Mass Effect and Wii U a 'really nice fit,' says EA

EA Games head Frank Gibeau has hinted that the company is considering the possibilities of how a game in the Mass Effect universe could fit into the Wii U hardware.

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Mass Effect wasn't shown among Nintendo's Wii U third-party sizzle reel, but that doesn't mean the series isn't coming to the new console. In an interview with GameTrailers, EA Games label head Frank Gibeau hinted that the franchise might come to the Wii U in some capacity.

Responding to a fan question about bringing Mass Effect 3 to the platform, Gibeau said, "I can't say that we are going to do it on the Wii U, but you can imagine what we could do with that controller in the Mass Effect universe. It feels like a really nice fit, but we'll announce that when the time is right."

When interviewer Geoff Keighley pressed the question on whether EA will do focus on exclusives or franchise ports with added functionality for the Wii U, Gibeau elaborated. "We're looking at all options at this point," he said. "We're certainly going to bring over some of the big franchises. Battlefield is the one we talked about today, but we've also started a lot of new IPs over the last couple of years at EA Games. We'll look at that platform and if there's some really unique new idea, we'll definitely go after it."

It's far from a promise, but we know BioWare doesn't mind adding platform-exclusive features that rely on specialized hardware; Mass Effect 3 with Kinect functionality was a large part of Microsoft's E3 press briefing.

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 9, 2011 2:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Mass Effect and Wii U a 'really nice fit,' says EA.

    EA Games head Frank Gibeau has hinted that the company is considering the possibilities of how a game in the Mass Effect universe could fit into the Wii U hardware.

    • reply
      June 9, 2011 2:02 PM

      use touchscreen to give squad orders, manage inventory, hacking minigame EXCITING FEATURES OF INTEREST

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      June 9, 2011 2:07 PM

      [deleted]

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        June 9, 2011 2:11 PM

        There really isn't a reason other than it's "one more place to spread dev resources".

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          June 9, 2011 2:14 PM

          [deleted]

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            June 9, 2011 2:19 PM

            The 360 and the Wii U share an awful lot of hardware ideas actually, I guess Nintendo liked how it was doing in comparison to Sony this time around.

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            June 9, 2011 2:19 PM

            And both have some kind of AMD graphics chip too

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        June 9, 2011 5:50 PM

        Because games already get dumbed down enough for the console crowd, now they're going to get dumbed down even more for the Wii crowd. That's an entire other level of gamer retardation. Can you even imagine what Dragon Age 3 is going to be like? CAN YOU?!
        ؟

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      June 9, 2011 2:13 PM

      I'd love to see an ME trilogy package on the Wii U.

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        June 9, 2011 2:22 PM

        Won't happen. Mass Effect 1 was published by Microsoft. It remains exclusive to the 360.

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          June 9, 2011 2:27 PM

          Ooooh, that's right.

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            June 9, 2011 2:29 PM

            I hate it when IPs get tied up by the publishers, it's not like they own Bioware dammit.

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          June 9, 2011 2:41 PM

          The PC port was published by EA. I know they didn't do a PS3 version so it's possible it remains a console exclusive.

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      June 9, 2011 2:49 PM

      great here comes the exclusive BS when a new console comes out..

      seems to me the WII U is a gimmick

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      June 9, 2011 3:27 PM

      They could bring all three games in one disk.

      Well, not the first, since it's a 360 exclusive, right?

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        June 9, 2011 5:32 PM

        Man, I hate Microsoft so much.

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          June 9, 2011 5:36 PM

          You hate Microsoft so much because they wanted another exclusive series?

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            June 9, 2011 5:44 PM

            Yes, I hate assholes who make their fortune on PCs, and then try, with all their might, to get PC owners to buy their shitty, defective consoles to play INFERIOR versions of games they could have played on their PC.

            If it wasn't for EA, PC users would have never got Mass Effect 1. Fuck Microsoft. They're fucking dipshits.

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              June 9, 2011 5:47 PM

              Do you hate Sony for Uncharted?

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                June 9, 2011 5:50 PM

                Since Sony owns Naughty Dog, Uncharted is really a Sony game. Even though platform exclusives make me explode in a 620,000 mile radius like the sun, I can understand why a company who made its own game would only want to release it for its own console.

                Microsoft is different. They're simply vindictive assholes. They didn't make Mass Effect. They don't own Bioware. They PROFIT from the sale of Windows games, because _people need Windows to play them_. They even have their own Games for Windows bullshit.

                Releasing Mass Effect 1 on the PC wouldn't have hurt anyone (except PC gamers), but nope, Microsoft just HAD to try to keep it on the Xbox.

                They're fucking assholes.

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              June 9, 2011 5:54 PM

              haha, you're all right in my books, imbackbaby

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      June 9, 2011 5:43 PM

      Won't care about Mass Effect after 3, hopefully.

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      June 9, 2011 5:45 PM

      I reckon going from looking at the TV screen to the screen in my hands would pull me out of the game. Unless I was sitting inside a space station.

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