Shack: If you had to pick out one thing from the port that's been overlooked?

Albert Reed: The sort of out-of-game UI, the inventory screen, and how you mod your weapons, the codecs, journal. Because every single one of those screens was basically chucked and rewritten from scratch by the team here. I guess maybe it's a compliment that nobody's noticed, but it's an awful lot of work, to take all those UIs, because there are a lot. [laughs]

How challenging was converting the controls from the 360 to the PC?

Our focus in converting Mass Effect to the PC is to make it very natural for the platform. Any time you focus on making the experience very natural to a different platform, it takes both creativity and hard work. One thing we enjoyed is that by nature of the mouse and keyboard, the PC opened new opportunities for us to explore, including the new Tactical HUD, individual squad command, optimized controls and incredible visuals.

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Video-Interview, Altersverifizierung

You can spend a lot of time in the non-core worlds. One of the things we really wanted with KOTOR (Knights of the Old Republic) was the ability to do say, "hey, I'm going to take my spaceship and head off over there". But you can here. We've included this great story and a lot of freedom to explore. You can decide where to go. We offer advice but it's up to the player. You could, say, hack a computer and find out that a shipment from a certain planet is coming in and decide to head out there. I get so distracted when I play and this game offers that rollercoaster.

Kann BioWare erneut ein Rollenspiel der Extraklasse zaubern? Mass Effect steht vor der Tür. Und direkt dahinter warten viele Fragen: Wie erzählen die Kanadier die Story? Kann man interaktive Dialoge überhaupt realisieren? Und was kommt nach Mass Effect? Wir hatten Gelegenheit, mit Firmenchef Greg Zeschuk und Lead Writer Drew Karpyshyn zu sprechen.

Greg Zeschuk: We're not worried that people will overwhelmed by the game. We have made sure that big choices within the game are well marked. So, if you need to progress by performing a particular action, it will always be clear. Things like an essential galaxy will be marked, so you can head straight forward. Plus, there's the fact that people don't have to do everything in the game - there are a lot of side quests and extra exploration.

Would you say this is BioWare's most challenging game to date in terms of ambition and what you want to achieve with it?

Greg Zeschuk: Every time we do a new game we want to up the ante. Mass effect has probably covered more territory than any other game we've ever done. In terms of technology and design it's certainly been the most challenging. I'd sort of give a qualified 'yes' on that.

Your actions throughout the game will change the kinds of situations that you'll come across, sometimes leading to entirely different plots than if you had chosen differently. And Mass Effect is somewhat unique in that developing skills in Charm and Intimidate can be extremely satisfying. Skill in either of those areas gives you some of the more spectacular options in conversation, giving you some useful (and really fun) alternatives to handling difficult situations.

This one has a little bit more of the story and the "broader universe" stuff which we want to be able to show is a part of the Mass Effect experience. So you're going to see a little bit more--different kinds of situations in combat, and some more compelling story moments. You see some scenes imply more of what you'll be doing and some of the other things you'll be doing in there. There's a few shots of what [some of] the uncharted worlds look like. I don't think we've shown too many uncharted worlds to people before, but there are a few interesting shots of some really neat-looking planets there that the players are standing on, and some different environments and things like that.

Over the last few years we've been really focusing on what a BioWare game is and for us there's four core activity pillars, as we call them. These are the pillars of the game, the tenants that we're really focusing on. We focus on all of them to varying degrees and in different ways in different BioWare games.

In Mass Effect like in all BioWare games we're focusing on the story, the character and amazing digital actors. We're focusing on making really accessible, fun action combat. We've got exploration, the galaxy map, uncharted worlds and your own rover to drive around in.

I've been writing ever since I learned to read, though I got my professional start while working on my Masters degree in English at the University of Alberta. I applied to an "open call" for authors at Wizards of the Coast by submitting an outline and sample chapters of a Forgotten Realms novel. They liked my stuff enough to contract me to write a novel for them. While I was working on the novel (Temple Hill, my first published work) I saw an ad from BioWare looking for writers. Since they were right in my hometown I applied and got offered the job. I figured it was better getting paid to write than paying to go to school, so I dropped out in the last year of my Masters program to write full time for BioWare.

We’ve designed the beginning of the game to be a tantalizing hook—a prologue—that pulls you into the experience and gives you an idea of what to expect in the story. But at the same time, the story really gets going after the prologue, of course, when you become a Spectre. So it’s that initial prologue section that we like to show to give people a good background for what the game is all about: who you are and what you can expect to do.

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Video-Interview

Today, in real life, there is a lot of speculation about a new concept in physics: dark energy. The game world of Mass Effect has some fun with that very real concept, by making dark energy the basis of the technology of the future. In the game, dark energy is a physical force with effects like that of gravity, but is as controllable as electromagnetism. This force, known in the game world as mass effect, allows the development of faster-than-light starships and other amazing technologies.

We learn about the difficulties of working with digital actors, the skill trees in the game, and the different styles of play to look forward to.

Video-Interview, Altersverifizierung

Dr. Ray Muzyka gründete vor zwölf Jahren mit Greg Zeschuk das Spielestudio Bioware. Die kanadische Firma hat nicht nur mit Baldur’s Gate das Rollenspiel-Genre wiederbelebt und als eine der ersten mit Neverwinter Nights massiv auf User-Modding gesetzt, sondern hat aktuell mit Mass Effect und Dragon Age gleich zwei Schwerkaliber in der Mache. Golem.de hat Ray Myzuka im Rahmen der Game Developers Conference 2007 einige Fragen gestellt.

We got a chance to sit down with Dr. Greg Zeshuk, president of BioWare, to talk about Mass Effect. The interview was conducted by Joystiq's Ludwig Kietzmann. We captured the audio, which you can download on MP3 (Fancast subscribers will receive the audio automatically). A breakdown of our discussion can be found after the break.

Vollständiges Interview nur als Video-Download

YES! BioWare is in the hizz-ouse! During the Game Developer’s Conference this week we had the privilege of interviewing the joint-CEOs of BioWare, the good Doctors Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, who talk to us all about Mass Effect, which we saw in person this week and it’s…well…just tune in to see what we thought of it. PLUS: lots more GDC talk!

Audio-Interview

Due out sometime this year with a main storyline that will eat up about 40 hours of gaming (not to mention the additional time spent on side quests and space exploration), many a gamer will become engrossed in its cinematic presentation and science fiction storyline.

GameSpot News' Tor Thorsen caught up with BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk to talk about their schedule for GDC as well as the latest on Mass Effect.

Video-Interview

As the first human Specter – sworn defenders of galactic peace – your mission is to halt the advancing armies of a legendary agent gone rogue. But as you lead your elite team across hostile alien worlds, you will discover the true threat is far greater than anyone imagined...

We were lucky enough to pick BioWare's Derek Watts, the Art Director of Mass Effect, to take a behind the scenes look at the making of Mass Effect's universe.

Last month we unveiled the first details on Saren, one of the pivotal characters in Bioware's upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive, Mass Effect. Today we bring you more details direct from the source, along with exclusive media to keep you on the edge of your seat. Read on to learn more about Saren and the story of Mass Effect from Drew Karpyshyn, the game's Principle Writer.

Ray Muzyka, a trained doctor who now runs a video game company for a living, has a small but profound hope for the future of interactive entertainment: "It's a small detail, but one of the details I've always wanted to have in our game is eyes that look like eyes."

Muzyka was looking into my eyes as he said this during an interview last Friday at DICE. We sat across a table from each other and chatted about the future of storytelling in video games. It's an issue that both he and fellow doctor and BioWare founder Greg Zeschuk take seriously. "Our mission statement is to deliver the best story-driven games in the world," Muzyka told me. Key to that is delivering emotional moments. And one key to that for Muzyka is creating believable eyeballs.

As one of the masterminds behind games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, Dr. Ray Muzyka from BioWare knows a thing or two about crafting a great RPG. The Edmonton-based developer’s first Xbox 360 game may be their most ambitious yet, featuring an innovative dialogue system, real-time combat, and jaw-dropping graphics. We had a chance to sit down with the good doctor at D.I.C.E., where he was happy to tell us all about Mass Effect. This is the second part of this exclusive interview, as we ran the first part last week. Be sure to check it out, as it contains some great info on what’s sure to be one of the biggest and best RPGs of 2007 (we've also updated the story with a clarification from Microsoft on the length of the game). So, without further ado, here’s the rest of our interview with Dr. Ray Muzyka!

2-teiliges Interview (2.Teil)

As one of the masterminds behind games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, Dr. Ray Muzyka from BioWare knows a thing or two about crafting a great RPG. The Edmonton-based developer’s first Xbox 360 game may be their most ambitious yet, featuring an innovative dialogue system, real-time combat, and jaw-dropping graphics. We had a chance to sit down with the good doctor at D.I.C.E., where he was happy to tell us all about the new game. This is only part one, so be sure to check back Monday morning for the rest of the interview!

2-teiliges Interview (1.Teil)

BioWare's Casey Hudson, Project Director for Mass Effect, was kind enough to take a break from working to shed some light on what we can expect out of the title when it arrives on store shelves later this year. Read on to learn about the inspiration for the game, details on how BioWare has moved videogame morality beyond simple good and evil, info on character creation and combat, and much more.

The Canadian boys (who have since invaded Texas - and you said it would never happen) are currently swamped with multiple projects for various platforms. Bioware, once again, has something up its sleeve and is, amongst other things, involved with a sci-fi RPG, entitled Mass Effect, which is slated to appear on the Xbox 360. A few days ago, we were able to get hold of Mass Effect Project Director, Casey Hudson, to find out how the game is coming along. In the process, we were able to get additional information on characters, races and other cool details related to the gameplay. Enjoy!

The E3 demo footage released not too long ago offered a tantalising glimpse into the next-generation world of Mass Effect, but have you since found yourself wondering about the complexities of the real-time battle mechanics, the structure of the character and party evolution, the all-new and unprecedented dialogue interaction, or simply the sheer mind-boggling scope of Mass Effect’s universe?

If you have, then you’ll be thrilled to learn that GamerSquad asked the questions, and BioWare duly answered.

Bioware producer Casey Hudson demoed just one of allegedly hundreds of Mass Effect scenarios. Casey chose X06 to premiere the new real-time conversation system, and talk more in depth about the complex but intuitive combat options. Apart from the gigantic spider-like ‘boss’ encounter, we came away especially impressed by the use of telekinesis to float enemies before vaporizing them, and also that your character’s appearance changes visibly over time through battle experience. Over to Casey:

Recently we managed to get a few words in with Mass Effect project director, Casey Hudson, who wrapped our heads around his gargantuan RPG while hinting at BioWare's other Xbox 360 project and touching on the company's recent merger with Pandemic.

So it's over to him...