We'll have to wait until 2012 for the continuing adventures of the good ship Normandy. But why the delay?
Is there any phrase more potentially dire than "purposefully shifting it to address a larger market opportunity"?
That's the reason behind the recently announced pushing back of the much anticipated Mass Effect 3 to an early 2012 release date.
As reported by Eurogamer, EA's John Riccitiello announced during an investor Q&A the reasons behind the delay. "One of the things that Ray Muzyuka and the team up in Edmonton have done is essentially step-by-step adjust the gameplay mechanics and some of the features that you'll see at E3 to put this in a genre equivalent to shooter-meets-RPG," Riccitiello said, "and essentially address a much larger market opportunity than Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 began to approach."
It's easy to read this is an inherent dumbing down of the game to appeal to much larger market, but it's important to also realise that Riccitiello was not talking to press, but to the money - investors. Of course he's going to talk up financial opportunity.
That said, while Atomic liked all the changes in Mass Effect 2, there have been many who believed that the game was already to dumbed down. If any further streamlining happens, it could potentially enrage fans even further. WIth the backlash against Dragon Age 2 (check out the responses to our Hot award review here) still out and loud, BioWare really doesn't need another angrily recieved RPG.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012