Mass Effect 2 Teaser Trailer

[Maria Caliban]

I'm more interested in how my actions in ME will change things in ME2, like saving Queenie or refusing to sell to the Shadow Broker.

 

This is big one for me. GIVE MY ACTIONS CONSEQUENCES. Logical repercussions are good with a few unexpected ones as well.

[Wrath of Dagon]

"I know they initially announced they shipped 1.6 million to retailers (not sold through)"

 

I remember them bragging aboutselling something like 750k or something within the first week or soemthing like that. I wouldn't be surprised if it sold between 1 mil-2 mil on the 360 alone. Don't think it sold huge on the PC, though, which doesn't surprise me much.

That's what I think, about 2-2.5 million, some of it possibly after price cuts. But I think they wanted 4-5 million, similar to Assassin's Creed. At least from the way the analysts were talking about Bioware's potential when EA bought them.

[Volourn]

"But I think they wanted 4-5 million, similar to Assassin's Creed. At least from the way the analysts were talking about Bioware's potential when EA bought them."

 

Really? They wanted 4.5-5 million copies sold despite the fact that no BIO game has sold more than 3 mil? Not even KOTOR. And, if they expected that many sales don't you think they would have shipped more than 1.6 mil copies to start?

 

Who are these 'analysts' you speak of? They must be mythical 'cause I haven't heard anything about BIO, or MS expecting 4-5 mil copies to be sold.

 

BIO's games will pretty much NEVER sell that many. They're simply not that popular. If BIO and MS actually expected 5 mil copies to be sold they're plainly retarded, and delusional. I doubt MS's market research people would be that naive. L0L

[Tigranes]

no BIO game has sold more than 3 mil? Not even KOTOR.

 

Do we know this for certain Volo? Just curious, it'd be interesting to keep in the brain.

[Volourn]

I get that info from the BIO website - unless they've update the numbers in the past few months none of their games have sold more than 3 mil. All their big ones (BGs, NWN, KOTOR) are around 3 mil.

[Morgoth]

I'm pretty sure ME should have reached 3 million sold copies by now. And when the price lowers, you can usually observe another steep increase in sales again, so 3 million should be surpassed easily in the coming months. Those are all potential ME2 customers, mind you.

 

Edit: And ME2 is being made by Bioware. *ahem*

Edited February 23, 2009 by Morgoth

[Wrath of Dagon]

"But I think they wanted 4-5 million, similar to Assassin's Creed. At least from the way the analysts were talking about Bioware's potential when EA bought them."

 

Really? They wanted 4.5-5 million copies sold despite the fact that no BIO game has sold more than 3 mil? Not even KOTOR. And, if they expected that many sales don't you think they would have shipped more than 1.6 mil copies to start?

 

Who are these 'analysts' you speak of? They must be mythical 'cause I haven't heard anything about BIO, or MS expecting 4-5 mil copies to be sold.

 

BIO's games will pretty much NEVER sell that many. They're simply not that popular. If BIO and MS actually expected 5 mil copies to be sold they're plainly retarded, and delusional. I doubt MS's market research people would be that naive. L0L

But KOTOR isn't a cinematic action "RPG" clearly designed to appeal to the broadest possible audience. From the way they were talking before release clearly they expected ME to be their break out "mainstream" game. And of course you wouldn't ship the entire amount you expect to sell at once, what would you do with the stock that doesn't sell? It got money tied up in it after all. As far as analysts, Michael Pachter for one. They were talking about $300 million/year in revenues from Bioware/Pandemic combined, which means 3-4 million copies for every AAA game that comes out. That's the only way you could justify the insane purchase price for Bio/Pan. Edited February 23, 2009 by Wrath of Dagon

[Volourn]

"But KOTOR isn't a cinematic action "RPG" clearly designed to appeal to the broadest possible audience. From the way they were talking before release clearly they expected ME to be their break out "mainstream" game."

 

L0L You are suggesting ME is more mainstream tha KOTOR? Come on, now. Don't be silly.

 

 

"And of course you wouldn't ship the entire amount you expect to sell at once, what would you do with the stock that doesn't sell? It got money tied up in it after all."

 

True, true. But, if you expect it to sell x amount of copies at the minimum you surely would ship those right? Afterall, FO3 shipped I believe like 4 mil copies. There's a HUGE difference between what you HOPE a game will sell, and what you EXPECT it to sell.

 

 

"They were talking about $300 million/year in revenues from Bioware/Pandemic combined, which means 3-4 million copies for every AAA game that comes out. That's the only way you could justify the insane purchase price for Bio/Pan."

 

IIRC, ME was released BEFORE the purchase so EA would have known how much ME 360 actually sold so there shouldn't have been surprises. It's also called EA overpaying for BIO/Pandemic. The fact you call it insane just proves that point. They were also talking about BIO/Pandemic releasing as many as 6 games a year, and that's not gonna happen either.

 

There is no logical reason to believe that BIO/MS expected ME to sell 4 mil + copies. None whatsoever. Hope, maybe, but expected? No.

Edited February 23, 2009 by Volourn

[Wrath of Dagon]

"But KOTOR isn't a cinematic action "RPG" clearly designed to appeal to the broadest possible audience. From the way they were talking before release clearly they expected ME to be their break out "mainstream" game."

 

L0L You are suggesting ME is more mainstream tha KOTOR? Come on, now. Don't be silly.

Hmm, third person shooter with cover vs. D20 rules. I wonder which one has more post-pubescent male appeal, hmm.

 

"And of course you wouldn't ship the entire amount you expect to sell at once, what would you do with the stock that doesn't sell? It got money tied up in it after all."

 

True, true. But, if you expect it to sell x amount of copies at the minimum you surely would ship those right? Afterall, FO3 shipped I believe like 4 mil copies. There's a HUGE difference between what you HOPE a game will sell, and what you EXPECT it to sell.

 

 

"They were talking about $300 million/year in revenues from Bioware/Pandemic combined, which means 3-4 million copies for every AAA game that comes out. That's the only way you could justify the insane purchase price for Bio/Pan."

 

IIRC, ME was released BEFORE the purchase so EA would have known how much ME 360 actually sold so there shouldn't have been surprises. It's also called EA overpaying for BIO/Pandemic. The fact you call it insane just proves that point. They were also talking about BIO/Pandemic releasing as many as 6 games a year, and that's not gonna happen either. There is no logical reason to believe that BIO/MS expected ME to sell 4 mil + copies. None whatsoever. Hope, maybe, but expected? No.

The EA purchase was announced before ME came out. And I said hoped, not expected, in fact I said that twice already.

[alanschu]

What does d20 have to do with anything?

 

I wouldn't be surprised if a great many people that bought KOTOR had no idea WTF d20 was.

[Volourn]

"Hmm, third person shooter with cover vs. D20 rules. I wonder which one has more post-pubescent male appeal, hmm."

 

Star Wars (an IP that has made billions if not trillions of dollars through countless movies, books, games, tv shows, etc.) vs Unknown IP

 

I wonder which is more appealing to any male. It's a no contest.

[Morgoth]

What do you people think, how great would be the chances of a success for a Babylon 5 RPG?

[Volourn]

More than ME on name alone; but less than a SW one.

[Wrath of Dagon]

They didn't have any choice on having a Star Wars license for ME, but they did have a choice of gameplay. And so what, Assassin's Creed was an unknown IP, yet sold more than twice as much as KOTOR.

[Morgoth]

They didn't have any choice on having a Star Wars license for ME, but they did have a choice of gameplay. And so what, Assassin's Creed was an unknown IP, yet sold more than twice as much as KOTOR.

But that's because Assassins Creed got Jade Raymond.

 

I only say Bewbs.

Edited February 23, 2009 by Morgoth

[tripleRRR]

L0L

 

 

"In all seriousness though, Shepherd better not be dead. That would be seriously not cool Bio."

 

Actually, it would eb cool. Besdies, like mentioned above, unless BIo completely overhauls ME2's combat system, our Shepards tm are pretty much maxed out as is. There's no real reason to bother levelling in ME2 unless they add super duper overpowered new abilities that make the ones completely irrelevant. That's the main reason why I want Shepard to be gone.

 

Or what would be neat is if he's assumed dead so you play another character, and you eventually find Shepard alive, he joins your group, and you have two PCs. HAHA!

 

But, sadly, this is likely just a fake out hence why it is known as a 'teaser'.

 

 

 

I don't really mind the thought of Shepherd dead, but I would have liked it to happen in the previous game, instead of some mythical in-between crap. Like when

the piece of sovereign crashes into the citadel control room.

Shepherd's death at that point would be understandable, heroic, and a great setup for the next game. An incredible example of self-sacrifice, heroism, and so on. Instead we get this "hey guess what? Shepherd's dead!"

 

 

No thanks.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

I wonder which is more appealing to any male. It's a no contest.

 

At this point I would choose the unknown IP, Star Wars is getting done-to-death.

[Enoch]

Obviously, the only character data from ME1 that will port over to ME2 will be whether your Shepard has the N7 Pantaloons in his/her inventory.

[Tigranes]

Jesus O'Brien, Volo is correct all over the place!

 

ME *is* more mainstream than KOTOR, but gaming as a whole had moved in that direction in the intervening years anyway. There were differences, but not significant or relevant enough for anybody to expect it to sell a lot more than 3 million, if we aer working with those numbers.

[skuld1]

What do you people think, how great would be the chances of a success for a Babylon 5 RPG?

 

Low if a big dev/publisher tried for it and hyped it up appropriately... Zero if it's from a small dev/indie project.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

http://kotaku.com/5158446/first-mass-effect-2-artwork

 

[Wrath of Dagon]

Looks nice and evocative, but I don't trust Bioware's misleading marketing hype.

[Maria Caliban]

I wouldn't call concept art misleading marketing hype. They're not saying the finished product will look like this and I think most people are aware that outside of a strongly visually stylistic game like Psychonuts or Okami, rendered 3d models never look like concept art.

 

Edit:

 

Which is not to deny BioWare's problems with the visual aesthetics of their games. I suspect Diablo III will be more visually evoctive than ME 2.

Edited February 24, 2009 by Maria Caliban

[Wrath of Dagon]

Well, that's what I meant, concept art looks nice, but I'm not going to jump to any conclusions about the final game just yet. Misleading marketing hype was really a reference to the problems I have with their marketing of the first game.

[tripleRRR]

I hope we get to see more of the citadel. It's so damn huge and we were only allowed to explore a tiny portion.