Mass Effect Pinnacle Station DLC released

Microsoft and BioWare have released a new add-on for Mass Effect called Pinnacle Station on Xbox Live Marketplace for right around $5 USD. In this new DLC players explore a top-secret Alliance space station and discover the danger therein. Feature 13 combat scenarios, Pinnacle Station will keep Mass Effect players busy for a little over a couple of hours.

As Gus Mastrapa points out in thisGame | Life story, this content seems like a way to remind fans that Mass Effect is a great game universe and that a new game is waiting in the wings - Mass Effect 2. Why? Because it has been a very long time since we’ve seen any Mass Effect DLC and it’s fairly cheap.

Oh, you’ll need to have reached Spectre status within the game to play this, but chances are you have already hit that level considering that this game is nearly two years old.

Add it to your queue by visiting xbox.com.

Dark Horse, BioWare team for Mass Effect comics

BioWare and Dark Horse Comics have teamed up for a new comic book series based on Mass Effect, its popular sci-fi action RPG. In Mass Effect: Redemption, the story takes readers through the events leading up to Mass Effect 2, which opens with galactic hero Commander Shepard mysteriously missing and left to fight for survival. What unfolds next will expose readers to new locations, aliens and extended storyline in the Mass Effect universe. Mass Effect: Redemption is scheduled to launch in January 6, 2010.

The Mass Effect: Redemption story is written by Lead Writer Mac Walters at BioWare, who is also the script writer behind Mass Effect 2. The comic is scripted by John Jackson Miller (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, The Invincible Iron Man) and drawn by Omar Francia (Star Wars Legacy). This first four-part series explores the “exotic and dangerous future Milky Way of Mass Effect,” revealing new locations, aliens, and enemies.

Mac Walters and Omar Francia will be autographing a Comic-con exclusive Mass Effect signing card at the Dark Horse booth (#2615) on July 24th at 4:00pm - 5:00pm at Comic-Con International 2009 in San Diego, CA.

Mass Effect: Redemption issue 1 hits comic shop shelves on January 6, 2010. Mass Effect 2 is scheduled for release on Xbox 360 and PC in early 2010.

Mass Effect iPhone Rumors Dispelled

BioWare is apparently tired of word on the street about its upcoming Mass Effect iPhone game and is clearing the record. According to a post on the official BioWare forums by BioWare Forum community coordinator Chris Priestly, the first thing to note is that this game is not a prequel, nor is it a bridge between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. Instead the game is a side quest featuring a major character from the second game. Early details about the game were leaked when a tester in a focus group decided to break his / her non-disclosure agreement and talk to the media.

The game is going to be available for the iPhone AND the iPod Touch. The development on the game is being handled by a separate dedicated team with no connection to any Mass Effect DLC development or patches – which means that it has not affected any DLC development, despite rumors to the contrary.

More information on the game is to be released later this month.

EA, Activision Dominate PC Charts

According to numbers from NPD Group for the week ending Jan. 24, The Sims 2 Double Deluxe was the top selling PC game in North America. More importantly Electronic Arts and Activision dominated the week’s charts, with only Bethesda’s Fallout 3 and 2K Games’ Civilization IV. EA had four titles on the charts, while Activision had four -0 three of which were World of Warcraft SKU’s. The complete list after the jump, along with digital sales numbers from Direct2Drive and Steam:

Read the rest of this entry »

The Top 21 News Stories of 2008: 14 - 8

(Contributors: Tom Ohle - CD Projekt RED, Rich Carlson - Digital Eel, Eric Holmes - Radical Entertainment, and Game Trust members Evan Narcisse, Gus Mastrapa, David Chapman and James Fudge)

We continue our countdown of the Top 21 News Stories of 2008, with #14 - #7, starting now. If you missed the first part of our countdown featuring David Chapman, James Fudge and ECA President Hal Halpin, you can check it out right here.

Next: #14 –>

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Rumor: Avi Avrad Options Mass Effect

According to a rumor floated by Variety’s Cut Scene Blog (citing multiple “reliable sources”), Hollywood movie producer Avi Arad has optioned the rights to BioWare’s sci-fi action role-playing game, Mass Effect from Electronic Arts.

Avi Arad is best known is the head of Marvel Entertainment’s movie business spearheading such hit films as X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man Ghost Rider, Elektra, Ghost Rider, and many more.

Certainly a Mass Effect movie is a great idea given the rich back-story in BioWare’s game and the many compelling characters would work well in a film. We’ll keep you posted on this story as it develops, but for now let’s just call it what it is: just a rumor.

Source: Cut Scene Blog

Mass Effect DLC Hits PC For Free

PC owners of BioWare’s space RPG Mass Effect get a little bit of love today with the release of the downloadable content, Bring Down The Sky - free of charge. The downloadable mission, which Xbox 360 owners had to pay for, offers 90 minutes of additional gameplay, introduces a new race (Batarians), features an original soundtrack and offers a a brand new, uncharted world.

BioWare said in its announcement today that Bring Down The Sky is the first of a series of downloadable missions for its game. If you are interested in the first one, you can download it from masseffect.bioware.com/.