Finally, after 30+ hours of play, too many disc unreadable errors, and 185 game saves, I finished Mass Effect.

Aside from a clunky UI (3-4 steps to save a game, a step that must be taken after every major action lest ye be devoured by the elevator load of death) and cumbersome inventory management, I really enjoyed the game. I’ll probably play through again on the hardcore difficulty down the road for the achievement (why do they have such sway over me?) but it’ll be a speed run as I really took my time with this, knocking out every secondary quest and even completing the collection sidequests, something I rarely do. Unfortunately, playing through the second time as a Renegade isn’t really an option for me; I’ve got enough of a guilty conscience that even pretending to be evil makes me feel bad.

My biggest takeaway from the game? An intense desire to own a Big Trak again. Seriously, I’m watching two on eBay right now.

There’s a very brief look at Gas Powered’s Demigod today on 1UP, where they reveal that the title will be borrowing more than a little inspiration from the possibly more popular than Warcraft III itself Warcraft III custom map Defense of the Ancients, or DotA-Allstars as the most common incarnation is known.Good for them!

As I’ve been proselytizing to pretty much everyone within earshot for some time now, DotA-style gameplay on the consoles is the next big thing. You just wait and see.

And honestly, the whole reason I just posted this article was so I’d have an excuse to test image uploads and embedded content, so uh, here’s some embedded content.[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OzWIFX8M-Y]