Eurogamer have spotted a listing at Gamestop for Mass Effect 3's collector's edition, which comes with all sorts of goodies including an art book, a soundtrack and a comic. There's also a neat little trailer to show them off. The art book in particular looks utterly gorgeous, and I'm a sucker for a metal case, especially one with the new female Shepard design on it.

Most intriguing is the promise of a bonus character and mission, presumably similar to Zaeed in Mass Effect 2, details for that one are being kept under wraps however. Check inside for the full list of bonus material.

Included in the special edition will be:

Physical goodies:

Metal case featuring both male and female Commander Shepard
70-page art book
Mass Effect comic by Dark Horse Comics
N7 fabric patch.
4x6 lithographic print of the SR-2 Alliance Normandy

 

In Game content:

N7 Arsenal Pack - Bring the firepower with the N7 Sniper Rifle, Shotgun, SMG, and Pistol.
Squad alternate appearance pack
Robotic Dog for on board the Normandy
Mass Effect 3 digital soundtrack.

We’ve previously covered Mass Effect 3’s jolly exciting multiplayer mode, but Mass Effect 3’s creative director Casey Hudson’s shed a little more light on it in an interview with Xbox World.

Multiplayer's always been on the cards for the Mass Effect series, but the solution was to build Mass Effect 3 from the ground up with multiplayer in mind. Rather than controlling Shepard, the player is charged with an independent character for multiplayer. “Shepard is still the hero, making the big decisions, deciding what's going to happen with the universe and building alliances,” said Hudson. “But now there's armies all over the place, fighting to just hang onto different locations.”

This approach inevitably leans towards an Mass Effect MMO - something BioWare head Ray Muzyka has previously hinted at. "On a personal level, I think I would like to play a Mass Effect MMO,” said Hudson. “I would love to just be in a lot of these locations. I would like to live in the Citadel, and walk around and do neat stuff, get caught up in adventures."

Hudson was also quizzed on the 'friendly rivalry' between BioWare and Skyrim publishers and developers Bethesda. “We really look forward to new Bethesda games, but our personal focus tends to surround core narrative experiences,” he said. “By that I mean really shaping the experience like a blockbuster movie, really making it yours; that you're personally influencing the story. I think both approaches are equally valid.”

Posters on NeoGAF have mined CD Projekt's investor report for details of their current projects. The report says that the Witcher developer plans to put out two high profile games in 2014 and 2015, with two low and one mid budget projects planned for 2012-2013. All are planned to be multiplatform and, given CD Projekt's history, we assume one of those platforms will be the PC.

The report also confirms that CD Projekt are working on a new intellectual property, which makes sense with all those games in the works, otherwise they'd end up producing 'Witcher Kart Racing'.

Sega have purchased Three Rings, the developers of Puzzle Pirates and Spiral Knights, and will collaborate with them on their upcoming Dr Who MMO. The announcement was made on the Three Rings website, where founder Daniel James assured people that current games would not be affected.

Earlier this year the BBC was working with Three Rings on a Dr Who MMO dubbed Dr Who: Worlds in Time, Sega will now be working with them on the project.

I don't think anyone's ever held up gaming forums as bastions of sanity and rational thought, but EA's current forum policy is a bit, well, bonkers. Recently, multiple users alleged that they'd been unceremoniously booted from their Origin accounts - as in, the games that they purchased - for various acts of rabble-rousing on the forums. One even received an indisputable lifetime ban for quoting the word "e-peen."

Surely, though, there's a method to the madness, right? Well, er...



“With every game and service EA offers, we take the satisfaction of our customers very seriously," EA's John Reseburg told RPS. "We discourage cheating and strive to maintain a high level of integrity in both our games and our forums. Therefore when someone violates our Terms of Service, we are forced to take actions that can include suspensions and other measures. We do not take those decisions lightly – however the integrity of our services and the satisfaction of our customers requires a clear set of rules."

OK then, I'm just gonna put it out there: Why are the rules so unclear? What makes "e-peen" punishable by guillotine? How come any forum violation locks up your games and throws away the key? How does that make sense? That said, there is at least some hope thanks to an upcoming rule revision.

"We have listened to our customers and are planning a policy update which will include more equitable rules on suspensions – we want to make sure the time fits the crime. As with all technology updates, these changes take some time to implement. Meanwhile, we urge any user with a question about suspensions or our policies to please contact us at (866) 543-5435 so we can address their specific situation,” Reseburg explained.

So that's something, at least. Here's hoping EA actually follows through this time around.

 
Did you know that each slow-mo shot Max Payne fires into some poor thug's kneecap is worth 347 hours of hard development labor? No? Me neither, because I just made that up. Based on the way the above trailer's disarmingly calm disembodied voice describes the animation system, though, I wouldn't be surprised if it's true. The end result? Max twists and pirouettes through the air like a blood-soaked ballerina. It looks pretty glorious, honestly.

Also, as a sidenote: I know Max shaves his hair for, like, half of the game, but the trailer's back-and-forth shifts between time periods make MP3 look like a buddy cop movie starring Max and Sam Fisher circa Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Gaming industry, please, drop everything you're currently doing and make this happen.

It looks like the year of the hack 'n' slash - as foretold in The Prophecy - won't be 2011 after all. First Diablo and his army of the damned tried their damndest to make it our the door at the tail end of 2011, but ultimately failed. And now it seems that Torchlight II has hit a similar snag.



"The first Torchlight was released in record time, but it had plenty of issues that a little more development could have resolved," wrote Runic Games president Travis Baldree in a blog post. "We didn't have the resources at the time to give Torchlight that treatment."

"Right at this moment though, we do have those resources for the sequel, and we feel strongly that we should apply them to make this the best game we can make and hopefully one that you'll enjoy and continue to want to play in the future. We've probably had 18 months of full development time on it so far - not excessively long yet, as far as that goes. The amount of time we need to take it the rest of the way is relatively small."

He noted, however, that Runic hopes to run "a small beta" before launch to work out any fun-crushing kinks. Basically, there's no big stumbling block here - just a bunch of little ones. Unfortunately, those things add up.

So then, that puts the year of the hack 'n' slash on track to collide with the year of, well, the Apocalypse. Sure will be awkward, righ-- Wait. Suddenly, it all makes sense. The world won't end with a bang, but a click-click-click. Imagine it: Billions of people huddled around their PCs, bashing, slashing, and looting like they've got all the time in the world. And while they're distracted, the dolphins will strike.

Piranha Games and Crytek have announced that MechWarrior Online will use Crytek's CryEngine 3 for development on the F2P mech sim.

It's welcome news for gamers who feared that F2P MechWarrior would translate to "cheap" MechWarrior. CryEngine 3 powered Crysis 2, after all, and I'm sure I can't be the only one with visions of the MechWarrior: Living Legends mod for Crysis dancing through his head.

In a press release regarding the announcement, Piranha president Russ Bullock said, “Working with CryEngine is a true pleasure. It is definitely the best choice for us: Both the character animation pipeline with the procedurally and physics based animations and the destruction system fit our goals perfectly and allow us to develop a truly unique AAA experience based on the award-winning BattleTech Universe."

Good Old Games has announced its intent to pursue newer games and "exclusive release opportunities with certain developers," according to a GOG.com press release. The shift is part of an overarching goal to become the second largest independent digital distributor.

Managing Director Guillaume Rambourg said, "We will be adding newer games into the catalog in 2012. Traditionally, GOG.com has looked for great classics that are three years old or older. We will continue to add classic games, of course, but we are actively working to sign newer titles now." He reiterated GOG's commitment to its "core values" of flat international prices, no DRM, and extra content for customers.

He also said that GOG.com wants to work with developers and independent publishers. "We’ve made GOG.com the destination for classic PC games, but now is the time to take this to the next level and emerge as the best alternative digital distribution platform for all PC games," Rambourg said.

It's been exciting to watch GOG.com grow and its catalog deepen, but I do worry that this is "mission creep" that could ultimately conflict with the site's original purpose: making classic PC games legally available and compatible with modern PCs. Will companies like EA be eager to open their back-catalog to GOG.com if it is explicitly pursuing the same market as Origin, Steam, etc.?

PC Gamer is loving Skyrim, we're all talking about it every day in the office, and one of the most interesting things about it is just how different all our characters are. So, in the interests of sharing, we've brought you pictures of all our Dragonborn heroes to take a look at. Each one is different, both in looks and approach, so take a look to see just how much variety is on offer.

This isn't just about us though, we want to see your Dragonborn too! Tell us about who they are in the comments, or share a picture in this forum thread started by DuddBudda.

Owen Hill - Bop the Squinty



Bop the High Elf. Level 10. A sneaky, wandering archer, Bop spends a lot of his time staring at waterfalls and rocky formations while encumbered. His bow skills are now strong enough to take down a dragon without too much bother, though he does have issues with killer horses. Bop is currently training at Solitude Bards college (to become a bard).

Tom Francis - Pentadact the Stealthy



Pentadact, level 37 and a half. Hobbies include stealing your dreams while you sleep, then drinking your blood, then slipping paralysis poison into your bloodstream, then slitting your throat, then eating your corpse. Enjoys long walks on the Reach.

Tom Senior - Ludo the Untidy



Ludo the Lizard, Level 14. Notorious coward. Spends most of his time reworking helmets to fit his enormous lizard head. Enjoys jumping on carefully laid tables and kicking platters across the room. Can often be found on the plains of Skyrim tickling giants and then running away.

Tom Hatfield - Dante the Inexperienced



Dante the Redguard, level 1. A newcomer to Skyrim, Dante likes to combine magic with swordplay, sympathise with rebels and obsessively collect sets of imperial armour. He is very happy not to be executed. He is less happy about being attacked by a dragon.

Rich - Rich the Beardy



Rich is one part Night's Watchman, one part battle-Jesus, and all level 18 Breton. He's got a range of stabbing implements, but he prefers hurling a seven foot manifestation of winter at the floor and letting him do his wetwork. Enjoys unequipping all his weapons and armour, standing back and shouting "why are you hitting yourself?" at foes being pummelled by his conjured creatures. Is currently enrolled at Hogwarts the Winterhold Mage's College.

Tony Ellis - Antonia the Modestly Dressed



Antonia is a level 11 female Nord. Her hair colour is flaxen and her vital statistics are 120 - 140 - 140. She is currently employed as an executive in Skyrim's burgeoning lost property industry, reuniting people with their lost magic swords, golden claws and precious family heirlooms. Her hobbies include mammoth watching, long walks in the frozen tundra, and "punching minstrels so hard that actual blood shoots out." She would like to personally thank the makers of Skyrim's female heavy armour for appreciating that the term 'breast plate' does not in fact mean serving up a woman's breasts on a plate.

Graham - Cat Power the Smelly



Cat Power, level 16 Khajiit. Enjoys sneaking with bows, slicing with iron warhammers, and scratching with claws. She's the prophesied Dovahkiin, the foretold champion of Asura, the entirely expected guardian of the Companions guild, and a predictable tennis player. Smells like wet dog.