BioWare: Mass Effect MMO "Makes Sense"

[The Gnome King]

BioWare: Mass Effect MMO "Makes Sense"

BioWare's Casey Hudson says that an MMO would suit the Mass Effect universe well.

A multiplayer version of while [http://www.amazon.com/Mass-Effect-2-Xbox-360/dp/B001TORSII/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1302485266&sr=1-3], but only just now is the studio starting to admit that something might be in the works. In the latest issue of Game Informer, Mass Effect project director Casey Hudson doesn't confirm any such project, but he says that an MMO would fit the franchise.

"We've been trying to think of a way that makes sense for people to experience Mass Effect with their friends," Hudson said. "We haven't yet come up with a way to do that, so we don't have anything to announce at this time, but obviously multiplayer is something we want to do more of in the future as a company."

Hudson also said that an MMO would "make sense" for the Mass Effect universe. "I think Mass Effect has that quality to it," he added. "If you get rid of the Reapers and win that, wouldn't it be amazing to just live on the Citadel or just take a ship to Omega? That makes sense."

BioWare is already working on Star Wars: The Old Republic [http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Old-Republic-Pc/dp/B001CWXAP2/ref=sr_1_4?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1302484919&sr=1-4], so expecting the studio to have another MMO in development at this time seems like a stretch. However, when Old Republic calms down, perhaps the Mass Effect MMO is up next.

However, that doesn't mean BioWare is ignoring a multiplayer Mass Effect title until an MMO is in the cards. A Mass Effect 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Xbox-360/dp/B003JVKHEQ] is released in 2011.

Source: VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2011/04/11/bioware-mass-effect-mmo-makes-sense/]

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Drool... drool... I'd love a Mass Effect MMO. That would be awesome.

 

[Laxman9292]

This "Game Informer" sounds like quite the magazine. As if one could read it and be informed about games. I'm sure they love people re-posting their articles before the magazine even ships.

As for the story, a mass effect MMO could certainly have it's charms, they've built up the universe as such that I'd love to take a stroll on the citadel or see things only mentioned in news articles like salarian cuisine fleshed out. Though I fear a decline in quality when you're going from creating dozens of locations to hundreds or even thousands.

Add to that I'm sick of mmo's. If you're going to do that, don't stop releasing single-player games.

Hm, EVE Online meets Tabula Rasa?

But for fuck's sake Bioware, put less fucking dialouge! Yes I know an immersive RPG should be heavily story-based, but when I'm sucking up to the chick in my party 80% of the time I play, with the rest evenly divided between walking and fighting, the game needs mroe combat!

I like dialogue personally seth. If I wanted a game with less talking and more shooting I'd just pick up one of the dozens of call of duty or gears of war clones.

I actually subscribe to Game Informer, you get one automatically for being a Game Stop something or other (rewards card shenanigans), and it really is a fantastic magazine. Not platform specific like OXM or Nintendo Power.

And I totally agree with you on the dialogue. I buy Bioware games for their storytelling and the conversations and text really flesh out the story in a way that actions cannot. Sure it might take a little effort but I want to be engrossed in the world of an RPG. How fun is it to role play when you have no idea what is going on in the games universe?

 

[Hungry Donner]

My Two Cents: BioWare should focus on making sure TOR doesn't wind up in the MMO graveyard along with all the other games that've been brutally murdered by WoW.

Although if TOR is successful this may very well preclude a Mass Effect MMO, at least for some time. It is difficult enough to keep one MMO alfoat, two or more and you start to encounter serious problems - this isn't just difficult internally but you end up competing with yourself for users, there aren't many people who want to pay multiple subscription fees. Even if they're free-to-play most people who play MMOs prefer to invest in one rather than spread their time across several.

And given that Mass Effect's space opera setting bares more than a passing resemblance to the Star Wars universe I am very skeptical Bioware could maintain concurrent MMOs for these two franchises.

 

[icyneesan]

Mass Effect: Mako Racing sim...

ALL OF MY HATE AND RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Baresark]

I have a great idea, why don't you concentrate on the single MMO you're working, the one that isn't out yet, before you go deciding to make another one. This is totally the beginning of the end for Bioware. DA2 suffered because they didn't stick to the game style that made the first one a hit. TOR is due, and I am looking forward to it, but Bioware is behind schedule for a bad game. No studio stays perfect forever.

But, you can slowly see them changing elements in their games and slowly but surely, they are changing things for worse, IMO. They are also starting to reuse elements in their games. The innovation is starting to bleed away. DA2 was already Dragon Age Effect. The item system got dumbed down in ME2 (other than that, it was a pretty damn great game), from the first game.

Meh, we'll always have your earlier games to work with when it goes really bad. It's kinda like cancer, it starts slow and if it's not taken care of, it spreads and become systemic, then it's terminal.

Though, part of me thinks the cancer is honestly starting at EA more than Bioware. Also, if you look back, how many original Bioware programmers are there? I don't know, but how close is it to being just a name?

Edit:

A Call of Duty-style Mass Effect multiplayer title was rumored in late 2010, and still could come to be.

What about that actually seems like a good idea exactly? The last thing I would want is a CoD clone with the ME name on it, personally.

 

[Bobbity]

No, no, no! This does not, in any way, fit the franchise. It's always been an RPG centered around a reasonably good third person shooter experience, and to pick up multiplayer is to drop the RPG element entirely.

If Bioware does go ahead with this, then it's just going to seem like a MASSIVE cash grab.

 

[Xanthious]

This absolutely screams of EA meddling. but that's ok Bioware, just keep milking your franchises that are still worth a damn until they are worth about as much as the dog shit I wiped from the bottom of my shoe this afternoon. I'm sure once you've whored away all your integrity to EA the big pile of money you will be left with will be more than enough to make you forget you were ever a respected game developer. I'm sure the rest of the gaming community will have long since forgotten by that point anyhow.

Now as for this Mass Effect MMO. Hell if their recent history is anything to judge by the development time for this will take place over the course of a a four day work week with likely a day to spare. If we are really lucky they will even use the same three maps for every single location in the game so players never have to worry about learning new areas and possibly getting lost in the process.

Also, I can only hope they take make sure every single time you press any button what-so-ever you are treated to some mind blowing awesome effects. This way you know, ya don't have to worry about putting any thought into actually playing the game. Hell ideally they will "streamline" content in this gem to the point you'd be able to read a book while rubbing the controller on the floor and still be able to walk away from most fights unscathed.

Equipment and skill trees shouldn't be too complicated either. Hopefully they will "streamline" weapons to something like "little gun", "medium gun", "big gun", and "really big gun". and armor to something like "bad armor" and "good armor". That way you won't have to waste too much of your time on worrying over a large selection of equipment. Skill trees should be "streamlined" to something like "skill sticks" with no branching. They should consist of "shootin", "fightin", and maybe in an expansion or two you can add in "magic" as a third skill stick.

Finally they are going to want this to appeal to the broadest base possible. With that said you can only hope they rip out anything that caters to that niche audience of those pesky discerning gamers. This of course means completely removing anything that might be praised as innovative game design or in depth thoughtful gameplay.

I believe that as long as they stay their current path then this game has the potential to be something we will remember for a long time to come.

 

[Android2137]

I like the idea, but I suck at MMOs. Plus, we all know how stupid people get when they congregate in big groups over the internet.

That said, if it happens and Geth is a playable race, I might consider giving in...

Have you seen a Krogan, Drell, Salarian, or Turian woman in any of the games? Have you seen any females of the lesser important races; Elcor? Batarians? Vorcha? Volus?

Of course not.

I fully realize they "have" females, but I chose to make a comment insinuating at the fact that none have actually appeared in the games -- I suppose next time I'll spell that sort of thing out.

Krogan females we haven't seen because of how valuable fertile ones are with the genophage and all. Drell are practically an endangered species. Only 10% of the salarian population are female and are thusly very important to their society, holding high positions of power.

As for the less prominent races, how do YOU know you haven't seen females? For all we know, male and female could be indistinguishable for everyone outside of the species. (I most certainly wouldn't be surprised if this was so for elcor, volus, and batarians.)

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!


...Sorry, I just couldn't think of a better way to sum that up. Really does it matter what the theme of an MMO is? Every single one is almost exactly the same, just swap out Orcs for Geth. Night Elves for Asari! I've played a lot of them and aside from one or two, its all basically the same dance.
Especially nowadays where everyone wants to copy WoW. WoW may be hugely popular but I hate it just because of the effect it has on innovation in the MMO market.

 

[latenightapplepie]

No.

I want no part of this madness.

MMOs make me queasy. Even if they are based on a game universe I happen to like a fair bit.

 

[ark123]

No.
I play mass effect for the narrative. I don't play it to deliver 13 kobold heads to another space station to get more xp.

 

[Zeraki]

Yes because an open universe with a myriad of alien species, only two of which having females, makes perfect sense.

Though, I suppose ME already has the aesthetic of a generic Sci-fi MMO, so why the hell not.

Well, one race could be nothing but Female Night Elves! They got the skin tone and dance down at least!

But gods sake man... a Mass Effect MMO? Really...? Let me guess, most likely it'll be based in one of the 50k year periods of the past, with a very, very Human-ish race as well as several others.

Because playing as a Turian would be the only thing anyone would want to do...
or female Qurian...

I'd imagine the Geth would be another widely used race, considering the popularity of Legion and Geth are just plain awesome.

OT: I don't know how I feel about this. I know they can't have the game take place during or after the events of the trilogy because everyone's Mass Effect experience is different. So it would either have to be during, or just after the First Contact war.

The universe is there for an MMO, but they are restricted to how much of the story they can use without having to make a 'cannon' Shepard.

 

[Faerillis]

DA2 suffered because they didn't stick to the game style that made the first one a hit. he item system got dumbed down in ME2 (other than that, it was a pretty damn great game), from the first game.

DA2 didn't suffer because they changed the style, it changed because they didn't finish working through the style. For what it's worth, DA2 had great choices and characters (though the choice part went to hell in Act 3) and its' item system was a pull back from ME2 while still moving away from the over sized clunky systems of ME1 and DAO. It's just that its' combat was so horrid.

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

Well we can wait till after their Star Wars MMO is up& running to get a feel for how it plays to see if another MMO from them is worth playing

-M

 

[ScorpSt]

Hm, EVE Online meets Tabula Rasa?

But for fuck's sake Bioware, put less fucking dialouge! Yes I know an immersive RPG should be heavily story-based, but when I'm sucking up to the chick in my party 80% of the time I play, with the rest evenly divided between walking and fighting, the game needs mroe combat!

You're not serious, are you? Please tell me you're not serious. Dialogue is the only thing BioWare manages to get right consistently. It's a staple of anything they do. You might as well say, "Look, I like Star Wars, but enough with the force. I don't need to see a Jedi in every movie."

Personally, If BioWare made a game that was had no combat and was all dialogue and scenery, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[rsvp42]

This just sounds like a BioWare guy musing aloud, so I wouldn't look that deep into it. Especially considering the price tag and target subscribers for The Old Republic, which I doubt they'd want to split up.

You want to know how to add multiplayer to Mass Effect? Just make it 3 or 4 player co-op, yo. Let some friends jump in and control the other party members. They don't need to be able to control dialogue or affect anything other than combat (though if if you want them to, do it right and make it fun), it just needs to be an option.

That being said, I like MMOs and would definitely play a Mass Effect MMO. So long as the single-player games continue, this would be fine.

 

[tkioz]

A Mass Effect MMO would work great, the universe is already really well done, and frankly we need more Sci-Fi MMOs, too bloody many fantasy MMOs out there.

Yeah we've played as Sheppard in Mass Effect, but I have a feeling his story will end with Mass Effect 3, but that doesn't mean the Mass Effect universe has to go.

 

[tkioz]

Hm, EVE Online meets Tabula Rasa?

But for fuck's sake Bioware, put less fucking dialouge! Yes I know an immersive RPG should be heavily story-based, but when I'm sucking up to the chick in my party 80% of the time I play, with the rest evenly divided between walking and fighting, the game needs mroe combat!

Pshh, go out and play Dragon Age 2. Its almost the inverse, where EVERY FUCKING QUEST is a hackfest. Even the sidequests. There's no variety at all.

I WAS talking about DA2. Ok yeah I rented it and had to go on a roadtrip like 2 days after I got it, so I don't know if theres more combat later on. But still, I was getting really bored really fucking fast, I only rented it because they didn't have Just Cause 2 then.

Well then don't expect much more variety. You have two types of quests: Go kill people quests, or "bring home this stupid piece of crap" quests. That is it. Running and hacking.

Which pretty much sums up about every single RPG in existence.

While true, Dragon Age:O for example was far more interesting, even if the quests were just stand "go there, kill x" or "go there get y, bring back", that doesn't matter, what matters is the quests being interesting.