FPS General

Presumably in honor of the 2012 Summer Olympics, currently being held in a Reaper-free London, England, BioWare is launching Operation Olympus in Mass Effect 3.

The goal of this special multiplayer challenge is to survive to extraction on Firebase London - part of the free Mass Effect 3: Earth DLC released last month.

Squad Goal: Full extraction from Firebase London using any Kit on any difficulty

Allied Goal: Using any Kit/ Map combination against any enemy, complete wave 10 on a combined community total of 200,000 Bronze missions, 175,000 Silver missions and 70,000 Gold missions.

Special Circumstance: None

Squad Goal Success: All squad members awarded a Commendation Pack
Allied Goal Success: All players awarded a Victory Pack

Those are your orders, soldier. An allied ship is en route to London for extraction. This mission commences on August 10th.

BioWare has released some new details on the Wii U version of their popular third-person shooter, Mass Effect 3. Along with these new details on the Wii U version, come some more information on upcoming DLC including screenshots of the recently announced Leviathan expansion pack.

First up, the Wii U version of Mass Effect 3. As we've previously learned, Mass Effect 3 will be a launch title on the Wii U. The game will ship with the entire core game of Mass Effect 3 as well as the Extended Cut DLC, from the outset. The Wii U version of Mass Effect 3 also includes an interactive back story, covering previous events in the Mass Effect world, as Nintendo fans have not been able to play the first two Mass Effect games on their preferred platforms.

As evidenced in the image above, the Wii U version of Mass Effect 3 will feature some exclusive features designed for use with the Wiipad controller.

Yesterday, BioWare announced Mass Effect 3: Leviathan, a brand new DLC offering that expands the singleplayer campaign. Leviathan goes in-depth with the origin of the Reapers, bringing more gameplay to their story. Below, you can check out some brand new screenshots of the Leviathan DLC. This DLC will run you $10 or 800 Microsoft points.

Electronic Arts and EA have announced some brand new campaign DLC for their popular third-person shooter, Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect 3: Leviathan was announced at EA's Summer Showcase event (which you can stream here) and is described as:

Mass Effect 3: Leviathan is the first story-driven, single player DLC to be made available since Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut. Leviathan expands upon the events of Mass Effect 3 with gripping and emotional storytelling, compelling new characters, powerful weapons and unique upgrades. Players will be able to discover more about the origins of the reapers as they race across the galaxy to unravel the mystery that surrounds the fabled Leviathan.

We don't have much information on Mass Effect 3: Leviathan right now, but make sure to stay tuned for more information on the DLC! 

The next multiplayer operation in Mass Effect 3 has been outed; Operation Overwatch commences at 10:00AM PDT on July 27th.

Operation Overwatch will require players to pick up the Mass Effect 3: Earth DLC but it's completely free so we can't see any good reason not to pick it up to begin with. The operation goals are as follows...

• Squad Goal: Extraction on any difficulty with at least one squad member using an Earth Pack character
• Allied Goal: Extract 800,000 individual players on any difficulty, with each live member counting toward the goal.

As always, completing the Squad Goal will earn you and your squad a Commendation Pack. If the entire Alliance is able to reach the 800,000 players extracted goal, we will all earn a Victory Pack for our troubles. As you surely know, these item packs contain weapons, items, characters and much more, making it like a galactic Cracker Jack box with guns inside instead of stickers.

Will you be participating in this weekend's multiplayer operation?

If you weren't on hand in San Diego for Comic-Con, you missed a great panel from BioWare on the Past, Present and Future of their Mass Effect franchise.

Thanks to the folks at BioWare, that panel is now available to stream online. The Past, Present, Future panel features commentary and discussion from Mike Gamble (producer), Corey Gaspur (senior combat designer), Parrish Ley (lead cinematic animator), Sylvia Feketekuty (writer), Chris Hepler (writer), Jessica Merizan (community manager) and Chris Priestly (community specialist). This includes discussion on the story, some of the characters, multiplayer and even future DLC for Mass Effect 3.

The whole panel is nearly an hour long, so if you have some time to spare, it's definitely a must-watch for diehard Mass Effect fans.

Mass Effect 3's latest DLC offering Earth is now available for download across the board on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

If you're on the fence about picking this up, here are two bits of info that may change your mind. To begin with, BioWare just released a trailer for the content and it looks great. Check out the video above and if that doesn't change your mind, the know that this is a totally free DLC offering.

Mass Effect 3: Earth features...

• Three new maps, all set on Planet Earth; Rio, Vancouver and London. 
• Three new weapons; the Piranha assault shotgun, Acolyte pistol, and Typhoon assault rifle.
• Six brand new human classes, all with new powers and abilities. These classes are Destroyer Soldier, Paladin Sentinel, Demolisher Engineer, Slayer Vanguard, Shadow Infiltrator, and Fury Adept!

BioWare has confirmed that Mass Effect 3: Earth, a brand new multiplayer add-on, will be releasing on July 17th for no additional charge. This confirmation comes on the heels of Xbox Live's Major Nelson spilling the beans on his blog yesterday.

Now, however, we have details to go along with DLC titles. Mass Effect 3: Earth comes with three brand new weapons as well as new weapons, characters and equipment. The full list includes:

• Three new maps, all set on Planet Earth; Rio, Vancouver and London. 
• Three new weapons; the Piranha assault shotgun, Acolyte pistol, and Typhoon assault rifle.
• Six brand new human classes, all with new powers and abilities. These classes are Destroyer Soldier, Paladin Sentinel, Demolisher Engineer, Slayer Vanguard, Shadow Infiltrator, and Fury Adept!

Mass Effect 3: Earth is going to be available for no additional charge and hits PC, Xbox Live and PlayStation Network in North America on July 17th. In Europe, the content will go live on Xbox Live and PC on July 17th and on PlayStation Network on July 18th.

Check out some screenshots of Mass Effect 3: Earth after the break.

This weekend in Mass Effect 3, soldiers across the galaxy are being recruited for Operation Broadside, in a massive, widespread attack on the Reapers.

Operation Broadside gets underway on Friday, July 13th at 10:00 AM PT. The goals of the missions are as follows:

Squad Goal: Extract at least one squad member against Reapers on Gold difficulty
Allied Goal: Extract 400,000 squads against Reapers on ANY difficulty

Suceeding at the squad level will get each member in your squad a Commendation Pack. If the overall 400,000 squads are extracted safely, everyone will receive a Victory Pack. Operation Broadside wraps up on Sunday, July 15th at 10:00AM PT so don't miss out on your chance to deal the Reapers a crushing blow!

According to Xbox Live's Major Nelson, Mass Effect 3 will also be receiving a free multiplayer DLC add-on next week entitled Mass Effect 3: Earth. No details have been released from BioWare on this yet, but it is expected to launch on July 17th.

BioWare has released the soundtrack for the recently released Extended Cut DLC for Mass Effect 3 as a free download.

The Extended Cut DLC, if you haven't checked it out, offers some more cinematics and fleshes out the rather controversial ending of Mass Effect 3. Don't worry, no spoilers here. The Extended Cut DLC added a ton of new ending content and was available as a free download across all platforms, offering players a chance to enjoy a more complete ending to the game.

The soundtrack for this extra content is now available over at http://social.bioware.com/, all you need is a BioWare or Origin account, which you probably already have...

This is it. The once-and-for-all conclusion to the adventure that began in 2007 when EA and BioWare released the first Mass Effect game. BioWare and EA will be releasing the Extended Cut DLC tomorrow - June 26th, 2012 - bringing a conclusion to Command Shepard's exploits in the galaxy.

After the Extended Cut DLC, there will be no rewrites or revisions. For better or worse, Mass Effect's singleplayer story will come to a final close with this DLC. Many players were upset over the ending of Mass Effect 3 so BioWare is delivering a more complete ending to the game. So when can you actually start downloading the Extended Cut DLC? According to Mike Gamble, BioWare Producer, the DLC will be available starting at around 2:00AM (PT) on Xbox Live, early tomorrow afternoon for PlayStation Network users and sometime before 11:00AM (PT) or so on Origin.

Check your gaming platform of choice tomorrow to make sure that the content is available and enjoy!