gamepad :P

So plug a Xbox 360 controller into your PC. Duh.

I hope a PC version of Mass Effect comes out before it is as irrelevant as Jade Empire was when it came out for PC. Talk about dated graphics! Even with the upgraded textures, the models are so low poly (lol Xbox sux) and the camera and control system was terrible. Even playing it on my USB connected Dual Shock it was a pain in the ass to figure out how to do any of the special moves or use the weapons.

[Equisilus]

The worst part about JE ported to the PC after that long were the movies/cutscenes. Man, those were some hideous-looking visuals. The graphics were pretty decent in the game itself, but still, JE was too simplistically consolish for my tastes. It would have played better without the combat and if they turned it into an Adventure game.

If it'll be years before an ME port, I'll have to see if it's worth the playtime.

[EvilIdler]

So plug a Xbox 360 controller into your PC. Duh.

Gee, that's two fucking people attacking my non-serious comment :(

[Sarkus]

Since every single Bioware game has seen PC release either immediately or after some period of time has elapsed (unless there's some bizarre, obscure game I'm totally missing), I think it's a safe bet. Especially after Jade Empire - I'd expected the PC release of KOTOR because the initial previews and such had talked about simultaneous Xbox/PC development, even if the PC release later got pushed back, but Jade Empire offered no such hints that I can recall. And so I bought the Xbox version even though that absolutely wasn't the platform I wanted to play it on, and, oh, what's that? PC version in the works? Goddamn it...

*mutters*

I may still get Mass Effect for 360 if I wind up with one before a PC version is announced, though. I'm not sure I'm *that* patient.

KOTOR 1 was released at the same time on both PC and XBox; that was the announced plan from the start. You are probably thinking about KOTOR 2, which was supposed to be a simul release but the XBox version was pushed out a few months early, which had detrimental effects on what it was supposed to be.

Given that Halo, Halo2, and Jade Empire all took about 2 years to come out for PC, I'd guess that's about what we can expect on the Mass Effect. The only thing that might impact that is that Mass Effect is supposed to be the first of a trilogy that are all supposed to be released on the 360 so that could impact PC plans.

Of course, a major reason I own a 360 is so I don't have to wait in these cases.

[malkav11]

KOTOR 1 was definitely not released simultaneously for both platforms. The PC release was ~4 months later. (July 2003 for Xbox, November 2003 for PC).

[stusser]

That's right. I actually bought an xbox for KOTOR1, much like I'm buying a 360 for Mass Effect. I certainly wouldn't bother if they released simultaneously on the PC.

[Sarkus]

KOTOR 1 was definitely not released simultaneously for both platforms. The PC release was ~4 months later. (July 2003 for Xbox, November 2003 for PC).

Ugh. My mistake. I guess I never noticed since I had an XBox at the time and just got it on that.

[John Sansker]

Let me just point out that the PC controls for Jade Empire were hailed as superior by reviews.
Really?

I heard one reviewer said that drinking battery acid was good for you.


As for Mass Effect, what I've heard is that it's going to be an x360 exclusive and not coming to the PC, ever.
On the other hand, Dragon Age is going to be a PC exclusive and not going to the X360, ever.


What I've read about Mass Effect as a game makes me want to play it.
It's supposed to have some pretty decent RPG elements as well as a free exploration mode after the main story line is completed.
Sort of a spiritual successor to Star Command. (an ancient RPG from SSI)

[rjcc]

where did you hear mass effect was never going to the pc ever? cuz Bioware hasn't said that, at least publicly, and microsoft hasn't said it publicly. so either you heard it from someone who probably wouldn't be in a position to actually know, or you have amazing inside information.

and, it would go against this history of....every single bioware xbox game ever.

[Greatatlantic]

Really?

I heard one reviewer said that drinking battery acid was good for you

Really? I've never read a review that said that. Now about JE:SE controls...

You'll gather a number of fighting styles along the way that you can map to the number keys, and you can activate any of the 10 you've assigned during combat, which is an improvement over the Xbox version's maximum of four.

There's nothing to complain about concerning the controls. I tried both an Xbox 360 controller and the keyboard and mouse and found that while the controller is marginally better, I actually preferred the keyboard and mouse because I could map more fighting styles to the number keys and quickly switch between them.

In fact, this is one of the rare cases where the mouse and keyboard controls are actually better than those on the Xbox's gamepad.

Gamespy might say the Gamepad had marginally better controls, but the fact that he preferred the keyboard tells me its "better".

As for when I played it on the PC, I can't imagine having only 4 fighting styles available at any given moment. You always want at least a martial style, a magic style, a support style, spirit thief, and a transformation style (probably more then one eventually). Oops, thats over 4.








As for Mass Effect, what I've heard is that it's going to be an x360 exclusive and not coming to the PC, ever.
On the other hand, Dragon Age is going to be a PC exclusive and not going to the X360, ever.

Give an official source, please. With exclusives the PR always comes out like a port isn't really a possibility, but if you read between the lines there is always a concession that a port is "possible". And considering how cheaply a game can be ported to the PC and how widespread Bioware's PC fanbase is, I'd say a port is inevitable unless Mass Effect dies a retail death.

[stusser]

I'm pretty sure they never said that. Much like jade empire and gears of war for that matter, Bioware simply deflected all questions about the PC by talking about their initial release. Mass effect will absolutely be released for the PC. You'll just need to wait a year. That's why I'm buying a 360 for it.

[malkav11]

I never found transformation styles very useful, so I got by just fine with my Xbox version's 4 quick styles. What was problematic was I'd tend to accidentally switch styles at inopportune times due to the control placement. I don't think I'd ever have that problem when using the number keys.

[Chris Nahr]

What was really problematic was the 360 controller's shitty d-pad that made precise style switching impossible. I ended up using the number keys for styles while otherwise playing on the gamepad.

[John Sansker]

where did you hear mass effect was never going to the pc ever? cuz Bioware hasn't said that, at least publicly, and microsoft hasn't said it publicly. so either you heard it from someone who probably wouldn't be in a position to actually know, or you have amazing inside information.

and, it would go against this history of....every single bioware xbox game ever.

I'm pretty sure I read it in a gaming magazine.
Now, I just have to remember which one it was.

It's one of 3, it was either Game Informer (not the best source I know)
or, this fairly new magazine that I saw only recently, it's called either Hardcore Gamer, or Hardcore Gamer Magazine.
The second magazine has apparently been around for 2 years?
I'd only seen it once or twice and never really paid any attention to it cause it looked like another run-of-the-mill console heavy gaming mags.
After doing a little checking online, they list Gamepro magazine as having an article with a "major" spoiler, could be Gamepro.

Then, there's this (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=172193)article from last week.
He is evasive about the "exclusivity" question.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Oh come on, Gears of War for the PC was one of the worst kept secrets, yet it was officially denied or they were "evasive" about it all the way up until it was announced. Time and time again, "Xbox Exclusives" that MS has any say in whatsoever are really only exclusive in the console world.