Leave the critics. Go sift through the shit yourself.

Ok, so once again, this post is gonna be connected to Mass Effect 3. Its just pure coincidence I swear.

Anybody who knows me, knows that I love the Mass Effect series. Yes I know its not perfect. My opinion of it is that I love it, and that's what matters to me. Do I want the series to do well? Of course I do, I want more Mass Effect games, I love the setting and I like Bioware's storytelling.

So recently, Bioware announced some of the 'BIG NAME' people who are doing voice work for the new game. One of them is a woman by the name of Jessica Chobot. Her likeness, as well as her voice has been used. Now, I can vaguely remember her popping up in the data banks of my brainmeat at some point, but to be honest I'm not sure if she qualifies as a big deal. She's done game journalism and presenter work for IGN. How much does her opinion weigh in, in the grand scheme of things? I don't think that much.

However, before her announcement, she has been doing some punting of Mass Effect 3, favorable announcements and whatnot for various IGN related stuff. So when her role was announced, game journos started screaming 'OMFG CONFLICT OF INTEREST! BURN! KILL THE HERETIC! SHAMELESS AND NO INTEGRITY RAWR!'

Now, as I said, I love Mass Effect 3. Do I care about this Jessica Chobot 'scandal'? Not a fucking iota. Why? Because every half-baked game news site is going to be the meat in a EA/Bioware Mass Effect sandwich when it comes out. I dare any site to give it less than a 9 or 8.5 when its released. I'm hoping its justly deserving of those scores, but this is the Internet. They throw so much advertising cheddar at them, you risk some web-cholesterol poisoning if you try that road. Let me remind you of the Gamespot 'Kane and Lynch' debacle from back in 2007/2008. Gamespot gave it a lukewarm review, and suddenly they lost a half million in advertising and the reviewer fired. Nice integrity there..

So what options are you left with? Nowadays critics are all deep in somebody's pocket or too well hidden. The only answer it appears is to go talk to the fan boys, the trolls and the websites. Drown in that information pool and try make a well informed decision. I've seen countless forum posts on various game forums of people full of buyer's regret. Simply because the marketing of a various game was successful.

Metacritic gets bombed by various people trying to shift review scores all over the place, so its about as useful as a mankini in the Arctic.

So who the Hell can we trust for info? We have this vast sprawling Internet, with some much information. How hard is it to get 1 unbiased review for the unsure?

Pretty fucking tough by the looks of it. Seems the only answer is to grab your shovel and get digging.

Ok EA...WTF.

Right. Time to get this blog shit rolling. New year and all that.

So to start. Mass Effect 3 is coming in less than 2 months. One of my favorite game series. I played the first 2 on Xbox when they came out, then purchased them again on PC when I got the chance.

I'm primarily a PC gamer, but I own an Xbox and a PS3 as well. Its good to be king sometimes!

But to the point, I prefer PC gaming. I was brought up on it and I feel that games look and play better on it, most of the time at least.

If a good release comes by on console only, well hey, at least I still get to play it, with the joy of a cat and a freshly caught pigeon.

Now that I have my credentials out the way (and will beat you with a hammer if you dispute my gamer-cred anyway), on to the story.

I will also state for the record, that I hate Origin, EA's digital distribution 'platform'. Lets be honest, its a Steam wannabe, with none of the good stuff, and spyware thrown in for good measure.

EA, I, and 98% at least of all PC gamers, have pretty much stated for ages now, Origin is a steaming pile of fetid zombie shit. SHIT. Now I have no problem with you wanting a competing platform. Monopoly = bad. That is not my issue. If you make a decent platform with great offers and is user friendly and doesn't come bundled with spyware, then I will welcome you with open arms. Until then, I stand with my middle finger extended. Your fiddling caused way to much bullshit with Battlefield 3, and if you hadn't fucked with Origin there, maybe you would not have taken such a sound drubbing from Activision with their latest Call of Duty map pack (but thats another issue for another post).

Now I am a big fan of Collector's editions. (still good to be king). Obviously for a game as big as Mass Effect 3, there's going to be a Collector's edition. I pre-ordered the minute I got the chance.

Then yesterday I read that even physical copies are going to need to register their activation key through Origin. And from what I've gleaned, might even need a constant connection to Origin to stay connected.

Well, for multiplayer, of course you need a constant connection. Its online multiplayer. What, are we going to use carrier pigeons with bits of binary code strapped to their legs?

EA's reason is that 'Valve's restrictive policies are stopping us from releasing it on Steam'.

WHAT HORSESHIT. If a million other companies are releasing stuff on Steam, INCLUDING your chief competitor Activision, then I'd say the problem lies with you. Basically, all its boiled down to, is that you don't want to share your profits with Valve. Heaven forbid, you use their network, which is the largest and most respected, and they don't get a fair cut? Thats outright greed on your part. In fact, your press releases sound outright childish. I feel sorry for the PR guys who have to come up with this nonsense. Its like they probably have to play dodgeball with wrenches (great movie!) and the loser writes the PR.

Oh, and on top of this, we have to have your spyware. Why do you need this info? What can you possibly get from us that you need? Surely asking us to fill in templates with machine info is good enough? You know we like sci-fi games, rpg's etc, we just bought Mass Effect! Your marketing department has made some right stuff ups recently. I point to Extra Credits episode devoted solely to your childish attempts to take gaming backwards.

If you want info from me, do what all my clients in real life and friends do. ASK FIRST.

You bunch of clownfish molesting fools.