Tomorrow night is my favorite night of the year: Spike's Video Game Awards! I sit in front of my TV with a bottle of tequila and play a drinking game where I take a shot every time I see a celebrity at the show who is only there for the free stuff they get backstage. Wondering how trashed I get? Let's just say I have to wear a helmet and a diaper. 

News Blips:

Mass Effect 3 is rumored to be BioWare's big revelation at the Video Game Awards on Spike tomorrow night. Those rumors are unconfirmed, but the teaser image released by BioWare includes a gun that has been identified as the M-29 Incisor Sniper Rifle from Mass Effect 2. Evidence mounted today when a product listing for Mass Effect 3 was discovered in EA's online store, which also included a description: "Earth is burning. Striking from beyond known space, a race of terrifying machines have begun their destruction of the human race. As Commander Shepard, an Alliance Marine, your only hope for saving mankind is to rally the civilizations of the galaxy and launch one final mission to take back the Earth." This is the best reason to watch VGAs yet. Let's see, I think that brings the total number of reasons to one. [Joystiq]

EA Games Label President Frank Gibeau says that the era of offline games is over. "[Developers are] very comfortable moving the discussion towards how we make connected gameplay – be it co-operative or multiplayer or online services – as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25 hours and you’re out. I think that model is finished," said Gibeau in an interview with Develop. An example from EA itself would be Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, which includes Autolog, a feature that collects data from a player's friends and suggest times and challenges that they should try to beat based on that information. By using asynchronous online competition, the developer Criterion has increased Hot Pursuit's shelf life while still retaining the single-player mechanics of a typical racing game. 

Square Enix apologizes for Final Fantasy 14's lack of "enjoyability," which has led the publisher to delay the PS3 version indefinitely. In addition, Hiromichi Tanaka stepped down as lead producer. This all comes in a post from Yoichi Wada, Square- president and CEO. The PS3 version was due out in March. "I would like to apologize for our inability to fully satisfy our users with the initial release of Final Fantasy 14. I take full responsibility for the game's current situation, and have therefore made the decision to step down from my role as producer," wrote Tanaka. Tanaka may be taking full responsibility, but it is rare that producers want to rush a game out to retail before it is finished -- those directives usually come from presidents or CEOs. 

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