Operation: VIGILANCE

Operation: VIGILANCE (September 7th-9th)

Unexpected attacks have taken out several squads and damaged vital Alliance equipment. We will deploy drones to repair damage and investigate the nature of these attacks.

Individual Goal: Complete up to and including wave 10 on any difficulty without using a consumable (medi-gel, ammo, Ops pack or Cobra missile launcher).

Allied Goal: Complete 250,000 escort missions on any difficulty.

Special Circumstance: None

Individual Goal Success: All individual players awarded a Commendation Pack
Allied Goal Success: All players awarded a Victory Pack

BioWare at Dragon*Con

Are you in Atlanta this weekend? Make sure you don't miss out on Dragon*Con! BioWare is returning to Atlanta for the first time in many years with Dragon Age Lead Writer David Gaider and Community Specialist 'Evil' Chris Priestly attending the event.

If you have tickets to Dragon*Con, you can follow Evil Chris Priestly to learn where they are at the con. They want to meet up with our fans and look forward to discussing BioWare, Dragon Age and Mass Effect with you. It is also your chance to record a message for 'Evil' Chris to take back to the BioWare studio. Give your feedback on a game, show off your costume or say what you want to see coming from BioWare in the future.

David and Chris are also on a number of different panels during the convention, so check out their schedules:

Friday August 31

Title: Games People Play.
Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: Embassy D-F ' Hyatt (Length: 1)
Description: So, you've written a game'video, computer RPG'What happens now? David Gaider participating.

Saturday September 1

Title: Meet BioWare
Time: Sat 04:00 pm Location: 209 / 210 / 211 ' Hilton (Length: 1)
Description: BioWare's games have delighted us all for two decades. What's their secret? How do they make great products we love? Come find out! Both David Gaider and Chris Priestly participating.

Title: Creating Characters in Video Games
Time: Sat 05:30 pm Location: Capitol Ballroom ' Sheraton (Length: 1)
Description: David Gaider of Dragon Age and Avellone of Fallout, and Felicia Day, who voiced both, discuss the creation of characters in video games. David Gaider participating.

Title: Sex in Videogames
Time: Sat 10:00 pm Location: 209 / 210 / 211 ' Hilton (Length: 1)
Description: Games are often found at the intersection of sexuality and sexism. Hear how games from Bioware tackle issues like sex, gay romance, and inclusiveness. David Gaider participating.

Sunday September 2

Title: Writing for Videogames
Time: Sun 10:00 am Location: 209 / 210 / 211 ' Hilton (Length: 1)
Description: Dozens of endings! Hours of branching dialogue! Enjoy lively discussion of world-class writers of Dragon Age, Saint's Row, Infinity Blade, and more. David Gaider participating.

Monday September 3

Title: Reaching the Fans
Time: Mon 11:30 am Location: 209 / 210 / 211 ' Hilton (Length: 1)
Description: You can't make everyone happy all the time'but what if it's your job? Come hear how community managers keep their fans happy and engaged. Chris Priestly participating.

Even if you do not have tickets to Dragon*Con you can watch the famed Dragon*Con costume parade as it walks down Peachtree street. The 2012 Dragon*Con Parade is scheduled for Saturday, September 1 at 10:00 AM on Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta. The parade route will start at Woodruff Park at the corner of Auburn Ave and Peachtree Street, continue North on Peachtree Street to Baker Street, and take a final turn onto Courtland Street. We have many fans walking in both Mass Effect and Dragon Age in the parade, so come out and cheer them on.

David and 'Evil' Chris hope to see you in Atlanta at Dragon*Con.

From the Desk of Billy Buskell: Creating Leviathan

Hello, my name is Billy Buskell. I'm the producer of the Mass Effect 3 downloadable pack, Leviathan.

The team in Edmonton started work on the Leviathan pack just shortly after launching Mass Effect 3 in March of this year. We all took quick vacation breaks between completing the main game and jumping into the thick of DLC creation to get recharged and refocused.

Throughout the final year of development on Mass Effect 3, the team had started to think of some additional stories we hoped to tell. We wanted to tell a story that would help tell the player more about Shepard's background and that would help tie up threads within the Mass Effect universe. The idea to go back and explore more about a fabled 'genetically engineered starship,' an urban legend within the franchise, was incredibly tempting. The Leviathan of Dis was only hinted at in the first Mass Effect game, but it had caught the attention of several fans, even leading to several theories and fan-fic about what it was and what it meant to the overall universe.

Because of the mysterious nature of the Leviathan, the team also started to think of how we could craft that mystery in the game. How could we have the player solve a mystery? We wanted the player to do the solving for themselves. This led to the idea of finding clues within the pack and that these threads would then lead the player to a central location where they could piece the puzzle back together, knowing there may always be more pieces to discover. In Leviathan, we give the players a brand new way to locate clues throughout their journey and to use those clues in a new in-game system to help track down new locations to visit.

This led to our next goal. Exploration was going to be a major part of Leviathan. In any BioWare game, there is exploration, but we wanted to take this idea even further in Leviathan. Exploration has typically meant creating additional space in a location or environment where the player can spend some time, find some cool loot, learn more about the story and universe, and trigger new quests within the larger story. For Leviathan, exploration meant adding more of this but also having a variety of diverse locations to travel to, and those locations would then present new areas to explore: everything from searching through facilities, vertical movement throughout a level and combat, and, for the first time in the Mass Effect series, controlling your movement in an underwater environment.

Leviathan will also introduce new weapons previously only available in our co-op multiplayer mode or through pre-order bonuses.

So, as you can see, the team has been very busy this year. We hope you enjoy playing Mass Effect 3: Leviathan, and we look forward to your feedback.

Billy

Discuss This

I Speak the Truth!!

Top of the line security, huh? Hmph. I don't think so! I've successfully hacked into the Alliance News Network's terminal, but this isn't a safe connection and I can't stay long. I don't want to reveal my location on the Citadel and give C-Sec the advantage. I must be heard! Go read about everything that Hackett is trying to cover up! I am Bernard Plim and I speak the truth! Conspiracy Accountability League

Operation: ALLOY Success!

From: Admiral Steven Hackett
Re: Operation ALLOY
Confidentiality Classification: XB-PRIME
Distribution: N7 Forces Only

Soldiers of the Milky Way '

It is now common knowledge that Operation ALLOY did not go strictly as planned. Sweeps in what should have been relatively low-risk areas were met with heavy enemy resistance. Fortunately, reports from the field indicate that our troops persevered and were able to strike back. I've already been informed of a number of well-deserved promotions. In light of these reports, Operation ALLOY has been deemed a success.

Over the next few days you'll likely hear many stories about our talented new recruits. I would also like to congratulate the experienced soldiers who fought alongside them. It is under your guidance and leadership that these new recruits excelled. They are now prepared to join our forces on the front lines, and we are all stronger for it.

While we celebrate Operation ALLOY's success, we need to be aware that the unexpected resistance faced by our soldiers may be symptomatic of a larger issue. We've been receiving a number of strange reports that are inconsistent with our knowledge of Reaper ground troop movement. At this point, intel is vague at best. Rest assured we are pursuing the matter.

'Admiral Hackett

 

PC: 67,573

PS3: 28,398

Xbox: 166,778

TOTAL: 262,749!

Discuss This

BioWare at PAX Prime

It's that time of year again and we couldn't be more excited! Sure, the end of summer also means the end of summer vacation, but before you go fishing all those fall sweaters from the back of your closet, there's still one thing left to do: Head to Seattle, Washington for PAX 2012! We'll be there, and we want to see YOU!

PAX is the perfect setting to celebrate the video game industry and shine a spotlight on the process of making great video games. It's also a chance for us to step out from behind our computer monitors and meet all of our amazing fans in person!

Of course, there will be more than just our smiling faces awaiting you at the show. Be sure to swing on by the BioWare Base located on the second floor of the Convention Center in room 2B. We've planned a series of panels designed to give you a peek under the hood of the games industry. The theater only seats 180, so arrive early to guarantee your spot. If the theater fills up, don't worry. This schedule of panels will repeat all three days of the show except where otherwise noted.

• 10:00                     BioWare Theatre Opens
• 10:10-11:00         Writing and Character Creation Panel
  • Mike Laidlaw, Cathleen Rootsaert, Karin Weekes, Kate Fleck, Jay Watamaniuk
• 12:10-1:00           Voice Acting for Video Games
  • Caroline Livingstone, Karin Weekes, Mike Laidlaw, Ali Hillis
  • Friday only: Jennifer Hale
• 1:10-2:00              Ali Hills Signings
  • Ali Hillis
• 2:10-3:00              Recruitment HR/Panel
  • Leanne Korotash, Chris Pangrass, Jeferson Valadares, Mike Gamble
• 3:10-4:00              Being an Artist in the Video Game Industry + Portfolio Review
  • Matt Rhodes, Peter Lipman, Nelson Housden
• 5:10-6:00              Inside the Development Process
  • Mike Gamble, Rick Knowles, Jeferson Valadares, Jeff Skalski, Nelson Housden, Matt Rhodes
• 6:10-7:00              Developer Signings (Friday/Sunday only)
  • Available Staff
• 6:10-7:00              Cosplayer Meet Up & Trivia Challenge (Saturday only)
  • Holly Conrad

Can't make the trip to Seattle to be there in person? We've got you covered! We'll be bringing the experience home to you through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For even more exclusive coverage of the event, Twitter users can follow along as community team members Jessica Merizan and David Hulegaard chronicle their jet lagged PAX experiences with cameras. That can't possibly end badly!

For those attending PAX, we can't wait to meet you and indulge in all the gaming goodness together. We may even have some swag to give away, so you'll want to keep an eye on Twitter updates from Bioware. And for those of you not attending PAX, we're sorry to miss you, but we'll do our best to provide you with updates featuring all of our shenanigans. You definitely won't want to miss out!

Discuss This

Operation: ALLOY

Operation ALLOY (August 24^th 11AM MDT ' August 26^th 5AM MDT)

A training center will only take a recruit so far. Our recruits need field experience, so it's time to integrate them with seasoned squads during our next series of sweeps.

Individual Goal: Promote 2 characters

Allied Goal: Promote 50,000 characters

Special Circumstance: None

Individual Goal Success: All players awarded a Commendation Pack
Allied Goal Success: All players awarded a Victory Pack and an increase to medi-gel capacity