The newest Game Informer has just landed in stores in America and this months' issue contains some very interesting reviews of all the coming and available games. Games like Halo 3, Half Life 2: Orange Box, PGR4, Mass Effect, Syphon Filter, Ace Attorney, DiRT, Ace Combat 6, NBA Live 08, NBA 2K8, NBA 08 have all been reviewed in this months' edition.

Most noticeable scores are for Halo 3, Mass Effect and Orange Box, which have all received reviews of 9.75 given by two different editors. Ace Combat 6 and PGR 4 also did very well with a 9- for Ace Combat and a 9+ for PGR4. Syphon Filter for PSP did very well with a 9-. Two Worlds was slammed again with two disappointing reviews of a 4 and a 2. Check out all this months' reviews below.

Mass Effect (Xbox 360, BioWare): 9.75/9.75
Ace Combat 6 (Xbox 360, Bandai Namco): 8.75/8.75
The Orange Box (Xbox 360, Valve): 9.75/9.75
Halo 3 (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 9.75/9.75 **Game of the month**
Zack and Wiki (Wii, Capcom): 8.25/7.75
NBA Live (PS3/Xbox 360/Wii, EA): 7.5/7.75
NBA 2K8 (PS3/Xbox 360, 2K Games): 8.25/8.5
Conan (PS3/Xbox 360, THQ): 7/7.25
Blazing Angels 2 (Xbox 360, Ubisoft): 7.5/7.75
Crash Of The Titans (Xbox 360/Wii/PS2/PSP/NDS, Sierra): 7.25
Spyro: The Eternal Night (Wii, Sierra): 6.25
Two Worlds (Xbox 360, SouthPeak Interactive): 4/2
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe (Xbox 360/PS2/Wii/PSP/NDS, Activision): 4.5/5.5
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (Xbox 360/PS2/PS3): 8.25/8.5
Dirt (Xbox 360/PS3, Codemasters): 8/8.5
NBA 08 (PS3/PSP, Sony): 7/6.25
Carnival Games (Wii, Take-Two): 5.5
The Sims 2: Castaway (Wii/PS2/PSP/NDS, EA): 7.25
Victorious Boxers: Revolution (Wii, Xseed): 6.75
Project Gotham Racing 4 (Xbox 360, Bizarre): 8.75/9.25
FlatOut Ultimate Carnage (Xbox 360, Warner): 7.5/8.5
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (PSP, Sony): 8.75/9 **Handheld game of the month*...
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BioWare has said it currently has no plans to bring Mass Effect to PS3 in the wake of news hitting on EA snapping up the developer.

"Our focus is pure and simple; it's to deliver the best game possible for our fans with Mass Effect, and that's an Xbox 360 exclusive. Microsoft's a great partner... and they've really helped build the value of the product and we're proud to work with them", BioWare's Ray Muzyka said.
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GameInformer's latest has an exclusive review of Mass Effect. The consensus: "It's an adventure that is so captivating that you'll be counting the days for the sequel. It takes interactive storytelling to new heights, and brings the player closer to content than ever before. It's easily one of the year's best titles and one of the most impressive games to date."

GameInformer Score: 9.75/10
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TeamXbox writes: "As soon as EA announced it had acquired BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios, the Xbox community wondered what would happen to the Mass Effect trilogy, which BioWare intended to begin and end on the Xbox 360 platform."
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Joystiq writes:

"While Microsoft is still publishing the first installment of the game (which is due November 20) ¿ now that the previously BioWare-owned IP belongs to EA ¿ it is noted that it "would conceivably from here out be EA published."

If one examines EA's publishing practices, it isn't difficult to assume that this would also conceivably be a multi-platform title, meaning Microsoft may have just lost one of their biggest exclusives. Will we see a PS3 sequel at parity with the 360? Or perhaps a Wii version: Mass Wiifect ... over a dozen minigames ... in space."
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BioWare's Chris Priestly announced in the official Mass Effect community forum that the game will be on store shelves in Australia on Novemebr 22, 2007. In addition, Priestly will fly to Australia this Tuesday to do a press tour in Sydney on October 15-18.
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Oct 8, 2007 Watch out: here comes a sparkly new trailer for Mass Effect, the highly anticipated space opera from hot shot developers BioWare - of Knights of the Old Republic fame. Titled “Character Spotlight 2,” youll witness a handful of melodramatic dialogue exchanges that are not presented within their original context, yet do wonders to showcase how pretty Mass Effect looks. Were sure that by the time we do play through these dialogue scenes, they will be more than riveting, ... » Read More

Oct 4, 2007 Now that Microsoft has kicked Halo 3 out the door, it's turning attention to the next Xbox 360 biggies. One of these happens to be BioWare's sci-fi RPG Mass Effect, and details have just been revealed on the Limited Collector's Edition package set to hit retail. In its announcement on the Collector's Edition, Microsoft hasn't confirmed an RRP but the package contains the following - Fiction Book: Galactic Codex: Essentials, Mass Effect Art Book: A Future Imagined, 2nd DVD with ... » Read More

Oct 2, 2007 With Halo 3 finally out of the way, Microsoft's mammoth PR machine can finally focus on its next big gun Mass Effect, starting with this new character bio. Nihlus Kryik, one of the Citadel Council's most decorated Spectre agents, reads Microsoft's blurb, has unquestionable skills but is a bit of a hot head. A confidant of Saren, the main villain in Mass Effect, Nihlus has apparently learned a trick or two from the old master. "Eventually, he stepped out of his mentor's shadow and ... » Read More

Issue 11 of free Xbox 360 magazine, 360Zine, has a preview and interview on Call of Duty 4 and they're blown away with the graphics and gameplay.
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Microsoft has announced the content of the Limited Collector's Edition set for its highly anticipated Xbox 360 RPG Mass Effect. No information on the packaging has been announced, but it is known that the box will contain a fiction book, an art book and a bonus DVD.
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Microsoft have today released a character profile on Nihlus Kryik who is set to be one of the main characters in Mass Effect...
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If you've watched the making of the film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, you would have noticed the painful approach Square Pictures took to match the spoken dialogue with the facial movement. For the most part, Square animators matched the lip movements by hand; something I was particularly impressed with. Unfortunately, the end result was far from perfect. The facial animations seemed "stiff" giving a false impression to the already realistic looking CGI surrounding it. Perhaps the CGI itself was far ahead of its time, but the phonetic interpretation technology was certainly not.
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MTV News: This November, Microsoft's Xbox 360 will play host to the story-heavy, science-fiction, role-playing game "Mass Effect." The makers of that title have found a new way to back up the most-cinematic-ever claim.

In their effort to create the most cinematic title gamers have ever seen, the "Mass Effect" development studio, BioWare, has hired people who make movies out of video games - not the film directors who brought the world "Doom" and "BloodRayne" movies, but the people who actually turn games into virtual movie sets: machinima makers...
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer checked in with Sony to see if the company had any comment on how Halo 3 would shape the competitive landscape this holiday season. Here's the full statement that Sony sent in response:

"We've never been dependent on any one game -- PlayStation has always offered a very diverse portfolio of gaming experiences and this year is no different. We're offering more than 10 exclusive PS3 titles in North America this holiday season across multiple genres and demographics. And in early to mid 2008 we'll continue to add innovative and diverse games like Gran Turismo 5, Killzone, LittleBigPlanet and Metal Gear Solid 4."

Shane Kim, Microsoft Game Studios corporate vice president, sees things differently, of course: "Sony has no answer to Halo 3," he said in an interview. Kim also cited other upcoming Xbox 360 games, including Mass Effect, which he expects to be high in the sales rankings.
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1UP: We live in an age of franchises, when sequels are planned before a game ever hits. BioWare's Mass Effect is no exception, with heavy hype for the game already fueling talk of a trilogy. The two remaining games could be on the way fast, if BioWare president Greg Zeschuk has anything to say about it.
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Sept 18, 2007 President and co-founder of BioWare, Dr. Greg Zeschuk, has revealed his intention to keep the Mass Effect trilogy of games on Xbox 360. Whether that means "exclusive" to Microsoft's console, Zeschuk couldn't comment on. In an interview, Zeschuk explained, "Certainly out intent is to have all three iterations or installments of Mass Effect to be on Xbox 360. That's the goal." When asked if that meant exclusively to 360 all the way, Zeschuk added, "Can't really comment on that ... » Read More

Sept 18, 2007 The BBFC's rating of Mass Effect has revealed new and tantalising plot details from the BioWare RPG, including the revelation that one hot alien sex scene contributes to its angsty 12 rating. The BBFC is a UK-specific ratings board that dictates what content minors are able to see and is the primary film ratings board. North America's ESRB has already rated the game M for Blood, Sexual Themes, Violence and Partial Nudity. "The game has been classified at '12' for moderate ... » Read More

Sept 17, 2007 During a recent interview with Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-founder and president of the mighty BioWare, he let slip a few words on the possibility of a demo. When asked point blank if there'll be a demo, we were told, "We're still thinking of the exact form the demo could take." We then pressed further saying, "So there was/is one then?" to which a distinctly nervous Zeschuk replied, "Probably... I'm being particularly noncommittal... Our goal would definitely be to have one depending ... » Read More

During a recent interview with Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-founder and president of the mighty BioWare, he let slip a few words on the possibility of a demo. When asked point blank if there'll be a demo, CVG was told, "We're still thinking of the exact form the demo could take."
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