Bioware to Fix Error-Laden Mass Effect Novel

[The Funslinger]

Now if only the same thing could be done to the Star Wars Expanded Universe so we could retcon Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi out of existence.

And equip all televisions with a JJ chip, that blocks Jar Jar Binks from appearing on-screen.

OT: I believe I speak for everyone when I say "Oh, this world we live in!"

Made the mistake of ordering the book a few days before the release date - now it's on its way and I'm supposed to... what, bin it then order the revised edition when it's released? Keep it, hope it becomes a hilarious and valuable collectible one day, and then order the revised version?

Ugh, fail.

Or just do what I one day intend to do with copies of all the world's dubstep: Purchase land, and install a clay pigeon launcher, and go to town.

 

[LongMuckDong]

It's good that Bioware listen to the fans and also takes action but I doubt that a number of changes are enough. This "book" is an abomination. The only way to rescue it, means it has to be rewritten by some other writer.
It's not just the lore that has many holes.
The characters are destroyed. They act completely different than before for no apparent reason. Kai Leng, Kahlee Sanders and David Anderson will never be the same again unless the book is rewritten.
The story is often stupid and nonsensical not just because of the lore. Certain things that happen just don't make any sense.
The writing is just bad. I don't know why he wrote in such bad style, I've read another book by Dietz and that was at least average. Here he writes like he has never written a book before.

You can say that I exaggerate but I think that there are just too many things wrong with this book.
Still, I appreciate it that Bioware at least wants to change it. To be honest, I did not expect that to happen. I thought that they would simply wait until fans forgot about this.

Its a VIDEOGAME BOOK, Of course its going to suck! Even if it got everything right canon wise it would still suck! Videogame books just fucking suck and it will always be that way. Just like paying your taxes

Why would a book automatically suck if it's based in a world created originally for a video game? Maybe back in the day when the depth of worlds/characters in games was as deep as a paddling pool.. but these days the quality and size of game universes rivals any mediums realms.

The Mass Effect universe is my favourite sci-fi universe bar none (I prefer it to Star Wars, Trek, B5, the list goes on), and I really liked the previous 3 books by DK, and I never read novels.. to be honest, Video Game novels have got me back into reading, which I am greatful for, and find books tied into games to give my gaming another layer of satisfaction, knowing back stories of characters you meet and places you go: it's so good.

The Deus Ex, Dragon Age and Star Wars Old Republic books have done the same for me, expanded my gaming to include even more lore content to enhance the total experience. So I put it to you sir, that they do not 'suck', but in fact 'rule'.

cheers.

 

[Erttheking]

You know he's right, "Fixing the book" pffft that book should be kept the shitty way that it is. Everyone knows that you're not supposed to respond to complaints and actually try to fix the mistakes you made, you're supposed to just sit down and let people ride you like the ***** that you are and not do anything about it...people, I swear.

Also in an unrelated topic WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!

 

[Sampsa]

Well, E-books are here, so patches and DLC for books may not be such and weird idea. But I'm glad they'll do am updated version of this book, since three former were good.

 

[Sentox6]

Now if only the same thing could be done to the Star Wars Expanded Universe so we could retcon Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi out of existence.

Nothing personal, but I resent you for even making me think about Legacy of the Force.

 

[uncanny474]

It's good that Bioware listen to the fans and also takes action but I doubt that a number of changes are enough. This "book" is an abomination. The only way to rescue it, means it has to be rewritten by some other writer.
It's not just the lore that has many holes.
The characters are destroyed. They act completely different than before for no apparent reason. Kai Leng, Kahlee Sanders and David Anderson will never be the same again unless the book is rewritten.
The story is often stupid and nonsensical not just because of the lore. Certain things that happen just don't make any sense.
The writing is just bad. I don't know why he wrote in such bad style, I've read another book by Dietz and that was at least average. Here he writes like he has never written a book before.

You can say that I exaggerate but I think that there are just too many things wrong with this book.
Still, I appreciate it that Bioware at least wants to change it. To be honest, I did not expect that to happen. I thought that they would simply wait until fans forgot about this.

I want to point out that this is nothing new. Dietz ruined the Halo 'verse well before he set about mutilating the Mass Effect one.

I LOVE the Halo EU novels, but the second one--written by Dietz is like reading a walkthrough rather than a book. An unfinished walkthrough. Written by a five-year-old. With a piece of dried poo.

How is this dumbass still allowed to write books??? I've read CRACKFICS that were better-written than his stuff. Freaking Full-Life Consequences was better than his Halo novel. He needs to be blacklisted from the official novel community.

 

[Android2137]

With the amount of errors and stuff, did anyone from the game's writing team even read the drafts? Why weren't they editing? And why did Chris tweet that the book was good?

 

[Beryl77]

I want to point out that this is nothing new. Dietz ruined the Halo 'verse well before he set about mutilating the Mass Effect one.

I LOVE the Halo EU novels, but the second one--written by Dietz is like reading a walkthrough rather than a book. An unfinished walkthrough. Written by a five-year-old. With a piece of dried poo.

How is this dumbass still allowed to write books??? I've read CRACKFICS that were better-written than his stuff. Freaking Full-Life Consequences was better than his Halo novel. He needs to be blacklisted from the official novel community.

I've heard that his "own" books aren't bad, it's the tie-ins he fucks up but his reputation makes me wonder why Bioware/EA thought that it's a good idea to hire him to write Deception.

 

[Baresark]

I'm glad they are fixing this. I don't care to read the books but now the internet can move on from this.

Also, what is that hideous picture next to the article?

 

[Baresark]

With the amount of errors and stuff, did anyone from the game's writing team even read the drafts? Why weren't they editing? And why did Chris tweet that the book was good?

To promote the book and by extension promote ME. I'm sure he didn't read it. Or he didn't pay attention to it when he was reading it.

 

[Baresark]

It's good that Bioware listen to the fans and also takes action but I doubt that a number of changes are enough. This "book" is an abomination. The only way to rescue it, means it has to be rewritten by some other writer.
It's not just the lore that has many holes.
The characters are destroyed. They act completely different than before for no apparent reason. Kai Leng, Kahlee Sanders and David Anderson will never be the same again unless the book is rewritten.
The story is often stupid and nonsensical not just because of the lore. Certain things that happen just don't make any sense.
The writing is just bad. I don't know why he wrote in such bad style, I've read another book by Dietz and that was at least average. Here he writes like he has never written a book before.

You can say that I exaggerate but I think that there are just too many things wrong with this book.
Still, I appreciate it that Bioware at least wants to change it. To be honest, I did not expect that to happen. I thought that they would simply wait until fans forgot about this.

Its a VIDEOGAME BOOK, Of course its going to suck! Even if it got everything right canon wise it would still suck! Videogame books just fucking suck and it will always be that way. Just like paying your taxes

Why would a book automatically suck if it's based in a world created originally for a video game? Maybe back in the day when the depth of worlds/characters in games was as deep as a paddling pool.. but these days the quality and size of game universes rivals any mediums realms.

The Mass Effect universe is my favourite sci-fi universe bar none (I prefer it to Star Wars, Trek, B5, the list goes on), and I really liked the previous 3 books by DK, and I never read novels.. to be honest, Video Game novels have got me back into reading, which I am greatful for, and find books tied into games to give my gaming another layer of satisfaction, knowing back stories of characters you meet and places you go: it's so good.

The Deus Ex, Dragon Age and Star Wars Old Republic books have done the same for me, expanded my gaming to include even more lore content to enhance the total experience. So I put it to you sir, that they do not 'suck', but in fact 'rule'.

cheers.

I'm with you, they don't have to suck. There are lots of property tie in novels that are awesome (the prequel novel to the last Terminator film was about 1 billion times better in my opinion, than the movie). That said, there are reasons why certain tie in books suck. The Dragon Age novels for example are just cliches of the videogame they came from and it drives me nuts. I'll say this though, I hate when people assume something is going to suck.

 

[Kashrlyyk]

Do fans that bought the error-laden version the fixed versions for free? Does Bioware actually expect the fans to pay twice?

 

[spectrenihlus]

Well, E-books are here, so patches and DLC for books may not be such and weird idea. But I'm glad they'll do am updated version of this book, since three former were good.

How, pray tell, would DLC for books work? The only thing I could imagine may be a preview to the books sequel?

Short story inserts?

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

You know he's right, "Fixing the book" pffft that book should be kept the shitty way that it is. Everyone knows that you're not supposed to respond to complaints and actually try to fix the mistakes you made, you're supposed to just sit down and let people ride you like the ***** that you are and not do anything about it...people, I swear.

Also in an unrelated topic WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!

Ok, I understand you like Mass Effect, but really? We are obviously making fun of them for releasing an error-laden book that needed fixing in the first place.

 

[TheCruxis]

Well I guess this sounds promising. If nothing else it at least shows that Bioware is listening to fans (when enough people scream) allthough I would prefer if they didn't give out such crappy things from the begining.

Now if only I could get my money back from buying the faulty version of the book. You don't really expect me to buy the book twice now do you Bioware?

 

[everythingbeeps]

And with this, gentle readers, we have come full circle. Bioware is going to patch a book. It's now only a matter of time before they announce extra chapters as DLC.

XD i say thats a good business model :tf:

I would actually relished the day that books can be patched XD

They've been patching Kindle books for a while now. Certainly not changing the actual content as in this case, but fixing typos and formatting issues and all that other stuff.

And this makes me wonder: if someone bought the Kindle version of this book, will their copy be patched at no charge? Or will they have to rebuy it like all the poor schmucks who bought the physical book?

 

[4173]

Patching books isn't new. This is only remarkable because of the atrocious research and editing for a book with a [relatively] sizable audience.

 

[Strazdas]

at least they are out and admitting they made a fault, unlike, say, ubisoft.

 

[Falseprophet]

It was about a year or two ago that Ubisoft was looking to hire someone to manage all the lore of the Assassin's Creed setting. Not sure what came of that, but it sounded like a really smart business decision on Ubisoft's part.

As fans become more and more invested in the lore and nitty-gritty of their favourite fictional settings, I think it behooves content creation companies to hire content managers to keep on top of all this stuff. Especially if the company wants to expand their IP outside of their traditional medium into spin-offs like books and webseries, etc. If they want these peripheral stories to be taken seriously by fans of their original brand and not seen as a cynical cash-grab, they should treat their own IP with as much respect as their devout fans do.

 

[Sampsa]

Well, E-books are here, so patches and DLC for books may not be such and weird idea. But I'm glad they'll do am updated version of this book, since three former were good.

How, pray tell, would DLC for books work? The only thing I could imagine may be a preview to the books sequel?

Well, what happened meanwhile stylish DLC comes first into mind. Maybe the Whole Story (sorry LRR) would require some puchases like the ME2 DLC with Batarian relay destruction. And if the book is not so much into canon alternate endings for paragon / renegade etc.