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I'll start off with Pandemic/BioWare. These guys were seriously cool and had the best swag of the convention - ice cold bottles of Newcastle and Beck's. We got to view a demonstration of the upcoming XBox 360 exclusive title Mass Effect.

We spoke with the design team for Mass Effect and viewed some gameplay demonstrations. Cyberundead commented that they had just sold him a 360 and with good reason. Mass Effect promises to be a major selling point for the 360. You can see from the screenshots that the graphics are top notch. I can assure you that these are not pre-rendered screenshots - these are from the actual gameplay demonstration that we viewed. Everything in the game simply looks that good.

Mass Effect looks to change how RPGs are viewed - responses will be based on your emotional input instead of the literal text. The intent behind the words, the emotional subtlety of tone and facial expression determines your real response. The conversation interface is very intuitive - the conversation choices were made with a speed that made them seem very real and natural.

Mass Effect also promises a ton of replayability. You will work with a party of two other people - the main character and two NPC sidekicks. Your teammates will affect storyline aspects of the game. NPCs will also comment on the different decisions you will make. Like any roleplaying game conflict is an integral part of the game. Players fight in an FPS like interface and will be able to exercise individual control over all party members. All characters will wear their weapons on their back allowing for at a glance examination of their combat kits. A tactical or planning mode will allow players to plan flanking maneuvers on a top town tactical map. Best of all every single piece of armor and every weapon will be customizable or upgradeable. For example during the demonstration we were witness to the sheer joy of a sniper rifle with an incendiary round.

Storyline aspects alone will occupy around 25 hours of time but players will have the options of exploring a massively detailed galaxy full of uncharted planets, derelict ships, ruins, asteroids and an incredible number of side quests and tangents that players can go off on. When asked about the number of planets and side locations aside from the core worlds the only reponse was "I couldn't even begin to count them."

Mass Effect promises to be one of the best RPGs to date. Below are a few screenshots from the game, you can visit our gallery for the rest of them.