Mass Effect to get arena DLC next

By Robert Purchese Published 17 February, 2009

Plus: sequel will be "much darker".

BioWare has said the next downloadable addition to Mass Effect will be a Fight Club-style arena. Expect less of a focus on story, and more on gambling and good old-fashioned dust-ups.

"We had something in Mass Effect 1 that again, we weren't able to pull off just because we didn't have the time and we didn't think we'd be able to do it well enough, which was a fight club or an arena. So we're actually working on that for our next downloadable content piece and we're hoping it'll be really special," said BioWare's Preston Watamaniuk. He was speaking in a documentary bundled with Mass Effect Platinum Hits and leaked to YouTube (thanks, Joystiq).

"We wanted to be able to give people a much more combat-oriented, lighter-story experience," added Mass Effect project director Casey Hudson. "You're going to go to a kind of casino gaming fight club space station."

BioWare has previously used arenas in both Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. There's no word on when the content will be available for Mass Effect.

BioWare boss Ray Muzyka went on to stress the importance of post-release content for Mass Effect as a series.

"Mass Effect, like I said earlier, is this big toy box; this enormous galaxy with millions of stars and planets to explore and we can select the interesting ones and develop them out and continue the storyline as we did with the Batarian race in Bring Down the Sky," he said.

"From a franchise perspective it's going to help fill in the gaps and understanding and continue certain plotlines and develop other certain types of gameplay. And really we'll try and customise it and build other types of post-release downloadable content to different play-patterns and to suit different types of players."

Casey Hudson said players will also be able to carry characters from Mass Effect 1 over into subsequent instalments in the series, making post-release content more appealing.

As for news on Mass Effect 2, Hudson suggested we'll be looking at a "much darker experience" that touches on different themes to the first game.

"In the second game you're actually going to go through a darker period where you're really looking for answers; it's a lot harder to find what the realities are, and there are a lot of twists and turns and it's generally a much darker experience," he said.

Preston Watamaniuk added: "We are going to continue on other themes such as technology: what does it mean to be alive? How does synthetic life or intelligence compare to real-, true-life or organic life? How do you cross those boundaries, can we cross those boundaries, should we cross those boundaries? We really want to push into that direction."

Watamaniuk explained that BioWare wants to make player decisions span across the entire Mass Effect trilogy, too, otherwise there would be no point including them.

Mass Effect 2 is due for release by April 2010, and on multiple platforms. BioWare hasn't yet explained whether that includes PS3.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 3 years ago

    I don't think combat was ME's best feature, so giving us even more combat and less story is pretty useless.

  • Xerx3s #2 3 years ago

    "Mass Effect, like I said earlier, is this big toy box; this enormous galaxy with millions of stars and planets to explore and we can select the interesting ones and develop them out and continue the storyline as we did with the Batarian race in Bring Down the Sky,"

    And the best you could come up with was some shitty dlc that adds nothing and only uses identikit components.

    "As for news on Mass Effect 2, Hudson suggested we'll be looking at a "much darker experience" that touches on different themes to the first game."

    Not understanding what made the original great / changing winning formula fuck up confirmed.

  • Xerx3s #3 3 years ago

    I wonder if biowares talent will leave EA just as quickly as westwood's.

  • Hamflank #4 3 years ago

    Whine all you want. Mass Effect 2 will be super awesome.

  • qoobah #5 3 years ago

    Not understanding what made the original great / changing winning formula fuck up confirmed.

    I wouldn't say it's confirmed, but I can see them getting awfuly close to the trap of "Ooooh how deep, difficult, and morally ambiguous our choices are, watch us gloat" over delivering an engaging story.

    Another thing is, after what, eight months of total fucking silence, they throw us a solely combat dlc based on another "space station #1239" level. Underwhelming to say the least.
    Edited by 1 at 17/02/09 @ 10:37

  • menage #6 3 years ago

    Agrees with Hamflak

    Why the fuck all the the for ME2 already when you know nothing yet. ME was already getting pretty dark by the end.

    Agree on the DLC rants though. ME was about story and character. Combat wasn't that good, adequate, but not enough to buy DLC for.. Sees an Anchorage style DLC.

  • penhalion #7 3 years ago

    Why does it have to be much darker. Didn't we already have to sacrifice one of our companions in the first game. What's the next thing than? Do we have to decide on which race gets to be the victim of genocide!

  • PlugMonkey #8 3 years ago

    I finished Mass Effect ages ago. Do I have to start a new game to be able to access this dlc?

    "As for news on Mass Effect 2, Hudson suggested we'll be looking at a "much darker experience" that touches on different themes to the first game."

    Not understanding what made the original great / changing winning formula fuck up confirmed.

    I thought the first Mass Effect was pretty dark, and would wholly support an increasing level of darkness.

    But then, I suppose it all rather depends on what sort of Commander Sheppard you made.

  • menage #9 3 years ago

    @Penhalion

    Already happened, or were you being sarcastic?:p

  • dustrat #10 3 years ago

    Oh, I like darker. The coolest scene ever is the dialogue with Sovereign.

  • qoobah #11 3 years ago

    @menage

    Heh well. Imo the choices can be "difficult" only if you genuinely care about the person/thing the outcome affects AND the outcomes are different for each way you choose. I didn't really have prolems with any of ME choices, since a great deal of them lacked one of the two.

  • DutchDemons #12 3 years ago

    for some reason i fucking loved ME...i'm not much of a 'story in games' kinda guy...but i really felt the ME universe was something special...loved the whole story, the atmosphere. Helped me through some of the (admittedly) repetitive missions. always wanted to get back 'home'to find out more about the story.

    this DLC seems pointless, i don't think anyone wants more fighting, less story. Roll on april...2010(argh!)

  • Rodchenko #13 3 years ago

    So this guy's name is basically 'Preston What-a-maniac'?

  • qoobah #14 3 years ago

    Well all I have against it doesn't stop me from loving ME to bits;) Each time I near the ending my inside score-o-meter rockets all the way up to 9.5 from the "lows" of 8 of exploration bits.

    Still, this doesn't mean the game can't be better. I think there've been at least 23 10 page long "Ideas for ME2" threads on official forums, and most of the prevailing concerns were really spot on, so I have high hopes for... April... 2010 :|
    Edited by 1 at 17/02/09 @ 10:56

  • dustrat #15 3 years ago

    It's only a year away. Hold out!

  • hiddenranbir #16 3 years ago

    What is it with Bioware and 'darkness'.


    Wasn't ME supposed to be the clean, sterile, appeal from the sci-fi from the 80s?
    Edited by 1 at 17/02/09 @ 11:03

  • Darren #17 3 years ago

    Mass Effect was terrific on the Xbox 360 despite all the flaws associated with it using the Unreal Engine 3 (texture pop in, screen tearing, erratic framerate, etc.) but having picked it up on the cheap for the PC I'm enjoying it more a second time round, especially since the engine runs far better on this system anyway (so long as you have the hardware). Even the DLC, disappointing as it is, was free.

    I love the story, it's a perfect blend of mostly Babylon 5 with influences from numerous other SF classics thrown in for good measure and the music is superb. Shame the side missions are so repetitive and uninteresting though; what's the point in having a galaxy to explore if everything outside the main quest is so dull and samey? I hope that is addressed for the sequel.

    I'll definitely be picking up the sequel but not on the 360.

  • PearOfAnguish #18 3 years ago

    So they thought about what kind of DLC fans of a Bioware RPG would enjoy, and the answer they came up with was a futuristic Fight Club?

    No. Try again.

  • GreatUncleBaal #19 3 years ago

    "We wanted to be able to give people a much more combat-oriented, lighter-story experience"

    - Read as "We couldn't really be bothered to write a decent storyline for DLC, and it's much easier to just chuck a load of fights at you."

    Not sure I like the idea of carrying a character over - although I suppose it's nice to have the option after investing the time in the first one. I'd like to start with a whole new load of characters, seeing as there's so much potential in the Mass Effect universe.

  • Eraysor #20 3 years ago

    I totally agree with Dustrat. That was probably the best bit in the entire game.

  • ardamillo #21 3 years ago

    I have 4 ME characters, but now I can't remember who did what. I hope they include a summary of each character's history when you load a save file from ME in ME2

  • Xerx3s #22 3 years ago

    "Whine all you want. Mass Effect 2 will be super awesome. "

    You still have faith after that pos dlc (and the coming dlc by the sound of it)? I hope it's awesome, ME is one of my favourite all-time games. I'm also a massive bioware fan (own all the games they ever made). Somehow I just can't shake the feeling that they will follow the example of the likes of westwood and the rest. So far I've heard nothing to quench my fears. :(

  • Xerx3s #23 3 years ago

    dustrat: WRONG! The coolest scene is when wrex picks a fight with the guard of the science station. Wrex 4 President! \0/

  • RESIDENT_nEVILe #24 3 years ago

    Having just finished ME for the first time a few days ago, I gotta say it's probably the most engrossing and impressive game I have played on this generation of consoles. Played it straight after Fallout 3, and thought the story flowed much better (Fallout 3's end sequence being particularly underwhelming,)

    I was waiting for the new dlc before also purchasing 'Bring down the sky,' but the combat, whilst adequate, when compared to the story and voice acting was by far the weakest part of the game.

    So it's surprising that Bioware think it's worth promoting combat oriented dlc. Looks like I will be buying 'Bring down the sky' on it's own.

  • Daikon #25 3 years ago

    I loved Mass Effect, but after reading the article I need to vent.

    BioWare boss Ray Muzyka went on to stress the importance of post-release content for Mass Effect as a series.

    Which is why there's been so much of it. Oh, wait...

    Mass Effect, like I said earlier, is this big toy box; this enormous galaxy with millions of stars and planets to explore

    Which all look the same and won't let you "explore" more than a post stamp sized grid.

    we can select the interesting ones and develop them out and continue the storyline as we did with the Batarian race in Bring Down the Sky

    So why on earth a casino/arena? I really doubt this is what every Mass Effect fan is waiting for.

    My advise to Bioware would be to stop wasting precious resources on an almost 2 year old game and make Mass Effect 2 even better than the first.

  • Chufty #26 3 years ago

    I can't believe there's so many ME haters in this thread. Sod off to the {generic FPS of the moment} thread. ME2 will be an avalanche of awesome.
    Edited by 1 at 17/02/09 @ 12:35

  • kangarootoo #27 3 years ago

    Bollox.

    ME is not a game you buy for the combat. I thought it was perfectly serviceable, but its the story and epic adventure that games like ME are really all about.

    @dustrat and co

    If you liked the ending of ME, you should check out the.... dammit. This is the bit where I can't remember a trilogy of classic sci-fi books. Well that's stuffed that point up.

  • menage #28 3 years ago

    Chufty

    +1

  • qoobah #29 3 years ago

    @Crofto Yeah, it's called delaying a gamer until it's finished.

    It really isn't that simple. Development time and cost is so high that sometimes you just have to cut things not to go through the roof with money spent on the project. There's a handful of companies (*cough*Blizz*cough*) who earn enough money to afford endless polish iterations.

    I think I speak for us all when I say NWN and KotOR are what we be wanting (sadly, with console versions planned, I doubt Dragon Age will amount to anything decent).

    I'm afraid you don't;) NWN didn't do anything for me, KotOR is defo one of my top 5 games, but purely for the story and presentation. In this day and age devs can do much better to design combat system/levels/VO/etc and experimenting shouldn't be discouraged as long as it's well thought through.

    And I agree that combat served it's purpose. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it wasn't crap either (although the AI comes close to the "crap" area indeed). It's job was to serve the story and presentation and that job it did good.

  • Xerx3s #30 3 years ago

    Chufty: Get a reality check mate, there hasn't been a single ME hate post. The - valid - arguments are made against the changes in bioware's attitude after they released ME.

  • AphoticCosmos #31 3 years ago

    IMHO they shouldn't bother with further DLC for ME1 and focus on making unknown worlds in ME2 that actually mean something and look different!. IMHO regardless of what they do with it short of completely turding it up and making it a turn-based strategy game for the PS3 then ME2 will be good.

    ME is still my favourite game of all time, but ME2 needs to:
    - Flesh out story worlds even more - an hour to two hours of play on a "main" world simply isn't enough.
    - Flesh out unexplored worlds a bit more - at least making them different, i.e. not identikit. Making other locations like boardable starships different would also help this a ton [got bored to death of boarding those stupid Kowloon-class freighters :( ]
    - Let installing the game on the 360's HDD solve the horrific texture pop-in, which it doesn't at the moment.
    - Remove all quick-time events. When I'm immersed in a fantastic universe like that of ME, I don't want to be confronted with Y-A-A-B-X every few minutes whenever I'm fricking unlocking something!
    - Add a meaningful inventory system with things other than Guns, Armour, Mods and omni-gel.
    - Fix the MAKO so that it doesn't feel like a jeep with a cannon and some balloons strapped to it.

    I'd play through ME2 regardless of them fixing these factors just for more of that engrossing story, but with hindsight and a sixth playthrough last week the gameplay needs a lot of fine-tuning, not least focused on adding more story.

  • metalangel #32 3 years ago

    Too late, Bioware. While ME has the best character interaction ever, the combat was stiff and tedious (I am presently halfway through my fourth playthrough on the hardest difficulty, and the fights are dull in the extreme - even with sabotage and overload, my Spectre sniper rifle is taking about a dozen shots to kill Husks, never mind proper tough enemies) and nobody is going to want to play an endless succession of fights. What possible reward could they entice us with? It is ridiculously easy to have 999 omnigel and 999,999 credits. Plus, those who love the game are unlikely to start a new one just to play this. Can this, finish ME2 sooner. And make the galaxy with the kind of scale of Star Control 2, please.

  • Pinewood_Groves #33 3 years ago

    but... err... the combat's crap...

  • The-Bodybuilder #34 3 years ago

    @ Xerxes.
    Sorry, but what the heck are you on about? How the hell can you seriously tell the developers what's good about mass effect, THE MAKERS? The same makers that had a story mapped out (that's what's good about it, the amazing story and its universe) and know more about ME2 than any one of us?

    People just like to whinge so much its irritating. They hear the word "darker" then climb on their high-horse.

  • The-Bodybuilder #35 3 years ago

    @ hiddenrabir
    I'm guessing you haven't played ME then? The game is dark, and all the better for it.

  • rhinoxious #36 3 years ago

    @metalangel

    If the combat is stiff and tedious, and I'm not saying it isn't, then why play the game four times over!!!

  • ronuds #37 3 years ago

    EA + ME = MElol

  • AphoticCosmos #38 3 years ago

    (I am presently halfway through my fourth playthrough on the hardest difficulty, and the fights are dull in the extreme - even with sabotage and overload, my Spectre sniper rifle is taking about a dozen shots to kill Husks, never mind proper tough enemies)

    That's because you're probably playing through on insanity or hardcore - they didn't up the difficulty level, just the tedium level. I only did those two difficulties for the achievements and the XP. Hard is probably the best difficulty - everything dies but still puts up a fight. My fully upgraded Spectre X Sniper Rifle puts a round clean through anything, usually one/two-shotting it on hard. Normal is easy, Easy is stupidly easy, Hardcore is boring, Insanity is there to waste time on.

  • Inigo #39 3 years ago

    Mass Effect was at its best when it was on the main station or the main worlds. These were exceptional.

    If this DLC is to work then it needs to be like KOTOR with games like pazak, sleezy bar owners, and arena contestants that have personality.

  • metalangel #40 3 years ago

    rhino: there is a lot to the game that you need to play it several times to see it all. Once as a male, once as a female... but also once as a nice person, once as a badass. And into those you have to factor being a sneaky sniper, tough tank and willowy biotic user. And yes, lovely achievements, but also to ensure my "main" character is fully levelled and ready for the sequel.

  • hiddenranbir #41 3 years ago

    @The Bodybuilder

    I have, several times. I don't find it particularly dark. As I said, it reminds me of the sterile feel the 80s sci-fi s had.

  • Daikon #42 3 years ago

    Oh, and this was so obvious that I even forgot to mention it.

    Instead of spending time on long-overdue DLC how about making a patch which shortens the length of elevator rides when the game is installed to the HD?

  • sneetch #43 3 years ago

    Plus: sequel will be "much darker".

    Thank god for gamma correction.

    Sorry, what was that? I should read the article? There's an article? What article? ;)

    Darker seems to be the new black, if you know what I mean. Personally, I had no problem with the darkness level of the first one.

    @GreatUncleBaal
    "We wanted to be able to give people a much more combat-oriented, lighter-story experience"

    - Read as "We couldn't really be bothered to write a decent storyline for DLC, and it's much easier to just chuck a load of fights at you."

    Aye, it does seem that way alright.

  • RedSparrows #44 3 years ago

    Personally, what I loved most about ME's story was that it started off with an unknown, and then gradually, a plot was unravelled that revealed a very dark, nihilistic enemy. As people have said, the conversation with Sovereign was the best damn bit of the game, because it was just pure 'we're gonna fuck you up. Bye'. GIEF MOAR MASS EFFECT