Mass Effect 3 Officially Announced!

[Sir_Brizz]

Ea has officially announced Mass Effect 3, coming next holiday season for PC, PS3 and 360. The game apparently takes place with Earth being invaded by an external army of... something... and Shepard on the hook again to save the day. Enjoy the teaser trailer below.







Press Release in the comments.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

EA Unveils Mass Effect 3

Continue Commander Shepard’s Epic Journey When BioWare’s Universally Acclaimed Action RPG Franchise Returns Holiday 2011

EDMONTON, Alberta--(BUSINESS WIRE)--It’s humanity’s last stand and only Shepard can save us. On Saturday, leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), unveiled Mass Effect™ 3, one of the most highly anticipated games of 2011. After weeks of rumor across dozens of gaming websites and blogs, the speculation finally came to an end as the world witnessed, “Earth”, the game’s spectacular premier trailer, broadcast exclusively on the Spike Video Game Awards (VGAs). Mass Effect 3 is the pinnacle of Commander Shepard’s emotionally charged journey. To view “Earth”, please visit http://masseffect.com. Mass Effect 3 is set to launch globally in holiday 2011 on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and the PC -- this marks the first time the Mass Effect franchise will launch on all three major platforms simultaneously. Also at the Spike VGAs, the game’s predecessor, Mass Effect 2 was awarded with the “Best RPG” and “Best Xbox 360 Game” of the year awards and BioWare was named “Studio of the Year”.

“At BioWare, we are always driving ourselves to improve and I firmly believe our best work is still ahead of us”

“At BioWare, we are always driving ourselves to improve and I firmly believe our best work is still ahead of us,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Group General Manager and Co-Founder of BioWare. “We could not be prouder of the team’s accomplishments with Mass Effect 2, and are excited and humbled by all of the recognition the game has received so far. We can’t wait to show you what the team is doing to make Mass Effect 3 an even bigger success.”

The Mass Effect franchise is set in an epic science fiction universe, filled with dangerous alien life and mysterious, uncharted planets. Featuring intense action, a rich, futuristic storyline, space exploration and emotionally engaging character interaction, the franchise delivers an unparalleled cinematic experience. Mass Effect 2 is the highest rated videogame of 2010 on Xbox 360, the PC and one of the highest rated pieces of entertainment overall according to Metacritic.com. The three awards picked up at the Spike VGAs are the latest in an ongoing series of global recognition that includes “Ultimate Game of the Year” honors from The Golden Joysticks and over 35 other awards and over 70 other perfect review scores.

Mass Effect 2 is available now for the Xbox 360 and PC. The Mass Effect franchise will make its first appearance on the PlayStation 3 console when Mass Effect 2 ships to retailers on January 18, 2011 in North America and January 21, 2011 in Europe. The PlayStation 3 demo of Mass Effect 2 will be available on PlayStation Network starting December 21, 2010 in North America and December 22, 2010 in Europe.

For more information on Mass Effect, please visit http://masseffect.com or the newly redesigned BioWare website at http://bioware.com. You can also follow the game on Twitter at http://twitter.com/masseffect2 or “Like” Mass Effect on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/masseffect.

About BioWare

BioWare develops high quality console, PC and online role-playing games, focused on rich stories, unforgettable characters and vast worlds to discover. Since 1995, BioWare has created some of the world's most critically acclaimed titles, including Baldur's Gate™, Neverwinter Nights™, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™, Jade Empire™, Mass Effect™ and Dragon Age™. BioWare operates in Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montreal (Quebec), Austin (Texas), Fairfax (Virginia) and Galway (Ireland). Currently announced projects at BioWare include the PlayStation 3 version of Mass Effect 2, one of the highest rated video games of all time, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age 2, the highly anticipated sequel to 2009’s “RPG of the Year” Dragon Age: Origins, and the story-driven massively multiplayer online game, Star Wars®: The Old Republic™. In 2008, BioWare was acquired by Electronic Arts, a leading global interactive entertainment publisher. For more information on BioWare, visit www.bioware.com, or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/biofeed. To join the millions of fans already registered on our community, go to http://social.bioware.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA Mobile™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2010, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million units. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

BioWare, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Jade Empire are trademarks of EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. PlayStation is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

 

[Nines]

Wow, seriously.

 

[{Ogre}Spin]

oooh, looks reminiscent of the recent movie skyline...not a bad thing at all, imo.

 

[GreatEmerald]

Wee, looking forward to this. Earth, they say? Seems that they have listened to the fans saying that the Sol system being just for showoff was disappointing.

Hmm, holiday? Which holidays are they talking about?

 

[Sir_Brizz]

2011.

 

[MachDelta]

The game apparently takes place with Earth being invaded by an external army of... something...

Never played the game I take it?
That army of 'something' would be a giant swarm of life-destroying soul-harvesting intergalactic robot badasses called the Reapers. Shepard has managed to kill one and a half of them so far. What's another couple hundred?

 

[Sir_Brizz]

Presumably it's the Reapers. I have played the game, but the trailer left it intentionally vague. Remember that the Reapers are in the business of enslaving other races to do their dirty work.

 

[Nines]

So the huge machines we've known as the Reapers were actually controlled by the real Reapers all along? Unnecessary plot twist I say.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

No...

In Mass Effect 1, the Reapers enslaved the Geth (and Saren).

In Mass Effect 2, the Reapers enslaved the Collectors.

In Mass Effect 3, the Reapers enslaved the... ?

So far, there haven't been any "life sized" reapers. The ships in the Mass Effect 3 trailer are clearly Reaper ships, but that doesn't mean anything since Sovereign/Nazara transported Saren and the Geth around.

 

[Vaginal Epiphany]

And now, in ME3, Reapers have lost all logical conduct and common sense (or whatever they're supposed to have) and instead of attacking the citadel to cripple galactic travel for organics, they attack Earth because they want to build a Reaper-size replica of Arnold Swarchenegger.

Makes loadsa sense to me.

EDIT: Then again, ME2's trailer was pretty misleading, too...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLhptv1yYMU

 

[GreatEmerald]

In Mass Effect 3, the Reapers enslaved the... ?

Is "the galaxy" a good enough answer? ME3 is planned to be the last game (at least in the Shepard arc), so there's really no reason why the Reapers couldn't personally invade the galaxy. Although there are always epic plot twist potentials everywhere. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

I agree, but, based on what we know from the previous two games, what ARE "the Reapers"? If they could have just sent in humanoid machines before, why wouldn't they have?

 

[Nines]

The only thing we can say for sure by looking at the trailer, is that Earth is under attack. However, that's doesn't mean the Reapers aren't attacking the rest of the galaxy as well.

 

[GreatEmerald]

I agree, but, based on what we know from the previous two games, what ARE "the Reapers"? If they could have just sent in humanoid machines before, why wouldn't they have?

Humanoid?

Spoiler

There was only one humanoid, and it was the larvae Human Reaper at the end of ME2. It was a prototype. Other Reapers are Cthulhu-like, which suggests that they are either the original design or made for a really, really huge organic species. Then again, the Protheans are also a little Cthulhu-like... Who knows, maybe the Reapers to the Prothers were the same as the geth are to quarians. Except that in the latter case the machines don't want to end all organic life in the universe.

Also, I'll add spoilers tags so people who haven't played the games would not get, well, spoiled.

The only thing we can say for sure by looking at the trailer, is that Earth is under attack. However, that's doesn't mean the Reapers aren't attacking the rest of the galaxy as well.

Exactly.

Spoiler

And from what we saw during the end of ME2, there are probably more than enough Reapers to attack every single inhabited planet.

 

[Mclogenog]

Spoiler

There was only one humanoid, and it was the larvae Human Reaper at the end of ME2. It was a prototype. Other Reapers are Cthulhu-like, which suggests that they are either the original design or made for a really, really huge organic species. Then again, the Protheans are also a little Cthulhu-like...

Spoiler

The larvae Human Reaper was much bigger than humans, and both the Reapers and the Collectors (ex-Protheans) have similarities (mostly in the head), so why would the Reapers have been "made for a really, really huge organic species"? Moreover, I'm fairly certain the fiction has established that the Protheans were the last species to be conquered by the Reapers, and based on that logic the Reapers would design themselves to imitate the Prothean's appearance. This all assumes there's some necessity for the Reaper to imitate the form of what it is attempting to enslave, which can be negated by the instances of human, turian, and asari indoctrination. So, why the need for human Reaper at all?

 

[Sir_Brizz]

Humanoid?

I mean the sizes of humans. The guy in the clock tower shot something on the ground that wasn't the size of a Reaper ship (nor the humanoid Reaper).

 

[Vaginal Epiphany]

I mean the sizes of humans. The guy in the clock tower shot something on the ground that wasn't the size of a Reaper ship (nor the humanoid Reaper).

I assumed that was just a husk.

 

[GreatEmerald]

Spoiler

The larvae Human Reaper was much bigger than humans, and both the Reapers and the Collectors (ex-Protheans) have similarities (mostly in the head), so why would the Reapers have been "made for a really, really huge organic species"? Moreover, I'm fairly certain the fiction has established that the Protheans were the last species to be conquered by the Reapers, and based on that logic the Reapers would design themselves to imitate the Prothean's appearance. This all assumes there's some necessity for the Reaper to imitate the form of what it is attempting to enslave, which can be negated by the instances of human, turian, and asari indoctrination. So, why the need for human Reaper at all?

Oops, I was meant to write "from", not "for". One word can make a huge difference, eh...

I assumed that was just a husk.

This.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

I assumed that was just a husk.

Hmm. That's possible.