Joystiq

Mass Effect 3 single-player DLC to focus on Shepard

Mike Schramm — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 02:00:00 EST

So, what's next for Mass Effect? Producer Mike Gamble showed off one picture of future Mass Effect 3 content in his panel at Comic-Con, and from what he told Joystiq it seems to point to more single-player DLC. "We want to do single-player DLC," he said. "We want to do single-player, maybe more multiplayer if people still play it."

That single-player DLC, whatever it is, will still be about Shepard, not someone else in the universe. "Mass Effect 3 is Shepard's story," said Gamble, "so the single-player DLC for Mass Effect 3 will probably focus around Shepard."

The Earth DLC pack for Mass Effect 3 will be the fifth update to the game since launch, following three other multiplayer updates, and the Extended Cut update that fans begged for. Mike Gamble and his team have learned a lot over the course of these updates, but he told us there were quite a few things that surprised them about the reception to Mass Effect 3 multiplayer.

"We see people who have everything unlocked all the way up to level 20 on everything, plus all the mods, plus all of the gear, everything," said Gamble. "It takes a lot of time, a lot of time to get that stuff, like hundreds and hundreds of hours of play to usually get up to that level. And some of these people had done it in the first month to two months."

Gamble was also been surprised by the response to the Vorcha class, playable for the first time in the Rebellion Pack DLC. "I expected people to shy away from the Vorcha because they're Vorcha, but everyone seems to love to play with them."

Mass Effect 3 single-player DLC to focus on Shepard originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mass Effect 3 producer teases 'much more' DLC

David Hinkle — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:00:00 EST

With the launch of Mass Effect 3's Extended Cut DLC today, you may think BioWare is ready to wash its hands of the series and move onto something new. Producer Mike Gamble hit Twitter today to tease future DLC for Mass Effect 3, something BioWare is apparently working on right now.

"Would now be a good time to talk about how we're doing more DLC in the future?" his first tweet teased earlier today. "That was a trick question. We'll save the future DLC for future chats. Don't worry though...there's much more," he responded later in the day. Gamble wouldn't go into specifics about when we'd hear about future Mass Effect 3 content - but we'll be in the captain's cabin, playing with our model ships while we wait.

Mass Effect 3 producer teases 'much more' DLC originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Epic's Mike Gamble blames studio closures on 'stupid acquisitions'

Mike Schramm — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EST

Epic Games' European head, Mike Gamble, says there's a simple reason we're seeing so many big game companies close triple-A studios lately: stupidity. "It's happened because of stupid acquisitions," he said in London recently. Quite a few studios have seen shutdowns, either after or even during big game releases, and Gamble even specifically calls out Disney for buying and then closing down Split/Second developer Black Rock Studio. "What was the point of a well-known children's IP holder buying a hardcore racing studio?," asked Gamble. "It doesn't make sense."

Disney would probably argue that it wanted to expand its console division away from just children's IP, but of course the results bear Gamble's hindsight-improved assessment out on that one. Still, he also says there's an upside to all of the bad news. Especially in Europe, according to Gamble, a lot of developers from studios that have been acquired and closed are instead starting their own companies with different priorities.

"There's a sea change in the European industry," said Gamble. "People are not looking to create companies where they're going to buy Ferraris. They're looking to create companies where they're having a great time and making nice money, but really doing the cool stuff."

Epic's Mike Gamble blames studio closures on 'stupid acquisitions' originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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