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[Mutanthands]

Selections from recent Cerberus Daily News:

Eldfell-Ashland Energy has accused the Migrant Fleet of destroying a cruiser, three frigates, and six mining freighters in the Nubian Expanse over a mineral-rights dispute. The quarians denied all charges, saying that they last saw Eldfell-Ashland's ships retreating out of sensor range, presumably to refuel at their cruiser by the system's mass relay. Eldfell-Ashland spokesperson Yves Nevil responded: "Yesterday we lost contact with our ships out in the Expanse. Shortly afterward, we received a distress signal from the MSV Stanislaw reporting an 'alien attack.' We have very little doubt as to what happened here." Eldfell-Ashland officials are planning to go before the Council and ask that the Migrant Fleet be banned from Citadel space.

Earlier today, the Migrant Fleet rescued an Eldfell-Ashland Energy employee drifting through the Nubian Expanse in a lifepod. Navigator Camilla Gutierrez, the only survivor of the MSV Stanislaw, says that quarians had nothing to do with the attack that stranded her: "The ship's silhouette was just massive. There's no way the quarians had that monster in their Flotilla. I've never seen anything like it." Asked about the attack itself, Gutierrez reported, "They blew out our engines before we knew what hit us. Smoke was everywhere. I heard the captain yell something about boarders before he ordered us to the lifepods." Eldfell-Ashland says it is relieved Gutierrez was recovered, but that the Citadel investigation should continue "until all parties involved are satisfied.

Spoiler

So, Geth, Rachni, or Reapers?

Edit: My hair-brained theory, take it as you will.

Spoiler

The ending of ME2 showed the Reaper Fleet starting to move. But being all the way out in Dark Space, where could they go?

I think the Reapers have a fail-safe Mass Effect gate, much smaller than the one connected to the Citadel. Leading to Omega, which was outed as a Reaper construction in the last Mass Effect novel. A structure roughly analoguous to the Citadel in purpose, on the other side of the Galaxy. A perfect plan B if for some reason you were completely shut out from the Citadel, like the Reapers were in ME1 and 2.

There is a second sleeper agent in the Galaxy, hiding somewhere, who we might have just seen for the first time. It's now starting to make it's move due to the failure of Sovereign in ME1 and the Collecters in ME2

It would explain how the Reapers can still get to the Galaxy proper for ME3, and serve as a reasonable choke point for the fleet, to give the puny denizens of the galaxy a fighting chance against a Reaper invasion.

Just my theory.

 

[HadesGigas]

Selections from recent Cerberus Daily News:

Spoiler

So, Geth, Rachni, or Reapers?

Possibly frame job from the energy company.

The day prior spoke of a conflict over rights to mining paladium:

Eldfell-Ashland Energy is refusing to meet with representatives from the Quarian Conclave as they clash over rights to rich veins of palladium discovered on several asteroids on the outskirts of the Nubian Expanse. “Eldfell-Ashland’s sole contribution to the project was to appear with an armed frigate after we finished surveying, then demand that we vacate the unclaimed area,” says Captain Ahlis’Laspar vas Nalotir. “We will continue mining until Eldfell-Ashland presents the Conclave with proof of ownership or speaks to us without hiding behind a gun sight. We would prefer both.”

This site archives all of the news:
http://www.cerberusdailynews.com/

Though I guess that one seems to hint it was something alien.

 

[Mutanthands]

Frame job from the energy company.

The day prior spoke of a conflict over rights to mining paladium:



This site archives all of the news:
http://www.cerberusdailynews.com/

Doesn't explain the second entry.

 

[Lakitu]

Damn shame we haven't heard a peep about DLC since LOTSB... but I guess they're focusing on the PS3 version for now.

 

[Sai]

Mass Effect 2: Atmospheric

Didn't know about this one, thanks for mentioning it.

Charge of Treason is the track I really wanted.

 

[EatChildren]

Damn shame we haven't heard a peep about DLC since LOTSB... but I guess they're focusing on the PS3 version for now.

$10 says shortly after the PS3 version launches, or even just before, a major DLC pack is announced.

 

[APZonerunner]

Finally 1250/1250, after returning for a third playthrough, this time doing the game on Insanity, evey sidequest and all DLCs. Game of the gen so far for me.

 

[Wallach]

$10 says shortly after the PS3 version launches, or even just before, a major DLC pack is announced.

That's what I'm expecting. I'm guessing we're close enough that they're going to wait until it's on both platforms before releasing any more DLC.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I decided installed ME2 on my SSD last night and it hasn't really improved loading in most cases. Moving from floor to floor on the Normandy is instantaneous but landing on planets, loading saves and reboarding the Normandy doesn't really feel any faster to me.

I saw some videos online that show drastic improvements to loading by replacing the loading movie files. Has anyone done this? I'm at work and I won't be able to test it out until later this evening and I was just curious if this actually works.

 

[pahamrick]

I decided installed ME2 on my SSD last night and it hasn't really improved loading in most cases. Moving from floor to floor on the Normandy is instantaneous but landing on planets, loading saves and reboarding the Normandy doesn't really feel any faster to me.

I saw some videos online that show drastic improvements to loading by replacing the loading movie files. Has anyone done this? I'm at work and I won't be able to test it out until later this evening and I was just curious if this actually works.

It definitely works. I don't have ME2 installed on an SSD, but prior to replacing the loading movies it took 7-8 seconds to load planets / save games. Now it takes 3-4 seconds.

 

[dankir]

Didn't know about this one, thanks for mentioning it.

Charge of Treason is the track I really wanted.

Infiltration man!!!! SET THE CHARGES DAMMIT!

Finally 1250/1250, after returning for a third playthrough, this time doing the game on Insanity, evey sidequest and all DLCs. Game of the gen so far for me.

Uhh don't you mean 1255/1255?

 

[Lime]

It definitely works. I don't have ME2 installed on an SSD, but prior to replacing the loading movies it took 7-8 seconds to load planets / save games. Now it takes 3-4 seconds.

Now if only 'replacing the loading movies' meant 'replacing the loading movies with 1920x1080 uncompressed non-BINK videos' I would be a happy man.

 

[Felix Lighter]

It definitely works. I don't have ME2 installed on an SSD, but prior to replacing the loading movies it took 7-8 seconds to load planets / save games. Now it takes 3-4 seconds.

Thanks, that is what I wanted to hear.

Now if only 'replacing the loading movies' meant 'replacing the loading movies with 1920x1080 uncompressed non-BINK videos' I would be a happy man.

The loading screens aren't too bad but the arrival and departing movies for story locations are painfully compressed.

 

[Coldsnap]

Should I play Insanity with my new game + sheppard that has DLC weapons or start a new character? I heard its easier with a new character.

 

[IoCaster]

I decided installed ME2 on my SSD last night and it hasn't really improved loading in most cases. Moving from floor to floor on the Normandy is instantaneous but landing on planets, loading saves and reboarding the Normandy doesn't really feel any faster to me.

I saw some videos online that show drastic improvements to loading by replacing the loading movie files. Has anyone done this? I'm at work and I won't be able to test it out until later this evening and I was just curious if this actually works.

It works fine for the most part. There's one hitch late in the game if you replace all of the load screens. I seem to recall that it was the Joker section when he transitions from one deck to the next. It froze the game for me and wouldn't advance. I had to recover those files and plug them back in. I could be wrong but if that was the section then don't replace the load_f21.bik or load_f22.bik files and you should be good. My memory is hazy on this so you would be well advised to check it yourself, but like I said replacing the load screen .bik files worked very well. I've got the zip file I downloaded with replacement movies and I'll post a link if you'd like.

 

[subversus]

They're working on new DLC for sure. It was confirmed by the former Raven guy on twitter. He's working on it.

 

[Zen]

I wonder what direction the new DLC will take, considering that we're onto 'Post Suicide mission' content, more or less.

That news report could just be referring to a Collector attack, and not meant to be post ME2? I'm not sure how the story of ME3 will go, but having yet another 'super ship' (ME1: Sovereign ME2: Collector Ship) to start things off might be a little long in the tooth. Granted ME3 is presumably going to tackle the Reaper invasion head-on, so it's kind of hard to avoid the idea of having yet another incredibly powerful ship for Shepard to deal with. :lol

 

[Mindlog]

I'd love to play a series of shorts based on the Cerberus Daily News feed.

12/01/2010 - Nockrick Taur Arrested After Disrupting Musical Showing

“After his latest fiasco, police are charging self-declared elcor performance artist Nockrick Taur with breaking and entering, computer intrusion, inciting a riot, destruction of property, and resisting arrest. Taur broke into the Reyanommond auditorium on the Citadel during a showing of the popular new musical "Hearts on Breaking Shore." Halfway through the program, Taur used a jamming signal to short out every translator in the theater, then triggered a fire alarm. "It was a nightmare," says one theatergoer. "It was dark, people were suddenly shrieking gibberish, and no one knew what was happening. One poor salarian got his arm broken just because he was standing between the crowd and an exit." Taur expressed no remorse over the 44 people injured in the panic, only saying as he was led to jail: "Smug satisfaction: It was an admirable success in forcing people to face their overdependence on technology for modern convenience."”

I want Taur on my team.

 

[Cdammen]

What's the cheapest download deal for Mass Effect 2, if any? I missed the EA Store one they had a couple of weeks ago. I'm in Sweden BTW

 

[Felix Lighter]

It works fine for the most part. There's one hitch late in the game if you replace all of the load screens. I seem to recall that it was the Joker section when he transitions from one deck to the next. It froze the game for me and wouldn't advance. I had to recover those files and plug them back in. I could be wrong but if that was the section then don't replace the load_f21.bik or load_f22.bik files and you should be good. My memory is hazy on this so you would be well advised to check it yourself, but like I said replacing the load screen .bik files worked very well. I've got the zip file I downloaded with replacement movies and I'll post a link if you'd like.

Absolutely, that would be great. Thanks for the heads up on the issue as well.

 

[Ninja Moomin]

Cannot fucking wait to replay this on ps3

I am going to platinum the shit out of this bitch.

 

[IoCaster]

Absolutely, that would be great. Thanks for the heads up on the issue as well.

I can't remember what site I downloaded them from so I'll host the original file myself. It's ~9.7M --->me2-movies.zip

Back-up your mass effect 2 -->biogame --> movies folder, then unzip into same folder. It'll replace the .bik vids contained therein.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I can't remember what site I downloaded them from so I'll host the original file myself. It's ~9.7M --->me2-movies.zip

Back-up your mass effect 2 -->biogame --> movies folder, then unzip into same folder. It'll replace the .bik vids contained therein.

Wow, thanks for going through all the trouble. I downloaded the file and I'll try it out as soon as I get home.

 

[Lime]

What's the cheapest download deal for Mass Effect 2, if any? I missed the EA Store one they had a couple of weeks ago. I'm in Sweden BTW

Wait for Steam Christmas sale.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I just hope that after the PS3 version comes out they'll release a GOTY edition with all the DLC up to that point. I own the 360 version and bought all the DLC for it, but I don't want to do that again on the PC.

I'm so happy that I'm going to get the Dragon Age GOTY edition for the PC as soon as Steam has it on sale. I didn't buy the expansion or ANY of the DLC for that game.

P.S. I would also love more DLC for ME2, but I would like a full-on expansion even more at this point.

 

[Buttonbasher]

Wait for Steam Christmas sale.

Yep. Should be 9.99

 

[Felix Lighter]

Oh wow. It's like night and day. It was taking 10-12 seconds (I'm assuming that is the length of the loading video) to load when landing on a planet. It took maybe a second and half after replacing the loading videos. Loading a game took maybe 2 seconds. That should have been patched. There's no reason for those little loading movies to artificially extend the loading times. Thanks guys, especially IoCaster for making it super easy.

 

[FleckSplat]

Wow. The original movie folder is 2.52 GB in size. :lol

Thanks for all the help! (esp. iocaster).

 

[IoCaster]

Wow, thanks for going through all the trouble. I downloaded the file and I'll try it out as soon as I get home.

No sweat amigo, happy to help.

 

[Vestal]

So I have ME2 and finished it on Xbox.. However I went by Bestbuy today and saw the PC version for 20bucks.. I have a pretty heafty PC.. Should I bite the bullet and grab it since Ive been meaning to do another playthrough?

Or spend the cash on DLC and replay the xbox version?

 

[ArjanN]

So I have ME2 and finished it on Xbox.. However I went by Bestbuy today and saw the PC version for 20bucks.. I have a pretty heafty PC.. Should I bite the bullet and grab it since Ive been meaning to do another playthrough?

Or spend the cash on DLC and replay the xbox version?

PC version with DLC.

All the Bioware games look/run better on PC.

 

[Zen]

If you still want that controller experience you can play with the 360 PC controller too.

 

[Van Owen]

If you still want that controller experience you can play with the 360 PC controller too.

Not officially.

 

[gotee12]

So I have ME2 and finished it on Xbox.. However I went by Bestbuy today and saw the PC version for 20bucks.. I have a pretty heafty PC.. Should I bite the bullet and grab it since Ive been meaning to do another playthrough?

Or spend the cash on DLC and replay the xbox version?

It's currently $20 for the digital deluxe edition on Impulse. Though I can tell you firsthand that the current download speeds are atrocious (averaging 50 KBps). But if you don't have to play "right now", it's a pretty good deal...

 

[EatChildren]

You should wait and see if there are any Christmas sales on Steam for the digital version.

US$20 is pretty damn great though.

 

[Lime]

JeanLuc761 from the Bioware forums has made some texture improvements, but so far only to Tali as far as I can tell. It's still amazing what higher resolution textures could do to this game. The top is default textures, the lower is higher resolution:

:O

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/128/index/5314761/2

 

[Wiggum2007]

Know why this game is awesome? Because the aliens smoke cigarettes. That's awesome.

 

[subversus]

insert obvious "argh, consoles are holding us back" post here.

 

[kuYuri]

My Tali Litho finally arrived today although with a slight corner imperfection. Probably due to shipping.

 

[Barrow Roll]

Not officially.

I got a question for the gaming master race. Looking at the Dolphin thread and thinking about ME2 PC makes me want to bite the bullet but I have some concerns. I know I could hook up the PC to my HDTV and game on my bed and use a wireless keyboard and mouse but what about those times that you just want to lean back and relax while gaming? I've never actually experienced playing a mouse+keyboard game on my bed, I wouldn't want to always have to be hunched over to play.

 

[bucknuticus]

So i've been wanting to pick this game up, but has their been any talk of a GOTY edition? Or an edition with all the DLC? I dont want to buy the game then a month or two later one with all the DLC comes out.

 

[Lakitu]

So i've been wanting to pick this game up, but has their been any talk of a GOTY edition? Or an edition with all the DLC? I dont want to buy the game then a month or two later one with all the DLC comes out.

PS3 version.

But seriously, there should be an ultimate edition at some point next year.

 

[Broadbandito]

just finished Lair of the Shadow Broker. Awesome shit. Guess I'm gonna have to start a new playthrough now.

also the N7 Soft Shell Jacket on the bioware store is sick as fuck. $78 bucks though. I'd get it if I got a discount code :lol

 

[steadfast]

So i've been wanting to pick this game up, but has their been any talk of a GOTY edition? Or an edition with all the DLC? I dont want to buy the game then a month or two later one with all the DLC comes out.

They're most likely waiting to see if they pick up any major GOY awards before deciding to call it the GOTY or Ultimate edition.

We know the PS3 is getting everything so it's almost a given that there will be a PC/360 version as well.

 

[subversus]

I got a question for the gaming master race. Looking at the Dolphin thread and thinking about ME2 PC makes me want to bite the bullet but I have some concerns. I know I could hook up the PC to my HDTV and game on my bed and use a wireless keyboard and mouse but what about those times that you just want to lean back and relax while gaming? I've never actually experienced playing a mouse+keyboard game on my bed, I wouldn't want to always have to be hunched over to play.

I never had problems with that because I was playing most of my games laying in the bed. Put a keyboard on your knees/legs/lower stomach, put a mouse on a book or something flat like that and you're set.

Be aware of becoming fat and lazy though. That's the main reason why I moved from my bed/couch to the desk again.

 

[ArjanN]

I never had problems with that because I was playing most of my games laying in the bed. Put a keyboard on your knees/legs/lower stomach, put a mouse on a book or something flat like that and you're set.

Be aware of becoming fat and lazy though. That's the main reason why I moved from my bed/couch to the desk again.

You should never sit hunched over anyway, even in a desk chair, it's just bad posture.

 

[darkpaladinmfc]

JeanLuc761 from the Bioware forums has made some texture improvements, but so far only to Tali as far as I can tell. It's still amazing what higher resolution textures could do to this game. The top is default textures, the lower is higher resolution:

Dear Bioware, please use decent textures for ME3 .

 

[subversus]

You should never sit hunched over anyway, even in a desk chair, it's just bad posture.

I agree. I was sitting in the bed most of times with my back against the wall.

 

[Cardigan]

Walmart has this for $10.96 right now with free site to store shipping.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mass-Effe...ner=FKSJxY2VJAk&sourceid=33331676640724703164

 

[Servizio]

Is the only way to get Mass Effect 2 DLC via the Bioware store? Or is there a cheaper alternative?