To the horror of 360 “fanboys” and the cheers of PS3 users, it was officially announced yesterday at Gamescom that Mass Effect 2 would be released on the PS3 next January. To add on to my anti-fanboy argument, when I looked at the post on Joystiq (see above embedded link) for this news, I saw several comments where people were either saying “nooooooo” or “this sucks now all we have is halo and fable”. That is just stupid talk, and I hate it. I would be pleased as punch if God of War went to the 360, and I think it should!While this is a major victory for gamers who only own a PS3, it also has some problems.
The Pros
First and foremost, the biggest pro is that more people will be able to enjoy the wonder world of Mass Effect. If I didn’t have a 360 I would be just as happy, and being a 360 owner I’m not crying over this…I hate console-exclusive games. The fact that before I had a 360 I never got to touch the likes of Left 4 Dead, Mass Effect, and Castle Crashers, and that I know that there are people out there in the world who have never played Uncharted, God of War, or Resistance, just makes me so angry. There is absolutely no way any gamers win from console-exclusive games…unless they count “bragging rights” as a pro. Personally, I don’t, and I think the only people who benefit from exclusive games are the system owners (Sony of Microsoft), since a person like me has to own both systems to enjoy all the greatest games. Not even the game developers win, because they would sell a hell of a lot more units of a game if it appeared on both systems.
So that all being said, gamers will win because more people will be able to enjoy the story of Mass Effect, and Bioware will win because more copies of the game will sell. It can also be assumed that, with this happening, that Mass Effect 3, due out next year, will also be a cross-platform game, which is great.
Note: It is important to understand that, for the sake of this post, I will only consider the 360 and PS3 systems. Yes, I do acknowledge the Wii…I have a Wii and love my Wii…but due to it’s unique controllers and limited hardware capabilities, it cannot be placed into this argument about cross-platform games, because most games that went to the Wii would be completely inferior to their PS3 and 360 counterparts.
The Cons
Yes, believe it or not, there are downsides to this happening, and I’m not referring to the 360 fanboy nightmare that is losing an exclusive title. The biggest problem I see is that the PS3 users, while being able to play through Mass Effect 2, will be in the dark as far as the first Mass Effect goes, since that is not being released on the PS3. Now some may say that is not a big deal, and Bioware claims that there will be an introductory video or something similar on the PS3 release that will give someone who never played Mass Effect the gist of what happened to bring them up to speed, but that doesn’t even come close to comparing with playing through and experiencing the full story for yourself. I’m big on the stories that occur in games…I’m not one to skip over cut scenes or zone out during extended periods of dialogue. To me, games are more like interactive movies, and you control how the story proceeds. That being said, not being able to personally play through the first Mass Effect puts PS3 owners jumping right into Mass Effect 2 somewhat in the dark, and they won’t be able to enjoy it to the same effect as a 360 owner did. I guess I would just have been a lot happier if they had released the first Mass Effect first, and then Mass Effect 2 months or a year later…that would have been better.
Another problem is that PS3 users will not be able to get the same gaming experience. Why? Simply because some content of Mass Effect rolls over to Mass Effect 2, meaning if you load up your Mass Effect save file when popping in Mass Effect 2, your personal story continues. Shepard’s character bio you created crosses over, along with his relationships with his allies, and the ramifications to some of the actions he took in the first game. I can’t fully vouch for this, since I am still rolling through Mass Effect and haven’t touched the second one yet, but I have seen this done before, primarily in the Suikoden series. Throughout Suikoden, one of it’s draws was that there were 108 total characters to find in each game, and your relationship with them in previous games affected how they appeared in later games. For example, in the first game your best friend dies part way though the story, but if you find all 108 characters, he will miraculously come back in the end for the final battles. Then if you use this save file when you load up Suikoden II, he will eventually join up with you. However, if you did not find him in the first game, or you did not have a save file, then he would not be accessable in Suikoden II. I know I digress a bit, but I’m just trying to explain how important the continuity of a story is to me, and how PS3 users are going to get a cheapened experience with Mass Effect 2.
I am 100% happy that Mass Effect 2 (and presumably 3) is making its way to the PS3, and I wish more console-exclusive titles would follow suit. However, when a exclusive game breaks through the wall and comes to the other side, I just wish it was done with total effort, and started from the very beginning, so that everyone could enjoy the same great story and gaming experiences.
