Another big game is about to be released on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, and gamers around the world wait in anticipation… Are you one of them who’ll buy Mass Effect 3 next week?

It’s the weekend, Games Thirst, what are you up to?

It’ll be yet another momentous one for me, as there’s a lot going on. I lost one of my 1st cousins (my uncle’s son, age 16) on Wednesday, and it’s been very hard for the family. We’ll be gathering at various family locations to celebrate his life, but it’s been tough days.

He was a good kid.

I’ll be playing this morning, so if you’re online join me. Other than that, it’s all par for the course.

What’s going on with you guys? Share it! And have a great weekend!

On March 6, Mass Effect 3 will ship for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, marking the end of Commander Shepard’s trilogy in the space-bound role-playing series. However, the franchise may live on.

Speaking to OXM, Mass Effect 3 executive producer Michael Gamble teased the future of the Mass Effect series, saying BioWare has “so much to draw from” if it decides to make a new game based in that universe.

“Without going down any specific path, you can think of many, many different areas throughout the [intellectual property], throughout the history, where there are large wars to be won, large battles to be had, and a lot of development to be done around where these races came from, how they came about,” he said.

Gamble said no decisions have been made but reiterated that “the future is wide open” for what the studio could work on from the franchise moving forward.

As for Mass Effect 3, that game is due out on March 6 and has players once again taking on the role of Shepard, who is now on the run from the shadowy pro-human organization Cerberus. To save Earth, Shepard must travel the galaxy trying to rally support from alien civilizations with varying degrees of sympathy.

[Source: GameSpot]

EA Partners will release Respawn Entertainment’s first game, as well as two other previously unannounced titles, by March 2013, according to an internal marketing document.

An EA Partners marketing calendar for the April 2012-March 2013 period was spotted by French gaming site Hardgamers, and included mention of Respawn, The Secret World, Overstrike, Outernauts, and Populous. The release calendar indicated all titles were to be released by March, 2013.

As for the titles on the sheet, The Secret World’s inclusion falls in line with the game’s already announced April release date. That title is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game presently in development at Funcom and set to release for the PC.

The rest of the games on the list, on the other hand, previously either did not have a release window attached to them, or were not known to exist at all.

The mention of Respawn on the calendar is likely in reference to the first game from Respawn Entertainment, the studio formed by a flurry of former Call of Duty developers. Outside of a blurry screenshot, details are nearly non-existent concerning Respawn’s first game. However, it is rumored to be a science-fiction first-person shooter that might support 3D.

Also included on the marketing calendar, according to the website, was Overstrike, Insomniac Games’ squad-based stylized multiplatform shooter, which was announced at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo without a release window.

Additionally, the website is reporting that the calendar included mention of a game called Outernauts, a title that EA has not formally announced, and one that has ties to Insomniac. On January 28, the Santa Monica, California-based game developer filed a trademark with the United States Patent & Trademark Office for video game software titled Outernauts.

As for the mention of Populous on the release calendar, the real-time strategy series has laid dormant since 2007′s Populous DS. No additional information concerning the title was made available.

[Source: GameSpot]

NPD numbers have never been complete. In fact, we interviewed David Riley some time back and asked him this very question, and his answer wasn’t very convincing. But let’s leave bygones be bygones, because finally, NPD’s reached an agreement with Walmart to include the chain’s game sales data into its monthly industry report.

Data from both physical and online outlets will be included, as well as other items, including toys, home items, apparel and more.

Said NPD president and COO Karyn Schoenbart: “This agreement is truly a game changer for NPD and for the industry.

With Walmart data, we will be able to provide our clients with world class information and solidify our leadership position as the premier source of market insight in our industries. We look forward to offering our clients the best information ever for understanding their customers in order to drive better decisions and grow their businesses.”

Via Industry.

Microsoft has launched a Mass Effect 3 Facebook app that allows users to enter competitions and win Mass Effect items.

Start your mission on the Mass Effect 3 mission command by simply agreeing to use the app, and if enough people participate, you’ll get a free Normandy prop for your Xbox Live avatar.

The second mission, which will go live soon, will give early access to the Mass Effect 3 demo.

Before the game sees its release on March 9th, a total of 9 missions are planned. Also, a free virtual t-shirt will be awarded to those who download the demo.

Team Bondi’s detective game was the best selling new IP last year.

LA Noire may have had a troubled development, eventually resulting in the closure of Team Bondi, but it has sold an impressive 5 million copies since launch.

The figure, mentioned in the publisher’s quarterly financial briefing, means that the open world title was the most successful new IP of last year.

Take-Two’s total revenue for its third fiscal quarter was $236.3m, down from $334.3m in the same period of the previous year. As Take-Two was quick to point out, last year’s figures were riding on the back of the hugely successful Red Dead Redemption.

Along with NBA 2K12, the back catalogue of the Grand Theft Auto series was the biggest contributor to the publisher’s earnings. To the surprise of absolutely no-one, the report made no mention of Grand Theft Auto V’s release date.

[Source: Videogamer]

It started out as any other fall afternoon. High school student “Joseph” was in his room playing video games when he got a call from Amanda Johnson, 17, to come over to her house.

Joseph’s last name is being withheld to protect his privacy, because as Wisconsin’s St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office stated, what happened to him is “shocking at best”.

The Huffington Post reported that after inviting him to her house, Johnson and her 24 year-old sister Valerie Bartkey, a nursing assistant according to Facebook, apparently forced Joseph to drink their urine and then twisted his penis with pliers after he refused to have intercourse with Bartkey.

“This young man has some vulnerabilities and, beside taking advantage of him, I don’t think there was any other motive to it than making fun [of him],” Lt. Cathy Borgschatz told The Huffington Post.

The sisters and some friends apparently started smoking pot, Joseph declined to partake. At first there were jokes about punching Joseph, but the violence turned real, with the sisters and another male friend stomping and kicking him. Joseph broke free, but his shoes were thrown in the toilet.

Joseph made his way to the porch, where Bartkey supposedly gave him a drink that she said was like lemonade. Joseph drank it, later remarking it tasted “kinda like beer”. Joseph was then told he just drank the girls’ urine.

According to The Huffington Post, a witness later told authorities that Joseph was later seen naked in a bedroom and “heard the girls tell him to show them his penis and to bend over and show them his asshole.” Bartkey’s 4-year-old daughter was apparently crying in the next room.

“Joseph said that Valerie told him she was pregnant and wanted to have twins,” the police report stated. “Joseph said that Valerie wanted him to ‘do the other part’ and have sex with her so she could have two babies. Joseph said that Amanda was present while Valerie took her clothes off.”

Joseph then apparently refused to have intercourse with the woman, causing her to pull on his penis with pliers. “Joseph said that he didn’t have an erection but Valerie wanted him to have one so she pulled on and twisted his penis with the pliers,” the report continued. “Joseph told Investigator Hart that Amanda was there as well and kept calling him a ‘bitch.’”

When asked to describe the level of pain on a scale of one to ten, Joseph told authorities it was a ten.

The owner of the home, who is only described as AJK in the police report, entered the room, discovering the scene and told Joseph to go home. His grandmother then called the paramedics and police. Later, Johnson apparently called Joseph and threatened him for going to the police.

Both sisters are slated to appear in court this April. According to The Huffington Post, if they are convicted, they could face a 40-year prison sentence.

[Source: Kotaku]

Sony reckons PlayStation Vita got off to “a good start” in Japan, and doesn’t foresee “any problems” selling the handheld in February.

Life-to-date Japanese Vita sales are 535,423, by Media Create’s working. The handheld looked to be off to a flyer after posting first-week sales of 321,407 units.

But Vita quickly ran out of steam, and sales slumped as low as 15,000 units a week. Vita only managed to claw back higher seven-day sales than PSP last week. And they were a far cry from Nintendo’s 3DS total, which has been more than four-times Vita’s tally in recent weeks.
‘Sony on Vita sales: “we do not think we have any problems”‘ Screenshot kaz

“Now the company has not publicly announced the units of shipping and sales. At the appropriate time, we would do so,” Sony’s chief financial officer Masaru Kato told analysts on an earnings call this week.

“But as far as sell-through, three weeks have passed and our sell-through is 500,000. This was announced on the 10th of January. So as a start, I think we had a very – a good start.

Kato added: “Including software and hardware, we are carrying out the sales promotions and we do it to boost the sales, and we do not think we have any problems.”

PlayStation Vita costs (Wi-Fi) 24,980 yen (£207), and (Wi-Fi and 3G) 29,980 yen (£249) in Japan.

Nintendo’s 3DS, after its massive price cut, costs 15,000 yen (£124).

PlayStation Vita launches in the US and UK on 22nd February.

[Source: Eurogamer]

Take-Two assured investors in a financials call today that development of Grand Theft Auto V is “making great progress”, despite staying well away from determining a window of release.

Click to view larger image
Analysts expect Grand Theft Auto 5 to launch in Take-Two’s upcoming financial year – ending March 31, 2013 – despite an increasingly crowded release schedule for the publisher, but the firm chose not to address talks of a release date during today’s call.

“Grand Theft Auto V is making great process,” said T2 boss Strauss Zelnick.

Without going into specifics, Zelnick offered assurance the the game “promises to continue Rockstar’s incredible track record of delighting fans by raising the bar in interactive entertainment”.

[Source: Computer and Video Games]

The first of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3′s monthly pellets of DLC will reach PlayStation 3 on February 28, Activision has announced.

The first of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3′s monthly pellets of DLC will reach PlayStation 3 on February 28, Activision has announced.

The pack includes two well-received multiplayer maps: Piazza and Liberation.

Modern Warfare 3′s nine-month season of ‘content drops’ are exclusive to those who hold premium Call of Duty: Elite accounts, though consolidated map packs will also be made available to all customers down the line.

The first of Modern Warfare 3′s nine content drops launched for Xbox 360 on January 24 – 35 days before PlayStation 3 owners will be able to get hold of the content, thanks to an exclusivity deal with Microsoft that runs until the end of 2012. Can we expect a similar wait on all Modern Warfare 3 DLC?

If you’re not a £34.99-a-year Call of Duty Elite subscriber, Activision has said the Xbox 360 will get the first consolidated Modern Warfare 3 map pack in March, which means PlayStation 3 and PC owners can expect to see it on their respective platforms a month later.

[Source: Videogamer]

The Playstation 3 exclusive real time strategy game, Under Siege, has recently had a huge update that looks set to transform the game. This update fixed many of the games bugs and glitches as well as adding a wealth of new content for no extra charge. The games 1.02 update can either updated to the original version of the game or the full game can be downloaded with this update in the Under Siege Enhanced Edition.

The full list of all the updates is available on the Playstaion Blog here.

Rockstar Games and THQ have both announced delays of hotly anticipated games.

Both Metro: Last Light and Spec Ops were supposed to be released this year, and while Spec Ops was pushed back a few months, THQ’s Last Light won’t see the light of day in 2012. THQ cites quality issues, as developer 4A games put the finishing touches on the game. Not sure why it would take a full year to do that. Rockstar Games didn’t elaborate on Spec Ops: The Line’s delay.

If you seek, you shall find. That’s what the old book says, and that’s exactly what a NeoGaf user did, netting some juicy results about EA Partners (EAP) upcoming projects, including work from Insomniac Games and Respawn Entertainment in return.

The user found a page titled “EAP Marketing FY13 Home Page” – it’s since been protected with a password.

The contents of that page included The Secret World; Overstrike; Populous; Outernauts; Respawn.

See, Funcom’s The Secret World and Insomniac’s Overstrike will be published by EA Partners during FY2013, which for EA is between April 2012 to March 2013.

As for Populous, a game developed by Peter Molyneux and owned by EA, nothing’s surfaced concerning it, however with the recent revival of Syndicate, there’s no saying what could and couldn’t happen.

Insomniac Games recently secured the domain name Outernauts, so this most likely means the firm’s signed yet another deal with EA – we’ll keep you updated on this.

As for Respawn Entertainment, the firm’s working on a new IP to most likely be revealed at this year’s E3.

Via Superannuation.

Kaz Hirai was crowned Sony’s new boss two days ago, and while he won’t assume his role until April 1st, the exec is already laying out where he wants to take the company as a whole, and of course, the PlayStation brand. He says the latter is heading to the top.

The new chairman singled at Sony’s games business and digital imaging departments as areas to be improved, and said he wouldn’t let up until PlayStation was number 1. He uttered those words in a Q3 financial conference call yesterday.

Howard Stringer, Sony’s former boss will take up his new role as chairman of the board in June.

Via Andriasang.

What’s the Big Idea?

It’s not just the secret desire to blow things up that pulls us in to the world of video games, says Scott Rigby, author of Glued to Games: How Video Games Draw Us In and Hold Us Spellbound. A psychologist by training, Rigby spent eight years bringing his research to (virtual) life as a designer of interactive content for Sony, Time Warner, and Viacom, where he had a hand in the creation of some of the most addictive games on the market–Red Planet, AI:Artificial Intelligence, Frequency to name a few. “Hundreds of motivational studies have demonstrated that we all have three basic psychological needs that are always operating, whether at work, home, or school” he explains. “Good games draw us in because they are designed to satisfy these needs really, really well.”

The three basic needs, according to Rigby:

Competence, or the belief that you can do something well
Autonomy, or the belief that you have a say in how you live
Relatedness, or the belief that you matter and that others matter to you
How video games fill them:

Immediacy. “All of us could be playing a video game, either on our phones or computers, within the next ten seconds if we wanted to.”
Consistency. “Games give us clear paths to success and achievement, and treat us fairly. A game doesn’t tell us we got passed over for promotion because of office politics; it gives us the reward it promised, each and every time. We can count on them.”

Density. “Games give us a rich field of opportunities to pursue, activities to undertake, and challenges to conquer”–plus the instant feedback that makes us feel effective.
What’s the Significance?

The question raised by the sophisticated entertainment technology of today is similar to the debate around advertising in the 1980′s and ’90′s: can something this fun to look at actually be good for us? Or is brain candy limiting our ability to make rational choices about how we spend our time?

Regardless of the answer, it’s a fact of modern life that every time we deliver a lecture or presentation or concert we are competing against not just boredom, but the audience’s impulse to alleviate it with a covert round of Bejeweled (thank you, smart-phones). Instead of fighting it, we can learn from the powerful engagement offered by these games. For instance, the next time you create a Powerpoint, focus on making your message rich, immediate, and clear rather than on choosing the perfect font or sound effect for each slide.

There is nothing inherently deceitful about using psychology to captivate a viewer. But there is a fine line between engagement and addiction, one which is especially important given the primary consumers of video games: teenagers and children. (Even the Supreme Court is weighing in on this issue: a recent case, Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, asked, “Does a state law restricting the sale of violent video games to minors violate the First Amendment right to free speech?”)

Are you an addict? Rigby’s five questions to ask yourself:

1. When you think about how needs are satisfied in your “real life” versus games, do games come out ahead? The data suggest that if our basic needs are too sparsely satisfied by life, there may be a susceptibility to over-involvement in video games.

2. Do you miss deadlines at work or school because of gaming, or choose to game rather than spend time with friends or family? “One gamer I know reflected wistfully that he had missed most of the first five years of his daughter’s life because he spent so much time gaming.”

3. Are you feeling personal pressure, guilt or shame around your gaming? You may feel a sense of guilt or shame about firing up another game, but do so anyway.

4. Are you playing four or more hours a day? “We find that up until about 25 hours, there is no direct association between time spent playing, and negative feelings or decreased
well-being. Above that line, however, a relationship begins to emerge between 25+ weekly hours, and bad outcomes.”

5. Is your gaming isolating others? “While you are running around virtual worlds, perhaps in the company of dozens of other online friends, slaying dragons and completing missions, it is sometimes hard to remember that you are leaving the molecular world–and often the loved ones that are under your own roof–alone and isolated from you. If you are immersed in a fantasy world, you aren’t in this one.”

Scott Rigby PhD is founder and president of Immersyve, Inc, a research and consulting group. He is the principle investigator on several grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health which look at innovative ways to enhance learning and deepen motivation for healthy lifestyle change through virtual environments. His interactive work can be seen as part of the “Explore the Universe” exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.