I'm not really much into PC gaming, my first mmo was guild wars, so I thought about getting this one as well since it looks amazing. But I have a couple of questions:

What kind of internet connection do you need for playing ? Because the only game I can play without significant lag (if any) is battlefield 3 on the 360 and my average connection is 1.6MB up , 1.5MB down and 18-30 ms ping (I use a shared campus connection, so it's not always stable). I know they are totally different games, but that's why I want to know if it can handle it. 

Also my PC isn't very powerfull, I have an Asus eeebox EB1501 (Intel® Atom N330 Dual Core, NVIDIA® ION, 2GB ram) on which I can play games like portal 2 with almost console quality (it does rarely have some frame rate drops) but online games like Team Fortress 2 , even at low-medium settings are unplayable.
I don't really care about graphics effects as long as I have got good textures, but do you think this game really requires a more powerfull PC ?

Could my current PC/internet setup work overall without problems or do I really need an upgrade ? 

Everything else aside you only pay for an online pass if you buy the game used.

xgraderx

The Online pass is always a cost since you buy it when you buy the game and using it diminished the value of your game if you want to resell it. Also , by blocking on disc content, you buy a product which you don't fully own.
The real point is that the Online pass, as the name says, should let you be able to play online , but once your xbox live gold expires, you can no longer access the multiplayer. You basically have to pay for the same service twice in order to benefit from it.

Did you post this on the official boards?

daniel79

No, feel free to link them here if you want to though.

just for the records this year also games from Ubisoft (ex: Assassin's Creed Revelation, Ghost Recon, Driver SF...) use a Ubisoft Pass which is an exact copy of the EA Onoline Pass. This will prevent also from playing online games as the next AC or Splinter Cell.
This year in my opinion they screwed us really bad ,at least they screwed me, since I've purchased 4 games (other than Skyrim, basically all the games I've got) which require a code to enable multiplayer (not to mention battlefield 3, which without the code you have access to less than 30% of the game).

This year basically every Big tile had an online pass.

Why pay for Online twice ? How exactly do we benefits from having an xbox live gold account while playing on servers which are in no way related to Microsoft and for wich we already pay an extra quote in the game ? Or why the xbox live gold subscription doesn't let us play, in fact, multiplayer ?

Next year maybe every game which has multiplayer will have an online pass, will it make sense to pay the xbox live gold subscription then ? This year the situation isn't much different if you tink about it.

We have come to a point were companies try to force multiplayer into a game just so that they can sell us the Online Pass. It's getting ridiculous, and it has to stop.

The 10 of July my xbox live gold subscription , after 5 years , expires. This year however many of the games I've played (Mass Effect 3, Battlefield 3, Dead Space 2) from the company known as Electonic Arts, or EA, require you to activate an Online pass in order to access the multiplayer features of the game. The cost of this Online pass is already included in what you pay for the game if it is brand new, or you can pay 800 Microsoft Poits in order to buy one.

EA might have the right to include what is basically a paid subscription for access to multiplayer online features and their servers, whether permanent or not, and as a matter of fact many games already do or did so (especially Massive multiplayer online games as World of warcraft on PC or Phantasy star Online on the 360).

Now, Xbox live feaures include: download of demos; video chat; "arcade deals of the week" and others, the most importat of those is the access to online multiplayer.

The only feature I'm interested in is online multiplayer, but the Online Pass for a specific EA game already represents the fee I have to pay in order to access the online features of said game, so why should I pay an Xbox Live Gold subscription ?

On the other hand Xbox Live Gold subscription assures , as clearly advertised on the xbox site of my country, that I can "Join online games in cooperative and multiplayer modes without limits to play with or against players from all over the world". This is isn't true, as in a game as Mass Effect 3 which supports online features, only having the xbox live gold subscription limits me to the sole single player mode, even if on the box of the game it says "online multiplayer 1-4" and "co-op 2-4".

It also says: "Xbox Live System Requirements: In available games, paid subscription required for online multiplayer; some features and downloads require additional storage, hardware, and/or fees.". Which should further assure me that by activating the xbox live paid subscription (known as Xbox Live Gold) I can access , at least, online multiplayer.

Also written in capital letters "EA Online registratin required to access online features. Access to certain online content and bonus content (if any) requires registration with the single use serial code(s) enclosed with new, full retail purchase". The EA online registration is free, and links your gamercard to an EA account. This only, as specified, should grant you the possibility to access online features, and the xbox live gold subcription assures you, as stated, the use of the feature known as online multiplayer. So why should I pay for an Online Pass ? Does it mean that an xbox live gold account doesn't always grant access to online multiplayer ?

For what I'm concerned I should pay the Online Pass for every EA game to access the game's online features OR pay an Xbox live Gold Subscription to access online multiplayer on any game. Paying both equals paying for the same service twice.

What do you think about this ? Isn't it unjustified that xbox 360 players have to pay more, for no apparent reason ?

If I can't find any explanation I'm contacting the xbox live support or the EA support as soon as my subscription expires.

I played the demo on the 360 and took a quick look at the decklist, and from what I've seen, it didn't seem much of an inprovement over the last edition. That blue deck with high mana cards is just plainly stupid, and it seemed like other decks were pretty generic too. The new planes mechanic is just awful, and a match can last 5 times longer and you just wait for the AI to throw the dice over and over even when it's useless (every dice throw is like 3 seconds long).
Also I saw the decklist, and is there really just one multi color deck ? And were are the older decks ?
I've also read that the game has already inside the code for the next DLC which should include 5 multicolored decks (probably from Ravnica) and I really didn't like the fact that they are planning DLC already which IMHO are less tolerable for an arcade game since they can cost as much as the game itself.

To me it seems like they are adopting a new model for the game because of the free iPad release and they are just screwing the game by planning constant deck releases and all kind of microtransactions.

Also please tell me that I'm wrong for I've been given to understand that you unlock more of the cards you already have

Anyway, I just want to know if you are happy with the game on 360, and if it is any better, since from what I've seen it looked like quite a downgrade.

I made an awesome track but I can't play it outside the editor, every time I save it it says something like "the track has low performance." , and I can't see it between the track I've downloaded from other users.

Do I have to save it in a different way ?
I have a starting checkpoint and a finish checkpoint of course. I don't know what is wrong, I've been working on it the whole day, please help.

edit: If you could only tell me step by step the BASICS to create a playable track (even if it's a short straight line), I would see if I'm missing something

In this (stupid/funny) video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crgEIhI3y_o there is a scene at minute 1:00 that I didn't saw in my game. Could someone tell me when it happens or possibly link me a video of the real scene ?

Also, do you get to see Tali's face ? I think Shepard deserves it for saving the universe

Ok so I'm at a point where I romanced ashley back in ME and tali in ME 2, now Ashley is at the hospital and she asked shepard if they are still together and she says she heard I was with Tali. Is my answer critical at this (very beginning) point of the game ? I mean Ashley has 2 good ... reasons , and has much improved since ME, but I haven't even met Tali back and I wonder how she is .
I'll admit that Tali was like a backup choice in ME2 , since you could only get with her, psycho girl and that barbie doll, but so was Ashley.
The thing is, while Tali stayed with me and trusted me on both the previous games, it's almost like Ashley now suddenly appears as the third tire, and she's also a little btchy about the cerberus thing, even though she gets over it eventually.

Anyway I like to chose my romance option at the very end of any game, so that I can load a save and see every possible outcome ("if you know what I mean" not intended). I'd like to keep ashley in a neutral position, at least until I meet Tali again, what should I tell her ?

Please avoid spoilers since I'm only 5 hours into the game