Mac gaming receives a boost from GOG.com, Japanese Vita sales lag, The Old Republic details free-to-play, and more.
Click through for the biggest gaming news stories for the week of October 15:
Return to Omega, packing new weapons, and an unlikely ally.
It’s been a rough year for BioWare, especially the Mass Effect team. After the outcry of fans upset with the outcome of the epic sci-fi/RPG trilogy the team had to postpone planned DLC to work on a new ending. To quell the anger in that time, multiple free multiplayer add ons were released, and the game didn’t see its first true story-based DLC until Leviathan was released in August. It seems like the team is back on track, soldiering on after the departure of the company founders. While it won’t quite make it in time for “N7 Day”, the Omega DLC pack will be available soon, and promises to be the biggest addition to the game so far.
Remember that cheaply made Big Daddy figure? Ken Levine is gonna do right by you this time.
There are some rabid game collectors out there, and Ken Levine and his team over at Irrational Games are banking on that fact with two impressive special editions of BioShock Infinite. The Premium Edition comes with a staggering amount of swag, while the pricier Ultimate Songbird Edition includes a large and very detailed statue. If your inner Gollum is starting to mutter “precious” read on for all the juicy collector details.
Celebrate N7 Day with the entire Mass Effect saga.
There’s good news ahead for both fans of Mass Effect and people that have been on the fence on starting the saga of Commander Shepard. BioWare and EA are kicking off a new annual event on November 7 called N7 Day. What better way to inaugurate this new celebration than an all-new collection of the series that started it all? That’s exactly what you’re going to get with the Mass Effect Trilogy, coming on N7 Eve.
Fan feedback has played a major role in this role playing game.
Although Dragon Age 2 saw critical and commercial success, it was hard to deny that it was missing a lot of the magic that Dragon Age: Origins had. BioWare has been very transparent in their desire to take fan feedback to heart, which was most obvious when they changed the controversial ending to Mass Effect 3 earlier this year. The RPG developer has been asking the fans of Dragon Age for input on the series for months now, with the first results being a new approach to party member armor sets. This lead people to speculate that a third Dragon Age was in the works, and today BioWare confirmed that Dragon Age 3: Inquisition is in development.
Whore of the Orient is the next gritty drama from the team.
After the implosion of Team Bondi following the successful launch of L.A. Noire and the subsequent selling off of the assets to Kennedy-Miller Mitchell it seemed like the studio was done. Not so, however, as we’ve learned today that the embattled developer is alive and well, and working on something next gen. Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for Whore of the Orient. When you’re done giggling, read on.
Brand new IP emphasizes the role of memory swapping.
Today at Gamescom 2012, Capcom officially announced a brand new IP set in futuristic Neo Paris, known as Remember Me. The title, which has been announced for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, will star a female protagonist known as Nilin who is described as a “memory hunter.”
2.0 is SO last year.
Despite the rough launch and nearly unanimous negative reviews from the media, Final Fantasy XIV continues. The game had such a rocky start that the company publicly apologized for the state that the game was released in and allowed players to play with no subscription fees for nearly a year. Producer Hiromichi Tanaka stepped down from his position on the game and recently left the company entirely. But just because FF XIV is down should not suggest that it’s out. The much-ballyhooed “2.0” version of the game is now a new subtitle. Final Fantasy XIV is dead. Long live Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.
New Single Player DLC Announced for this Summer.
Coming off of a slew of free multiplayer content and the extended cut ending, Mass Effect 3 is finally getting another addition to its single player. Proving the leak that came earlier this year, the DLC will indeed be named Leviathan.
Apogee Software reveals a new first person shooter to the most concentrated form of the key demographic imaginable.
Apogee Software of Duke Nukem Trilogy fame took the stage first at QuakeCon 2012 to reveal their newest old-game-rebirth project, Rise of the Triad. This first person shooter has players battling not-Nazis (that look a lot like Nazis) called Triad. Rise of the Triad’s big reveal was extremely violent and clearly born of the makers of Duke Nukem. The quick teaser trailer showed a brutal killing of someone begging for mercy as the crowd cheered, followed by many similar moments punctuated with some uh, impressive voice work yelling “f*ckin’ A!” and similar witticisms.
