Bioware are releasing a whole new game after Mass Effect 3 is sent out into the big wide world. All we know, though, is that it’s a new franchise, and this is the first screenshot of it, as bestowed upon the industry’s number one chum GameInformer. We don’t know a name, we don’t know if the inclusion of buggies and deserts is a red herring (as was the Mass Effect 3 image they released for last year’s VGAs), and we don’t even know if it’s an RPG, guns & conversation, shooter, or what. We’ll find out just what it is at the VGA awards on Saturday.
ACTIVATE SPECULATOTRON.
07/11/2011 at 17:15 ZIGS says:
Bioware to develop Rage 2. You heard it here first
07/11/2011 at 17:30 Vexing Vision says:
“We’re not in the Mako anymore.”
This looks more like a Borderlands/Beyond Good & Evil crossover. (Going for the obscure bet here, but at least noone said it before me.)
07/11/2011 at 18:32 Dreamhacker says:
Raging Age, a post apoc RPG about coming of rage.
07/11/2011 at 21:21 Shih Tzu says:
Actually, it’s called “Uwaaagh Everything Just Exploded Arrrrggghhhh!”.
Please don’t tell anyone else, though, I could get fired.
08/11/2011 at 01:03 T4u3rs says:
It’s a Pay2win MMO racing game with Michael Bay as lead designer.
08/11/2011 at 14:27 Trousers says:
Rage Fortress 2: on the Brink of Borderlands
**shamelessly stolen from reddit**
07/11/2011 at 17:17 hydra9 says:
I love that image. Mainly because it reminds me of Hard Boiled (the Geof Darrow comic). And thinking of that is always nice.
07/11/2011 at 18:08 Shuck says:
Now why hasn’t anyone done a game based on that? (Besides the obvious reasons.) That would be great fun. Sure, it’d also be completely unsellable, but…
07/11/2011 at 17:18 Jonathan says:
They’re turning the Dismount games into a conversation-heavy action RPG?
07/11/2011 at 17:23 Fede says:
That’d be awesome :D
07/11/2011 at 17:18 pakoito says:
Finally a shooter, that’s what Bioware needed.
07/11/2011 at 17:18 Bodminzer says:
Ragdoll Cannon HD!
07/11/2011 at 17:19 Roaring Panda says:
Filthy, mate.
07/11/2011 at 17:19 ResonanceCascade says:
They’ve purchased the Carmageddon series?
07/11/2011 at 17:19 westyfield says:
To my untrained eye, the exploding buggy looks a bit like a Puma.
07/11/2011 at 17:21 Icarus says:
A what? Stop making up animals.
07/11/2011 at 17:48 bleeters says:
You ever wonder why we’re here?
07/11/2011 at 18:01 somini says:
Yeah, The Puma Company(tm) will sue you to hell and back. How dare you to name an animal after their brand?
07/11/2011 at 17:20 zoombapup says:
I bet its basically a copy of Uncharted in one way or another. Everything AAA is now a copy of either uncharted or modern warfare. This looks more the former.
I think AAA games have literally lost the plot (it was a shitty plot anyway).
Press X to disagree.
07/11/2011 at 17:26 sneetch says:
/Holds down A
07/11/2011 at 17:30 Terr says:
I came here to say pretty much what you did. Thanks for saving me the words!
07/11/2011 at 17:50 ResonanceCascade says:
AAA games this year also include Arkham City, Portal 2, Deus Ex, Dark Souls, Skyrim, etc. So yeah, I push ‘X’ to disagree with your lazy generalization. :P
07/11/2011 at 18:00 zoombapup says:
Deus Ex had QTE’s. Plus that godawful headbob that somehow AAA designers think is oh-so-necassary even if it makes a ton of players want to hurl.
Skyrim really? and you’ve played it already?
Ok, Portal 2 wasnt QTE. I’ll give you that. Same for Arkham, not seen Dark Souls.
Goddam you and your logic though. I’ll counter yours with BF3 and MW3 along with Uncharted 3.
07/11/2011 at 18:23 ResonanceCascade says:
You think I have to play Skyrim to know it isn’t a COD/Uncharted knockoff? Right…
07/11/2011 at 19:07 Man Raised by Puffins says:
No it didn’t.
07/11/2011 at 19:19 Sheng-ji says:
MW3 is a copy of MW and Uncharted 3 is a copy of Uncharted. Yes, you’re correct. Also you can draw some similarities between Battlefield and MW.
However writing Deus Ex off as a clone of (which one of those?) because it had some QTE’s (And I’ll have to take your word for that because I can’t remember them) is ridiculous, also, I like head bob. Playing a game without it makes me feel a bit nauseous, unless I’m supposed to be riding a hoverchair! In fact, I go so far as to deliberately seek out head movement mods for my racing games because it increases the immersion, whist simultaneously giving me a greater challenge!
Speaking of which, here’s another A title which isn’t a clone of either of those two, unless you really stretch it: Formula 1 2011.
Also, I’m going to go ahead and offer you a bet. If Skyrim turns out to be an Uncharted or a MW clone, I’ll sign over my house to you. End terrace, 1970’s 3 bed in the South of England, mortgage fully paid and worth £230k. Will you take that bet and reciprocate with something of equivalent value should it turn out not to be a clone of one of those two games? (This is a joke!)
I’ll also chuck in an Assassins Creed, Dragon Age 2, Sims Medieval, Shogun 2 Total War, Alice: Madness Returns (Or whatever it was called), Witcher 2, Dirt 3, Driver San Francisco to the A titles are not just clones of MW or Uncharted mixing pot.
08/11/2011 at 01:53 Burning Man says:
@Sheng-ji
“(This is a joke!)”
Y’know, it’d be absolutely hilarious if he held you to that and you agreed. You’d have to explain to your neighbours how you promised away your house on a comment thread, and being made of pure honourable-ness, stayed true to your side of the bet.
Then again, it’d be horribly horribly horrible if Skyrim was like Uncharted and/or MW so please don’t lose.
08/11/2011 at 02:25 Jenks says:
Which one is Gears of War 3 a copy of?
08/11/2011 at 04:16 Real Horrorshow says:
Saint’s Row 3 is a copy of Uncharted.
….
?
08/11/2011 at 11:47 Sheng-ji says:
Hehe, the only reason I wrote “This is a joke” is because I didn’t want my post to be deleted! I actually would make a bet like that, through the appropriate channels, though I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to take it!
07/11/2011 at 17:20 mjig says:
Can’t wait for another mediocre, formulaic RPG with writing ranging from average to bad that everyone will hail as the GOTY.
Seriously, has Bioware made an actual good game ever, other than when they had help from Black Isle?
07/11/2011 at 17:24 Kdansky says:
Well, sometimes the players figure out that the games have serious flaws (DA2), and sometimes they don’t realize it despite the plot imploding during the intro (ME2), but the good ones are all older than a decade.
07/11/2011 at 17:24 Njordsk says:
Dragon age.
And yeah, bioware recent trend is more into action with chating rather than pure hardcore RPG. They’re enjoyable nonetheless
07/11/2011 at 17:35 Sheng-ji says:
Bioware Games I thought were good:
Baldurs Gate 1&2 (Black Isle Published)
Neverwinter Nights
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Dragon Age: Origins
Bioware Games I didn’t think were “good” but which I thoroughly enjoyed anyway (see Soap Opera Syndrome)
Jade Empire
Mass Effect (Haven’t got round to playing the others yet)
All in all, that’s not bad!
07/11/2011 at 18:14 iucounu says:
KOTOR is brilliant, and ME1 and 2 are excellent as well – 1 was great, 2 was even better. (DA:O I played right to the end but in the long term it’s unlovable, I think; I don’t remember much about it.)
As RPGs they’re not scratching my decades-old Phantasie 3 itch, but those three at least are a lot of fun to play.
07/11/2011 at 19:40 Hoaxfish says:
Personally, Bioware have always been the filler between titles from other people like Black Isle, Troika, etc. An exercise in slightly average mediocrity across the board.
Unfortunately, their most recent attempts seem to show a decline to a position worse than that.
I bought BG2 when I was hankering for more Planescape: Torment, but I’m not even sure I’ll ever intend to play Mass Effect or Dragon Age. SWTor is a slightly different ball-game, since I don’t even like Star Wars or MMOs in the first place that much… but I might give it a look if it becomes f2p (but I doubt I’ll spend on it).
07/11/2011 at 23:48 InternetBatman says:
They’ve made several good games. BG 1 & 2, Kotor, MDK 2, and Dragon Age. Most of their failures are decent in their own right. If you don’t like the relative linearity or Bioware plot formula, that’s fine, but that doesn’t make them bad games.
08/11/2011 at 01:36 LostViking says:
Dragon Age: Origins was epic and I still remember many of the locations, quests and characters clearly, many years after playing it. I also had a lot of fun with KOTOR and NWN 1 and 2.
Not to sound like the old, grumpy PC gamer, but I don’t think the shift of focus to consoles have been doing them much good lately, even though Mass effect seem to be popular.
08/11/2011 at 01:37 lurkalisk says:
Never understood why everyone thinks ME2 is so much better than the first, or for that matter, why the series is generally seen as the second coming. The only Bioware games worth playing after KOTOR are probably ME1 and DAO, but even then, a far cry from the Bioware of yore I’d say.
08/11/2011 at 10:41 Bhazor says:
Yeah I’ve never seen what the big appeal about Mass Effect is. Clumsy combat (a bit better in ME2), bad writing and a dull story with far more interesting events in the lore*. Worst of it all what with it’s sweeping soundtrack and hollywood cast it takes itself completely seriously. It really isn’t good enough for that. I’ve said it before KOTOR 2 managed to be a far better serious space RPG and Anachranox managed to be a far far far better deliberate B-movie RPG. Mass Effect to me just has the plasticy sheen of a blockbuster. Fun enough but by no means GOTY material.
*A strange trend I’ve noticed in ME and DA is setting the game at a really dull point in the settings history. Should we set this RPG in the time of the great liberation? The vast continent spanning war that upturned every social system and sparked bitter wars along racial and religious lines led by a single woman? Or perhaps set in the time of the fall where man kind literally smashed down the gates of heaven releasing untold misery and wrath on the world? Perhaps set the game around the constantly shifting allegiances of the time as the different kingdoms vied for control of heaven?
No. Lets set it during an orc invasion.
Should we set our “epic” space opera in the race crisis as the … surly comic relief race fought the race of Dirty Harrys and it was a long war. A bitter war. Millions died, wars across a hundred worlds. Then a solution, a horrible solution that forces the Player to come to terms with the scale of war and the need for a defensive first strike genocide.
No. We’ll go with precursors. Again. Hey, lets say they made mankind, that never gets old.
07/11/2011 at 17:24 Makariel says:
Shattered Steel 2, obvioulsy.
07/11/2011 at 20:33 X_kot says:
Ah, why’d you hafta ruin the fun with a probable guess?
08/11/2011 at 15:58 Makariel says:
I hate fun. My idea of a good time is correcting excel spreadsheets for 8 hours.
07/11/2011 at 17:26 hap says:
Looking at how vertical the truck is, and how the person is near-parallel to the driver’s seat I think we’re looking at a racing game with gravity bombs. A Bioware Mario Kart, if you will… Biokart.
07/11/2011 at 18:08 Stellar Duck says:
A Mako racing game you say?
I’ll take ten!
At least that would make me interested in a Bioware game again.
07/11/2011 at 17:27 Driscon says:
Borderlands MMO.
07/11/2011 at 17:27 sneetch says:
Modern-day spy RPG like Alpha Protocol but with somewhat intelligent foes? I hope so!
07/11/2011 at 18:09 CMaster says:
Not sure why you’d expect a bioware game to have intelligent enemies, but yeah, my vote is on a Bioware take on Spy-Fi.
07/11/2011 at 21:01 Tatourmi says:
From an image of a car exploding in a desert? Wow, you guys are ace ;)
07/11/2011 at 17:28 JackDandy says:
Huh. And I was sure it was going to be a new Ultima.
07/11/2011 at 17:28 Sp4rkR4t says:
It is obviously a resort management simulation where you have to provide entertainments like beach buggy’s while stopping your idiot residents from killing themselves.
08/11/2011 at 00:22 TailSwallower says:
Somebody make this!
07/11/2011 at 17:29 Anthile says:
Jade Empire 2: The Revengening
07/11/2011 at 17:30 Giant, fussy whingebag says:
Bioware to do an Alpha Protocol-alike… but it will just end up as Mass Effect in a contemporary setting.
07/11/2011 at 17:35 sneetch says:
I’ll take it!
07/11/2011 at 17:37 mjig says:
I wish someone would fund Alpha Protocol 2. AP was rough around the edges, but it was Mass Effect the way Mass Effect should have been. Sometimes I think reviewers give too much weight to technical issues. Sometimes not enough.
07/11/2011 at 19:01 PearlChoco says:
Actually I think of AP as how Deus Ex should have evolved.
Anyway, another vote for a AAA Alpha Protocol 2!
07/11/2011 at 20:28 povu says:
AP is only what Deus Ex should have evolved towards in the sense of dialogue and story consequences. Definitely not its level design, or any gameplay mechanics like hacking. And certainly not stealth.
07/11/2011 at 20:29 FunkyBadger3 says:
Beta Protocol?
07/11/2011 at 23:38 InternetBatman says:
Alpha Protocol was rough to the core. It had some great ideas, but I think they should just take them and put them in a different game altogether. The redeeming grace of the game was the writing and dialog system, and that can go in any game.
08/11/2011 at 00:35 Skabooga says:
Would you say it’s a Nu Protocol game?
07/11/2011 at 17:30 Kdansky says:
I claim it’s called “Being Bankrupt after ToR flopped badly”
07/11/2011 at 18:48 Shuck says:
I’m afraid of that. Whatever the game actually does end up costing them, they’ve put an awful lot of eggs in that one particular basket.
07/11/2011 at 19:07 timmyvos says:
From what I’ve read it’s more than 200 million for a WoW clone with some story elements.
07/11/2011 at 20:46 The Colonel says:
Star Wars sells though doesn’t it? As long as they hire different people to do the gameplay I’d be interested in a new IP from Bioware.
07/11/2011 at 23:32 InternetBatman says:
Bioware isn’t an independent studio any more. Hell, they aren’t even a studio anymore, more like a name that gets applied to EA rpgs. They can’t go bankrupt unless EA goes bankrupt, which is unlikely even if TOR fails.
07/11/2011 at 17:35 Crimsoneer says:
Why does Game Informer always get these scoops?
07/11/2011 at 17:38 mjig says:
They give the correct review scores.
07/11/2011 at 17:40 Crimsoneer says:
No, but really. THey seem to get every single exclusive reveal teaser picture EVER. Why? Do they just suck a lot of PR men?
07/11/2011 at 17:56 McCool says:
It’s something to do with their subscribers, err, install base..or something. Throw in a few more marketing words. Basically more people end up looking at the front cover of Game Informer than the rest of the mags combined or something silly. This massive amount of advertising power (a Game Informer cover can make your game) means GI get exactly as many scoops as they want. Plus, yeah. They’ve got a good relationship with the publishers. Surprising scores probably aren’t the order of the day (though if anyone could get away with it it’d be GI).
07/11/2011 at 18:00 ResonanceCascade says:
Being owned by Gamestop probably doesn’t hurt. I’d imagine Gamestop is pretty buddy-buddy with all the major publishers, so it’s not inconceivable that they would use those relationships to get exclusives for their magazine.
07/11/2011 at 18:13 RagingLion says:
They’re the only gaming magazine left with a large readership, hence everyone runs to them. Think that’s why.
07/11/2011 at 18:23 Crimsoneer says:
[silly comment is silly]
07/11/2011 at 17:37 iteyoidar says:
From the screenshot I hope it’s either a racing game or bioware take on the German construction vehicle simulator genre, and not a yet another post-apocalyptic desert game
07/11/2011 at 17:40 Teronfel says:
Oh no,not another one of those…
07/11/2011 at 17:41 CaspianRoach says:
Please don’t make it an MMO. Please, please, pretty please, Bioware? There’s enough of that multiplayer garbage on the market already, don’t waste your time on that.
07/11/2011 at 17:49 ReV_VAdAUL says:
Looks a bit like Somali or somewhere equally unstable, with the burning technicals: link to en.wikipedia.org and all.
Edit: of course there were a lot of technicals used in Libya recently but I think that is a bit too topical
07/11/2011 at 17:58 McCool says:
Just posting to say I enjoyed the turn of phrase “burning technicals”. I think I’ve found a new name for my pub quiz team.
07/11/2011 at 17:50 McDan says:
Carz – a free roaming driving game in the style of mass effect. You are a lowly car that must travel round this continent sized area making friends and upgrading by completing quests and helping out other cars. Who eventually join your party in your overarching goal to defeat the monster truck that took apart your parents for parts when you were but a buggy.
07/11/2011 at 20:51 The Colonel says:
And then you save the racetrack from nuclear destruction but in the next game everyone pretends it didn’t happen and refuses to acknowledge your greatness.
07/11/2011 at 17:50 Felixader says:
Please don’t be a shooter about secret services and special forces against terrorists in the refreshing scenario of the middle east. PLEASE!
07/11/2011 at 17:50 Tei says:
Borderlands Turret Defense Dating Sim- 2
07/11/2011 at 17:53 Okami says:
At last I can havev sex with a car!
EDIT: This was meant as a reply to McDan’s comment
07/11/2011 at 17:54 Zenicetus says:
I’m not getting much post-apocalyptic vibe from that image. Looks fairly contemporary to me. I’ll place my bet on an Indiana Jones type adventure game… robbing tombs, foiling bad guys, with a mix of guns and melee weapons ‘n conversation. And a whip.
Kinda disappointing, whatever it is. I was hoping for a new sci-fi series in a more interesting game world than Mass Effect . And if it’s actually yet another post-apocalypse game in a desert with buggies, I’ll really be disappointed, and spend the rest of the day grumbling into my coffee.
07/11/2011 at 17:56 Joc says:
Desert Strike. True to the 1992 Megadrive classic, it will be set in the desert. However, this reimagining will be an FPS, with no helicopters, and totally linear gameplay. We can’t wait to tack the name of this legendary IP to our ill-conceived product.
I jest. A little bit.
07/11/2011 at 18:03 Larkington says:
It’s actually a new Looney Tunes game. This is obviously the work of one Wile E. Coyote. He simply mistook that fast-moving car for Roadrunner.
07/11/2011 at 18:07 shoptroll says:
This appears to be evidence of the first “Cars n’ Conversations” game.
07/11/2011 at 18:07 Larkington says:
Whoops! Wrong spot.
07/11/2011 at 18:21 Highstorm says:
Is that really a screenshot? It has a certain painted look to it that makes me think concept art. But hey, interesting if that’s what the art style the game will actually use.
And I believe it’s set to be revealed on Saturday, December 10, rather than this saturday.
07/11/2011 at 18:28 Bobsy says:
“Vehicu-tron, the MAN-BOUNCER”
Coming Q3 2013.
07/11/2011 at 18:30 vecordae says:
This is obviously a game set in modern-day Airzona where a team of elite government parkour experts deal with the state’s growing dune buggy infestation. He very obviously wasn’t flung from either of the vehicles. It’s plain that he somehow parkoured them into colliding.
07/11/2011 at 18:33 kyrieee says:
No driving please, because there’s no way it won’t be terrible.
Also no ‘chosen one saves the world from great evil and imminent doom’-story please
07/11/2011 at 20:34 iniudan says:
Come on the Mako driving was good, it just that most place that you had to drive it that were bad. =p
07/11/2011 at 18:36 Finster says:
Surely, everyone can see that it’s an historical East African Safari Rally sim. That’s obviously a Peugeot 405 Turbo 16 in Camel livery that’s just collided with a hapless farmer’s orange tractor.
07/11/2011 at 18:47 FataMorganaPseudonym says:
When I see “a new franchise” I translate that as “a new excuse to not make Jade Empire 2.”
Then again, at this point, JE2 would probably just end up as some overly twitchy multiplayer thing, so I guess it’s better they not touch it again after all, at least until saner heads are running the asylum again.
07/11/2011 at 18:59 SooSiaal says:
I’m guessing a Flatout type of game, would be nice
07/11/2011 at 19:10 Hodge says:
Street Fighter Vs Transformers.
07/11/2011 at 19:34 feoinc says:
It is the über game, a game designed with the sole purpose to become the only game that people will ever play again.
To do so they are mixing the concepts of the most successful movies and the most successful games, after uncountable seconds of brainstorming they came with the supreme game:
Mixing Michael Bay’s Explosions with QWOP gameplay.
07/11/2011 at 19:44 Mr_Initials says:
I vote explosion based racing.
07/11/2011 at 20:33 povu says:
I was expecting it to be Dragon Massage Effect, the dragon romance simulator in space.
07/11/2011 at 21:16 eclipse mattaru says:
It’s not a Middle Earthish fantasy RPG, so that’s good enough for me.
07/11/2011 at 21:33 Andy`` says:
It’s a science fiction murder mystery based on Richard Hammond crashing during a land speed record attempt. Or that Bluebird fellow, Donald Campbell.
The killer will be physics in the salt flats with a paperclip.
07/11/2011 at 22:15 Hoaxfish says:
certainly a reference to space hamsters
07/11/2011 at 21:36 Chris D says:
I hope the protagonist is the giant white-faced man with the unfeasible moustache on the far left of the picture.
07/11/2011 at 22:02 Stuart Walton says:
Paris-Dakar rally RPG set in an alternate universe where use of munitions in competitive sport is totally legal.
08/11/2011 at 00:55 The Colonel says:
Better still, the Paris-Dakar rally RNLI RPG set in an alternative universe where use of MUTTON in competitive sport is totally legal (and mandatory).
08/11/2011 at 07:24 c-Row says:
“Need For Speed: The Run&Gun”? I will take five!
07/11/2011 at 22:08 karthink says:
Hopefully the shooter that Bioware has been wanting to make for a while now, with plenty of push-button-for-awesome mechanics. Let it be a catharsis; get it out of your system Bioware.
07/11/2011 at 22:19 karthink says:
Make it a shooter. Get it out of your system, Bioware.