Omega DLC Announced for Mass Effect 3

Via BioWare’s official blog, the oft-hinted Omega DLC for Mass Effect 3 has finally been confirmed. As was expected, the content will involve Aria T’Loak and her attempt to reclaim Omega, which was seized off-camera by Cerberus during the game.

Enforce Omega’s One Rule starting November 27 for all platforms (28 for PS3 in Europe). The original post can be read here.

FFXIV Realm Reborn Alpha Test Set for October

Final Fantasy XIV producer/savior Naoki Yoshida revealed that the alpha test for A Realm Reborn will take place in October, with an exact date to be revealed later. The current FFXIV will remain available at this time, however no character data after November 11 will be converted to the new version.

Source: Joystiq

XSEED Now Headed by Former Atlus President

XSEED Games has announced that Shinichi Suzuki is now President and CEO of the company, having stepped down from that same role at Atlus North America back in August. In a press release, Suzuki said that “This is an exciting time for the industry and our company, and I look forward to navigating a course of success through the exciting changes in store as we advance XSEED’s publishing efforts by bringing even more highly anticipated titles to market across multiple platforms.”

Source: Joystiq

Square Enix Defends its Mobile Games Pricing

In a recent Kotaku interview, Square Enix responded to criticism of their mobile games prices, which are markedly higher than most other titles on the platform. “Each game is priced individually and evaluated based on the type of game, depth and overall experience,” a spokesperson replied, suggesting the content – which is also substantially larger – justifies the price. They also noted that the iOS versions are still cheaper than those on the original console or handheld.

Aware that this still leaves them the odd man out, Square Enix acknowledged that the North American market is “accustomed to lower priced or free-to-play games.” They cite their attempt at F2P pricing with Guardian Cross and are pleased with the response to the title so far. “Moving forward, we’re looking forward to the challenge of utilizing our strengths in creativity, world-building, and gameplay mechanics and matching those with a pricing model that are consistent with the market and provides players with a sense of overall value.”

Source: Eurogamer

Phantasy Star Online 2 Hits 1 Million Player Mark

Sega announced this week that Phantasy Star Online 2 has crossed the one million player threshold in Japan. In celebration, Sega will be awarding special prizes to 100 random players who log in between October 17 and November 7, ranging from tickets to the series’ 25th Anniversary Concert, music CDs from same, signed posters, t-shirts, and so on. Two players will additionally score a customized Alienware M14x laptop.

Source: Joystiq

Mass Effect 3 Making Changes to Multiplayer

BioWare has revealed plans to update Mass Effect 3‘s multiplayer, namely adding a challenge system: a series of MP-centric achievements, with players scored through the clearance thereof. An upcoming N7 HQ website will track progression through these challenges, with gold-level challenges granting exclusive titles and banners. Additionally, the weekly Operation events will be replaced by weekly Challenges, with prizes granted immediately on an individual basis rather than globally on a set delay.

Source: Joystiq

Project Eternity Updates Kickstarter Rewards, Includes Wasteland 2

With the Project Eternity Kickstarter four days from completion – $2.7 million and climbing – Obsidian announced a tie-in with inXile and Wasteland 2, which Obsidian is helping to develop. At the $165 pledge tier, Project Eternity will include a digital copy of Wasteland 2 among the other rewards.

Source: Eurogamer

Level-5 Guild01 Collection Headed for 3DS eShop

Level-5 will be adding a handful of minigames from the Guild01 collection as standalone apps for the 3DS in Europe. Among these are Suda51’s Liberation Maiden (available now), Yoot Saito’s Aero Porter (November), and Yasumi Matsuno’s Crimson Shroud (December).

North America will see the same apps, though the timeframe is less clear. NoA confirmed only that all three would be out by the end of 2012.

Source: Joystiq

Skyrim: Hearthfire Now Available on PC, No Word on PS3 DLC

Skyrim‘s build-a-home DLC, Hearthfire, has been released for the PC. As this re-raised the question of when PS3 owners will have the same access, Bethesda VP of sales/marketing Pete Hines could only comment that no new information is available. “We’re still on it,” he wrote on Twitter. “Will share update when I have one.”

Source: Joystiq

WoW: Mists of Pandaria Fails to Match Cataclysm’s Day One Sales

Still hot out of the oven, World of Warcraft‘s latest expansion, Mists of Pandaria, didn’t quite meet the sales bar set by Cataclysm. Pandaria sold about 2.7 million copies during its first week – a significant amount, to be sure – but well short of Cataclysm‘s record of 3.3 million on the first day. These sales did, however, boost the game’s player base back above 10 million for the time being.

Source: Eurogamer

Mass Effect 3 Retaliation Brings Back the Collectors

The latest Mass Effect 3 expansion will bring back the Collectors, currently the only enemy race to successfully kill Commander Shepard… mostly. She got better, of course. Anyway, this multiplayer DLC, titled Retaliation adds six new maps, sixteen new characters, and the insectoid Collectors as enemies. Existing maps and forces will also see various updates, such as maps with major environmental hazards.

The content goes live on October 9.

Source: Eurogamer

Paper Mario: Sticker Star Set for December Release in Europe

Also showing up on 3DS is Paper Mario: Sticker Star, as revealed by Nintendo of Europe president Satoru Shibata. With the game already schedule to launch in North America on November 11, it will see its European release on December 6.

Source: Eurogamer

Etrian Odyssey IV Coming in 2013

With the partial launch of the official site, Atlus has formally announced that Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan will see North American retailers in early 2013. The full site for the 3DS dungeon crawler will go live soon, and can be located here once it does.

Mass Media 10/07/12

So my vacation gets here, and I promptly pull a muscle in my back. Kill me now.

Continue reading ‘Mass Media 10/07/12’ »

Mass Effect Trilogy Announced

BioWare has just announced a collection of the Mass Effect trilogy, covering all three games for all systems. This includes the original Mass Effect for PlayStation 3, which will also be released separately as a digital download. The box sets will include a limited selection of DLC, though the choice of content may differ based on platform; it is known that add-ons like Lair of the Shadow Broker (ME2) and Leviathan will not be among them. While the Trilogy Edition will not have an option for a Female Shepard cover, the official Mass Effect Twitter did mention it had “a little something special planned for FemShep coming.”

PC and 360 versions go live on November 6 in North America, with the PS3’s date still unknown.

Source: Eurogamer

Rainbow Moon Set for Vita Release Next Year

PS3 RPG Rainbow Moon is getting a Vita adaptation, according to developer EastAsiaSoft. The title is expected to launch sometime next year, although a specific timeframe is not yet known.

Source: Eurogamer

Persona 4 Arena Patched

Atlus has released the latest patch for Persona 4 Arena, addressing various game balance and technical issues on both 360 and PS3. Among the items fixed is the “Serious Gamer” achievement – earned by reaching level 30 in online matches – which had been inaccessible for some players.

Source: Joystiq

Mass Media 09/29/12

One more week until my vacation.

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Dragon’s Dogma Expansion Coming in 2013

Capcom has announced an expansion for Dragon’s Dogma, entitled Dark Arisen. Little is yet known about the additional content, other than it’s planned to release sometime in 2013. Additionally, Capcom is adding gameplay modes to the base content: Hard mode predictably cranks up the difficulty, while Speedrun Mode rewards players who finish the game under a certain time limit.

Source: Joystiq

Final Fantasy III Now Available on PSP

Title says it all: the actual Final Fantasy III has been released for PSP as a downloadable title. Apart from optimized visuals for the screen size, the port includes an auto-battle function and the option to switch to the game’s original background music.

Source: Joystiq