EA is moving at a quick pace with the Battlefield franchise by already announcing access to the Battlefield 4 beta for those who pre-order Medal of Honor Warfighter which will be released on October 23rd.
This is a similar deal offered to those who pre-ordered the 2010 Medal of Honor received beta access to Battlefield 3. Continue Reading…
In a shock to absolutely no one after Origin’s accidental leak, Crytek officially revealed Crysis 3 today.
From the OXM write up:
Return to the fight as Prophet, the Nanosuit soldier on a quest to rediscover his humanity and exact brutal revenge. Adapt on the fly with the stealth and armor abilities of your unique Nanosuit as you battle through the seven wonders of New York’s Liberty Dome. Unleash the firepower of your all-new, high-tech bow and alien weaponry to hunt both human and alien enemies. And uncover the truth behind the death of your squad while reestablishing the power of human will in a rich story full of exciting twists and turns.
Personally, I didn’t care for the original Crysis (mainly because I found some issues with not liking how it registered shots fired/hit box problems) but Crysis 2 seemed to be pretty solid and this one has certainly got my interest piqued. They’re touting it as a “sandbox shooter” so I’m wondering if they’re going to let you roam the streets as more of a prototype/infamous type of game instead of being a semi-on-rails shooter. I certainly like the idea of a free roam shooter a lot more than what we’ve seen in the past so we’ll be keeping a closer eye on Crysis 3 as more details arrive in the coming weeks.
Not that this comes as much of a surprise to anyone, but EA’s Origin service seems to have been erroneously listed Crysis 3 in their available pre-order titles, revealing the box art and sharing a few immediate details about the upcoming continuation of the super soldier saga. This news only confirms an apparent reveal teased by GameReactor Sweden for their next issue. Crytek GM Nick Button-Brown also said that Crytek would announce a new “absolutely fantastic” project in April, and this would certainly fit that statement.
The coolest thing immediately apparent is the presence of a bow on the cover. With Crysis, it’s hard to tell how they’ll manage to add archery into the mix, but I can certainly imagine exploding arrows or possibly something crazier, like heat sinking anti-air arrows that could take down helicopters. I’m sure whatever they do with it, it’ll be over the top and awesome. We’ll keep you posted in the upcoming days/weeks.
Mass Effect 3 sold 890,000 copies in the first twenty four hours. A few days later, roughly 890,000 people were very, very angry about how the game ended. So much so that one particular individual filed a false advertising complaint with the Federal Trade Commission – going to assume he’s a big fan of Mordin Solus. So angry were the fans that several measures were taken in an attempt to garner their attention about the ending.
One of those was the Retake Mass Effect movement, which has over 60,000 likes on Facebook and has raised over $80,000 for the Child’s Play charity. Another involved copious amounts of red, blue and green cupcakes given directly to Bioware, which were promptly donated to a local youth group.
Don't let the different colors fool you... They all taste the same.
There are blogs, YouTube videos, entire forums casting the voices of frustration and disappointment with the ending. Angry fans even went so far to give it scathing reviews based purely on the ending, tarnishing the reputation of an otherwise perfect game. Amazon currently has over 400 one out of five ratings, most purely based on the final 10 minutes of the game and have had the game experience described like “being left at the alter.” The average on Metacritic is currently a 9.3, while the user ranking has it down at a 4.9. Hell hath no fury like a fanboy’s scorn.
And it was this very scorn that prompted a response from Bioware co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka which basically states how sorry he is that the fans feel that way, and basically… Bioware is listening. And, lo and behold…
Today EA – a company legendary for nickel-and-diming their customers to death (who could forget the $100 digital car scandal?) – has announced free DLC that contains new “cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes,” for Mass Effect 3 that will also contain more closure and context for the end of the game sometime this summer for PC, 360 and PS3.
So does this prove Ebert’s point that games are not considered art, because the fans are compromising the artist’s original vision? This writer does not think so. Great works of art have been changed over time (J. R. R. Tolkien re-wrote The Hobbit several times before the version that’s out today was complete) why should games be any different? Let’s face it: the ending was bad and rushed. Going back and adjusting the story, giving some clarity to the many mysteries behind some unanswered plot points and giving closure to our favorite secondary characters would be throwing the biggest supporters of this game – who’ve been going on five years now – a bone.
And no, it doesn’t compromise the artist’s vision.
…Unless someone else does it:
Written, Directed, Starring, Produced, Edited by Ryan A Herrera
“Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut” will be out sometime this summer for free, on PC, Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store.
Consumer focused website The Comsumerist holds a vote each year for the worst company currently running in the United States and after the votes were tallied Electronic Arts came away the “winner” in the contest. Congratulations!
EA didn’t just squeak by either, winning the vote by a 64% lead over the others proving that the company blows away the competition in both good and bad aspects.
“To those who might sneer at something as ‘non-essential’ as a videogame company winning the Worst Company In America vote: It’s that exact kind of attitude that allows people to ignore the complaints as companies like EA to nickel and dime consumers to death,” argues the site. “For years, while movies and music became more affordable and publishers piled on bonus content — or multiple modes of delivery — as added value to entice customers to buy, video games have continued to be priced like premium goods.”
Through the slippery slope of DLC, including requiring an online pass for single-player only titles (I’m looking at you Kingdoms of Amalur) to Origin customer service nightmares, EA will be getting the golden poo award for this year.
