BioWare have continued to dodge an official announcement regarding the next piece of Mass Effect DLC, and unfortunately this still remains the case. Lets recap for a second; Bioware let slip that more DLC was on the way through their Twitter account late last month, saying that further details were imminent. Shortly after that we were told we would have to wait for more information, and now we’re getting teased a little bit more.

BioWare head Ray Muzyka has told IGN that the DLC will emerge soon and is “fun” to play. So basically he stated the obvious of what fans are expecting, because we wouldn’t want to play it if it wasn’t fun, would we?

“We haven’t announced it formally yet but I think you can expect something in the next little while,” he said. “Probably some kind of announcement about [the ME DLC]. It’s pretty cool. I’ve been playing what we’re working on there and fans will find it fun.” - IGN

It has been over a year since the only piece of Mass Effect DLC, “Bring Down the Sky”, was released. I was a little disappointed at the DLC, and I felt that it didn’t delve deeper into the background of Mass Effect’s fascinating universe like I wanted it to. Plus, it didn’t help that you had to control that god awful Mako vehicle for part of the DLC.

Hopefully the upcoming DLC will have a little more substance, but we won’t actually know if it will be worth the money until we hear some more information about it. At least it will help plug the hole in my heart that continues to exist until Mass Effect 2 is released.

EA have gone and released a teaser trailer for Mass Effect 2, which is apparently coming to “multiple platforms”. The trailer is above for your viewing pleasure, but be warned that it will be over before you know it.

The trailer seems to indicate that the main character from Mass Effect, Commander Shepard, has been killed in action. Does this mean that we won’t be carrying our leveled up character over from Mass Effect like was once hinted at? Don’t walk away in disgust just yet, as I really doubt Shepard is really dead. It’s called the hype machine, and it works wonders on the fanboy crowd.

There’s still no word about a release date, but I for one am hoping for the end of the year. As usual I’ll be keeping you updated here.

Bioware - a company well known to Star Wars fans due to the excellent Knights of the Old Republic series - has announced that the new Star Wars MMO rumored a few months back will be called Star Wars: The Old Republic. The game will be set three centuries after the events of KOTOR II and will feature two opposing factions - the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. You won’t be forced to pick good or evil right from the start though as, like KOTR and Mass Effect, your good or evil status will evolve through the choices you make.

“Players get to come in and take the roles of heroes–or villains–at this pivotal moment where we’re starting to go back into a big galactic war,” promised Erickson. - Gamespot

There’s not much more we know yet, aside from the basic information about the story (which is apparently going to be pretty important to the game, and each class will have its own unique story). The game’s art direction will not be realistic (as you can obviously see from the screenshot above) but it will not be overly cartoon-y either. The big reason for not having spectacular realistic graphics is similar to the approach that Blizzard took with World of Warcraft. Having more simple colourful graphics means that the game will be able to work on a wide range of systems, which is part of why WoW is so popular.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the second attempt at creating a Star Wars MMO. Star Wars Galaxies was certainly ambitious but never quite managed to fully grasp the attention of the extensive Star Wars fanbase. Then there was the complete change to the way the game played that angered most of those still playing the game, and while the game still exists today its playerbase is tiny compared to what it could have been.

Hopefully it will be a better game than its former attempt, especially as it’s being made by the rather excellent Bioware. The game is only in development for the PC at the moment but Bioware aren’t ruling out a console release just yet.

More information:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Revealed - Gamespot.
Star Wars: The Old Republic - What we Know so Far - Kotaku.
BioWare Compares ‘Star Wars’ MMO Combat To ‘WoW,’ ‘Age of Conan’ And ‘The Force Unleashed’ - MTV Multiplayer.