Crosshairs - Mass Effect 3, Indie Development, The Witcher 2

I might come off a bit cynical but people these days aren't exactly easy to please. And what if they do change the ending? That would be like me reading a book, hating the ending, and asking the writer to change it until I'm satisfied. I might as well just write it myself. But if I do that, it's no longer me reading a book. If this is something that catches on, there will be no point in having the experience. Asking someone to change their creation is stupid. It was bad. And? You're telling me you don't deserve to be disappointed? Ever? It was as good as it was. Only people with a "everything my way cause I'm spoiled" mentality would even fight for this. I'm pretty sure the developers didn't say "You know what? Let's piss off the fans by making a crappy ending". Bad experiences are experiences. Without them, the good ones wouldn't be so good. Forcing this change would be the equivalent of just imagining one in your head. If we allow people to do this, games should just be swiped from the "art" table. Just put it in your "game endings I hated" box, stop whining, and remember that these are normal life experiences.

clueless in first video, no idea what they are talking about, just fail, don't think they even read what people want with Mass Effect 3

the ending/s to ME3 were not a shock but a "ARE YOU SERIOUS... WTH?" ME 1 &2 both if given best choices were made, you made it out with your squad intact, if this had not been implemented in the first place then I would not be disapointed with the ending of 3. Seriously turned away by this and very disapointed with the entire ME3 excuses and shenanigans.

Just for laughs...what will ending a beloved series the way Bioware did in future be called? Pulling a Bioware? Pulling a Hudson? Embracing Enternity? ?

I think that Bioware got it right. Mass Effect is driven by the choices that you make over the course of all three games. If you stayed true to the way you played the first game then things play out in a very satisfying way. You have to play the game based on how you would personally make those decisions. If you go against your own conscience then you will never be satisfied with the ending.

IT'S NOT ABOUT ART. IT'S ABOUT CORRUPT REVIEW SITES PROTECTING CORRUPT GAME DEVELOPERS AND CORRUPT PUBLISHERS. Video games review scandal. The bonuses of developers and publishing execs are dependent on a positive Metascore. Electronic Arts, Take-Two and others admit. << LINK REMOVED >> Dragon Age II composer says the sequel was put out less than 18 months after the release of Origins due to EA wishing to gain quick success on the back of the original. << LINK REMOVED >> Gameplanet cancels a Black Ops review article because information came out of invitations that were sent to journalists for a mansion vacation to review Black Ops. << LINK REMOVED >> BioWare Employee Busted in Dragon Age 2 Review Scandal << LINK REMOVED >>

IT'S NOT ABOUT ART. IT'S ABOUT SHADY JOURNALISM "Every news organization has only its credibility and reputation to rely on." Tony Burman, ex-editor-in-chief of CBC News, The Globe and Mail, October 2001 Gamespot, as well as other review sites, continuously violate one of the most fundamental codes of journalism. ACCURACY AND STANDARDS FOR FACTUAL REPORTING "I feel sorry for the GameSpot staff that have to continue to work there because they have no choice if they want to be able to pay bills and feed their families. For such upstanding people, the CNet overloads have created the ultimate soul-crushing work environment." "It's true, I'm no longer contributing to GameSpot. I believe CNet management let Jeff go for all the wrong reasons. I believe CNet intends to soften the site's tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy." "I won't lie to people and tell them a game is good when it isn't. I won't downplay negatives that readers have a right to know about." 8 Year Run at GameSpot Ends: Frank Provo Tells CNet To Shove It << LINK REMOVED >><< LINK REMOVED >> Jeff Gerstmann fired due to pressure from advertisers following his lackluster review of Kane and Lynch << LINK REMOVED >>

IT'S NOT ABOUT ART. IT'S ABOUT SHADY DECEPTIVE BUSINESS PRACTICES AND THE LOSS OF TRUST FROM FED-UP CUSTOMERS. Soon after the release of Mass Effect 3, "From Ashes" DLC files were discovered on the the game disc. << LINK REMOVED >> "The content in From Ashes was developed by a seperate team after the core game was finished and not completed until well after the the main game went into certification." BioWare Mass Effect 3 Associate Producer Michael Gamble (February 22, 2012) << LINK REMOVED >> "We would never take stuff out of the core game and only have it in DLC" BioWare Mass Effect 3 Executive Producer Casey Hudson (March 2, 2012) << LINK REMOVED >> But part of the gamer-developer relationship that makes all of this work is trust. Trust is important because it keeps fans coming back to a specific developer. It builds brand loyalty, and creates the sense that the developer cares about its fans. This can lead to not just repeat customers, but less piracy and better user reviews. When guys like Casey Hudson say that the content wasn’t developed alongside the rest of the game, and then hackers find the files on the disc itself, well, trust goes rushing toward the window. << LINK REMOVED >>

Thanks for the recap of the Witcher 2 changes! More info in [url=<< LINK REMOVED >>]the recent trailer[/url]. Looks like CD Porojekt is really listening to the fans (longer act 3, extended outro, more quests, character ect.)

I haven't even finish and I felt somewhat cheated... Its up to them to patch in a new ending or not but if 10%+ of your consumer is showing displeasure, you may want to appease them. By having a cliffhanger in the end it doesn't ensure fans will buy the next game, in facts the opposite. The ending of Crysis 2 killed the series for me, I immediately uninstalled.. P.S. I love how Witcher 2 enhanced edition will be patch (for free) to those who already owned it on pc. They even add more to the ending because it was criticized for me lazy and no asked for that. EA take notes... or not.

Video games are a work of art but unlike a painting or music or a play it is an interactive progressive work of art and this is even more true in ME. In the beginning they promised the gaming world that your decision would change the flow of the game. The story rested on the actions of the gamer. But the end of ME3 completely disregards that promise. The truth is the action you take in ME3 itself does not matter very much in the outcome. And the tacked on multiplayer is a must play if you want the 'best' ending. That too is a slap in the face of gamers that do not like online shooters. ME3 is an awesome game with a horrible ending all 16 endings suck. This work of art is like the Mona Lisa giving us the finger. It needs to be changed.

Hey hosts how far have you played the game ME3. For a matter of fact have you even played ME1 or ME2???? If you did then you would know why ME3 ending was not good and you would not even be defending Bioware. Also, without going into spoilers, I feel that the revelations at the end contradicted what Sovereign said about why the Reapers do what they do when we first meet him.

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Well done Gamespot, you really know how to adress gamers concerns about Mass Effect 3.

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You know what's more annoying and frustrating about the whole ME 3 fiasco?Ppl like this red shirt guy (who the hell is that guy anwy?) and our "Beloved" [INSERT SARCASM HERE] Laura Parker who have NO idea what's so ever about the ME franchise (they haven't played the games even for 2 minutes) go about defending BioWare because their higher ups told them so.And when the influx of comments agree to the the statement that: "Laura you have NO idea what u are talking about and your article and opinion about the whole mess is DEAD wrong" she doesn't even have the courtesy to come down the comment section and support her either way ridiculous statements and article.That's what GameSpot is all about...Well done GameSpot!you are doing Great!Keep up the "Good" work.I am certain all of your fans will "reward" you sooner or later for your "righteous" stance...(there were too many INSERT SARCASM messages i should have put there that i didn't bother :P)

They're clueless ... truly clueless. If they knew anything about art, they would know that any artist (that wants people to buy their art) needs to listen to their audience. As a theater professional, I guarantee you that a director of a play who wants people to see it, I *will* keep the audiences' tastes in mind. Furthermore, the fact that the reaction is *so* visceral should tell Bioware something. It's not people just grumpy or unhappy, it's people really, really disappointed with a gaming company they've been very loyal to. You two are off the mark here, totally.

It isn't "didn't like the ending" it is the ending is completely out of place, doesn't match anything to do with anything in the entire series, and there is essentially ONE ending in three different colors. It seems quite clear she has not played the game nor seen the ending.

I think this is how the ME stuff will play out....simply replace candy with money...we are Jake and Finn and Bioware is the magical man. << LINK REMOVED >>

The endings of ME1 and ME2 were fun and inspired me to play them over and over again, so when DLC came out I bought them. OK, all of them. The ending of ME3 doesn’t inspire me at all and will not purchase any DLC. Is it still art to Bioware?

Also like to add if a game is art then so are books. Mass Effect: Deception, a book that is full of Lore errors and plot holes is getting fixed thanks to the fans that stood up to that crap. and I believe the same thing happened with Fallout 3s ending probably not as loudly as what is happening now but Bethesda still fixed that up with broken steal add-on

also.. there weren't 16 different endings... there were 3, with slightly different bits and pces, if either of you two had ever played this game, you mightve known that.. :(

how is it behaving entitled to want what was marketed by Bioware itself, a satisfying conclusion to this series based on all the decisions we had made up until the start of ME3.. the endings were garbage none of the decisions made in any of the previous games mattered one little bit and the last 10 mins made NO SENSE whatsoever... If Bioware was totally happy with their end game product they certainly wouldnt be SO open to adding DLC that the community has their hand in.. IF they were 100% happy with it all they wouldnt have entered into any dialogue with the forum members and wouldve released a straight up statement saying "no this is exactly what we wanted to happen so go to hell' Instead they have opened up discussions with the community and asked us to tell them what we want to see in future DLC's, which 90% of us have stated.. "proper endings where all our choices mattered". Where those of us that wanted a happy ending get one, or those of us that wanted to watch the universe burn could watch it, not this utter let down that is currently in place

A couple problems with this video. First, this game (Mass Effect 3) isn't a work of art. It's a product. In some people's opinions, it is an incomplete and unsatisfying product. Customers deserve their money's worth and their satisfaction when it comes to games and all other products and services from a provider. That is not gamer entitlement. That is called good business and caring about your consumers (something EA, and Bioware these days, just doesn't). The other issues I have with what these two said has been addressed well enough by others so it does need to be repeated.

oh c'mon gamespot, you are COMPLETELY missing the point of the petition, not to spoil the endings boil down to lack of choice in the end and only choice you make is the color of the BOOM [again not to spoil] so hint for you gamespot: play ME3 from beginning to the VERY end, read BW forums, and THEN make opinion please. otherwise i'm [and probably my fellow MAss Effect fans too] growing more and more disappointed with your coverage of this situationk ,and you're a GOOD portal. sad:-((

I'll post what i posted in the other one 1. It's only 1 ending that was slightly tweaked to make 16 endings and that 1 ending has no closure whatsoever!!!!!!!!!!!!! (if you say you're going to do 16 endings, then do it properly. I would have been happy if they did it like they did with DA:O) and it made half of the major stuff I did in-game 100% Useless!!!!!!!! 2. Wild proclamations made by Casy Hudson and Bioware before the game was released turned out to be all BS. 3. The ending seems to be heavily influenced by the 1st Deus Ex game endings ( which can explain why these so called "endings" felt like they didn't belong in the ME Universe.) 4. For a game that is meant to be about repercussions and consequences(One of the main themes for the Mass Effect series) they sure as hell didn't think the ending through. 5. SPACE MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and @ the 'different' endings - - -SPOILERS, DON'T COPY PASTE LINK IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS - - << LINK REMOVED >> (GS, stop deleting my spaces plz)

Both of you COMPLETELY miss the point with ME. This isn't about good/bad ending , it boils down into 2 major objections (actually 3, but no spoilers): 1) As quoted below, Hudson claimed that choices affect the ending. This is ME, game of distinct choices and consequences of choices! Except for one problem - NONE OF THE ENDINGS CHANGE BASED ON YOUR CHOICES. I could play MaleShep, start from scratch at ME3, be exclusively Renegade, and I will be given the EXACT SAME ENDINGS as FemShep, playing through from ME1, exclusively Paragon. THIS IS A PROBLEM, and if you don't understand, then I doubt you've played through from ME1 the way we have. Gamers are invested in characters they spent 120+ hours over 3 games with, and they want the choices they made to MATTER - since that is THE ENTIRE PREMISE OF ME. 2) Tough without spoilers - but the ending was a complete ass pull. You fight your way through the Reapers, get to the end.... and are arbitrarily given a choice that basically says, "Push X for ending 1, Y for ending 2, B for ending 3" It made absolutely no sense in the canon of the universe, and going back to point #1, not a single choice you made over three games affects any of them. It's not that its just a bad ending, its that the ending MAKES NO FREAKING SENSE. I would love to include #3, which is how the ME Relays turn out, but I see no way w/o spoilers, - but those who have seen the ending know what I'm talking about.

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these people dont seem to get it...but i wont attack them for it.

I quote Casey Hudson from an interview on 2/17/12 2 weeks before MS3 release. Hudson "It's not so much that there is a fixed set of alternative endings, but all of your choices really determine how things end up in the universe. So, how you approach the end-game, for every player, you're going to have a different set of results in terms of who is alive and who is dead, and which civilisations survived and which ones were wiped out.There is a huge set of consequences that start stacking up as you approach the end-game. And even in terms of the ending itself, it continues to break down to some very large decisions. So it's not like a classic game ending where everything is linear and you make a choice between a few things - it really does layer in many, many different choices, up to the final moments, where it's going to be different for everyone who plays it." Hmm a choice of 3 colors does equal promises and hype like these that have been made since the beginnings of ME. Its not about "gamer entitlement". Seems CBS(Gamespot), and Fox (IGN) are really the ones out of touch with the gaming cultural now. We paid money ie commision for this work of "art" that did not live up to that "artists" promises of what the work of art would end up being. So we are holding the "artist" responsible to fix what needs to be fixed. What is so hard for the gaming media to see about this. Hell even Forbes magazine gets why we are petitioning funny how "game" journalist dont.

<< LINK REMOVED >> I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links but this pretty up sums up the whole "art" argument.

I think with the ME3 just let it fade into oblivion. Lets move on to better games where we know we are listened and can expect warm support from devs. there is always a chance that this all was a DLC stunt and you can buy the favorite endings later, but should we care really. As to Witcher 2 Im impressed what they have done so far and I will continue to support them. Amway the reason I say we forget ME3 is because Baldurs Gate EE is coming out and that will fix the epic storyline craving and I suspect Skyrim DLC will be appearing soon to.

@kiopta exactly, i agree wholeheartedly.

Bioware can't make controller support to ME1, 2 & 3 for PC ..... How they can change the ending ?!

I get the feeling the people at Bioware have something against blondes.

@maffaxx I was young but I do remmeber the whole "Who shot JR?" thing. I even commented on another site that Shepard awoke to find Nihlus in the shower.

Have these guys played this game cause there are not 16 different endings. And if they haven't played the game, and haven't played the previous ME games either I'm not sure they should be on a gaming website commenting on it.

@swisspease Aged people like me would mention Dallas (the tv soap opera)... and what a blunder that was. It is common knowledge that after that season, no one ever dared to even think about using the "it's all a dream" trick everagain, it is a screenwriter taboo.

To me the ending is like reading a mystery where the last chapter is missing or where they introduce a character in the last chapter who committed the crime so you had no way of deducing the story yourself. ---SPOILERS--- Your actions have no bearing on the final ending. It is said that there are 16 different endings but in all of them you are choosing red, green, or blue. So in 16 endings you only actually get three, and they are so alike that if you are colorblind you will think there is only one ending. There are so many inconsistencies in the final minutes that it reminds me of the movie "Jacob's Ladder" about a Vietnam soldier who is dying on the operating table and the whole jumbled movie is taking place in his final moments before he dies. The ending just doens't make sense and gives no closure to the story. I'm not looking for a sunshine and daisies ending, just one that makes sense.

@Merkahbah I dont want any of it to be this dream crap...I have no prob with Shep but with the fact that they went 180 on the entire series, gave no closure, created gaps in plot, and just abandoned all the choice, relationships, and perhaps joy that was ME.

@kiopta1 (i'm using your post as an example nothing against you at all) that right there is why i have an issue with the ending, we don't KNOW anything. this game was the final one in a series and they just leave it completely open to interpretation? So the whole ending was a dream, ok...so what really happened? Is shepard dead? did the reapers win? The game should tell us this, i don't want to have to guess or buy some book that bioware is going to release to tell me. If this is a feeling of entitlement, than yes i feel like we've earned that right to know.

@kiopta1 you're welcome, and nice to see you again. In perspective, that day-1 dlc was not that big deal after all. I mean, this whole no ending issue manages to put a LOT in perspective...

SPOILER>>>>>> A few peeps are saying that everything after the "laser blast" was a dream...which is plausible especially if you get that extra ending bit that shows Shepard take a breath while lying in a heap of earth like concrete (i dont think thats on the citadel). Just a thought..but still.

It's easy to explain without spoilers. All the decisions you made in the game and *the preceding two games* have little or no influence on how ME3 ends and the choices available. For game that is often all about making it personal to you, the player, the ending is disconnected and vague. Maybe Bioware shouldn't change it, but it doesn't change the fact that the ending was poorly thought out.

@maffaxxx that was perfect.

I would like the Deus Ex style ME endings if ME was made in the same format as Deus Ex. However, Me is all about the choices you make and the relationships you build through out ME, ME2, and ME3...until the last 5-10 mins where they do what feels like a 180 and makes everything you did...everything you fought for feel very pointless. Like being left at the alter...or getting that hard earned promotion 10 mins before getting laidoff.

this is how it should be << LINK REMOVED >>

Laura, you are full of BS and I doubt you have even played a fraction of ME3 let alone played any other Bioware game from recent history. Bioware has screwed over their fans with such a vague ending. This isn't about feeling treated poorly by a developer you just threw a huge handful of money at, it's about their forgetting of the universe and the plot. They completely disregarded everything they have been building up since the original game, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that the fans are outraged. Point in case, Dragon Age 2.

FURTHERMORE, on the subject of bad journalism - the main responsibility of any journalist is to present the facts first and foremost. It's one thing to offer an opinion (no matter how ill-informed) as Laura Parker did in her recent article, but to blatantly state things that aren't true, for a journalist that counts as failing to meet the most basic criteria of your job. Next time, try playing the game you're offering your opinion on TO COMPLETION, or at the very least do some actual RESEARCH! And just so you know, here is the appropriate reaction to the end of ME3 for anyone who has emotionally invested themselves in the entire series: << LINK REMOVED >>