A whole load of info about Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360, PC) has apparently been leaked from an OXM interview with developer Bioware. Since we haven't seen a hard copy yet, let's treat this as a rumor for the time being. Among the details revealed in the OXM feature is confirmation that Commander Shepard is alive and well -- for a goodly chunk of the game anyway. Whether or not Shepard survives until the end is still up in the air. More in the full article.

Okay, so this actually came about the same time that BioWare officially announced the arrival of Bring Down the Sky for Mass Effect on Windows, but I guess shock takes the better of you after learning some highly anticipated games just got pushed back. This goes out to the folks who probably got out of sync with the beat as well. It's time to update your RPG to the latest. Changes are listed at the full story.

And not a moment too soon, for folks still sour at the presence of SecuROM's digital rights management software might have given up on Mass Effect on the PC entirely. It's a sad thing to think that, especially from a game that oozes a lot of ambition and the right directions. Luckily, the highly-recommended downloadable content was also formatted with the PC gamer in mind, so there might be a degree of redeeming factor involved if you grab it. But before you do, there's a few more things to tackle at the full story.

We know that the copy protection scheme that BioWare and Electronic Arts implemented in the PC version of Mass Effect were for granting the convenience of not needing the game disc every time you play, and of course, for combating piracy. But the latest inquiries to the activation procedures would have you thinking twice about either convenience or piracy, because what we have waiting for you at the full story would either have you facepalming till kingdom come, or gasping out loud, "Piracy wut?"

Last week's game releases introduced a lot of fun games, such as Dr. Mario DX and Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. This week, however, is the week for game ports, with Mac getting its own conversion of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), the Nintendo DS getting the arcade classic Super Dodgeball Brawlers, and many others.

* Article originally posted May 26, 2008 at 12:37AM

If you can't wait for the PC version of Demiurge Studios and EA's Mass Effect, you might want to check out today's video update for the action RPG. We've got a story for you and it shows a whole lot of things, including a threat from one of the baddies: Your extinction is inevitable. Check out the full article for the trailer.

Looks like Mass Effect will be gracing your gaming machine soon, as BioWare officially announced that the RPG action game had just gone gold. The developer, together with publisher Electronic Arts, said that the master copy is now sent to manufacturing for mass production, and the special revamp of Mass Effect - a game originally designed for the PC in mind - will be coming in the next two weeks. More at the full story.

The BioWare CEO, Ray Muzyaka, was recently interviewed regarding the Mass Effect (PC, Xbox 360). To find out what he he had to say about the game as well as the possibility (or the lack thereof, as you'll find out) of the game hitting other platforms, head on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link.

For those of us who wanted to enjoy BioWare's Mass Effect (Xbox 360, PC) on their gaming rigs, but found themselves wanting after the ten-day re-authentication period that EA's SecuROM dealie popped on all of us, here's good news: that is now officially a thing of the past, thanks to the loads of fans who reacted against the issue as well as the gamers in the armed services. All the details in the full article.

If you're one of the many eagerly anticipating the PC version of Bioware's Mass Effect (Xbox 360, PC), then here's something that could turn out to be a bit troublesome: the Securom implementation in the game will pretty much have users re-authenticating their CD keys every ten days via an internet connection. History repeating itself? Let's hope not. All the details in the full article, so you'd best jump to it.