GamerNode: Columns - Source: Mass Effect Trilogy Coming to PS3

Source: Mass Effect Trilogy Coming to PS3

Category: Industry, Posted: 01/19/2009 at 11:22PM EST by Tyler Cameron, Columnist

Commander Shepard leading his party on the PS3?

Like many of us, I wondered what was going to happen to the Mass Effect trilogy once EA acquired BioWare in late 2007.

Well que up "Another One Bites the Dust," because it appears that a "reliable source" has told Second Story Gamer that the trilogy will in fact be coming to the PS3 after all, with an official announcement at GDC '09. Basically what it boils down to is that the economy sucks, and EA is losing money. With a multiplatform release, EA stands to make more money from Mass Effect. Of course the spin is (in between chuckling and cigar-chomping) that "more people will get to play this awesome trilogy!" That's fine and all, but there's an underlying aspect that I think is more interesting; if the official announcement is made, it would indicate that we will see the Mass Effect Trilogy on the current console cycle.

But with the first Mass Effect being released in 2007 followed by one (one!) measley chunk of downloadable content, I'd imagine that either Mass Effect 2 is pretty far along in development or that BioWare has a ton of work to do in order to finish the trilogy before we start seeing PS4s and XBox 720s or whatever. I've heard that there will be a Mass Effect 2 announcement at GDC, so I'm leaning toward it being farther along than we might think. Maybe. We'll find out for sure March 23rd.

Also according to the news article, PS3 fans looking for their first taste of the glorious cake that is Mass Effect might have their appetites whetted in mid-2009 with a port similar to BioShock's in 2008.

With PS3 owners losing exclusive games like Devil May Cry 4 and Final Fantasy XIII, and the 360 losing the BioShock exclusivity, fanboys have had lots to be angry about. I'm curious to see how PS3 and 360 fans feel about this, as exclusives become fewer and father between.

Posted by Eddie R Inzauto on 01/19/2009 at 11:31PM

Exclusivity is BAD! Down with exclusives, up with equal-opportunity gaming!

Posted by Eddie R Inzauto on 01/20/2009 at 10:00AM

HERESY! You speak heresy sir!

...at least, that's what I would be saying this time last year, when I didn't have a PS3. Now, it's cool. Whatever keeps the industry afloat.

Posted by Leonick on 01/21/2009 at 12:30AM

ehm.... i didnt read it all but it was a long time ago they said that Mass Effect would be a trilogy and that the second were coming to ps3... isn it the just common logic they will prt the first one to the ps3 to boost sales of the second game?

Posted by DKR1138 on 01/21/2009 at 08:14AM

Bioware have said over and over and over again that Mass Effect isn't exclusive, but its console exclusive to 360... as it is the first one was Produced by Microsoft Game Studios. Until I see it, i'll remain to the thought that Mass Effect will be PC, 360 only.

"But the statement is bound to raise some eyebrows, depending on how one interprets the words. According to Ripten, BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka confirmed that Mass Effect is not coming to the PS3, and as a reason for that decision, he said: "the most important thing is quality, so we're never going to compromise that." Er...doesn't that imply that these games wouldn't turn out as well on the PS3? Doesn't this imply that BioWare isn't familiar enough with the PS3 architecture and has opted not to make the effort? It's easy to say that Muzyka is simply siding with Microsoft (perhaps for obvious reasons), but there may be more to the aforementioned comment. We don't want to compare BioWare to Valve, but you have to admit that both developers have been in Microsoft's pocket since the original Xbox arrived. Or at least, that's how it appears."

Take that for what you will.