If they make any additions to the game and don't make them available for download over Live, there will be hell to pay.

What about all the texture popping issues?

I envy the equipment selection menu a bit, but the rest are basically what you'd expect with the control switch. They'd have to be retarded not to include things like hotkey support.

@XbhaskarX: Gone. It's a pc.

The texture popping will not be a real problem really on PC since the hard drives will be used and will all be pre loaded.

I say it won't be a real problem because on UT3 (which runs same engine) I have texture popping, but that is only when I start up the game, and then after that no matter were I go, I don't have it.

Looks rather nice!

I wonder though if they will include any extras for the pc version?

I was hoping for an eventual PS3 port, but I'll take a PC port. :D Do want.

I'd like a solid Mod system like NWN, but I guess that would be asking too much. Hopefully the long elevator rides get killed off to. I was holding off getting this for 360, because I remember back in the day playing Kotor on the Xbox and then on the PC, and it was almost night and day. This and Fallout 3 this year make it RPG heaven for me.

Hoho I'll definitely be picking this up, seeing as how I missed out on the 360 version. Not because I don't have a 360, but because I'm poor. Hopefully I'll be less poor in the future, but thats unlikely since I'd like to get a PS3 for Disgaea 3 in the near future. Damn you current gen prices. ):

I bet the Mako handles just as shittily when using a mouse/keyboard. :/

Besides that, here's to hoping for much shorter load times (or, in Mass Effect's case, shorter elevator rides) on top of the noticeably improved graphics.

Sys requirements?

The one of Ilos looks GREAT.

Can't wait for alien boobies on the PC... err... I mean yay for saving the universe, again.

This is a definite buy, even though I already own it on 360.

@Furious_Liver: Take that, mid-range consumer!

So Xbox360 has become the beta testing ground/seed money for developers? Gears of War/Lost Planet/Mass Effect what else will have a less than perfect Xbox game yet go on to improve it on PC?

Sweet, I was hoping for a PC port. If they port GTA4, I may never have to buy a 360.

@PXShaman: lol...

in gears of war pc, there's stuttering throughout due to the game trying to stream off a hard disk instead of a dvd...

you have no idea how awful the stuttering in this game could be...

Glad to see they are changing things to make it more PC friendly, I hate it when developers get lazy and port games just to make some quick cash.

as long as they dont port it to PS3 or Wii Im OK

The more people Mass Effect is available to, the better. Seriously one of the all time best RPGs I've played.

(I own both the PC and Xbox versions of KoTOR and they're pretty darn similar graphically but the controls are miles different. THe PC one plays more like a point-and-click game whereas the Xbox one plays...like an Xbox game.)

@magically_delicious: I never had that problem and I finished it on PC. Maybe I didn't notice it.
Knowing that it's EA who's publishing it I'm guessing there's no chance of it coming out on Steam.

@magically_delicious:
I have Gears for PC and do not have that issue at all. I know some have, so I am not saying it is untrue. Just don't state that it like it happens to everyone who plays the game. Also I run it on the highest settings in DX10 with 4x Antialiasing (only choice) and it rocks. Period.

@homernoy: maybe the patch fixed it... I'll play through it again

It saddens me that this game was essentially the reason I purchased my 360. So much for exclusivity.

@Ares19: Look we found a fanboy in our flock. Where is the banhammer when we need it?

@Dangeresque: Seconded. There also better be some sort of patch to fix the inventory selection that coincides with the PC release.

Wow, they have screens already? Looks good.

@madhotch:
I want to know that too.

@magically_delicious: i didn't patch it and didn't have the problem. In fact , i remember when i first saw it on x360 that i couldn't play it because the popping was annoying like hell. In PC i could play ,and end it without problems

@Maldron: T-T

@alaren: No reason to think they won't, every other GTA has come out on PC. Might be a few months after, but it'll come.

MICROSOFT: Forza Motorsport 2 PLZ?!

@jackal888:

Hey, at least theres enough marketability in 360 games to give them a PC port. The 360 has games people *need* to play, and can be done easily on a PC.

@magically_delicious:

Doubt it's the game it's probably your PC doesn't have enough RAM or Vid memory, or possibly you need to simply defrag. I had that issue playing games like Oblivion on my old PC when i pumped up the vid settings beyond what it could handle. It would run fine up until when it would need to cache in new stuff and then it would just crap itself

Isn't sorta funny that MS shoots themselves in the foot by releasing their exclusive games on PC too? Well at least as far as demand for the xbox goes. It allows people to play the games they want to play without having to get an xbox.

@weasl: 3 gigs of ddr2 800 ram, e6600 2.4, 8800 gtx.

pretty damn sure my computer isn't the problem.

Tell me again, why buy a console when all of its best games are on another platform?

The main question is this though. Are we going to be able to play it on Windows XP? Or does this mean I have to buy a 360?

@giovonti: Yeah I was thinking that too... But then it comes back to the fact that you need an amazing computer for that...

@giovonti: then again, if there's less and less games on the PC, people could become interested in mac os X instead, so microsoft must help that platform too; I just wish the games came out at the same time.

@giovonti: They make a lot more money off of a copy of Vista, which many people are upgrading due to DirectX10 (I know there is a hack for XP) for gaming. Gaming in some ways is Windows saving grace. I know more than a few people that would run Linux, or purchase a Mac if they weren't gamers.

@PirateThom: Because playing the games on a console is better than playing them on a PC.

Will this run on XP or just Vista?

@dowingba: LOL. Wrong.

Easier? Yes

BETTER? Hell no.

I find it slightly odd that just last night, I was explaining to a friend of mine who was considering buying a 360 for Mass Effect that it's not worth it since the game would likely be getting a PC port. I get home from work this afternoon, and bam. Looks like I was right.

For both these guys
@XbhaskarX:
@NessD12:
and anyone else wondering about texture popping:

It's an issue with the Unreal 3 engine, not the hardware running it. Every Unreal 3 game to date has suffered from texture popping. This means the PC version will suffer from it as well, unless they've miraculously patched the engine since the release of Mass Effect. If you don't think you have the problem, well, you do. You just need to be observant. This is a common problem with UE3. Other games it may or may not happen due to vidcard RAM or other issues, but it is a native problem of UE3.

I hope my E6420 Core 2 Duo @ 3.00Ghz + 8800 GTS + 2gigs ram will max this =\..

@mva5580: I consistently prefer playing the slightly-worse-graphics console versions of games where I've played both versions. Obviously it's my opinion vs yours but I'm sure I'm not alone here.

For instance: I bought the PC version of KoTOR before I even had an Xbox. Didn't get too far in it, but then I played a friend's version of KoTOR on his Xbox and I soon afterwards decided to buy an Xbox and log ridiculous time into the Xbox version of the game even though it was technically "inferior".

Finally! I'll get to play through the whole game. I couldn't stand the 360 controls...

PC gamers deserve this. Good things come to those who wait.

@Atheist Jew: Yes but it's so minor you won't really notice. The ut3 engine is full of problems but i really really doubt texture popping is gonna be an issue in mass effect. Maybe a little bit it'll be almost non-existant. It's always only for a second if that at the beginning of levels in ut3 and gears.

@Dangeresque: Actually, basically everything added to the PC would be unimportant to console players except for the redone inventory menus and some graphics issues which are both patchable but really not a big deal. No extra content on the PC.

@magically_delicious:

"there's stuttering throughout due to the game trying to stream off a hard disk instead of a dvd..."

DOES NOT COMPUTE!

@symphony_of_the_night:

"i remember when i first saw it on x360 that i couldn't play it because the popping was annoying like hell. In PC i could play ,and end it without problems"

I swear, different three-sixtahs run games better/worse then others, my last current three-sixtah ran the both Gears and MA pretty smooth, pop in wasn't that bad at all for either of em, especially the 50+ hours (I know, wtf right?) I spent with MA. Yea, maybe I have more patience with such things then others, or maybe seeing the games run differently on different units, one "friend's" three-sixtah especially stands out, which ran MA pretty darn smooth, smoothest I'v ever seen it run. Load times were a smidgen quicker then on my last unit, and texture pop in was almost nill, fucking hell?

@NessD12: I wasn't complaining. Mass Effect (and the UE3 engine in general) is absolutely gorgeous. I really don't mind the texture popping at all, as it allows us to see the rendering passes of the engine and the various states of content BioWare created. Watching Wrex go from low-poly base mesh to incredibly detailed normal mapped monsterness is quite fun. And now, thankfully, I'll be able to simply turn off the normal maps with a console command! Not to mention mod the game itself. I can't wait to take apart the assets for this title.

@SmilingPolitely: The shorter load times might be what pushes me towards the PC version if released. I just want to know the system requirements.