Mass Effect - Banned in Singapore & More

There are three minor bits of Mass Effect stuff around, so I'll collect them here.

• Worthplaying reports the lesbian alien sex scene in Mass Effect has lead to a banning in Singapore.
• Games Radar has a full list of the X360 achievements that can be…um…achieved.
• …and BioWare is spruiking a bunch of Spike TV award nominations like Game of the Year.

More information.

So has anyone heard if this alien lesbian hotness is going to be edited out for North America? (Just curious after all the furor over the Witcher card game.)

Lesbian alien cutscene LOL, well you have to admire them for allowing the game to be banned in some countries just to have one lesbian alien cutscene! Maybe they think a lot of people will buy the game for this reason also
???

So are there that many lesbians in Singapore that it creates a social problem? Anyone can confirm that?

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
…well you have to admire them for allowing the game to be banned in some countries just to have one lesbian alien cutscene!

Others should also learn from this example

It just striked me that ME is the last game by independent Bioware. I also read somewhere that EA is planning to merge LA with Pandemic after the acquisition and that Microsoft is about to cancel the publication of an AAA title, for some reason ME came to mind, most probably that's not true though.

Originally Posted by Lethal Weapon
So are there that many lesbians in Singapore that it creates a social problem? Anyone can confirm that?

No, but social conservative extraterrestrial lobby groups are quite influential there. The Betelgusians in particular are up in arms, or rather tentacles, over being stereotyped as hermaphrodites due to lack or morphic variance between their three main genders.

Singapore is a Victorian country when it comes to matters of male-female interactions. The degree of censorship and media control is however in my experience slowly being eroded.

Singapore is a modern dictatorship (like our democracy isnt dictatorial enough). They can easily ban stuff if they want.

Originally Posted by Lethal Weapon
It just striked me that ME is the last game by independent Bioware. I also read somewhere that EA is planning to merge LA with Pandemic after the acquisition and that Microsoft is about to cancel the publication of an AAA title, for some reason ME came to mind, most probably that's not true though.

You read too much Rumor Control over at gamespot. However even they admited that those are rumors (at least so far). And EA probably can't and/or has little interest in messing up the currently being in development games of Bio since 1) the purchase of Bio is still not finished, I think, and 2) most of the games have different publishers so far.

Originally Posted by Arma
You read too much Rumor Control over at gamespot.

Actually it was at 1UP and destructoid. Sometimes I get too much spare time in my hands and I like surfing the net a lot, those two sites I visit regularly. I rarely visit Gamespot though, I usually use Gamefaqs when I want to read their boards, much faster and ad-free. So I would kindly suggest that you don't assume too much, you'll be prone to false conclusions, both here and in real life.

Originally Posted by Arma
And EA probably can't and/or has little interest in messing up the currently being in development games of Bio.

Where did I say that? Please reread my post.

Are there anything not banned in singapore?

Originally Posted by Lethal Weapon
Actually it was at 1UP and destructoid. Sometimes I get too much spare time in my hands and I like surfing the net a lot, those two sites I visit regularly. I rarely visit Gamespot though, I usually use Gamefaqs when I want to read their boards, much faster and ad-free. So I would kindly suggest that you don't assume too much, you'll be prone to false conclusions, both here and in real life.

My bad then. Maybe I am the one reading too much gamespot, though your wording read almost like a direct quote-ing of several of their recent articles. Nevermind anyway.

Originally Posted by Lethal Weapon
Where did I say that? Please reread my post.

What did you mean by "the last game by independent Bioware" then? . While I personally don't hold Bioware in high regard, it sounds like feel like the supposed quality of their titles will drop since they've sold their a*ses to EA (not that I find this fact alone surprising. Bio's been selling its a*s as a game company for some time to whoever is buying in my view), as EA will probably try to interfere with development.

Originally Posted by Arma
My bad then.

No problem at all. As for my wording, I wouldn't know how to form those two simple sentences in another manner, but given that English is my second language, I'll take that as a compliment.

Originally Posted by Arma
What did you mean by "the last game by independent Bioware" then? . While I personally don't hold Bioware in high regard, it sounds like feel like the supposed quality of their titles will drop since they've sold their a*ses to EA (not that I find this fact alone surprising. Bio's been selling its a*s as a game company for some time to whoever is buying in my view), as EA will probably try to interfere with development.

Bioware is to become an EA studio from January 1st next year and that's exactly what I meant. I don't know how this will affect the quality of their future titles, but consider this: EA have the ability to disband any of their studios whenever they feel like it. As Murphy said, "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong".

To be honest, when I first read the rumor about Microsoft, I instictively felt that Microsoft is reluctant to work with EA. But since this would be a far-streched scenario, I added the "highly unlikely" bit.

What I read was that while both Bio and Pandemic would become EA studios, they would be still more like independant working. At least for the time being - since Bio at least has at least half a dozen games under development (not ones I actually care about) with various publishers. Probably the single title affected most by this acquisition is Dragon Age, and probably for some degree of the good to it - it may see light of day in 2008 (or ever to put it other words. Its been around for like forever now and little to no meaningful information is available on it) since EA may try to force them to put it out quickly.

I am very hesitant of taking the good doctors's statements at face value, they mostly sound like pr to me. On the other hand EA has a given record, and forcing a game out too quickly is never a good thing; recent example: Hellgate London.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't EA publicly owned? My guess is that Bioware's 'independency' will only last until their next "not-so-well selling" title (eg JE2), Pandemic's might be even sorter. It really makes no real difference if it's next year or in 5 years, and might be accelerated by key stuff members leaving. Bioware might have a peak in the near future, but the only way I can see them going in the long run is downwards.

Originally Posted by Arma
What I read was that while both Bio and Pandemic would become EA studios, they would be still more like independant working. At least for the time being - since Bio at least has at least half a dozen games under development (not ones I actually care about) with various publishers. Probably the single title affected most by this acquisition is Dragon Age, and probably for some degree of the good to it - it may see light of day in 2008 (or ever to put it other words. Its been around for like forever now and little to no meaningful information is available on it) since EA may try to force them to put it out quickly.

It seems to me that Dragon Age has been on Bioware's back burner for nearly 4 years now. My guess is that under EA it will either be canceled or reimaged into a 360 game. At this point, we can still hope that the game is further along and they've just been under a self-imposed black out to concentrate on the ME PR Blitz. I guess we'll know the answer to that by E3.

Originally Posted by Lethal Weapon
To be honest, when I first read the rumor about Microsoft, I instictively felt that Microsoft is reluctant to work with EA.

Your instincts seem to be way off in this case. In reality, I'm sure that whenever Riccitiello shows up in Redmond, he's getting the full red carpet, Bill Gates handshake, all-you-can-eat-and-drink plus hookers class A deluxe treatment .
Seriously, I don't think that MS could ever thank EA enough for helping sell their systems. MS very much depends on EA and the licences that especially EA Sports is holding. There is absolutely zero reason why MS should ever be or would ever be "reluctant" to work with EA. Totally the contrary actually. MS needs EA to sell Xboxes and EA needs MS to sell their games. Both companies very much need each other to maintain their market leading positions. It's an almost perfect symbiosis.

BioWare has specifically said Dragon Age will not be promoted until ME ships. Time will tell where we go from here.

Origin was an EA studio after they got taken over by EA but the staff were mostly replaced after that and they put out Ultima 9 in a crappy state and then after that shut down Origin.

-ehm-

If you read the Bioware forums you will say the game Mass Effect is shipped to main stores e.g. retail stores like K-Mart, and Walmart. Some lucky gamers have already gotten the game…but the threads where gamers talk about this thing have been removed from the Bioware boards.

As for EA, Bioware and Pandemic I think EA will let Bioware and Pandemic continue with their independent ways….having a stern look at how they manage their finances. The problem with the Origin developers that EA supported financially seemed to be that they hadn't seen so much before, so they just went crazy with the money and spent it all at once or nearly at once. Bioware and Pandemic are much better managed companies financially. I know from my own financial situation
that it is really easy to spend all the money you have for a month at once, and that it takes some manegerial skills to NOT do this e.g. spent all the money you have at once.

I don't think Microsoft is reluctant to work with EA. Hellgate: London was published under the Games for Windows license, wasn't it. I don't know about the hooker thing, but the wine & dine thing seems about right, though.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
It's an almost perfect symbiosis.

OTOH Microsoft recently denied to confirm any sequels to ME (which Bioware already is working on AFAIK) and there has been talk of EA planning to release its own console. Microsoft and EA may seem to get along for now, but they each share the same dream of becoming a software/hardware monopoly. As they say, in the end there can be only one (or none).

And seriously, who can honestly think that EA is able to respect any of its studios given its past awful record? They say EA has changed and has adapted new ways, but look at Hellgate. It's a publicly owned company and when the inevitable moment comes that a particular studio is not profitable enough, it will be re-organized/merged/disbanded in the blink of an eye.

[edit] There is no such thing as a class A hooker, but that's a different story.