Category: Games

Breaking: EA Sports is rebooting its college football series for Next Generation consoles.
The announcement ends the hiatus that the game has taken since then-Michigan QB Denard Robinson appeared on the cover of NCAA Football 14. pic.twitter.com/rMniJUDDeW

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 2, 2021

Tech magnate Elon Musk has never been shy about offering his opinions on a variety of topics, and video games are no different. When a fan asked him on Twitter if he enjoys any console games, Musk offered a simple reply: “Only Halo.” The main social media account for the franchise was quick to reply, along with its community director.

This exchange came after Musk tweeted about CD Projekt’s controversial game Cyberpunk, stating that that the game is so buggy that “even the hotfixes literally have hotfixes.” That said, he still apparently feels that it’s a “great game.” Musk’s previous tweets about the game boosted CD Projekt’s stock, and his girlfriend Grimes plays a role in the game. Musk previously stated that he “probably won’t sue” an Bulgarian indie dev who wants to use the SpaceX logo in his Mars survival simulator, and he’s made his love for Overwatch very clear.

Musk announced a hiatus on Twitter on February 2. While he didn’t give a reason for the move, his behavior has attracted controversy in recent days, specifically surrounding the ongoing surge of “meme stocks” like GameStop and AMC. When Discord suspended the WallStreetBets server for “hate speech” and “glorifying violence,” Musk had this to say: “Even Discord has gone corpo…” Musk himself has been accused of union-busting behavior in his own companies in the past.

As for Halo, we still don’t know when Halo Infinite is coming to PC and Xbox Series X. 343 Industries recently announced that the game’s sandbox content is now in the polishing stage. We also recently learned that Infinite will ditch the series’ old shotgun, replacing it with a more balanced weapon called the Bulldog, which fires and reloads faster, though it deals much less damage.

EA Sports has announced the details of the next patch for Madden NFL 21, and it’s a big one. The update includes a variety of fixes and tweaks for numerous elements of the professional football game, including pass coverage, tackling, blocking, passing, abilities, and more.

There are different patch notes for PS5/Xbox Series X|S, as well as Xbox One, PS4, PC, Stadia, all of which you can see at the bottom of this story.

The big takeaways for the next-gen patch include “extensive” coverage fixes for the Cover 3, 4, and Man formations, along with improvements to blocking to help contain DBs. The patch also fixes occurrences where penalties from DL could happen when they shouldn’t. And in the Competitive mode, the “Reach For It” ability has been tuned so only players who actually have the ability can trigger the key move in certain circumstances.

In terms of bug fixes, the patch fixes “various issues” that could cause the coach or other players on the sideline to be able to “ghost through” opposing players.

The key changes for last-gen, PC, and Stadia, meanwhile, include fixes for blitzes with nickel corner and contain formations, while issues related to man coverage and RPOs have been fixed as well. You can see the complete patch notes below, as posted by EA Sports.

This updates arrives as the sporting world turns its attention to football with Super Bowl LV coming up this weekend. EA Sports has not yet released the results of its Super Bowl simulation to predict a winner, but that should happen any day now. Super Bowl LV sees the defending champions Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the title.

Madden NFL 21 (Xbox Series X|S & PS5)

Key Highlights:

• In Competitive only, only players with the ‘Reach For It’ ability will trigger certain reaches
• Extensive Coverage fixes for Cover 3, 4, and Man
• Locomotion and Pursuit improvements
• Made Blocking improvements to handle DBs
• Fixed unintended penalties from DL

Gameplay Updates:

Pass Coverage:

• Tuning to outside deep-zone defenders in Cover 3 to improve the timing of the drop to get to the appropriate coverage depth when aligned over an outside receiver running a short route (Drag, Smoke Screen, etc.). This adjustment will allow them to get deeper and play any deep routes coming from the slot.
• Tuning to outside deep-zone defenders in Cover 3 to reduce the frequency of jumping inside to cover an out-route from the slot, allowing an outside receiver on a Streak/Fade to get behind them. The outside deep-zone defender will now keep his width and continue to leverage his zone-drop accordingly.
• Fixed an issue causing receivers to sometimes run into the back of a slower defender playing a deep-zone assignment, leading to an avoidance animation disrupting the route.
• Updated Cover 4 Quarters to use more Man Matching principles against Trip formations and improved transitioning from zone to man when matching certain vertical routes.
• Fixed an issue causing deep-zone defenders in Cover 4 Quarters and Palms to let streaking receivers run by them on the outside. Now the defenders will backpedal and transition to turn and run with the correct timing.
• Tuning to Cover 4 Drop to better cover deep post routes, by improving deep-zone anticipation of vertical routes moving to the middle of the field to reduce the likelihood of big plays over the top of all the deep zone defenders.
• Added logic to make the reaction of linebackers in man-coverage more authentic when covering a running back in a block-and-release assignment. The LB’s will have the option to either trigger a pass rush and transition to a QB Spy assignment when they see the running-back block, and the timing they use to make the decision will be scaled by their play-recognition rating.
• Fixed an issue sometimes causing cornerbacks to instantly rush the passer when playing man-coverage on RPO Screen plays.
• Fixed an issue causing all the underneath zone defenders to break out of coverage and rush the Quarterback when he rolled out of the pocket, even if he was not close to the line of scrimmage.
• Tuning to improve Jam/Press criteria so user-controlled defenders will be able to trigger the appropriate animations for all angles and situations.

Tackling and Blocking:

• Fixed an issue allowing an exploit blitz with nickel corners in the contain assignment. New logic and movement has been implemented for pass blockers to better react to this exploit blitz which is most commonly run out of formations like Dime 1-4-6.
• Fixed an issue sometimes causing defenders to get stuck in a breakdown fake-out when the ball carrier was being tackled within close proximity.
• Fixed an issue causing unintended ‘Roughing the Passer’ penalties when pass rushers could obviously see the ball had been released.
• Fixed a rare issue with a reach-sack animation that could get misaligned, and make it appear like the QB would be tackled by air.
• Tuning to reduce the amount of broken tackles that were triggering from defenders being out of position, with the most significant tuning being done for the Competitive game style. This should result in far less broken tackles from over/under-pursuit defender alignments.

Locomotion:

• Tuning to reduce steerability while in Truck animations.
• Fixed a rare issue causing ball carriers to get stuck in the running assignment and run out of bounds.
• Fixed an issue causing defenders to sometimes use the ‘Option Quarterback’ carry-style when switching ball hands after an INT.
• Fixed an issue causing defenders to sometimes hitch in the transition from pre-play to during-play movement in pass coverage.
• Fixed an issue causing Tight Ends to sometimes slide on the cut when running corner routes against certain coverages.
• Tuning to improve ball-carrier ability to get through the line when running routes from the backfield.
• Fixed a rare issue sometimes causing the ball carrier to freeze up after two spin moves were used in quick succession.

Passing:

• Fixed an issue causing the running back’s receiver icon to disappear after the handoff when running Gun Doubles Y Off RPO Zone Y Peek.
• Fixed a rare issue causing the QB to throw an odd push pass when running Singleback Wing Pair HB Dive Alert Smoke
• Fixed an issue causing the QB’s arm to get caught up on the running back when attempting to pass during the handoff when running Gun Wing Slot Offset PA Jailbreak Screen.

Abilities:

• Tuning to only allow players with the ‘Reach For it’ Ability equipped to be able to trigger successful pylon/first-down marker reach-tackles for Competitive game style.
• Fixed a visual issue allowing the in-game indicators to remain visible during the entire play when using the ‘Blitz Radar’ and ‘Threat Detector’ abilities.

Environment:

• Fixed various issues sometimes causing the coach or other sideline players to ghost through an opposing player during various sideline interactions with players running or falling out of bounds.
• Fixed an issue preventing sideline ‘help-up’ animations from triggering in situations where they should.

General Gameplay Improvements:

• Fixed an issue sometimes causing a new field to load with invisible players after switching Practice type from the Practice Pause menu.
• Fixed an issue causing the punter to line up too close to the line of scrimmage when punting from inside the 5-yard line, allowing the punt to be blocked too frequently.

Madden NFL 21 (Xbox One, PS4, PC, Stadia)

Key Highlights:

• In Competitive only, only players with the ‘Reach For It’ ability will trigger certain reaches
• Fixed blitz’s with Nickel Corners in Contain
• Fine-tuned deep-zone defenders in Cover 3
• Tuned the distance-based receiver abilities vs. Man-Coverage
• Addressed Man-Coverage issues with RPOs and Receiver motion
• Fixed frequency of defenders doing QB Slide avoidance

Gameplay Updates:

• Fixed an issue causing the tight end to stay in his 3-point stance after being motioned to the slot on running plays out of the Gun Doubles formation.
• Fixed a visual issue allowing the in-game indicators to remain visible during the entire play when using the ‘Blitz Radar’ and ‘Threat Detector’ abilities.
• Fixed an issue causing the QB’s arm to get caught on the pulling guard when throwing the ball early on I-Form Slot Flex Power Alert Smoke.
• Tuning to the distance-based receiver abilities so the Receivers to increase the receiver’s win-chance on the cut vs. man-coverage defenders without a counter-ability, as long the cut is performed in the designated area of the field.
• Fixed an issue sometimes causing cornerbacks to instantly rush the passer when playing man-coverage on RPO Screen plays.
• Tuning to outside deep-zone defenders in Cover 3 to improve the timing of the drop to get to the appropriate coverage depth when aligned over an outside receiver running a short route (Drag, Smoke Screen, etc.). This adjustment will allow them to get deeper and play any deep routes coming from the slot.
• Fixed an exploit allowing the offensive user to manipulate a man-coverage defender by using motion directly after a hot-route.
• Fixed an issue causing defenders to trigger avoidance animations any time any ball carrier would dive.
• Fixed an issue allowing an exploit blitz with nickel corners in the contain assignment. New logic and movement has been implemented for pass blockers to better react to this exploit blitz which is most commonly run out of formations like Dime 1-4-6.
• Tuning to pass-blocking logic to improve ‘blocking handoffs’ for left tackles when facing two rushers in the outside gap.

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have kicked off their year-long celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Tomb Raider franchise, and the press release suggests that fans can “look forward to additional franchise announcements over the course of the year.” However, it’s unclear what exactly this means for the video game side of the equation, especially when it comes to a hypothetical follow-up to the recent Tomb Raider reboot trilogy.

In the above video released for the anniversary, franchise game director Will Kerslake says that the developer “has no plans for a major game announcement in the near future,” which seems to put a damper on hopes for a big-budget sequel reveal. In the past decade, however, the Tomb Raider franchise has expanded to include mobile games like the recently announced Tomb Raider Reloaded, as well as Lara Croft Go and the well-received Lara Croft spin-off series.

In terms of the franchise’s multimedia efforts, Square Enix recently announced a Tomb Raider anime series that will debut on Netflix. The film reboot series will also continue, with Lovecraft Country’s Misha Green taking the helm as writer and director on the next entry. According to the video, future installments of the core video game series will attempt to reconcile the new reboot trilogy with the more confident globe-trotting Lara seen in the original games.

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When work was first getting underway on Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, the new remastered collection due in May, BioWare had a conversation with Epic, creators of the Unreal Engine that Mass Effect 1-3 were built on. The team wanted to know if it would be feasible to use Unreal Engine 4 for the remasters, in effect rebuilding Mass Effect on modern technology. The possibilities were tantalizing — Unreal Engine 4 is a substantial step up from its predecessor — but ultimately BioWare opted to stick with the Unreal Engine 3 that underpinned the trilogy from its debut in 2007.

“[I]t very quickly became clear that level of jump would really change fundamentally what the series was; how it felt, how it played,” Director Mac Walters told IGN. “A really crisp example of that would be if you look at the Kismit scripting language, it’s a visual scripting language from [Unreal Engine 3], there’s no real copy-paste for that to go into Unreal Engine 4, meaning that every moment, every scene… everything would have had to essentially be redone from scratch. We knew at that point that we’d really sort of start to take away the essence and spirit of what the trilogy was.”

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BioWare’s decision not to use Unreal Engine 4 is emblematic of its approach to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which aims to modernize the trilogy for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC without completely rebuilding it. It’s a collection that definitely makes some measurable improvements to the original games, but fights to keep its ambitions restrained and practical. If there’s one word to associate with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, it would probably be “pragmatic” — a response, perhaps, to BioWare’s recent history of having some of its wilder ambitions backfire spectacularly.

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Still, while Mass Effect: Legendary Edition isn’t quite the giant leap that fans might have hoped for — that will likely have to wait until the announced-but-still-untitled Mass Effect 4 is ready for release — it’s also much more than your typical remaster. Some substantial changes are coming to the trilogy, particularly the original game, and they are changes that are in many instances long overdue.

Remaster vs. Remake

“The one thing you realize when you start to really dig into this is that there’s so many quite complex interconnected systems,” Lead Environmental Artist Kevin Meek tells IGN. Meek is further explaining BioWare’s decision to stick with Unreal Engine 3 rather than move to the more modern and powerful Unreal Engine 4.

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If BioWare had opted to go with Unreal Engine 4, he says, the team would have had to completely remake elements like the conversation trees, a process that Meek describes as “death by a thousand cuts.” Suffice it to say that recent experiences on that front have not been good for BioWare. A little less than two years ago — not long before work began on Mass Effect: Legendary Edition — BioWare released Anthem, a case study in a project’s ambitions running wild.

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Adding to BioWare’s determination to keep the project’s ambitions firmly under control was the Mass Effect trilogy being somewhat unique from a technological standpoint, particularly the original game. Meek talks about how the original Mass Effect’s big finale, in which Shepard fights across the exterior of the Citadel, would be a “significant undertaking” in Unreal Engine 4 or Frostbite. Much of the battle takes place in zero gravity, with Biotics being capable of flinging enemies into space as the whole level rotates at 90 degrees.

“I think especially with Mass Effect 1, there’s just this feeling that I think people were a little bit naive about it. It was the first time going into a new engine. A lot of the guys making these levels were relatively fresh out of school,” Meek says. “Sometimes the stuff they were able to pull off was because they kind of didn’t know any better, and just kind of went headstrong into something crazy. So taking the houseplans and completely rebuilding it again somewhere else, I think you end up losing a lot of that soul, that naivete that they might have had that made it so successful and gave it that atmosphere, that feeling.”

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With a total remake out of the question, BioWare instead turned to enhancing what was already there. An A.I. up-res program was used to enhance the texture resolution by as much as 16 times, whereupon BioWare went through and touched up virtually every enemy, gun, and piece of armor across the first two games, and much of the third. The team also unified the customization options across all three games, including the updated version of female Shepard introduced in Mass Effect 3, while adding new skin and hair options.

By BioWare standards, it’s come together rather quickly, with Walters crediting former General Manager and Mass Effect 1 Project Director Casey Hudson — who returned for a second stint with BioWare before departing again late last year — with helping to push it over the finish line. But the challenges of updating it have proven interesting, to say the least. Walters likens it to restoring a beautiful, beloved car that’s been buried in concrete, with the team constantly uncovering proprietary tools written specifically for one version of another. And with all three games being unified in one release, BioWare had to be careful about making wholesale changes to elements like animation, calling it a “house of cards that could affect every character across the game.”

Rebuilding the Original Mass Effect

The somewhat ramshackle nature of the original trilogy’s development is most evident in the original Mass Effect, which was first released on Xbox 360 all the way back in 2007. The original game was replete with bugs and framerate issues, and the human characters had glassy eyes that made them look like aliens. It was kind of miserable to play from a technical perspective even when it first came out, which was a big reason why the more polished sequel was so well received when it arrived a few years later.

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If there was any one element that Mass Effect: Legendary Edition needed to get right, it was updating the original game, and it was to that task that BioWare devoted a large portion of its limited resources. Everything from the character models to stages like Eden Prime, which has gone from something akin to Star Trek’s Planet Hell to more of a verdant forest planet, has received updates. That includes the gameplay, which has been the subject of so much controversy over the years.

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It’s been a trickier task than most would imagine. The first Mass Effect still has its share of fervent supporters who feel that the sequels dispensed with too many of the RPG elements, such as stats-based gunplay, that defined the original. Pretty much everyone agrees that the first Mass Effect needs to be updated, but doing so in a way that doesn’t alienate one side or another is easier said than done.

“With Mass Effect 1 gameplay we had people who said we should throw it out and bring in [Mass Effect: Andromeda] gameplay somehow, to people who said it was their favorite and we shouldn’t touch it at all,” Meek says. “What we’ve done is through a series of small changes is remove all that friction, where cameras will be tracking nicely behind you and interpolating your movement, or entering into cover a little bit easier. Being able to command your squadmates using your different keys where it needed to be. None of these move you too far away from the soul and what it was before, but it all starts to combine together to a point where going back to the original game to capture footage feels clunky, and hard to move around… it doesn’t feel nice in comparison. I think if we had thrown out the system, we would have definitely lost a lot of people on the ‘Mass Effect 1 is my favorite game’ side.”

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The changes are indeed numerous. Improvements include an auto-aim system, more consistent auto save points, and refinements to some of the more frustrating boss encounters, like the fight with Benezia. The infamous elevator rides, which could take more than a minute in the original game, now take fewer than 15 seconds and can be skipped to boot. The once clumsy inventory system is now more in line with that of the PC version, and according to Walters features additional improvements that are designed to smooth away the rough edges without “tearing the whole thing down.”

The gunplay, another point of contention in the original game, has similarly seen major changes. Class-based aim penalties have been removed, meaning that a Vanguard can now effectively carry a sniper rifle. You still can’t train up weapons that aren’t in your class, but “at least you won’t feel completely useless,” Walters says. “The old one I always complained about was that you lined up someone dead to rights with your sniper rifle and yet you still missed,” an experience to which many Mass Effect fans can surely relate.

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Don’t worry though, the old aim cone is still there, it’s just “more generous than it used to be,” Walters says. “[I]t feels more like the aim expression is more tied to your ability, and less tied to some number you don’t see in the background. But for the most part all of the stats, leveling up, and managing your squadmates, we’ve kept true to that.”

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If there’s any reason to pick up Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, it may be to experience the original game again with fresh eyes. Certainly, this is the most attractive the original game has ever looked, running at up to 4K and 60fps with tonemapping, subsurface scattering, depth of field, bloom, and all manner of other enhancements. Even the clumsy Mako, so long the bane of major combat engagements, is getting updated physics, as well as improved controls.

According to Walters, more than a few playtesters say that the original Mass Effect is now their favorite game. No more firing up the old Genesis Comic to roll up a new character and move straight to Mass Effect 2. But of course, you can do that as well in Legendary Edition, if that’s what you really want.

The Problem of Multiplayer

On the flipside, the collection’s one really glaring omission is Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer, which remains popular with a small but dedicated group of fans. The original featured an extensive PvE mode in which up to four players could battle against waves of Reapers, Collectors, and other enemies. It included multiple character classes and races, and progress tied into the single-player campaign’s “Galactic Readiness” rating.

The decision to leave it out of the Legendary Edition was ultimately a matter of “knowing where to draw the line,” Walters says. “It obviously had a lot of challenges. Everything from what you do with crossplay, because that’s kind of an expectation now; what you do with people who are still playing multiplayer now — how do you honor that, how do you bring them in, can we somehow bridge that gap? And of course these aren’t insurmountable challenges, there are things that we can do to fix that problem and get multiplayer in there. But when you look at the amount of effort that it was going to take to do that, it was easily commensurate if not greater than uplifting all of Mass Effect 1, and I think our focus was on the single-player experience.”

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With the single-player comprising the bulk of the original trilogy’s appeal, it’s an understandable decision. Still, it’s a shame given that Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer is actually really good. The Legendary Edition was a great opportunity to bring the mode, which still holds up, back in a big way. Instead, it’s apt to fade out of memory, an increasingly obscure footnote in the overall history of the series.

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But like the decision to use Unreal Engine 3 instead of Unreal Engine 4, it speaks to BioWare’s priorities for the Legendary Edition. Multiplayer would have added a tremendous amount of weight to a project that the team wanted to be as lean and efficient as possible. It just wasn’t going to fit.

Will Mass Effect Still Be Legendary?

If there’s one thing that stands out about Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, it’s how much care BioWare takes to set expectations for this collection. It’s not a remake. It’s not being remastered in Unreal Engine 4. It won’t have multiplayer. It won’t immediately be on Switch, nor will it be available natively on next-gen consoles (“I think it’s just a bridge too far,” Walter says of the latter). It will, to be clear, run in compatibility mode on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Asked why the team fought to keep the scope as narrow and defined as possible, Walters says, “I think it’s kind of what Kevin was getting at before in asking where you draw the line. I could really imagine us trying to chase the magic the first game had. […] Once you go beyond that, every question comes into play. If this scene is going to change anyway, why don’t we change the dialogue? I never really liked that actor, why don’t we get a different actor? At some point it’s not what we had originally, and at that point you do lose the magic of the original, in my opinion.”

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Ultimately, the success of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will largely depend on how the original game turns out. If BioWare manages to navigate the equivalent of the debris field from famous Mass Effect 2’s Suicide Mission, the collection as a whole will probably be seen as a success. If it isn’t up to snuff, the Legendary Edition’s pragmatic approach will feel limited rather than smart.

One way or another, Shepard’s adventures have needed a modern update for a while now, and mods can only do so much. Mass Effect continues to be one of BioWare’s most enduring works, and it deserves to be experienced and appreciated in 2021. In that at least, the release Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is extremely welcome, no matter how pragmatic it might be.

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Kat Bailey is the former Editor-in-Chief of US Gamer and the creator of the Axe of the Blood God RPG podcast. Talk RPGs with her on Twitter at @The_Katbot and catch her on Twitch.

Though Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will be forward-compatible with PS5 and Xbox Series X when it launches this year, BioWare currently has no plans for a dedicated next-gen release or an eventual optimization patch.

In an interview with IGN, director Mac Walters said that a full-on next-gen launch of the collection was “just a bridge too far.”

“To me if I’m buying a game on this next-generation of hardware, I expect a lot from it, and I think it’s more than what we could have pushed [Unreal Engine 3] to do, and again more than we could’ve done with a true remaster,” he said. “To me it would have felt a little disingenuous. I think it’s better suited for the next Mass Effect.”

Walters also denied that BioWare was considering an eventual optimization patch instead — at least not for the time being. However, he added that the game would experience some next-gen hardware perks for those playing on PS5 or Xbox Series X.

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“We’ll wait and see,” he said. “But we have some targeted unleashing of the game so that it will leverage a little bit more power of the next-gen series beyond just the faster load times you’d expect from SSD. There are some things that’ll let you get to higher framerates, keep resolution higher, and stuff like that. So it should be a more optimized experience, but at this point nothing in the future.”

Today, BioWare also announced that Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will officially launch on May 14, 2021.

The collection includes all single-player base content and DLC from the first three Mass Effect games, and will feature improved framerates and 4K Ultra HD optimization. Though it is officially launching on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, BioWare confirmed in its original announcement that it will be forward-compatible on next-gen consoles with some “targeted enhancements.” You can pre-order Mass Effect: Legendary Edition using our pre-order guide.

BioWare also announced a new Mass Effect game at last year’s The Game Awards, which is currently in “early production.”

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Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter with IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.