Snipes,
ALL the games you listed already use MoCap. MoCap uses real actors to perform animations normally done by keframe positions. Again, as a developer, I think I have a pretty good judgement on this.
All characters in Mass Effect are purely 3D models, not people. And to portray that amount of emotion without using real actors is astounding. Mass Effect has set the rules on characters, from textures, to models, to animations. You can argue anything you want about story, plo...
They are in fact using a new animation system: it's called MoCap. (Motion Capture) you know these things as a developer...
Honestly they don't need it. Their animation teams on previous games proved the be able to show extreme amounts of emotion and very realistic movements in character through manual keyframe usage. I'm looking forward to their use of real actors though, but I'm not sure how that will bode for character customization...
A game developed in the most powerful Game Engine ever made will have it's ups, for sure.
It is my understanding that the development team is the same, however, the story team responsible for the ending of Mass Effect 3 has been essentially disbanded.
Lenny, this doesn't just involve the PS4, please keep in mind the more sophisticated systems such as newer PCs and the Xbox One. I personally consider these machine to still be next gen, as the transfer from Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 to Xbox One/PlayStation 4 was much less impressive than that of the previous generation. Microsoft has promised to allow developers to publish games one the Xbox 360 platform for up to three years. Until that time is up, I don't consider it current.
A while ago, Bioware mentioned their view on the hate they received after the ME3 ending, and it made total sense. They say that people wouldn't rage about it if they didn't love the product as a whole. If they didn't like the game to begin with, they wouldn't be so outraged about everything they do with the series.
When news of ME4 first came around, EA execs vowed to not have creative influence in the developer's workflow. Since then they've removed online passes, and proved that they sincerely hate the title of worst company ever. They only do it for profit, but still.
Way back when they released the extended cut ending, Bioware hosted an hour long BioCon lecture. Even back then, about a year ago now if I'm not mistaken, they said they were specifically listening to all our chatter and babble about our distaste for the ending and where we think they should take the series in the future. Basically what I'm trying to say is that they saw that one thing was clear: Mass Effect players do not want a prequel. I would almost guarantee, happily, that the ga...
Better than nothing...
Spoiler: Nothing happened.
The ending mostly came down to your in game completion. Obviously the decisions of previous Mass Effect titles helps.
It will not be called Mass Effect 4. That's about the only thing made clear to us.
Bioware isn't quite ready to just drop Mass Effect just yet. They realize that while some people will accuse them of overusing the ME universe, most people would agree that we all want more. If you ever watched the BioCon vid from when the extended cut was about to be released (about the only time they ever answered any questions) they made it obvious that they are listening to us fans and the vast majority of us can't just let a universe like this just drop. There is just too much lo...
It would seem that most of us don't really want to see what happened before all of this, unless it is relevant. I don't see the point in making a simple spinoff, gamers want to see something bigger than that. I'd like to see how the galaxy is living with Shepherd's choices. In the case of the Synthesis ending, it's gonna be pretty messed up.
@ N7KIRK,
As an indie developer, I thank you. Our release hasn't come up yet, but seeing developers I know personally fail because of people who are bashing it just to bash it...It's not very inspiring.