Mass Effect trilogy aims to begin & end on Xbox 360
The only problem Zeschuk foresees in the plan is the console life cycle. "I hope, I hope, I hope that this cycle is longer than the last one," he said, adding that the advent of downloadable content means they could bridge the gap between iterations with "new little islands of story between the big game releases."
Sony has previously stated its intentions to have the PlayStation 3's life cycle exceed previous consoles; if that holds, Microsoft would less incentive release its own competitive hardware upgrade within the traditional cycle. Zeschuk would not comment on the exclusivity of the series to the Xbox 360.
Mass Effect is due out November 20 in North America.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
SoulBlade @ Sep 19th 2007 2:29PM
Just announce it for the PC already!
Jeff @ Sep 19th 2007 3:13PM
Seriously.
T3H WICKERMAN @ Sep 19th 2007 3:37PM
that will take at least a or two, it is bioware afterall.
SoulBlade @ Sep 19th 2007 3:56PM
I doubt it'd take that long (unless you meant a month instead of a year). BioWare is well known for their PC projects and m$ provides solid development tools which probably make developing for the 360 and Windows Platforms relatively easy.
I bet it's a matter of m$ telling them not to release it for PC until a certain date, but you can believe they're going to want to push this for Games for Windows.
vinny @ Sep 19th 2007 2:36PM
before the sony fanboys come in, no, its not coming to ps3, microsoft is publishing it
Shagittarius @ Sep 19th 2007 2:37PM
Mass Effect confirmed for the PS4!
Shagittarius @ Sep 19th 2007 2:37PM
Mass Effect 2 confirmed for the PS4!
Exo @ Sep 19th 2007 2:56PM
Shagittarius confirmd as an Idiot!
Shagittarius @ Sep 19th 2007 3:12PM
Exo confirmed as Shagi's personal troll.
Exo @ Sep 19th 2007 3:14PM
The irony is you have no Idea what a troll is, yet you are one yourself.
Shagittarius @ Sep 19th 2007 3:20PM
Is it ironic that you make yourself the butt of every joke beacuse you have no sense of humor?
Exo @ Sep 19th 2007 3:24PM
Butt of every Joke? In what way, Unless your blind you are the one that always gets greyed out.
Maybe If you tried making real comments instead of fanboy bitching in every post you make, Then you wouldn't be greyed out the second you post.
The only joke is you thinking that you are ever right.
Shagittarius @ Sep 19th 2007 3:31PM
There no accounting for taste.
T3H WICKERMAN @ Sep 19th 2007 3:34PM
now this was a real button masher. plus one, minus next, plus one , minus next!
Exo @ Sep 19th 2007 4:04PM
"There no accounting for taste"
Well when you get some taste let us know.
Shagittarius @ Sep 19th 2007 2:38PM
damnit
Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Sep 19th 2007 2:46PM
Thank you Spam fairy.
Anyway cool.
Jake @ Sep 19th 2007 4:09PM
Shag, are you in some kind of personal competition to see who gets the most grey hearts?
Shagittarius @ Sep 19th 2007 4:29PM
It only means that people care.
Lex @ Sep 19th 2007 2:45PM
I'd like to see ME on the PS3 for the simply fact that this game looks like it could RRoD a 360 by just putting the disc in the drive, but whatever if you have more than one console this doesn't matter.
PS. Fanboyism is for the stupid and the poor.
Zaphod Beeblebrox @ Sep 19th 2007 2:59PM
good 1. Halo 3 will kill hundreds of thousands of 360's.
ME is the 1 game on the 360 that I wish was coming to the PS3. This game looks very, very good and Bioware is a great developer.
jsn @ Sep 19th 2007 3:08PM
The ONE game? You must not like actually playing games then.
JL @ Sep 19th 2007 3:29PM
Actually, I have a 360 and the only game I own for it is Bioshock. I rented Gears and beat it in a day so Im glad I didnt buy it. All of the other games just kind of blow in my opinion. I am really looking forward to Mass Effect though. But yeah, thats about it.
mike @ Sep 19th 2007 4:23PM
thats odd. I rented bioshock and beat it in a day where Gears Ive had almost a year of playing now with its online multiplayer mode.
Lesson: Dont buy single player only games when you can beat them in a rental.
mfed3 @ Sep 19th 2007 6:19PM
too bad ms is publishing it, noobs. it will come out on Windows since Microsoft owns PC gaming too, but sony can go cry.
NATO_Duke @ Sep 19th 2007 2:46PM
With how long it took for the 1st one it seems they expect the 360 to be around for 20 years or so. j/k
HineyWipe @ Sep 19th 2007 2:47PM
So, what's Bioware equivalent to "hotcoffee"?
"I want me some "_ass Effect" with those alien babes!"
Shagittarius @ Sep 19th 2007 2:49PM
Oooo yeah! Bring on the weapons of _ass destruction!
Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Sep 19th 2007 2:57PM
Actually those weapons of ass destruction could be really effective.
I'm thinking on a metal stick with spikes.
FrankTheCrank @ Sep 19th 2007 2:58PM
Another shooter on the 360. Don't say it's so.
The True Gamer @ Sep 19th 2007 3:33PM
Are you that stupid? It's an RPG.
NATO_Duke @ Sep 19th 2007 3:43PM
Keep making friends with those fanboy comments dont ya now?
Its not a fps - how could you miss that factoid? On 2nd thought, dont answer that.
fischju @ Sep 19th 2007 2:59PM
So, on PC is 8 months then?
BigD3FW @ Sep 19th 2007 3:10PM
When it comes out on PC, thats when im getting it.
SoulBlade @ Sep 19th 2007 3:17PM
Ditto... it'll be the game they envisioned... Guaranteed HDD, more gfx tech to push, probably just a bigger game in general.
I imagine it'll be like GoW PC vs. GoW 360 - PC gets it late, but it gets a better game.
Slaziman @ Sep 19th 2007 3:26PM
slightly better graphics if you got the rig for it make it a better game? lawl
the extras on gears of war will probably be on XBLM soon enough.
SoulBlade @ Sep 19th 2007 3:39PM
It was already announced that the GoW extras wouldn't be put on the 360 since it's using an older version of the Unreal engine.
I've already got a pretty sweet rig so wtf do I care. "lawl"
plyx @ Sep 19th 2007 3:10PM
Considering the 360 probably has only about 2 more years left and it took +2 years to get Mass Effect ready I seriously doubt their plan will pan out.
Mr Khan @ Sep 19th 2007 6:17PM
I don't know, Microsoft may support 360 longer than its predecessor, but then again it may not
However, even given the orthodox 5 year cycle, i don't see how they could push out 3 such titles in 3 years without severely overtaxing BioWare's resources
d-pad @ Sep 19th 2007 8:24PM
Although I disagree with you on future length of the 360, I have to give you a +1 for that avatar.
In fact, as long as you keep that avatar, I'll give you +1's - regardless of what you say.
Seriously.
Skippy @ Sep 19th 2007 3:11PM
Anyone else find this proposition to be completely unreasonable? I don't forsee the 360 having that long a lifespan (five years, six years tops), especially when you consider how the original Xbox was out the door in just four years.
Exo @ Sep 19th 2007 3:21PM
Why is it unreasonable? they Have the game engine finished, all they have to do is create new art assets for each sequel, as well as re-using some old ones.
They could pump put one each year, I wouldn't be surprised if they already have some assets created for the other 2 games already since its a planned trilogy
biohazard @ Sep 19th 2007 3:28PM
As covered before reasons for Xbox (originals) quick demise:
Microsoft did not own the rights to the chipsets used in the original xbox; they did not have the ability to recoup costs by revising/consolidating the chip sets.
The small hard drive became a specialty part which also did not allow Microsoft to easily negotiate down the cost or replace with cheaper parts.
Basically Microsoft was never going to be able to significantly reduce the costs further on the original xbox despite it being old tech and commanding a significantly lower MSRP.
Also, reasons why ME2 should not take as long to develop as ME1.
BioWare has created a large tool set that allows them to develop their content for the game (as stated in the original article the quotes were derived from). This tool set and the modifications/optimizations to the game engine have taken a significant portion of the development time. They do not have to re-invent the wheel to create sequels. They only have to implement whatever new features/updates/fixes they discover along the way.
Slaziman @ Sep 19th 2007 3:32PM
Last gen the PS2 was kicking the Xbox's ass, but the tables have turned this generation, so I expect 6-8 years. Leaning towards the former.
Slaziman @ Sep 19th 2007 3:18PM
Don't worry PS3 fans, you get to enjoy the awesome Heavenly Sword trilogy.
Secura @ Sep 19th 2007 3:47PM
At least I don't need to buy (And break) a 360 for it since it will most likely come out for PC.
Slaziman @ Sep 19th 2007 4:08PM
congratufuckinglations, nobody cares
Do you see me trolling every goddamn Crysis newspost with "will most likely come to 360"? If it does that's fine, the PC gaming market is VASTLY different from the console market anyway. Also thanks for the cliche RRoD comment you slipped in there, douche.
El Padre @ Sep 21st 2007 8:40AM
Yeah, you'll just have to update your PC, because most current ones will be obsolete by then. And since PC version is not announced (it's likely that they make one though), this is pure speculation. Just look at the BioShock sales - sometimes it's just harder to make as much profit on PC as on X360. PC games are cheaper and sales of singleplayer-only titles are slaughtered by piracy. It's possible that MS says "screw it" and keeps ME as X360 exclusive - instead of simply stealing the game through bittorrent, people would have to pay for it (and buy a console if they don't have one already).
Secura @ Sep 19th 2007 4:15PM
I'm just saying I'll have a better experience with it then the people that buy it for 360.
plyx @ Sep 19th 2007 4:18PM
@Salziman:
I'ts OK to love your console, just don't LOVE your console.