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Mass Effect Docks With PCs This May
by Maarten Goldstein, Feb 12, 2008 6:05am PSTGamers hoping that BioWare's critically acclaimed Xbox 360 sci-fi role playing game Mass Effect would eventually hit PCs will be pleased to know that the wait won't be long, as the port will be released this May.
The PC version will be enhanced in several ways over the Xbox 360 release of the game. The inventory user interface and functionality has been reworked, allowing for easier equipping and modifying of weapons and armor. There will also be visual boost, due to the inclusion of higher-resolution textures, characters and environments. Also look for optimized controls, as well as control remapping and hot key binding of biotic powers and skills, along with a new decryption mini-game.
"Mass Effect serves as a powerful example of video games as an art
form, delivering new levels of emotional intensity, realistic
characters and a gripping storyline -- all set in a compelling new
universe," said BioWare General Manager Ray Muzyka. Publishing of Mass Effect PC will be handled by Electronic Arts, which said it has struck a deal with Microsoft to handle future publishing of the franchise. EA recently completed its purchase of BioWare.
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One of the reasons is that Valve, a producer of video games, gets to control the placement of the front-page store items. That means that Valve always gets first shot at the consumer, and you're limited to an "also-ran" in the catalog. OK, you might get your own pop-up message for a few weeks, then it's right back to HL2: Episode 3 or whatever is competing with your products. You have no control over placement on Steam, whereas EA has acquired lots of control over shelf placement at Gamestop/Target/Walmart.
Another problem is that any Valve employee could just log in to the Steam back-end and see sales numbers for all your games. That's private info. Being able to track every other developer's sales numbers in realtime is a huge competitive advantage for Valve.
Not to mention that Valve takes a huge (almost half) cut of everything sold through steam. If it were going back into funding Steam, that might be tolerable. But that money gets funneled into development of more Valve games, which is great for us consumers but makes terrible business sense for EA. You really don't want half of your potential revenue going into the pockets of a direct competitor - if you have other distribution channels, you'd prefer not to line Valve's pockets with thousand-dollar bills.
If Steam got spun off into its own company, even if Valve was a primary investor, I think EA would be more likely to sign a deal.
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