ME3

[Josh]

well, the cost of producing a game has gotten out of control. it used to be something that a handful of nerds could do in a few months, and finding glitches were actually treated as part of the game (ie phasing through walls in SMB). now its a multimillion dollar venture that takes years with constant patches after retail release to fix the swarm of game-breaking bugs that are going to show up. they cant just keep selling it for a single base price anymore

Yeah, it costs as much to make a movie as it does a video game now. I think in the future, instead of DLC we'll start seeing more stuff like episodic content where the game is released like a tv series would be instead of every 2 years.

[Vad]

Yeah, it costs as much to make a movie as it does a video game now. I think in the future, instead of DLC we'll start seeing more stuff like episodic content where the game is released like a tv series would be instead of every 2 years.

That or they'll stream line content creation at some point and cut down on production time by quite a bit.

[Waffuru]

I thought the DLC totally felt like DLC though. People were saying it was like 'cut' from the game to squeeze more money out of us. To me it was a lame mission and another squad member.. pretty much just like the ones that added new people in ME2. If you don't have it, I'd say you're missing out on nothing.

[Jarka]

Yeah, it costs as much to make a movie as it does a video game now. I think in the future, instead of DLC we'll start seeing more stuff like episodic content where the game is released like a tv series would be instead of every 2 years.

I believe the earnings of the video game industry surpass the movie industry, as of 2008.

Also, I'm with you on the episodic content. I expect to see a shift to smaller installments of games, especially if developers look to woo the emerging tablet market.

That or they'll stream line content creation at some point and cut down on production time by quite a bit.

Episodic content would probably play a large part in this. The devs would be able to have a large deal of coding, character rigging, what have you, already implemented. Since they were essentially considered the same game, they wouldn't need to make vast improvements to anything or look totally different. Sure, they might make tweaks and they would still have to add new scripting for whatever the new storyline had, but it would bring them much closer to completion. Streamlining pipelines.

[Jonathan Meer]

well, the cost of producing a game has gotten out of control. it used to be something that a handful of nerds could do in a few months, and finding glitches were actually treated as part of the game (ie phasing through walls in SMB). now its a multimillion dollar venture that takes years with constant patches after retail release to fix the swarm of game-breaking bugs that are going to show up. they cant just keep selling it for a single base price anymore

The indie community says hi.

[Jonathan Meer]

In defense of Bioware, regarding the files that were on the disk, we're talking a character model and dialogue. As I understand it, art and writing are done pretty early in a development timeline. The existence of these items on the disk isn't all-that-damning, in that light.

[Android 17]

I haven't read any of this thread, but I do want to pop in with a hilarious bit I just found out. It seems you do see Tali's face at some point in the game (if that's a spoiler...c'mon, you had to know they'd have to do that). The amusing bit I learned is that its based on a 15$ stock photo that they photoshopped to look a tad bit more alien.

Having seen the image, my only reaction is to lawl profusely. My only solace is that I don't have to play through the game again to continue my Tali romance.

[John Doe]

I have yet to play any of the Mass Effect games, but a friend posted this in a chat so I thought it might be relevant to this. Spoiler tags because I have no idea.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Pinky]

not sure what was wrong with the ending, or why people hate it. seemed entirely in line with the choose your own adventure style plot that had been constant throughout the franchise. how was it supposed to end?

[Super Buu]

Man so much ending discussion on the internet to avoid, and I hadn't even played the demo bits of the campaign until yesterday. I literally just hammered through the last two DLCs on ME2 that I hadn't played, Overlord and Arrival, and started the ME3 campaign at last. It actually feels like a pretty big departure from ME2, more on-rails, and I'm not sure how much I like that yet. Still, it's hard to stop playing.