Fans of V-sync and acceptable frame rates unite: Mass Effect coming May 2008

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REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading video game developer, BioWare™, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS - News) company, has announced that the award-winning space epic Mass Effect™ will be released for the PC in May 2008. Published by EA and re-designed for the PC, Mass Effect invites players to take the role of Commander Shepard as they set out on an adventure to save the galaxy from imminent destruction. Wrought with treachery, heroism, difficult decisions and a universe filled with unique and colorful species, Mass Effect delivers a truly compelling storyline.

Optimized for the PC, Mass Effect for the PC incorporates the following features:

* Optimized controls designed specifically for the PC.
* High resolution visuals – Mass Effect for the PC features highly detailed textures, characters and environments.
* Fully customizable controls – PC gamers can re-map the control scheme any way they like.
* Run & Gun Control – Players can assign biotic powers or skills to ‘hot keys’ allowing them to play Mass Effect with a heavier focus on action.
* New decryption mini-game.
* New inventory screen GUI and functionality – The enhanced inventory system makes it easier for players to equip and modify their weapons and armor.

“Mass Effect serves as a powerful example of video games as an art form, delivering new levels of emotional intensity, realistic characters and a gripping storyline – all set in a compelling new universe,” said Ray Muzyka, General Manager, BioWare and Vice President, Electronic Arts. Frank Gibeau, President of EA’s Games Label added, “EA has struck an agreement with Microsoft to handle future publishing for Mass Effect. We are looking forward to releasing Mass Effect on the PC this Spring and brand new titles in the future.”

Originally released for the Xbox 360™ videogame and entertainment system, Mass Effect has received critical acclaim throughout the world with more than 70 awards including Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year and Role-Playing Game of the Year. Mass Effect combines a deep story with intense combat and challenges the player to make difficult decisions that can significantly impact the course of events. An innovative conversation system allows for lifelike interaction with some of the most realistic digital actors, voiced by Hollywood actors such as Seth Green, Marina Sirtis, Lance Henriksen and Keith David. Mass Effect for the PC has not yet been rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
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yay!
 
i have this on 360 . The game is awesome

ot- apossum are you the one with the sick pc? i may need some pointers soon on a monster..
 
[quote name='guyver2077']i have this on 360 . The game is awesome

ot- apossum are you the one with the sick pc? i may need some pointers soon on a monster..[/QUOTE]



I have a pretty good PC, but I think you're looking for Chacrana. He knows much more about all that.
 
I haven't played Mass Effect yet, so what's V-Sync?
Is that some kind of skill or power in the game?

The only V-Sync I know is the "Vertical Sync" option on my graphics card.
If you're referring to that, then YES!!! Screen-Tearing Haters Unite!!!
 
[quote name='n25philly']Is it like KOTOR or is it actually good?[/QUOTE]


From the few hours I played of the 360 version, it's basically KOTOR with a shitload more dialog and real time fights (which play like a poor man's Gears of War.) Story wise, it was Star Wars with nouns and adjectives changed.

I gave up because I was getting annoyed with the amount of dialog and technical problems (shitty, shitty framerate, a ridiculous amount tearing.) but I'll play through the whole thing on the PC when I get in the mood for it...I loved KOTOR, but I had to be in the right mood to play it or the dialog would annoy the piss out of me.

[quote name='level1online']I haven't played Mass Effect yet, so what's V-Sync?
Is that some kind of skill or power in the game?

The only V-Sync I know is the "Vertical Sync" option on my graphics card.
If you're referring to that, then YES!!! Screen-Tearing Haters Unite!!![/QUOTE]

it's a skill and power that is exclusive to the PC version...(yes, vertical sync.) Another good one is 60fps :) Though it may not be a perfect 60fps even with the best rig.

I mean, I still get mild frame drops on Taris in KOTOR 1 on my PC (8800GTS, 2.66ghz dual core, 2gb ram lol)-- Bioware is just not known for kick ass optimization.
 
As long as it's smooth to the point where it's not annoying (AKA: 30FPS or above), I can deal. I'm just glad that I'll be able to play this game and enjoy it now. Can't stand games that are glitched to hell.
 
At least with the PC version we can tweak it so that some areas (I'm looking at you blizzard planet) have a playable framerate. I hated the fact that I couldn't do shit to fix the FPS issues on the 360. Now I will have hours to waste changing values in system.ini. :D

That, and I've tried to extract the sound and music from ME, but failed. This releasing will make it much easier. I wanted to make a prank call to All Games Interactive using Shepard's VO during the whole FOX drama.
 
The inventory/equip screen certainly looks a bit cleaned up but the functionality doesn't appear to have changed at all. I wonder if they're still working on it. I think that a grid would be perfect for displaying all the weapons/armor/mods, with manufacturer/model on one axis and then level (I-X) on the other.

I hope they're able to release a patch for the 360 version that adds at least the improved inventory system. It takes me so long to scroll through all the junk I want to sell that I can't even remember which mods are obsolete and I end up saying screw it and just keeping half of them.

Also I'm really curious to see how the character models downscale on a low-end system.
 
PCWii fans unite!

And yeah, how long before the "controversial love scene" gets even more graphic?

Here's hoping they do it right... I can't remember the last console-to-PC port that made it better (Halo 2, RE4, etc.)
 
[quote name='Lone_Prodigy']PCWii fans unite!

And yeah, how long before the "controversial love scene" gets even more graphic?

Here's hoping they do it right... I can't remember the last console-to-PC port that made it better (Halo 2, RE4, etc.)[/quote]

Bioware does good PC games. I have no reason to doubt this will be anything but spectacular.
 
See I knew it was BULLSHIT when they said Mass Effect was going to be a 360 only title. That's what they said about the KoToR series and bam, a few months later it came to the PC.

My 4 year old rig won't be able to handle this, but around that time frame (may) I should have a good enough upgrade. Just waiting to see what Nvidia pumps out next.
 
i will look forward to testing this game but its not one of those " i will play all the way through" games.

I have it on 360 and while not at a perfect silky smooth framerate, the game looks great and is playable.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']See I knew it was BULLSHIT when they said Mass Effect was going to be a 360 only title. That's what they said about the KoToR series and bam, a few months later it came to the PC.

My 4 year old rig won't be able to handle this, but around that time frame (may) I should have a good enough upgrade. Just waiting to see what Nvidia pumps out next.[/quote]

They got bought by EA, it will get ported to the original Gameboy if they figured they could make 10 cents on it
 
[quote name='Lone_Prodigy']PCWii fans unite!

And yeah, how long before the "controversial love scene" gets even more graphic?

Here's hoping they do it right... I can't remember the last console-to-PC port that made it better (Halo 2, RE4, etc.)[/QUOTE]

Gears of War... just a few months ago?
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']See I knew it was BULLSHIT when they said Mass Effect was going to be a 360 only title. That's what they said about the KoToR series and bam, a few months later it came to the PC.
[/QUOTE]

Umm, duh? Of course they're going to bring it out for PC after the 360 sales die down; they want to make as much money as possible off the code and it's not that big a deal for them to port it over. And of course they're going to deny it, because if they had admitted it at first some 360 owners probably would've waited.
 
Has anybody heard rumors about what the requirements are gonna be for this game? I know I will probably need to upgrade my PC, but then again maybe not.
 
[quote name='darthbudge']Bioware does good PC games. I have no reason to doubt this will be anything but spectacular.[/quote]

Yeah Jade Empire is supposed to be really good. I bought it a month ago but have yet to play it.

[quote name='Chacrana']Gears of War... just a few months ago?[/quote]


I heard a lot of compatibility issues with Gears. I haven't played it since my PC can't handle it so I'm not terribly informed on it. But ports like R6Vegas generally seem to be rushed and thus suffer.
 
The Gears problem is with GFW Live, not the game itself, and that was only during the great XBL outage of 1934.
 
ive been having some issues with gow (in xp) but i believe its due to my setup.. been doing alot of tweaking on my system and i think it corrupted the boot sector on my vista hd.

once i make space to copy over the files on that hd to another, i will reinstall vista and try gow on it. im curious to see what enabling dx10/aa does
 
[quote name='Lone_Prodigy']Yeah Jade Empire is supposed to be really good. I bought it a month ago but have yet to play it.[/quote]

I actually disliked Jade Empire a lot which was bizarre because KotOR is easily one of my favorite games EVER. I guess once you take out the fantastic story, characters and Star Wars universe - the gameplay itself just does not stand up.
 
Well this is good news, and shitty at the same time. I am about 5 hrs into ME on 360 right now, what the hell should I do? I am tempted to just quit playing it on 360 and wait for the superior version. My PC is a beast so running it maxed out shouldn't be a problem.
 
[quote name='cgarb84']Well this is good news, and shitty at the same time. I am about 5 hrs into ME on 360 right now, what the hell should I do? I am tempted to just quit playing it on 360 and wait for the superior version. My PC is a beast so running it maxed out shouldn't be a problem.[/quote]

LOL, I'm in almost the same dilemma but with a different game: Lost Planet.

You see... I have a *borrowed* copy on my PC. My brother saw me playing it yesterday and said, "You dummy! Stop playing that, all you needed to do was borrow my 360 version, so that way you could get the Achievements."

But I'm already 1/2 way through Lost Planet (just beat the Green Eye), so I just said "Forget it." Plus, I could care less about Achievements.

btw, I have a mid-range PC (7900gs), so going to the 360 version would actually be the superior version for me.

unless.... that 8800gt drops a bit more soon ;)
 
[quote name='SpecTrE3353']I actually disliked Jade Empire a lot which was bizarre because KotOR is easily one of my favorite games EVER. I guess once you take out the fantastic story, characters and Star Wars universe - the gameplay itself just does not stand up.[/quote]


I was talking about the added content in the PC version (more fighting styles, enemies, etc.)

But yeah, I think KotOR was great because it was Star Wars. Who doesn't want to have a fully-customizable Jedi/Sith character?
 
[quote name='level1online']http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127324

8800GT (512mb) single slot, comes with free Witcher game

~$200[/QUOTE]

Holy shit now my sub $100 8600GT isn't looking so hot afterall, but of course I don't see the free witcher game? Either way 8800gt's getting closer to the $150 spot means anyone can afford a top of the line graphics card, till the 9000 or whatever is out.

BTW I am in the *SAME* dilema as several CAGs are. I am considering selling my Mass Effect on fleabay in hopes of getting near $40 total so I can get it for the PC when It's $50 (or less knowing sales).

Also, I'd actually recommend against Lost Planet *unless* you own a 8800GT for the pc, because even with my 8600 it runs under 30 FPS most of the time. It's one of those rare games that your better off with on the console (same as Overlord and Dirt unless you own a 8800GT).
 
[quote name='Monsta Mack']Holy shit now my sub $100 8600GT isn't looking so hot afterall, but of course I don't see the free witcher game? Either way 8800gt's getting closer to the $150 spot means anyone can afford a top of the line graphics card, till the 9000 or whatever is out.

BTW I am in the *SAME* dilema as several CAGs are. I am considering selling my Mass Effect on fleabay in hopes of getting near $40 total so I can get it for the PC when It's $50 (or less knowing sales).

Also, I'd actually recommend against Lost Planet *unless* you own a 8800GT for the pc, because even with my 8600 it runs under 30 FPS most of the time. It's one of those rare games that your better off with on the console (same as Overlord and Dirt unless you own a 8800GT).[/quote]

Yeah, it looks like that link finally creeped onto SlickDeals.net

sooooooooooooo..... it's out of stock now. :cry:

buuuuuuuut.... there's on OC version now up with "Unique Quad Copper Pipe Cooling Technology"

$199.99, dual slot, no free game though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127329

14-127-329-03.jpg
 
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=86958
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Minimum System Requirements for Mass Effect on the PC

Operating System:
Windows XP or Vista

Processor:
2.4+GHZ Intel or 2.0+GHZ AMD

Memory:
1 Gigabyte Ram (XP)
2 Gigabyte Ram (Vista)

Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 6 series(6800GT or better)
ATI 1300XT or better (X1550, X1600 Pro and HD2400 are below minimum system requirements)

Hard Drive Space:
12 Gigabytes

Sound Card:
DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers
----------

Recommended System Requirements for Mass Effect on the PC

Operating System:
Windows XP or Vista

Processor:
2.6+GHZ Intel or 2.4+GHZ AMD

Memory:
2 Gigabyte Ram

Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or higher.
ATI X1800 XL series or higher

Hard Drive Space:
12 Gigabytes

Sound Card:
DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers – 5.1 sound card recommended [/FONT]
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[quote name='sandrokstar']HOT DAMN 12GB!!! My poor HDD is going to be stuffed like foie gras...[/quote]

Pssh, Age of Conan is like 20-30GB.
 
[quote name='Monsta Mack']Damn I should have waited, the framerate isn't that great on the 360. Oh well.[/QUOTE]

Quoting myself but I ended up selling this game for close to $38 to take home on eBay so the $10 off PC version coupon is awfully tempting considering I almost broke even.

I played this game on the 360 for 3+ hours and had a lot of fun with it, but due to a huge backlog of other games I never had the time to beat it. Looks like I made out after all.
 
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