14 DAY TRIAL // BioWare is a busy developer these days. It has released Dragon Age: Origins, which has received quite a lot of Game of the Year Awards and is already getting an expansion in The Awakening, Mass Effect 2 is coming towards the end of January and is set to get a consistent DLC, and The Old Republic, the Star Wars-based MMO, should arrive in 2011. It seems the developer is also beginning to put in some work hours into Mass Effect 3.
Casey Hudson, the man at BioWare in charge of the Mass Effect franchise, told IGN that “We are already at work on Mass Effect 3, building the first bits of the story, putting that together. We always wanted to make sure that we got the entire trilogy of games done within this console's lifecycle. We didn't want to take forever with it.”
BioWare is hinting that players will again be able to use their save game from Mass Effect 2 in order to get the player's choices into the third game but the company is also interested in making sure that as the final installment rolls around, players get to understand the universe in which they act and get to actually see how humanity is becoming one of the forces that shape it for the better.
Ever since the first Mass Effect was announced, BioWare has talked about the trilogy structure it is using, saying that the first game will introduce the universe and the major players, the second game will offer a darker story and a fall from grace, while the third will wrap up all the loose ends and will bring closure to the series.
Of course, if the two upcoming videogames do well at retail, especially considering the rather niche market for RPGs, BioWare might continue using the universe through prequels and other products, maybe with a MMO based on the setting.