The Weekend Report: So Late, It’s Early! Edition

My first day as the Friday night news guy, and I’m already late.  Well, since weekends are pretty slow to begin with, I’ve decided to mush Friday in with the rest of the weekend and just do a Weekend Report.  Here are my picks for the weekend along with some light commentary.

Mass Effect 3 details in, multiplayer out

A GameInformer reader has taken to the GameFAQs forums and has posted some information from GI’s Mass Effect 3 cover story.  With respect to the depth of the RPG elements (skill and weapon customization) within the game, the final installment of the Mass Effect Trilogy be found somewhere between its two predecessors.  Character customization in Mass Effect 2 seemed a little too simple and bringing this aspect of the game closer to the level of the first game can provide players with a more authentic RPG experience, outside of dialogue trees.

Perhaps the most important detail coming out of GameInformer’s feature is that Mass Effect 3 will not contain multiplayer.  Sorry, Dali.

Source:  Joystiq

Battlefield 3 on consoles to have lower resolution and lower frame rate says DICE exec

Remember the sick Battlefield 3 footage that some folks have been drooling over the past few months?

We knew that the footage in the trailer and any additional clips that have been shown at PAX East were from a PC version of the game.  Clearly, we’d be getting a little less from the console versions of Battlefield 3.

DICE executive producer Patrick Bach has said that the console versions will not have the “higher resolution, the higher frame rate, the anti-aliasing, the motion-blur, stuff like that” that the masses have been enjoying recently.  There it is, straight from the horse’s mouth.  It still stings, though.  Doesn’t it?

Source: Joystiq

Ubisoft CEO: Our goal is to beat those guys, EA and Activision

MCV recently spoke to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot about the state of things since EA decided to sell its share of the company, leaving Ubisoft fully independent.

“So now we are totally independent again; we feel a lot better; we are number three; and our goal is to beat those guys, EA and Activision, at some point.  We got from number 25 to number three, so we think that we can continue and that is possible to be number one.  It’s not certain, but we are taking the steps that we think will get us there.”

In other words: “We want to be number one. Eff those guys.”

Source: Computers and Video Games

Footage surfaces of Rebecca Chambers in RE: Mercenaries 3D

Some footage from WonderCon has revealed that Rebecca Chambers will be a playable character in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D.  We’ve got lots of playable characters, but still no mention of any type of story.  Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll be waiting a long time for that too.

The Mercenaries has always done a good job of keeping a Resident Evil disc in my console a week or two after I’ve solved the single player game.  Although I’m sure that it will sell because it’s Resident Evil and it’s for the 3DS, I’d still keep an eye on reviews for this game.

Source: Destructoid

Sequel to The Longest Journey is possible

I’ve chosen this story to be included this week for my own selfish reasons.  Guilty.  Once a year, I boot up my Xbox and hover over Dreamfall: The Longest Journey in the Xbox Originals section of the Marketplace with the intent to purchase it.  You can ask Ludwig Kietzmann.  I go through this every year and have yet to pull the trigger.  It’s looks interesting enough to make me want to take a peek, but it also looks old enough to get me to stay away.

And here comes the solution to my problem — an HD sequel.  Funcom’s Ragnar Tornquist, the original creator of The Longest Journey, has said that a sequel is “absolutely possible.”  Although he cited that finishing the studio’s current project, The Secret World, is their priority, he also said that he would like to revisit The Longest Journey.

If this happens, I’m there.

Source: VG247