Um,
I created my character last night, a hot looking Brunette Female. I am male. Is this gonna get all weird when the boom-shumpa-boom boom happens?
Not unless you want it to. It’s all up to you. Plus, Sean can tell you all about this. His ME characters are mostly female.
Hmmm… should I not play this one on the train?
FWIW, the whole “sexbox” thing centering around ME is way, way overblown. If you put in 20-40 hours of play, talk to everyone just right, and happen to hook up with Liara or Ash, you’ll see about .3 seconds of bare digital ass. (Sorry barb.) That’s it. No big deal. The relationship will have way more consequence to you.
I’ve never played where I hooked up with Kaiden, but I’m betting it’s identical.
If you really want to know the details about who can hook up:
[spoiler]Male characters can hook up with Ash. Female characters can hook up with Kaiden. All characters can hook up with Asari. Yes, this seems unfair as they’re enabling female-female relationships but not male-male relationships. But actually they’re skirting the matter (yuk yuk) altogether: Asari have “sex” via a Lenina Huxley-in-Demolition Man sort of process. But you still get to see the .3 seconds of blue ass. So there you go.[/spoiler]
Anyway, we all like to joke about it, but it’s no big deal.
Downloading now! Woot! Given what the Trinity has said about this game…see you next week!
Stupid question - why is an Internet connection required? Do you have to pay a monthly fee or something to play this once you’ve purchased the game?
Nah, you don’t need the internet to play, but ME has downloadable content (extra missions). They’re working on one with that batarians (now, there are some evil-ass (sorry, Barb) bastards).
I LOVE this game. Oh, man. It is DEEP. I didn’t like the universe at first, but it grows on you. IMHO, it actually rivals the Star Wars universe. I’m looking forward to the next game… let’s just hope that they put out the PC version at the same time as the console versions.
If you’re playing a male character, definitely hook up with Ash. She’s great and she’s got some lines.
Achk, if ME doesn’t allow F on F action, I’m gonna have hook up with a dude…
Yet another stupid question. If you have 2 laptops on a local network, can you play with each other? Or is the PC version limited to 1 player only? I only ask 'cause I know if I start playing this, the “hub” is going to want to play too!
Oh - is there like a “training” you can go through or is it “sink or swim” when you first start?
All right Solai! Let us know how you like it when you get back!
I think I’d need a PC desktop to be able to run most modern games. I have two or three installed on my laptop, but I get the feeling my little 'puter couldn’t handle much more than that. It’s a good laptop but not designed for heavy graphics and gaming.
I’ve still been at Age of Empires III, and its expansion, The War Chiefs, as well as a trip back to Sim City 4 Deluxe recently. Although I’ve got almost an entire neighborhood of cities in debt and bursting at the seams for traffic and pollution. Hey, I could govern California! (just kidding!) 
Quick update:
Let me warn all PC users that Bioware is very serious about the game requirements. I could not even get the game to boot due to the fact that my graphics card was not up to snuff. Thankfully my processor and memory are ok, but there is no “nerfed” version as far as graphics go. You need at LEAST an nVidia 6800 with support for Shader 3.0. If you don’t have this you will not be able to play.
So, it gives me an excuse to go purchase a new video card, which is fine by me. The bad news from experience is that when you have to replace your video card due to requirements it is only a matter of time until the whole computer needs to be upgraded, or simply replaced.
Internet connection is required as the first time you install, it verifies your code with a server. This is done once and there on out, you won’t need the CD anymore. There’s no online component to it, no multiplayer, no fees. Pay your $39 and you’re set.
You get 3 installations. After 3, you need to call and say, “Hey, I’ve used up 3, gimme more.”
The whole Jack Thompson sex box O-face space simulator or whatever he calls it is all blown out of promotion. Its like watching Baltar and Six get it on and you need to play dozens of hours and try to make it happen.
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/6447/ut32008060323581001tg9.png
The graphics quality over the 360 is night and day. I stopped my second playthrough on the 360 to play as a female biotic on the PC. There’s no texture popup, there’s no frame rate hitches, and no 90db 360 whirrin’ in the distance. The hotkeys are incredibly useful.
Yeah, you’ll need a pretty decent PC to run it. But, a 9800gt can be had for under $130, which, if the rest of your computer is up to snuff, can run the game on full details, 1680x1050 resolution. You’ll be playing Oblivion on ultra-high with all the mods you can think of, and you’ll be ready for Fallout 3 as well.
Thank you. As it turns out after a couple of false starts it seems that my PC is not up to snuff. Apparently they have created new and exciting PCI interfaces since I got my workhorse.
<flail>
I am doing a little more research and then going to throw my hands up in the air. I can’t believe this. This ALWAYS happens to me…so you would think I would learn. Every frakking time. nVidia doesn’t make a PCI card that meets the requirements of this game, so I am at a loss. Hardcore next step would be to buy a new motherboard…an area in which I have zero expertise…or I simply buy a new computer and then buy the card.
Frak. Frak. Frak. Frak. Frak.
Isn’t there an ATI equivalent of that Nvidia card that would work? When I still had my desktop, I put in an ATI card that that made my new game (I have no idea what it was!) work.
The ATIs have the same problem: they are all PCI express as opposed to regular old PCI. I may have sidestepped the problem my discovering I actually have an AGP slot on my motherboard.
…mind you video cards and the like are my blind spot as far as computer knowledge. I have learned all this stuff today.
I am looking at a few cards, amazed at how much they cost for an older technology but willing to suck it up so I can get playing already.
Even if it’s AGP, your processor probably won’t be up to snuff. Even if they made a quad-SLI 9800 GX2 that’d fit in your system, new games just wouldn’t be playable as your CPU is probably your biggest bottleneck, followed by memory speed and bus speed. The 360 is a multicore system and its software takes advantage of multi-threading. Any 360 games (or new ones in general) are going to perform much better on a multicore CPU (Hyperthreading is not multi-core)
If you have a Fry’s near you, keep an eye out for their weekly flier. Sometimes, they will have a Core2Duo + motherboard combo for under $150. Add 4 gigs of ram for another $50. Add an nVidia 9800 for $130. Use everything else from your old computer, hard drives, optical drives, etc.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127049
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115032
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227269
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127355
and it comes with a free copy of The Witcher, awesome RPG!
or your ATI 3850 in PCI-X form
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121219
So if you had to have it -now- and couldn’t wait for a sale, a $400 (after rebates) PC that’s going to run everything at max that’s out right now (Crysis on Med-High settings too.) and probably scoff at things to come for quite some time.
(Not a Bioware plant Andersfan can attest to my legitimacy! Just been a lurker and I’ve been replaying Mass Effect recently!)
Missed the part about the PCI card. AGP is newer than PCI but still somewhat older tech. And if I remember correctly, there are AGP and AGP2 slots. 
And yes, they’re different! Hold on, let me check…
…nope, that was speed, not slot type. By the way - check Walmart for an updated video card. It’s gotta be less expensive then Best Buy or Circuit City or the likes!
Problem with Wal-Mart is usually extremely limited selection and what they do have is not quality. Only thing good about their computer section is if you need to replace something to get back to your late night gaming session, they are about the only place that will be open.
There’s AGP, AGP 2.0, and AGP-pro
AGP 2.0 cards will work in both AGP/2.0
AGP 1.0 will work in both AGP2.0/AGP slots
AGP 2.0 will NOT work in AGP 1.0
AGP-Pro either won’t fit or will damage your AGP port. (I believe different power pinout, but its been many many years since I last dealt with AGP)
And while Walmart and the likes may still carry AGP cards, you are going to need a top of the line AGP card (NVidia 7900 or X1900) which they probably will not carry. I’m sure you’ll find a lot of GeForce FX cards, which were never good, even when they first came out