The first Mass Effect looked amazing but the second one is stunning – no two ways around it.

The colors are brighter. The images seem to be crisper and the characters seem to be ready to jump off of your screen and beat you to a pulp.

I’m not holding a grudge that Mass Effect 2 isn’t coming to the PS3 and I can definitely appreciate art when I see it.

Mass Effect 2 is set to hit the store shelves January 26th of 2010 in the US and January 29th of 2010 in Europe and this is one game that should be at the top of your Christmas list if you’re a PC or Xbox 360 gamer.

Images|Bioware

Post from: EveryJoe

Mass Effect 2 Screenshots

Looks like I just might find that in Dragon Age: Origins.

Even though I am a diehard PS3 fan [fangirl?] this is one game that I’m probably going to get for PC based on the awesome Tool Set. See below.

The character creation reminds me a bit of Oblivion and I’m not complaining. Being able to micromanage the character traits added realism to the game and made me feel more connected with the character that I had lovingly created.

This type of customization is brought to Dragon Age: Origins but with necessary tweaks and it doesn’t seem to be as in-depth as Oblivion. However, I’m not sure that’s necessarily a BAD thing since I did end up spending an hour creating my character for Oblivion.

The intro video does a damn fine job of bringing you up to speed as to what you’re about to encounter with Dragon Age: Origins.

There are way too many videos for me to post here. If you want to watch the rest, check out IGN’s YouTube channel or just click on one of these embedded videos and they should take you to where you need to go.

I’ve also included some screens from the game since I do like my pretty pictures.

Look for Dragon Age: Origins November 3rd.

Images|EA

Post from: EveryJoe

Dragon Age: Origins

On Monday, EA Games hosted its own press conference here at E3 2009. Here are a few highlights from the event.

EA Sports announces Fight Night Round 4, for the first time allowing you to pit Ali against Tyson, with spectacular-looking results. Check out the big-screen demo:

EA Sports announces and demos Grand Slam Tennis for Wii, complete with a surprise appearance by tennis superstar Pete Sampras.

Brutal Legend designer Tim Schafer takes the stage to unveil several new characters and show off new video featuring star Jack Black. Note: this video is NSFW.

A full level demo for Pandemic’s The Saboteur, which features creative use of color and black & white, and finds you working with the resistance in Nazi-occupied France during WWII.

Last but by far not least, a progress report on the highly-anticipated MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, featuring on-stage Jedi and the world premiere of the game’s cinematic trailer. (If only the prequel trilogy had been more like what the trailer shows!)

Post from: EveryJoe

E3 ‘09: EA press conference highlights

I did not see this coming. Mass Effect’s “Bring Down the Sky” downloadable content was released the other day and I didn’t even notice. Best of all, the DLC is free. You know how it’s like with me and free stuff. Then again, everyone loves free stuff, especially when they’re related to video games.

Obviously, the next step is to download this free content. I’m getting it as I type this entry.

For those who have no idea what I’m babbling about, listen well. Mass Effect is a role-playing game developed by Bioware, and it’s fantastic. Its gameplay is quite different from the previous Bioware games because this time, the action is in real time.

In a nutshell, Mass Effect is a sci-fi RPG/third-person shooter with tons of dialogue.

Bring Down the Sky expands the Mass Effect game with a new alien race, new achievements, a new planet to visit, and around 90 minutes of additional game time. Watch out for a commentary on the DLC soon.

Images for Mass Effect is courtesy of EA. No Batarians were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mass Effect DLC brings down the sky