So it was  announced this week that Mass Effect 2 will finally be coming to the PS3 in January 2011.  EA also clarified that they have no plans to bring the original Mass Effect to the PS3.  It is great that PS3 owners will finally get to play Mass Effect, but EA is making a huge mistake by not releasing the first title in the series.

EA has the opportunity to deliver the entire Mass Effect experience to PS3 owners, but they are squandering it by skipping the entire opening chapter.  Mass Effect 2 is a great game on its own, but the first game adds much more depth to the characters and overall story.  Skipping straight to Mass Effect 2 would be like watching The Empire Strikes Back without having seen A New Hope.

Aside from giving PS3 owners the great story of the first title, they could have also used this as an opportunity to update the original game.  Mass Effect 1 is great, but it definitely isn’t without its faults.  The most obvious updates would be with the visuals.  By brining the original up to date, they can have the game look better than ever, have faster loading times, solid frame rate, and no texture loading issues.

On top of that, they could tweak the game itself to make a better overall experience.  The shooting mechanics of the first game were less than great, so those would need to be updated to match the precise controls of Mass Effect 2.  I think they could also streamline some of the early parts of the game during the first trip in the Citadel by making it more obvious what needs to be done, and require less running back and forth everywhere.  I know a handful of people that want to play Mass Effect but don’t want to spend 2 hours wandering around the Citadel just to become a Specter and start exploring the Galaxy.

Ray Muzyka did say that they are “making sure there’s a nice introduction experience, that provides the back-story and the things that have happened up to that point in the universe.”  They haven’t announced anything specific yet, so we will have to wait for details.  Even if the introduction is interactive in some way, it can’t match what the full game offers.  The character and story have to be developed over time.  The player has to be allowed to shape the universe with their own decisions to get the full effect of Mass Effect 2.  Spoiler Alert: the reveal of Archangel as Garrus is basically meaningless without having played the first.  There are plenty of other examples, but I won’t go into them.

By releasing Mass Effect on the PS3, they would be able to build the franchise to even greater heights.  Mass Effect could release in January 2011, Mass Effect 2 could see a possible summer release in August 2011, and I imagine Mass Effect 3 would see a simultaneous release on all platforms sometime in 2012.  By having a release schedule similar to this, EA would have the most momentum possible leading up to the release of Mass Effect 3.

I am a gigantic fan of the Mass Effect series and I am glad that PS3 owners will finally get the chance to join in.  I just think it is a shame that they won’t have the chance to play the series as it was meant to be played from start to finish.

Last week on the podcast Josh brought up some news about Dana White and his position towards EA during our podcast. Basically, White had stated that anybody who appears in EA’s MMA game will be banned from fighting in the UFC. This seemed a little extreme and the best reason that I could think of was that it might conflict with some sort of contract that the UFC had with THQ. As it turns out, Dana White just hates EA.

One thing I love about White is that he never shies away from controversy. When talking about EA he says that he is “not tap-dancing around this things or whatever, I’m telling you straight-up I’m at ware with them right now. That’s how I look at it.” He also adds that “its easy to sit on the other side of the table and judge me on how I react to stuff like this, but let me tell you what – I’ve been in the trenches for almost 10 years, and I’ve been dealing with all these businesses, and EA was one of them.”

White also mentions EA’s overall negative attitude towards MMA overall. White claims that when they first approached EA they wouldn’t even meet with him and told him that they didn’t think MMA was a real sport and wanted nothing to do with it.

[via MMA Junkie]

You should know by now that I am going to post pretty much any and all Dragon Age Origins screenshots and videos. We got three new videos and 15 new screenshots today so take a gander. Not a whole lot to say about them, the screenshots look pretty and shows some crazy giant creature. The three videos drag on a bit but they are just showing some action fighting some crazy shape-shifting beast.

In case you haven’t heard, the XBLA version of Battlefield 1943 is a bit wonky. The word wonky can be a bit general, so let me specify: THE GAME DOESN’T FUCKING WORK. Yes that’s right dear readers, you will pay $15 dollars only for having the pleasure of owning another EA title, rather than being able to play it. Internet peoples have been reporting that they either cannot connect to servers, or get extreme lag when they do. So why are these mouthbreathers complaining then, can’t they play single player? No you fucking cunt, the game is online only. But then again you take these sort of chances when purchasing an EA game, or should we say, interactive-titlescreen-demos.

The only reason I post this is because I read a recent tumblr blog post from Mr. Ron Workman himself which is titled “Dear EA Games: Fuck Your Shit!”

Microsoft allowing EA to do this bullshit is too far. This is the 3rd EA XBLA title that has not worked at all for me (as well as many many others). Other dev’s have to fight to get games up on XBLA and EA can swoop in and throw a non-working broken pile of shit on there. This has to stop.

Allowing EA to use its own servers as well as its own logins on Xbox Live is bullshit as well. Someone (An actual journalist) needs to really lay this one out. Out of all of the problems people deal with, this one is serious and allowing EA to bend to rules this far and also fuck it up is really over the top.

I just realized most of you have no idea what I am talking about. Battlefield 1943 on XBLA as well as any of the old Draft/Fantasy sports games published by EA just dont work. This one is a new major release, online gameplay only (the others also), and you can’t play it. 15 bucks and you can only attempt to connect. It will not play. It sucks when smaller dev’s fight for a year or more to get a game through certification and EA is allowed to come in and do this.

These games all cost me real money and to date I have not been able to play them. Contacting EA in the past did little to nothing. It shouldn’t have anything to do with them. I don’t call ESPN when my cable goes out, so why should I contact EA when something won’t work on Xbox Live?

-Ron Workman

Look how he speaks the truth. He’s like a modern day preacher, in fact he’s a lot more relevant than Reverend Al Sharpton. But I digress, I agree with what Ron has to say. Independent/Smaller Developers work their asses off to make a game meets all the rules that MS requires, while EA can take a giant dump, somehow digitize it, and then upload to XBL. First off, no company should be able to host their own servers, that’s the whole reason that XBL exists! You pay 50 bucks for a reason, and it’s not to play on EA’s shitty servers (probably powered by third world children running in hamster wheels or some evil shit). EA basically undermines the entire system by running their own servers, and then failing to support them and their own game.

Seriously EA, get your shit together.