Mass Effect: Andromeda pushed back to early 2017

By Danny Cowan Published March 2, 2016

mass effect andromeda pushed back to q1 2017 meandrodelay header — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Publisher Electronic Arts revealed during a recent investor call that BioWare’s sci-fi RPG sequel Mass Effect: Andromeda will miss its initially targeted winter 2016 launch date, and is now set to premiere in early 2017.

EA expects Mass Effect: Andromeda to be ready for release during the fourth quarter of its current financial year: a period that spans January through March of 2017, according to Eurogamer.

Announced at E3 in 2014, Mass Effect: Andromeda is the next entry in developer BioWare’s popular spacefaring RPG series, following up on a trilogy of releases for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC platforms. Electronic Arts announced further details regarding the upcoming game at E3 last year, projecting a holiday 2016 launch date.

EA plans to launch a number of major titles and sequels in 2016, including the free-running action game Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, competitive FPS Battlefield 5, and a follow-up to Respawn’s 2014 shooter Titanfall. Currently, it’s unclear whether Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s delay is the result of development issues or release scheduling.

The project may have seen setbacks following the departure of lead writer Chris Schlerf, who left developer BioWare during Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s production. Schlerf afterward joined up with Bungie, the studio behind 2014’s sci-fi first-person shooter Destiny.

While few plot details regarding Mass Effect: Andromeda have been revealed to date, Electronic Arts previously noted that the game will feature settings that are entirely new to the series. The sequel will also introduce a new starring character, replacing the player-molded protagonist Commander Shepard from previous Mass Effect games.

Mass Effect made its debut in 2007 as an Xbox 360 exclusive, with ports later arriving for the PlayStation 3 and PCs. The Mass Effect games blend character-building RPG elements with third-person shooter sequences and planetary exploration segments, resulting in a unique and memorable quest. A sequel, Mass Effect 2, surfaced in 2010, and the franchise’s initial trilogy wrapped up in 2012 with the multiplatform launch of Mass Effect 3.

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Overwatch 2 is going free-to-play. Here’s why

Wrecking ball and his ball mech.

Overwatch 2 is going free-to-play this October. The upcoming competitive shooter from an embattled Activision Blizzard was expected to launch in 2023, but we learned that it was coming a bit earlier than expected and would be free during the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12. Still, this is a shocking shift for one of Blizzard's biggest franchises and one that has a lot of implications for the pace of updates and new content. Ahead of a livestream that gives more details about the free-to-play shift, Digital Trends spoke to some members of the development team, including Game Director Aaron Keller and Overwatch VP and Commerical Lead Jon Spector, to learn why exactly the Overwatch 2 team decided to embrace free-to-play.
Overwatch 2: Reveal Event | June 16
The best option
At launch on October 4, Overwatch 2 players can expect three new heroes (including a support character teased in the release date trailer), six new maps, over 30 new skins (including a mythic skin for Genji), the Push game mode, and the game's first battle pass. Barring any issues that cause the team to reschedule, the second season will begin on December 6 and introduce another new tank, a new map, and a battle pass with over 30 new skins. More heroes, maps, modes, and the PvE story campaign will start to roll out throughout 2023.
Blizzard plans to make seasons last nine weeks, with three or four new heroes added yearly. If you play games like Apex Legends or Valorant, this cadence of releases should be familiar to you. Keller and Spector claim that other successful free-to-play games aren't what caused Blizzard to make this shift. Instead, they say factors like lowering the barrier of entry for interested players and not wanting to hold on to finished content played a part in Overwatch 2 going free-to-play.

"We don't want to develop things and try to pool it together into a big box release; we'd rather just put content out when it's ready and do it as quickly as we can," Keller says. "As we kept working on some of the more innovative gameplay for the PvE side of Overwatch 2, it meant that it was going to take longer for any of our PvP features to go public. We want to release stuff as frequently as we can, but it was taking us too long to be able to get it in front of our players."
The original Overwatch has floundered since it stopped getting significant content updates in 2020 so Blizzard could focus on Overwatch 2. By releasing the sequel as a free-to-play game this year, that long wait ends -- and players won't have to worry about it happening again for a long time. The developers also stressed that Overwatch 2 would feel more like a sequel than an update when it launches, thanks to the new content and rework into 5v5 matches. Spector explains that many systems fell in place simultaneously, like cross-play, cross-progression, and the seasonal model, so it made sense to lower the barriers to entry and launch free-to-play this year.
"We are dedicated to putting out content frequently and consistently in perpetuity."

Gaming

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R improves an already great fighting game

Jotaro Kujo stands before a battle in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R.

While Street Fighter 6 was the talk of the show floor at Summer Game Fest Play Days, another fighting game also managed to impress me at the event. That title was JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R, a fighting game based on the popular and heavily-memed anime and manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The original JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle was first released in Japan in 2013, scoring a rare perfect score from the popular Japanese outlet Famitsu. Anime fighting games vary wildly in quality, but this was considered one of the better ones thanks to its thoughtful and rewarding gameplay.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R continues that game's legacy as an enhanced remaster that does more than visually update the game and turn servers back. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R adds in new characters, voice acting, and gameplay tweaks that almost make it feel like a different game. In the years since the 2013 game this is based on came out, both JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and the fighting game genre got a lot more popular. Thankfully, my demo showed that this fighting game has only gotten better with age.
To be continued
Although JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R didn't get a remake-level visual overhaul, fans should still appreciate many of the graphical tweaks and just how pretty this game is. Even though I was playing a PS4, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R was one of the best-looking games at Summer Game Fest Play Days. The anime already has an extremely distinct art style and features a cast of overly-muscular characters, so it transitions to a fighting game almost perfectly. Pulling off special moves that you've seen in the manga and anime or calling out a stand yourself is super satisfying, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R will show them in all of their extremely detailed glory.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R - Early Access Demo
Even the voiceovers and character models got updates to match the voice acting and styles fans will remember from the anime. We don't get many video games based on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, so it's nice to see this one put in extra care to respect the source material and improve upon the original release. That said, graphics will only get you so far in a fighting game. It's the gameplay mechanics that really ensure a fighting game lives or dies.
Thankfully, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R is a lot of fun to play.
The 2013 original was a 3D fighting game that plays more like Virtua Fighter than Jump Force. The standard attacks, combo, block, and dodge moves to be expected from fighting games are here, but characters can also summon their stands and basically get a second fighter to attack and zone with. Fights also have some other cute oddities, like having an assist character to strengthen some of your attacks or being able to taunt the other player when they are knocked down to take away some of their special meter gauges. That taunt feature specifically is not only hilarious but feels very JoJo and adds palpable benefits to what's usually just a visual gag in fighting games.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R does add a couple of new gameplay additions that players will definitely notice, including hit stops and jump dashes that give that game more competitive depth, as well as flash cancels that let players quickly cancel their current combo if they don't want to change their approach or the moves they are using

I didn't have enough time to kit out and learn combos and how to string them together, but I can clearly recognize just how these features will positively deepen JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R's meta. With auto combos for new players and revitalized online play too, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R hopefully won't have a problem attracting new JoJo's Bizzare Adventure fans to this fighting game. Whether you enjoyed the original release or want to see what a good JoJo's Bizarre Adventure game looks like, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R should be on your radar. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle R launches for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on September 2. If you want to try it before then, a demo is available on PS4 and PS5 until June 21.

Gaming

Street Fighter 6 director reveals World Tour mode’s true purpose

A player stands in Metro City's Times Square equivalent in Street Fighter 6 World Tour.

While Street Fighter 6’s traditional Fighting Ground experience made a solid first impression at Summer Game Fest, its significantly more ambitious World Tour mode is still shrouded in mystery. We briefly got a look at this ambitious mode during the game's State of Play trailer. We see what appears to be a player-created character explore Metro City and other locations from a third-person perspective, breaking boxes and getting into fights with the people he meets.
In the press release for Street Fighter 6, Capcom describes World Tour mode as a "single-player immersive story mode that pushes the boundaries of what a fighting game is and allows players to leave their own legacy with their player avatar." While Capcom isn't revealing more about the mode's moment-to-moment gameplay just yet, I spoke with Game Director Takayuki Nakayama at Summer Game Fest Play Days and learned how World Tour is emblematic of Capcom's goal to make Street Fighter 6 the premier entry point to the fighting game genre.
Street Fighter 6 - Announce Trailer
Finding World Tour's Purpose
In World Tour, players will explore Metro City and other iconic Street Fighter locales with a player-created avatar. Nakayama hopes this experience will strengthen Street Fighter 6's appeal to those who aren't already diehard fans of the series or genre.
"World Tour is a completely different mode that delivers a completely different experience than the traditional fighting," he said. "Even if someone's not a hardcore fan of fighting games, we wanted to incorporate things to make people become fans of Street Fighter outside of the traditional fights."
World Tour certainly looks unlike anything the Street Fighter series has done before. Still, Nakayama hopes that World Tour players will learn more about the world and characters of Street Fighter along the way and fall in love with fighting games as a whole."We want players to dive into this mode and be able to learn how to love fighting games through the things that you do during the journey of World Tour," Nakayama proclaimed. "There will also be opportunities to meet some of the fans' favorite characters, like Ryu and Chun-Li, through World Tour. We want to provide an experience where players can learn more about those characters' backstories and discover what kind of people they are within Street Fighter 6."

World Tour is one of Street Fighter 6's three main pillars, the others being the standard Fighting Ground mode and the multiplayer-focused Battle Hub. He commented how it's always hard to tell how much is enough to put in a game for fans, especially following Street Fighter V's rocky reception at launch due to a lack of content. However, he hopes World Tour provides enough to negate that criticism.
"We were definitely aware of some of the criticism that we faced with Street Fighter 5, and we want to continue to learn from those criticisms and make Street Fighter 6 a better product," he explained. "It's challenging to decide how much is enough for the users, but we continue to work very hard on it and strive to create something that will get appreciation from players."
Still, World Tour seems like it could occupy players for a long time while introducing them to the concept of fighting games and the world of Street Fighter. That's not too shabby of an addition when Street Fighter 6's core fighting game mechanics are already fantastic. And Capcom's goal to make Street Fighter 6 one of the most approachable fighting games ever can be seen outside of World Tour mode.
Everyone is here to fight
During our discussion, Nakayama constantly reiterated that he wants Street Fighter to be something that can entertain and entice those who've never played a fighting game before. Part of the developer's method for making Street Fighter 6 more approachable and accessible is the addition of the Modern Control Type, which allows players to execute flash combos with simple button presses.