Mass Effect 3 To Have 4-Player Co-op

It appears Bioware has decided to try to go all-out balls-out and add 4-player Co-op to your favorite Commander Sheppard space franchise. The company released a detailed Q&A on its forums regarding the matter.

The games multiplayer will be a separate story than the Sheppard one, though in the same canon. You'll be in charge of a 4 man special forces team. The progress made in multiplayer also affects something called "galactic readiness" which contributes to the true ending of the single player campaign.
Read below for details

Chris Priestly:
Hi Everyone, 

Today BioWare and the Mass Effect 3 team are very pleased to announce 4 player co-op multiplayer missions and the Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War system for Mass Effect 3 on the PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. 

4 player co-op multiplayer 

Join your friends in the all-out galactic war to take Earth back. The universe of Mass Effect expands with the addition of new co-op multiplayer missions, playable over Xbox Live, PSN and PC internet. Players can choose from a variety of classes and races, form an elite Special Forces squad, and combine their weapons, powers and abilities to devastating effect as they fight together to liberate key territories from enemy control. Success in multi-player will have a direct impact on the outcome of the single player campaign, giving players an alternative method of achieving ultimate victory against the greatest threat mankind – and the entire galaxy –has ever faced.

Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War 

As a bonus to the campaign, BioWare is introducing the Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War system, a new way for players to manage and experience the galactic war from multiple fronts, including a new 4-player co-op mode. The key to saving the galaxy is the “Galactic Readiness” level, measured by Commander Shepard’s ability to apply every possible asset – people, weapons, resources, armies, fleets – in the final battle against the Reapers. Players can impact their game’s Galactic Readiness level in multiple ways via the Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War system, including multiplayer. Other platforms and interfaces will be announced in the coming months. It is important to note that the system is entirely optional and just another way players can have control over your game experience – it is still possible to achieve the optimal, complete ending of the game in Mass Effect 3 through single-player alone.

F.A.Q.

Why include 4 player Co-op multiplayer in Mass Effect 3? 

Being able to explore and fight alongside your friends in the Mass Effect universe has always been something we thought would be fun and compelling, and many players have asked for it for a long time as well. Mass Effect 3 is the best place for us to introduce multiplayer through co-op because of the premise of the game – all out galactic war. 

Why only 4 player co-op? What not a versus mode? 

We have always maintained that we would only add multiplayer into the Mass Effect series if it made sense and did not compromise the power of the single player campaign. Fighting together against a common threat was the multiplayer experience that made the most sense for Mass Effect 3. The way we have designed co-op as a wayto take control of key conflict zones in the galaxy is a natural extension of the premise of Mass Effect 3. 

Why did you decide not to include it as a part of the main campaign? 

Our priority and focus with Mass Effect 3 has and always will be to deliver a complete and satisfying single player experience. 

Does the addition of co-op multiplayer missions impact the scope or quality of the single-player experience? 

No. A dedicated team from our recently formed BioWare Montreal studio has been focused on creating the multiplayer game features while the main game continued to be developed by the team in BioWare Edmonton. Both teams are integrated under the same leadership group that produced Mass Effect 1 and 2, led by Casey Hudson. BioWare remains dedicated to delivering one of the most amazing single-player campaigns gamers have ever experienced. 

How did developing multiplayer impact the single player game? 

BioWare is dedicated and focused on delivering an engaging, fun, and action-packed experience for Mass Effect 3, one that lives up the BioWare standard. To reach that level of quality, last year BioWare opened a studio in Montreal that is home to designers, programmers, engineers, and other developers. Both studios work together as partners, lead by the core Mass Effect team, unified in a single vision. Under the direction of Casey Hudson and other team veterans, both studios make contributions to both the single player and multiplayer modes in Mass Effect 3. Rest assured that no compromises were made to either of these modes in the development of Mass Effect 3. 

Which characters can I play in co-op multiplayer? Can I play as Commander Shepard? 

Commander Shepard’s part in the war will take place in the single-player campaign, as will that of other beloved characters in the franchise such as Garrus, Ashley, and Liara…these characters do not appear in the multiplayer missions. In multiplayer, players will create custom characters to fight on different and unique fronts in the war. This will include the ability to play as favorites like Turians, Krogans, Asari and more… each with their own unique set of abilities. 

What if I don’t like multiplayer – will my experience be negatively impacted? 

Mass Effect 3 is a complete, standalone game that will deliver a satisfying story experience, even if you choose not to try multiplayer. The Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War system and all of the individual components are meant to complement that amazing game and can be enjoyed on their own or as part of the Galaxy at War experience. 

What if I am not good at / do not like multiplayer? Will my readiness rating go down? 

ME3 is a story about a war against overwhelming force where the most you can hope for us survival. The more you do to fight that war, the more you can change that story into a more optimistic one. You can reach the highest levels of success in the single player experience alone, but Galaxy at War gives you alternative ways to get there. It’s about choice, and allowing players to find their own ways to stay immersed in the Mass Effect universe. 

Will you be adding any additional maps or modes through DLC? 

We can’t comment on specifics right now, but can confirm that we are planning on having DLC for Mass Effect 3. 

Do save games from ME1 or ME2 impact the co-op multiplayer missions? No. 

Do characters level up in co-op multiplayer? What is the progression system? 

Character progression, weapon upgrading and leveling up is present in co-op. We’ll release more information on this topic in the months leading up to launch. 

Is there more info about the other platforms of Mass Effect 3: Galaxy at War? 

We are not going into details about the other components of the Galaxy at War at this time except to say we are designing each to make sense for that platform. Each component will be able to affect a player’s “Galactic Readiness” level in a different way. Again, participation in any or all ME3:GaW elements is entirely optional.

Source: Bioware Forums

March 6th, 2012 - Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Release Date

The game with the quite possibly longest name in history, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is set to be released on March 6th, 2012, according to many outlets such as Gamefly, Walmart, Best buy and Futureshop. Even more recently, Ubisoft has OFFICIALLY announced the release date of the retailers to be correct. Way to ruin the surprise, retailers! I can't wait to use the weapon editor "Gunsmith" with the Kinect. 

The story will take place in a near future in Norway, the Middle East, and Asia where Russia went into war. The Ghosts will be fighting an ultra-nationalist force that took control of Russia and are invading neighboring countries on the deadliest missions behind enemy lines. The player will take control of a 4-man Ghost team consisting of a commando (Kozak), a sniper expert (Pepper), a reconnaissance expert (30k), and an engineer (Bones). The Wii and PSP versions have different storylines. 

The game is a third-person shooter for most of the game, except when aiming using sights, or when firing from cover, when the game switches to a first-person camera in order to facilitate more precise aiming. Cover can be partially destroyed, forcing the players to constantly seek other hiding spots. A new feature in the series is the "optical camouflage", a form of active camouflage which allows the Ghosts to become instantly invisible. According to the game designer Rafael Morado, the optical camo technology, however, is still a prototype and there are as many disadvantages as there are advantages and its use will initially be extremely limited. According to writer Gabrielle Shrager, it is also possible to control drones. During E3 2011 Ubisoft debuted the games weapon customizer. The system works with the Xbox Kinect and allows an unprecedented level of customization, down to the gas management parts of every gun. While customizing weapons, the player is also allowed to test their creations in a simulated environment. Voice control is also used in weapon creation, in addition to hand movements. Using Kinect, drawing a weapon is done by reaching a hand over your back, and pulling it back down, as if grabbing a gun from your back. Shooting is accomplished by opening the hand and closing it again.

Source: Ubisoft, Wikipedia

New Xbox 360 Dashboard Video

It appears that someone managed to take a video of the new, elusive Xbox Dashboard Interface, simply called the "New Dashboard". The new Metro UI looks pretty impressive, and a hell of a lot better than the current mess. It even shows full Kinect support. See you in hell, Kinect Hub! Look below for the video, courtesy of Engadget via Joystiq. The video is in French, but is muted. 

Source: Joystiq

Just finished LA Noire

Just finished L.A Noire. Easily one of the best games I've ever played. Keep tuned for more breaking game news and an L.A Noire review!

Minecraft 1.8 Adventure Update Now Available

Update! The Minecraft 1.8 Adventure Update is now live! You can download it through the launcher right now!

Update features:

• Three new mobs.
  • New Enderman mob.
    • They take damage from water.
    • They emit purple smoke particles.
    • They drop Ender Pearls.
    • They open their mouth when hostile/looked at.
  • New Silverfish mob.
    • Will spawn from rarely generated blocks, that look identical to stone, or stone bricks.
  • New Cave Spider mob.
    • They spawn in Abandoned Mine Shafts.
    • Their attacks are venomous, and turn the player's health yellow upon being poisoned (will not kill you but will make you lose 4 health bars, if you are below 4 health bars then it will bring you down to  heart).
    • Have a unique mob spawner.
    • They are smaller than regular spiders.
• 9 new blocks and crafting recipes
  • Stone Brick
    • Stone Brick Slabs
    • Stone Brick Stairs
  • Brick Slabs and Brick Stairs
  • Fence Gates
  • Glass Panes
  • Iron Bars
  • Melons
  • Melon Seeds
• New Creative game mode.
  • Flying by double tapping Space
  • Unlimited resources
  • A new screen, the Unlimited Item Selection screen
• New features in the terrain generator; things which will only appear in new worlds/chunks.
  • Optional structures
    • NPC Villages with farms and "town borders".
      • Contain houses, "smithies", and wells: all of which are connected through gravel pathing
      • Made of: Cobblestone, Mossy Cobblestone, Wooden Planks, Wood, Torches, Cobblestone Stairs, wooden stairs, Gravel, Fence, Glass and/or Glass Panes, Ladders, Wooden Doors,Crops, Farmland, Water, Lava, Furnaces, Iron Bars, Black Wool, bookshelves and Pressure Plates.
      • Will spawn only on flat areas.
    • Strongholds, consisting of 4 new blocks: Stone Brick, Mossy Stone Brick, Cracked Stone Brick, and Iron Bars.
      • Will only spawn 3 times in a map.
    • Abandoned Mine Shafts
      • Contains naturally generated Cobweb.
    • Underground Ravines including canyons on the surface and ledges to walk on.
  • New, fractal-based biome code, spawning much larger versions of existing versions along with 5 new biomes
    • Rivers flowing through/in between biomes.
    • Ocean Biomes, that are deeper and much more vast than before.
    • Mountain biome.
    • Swamp biome, which is the only biome to generate vines on trees. Mushrooms are more commonly generated here as well.
    • Clay is now much more abundant
    • Snow in Taiga and Tundra biomes does not generate for technical reasons. They will return in Beta 1.9
• New combat Mechanics.
  • Hold-to-charge bows.
    • 3 different charged states; takes less than 1 second to fully charge.
    • Fully charged bows causes the player to walk slower.
  • Critical hits.
    • When the player hits a mob while jumping.
    • When the mob is hit by a fully-charged arrow.
  • Player blocking attack animation and hostile mob attack animations.
    • Block "stance".
  • Mobs killed by the player drop tiny flashing Experience Orbs that add to your experience bar.
• New Food System.
  • There is now a food meter.
    • Food no longer heals directly but indirectly: if the food meter is above 80%, heals  about every 5 seconds.
  • All food (except Mushroom Stew) is stackable.
  • Food takes 1.6 seconds to consume, accompanied with an animation.
  • 5 new food items.
    • Melon Slices.
    • Raw Chicken.
    • Raw Beef.
    • Cooked Chicken.
    • Steak, which has Cooked Porkchop's old texture. Cooked Porkchops' new texture is a tan shade of the same sprite.
  • Eating any raw food or Rotten Flesh has a chance to give the player food poisoning.
• New farming options, more interesting farming.
  • Plantable pumpkins and melons, each with a central stem that grows to max size and spawns a fruit next to it.
  • Melon Seeds.
  • Pumpkin Seeds.
• A new achievement: "Kill a skeleton with an arrow at 50 meters".
• Sprinting: By double pressing the forward button, the player will move faster.
  • Sprinting is limitless, but will deplete your hunger bar.
  • Hitting a mob while sprinting sends them flying.
  • Jumping while sprinting boosts the jump to a length of about 4 blocks.
  • Sprinting makes particles come up from the ground.
  • While sprinting, the field of view slightly increases.
• Mob changes
  • Passive mobs will randomly flee if attacked by the player or other mobs (such as Wolves).
  • Zombies drop Rotten Flesh instead of Feathers.
  • The snout on pigs now protrude from their head.
  • Skeletons now hold full-size bows.
    • Skeleton arrows originate from about their eyes to the bow, instead of above the head.
• New uses for shears.
  • Vine
  • Tall Grass
• New improved lighting
  • Day/night cycles no longer require chunk updates. Lighting is updated via a texture, whose coordinates are the block's sky light and block light levels.
  • The lighting on a block is given a tint based on the most prominent source of light
    • Redish from Non-sunlight light sources
    • Blue from Moonlight
    • Total darkness keeps the same black tint
    • Sunlight gives the same white tint
• Main Menu/Options changes
  • The Main Menu's background is now an animated scene.
  • In the Main Menu, the version in the main menu is in the lower left, instead of the upper left.
  • New sliders for Field of View and Brightness
  • 4 new entries in control list
    • "Attack" and "Use Item", default to left and right click respectively
    • Player list, default to tab
    • Pick Block, defaults to scroll-wheel click
  • Improved server join screen: The server join screen features a list of servers.^[1][2][3]
• New texture for Moss Stone.
• Clouds change color during sunrise and sunset to match the sky color.
• New particle effects.
  • Performing a critical hit on any mob will cause 'sparks' to fly.
  • Explosion particles are now shockwaves instead of smoke.
  • Tiny stationary bubble particles can be seen when underwater.
  • Fog is now thicker and darker deep underground, and gives off particles. Due to this, the void appears black.
• Changes with debug-view (F3)
  • Mobs are no longer visibly labeled with their entity ID
  • The world's numeric seed is displayed in a field below player position.
• User-placed leaf blocks no longer decay.
• Cloud height raised to the top of the map, so clouds no longer go through buildings.
• Cloud movement syncs with the time.
• Rain and snow renders faster.
• Armor bar moved to above hearts, due to food bar.
• Player to mob damage decreased by half a heart.
• Pressure plates can now be placed on fences.
• Arrows that hit a mob visually "stick" to the mob.
• Improved chest model with a 3D lock and an open state/animation.
  • They are now slightly smaller than one full block, and cannot have a breakage texture applied to them.
• Rollover labels for items.
• The ability to allow moderators to enter creative mode in SMP.^[4]
• Easier changing of the max level (map) height.
• Shift-Clicking items will craft the maximum possible amount of what you are trying to craft with the limit at 64 and will directly put it in your inventory without the need to drag it there. (e.g. You have 16 coal above 16 sticks and you shift click the torches, a stack of torches (64) will appear in your bottom usage bar)

Bug Fixes:

• The Shift+Click crash bug from 1.8pre2 is fixed.
• Fixed Redstone circuits not working after /time set x glitch going to be fixed in SMP.
• Destroying boats and minecarts now creates particles.
• Ghast attack sounds are fixed in SMP.

New bugs:

• Version number is still shown at the top-left of the screen while debug is off.
• The destruction animation for chests is missing.
• If you place a torch underwater, the torch will fall off but its light will remain.
• Experience orbs when dropped don't drop in a stack like items do, so when a player dies when they have a large number of experience, each orb has to be processed individually. This will cause a high amount of lag, especially for SMP servers.
• Some computers are unable to open some worlds for unknown reason.
• Occasionally minecraft crashes when a bed is placed.

Source: Minecraft Wiki

Red And Blue PS3's Heading For Japan

With the white Playstation 3 on its way to Austrailia and Europe, Japan decided to say "Well, that's not going to fly" and decided to introduce two new colors that will rock your world. If you're like me, when you first read this you said "What the eff. Red and Blue? Terrible. I don't want no Pokemon PS3" but on first glance, you might say "Splendid! What elegant colors! I would love a Pokemon PS3!". The official color names are "Splash Blue" and "Scarlet Red". They will feature the 320GB Hard drives, as well. If you want one, you better call that pretend in Japan that you don't have and get him to hold on to one for you.

"Splash Blue" for PS3 ® in the "sea spray popping" adopted a fresh metallic blue reminiscent of the "Scarlet Red" is "sun shining and glistening flame," reminiscent of a bright metallic adopted a tone of red.

...Right!


Source: PS3 Blog Japan 

New PS Vita "Confirmed Titles At Launch" Update

According to NeoGaf via Joystiq, someone left the opening screen for the confirmed launch titles announcement on at TGS. The PS Vita is also going to be launched on December 17th, 2011 in Japan. The games that are confirmed to be available at launch are as follows:

• Hell's Army
• DJ Max Technika
• Katamari
• Browser 3 Kingdom
• Bass Fishing
• F1 2011
• Dragon's Crown
• God Eater 2
• Escape Plan
• Sound Shapes
• Sawari Makuru (translates to Touching Lots)
• Super Stardust Delta
• Reality Fighter 0
• WipeOut
• Ridge Racer
• Zone of the Enders HD Edition
• Metal Gear Solid HD Edition
• Super Robot Taisen Series
• Shin Megami Tensei Series
• Gundam Series
• Tales of Innocence R

Source: Joystiq