THE FIRST RULE ABOUT MASS EFFECT FIGHT CLUB IS DON’T TALK ABOUT MASS EFFECT FIGHT CLUB

As reported earlier this week by Joystiq, a documentary entitled “The Future of Mass Effect”, included in the Mass Effect Platinum Hits package, confirms the existance of more DLC on the way for the original game and provides some very juicy details about the second installation of the Mass Effect trilogy, tentatively scheduled for an early 2010 release.

In the documentary, Mass Effect Project Director Casey Hudson remarks that the setting for the next installation of downloadable content will take place on some kind of casino space station. He adds that the developers, had they been given more time, would have liked to have seen some sort of fighting arena in the game’s universe, and the the next piece of DLC will fulfil that wish:

“Things we’re working on right now, for the Mass Effect universe next … we had something in Mass Effect 1 that again, we weren’t able to pull off just because we didn’t have the time and we didn’t think we’d be able to do it well enough, which was a fight club or an arena. So we’re actually working on that for our next downloadable content piece and we’re hoping it’ll be really special.”

STORYLINE OF MASS EFFECT 2 WILL BE DERIVED FROM CHOICES MADE IN THE FIRST GAME

Even more exciting than new concrete information about Mass Effect DLC are comments made by Principal Lead Designer Preston Watamaniuk (documentary source included below) . In perhaps the most ambitious undertaking in the history of open-ended gaming, Bioware will attempt to have fundamental aspects of the Mass Effect sequel’s story derived from plot-based decisions made during the first game. Practical necessity dictates that open-ended stories must be restricted lest the development team risk spending lots of time (and money) developing content that players will not experience, a concern addressed by Watamaniuk:

“Now obviously that has painted us into a difficult position, because we have multiple threads, multiple endings … certain characters may or not be alive. It’s created extra work for us but we felt it was necessary to really capture what we were going for in Mass Effect. The short answer of how we’re going to deal with those decisions in Mass Effect 2, and going forward, is that we’re creating alternate versions of all sorts of scenarios. We’re almost creating, I hate to say 2 full games, but we’re definitely creating more content that what a person will see on one playthrough.”

Presenting players with the opportunity to approach situations in a variety of ways that have significant, tangible impacts on how a game’s story unfolds has always been a chief concern for Bioware developers, but having drastically different alternate endings of a game carry through to its sequels is an unexplored frontier in gaming. In addition to Mass Effect 2, Bioware is also taking the role-playing experience to a whole new level with their other frontline title, Dragon Age: Origins, also in development . Origins features a character creation system which allows players to choose from six unique, playable background stories, allowing for perhaps the richest avatar generation system ever implemented in a video game. And, of course, these different origins will impact not only how the characters react to developments in the story, but also how the plot plays out.

Hats off to Bioware for their aggressive ambitions to forever change the genre. Not only are their two upcoming titles breaking away from classic RPG settings (D&D for medieval fantasy, Star Wars for sci-fi), but they are striving to create a more personal gaming experience. I suggest everyone viewing this article view the embedded video to catch a climpse of the future of gaming, and let’s all hold hands and pray that this juggernaut of quality programming makes good on their promises.

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