Science-Fiction Weekly: Mass Effect: Andromeda And The Games Of E3

E3 just kicked off a few hours ago, and I already feel like I'm in over my head with science-fiction games to cover. The press conferences from various publishers over the last few days produced a wealth of new information for some of science fiction's biggest gaming properties, including Mass Effect and Star Wars, and the show floor is filled with even more promising games to see. The big game on my radar for E3 was Mass Effect: Andromeda. Given how long the game has been in development, I expected BioWare to be front and center at EA's Play event, but we once again walked away with a brief teaser video and no legitimate information. Or did we?

After watching the video, I took to Twitter to ask my followers if they thought the Andromeda video contained any in-game footage. One of the first people to respond was BioWare's general manager Aaryn Flynn. "Yes, you did! " he said. Most, if not all of the footage shown, is from gameplay, and it looks absolutely stunning.

We also learned that the main character's last name is Ryder. You of course pick the first name, gender, and look, but like Shepard from the original Mass Effect trilogy, our guide through the Andromeda universe will be named Ryder. In an interview with Game Informer's own Elise Favis, Flynn revealed the name of Ryder's ship, the Tempest, a sleeker N7 vessel that appears to be designed for deep space exploration. In the E3 video, it appears Ryder and crew can set up a small base. You can see the same small metal structure on a couple of planets.

This is purely speculation, mind you, but it does look like the Tempest can deploy this structure along with the Mako. Flynn also told us that the scale of the game will be much different, not just in the universe, but on the worlds. "I think one of the biggest things the team has spent a lot of time on is [transitioning] from the last generation of consoles, to the new generation of consoles," he said. "[We asked] what should we do differently and what kind of things should we be embracing as we move there. A big open world is the big thing the team is trying to embrace, and that's expressed through those amazing looking planets.

" No, we didn't get any story information or see how the game plays, but the video does show some of our favorite races returning, and we now know the name of our new…