Mass Effect 3 Interview

Computer and Videogames is offering a meaty three-page interview with BioWare’s executive producer Casey Hudson, which touches upon the title’s online elements such as Facebook apps, the gameplay system that will replace the dreaded Mass Effect 2’s planet-scanning, the alternative endings, the Origins exclusivity deal, the changes made to the gameplay from the first two titles and the inevitable upcoming downloadable content. Here’s a couple of snippets:

Mass Effect 3 has just gone gold, so what are you guys doing now?

Well, normally, we’d probably be going on holiday, but because we’ve got our demo out now, we’re supporting that, and we’ve also got a pretty complicated, because even the single-player has a lot of online features, and we’ve got multiplayer features. It’s going to be a busy launch period for us, so we’re just taking some time to get things done that we haven’t time for when we were working just to get the game finished.

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What part does Origin play? Will people have to sign up for it?

We use Origin, and it’s interesting because really, it’s just a way to get access to the online and digital features that, you know, generally, PC games have now. I think people are going to be fine with it.

Because the whole issue of DRM and being always-online is an emotive one for gamers. Do you think people will have a problem with that?

No I don’t, because it comes up only when people hear certain trigger-words. I think that the people who try Mass Effect 3 on Origin will realise that it’s not an intrusive DRM scheme – it’s just a way for you to sign up for the online services that you’re going to get on an ongoing basis through Mass Effect 3.

Just like you get with any other kind of online digital distribution, or multiplayer or whatever. It’s not something that requires you to be always online – you can play Mass Effect 3 offline.

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Mass Effect 3 was presented as the third and final part of a trilogy, so what is next in the Mass Effect universe?

We are going to be supporting Mass Effect 3 for quite some time, because I think people are going to have a lot of fun with multiplayer, and we’ll be supporting that with new content as we go forward. We also have a really good DLC plan, like we had for Mass Effect 2, so there will be new adventures and new things to do. Then, beyond that, we’ll just have to wait and see.