Mass Effect 3 - Preview Roundup

Archmage Silver sends in a handful of Mass Effect 3 previews we had missed.
From DeltaGamer:

Mass Effect 2 was a major overhaul in terms of gameplay from the first game, but this time around Bioware is content with the core mechanics they introduced in Mass Effect 2 and has iterated on them, rather than reinvent them. It’s still fundamentally a third person shooter with RPG trappings, but now they have improved the RPG elements of the game. Character skill progression has been expanded, and there is a lot more choice within the skills themselves. I played through the demo as the Soldier class, and I had around 36 points to spend on skills. I unlocked Concussive Shot – a knockdown ability and there was further progression within the skill itself. Spending more points allowed me to reduce the cooldown of the ability, increase the damage and knockback effect and then the tree branched out, with each level having two possible options, I could choose to widen the knockback radius or increase the force further and so on and so on. It’s a welcome change as Mass Effect 2′s progression system was a little bare bones in places.

…who also have a summary from a Gamescom Q&A session:

The CE Robot dog is possible to interact with aboard the Normandy, like having it follow you around, play fetch and it apparently has a story to it. No details on whether it’s combat able or not though.
Character creator will get a lot more hair styles and facial features in ME3. So expect the hairstyles from the femShep competition to make it into the CC.
They are considering an Uber achievement for all three games. What that is exactly is they don’t know, but they want to reward their long term fans.
All squad mates will get their story and closure for ME3 even if they might not be a permanent squad member.

GiantBomb also has a large roundup of material from Gamescom.
In related news, GamesFront reports the redhead has won the FemShep voting, for anyone who cares (thanks Blues).
More information.

Playing fetch with my dog ???? Really stupid.

I'm betting they delayed it till March, so they can release ME2 Collectors Edition during the holiday.

Also what's going to happen when they announce it's a Always On drm or that we have to be on origin to play?

Isn't this an FPS action adventure game?

Wonder howmany whiny forum posts it will take before they make the dog romanceable.

Originally Posted by Acleacius
Also what's going to happen when they announce it's a Always On drm or that we have to be on origin to play?

I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure that the world is going to end instantly if that should happen.

Originally Posted by rich ruffo
Playing fetch with my dog ???? Really stupid.

Why? It's an immersion feature. Not the main focus of ME3.

I understand its not the main focus , it just adds to the other corny features that Bioware uses to sell the game. Spend an extra 30 dollars on the game and you can have a dog follow you around the Normandy. Its adolesent. just my opinion.

The dog is for a new quest, so we can learn to like him before they kill him to make us cry.

Originally Posted by rich ruffo
I understand its not the main focus , it just adds to the other corny features that Bioware uses to sell the game. Spend an extra 30 dollars on the game and you can have a dog follow you around the Normandy. Its adolesent. just my opinion.

I dislike many of the cross promotional tie-in items far more though. I understand that if you're going to put a billboard up in a game then you want it to relate to the product it advertises and to stand out - but since you had to already have the other game to get the promo item it would have been nice if some of them weren't appearance locked. While some of these tie in items look cool on their own, many don't and most look ridiculously out of place.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure that the world is going to end instantly if that should happen.

Be prepared then you know its coming. There going to force you to use orgin just like you have to use steam. Its just drm with added features.