Mass Effect Trilogy PlayStation 3

Released on 07-Dec-2012

• Video game board games on the way

  Board game company USAopoly has reached out across the digital divide and will be bringing some of our fave video game properties to the world of dice and plastic pieces.

  Among the upcoming titles are Trivial Pursuit: World of Warcraft, Monopoly: Skylanders and Risk: Plants vs Zombies. The most promising of the bunch would seem to be a "Galaxy at War Edition." of Risk: Mass Effect. For old school retroheads, there'll also be Yahtzee: Pac-Man and Jenga Space Invaders.

  This isn't the first time USAopoly has dipped into the digital realm for variations on beloved games. You can already get Risk: Halo and Risk: Starcraft, not to mention Monopoly: Sonic the Hedgehog. The new games will be launched in America later this year before hopefully making their way around the world.

  What do you think? Would you switch off your console to play Mass Effect around the kitchen table?

  Published: 12/02/2013

• Please don't call the next game Mass Effect 4, says Bioware

  We've known for some time that Bioware is working on a new entry in the Mass Effect saga, following the huge success of last year's Mass Effect 3, but please don't call the new game Mass Effect 4. That's the message from a new post on the Bioware forums that offers a few hints as to what shape the new game might take.

  "Thinking of the next Mass Effect game as Mass Effect 4 would imply a certain linearity, a straight evolution of the gameplay and story of the first three games," said Yanick Roy, head of Bioware's Edmonton studio which is handling the new title, having cut its teeth on the side quests and multiplayer of Mass Effect 3.

  "If you had three games centred around a group of key soldiers in the US army during World War I and then decided to make a game about another group of people during the Second World War, the games could have many points in common and feel true to one another," Roy added. "You likely would have to recognise how the events of the first war influenced the ones of the second, but you would not necessarily think of it as a sequel. Again, the analogy is not great, but what I'm trying to say is that the ME universe is so rich that we are not limited to a single track when coming up with a new story."

  Roy also suggested that choices made in the existing trilogy will be acknowledged, but "likely won't be what this new story will focus on". He also reassured fans that while the story won't be connected to the saga of Commander Shepard, it would still feature all the alien races and lore that fans love. "What makes it Mass Effect is indeed the alien races, the technology, the lore, history, etc," he posted. "You can safely expect those in the next Mass Effect."

  Mass Effect 3 is out now for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. There's also a boxset of all three games, which features the original 2008 game on PS3 for the first time.

  Published: 07/02/2013

• Bioware asks fans if Mass Effect 4 should be a prequel or sequel

  Canadian RPG specialist Bioware has once again turned to its fans for guidance on the future of the Mass Effect franchise. The studio has already announced that the next game in the saga is in pre-production, and that it will be built using the same Frostbite 2 engine as Battlefield 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition.

  Now Casey Hudson, the man who looks after the entire Mass Effect brand, has taken to Twitter to ask fans what form the next game should take, storywise. "Parsing through your thoughts on the next #ME game," he tweeted. "Would you be more interested in a game that takes place before the trilogy, or after?"

  A prequel game could take advantage of the rich history already established in the previous Mass Effect games, perhaps exploring the Turian War or the rise of the Geth. Alternatively, any game taking place after Mass Effect 3 would have to juggle the events at the end of that game, which left the galaxy changed in various ways.

  One thing is for sure - whichever approach is chosen, Commander Shepard won't be involved. Bioware has said multiple times that it wants to strike out in "new directions" and tell new stories set in this universe.

  You can get up to speed on the story so far with the Mass Effect Trilogy compilation, out now for Xbox 360 and PC and due on December 7th for PlayStation 3.

  Published: 20/11/2012

• Mass Effect 4 will use Battlefield 3 game engine

  Work on the next game in the Mass Effect saga is ramping up, with Bioware announcing that development has been handed over to its Montreal studio. The previous games in the series were created at Bioware's HQ in Edmonton, although Montreal has contributed many of the sidequests and DLC episodes as well as Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode.

  More interesting from a gameplay perspective is the news that whatever form the next game takes, it will be built using DICE's Frostbite 2 game engine, most famously used for the extravagant destruction and epic scale of Battlefield 3.

  The game definitely won't follow Commander Shepard, whose story came to a close in Mass Effect 3, and speculation is rife as to what form a new Mass Effect game would take. For now, Bioware is keeping its cards off the table.

  "While [the next game] will be very respectful of the heritage built over the course of the first three games, with the original trilogy now concluded and the switch over to a new engine, we are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts," studio head Yanick Roy said in a post on the Bioware blog. "You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling."

  If you want to catch up on the Mass Effect series, the Mass Effect Trilogy compilation is out now for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, marking the first time the original game has graced SONY's console.

  Published: 13/11/2012

• New Mass Effect game already in development

  The dust has barely settled on Mass Effect 3's controversial ending, but Bioware is already thinking ahead to what will come next. "We're in early stages of designing a completely new Mass Effect game," tweeted Casey Hudson, the man in charge of the series. "What would you want to see in it?"

  One thing is for sure: the game won't feature Commander Shepard, whose story was wrapped up in the first three Mass Effect games. If you missed out on that, don't panic - the Mass Effect Trilogy boxset compiles all three games, plus bonus content, into one bumper volume from December 7th.

  That marks the first time that the original 2007 game will be available on PlayStation 3. The game was originally published by Microsoft as an Xbox 360 exclusive.

  Bioware has always said it plans to continue exploring the sci-fi universe of the series beyond the original trilogy. There have already been four novels and four comic book mini-series based around the saga, as well as a couple of mobile games. Where will the developer take the series next? Bioware specialises in role-playing games, but the potential is huge. A Mass Effect first-person shooter? Real-time strategy game? What would you like to see? Bioware wants to know!

  Published: 09/11/2012

• Mass Effect Trilogy confirmed for PlayStation 3, launches in December

  The bumper Bioware compilation Mass Effect Trilogy, which brings all three blockbusting sci-fi RPGs into the same box, will release for Xbox 360 and PC on November 9th. PlayStation 3 owners will have to wait a little while longer, as their version has now been confirmed for December 7th.

  This is a pretty big deal, as the original Mass Effect was an Xbox 360 exclusive, published by Microsoft, and has never been available for the PlayStation before. Bioware has essentially had to rebuild the first game in the saga for Sony's console, using the improvements they learned on Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 along the way.

  PlayStation 3 players will also get more of the downloadable content included in the package. The original Mass Effect comes with the Bring Down the Sky mission integrated into the game. Mass Effect 2 will include the Cerberus Network content: Kasumi: Stolen Memory, Overlord and Lair of the Shadow Broker. Finally, Mass Effect 3 will be the same game as released back in March.

  Those dates again: Mass Effect Trilogy is out for Xbox 360 and PC from November 9th, with the PlayStation 3 edition following on December 7th.

  Published: 05/11/2012

As a valued customer we now offer you the facility to sign up to email price alerts. Please enter the price you want to be, or below, and if drops to that level we will let you know...