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BioWare Hiring Multiplayer Programmer For Mass Effect Franchise

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Today in highly unsurprising news, BioWare is hiring a multiplayer programmer for the Mass Effect franchise.

In the second link, you will also notice that they also want this person to be able to write SPU assembly, showing a true megaton shocker that an EA game might be multiplatform.

_12750925682860.jpg


Source: http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Mass-Effect-Going-Multiplayer-24890.html?catid=6&id=24890&tid=13414


OED2N.png


EA Application Page, with slightly more info: https://jobs.ea.com/search/view.do?id=a0z50000000Ku9OAAS
 
R

RevenantKioku

PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS oh god i am drowning in them
Clearly this is to make it more like a table top RPG with multiple players.
 
P

Pooya

Member
They should hire some competent level designers instead that can make something other than corridors full of boxes and chest-high walls.
anyway 4 player co-op would be nice, don't care about competitive/arena like modes.
 
N

nico

Banned
This is going to be gears of war style multiplayer guys, no way bioware has two space mmos in development. Since assassins creed now has multiplayer this is sort of expected. But still I'd rather they spent their resources making more side quests/ a longer story.
 
Animal

Animal

Banned
The request for SPU programming could simply indicate what his following task after the Mass Effect project might entail.
 
A

Axiom

Member
I'm hoping this would be for something seperate from ME3, akin to Brotherhood.
I don't think it's gonna be an mmo given Old Republic, but ideally it'd be co-op.

I really hope it isn't going to be a tacked on multiplayer mode, no matter how good it is I see it being more like Bioshock 2's than Uncharted 2's interest wise.

I really just don't want any of the team to be splitting their time.
 
H

Hunahan

Banned
So who wants to not be Shepherd?

Co-op would blow.

There's frankly nothing about Mass Effect that will work in multiplayer.
 
K

kadotsu

Banned
You know I would love a Demon's Souls-like multiplayer. Unfortunately Bioware is a "Western AAA Dev." (tm) which means we will get a co-op cover based shooter, yay. Bring on the 9.9 Metacritic and 10 overpriced DLC mission packs.

Drama aside. This is all speculation, maybe it's for a spinoff and aside from ME2 being too much of a streamlined experience Bioware still has my faith in their products. Now go and give me my SP min-maxing back.
 
P

PBalfredo

Member
If they do go with a Mass Effect MMO, I hope it actually plays like Mass Effect. I'd hate for it to be a regular WoW-style MMO in Mass Effect clothes. If it is the case of the former, I can see that being the first MMO I really get into.
 
J

jim-jam bongs

Member
Mass Effect 3 with a single co-op or AI partner rather than a squad would explain a lot about the
myriad outcomes of the suicide mission in ME2 which will be importable, including the entire crew dying except for Shepard.
Not sure if want etc.

Alienshogun said:
It's probably 100% related.
Click to expand...

I think if they were considering a Mass Effect MMO they'd be leveraging the work on SW:TOR and WAR, not hiring from outside.
 
P

Pooya

Member
DiscoJer said:
I hope this means no more Mako in ME3 (since two players couldn't drive it.)
Click to expand...
One player can control the vehicle while the other player does the shooting, like Halo for example.
 
S

Stage On

Member
Do not Want.

Mass effect is a great single player rpg. Why ruin it by tacking on a multiplayer mode it honestly dosn't need?

Not every game needs multiplayer and I'd rather they devote the resources to making the single player even better then before.
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
How the hell are they going to make Mass Effect 3 co-op without severely butchering the current dialogue/gameplay ratio and overall pacing?

The more likely thing I could see happening is some shitty Gears multiplayer shooter as either DLC or a spin-off.
 
J

jim-jam bongs

Member
Hunahan said:
So who wants to not be Shepherd?

Co-op would blow.

There's frankly nothing about Mass Effect that will work in multiplayer.
Click to expand...

1. Cerberus clones Shepherd from DNA left over from the Lazarus Project
2. Shepherd Zero escapes to help Shepherd Classic fight Reapers
3. ???
4. Profit!
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
EatChildren said:
How the hell are they going to make Mass Effect 3 co-op without severely butchering the current dialogue/gameplay ratio and overall pacing?

The more likely thing I could see happening is some shitty Gears multiplayer shooter as either DLC or a spin-off.
Click to expand...
Well they did implement a multiplayer dialog system in SWTOR.
 
MrTroubleMaker

MrTroubleMaker

Member
Stage On said:
Do not Want.

Mass effect is a great single player rpg. Why ruin it by tacking on a multiplayer mode it honestly dosn't need?

Not every game needs multiplayer and I'd rather they devote the resources to making the single player even better then before.
Click to expand...
agreed
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Nirolak said:
Well they did implement a multiplayer dialog system in SWTOR.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but SWTOR is an MMORPG first, not a single player game. Every aspect of Mass Effect's design leans towards a totally controlled single player environment. I cant see them being able to implement a co-op system without either drastically changing the formula, or having it a cheap add-on that only functions during gameplay.

And its something they really dont need to do. If they must make multiplayer Mass Effect it should be a spin-off or DLC.
 
A

Axiom

Member
Hunahan said:
So who wants to not be Shepherd?

Co-op would blow.

There's frankly nothing about Mass Effect that will work in multiplayer.
Click to expand...
I think anyone who generally plays paragon male Shepherd and not renegade female Shepherd would welcome playing Garrus or some such.

Though I'd think ME co-op would be best served like Conviction, a completely seperate story that would expand on the main plot, stripping down much of the rpg elements of the main game, and severely limiting plot choice in favour of a tighter stucture.
 
M

mujun

Member
Multiplayer with biotics would be sweet. As long as it doesn't affect the SP game of course.

DLC is another option.
 
C

Chairman Yang

if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Multiplayer sure helped Bioshock 2's sales and critical reception, so I'm sure it will do the same for Mass Effect 3.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
a Master Ninja said:
Bioshock 2's actual sales were not that great when you consider the announced expectations 2K had for the game and how many copies they managed to ship.
Click to expand...
Oh I agree, the game's sales weren't astounding, but ME2 only shipped 2/3rds as much despite being much better received, and ended up sharing BioShock 2's overshipping fate.

However, when you hear things like Dead Space selling 1.5 million copies, but having 3 million people play it, while Fable 2 sold 3.5 million copies despite being a relatively short and a platform exclusive, you have to wonder about the impact of multiplayer on traditionally singleplayer games' sales.

It's kind of hard to put it all on the head of EA's marketing considering the five million and counting sales of Battlefield.
 
M

mavs

Member
EatChildren said:
How the hell are they going to make Mass Effect 3 co-op without severely butchering the current dialogue/gameplay ratio and overall pacing?

The more likely thing I could see happening is some shitty Gears multiplayer shooter as either DLC or a spin-off.
Click to expand...

They could have more stuff like the interrogation scene with Thane. If they actually do any co-op dialogue I will be interested.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
I'm not surprised, I expected they would add MP by the next installment since the shooting mechanics got so much better.
I won't complain, though, ME2 was so great and such a huge improvement that I will have faith in Bioware until I have a legit reason to feel otherwise.

It could be fun, though. Player one is Shepard, calling the shots but player 2 is one of the companions, chiming in when they can. The combat is already squad based so it wouldn't be a huge departure.
 
A

a Master Ninja

Member
Nirolak said:
However, when you hear things like Dead Space selling 1.5 million copies, but having 3 million people play it, while Fable 2 sold 3.5 million copies despite being a relatively short and a platform exclusive, you have to wonder about the impact of multiplayer on traditionally singleplayer games' sales.
Click to expand...
I don't think Fable 2 works as an example, unless you mean the whole "seeing your friends as orbs" thing gave it sales. The "co-op" was literally unplayable, and not surprisingly, unpopular. Fable is just a widely popular franchise. People forget the original sold millions of copies on the original Xbox.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
a Master Ninja said:
I don't think Fable 2 works as an example, unless you mean the whole "seeing your friends as orbs" thing gave it sales. The "co-op" was literally unplayable, and not surprisingly, unpopular. Fable is just a widely popular franchise. People forget the original sold millions of copies on the original Xbox.
Click to expand...
Fair enough.

But how about Borderlands? That's a game that had no brand name, had deep, glaring flaws and a really broken structure for playing co-op due to the unrepeatable quest system, yet ended up climbing all the way to three million. It's even still in the Top 20 most played Xbox Live activity charts. That was actually a game that started out with shortages and made a slow climb, so it seems quite unlikely to be a case of channel stuffing.
 
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