The Week in Review

This week we learn that Mass Effect fans aren’t too big on the ending of Mass Effect 3 for some reason, the best medium for Iron Man is urine and the BAFTAs think that Portal 2 is the best game of 2011.

Portal 2 Crowned BAFTA’s “Best Game”

The 2012 British Academy of Film and Television Arts recently wrapped, with Battlefield 3 taking home the award for Online-Multiplayer, and Batman: Arkham City winning for Action. Portal 2 took the … cake, however, beating out Batman: Arkham City, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, L.A. Noire, and others, for both Best Game, and Best Story. Battlefield 3 earned the most awards, claiming the prize for the GAME Award of 2011 and Audio Achievement in addition to Online Multiplayer, while Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City, and LittleBigPlanet 2 took two awards each.(Link)

Artist Uses Urine to Draw Iron Man

Andres Serrano can now retire, safe in the knowledge that at least one other artist is using his own bodily fluids to delight art fans and nauseate everyone else. When an art school graduate, Wong Tin Cheung, noticed blood in his urine, he was inspired to visit his studio rather than his doctor. The artist, who apparently has a sizable collection of Iron Man products, took around two months to find a toilet bowl in the shape of the iconic character’s head. Once he found it, he armed himself with a collection of edible pigmentation and, oh god, produced the piece in time for the competition. (Link)

BioWare Co-Founder Promises Closure for Mass Effect 3

The rage over the ending of Mass Effect 3 is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Dissatisfied gamers by the thousands have howled on internet forums, thrown money at Child’s Play [probably the only good thing to come out of all this] and even filed an FTC complaint against BioWare for false advertising. It’s absolutely crazy – but it’s also vehement enough to attract the attention of some pretty highly-placed folks at BioWare, including none other than Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder and now General Manager of EA’s BioWare Label. (Link)

ECA Launches Campaign Against Videogame Warning Labels

Rep. Joe Baca stepped back into the spotlight a couple days ago with his third attempt at imposing legislation in California that would require all videogames rated E (Everyone) or higher to be labeled with warnings that “exposure to violent videogames has been linked to aggressive behavior.” Baca tried the same thing in 2009 and 2011, neither of which went anywhere, and the ECA wants to make sure that his 2012 attempt ends up the same way. (Link)

Mass Effect 3 Outrage Causes Unrelated Game to Change its Ending

As a somewhat unexpected consequence to the recent furor over Mass Effect 3‘s ending, an entirely different, unaffiliated game has rewritten its own final moments while BioWare considers changing its own. PC and iOS tactical shooter Frozen Synapse may have attracted much of its fan-base for its acclaimed multiplayer mode, but the game also boasts a robust single-player experience that, up until recently, didn’t conclude with a troll-faced pony, a top-hat-wearing t-rex, nor a snarky yet, perhaps, important message for gamers. (Link)