News Blips: Next Xbox sans disc drive, push for big-hitters a “cancerous growth,” and Mass Effect 3 ships 3.5 million

Another week, another Game Developers Conference (GDC) wrapped up. At least, I think that's what happened. I'm too deliriously sick to tell.

News Blips:

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An anonymous source leans into MCV's ear and whispers the possibility of the next Xbox console lacking a disc drive. According to the source — who disclosed this info under "the strictest non-disclosure agreement they have ever encountered" — the console offers "some sort of interchangeable solid-state card" for data storage. It's only a matter of time before companies instigate a hipster-lusting retro throwback to jamming cartridges into tiny slots once more.

Assassin's Creed 3 Creative Director Alex Hutchinson calls the industry's appetite for AAA titles "a cancerous growth." At a GDC panel, Hutchinson presaged two "dystopian" outcomes for the industry: the first painted a bleak future of games choked by analytics and profit, while the second constituted "a massive arms race" for cranking up the scale and graphical weight of blockbuster games. "We think about [this push] as a kind of cancerous growth," Hutchinson said. "I think that will leave the AAA titles as nothing more than the last of the dinosaurs." I've always wanted to plug my controller into a stegosaurus, so this works well for me. [GameSpot]

Mass Effect 3 amasses 3.5 million Shepards worldwide. In a statement released Friday, developer BioWare cofounder Ray Muzyka touted the finale to the epic science-fiction trilogy as the company's best effort yet and congratulated those involved with the game's creation, saying, "We are all incredibly proud of [Director] Casey Hudson and the teams in Edmonton and Montreal for delivering the best game BioWare has ever made."

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