Tag: game

Why doesn’t anyone seem to take mobile gaming seriously? – The Solutions
Joe Hindy recently wrote a great article over at AndroidAuthority listing all of the reasons why he believes mobile gaming isn’t being taken seriously when compared to other mobile gaming platforms. Like Hindy, I’m a big mobile apps guy and have played through and reviewed countless applications so I can totally understand his frustrations here. Right now, the mobile app space just isn’t the place to safely support developers looking to release serious video games.

Joe Hindy spoke a little bit about what he thought were the reasons for this and I thought I’d follow up by suggesting what could be done to fix each issue.

Money

Hindy’s argument here was that there just isn’t enough safe revenue potential for big time game developers when working in the mobile industry. Yes, mobile game revenue is very high but Hindy was right when he mentioned over 95% of revenue came from freemium games. In fact, 2014 saw 98% of all Google Play mobile game revenue come from freemium titles.

This is a big problem for the mobile game industry. How can gamers take mobile gaming seriously when they’re all filled with shoddy in-app purchases that are clearly designed to take cash from your pockets every step of the way?

The solution: There are probably a few ways to deal with this problem, but I’d like to suggest what I think could work quite well. If a developer were to make a decent, lengthy mobile game, they could provide a beginning portion of the game for free, and then charge extra for more chapters.

What’s great about this is that a developer could potentially only develop the first few chapters of a game and then work on more chapters as previous ones are purchased. If a developer reaches their revenue goals, they can continue their development process. If revenue slows down, development of the next chapter could be stopped until revenue goals are met or development could be cut out completely.

This exact example could only apply to certain types of games, such as RPGs or episodic storytelling games, but a similar model could be used for other titles. Racing games could have new tournaments. fighting games could have new arenas, fighters and skillsets.

Throw in some extra cosmetic items and set up some decent stretch goals to encourage players to help the developers reach their revenue goals and we have a payment model that could work well.
- This payment model doesn’t feel as “freemium” as many mobile games do
- Extra non-game defining IAPs could help increase revenue
- Revenue can be earned as the game is developed
Piracy

Admittedly, piracy is a huge issue for mobile gaming. It’s caused publishers to move over to the freemium model and it’s made it very difficult for hard working mobile games developers to earn a living from what they do best.

Fighting piracy is of course an ongoing battle that even has it’s prevalences in other gaming platforms. There is no real quick fix for piracy because pirates will always find workarounds and those looking for free entertainment will do so also.

The Solution: As a solution right now, providing games for free would definitely be the better choice. Even if a developer were to provide two minutes of gameplay for free and then charge for all other content via IAPs, that developer is already cutting out any quick piracy that’s done by simply re-uploading .apks and app files to file hosting websites.

We’re already seeing other gaming platforms moving towards a supplemented payment model. How many big name video games have released without DLC this year? The amount is completely outnumbered by games that do have DLC, and it’s something that gamers are now being forced to accept.

A DLC based or chapter based payment model with a free price on top could work well for game developers on the mobile platform.

Lack of Promotion

This is of course an issue for smaller developers without a name for themselves. Getting yourself seen on the app store is a bit hit and miss. App store optimization can be used to increase your chances of being seen in search results but it’s a practice that many developers now use.

Besides ASO, there are not many opportunities within the app store to get your app shown off to the world. The biggest option is the top apps charts in the Google Play store and this if course completely over run by freemium titles.

The Solution: For small time developers, once again making a game to be taken seriously that could have good revenue potential would only work well if you choose to make a free game. At this point in time it seems clear that trying to make a paid game work just isn’t the option to take.

Instead developers should focus on what they can do to stay away from that freemium feeling whilst still providing valuable and desirable in-app purchases to their players.

Big time developers and publishers shouldn’t have as much issue with promotion – they have the purchasing power to put a good marketing campaign out there. The trouble is that nobody is brave enough to take chances in the video game industry. It’s too expensive to do something that you aren’t sure will work. This is why we see rehashed games released each year by the big publishers because they know it’s familiar territory and they know it’s a concept that will sell.

Publishers should consider opening up smaller experimental branches that are given the freedom to create whatever comes to their creative minds – this kind of studio would have a much smaller budget but it could open the potential to bring something brand new to the world. Think of an experimental branch like this as an indie game studio that has backing and financial support by a big name publisher.

Hardware

Joe Hindy brought up a very big point about touch screen based mobile gaming having a huge negative effect on the potential for decent video games on the platform. Most popular genres are very difficult to play on a touch screen and mobile gaming hardware just isn’t being adopted at a big enough pace.

The solution: Video game developers need to come up with creative ways to utilize the touch screen – mobile games don’t need to follow the same categories defined by previous gaming platforms and the touch screen is a good example why.

At the end of the day, a touch screen can be interacted with at any point – any single location on a mobile display can be used as an input. I’m not the genius to figure out the solution, but there must be a way to make touch screen gaming work better than it currently does.

Mobile gaming is new – the potential of the platform has not yet been fully untapped. The inconsistencies with it have scared away big name publishers, but their only way of entering the platform is via a more creative, open minded approach. It is definitely a risk but it could pay off well.

Over-saturation

It’s very true that the mobile app stores are over-saturated. When you choose to buy an Xbox game, your choice is limited between hundreds or maybe thousands of titles. With mobile gaming, you’ll be getting thousands of titles added to the app store every day.

The solution: I honestly don’t think this needs to change. It’s a new platform and utilizing it properly will take some initiative. With that being said however, there are already plenty of ways to step up above the crowd and when this happens the oversaturation is no longer so much of a problem.

The Culture

Filled with freemium apps, pay as you go gaming and all sorts of experiences aimed at more casual players, there’s no wonder why most gamers couldn’t think about taking mobile gaming seriously.

As a result, many developers wouldn’t touch mobile gaming with a barge pole. Working in the mobile game space is a fear of many big time names in the video games industry.

The solution: In theme with other suggestions in this article, I strongly believe that publishers should attempt to open and maintain lower budget experimental branches of their development teams to give their company a more open minded, creative approach on mobile gaming.

New thinking, creativity and initiative is the only thing that’s going to change how gamers view mobile gaming. Video game publishers like EA, Square Enix and Blizzard have the presence to get creative but it’s a risk that they may not ever be willing to take.

Image credit: Forbes; Mrcrab; Howtohackforfree; CultofAndroid; Cinemablend; blog.teamtreehouse.com; Nardio.net
August 22, 2015
You can build your Dream home with New Real block game on Facebook

March 20, 2015

[Review] Hp Pavilion 15-n012TX Laptop – 4th Gen Core i5, 4GB Ram, 2GB Nvidia 740M Graphics Card and more

HP released a new series of laptops that comes in between the ultrabooks and Notebooks. The new design is not too slim as an ultrabook, but it doesn’t come any closer to the Notebook when it comes to the thickness. Hardware configuration and build quality seems to be value for money, but are we looking at the best buddy in the category? Lets find out.

Build Quality

When we first grabbed HP Pavilion 15-no12TX (Part No. – F2C09PA) out of the box, we were really amazed to lay our eyes on the slim build of the laptop. It is fairly slim for the mid-range category and certainly isn’t too bulky or thick. The laptop still weighs 2.28 Kg, which is slightly heavier than other laptops in this price range (for eg. – Dell Inspiron 15R 5521 which is 60g lighter), but I guess it isn’t that significant.

The mineral black lid with horizontal brush pattern dominates the plastic case, which doesn’t feel cheap. The laptop is firmly built and features some design improvements over the previous HP pavilion series. The new batch of laptops by HP are sleek and beautiful.

The palm rest area and polycarbonate casing along the display bears the black horizontal brush pattern that we saw on the back panel. I really like how HP pavilion is built and packed with premium casing.

The laptop appears to be a rectangular slab, which feels good to work on. The corners are slightly curved with silver bezel at the sides and it looks sleek and beautiful. You might not feel the difference in the images, but, believe me, it is one of the thinnest mid-range laptops. The nonvisual parts (rear, front and back) of the laptop is plasticky and it feels cheap, but again they did well at the sections where you spend your most of your time.

I know, nobody actually care how their laptop appears at the back, just like the rear of your Brand new Television. — You got to admit that HP has really worked on every aspect of its new Pavilion Series.

DigitFreak Rating: 8/10

Hardware and ports

HP pavilion 15 e012TX (believe me I hate it to call it by alpha-numeric code myself), is packed with 4th Gen core i5 4200U processor, which is clocked at 1.6 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.3 GHz, which is optimized for performance.

It has 1.00 TB SATA Hard disk Drive with max 5400 RPM (could be 7200 RPM). The read-writes speed when we copied/moved the files from one partition to another is really great considering the lower RPM (thanks to the Intel Rapid Storage Technology) — We got average 50MBps for the transfers within HDD.

The laptop sports 4GB DDR3 RAM and 2GB Nvidia 740M graphics card out of the box, which is sufficient to play high end games on your system. It can handle the multitasking pretty well, without stressing your processor for post calculations.

It has HP TrueVision HD webcam for video conferencing or video call with built in mic. The test shots from the webcam was considerably good enough and video output was bright and clear during our test call.

The gadget has an awesome port management, which is distributed at the side (left and right) panels. Everything is squeezed at these two side panels and you won’t find anything on the rear or front side panels.

The Gadget features SuperMulti DVD RW Drive with Dual layer support with 8x Read/Write speed. The DTS Sound+ produces High Quality audio and appears to be loud enough for entertainment purpose. The dual speakers boosts the sound output and provides considerable volume for usual requirements.

It has basic/standard communication ports – Ethernet 10/100/1000 Mbps, Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth v4.0.

It has 1xUSB 2.0 and 2xUSB 3.0, RJ45 LAN, 1xHDMI port, 1xVGA port, Multi-Card slot and 1x Headphone out/Microphone-in Combo Jack.

There are two USB ports on the left panel and one USB port on the right. I felt that there should be one more USB port because if you are using one of the two USB ports on the left, you end up with the other one unusable as there is very dramatically less gap between the ports. But, I guess you can still manage to carry out your work just well with two USB ports at a time.

DigitFreak Rating: 7/10

Keyboard and comfort

The laptop has standard Island keyboard, that you can find in any modern laptop. The chicklet keys are plus feature because it is really helpful for cleaning and maintaining the latoptop’s keys. I am composing this article on this laptop and I never felt any discomfort or noticed any misplaced keyword. The key spacing is perfect for both small fingers and a fat one.

You might find the navigation keys a little awkward because the up and down keys are one single key split into two. If you are a gamers you better stick to the A,W,S,D key system for navigation while playing the game.

This is the keyboard layout you will find in any new HP laptops. The HP Envy series has the same keyboard layout and it is 25% cheaper than them. The keys are well spaced and feel comfortable while typing. The only thing that I wished there should have been being a — backlit keys. If you are like me, who prefer to work at night – then you might wanna consider a better alternative that offers backlit keyboard, Otherwise it should be fine for general usage.

The Multitouch gesture touchpad is real wonder, You can pinch to zoom, scroll pages at the edge, slide page with three fingers and zoom-in ot zoom-out using two fingers. — but, the awesomeness ends at the software tweaks, I find the touchpad in-resposive at some points making, while trying to move the cursor to small distances. If I swipe the touchpad quickly, it would response just fine – but it is not the same when I try to make little movements.

By turning off “palm-Check Enhacned” and decreasing the pointing sensitivity in synaptics touchpad properties, I was able to sort the issues.

DigitFreak Rating: 7/10 (Keyboard) & 6/10 (Touchpad)

Graphics and Display

I am using this laptop since last 8 days and it always felt perfect for general usage. The display is bright enough for both indoors and outdoor usage. HP Pavilion 15-n012TX sports 15.6-inch HD BrightView Backlit Display with 1366×768-pixel resolution. We cannot expect Full HD display for the mid-range segment, but you don’t need to be worried about it, you can carry out your personal affairs pretty well.

It has Intel HD Graphics 4400 for desktop usage and usual software rendering. It is powerful enough to obtain the best output for display while you are not playing games or carrying out heavy graphic hungry tasks.

The display is bright enough to be used under the sunlight and looks good at 10-30% brightness indoors. We didn’t experience and issues with the screen brightness while working on it. Playing games on the big screen is fun and it performed well.

HP bundled 2GB DDR3 dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 740M graphics card for casual gaming needs. You can play almost all current and upcoming modern games without any issues. The only things that I noticed are Laptop heating issue — Laptop gets pretty heated if you play high-end games. I had to use the cooling pad to play Crysis 3 and Need For Speed Rivals at the moderate settings, otherwise you will notice gaming lag due to high core temperature.

I installed additional 4GB RAM to measure the performance of the system while playing the game — it turns out that the system handles games pretty well on extended RAM as well as the default configuration.

You need to manually tweak your on board graphics card and dedicated graphics card because they are initially optimized for a balance between the battery life and performance.

DigitFreak Rating: 7.5/10 (Display) & 8/10 (Graphics)

Software and Features

HP Pavilion 15-n012TX comes bundled with Latest Microsoft Windows 8 Operating system and HP software goodies. The system is stable and OS works perfectly all right with the system configuration. HP default goodies makes sure that all the hardware are aligned properly for best performance.

HP offers automatic system backup and restore points — which means you can restore your laptop to the original state without reformatting your laptop from the scratch. You just need to follow the Windows 8 System Troubleshooting options and you can re-install Windows 8 on your system without any external setup.

It’s also worth noting that this laptop comes without too much bloatware which manufacturers usually fill their machines up with. I uninstalled Norton, a games app & was good to go.

If you are not so intended to use Windows 8 on the laptop, you can switch to Windows 7 or other operating system you prefer. Just make sure you get all the drives and necessary software for the operating system. I installed Windows 7 on the Laptop and searched for all the Drivers on the internet and everything went perfectly smooth.

Windows 8 is not bad either, specially if it is your first personal computer. You will find Windows 8 little more easier to use, but advanced users still prefer windows 7 because they know every bit of it.

DigitFreak Rating: 8/10

Verdict

HP Pavilion 15-n012TX is packed with the best hardware configuration one can have for this price range. The 4th Gen processor consumes less power, which provides good battery backup (up to 5 hours with minimum brightness).

The display is bright enough, 4GB RAM and 2GB dedicated Nvidia Graphics card ensure optimal gaming experience. HP manages Windows 8 with it’s software goodies, which provides smooth transition and makes you like your new laptop even more.

Laptop’s cooling system is very effective — thanks! to the HP Coolsense technology, you won’t notice any heating issues while using it for hours. It get little heated when you play games and you will have to use the cooling pad to play high-end games effectively.

The laptop is good at delivering performance and peace of ming when we talk about multitasking and high end tasks that requires high-end hardware configuration. 1.00 TB Internal Hard Disk read/write speed is a breeze and manages files pretty well.

The material used in laptop’s external body components doesn’t feel cheap and appears to be durable for daily usage. The only drawback we noticed is its touchpad and USB ports being too close to each other. There is no separate Mic-in and Line-out ports and there is no VGA port.

For Rs 45 to 50K, this is the best laptop you can have among any other premium brands. It is a value for money. The only competitor of this Laptop in Home brand is HP Envy 15-J049TX, which costs more than 60K.

Overall Rating: 8/10

In the Box
Sales Package	Laptop, Battery, AC Adapter, User Guide, Manuals and CD
General
Brand	HP
Model Name	Pavilion
Lifestyle	Casual Gaming
Color	Imprint Mineral Black with Horizontal brush pattern
Part Number	F2C09PA
Model ID	15-n012TX
Processor
Processor	Core i5 (4th Generation)
Variant	4200U
Chipset	HM86
Brand	Intel
Clock Speed	1.6 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology Upto 2.6 GHz
Cache	3 MB
Memory
Expandable Memory	Upto 8GB
Memory Slots	2 (Unused Slot – 01)
System Memory	4 GB DDR3
Storage
Hardware Interface	SATA
RPM	5400
HDD capacity	1.00 TB (940 GB Usable)
Optical Disk Drive
Read/Write Speed	8x
Optical Drive	SuperMulti DVD RW Drive with Dual Layer support
Platform
Operating System	Windows 8
System Architecture	64-bit
OS Architecture	64-bit
Display
Screen Size	15.6 inch
Resolution	1366×768 pixel
Screen Type	HD BrightView LED Backlit display
Graphics
Dedicated Graphics Memory Type	DDR 3
Dedicated Graphics Memory Capacity	2 GB
Graphics Processor	NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
Input
Web Camera	HP TrueVision HD Webcam
Pointer Device	Touchpad with multi-touch Gesture support
Keyboard	Island-style Keyboard
Audio
Internal Mic	Dual Layer Digital Microphones
Speakers	Yes
Sound	DTS Sound, HD Audio, Dual Speakers
Communication
Ehternet	01/10/00
Wireless LAN	IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth	v 4.0
Power
Battery Cell	4 cell
Backup	Upto 5 hours with minimum brightness
Ports/Slots
USB port	1x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0
Mic In	Yes
RJ45 LAN	Yes
HDMI port	Yes, HDMI port with HDCP Support
Multi Card Slot	Yes
Other Ports	1x Headphone Out/ Microphone-in Combo Jack
Security
Lock Port	Kensington Lock Slot
Machine Dimensions
Weight	2.28 Kg
Dimension	385.5 x 258 x 22.6 mm

December 7, 2013

Best of Breaking Bad parodies – A Collection

Remember the great tv show named breaking bad. If you don’t then just get lost because you must have been on another planet. It must be one the most respected tv shows of all the time, but does that make it prone from parodies? No!

So the show is just going to end in about 6 episodes or more with a breathstopping finale and here we are discussing about the parodies. There are plenty of given reasons to laugh or make jokes upon in this show but you will have to play along with us and be observant. To start we will discuss the funniest scenarios and then we will take you to the best parodies you can find on the internet.

1. Taylor Swift + Breaking Bad Parody – ‘We Are Never Ever Gonna Cook Together’

Imagine this, walt and jesse having troubles in their relationship (a cooking one) and so the words come out like we are never ever gonna cook toegther. How does that sound? Boring but you might not find the same after watching this video. let me warn you before hand that this video actually makes fun of taylor swift and breaking bad at the same time. This is supposed to be hillarious! and don’t blame us if you find the song too catchy.

2. Breaking Bad as a Sitcom

What you never imagine while watching the show is, what if the show had laugh tracks in between like in big bang theory or two and a half men??, well you are in for a surprise because this parody video makes the whole difference. How a very serious scene can be made funny is shown in this parody along with the cheesy music that frames the intro of the show, instead of the serious regular soundtrack. You must watch it.

3. “Home Game” (Breaking Bad Parody)

What is someone made a game called Breaking bad, you know the family type games that the whole family plays together. You are only as eager as we are here, so lets watch the video to know how much fun that game could be. There is no direct pun unless you have to think about all the facts and points and then compare them with the real show.

4. LEGO Breaking Bad The Video Game parody

Parodies are not only the ones that are made on the tv show, it could be anything. we found something which could not be actually called a parody, since it makes no fun. Imagine the scenario where you are a player who controls the character of Walter and you are left to play the game Breaking bad. How would you like it? This video is a parody of the show in the form of lego game and guess what its awesome! We vote for the game to be released, because it is so awesome. Our best moment was when walter hits things with his head to get points..haha

5. Breakbad mountain

The parody starts just like the real tv show and for sometime you will feel just like this is a trailer, but soon you will start noticing small changes and dialogues like “If it feels right, it feels right” and many scenes look like they have lots of pun intended in them. You just need the right set of eyes to know what we are trying to relay.basically this parody is concentrated on the bromance between walter and jesse. In short, a must watch.

Now these were the few most hillarious and awesome ones that we have linked you to, but there are many more out there like breaking bad msuical parody, and even a porn parody. Amazing! right? This means that this show has become so famous that almsot everyone is trying to give something to it.

Hope you like this collection and if you want to share something which clearly means anything from curse words to appreciations for us then please comment below. we hope from the true depth of our hearts that the show ends successfully!

August 20, 2013
[How to] block undesired Facebook game invitation for good
I will admit — I was one of the victim who had probably never spent a single day without playing the CityVille or Farmville at least once.

Then there came a deteriorating moment when 40% of ancestors of online gaming on Facebook started following up with what is more important in life and followed up with ditching this whole time killer crap. We started hating it so much that – even a single invitation from one of our old “gaming friends” irritates us!!!

Let’s dump my individual scenario (however, it is true for most of us) and accept the fact that you don’t like the game invitation at all. If you are reading this article it signifies the same. So, let’s figure out how to block these game invitations for good.

Option 1 : Block it!

If you don’t like a friend of yours sending an invitation for Candy crush, CityVille, FarmVille, Lucky Slots, Dragon City, Hidden Express, Diamond Dash or millions of other apps on Facebook. Actually, you can block any Facebook app – let it be game, social, health or other services.
- Just go to the accounts settings
- Click on Blocking tab
- You’ll find four different level to choose your invitation restrictions – users, event, app or to block the whole app at once.
- You can provide the username, event name or app name.
Option 2: Custom mode

You can also block apps from your previous game/app invitation lists. To use this option go to appcenter and click on requests at the bottom left corner of the page. There you can also block future invites for a specific app, stop a certain user from sending you requests, or both.
- Click on Requests tab.
- Click on “x” as stated in the above image. To block the individual app click on “Block Appname” (where “appname” is the name of the app you are about to block).
- Confirm the app block in the next pop-up window.
Option 3: Block from notification

Stopping the onslaught on game invite notifications is actually as simple as clicking an X button next to the offending notice. Yes, it would be oh-so-nice if Facebook could learn that after clicking “no” 37 times, you don’t want to play. But it’s just not that smart (or maybe it’s laziness), so turn ’em off.

Doing all this game app-blocking business may have put you in a cleaning mood, so why not go the extra mile? Check out the apps you yourself have installed in the past and delete those you don’t use anymore by clicking on the X next to the app. You can also modify the visibility of your app’s posts on your behalf by clicking on the Settings link.
July 28, 2013
Is it really necessary to play ME1 and ME2 before playing Mass Effect 3?

Mass effect 3 is out now and it will be available in most of the countries till 11th March 2012, if it is not already available (however most of the gamers can get access to it online *you know where it is*).

It is the 3rd game in the series and is most popularily famous among the pro gamers. Most of us are playing the game after being slaughtered in ME1 & 2. We actually loved the gameplay and the new possibilities it introduced us in the virtual environment.

We personally believe that you can’t enjoy the 3rd part of the series without completing the first two. However, we are aware that not everyone can afford the time it takes to play two games and complete the levels without suppressing your urge to try ME3 for much longer.

Most of the pro Gamers takes only a day or two at maximum to complete the Mass effect series. Many of them are already reviewing the games and how you can complete the levels on their blogs or forum.

After spending well over 8 hours with the game, We can say that there is certainly a far greater balance between complex RPG mechanics and simple third-person action and adventure, of which perhaps hasn’t been implemented to such an extent in the series before.

Initially the experience is very welcoming, but don’t let that fool you: Mass Effect 3 can still be a very demanding and intimidating experience. We sincerely do hope that doesn’t turn away certain people, because it’s a game that definitely deserves the attention of every gamer, if not for its story, than for its way of engaging the player with the galactic warfare that’s currently plaguing mankind and its allies.

From that perspective, We think the game does a fantastic job of screaming out to newcomers, “Hey, come on in!”, while making dedicated fans like myself think, “OK, can I just return to the Normandy now? I know how to shoot and take cover.”

The introduction of the game is quite pleasing and will make you stuck with your chair while playing the game and you won’t be able to get up without making it up to the bed.

It doesn’t really touch on Commander Shepard’s history with Cerebus, or who exactly The Illusive Man is and why he’s important, but the game’s imagery and pacing certainly provide enough time to fill in the pieces, especially considering the at-times over-informative dialogue between characters that refers to past occurrences.

If you just play me3 by itself, it’s just like oh yeah same old bad guys invade good guys save the world. But the first two games like a massive buildup to 3, and actually made us fear the reapers. We are still wondering how the hell shepards gonna beat them. Also, it’s through the first two games that you really develop bonds with characters, e.g. How much garrus has your back, or what lengths liara would go to help you.

What do you think? Should a newbie directly play Mass Effect 3 to enjoy the game at the fullest?

March 10, 2012

Tag: game

Why doesn’t anyone seem to take mobile gaming seriously? – The Solutions

Money

Piracy

Lack of Promotion

Hardware

Over-saturation

The Culture

You can build your Dream home with New Real block game on Facebook

[Review] Hp Pavilion 15-n012TX Laptop – 4th Gen Core i5, 4GB Ram, 2GB Nvidia 740M Graphics Card and more

Best of Breaking Bad parodies – A Collection

[How to] block undesired Facebook game invitation for good

Is it really necessary to play ME1 and ME2 before playing Mass Effect 3?