I always complain about not having enough time for gaming, so I won't say that once again, because today I will tell you something new. When I finally find time to play a game I've been trying to reach for at least a few months, in most cases, I save screenshots from that game in a folder. It's not for any specific purpose, just to check them in a few years and say to myself "oh, my, look how was that game looking "x" years ago, on that old video card of mine." This would surely lead me into talking about those glorious Voodoo days, but I will stop here and move to the topic I have in mind: Mass Effect, Bioware's new masterpiece.

Before I tell you anything else about this game, let me give you an idea about it: I got the game, I installed it, and I started playing. Obviously, I wasn't able to finish it in a day or two, but that's not the point. I played for a few weeks, half an hour now, and hour then... if you have something better to do than gaming, you surely know how that is.

The interesting part is that I didn't manage to save any screenshot from the game, and this is something unique, because I don't save any screenshots from those games that are so bad, that the only way for them to end up is in the garbage bin, without any second thoughts about selling them to somebody else.

This time, Mass Effect managed to make me involved so much in the story, that saving screenshots was exactly the last thing in my mind. But, what is this all about, after all?

The answer is pretty simple - take Neverwinter Nights, another amazing game from Bioware, and place that kind of story in the Star Trek era. What you get is a Sci-Fi RPG with a very well written story, and so many paths to take, that if you won't finish the game at least 3-4 times, then I am sure you didn't manage to finish it at least once.

In year 2183, you will assume Commander Shepard's role, and I find it rather funny that, despite the fact you can choose your surname and gender, everyone will simply call you "Shepard," but I am sure this was a compromise to keep voice acting as detailed as possible - and I must confess once again that the story and voice acting are way above average, especially the story.

What kind of story? Well, since I mentioned Neverwinter Nights a bit earlier, it's enough to say it's "that kind of story," but if you never played that game, let me put it this way - you have a "very simple" task - save the entire known Universe, and nothing more.

To do that, you will end up being above the law, and sometimes having to disobey your superiors' orders, but as long as everything ends well... you should enjoy the story, exploring planets in your Mako vehicle and shoot bad guys. Sometimes, intimidating people(and other species) you get to talk with can be even more fun than blowing their heads off, but that's for you to discover.

As most recent games, Mass Effect requires at least 1 GB of memory on Windows XP, and 2 GB on Vista, but who says "the more, the better," is absolutely right. Disk space occupied goes a bit above 12 GB, and if you have at least a NVIDIA GeForce 6 series or an ATI 1300XT video card, everything should work well, but...once again, "the higher, the better" goes into effect. Enough to say the game ran excellent on my AMD dual core CPU with 2 GB of memory and my "oldie but goldie" ATI X1950 Pro video card.

I guess I didn't say much about the game, after all, don't you think? Well, you already know why - Mass Effect is more than just a game, it's an adventure that will draw you inside each time you click the icon on your desktop(well, that happens if you're a PC gamer, since Xbox 360 ones can also get Mass Effect, although the PC version is a bit more advanced from some points of view), and all the world around you will fade away, but if you really want to know more, here's something...

For further reading:

- Testfreaks
- cnet
- Amazon
- Gamespot

Back in September, when we talked about Fallout 3 Survival Edition, I thought things were settled, and the long-awaited post-apocalyptic RPG would arrive in time. Well, "in time" doesn't say anything about an accurate Fallout 3 release date, so now we're going to attack that subject - is Fallout 3 gold, or not?

According to Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines, Fallout 3 is not quite gold, although its Survival Edition is already sold out, as we were able to see back in mid-September. Here's what he said earlier this week to GameSpot: "At this stage we are really right down to the very end of the process. I'm just trying to get discs done and sent off and certified and released to manufacturers. … So there's a mad scramble to get all those copies made and into stores."<-125x125 Button - right->

In the end, the Fallout 3 release date should remain October 28 for all three platforms - PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, but after so many delays, who can tell for sure? Well, at least we should expect a huge world to explore, since Hines said "We actually envisioned the game would be smaller when we first drew it up. But we're never careful about being slaves to anything we write down. … So we made the game bigger than it was because we felt we needed to flesh it out with more stuff, with more locations in between, to make it more dense."

All right, another 3 weeks of waiting can't be that bad. After all, we've been waiting for Duke Nukem Forever since 1997, and we still have hopes to play that game, one day...

If someone asks me about BioWare, I feel a chill down my spine, then I start sweating, and probably I end up pretending I have no idea what is he(or she) talking about. Why would I do such a thing? Simply because Neverwinter Nights 2 is still on my waiting list, together with a lot of other great games that I would gladly play, but since a day only has 24 hours, they are out of my reach... and, to make things worse, BioWare just announced the release of a fully featured Toolset for one of its another games worth your time(if you have it...), namely Dragon Age: Origins.

Almost every time I had the chance to play a good game, I felt the need of creating my own content for it, but - as it happened with a lot of my friends, too - I didn't have the skills and time required to do it, but if you're one of the happy Dragon Age: Origins<-125x125 Button - right-> players with enough time and skills to start modding, here it is..

"Attendees of the Penny Arcade Expo will be the first ever to see the new toolset in action as BioWare will provide a live demonstration of some of its exciting features and capabilities," says the press release from BioWare.

If you're wondering about where & when, here you have the answers... and a bit more: "The Dragon Age Toolset will be part of a stage demonstration during the Penny Arcade Expo at 1:30pm, August 31, on the main stage at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, Washington."

Are you happy now? Great, now go grab Dragon Age: Origins, give it one more spin, and think about what would you like to see added. This time, you're the on in control!

If you were too young to play Fallout or Fallout 2, and you're into serious simulations of the real world, combined with role playing action, then Fallout 3 is surely a title you don't have to miss! No, skip that, they call it "post-apocalyptic RPG," and I think this sounds much better than "simulation." Anyway, no matter how we label it, Fallout 3 is headed this way, and the release date is no longer a mistery, as you can find out in the latest press release from Bethesda Softworks!

To make a longer story shorter, here's what Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks has to say about Fallout 3:"We are very excited to let gamers get their hands on Fallout 3, the latest chapter in this beloved and highly acclaimed franchise.<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right-> To meet the huge demand for this title by our fans worldwide, we are planning one of the biggest launches of any game released this year."

The press release continues without revealing much about what should you expect, but I think the screenshots are showing the visual delight we should prepare for already...

"Considered to have "one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Set more than 200 years following a nuclear war, you can create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of Washington, D.C. however you choose. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders, and other dangers of the Wasteland.

Hailed as one of the most anticipated games for 2008, Fallout 3 has already won numerous awards including Best of Show from the official Game Critics Awards at E3 2008, a selection voted on by an independent group of journalists from 36 leading North American media outlets that cover the videogame industry."

Now, the Fallout 3 info we've been waiting for: the release dates for the game are October 28, 2008, in North America, and October 31, 2008, in Europe. These being said...start the countdown timer, what are you waiting for??!

I don't know if you got Mass Effect so far, because I must shamefully admit I haven't. Unfortunately, I happen to know a few more people that would love to play BioWare's game, but some of them only had the time to purchase a copy, while others didn't manage to do at least that. Anyway, here's something to make you go for it - Mass Effect 2! Whoops...did I just say "Mass Effect 2?" Yes, I did, and I must excuse myself. Make that "first downloadable content pack," all right?

Called "Bring Down the Sky," this pack for Mass Effect was announced by BioWare and Electronic Arts earlier today, and comes for free, but there's a little problem. Obviously, you gotta have the original game, but this is not the problem, because those PC gamers get this addon more than 3 months after the Xbox 360 version, so this could be a problem for some.

Anyway, here you have the details...

- Introduces a new race: The vile batarians
- New achievement to unlock<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->
- Explore a new uncharted world
- Find it on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 400 MS points
- Approximately 90 minutes game time

...and the little story coming to introduce this addon goes like this "A batarian extremist group has hijacked a mobile asteroid station in the Asgard system, setting it on a collision course with the nearby colony world of Terra Nova. Only you, and the hand-picked crew of the Normandy, can save the millions of innocent civilians before the asteroid completes its deadly descent.

This first downloadable content pack further expands the Mass Effect universe and continues the adventures of Commander Shepard and the Normandy crew."

The installer is pretty large, with over 300MB in size for the English and Spanish versions, going as high as 512MB, for the German version. To download it, simply go to the Mass Effect for PC page and follow the instructions there. Good luck!