Mass Effect 3

[Hammet]

I'm not sure but I think this whole hoopla, to me, reflects more poorly on Bioware than anything or anyone else. What purpose does using a "game celebrity" in the manner that they are in Mass Effect 3 serve? Is she an exceptional voiceover talent? Is she an actress? Does she play a predetermined role in the game or did they just write her in there cause hey, cleavage!!!! or what?

I don't have anything against Chabot, I've never heard of her before but I guess I have now, but I just can't see the point for Bioware to write a part for her in the manner in which they seem to have done.

[Jason Townsend]

They've involved other women idolized by nerds before - Yvonne Strahovski, Tricia Helfer, Felicia Day - but, particularly in the case of the former two there was a decent acting case to be made as opposed to just nerd-sex-symbol fanservice.

At any rate unless this is a more major character than it looks like I doubt it'll amount to that much.

[Hammet]

Well, according to Ms Chabot herself, her character can come aboard the Normandy and also be a romance. Yet I don't think she's a squad member or anything like that, as was the case with Strahovski, the only one of the ones you mention I believe to have been modeled into the game. (I dunno who Felicia Day is.)

And I ain't raging or anything here, just felt like mentioning that the ones "to blame" is Bioware.

[Jason Townsend]

It doesn't surprise me that Chabot's character looks Chabotesque - to varying extents many Bioware characters recently have been modeled on either people (Male Shepherd) or the voice actors (Seth Green, Martin Sheen, to a considerably lesser extent Keith David.)

[Hammet]

So basically you don't see any difference, or at least "is not surprised", between Bioware including a character in ME3 based on a "gamer celeb with cleavage" and modelling major characters on Martin Sheen and Yvonne Strahovski who are also doing these characters voices? I guess we differ then. I find it both odd and vaguely disappointing. I think there's been some great minor and major npc's in previous Mass Effects and really hold Bioware to a high standard in that regard.
But what do I know, maybe they discovered she has great acting potential and gave her a part that was already in there.

Playing through ME2 again. While I've been kinda sorta defending the planet scanning previously, I find that it is probably the one thing standing between me and a another full playthrough. I'm also very happy that they're skipping the whole "since you use tech/biotics you are completely unable to carry, much less fire, a shotgun or assault rifle". Thank the gods I'm playing a Soldier this time.

I forget, but did Engineer get some love in ME2? Cause I've died of boredom before being able to finish one such career in ME1. And I love ME1.

[DennyA]

(I dunno who Felicia Day is.)

Good lord. I thought Tom was vetting the boards nowadays.

As for Jessica, her looks may have gotten her in the door, but she's actually a serious gamer, a good writer, and a good host. Which is why she didn't end up with a one-time booth babe job, but got hired on to do editorial. (And looks do figure in for video hosts -- why do you think I just did voiceovers when I was doing Insider Moves? :-)

[Luke M]

Good lord. I thought Tom was vetting the boards nowadays.

If you're at all familiar with Tom's movie tastes, I think you'll agree that this confirms he is. :)

[Telefrog]

(And looks do figure in for video hosts -- why do you think I just did voiceovers when I was doing Insider Moves? :-)

Speaking of which, have you stopped doing them? I haven't seen one on my 360 with you for a while.

[Jason Townsend]

I guess we differ then. I find it both odd and vaguely disappointing.

I wasn't offering a value judgement, just observing that Bioware's gotten in the habit of making characters looks like their voice actors and/or other actual human likenesses.

[DennyA]

Speaking of which, have you stopped doing them? I haven't seen one on my 360 with you for a while.

When the show format changed, I went on a temporary break. It's been a really long break so far, but I hope to do some more stuff with the Inside Xbox team in the future... (The website is my main job; once Inside Xbox became its own team, that was just a fun side project for me.)

[rei]

Good lord. I thought Tom was vetting the boards nowadays.

As for Jessica, her looks may have gotten her in the door, but she's actually a serious gamer, a good writer, and a good host. Which is why she didn't end up with a one-time booth babe job, but got hired on to do editorial. (And looks do figure in for video hosts -- why do you think I just did voiceovers when I was doing Insider Moves? :-)

...what is the black gnome doing?

[Hammet]

Good lord. I thought Tom was vetting the boards nowadays.

Well, y'know, there's always someone that slips through the net. Glad to hear she's good at her job. Which wasn't my point.

[Woolen Horde]

Well, according to Ms Chabot herself, her character can come aboard the Normandy and also be a romance.

Man, that's going to be weird. I know her.

[Hammet]

We'll expect a detailed walkthrough from that part of the game on your part then ;-)

But yeah, that must be a weird feeling. Embrace eternity!

[mjgreeny75]

I wasn't offering a value judgement, just observing that Bioware's gotten in the habit of making characters looks like their voice actors and/or other actual human likenesses.

Making the characters look like their voice actors is something as old as the world. Watch any Pixar animation movie and you'll see some resemblance between character and voice actor. I guess it somehow helps for the voice actors to relate to their character. Or perhaps it helps the viewer to relate to the celebrity behind the cartoonfigure?

The way it works, as far as I can tell, is that the characters are allready in place when they go look for voice actors, but are only roughly modeled at the time. Once the voice actor is found, they are finetuned, quite often with the voice actor in mind. So in Jessica's case, I would think her character was allready there, but got some bigger boobs after Jessica came in. Which, I'm a bit ashamed to say, is fine by me.... ;-)

[eliandi]

I forget, but did Engineer get some love in ME2? Cause I've died of boredom before being able to finish one such career in ME1. And I love ME1.

I've not played ME1 (its in the queue), but had a good time with in engineer in ME2. Easier for me than the playthrough I'm working on using a biotic.

[Robert Sharp]

So Amazon shows this as coming out next month. Is that correct? For some reason, I expected a November release.

[Woolen Horde]

It's been March 6 for a while.

Dragon Age 2 came out March 8 last year.

And Mass Effect 2 came out around February of 2010.

[Robert Sharp]

Yeah, I don't really track trends like that. It just snuck up on me. Skyrim has put me way behind schedule on games, and I'm sure I'm not alone. I haven't even had a chance to play the Batman sequel, Saints Row, the latest Assassin's Creed, etc. Having another big release like this come so soon....wow.

But my wife and I both loved ME2. I'm sad that no one else liked the mining mini-game. We both enjoyed it, but the feedback was likely so negative that it won't appear again. Mainly, though, we like the writing in the first two games. I didn't finish the first one (I didn't really like the gameplay that much), but I did the second one. So I'm really anxious to play this....over the Summer, or whenever I can get to it!

[Rock8man]

You missed out Robert. The original Mass Effect, I think, has one of the better endings of all time. Maybe not the very very end (which was just a boss fight), but everything leading up to it. It was absolutely thrilling. I thought Mass Effect 3 was coming out last year, and so I played 1 and 2 back to back in anticipation of 3, thinking I'd play the trilogy in a compact timeline. After 1 and 2 I was so revved up for 3, I wanted to play it right then. But now that's it has been a few months, my excitement is quite tempered.

[mjgreeny75]

You missed out Robert. The original Mass Effect, I think, has one of the better endings of all time.

I fully agree: that ending was awesome. The choice you had to make was a difficult one (just like choosing between the two teammates a bit earlier was) and the very end was, well, memorable. In fact, I think I'll replay it one more time, just to see it again!

[Dave Markell]

Agree here as well: the ending of ME1 is easily the most cinematic climax in gaming history. It really feels like the conclusion of a great sci-fi action film.

[Alan Au]

Unlike certain other games *cough* the conclusion of the main quest in Mass Effect 1 is really well executed. If not for the promise of callbacks in later games, I would have just skipped all of the side-quests completely.

[TurinTur]

I had a chuckle from this. I read on GAF:

BioWare: "Mass Effect 3 is not a corridor shooter"

And I think, "Oh, Bioware, now you are thinking you over sold the shooter aspect of the game too much, I suppose they will try to say the game it still a true RPG, putting more emphasis on those features".

But no, they were talking of this:
“There’s definitely been an emphasis on making combat spaces into open battlefields in this game,” he continued. “We’re trying to get away from corridor shooters.”

Gotcha, ME is not a corridor shooter. It's a more open space shooter!
Thank god.

[Tom McNamara]

I had a chuckle from this. I read on GAF:

BioWare: "Mass Effect 3 is not a corridor shooter"

And I think, "Oh, Bioware, now you are thinking you over sold the shooter aspect of the game too much, I suppose they will try to say the game it still a true RPG, putting more emphasis on those features".

But no, they were talking of this:
“There’s definitely been an emphasis on making combat spaces into open battlefields in this game,” he continued. “We’re trying to get away from corridor shooters.”

Gotcha, ME is not a corridor shooter. It's a more open space shooter!
Thank god.

They were probably talking about how obvious firefight locations were in the first two games (conveniently stacked boxes, curiously placed and shaped rock formations), and how there wasn't much if any room for flanking or other tactical movement.

Personally, I'd just like to get grenades back. And maybe regenerating ammo.

[stereoD]

I had a chuckle from this. I read on GAF:

BioWare: "Mass Effect 3 is not a corridor shooter"

And I think, "Oh, Bioware, now you are thinking you over sold the shooter aspect of the game too much, I suppose they will try to say the game it still a true RPG, putting more emphasis on those features".

But no, they were talking of this:
“There’s definitely been an emphasis on making combat spaces into open battlefields in this game,” he continued. “We’re trying to get away from corridor shooters.”

Gotcha, ME is not a corridor shooter. It's a more open space shooter!
Thank god.

What's your point?

ME2's combat spaces were obvious and boring, so this is a good direction to take ME3 in.

[scharmers]

I had a chuckle from this. I read on GAF:

BioWare: "Mass Effect 3 is not a corridor shooter"

Oh Bioware, U SO CRAZY!

[Murbella]

I'd imagine it won't be a corridor shooter, it will be a cover shooter.

And you can't really have flanking in most situations when if you step out of cover for a second you instantly die.

[Telefrog]

There have been a couple of news stories with respect to ME3.

First, the latest tie-in book is apparently so filled with factual/canon errors that Bioware and DelRey apologized and are "patching" it.

"The teams at Del Rey and BioWare would like to extend our sincerest apologies to the Mass Effect fans for any errors and oversights made in the recent novel Mass Effect: Deception," wrote Priestly. "We are currently working on a number of changes that will appear in future editions of the novel."

Second, the first bit of DLC has been ordered at a Gamestop.

Finally, EA announced a tie-in app that will send you texts from in-game characters along with a third-person shooter app that will unlock goodies in the main game.

[Tim James]

Will the in-game characters be sexting?