Game Ranter Banter: LEGO Minecraft, Mass Effect 3, Far Cry 3, Black Ops 2 & Vita Pricing

We at Game Rant hope you all enjoyed Valentine's Day, as we all did. But mostly for one reason - it was on a Tuesday this year, meaning it wouldn't interfere with the Game Ranter Banter! This week our writers will discuss their thoughts on LEGO Minecraft, Mass Effect 3's marketing strategy, new information on Far Cry 3 and the insane pricing of Vita games and accessories. What are you waiting for? Click the button below and let's begin! LEGO Minecraft Banter

The Minecraft LEGO set was unveiled this week and I, being a huge fan of both properties, am very disappointed. It's my own fault for getting my hopes up. Thinking that this LEGO set will be a bit more than just blocks assembled to look like a Minecraft setting. The pictures make the set look bigger than it is, cause the the video Mojang released showed its true size — tiny. Or perhaps Notch has really big hands. The Minecraft enthusiasts will eat this up, though personally I feel this set isn't worth the 34.99 price tag. Perhaps if more than 1% of the proceeds were being donated to charity I would feel better. At least we have the Lord of the Rings LEGO sets to look forward too. Mass Effect 3 Mission Control

It was revealed earlier this week that EA would be deploying several copies of Mass Effect 3 into the atmosphere via weather balloon, potentially allowing really die hard fans a week-early crack at the game. The balloons would be tracked via GPS to give people a sporting chance. This isn't exactly the greatest marketing strategy. Gimmicky? Absolutely. The marketing for Mass Effect 3 doesn't exactly need to be as extreme as this. On the other hand, it will end up resulting in some pretty interesting stories if/when the games are retrieve. To those people who will be attempting it, I simply say good luck. I would have voted for a simpler contest, but it's definitely going to attract some attention from the gaming community. And if that's the end goal? Bravo. Far Cry 3 Knife

This week saw Game Rant head to Ubisoft’s Montreal for a special look at Far Cry 3, and our impressions more or less affirmed my original anticipation for the return of one of gaming’s best psycho-with-a-gun-mixers, choose-your-own-shoot-‘em-up-adventure-providers, and "Let’s see LOST do this!"-moment-makers. The recent cinematic trailer offered up some intriguing backstory on our new protagonist – for whom killing doesn’t seem to be his cup of tea – and the open-ended combat options pluck some of our wildest multiplayer experiments from Battlefield 3 and install them as intrinsic gameplay elements (It’s never a bad time to send C4-laden jeeps barreling into a cluster of enemies.) I know this gets tossed around more than salad, but I would again like to see an FPS that separates itself from Call of Duty towards the end of the year. Hopefully, Far Cry 3 can absolve some of its predecessor’s nagging mistakes and welcome us to the jungle once more. Black Ops Banter

Yesterday, Black Ops 2 rumors began to spread like wildfire, with a developer resume and Amazon listing almost confirming the title's existence. And I've got to say, I really don't want a Black Ops 2. I'm not one of those people who hates Call of Duty with a passion. I actually buy the games each year because I genuinely enjoy the single-player campaigns. And here's the thing, I loved Black Ops' campaign, I thought it had the strongest story since Modern Warfare and I would hate to see it diluted for marketing techniques. Yes Black Ops' story had ties to World at War, but both campaigns were very self-contained, hence why Black Ops wasn't World at War 2. I think the rumored Call of Duty Iron Wolf is a better name, as I really don't see how Black Ops 2 can be a direct sequel. It'd be like having Modern Warfare 3 have no reference to Soap and Price whatsoever. PlayStation Vita Prices - Banter

The PlayStation Vita launches this week and with it, nearly two dozen games. With all the industry talk about whether or not mobile gaming platforms like the 3DS and Vita can survive long-term against the power and accessibility of Android and iOS smartphones, Nintendo and Sony sure aren't helping their own cause. The 3DS' prices were all too high and now, if you want to buy the basic wi-fi Vita, with the 32gb proprietary memory card and five games? $600 please. You can buy a standard 32gb SD card for your camera for $30. To buy the same size memory card for your Vita, it costs $60? Why? You can buy F1 2011 and Rayman Origins for $30 brand new for your PS3 or Xbox 360. To buy the Vita ports, it's $40 each. Why? You can purchase Asphalt 6: Adrenaline on your iPhone for $0.99 or you can pay 40 times that to get Asphalt: Injection on the Vita. Do you see the trend here? They need to be at a fraction of what they cost on the consoles and somewhat competitive with the best of mobile apps. Having played more than half of the games coming with the Vita at launch, I can safely say the barrier to entry for consumers are the insane prices.

And that concludes this week's Game Ranter Banter As always, let us know what you think of this week's news in the comments, or on Twitter @GameRant and Facebook.com/GameRant. If you have specific topics you'd like any of the team to cover, don't hesitate to ask!