Mass Effect Valentines Day

It's now official! Our most anticipated game of 2012 (and of 2011 before the delay) is done! Mass Effect 3 Executive Producer Casey Hudson proudly announced hours ago that development is complete on Mass Effect 3 with a tweet revealing that the game has gone gold.

If that news combined with the Mass Effect 3 demo going live tomorrow doesn't excite fans, and if the new ME3 screenshots, trailers (include a female Shepard trailer), Mass Effect mobile game, console vault, voice cast announcement didn't cut it over the last two weeks, there's even more Mass Effect 3 surprises coming this week!

When BioWare and Electronic Arts announced last May that Mass Effect 3 wouldn't be coming in the fall of 2011, we were slightly disappointed since we had labelled it our most anticipated game of the year, but we were even more excited that the game would get several extra months of development time. Seeing the amount of news the game has made over the last few weeks thanks to the unveilings and announcements of in-game features, DLC and tie-in merchandise, it was well worth the wait.

The most important reasons for the delay can be attributed to the implementation of the franchise's first ever multiplayer component, the 'Galaxy at War' system which will tie-in to the mobile Mass Effect apps, and the goal to bring back a deep, richer experience with improved RPG elements and customization to go along with the epic conclusion to the trilogy's story, things that Mass Effect 2 were lacking in.

With the demo coming out on Valentine's Day, letting gamers experience what we hope is a digital four-player co-op romance not seen before in other games, our curiosity is piqued at Hudson's hint at surprises to come.

"After an awesome effort by our team, I'm proud to announce #MassEffect3 is officially GOLD! Many surprises await you - this week and beyond."

Will there be new multiplayer modes announced? New characters we've not met? New in-game features that haven't been revealed over the last year? With so many details seemingly unveiled already, what's left to showcase in the final three weeks leading up to launch? We're excited either way so bring it.

Mass Effect 3 releases March 6, 2012 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

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Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes.

Source: Casey Hudson