Mass Effect Delayed to September

Computer and Videogames reports that Bioware has moved Mass Effect's release to September, from the previous launch window of June/July. "The news comes from an official Microsoft event this morning, though no more details have been offered. The September release puts Mass Effect in head-to-head competition with fellow first-party RPG Blue Dragon, which is also released that month. This might seem silly to you budding industry analysts, but it's probably just as beneficial for Microsoft to avoid the infamous Summer drought." As much as I was looking forward to taking on the machines sooner rather than later, I guess if they want it to be 'good' ...

Comments

Summer Drought

[jimbobborg]

It would seem to me that there should be more sales around the beginning of Summer, when the kiddies are set loose from school. Also, most of the younger set would get money from jobs (mowing lawns, odd jobs) to pay for new games. I know there is a big holiday rush, but come on, Summer should be great, too.

Re:Summer Drought

[fistfullast33l]

That's why I advocate the elimination of minimum wage and the revocation of all child labor laws! Screw summer camp, send them to the coal mines to become productive members of society!

Re:Summer Drought

[Minwee]

Why waste them in coal mines when they could be working as programmers for EA?

Re:Summer Drought

[Gr8Apes]

That would explain the current state of games.

/shrug

[DragonPup]

This is BioWare, so I can only assume if they pushed it back, they have a good reason. They don't rush games out of the door(Hey, KOTOR2 wasn't made by them!), so I guess I'll just wait a little longer.

Re:/shrug

[Itchyeyes]

Apparently Bioware is a little miffed about this announcement and refuses to confirm the date. Until I see an official press release, I'm filing this one firmly in the "rumor" category.

This is a good thing

[solar_blitz]

Whenever I hear a studio with a good reputation is delaying a video game it reminds me of a saying from a very wise individual:

"A delayed game is eventually good; a bad game is forever."

To those unfortunate individuals who have already reserved the game awaiting its release, I can sympathize with you. After all, this quote comes from Shigeru Miyamoto, the man who delayed Zelda 64's release for two years, ultimately becoming one of the best games of all time!

So take heed, the game's probably just getting all its kinks ironed out to be the best it can be!

Re:This is a good thing

[ivan256]

To those unfortunate individuals who have already reserved the game awaiting its release, I can sympathize with you.

More like: To all those impatient individuals who have already reserved the game, maybe that will teach you not to do that anymore. The good games are always available on or near release day, and all you're doing by reserving early is relieving yourself of access to that $5-$60 for some unspecified period of time.

This may not be a reliable source...

[EveryNickIsTaken]

See IGN's Take on the matter.

Re:Good for them

[twistedsymphony]

I don't understand how similar games being released all at once is good for anyone?

One will undoubtedly outsell another causing otherwise good games to get overlooked, next time that company wants to make a new awesome game they'll have a hard time getting funding because their last game didn't sell so hot in the shadow of the slightly more popular competitor.

Even fans of the genre would benefit from having them spread out because it gives them time to complete one title before the release of the next.

Though honestly, if this is a problem for MS I don't see why they can't just release Blue Dragon in the summer instead. It's already done and released in Japan and IIRC it's either been released or will be releasing soon in Asia with Japanese voice acting and English subs/menus... I would think most JRPG fans would be more then happy with the original English voices as opposed to English dubs.