Mass Effect 2 confirmed for 09?

A reveal for BioWare's Mass Effect sequel has been all but confirmed for 2009, after a panel for 'Mass Effect 2' appeared on the Game Developers Conference 2009 website.

The panel, titled 'The Iterative Level Design Process of Bioware's Mass Effect 2' is a 60 minute lecture by BioWare product manager Corey Andruko and lead technical designer Dusty Everman due to take place this March.

"This session examines the BioWare Mass Effect team's new level-creation process, which is focused on maximizing iteration for quality while minimizing rework and cost," reads the GDC description.

"This approach to building levels strives to integrate the Design, Art, and Production teams such that the highest-risk level-creation issues are addressed early in the development cycle. Lessons learned from Mass Effect lead to a detailed description of the new level-creation process, and graphical examples of a level illustrate its progression through the necessary phases.

"The discussion also examines how BioWare is currently implementing this process using elements of Scrum and Lean Development," the blurb ends.

The sequel is certainly no surprise as Mass Effect has always been planned as a trilogy of games from the get-go, but it's good to hear that the second game is almost definitely going to rear it's head in 2009 - and hopefully hit the shops before Christmas as well.

Source : computerandvideogames