Former Dragon Age lead writer and Summerfall Games co-founder David Gaider has strung together some opinions on Xitter - the original spawning ground for all opinions - about the full reveal video for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, expressing broad enthusiasm for the new RPG’s narrative tone, combat system and environments, while offering a more ambivalent analysis of BioWare's decision to let players seduce every last member of their party.
]]>Dead Space’s Isaac Clarke is clearly a man of many talents. He’s a systems engineer by trade, so he knows his way around the dense innards of space vessels. He’s also handy around a toolbox and is more than familiar with high-risk equipment like the Plasma Cutter. Oh, and he’s remarkably good at slicing and dicing necromorphs into juicy squelchy lumps. What a resume!
But did you know that our favourite space engineer also has lots of secret talents too? When Dead Space originally came out in the back end of 2008, his corporate overseers at EA sent Mr. Clarke to do all sorts of odd jobs before he popped off on the believeable, but bleak USG Ishimiura. Golf caddy, professional skateboarder, even a part-time dragon slayer. Heck, he's recently been back on the second gig train with his stint in Fortnite just earlier this week. The poor dude is in desperate need of a vacation. Until then, though, come and marvel at Isaac's many talents and see what a hard worker he is.
]]>We’ve finally got a proper look at the upcoming fantasy animated series Dragon Age: Absolution, heading to Netflix on December 9th, thanks to a new trailer. The series is made up of six half-hour episodes following Miriam, an elven mercenary, and it’s set in Tevinter. That’s where the next Dragon Age game, Dreadwolf, will take place, too. Have a watch of the trailer below.
]]>Videogame publishers look at animated series like I look at air fryers: everyone else seems to have one, so I want one too. I assume that's why BioWare are working with Netflix to produce Dragon Age: Absolution, a new animated series coming this December.
]]>Since the release of the infamous Justice League 'Snyder Cut' last month, it's been fun having a think about what games should get a big indulgent revamp, and what those hypothetical revamps would look like. Former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider has been pondering exactly that on Twitter, revealing a load of things he would've liked to change in the most polarising game in the series, Dragon Age 2. Unfortunately, none of his ideas involve fewer spiders.
]]>What did you do to celebrate Dragon Age day on Friday? I watched a voice actor get brutally shut down by Dragon Age fans, after he posted the cringiest video I have ever watched in my life. Greg Ellis, the voice of Cullen in Dragon Age: Inquisition, decided that it would be a good idea to post a 40 minute video, in-character as Cullen, complaining about him and his voice actor being victimised by cancel culture. It is awful. It is hilarious. It might well be the best thing to happen to Dragon Age since Dragon Age 2.
]]>With BioWare starting to mutter about Dragon Age again (and rumours saying they'll announce DA4 this week), here's one person who won't be involved: long-running designer and director Mike Laidlaw, as he's joined Ubisoft Quebec. Laidlaw [not to be confused with Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw -ed.] left BioWare in 2017 after 14 years, where he'd been a lead writer on Jade Empire, a lead designer on the first two Dragon Age games, and the creative director of Dragon Age: Inquisition. He doesn't reveal what he's creatively directing at Ubisoft Quebec, the studio behind Ass Creed Odyssey, but says it's "truly interesting" and "exciting."
]]>Following the pre-pre announcement of news on something new in Dragon Age, BioWare have pre-announced that they'll open up in December. My fingers are crossed for a new game continuing the adventures of the merry gang in Kirkwall from Dragon Age II, though I suppose events Dragon Age: Inquisition would cut that off. And the mysterious project still could just be a dang comic book or something rather than another RPG.
]]>BioWare veteran Mike Laidlaw has parted ways with that RPG rabble after 14 years. He was co-lead writer on Jade Empire, a lead designer on the first two Dragon Ages and the creative director of Inquisition, and did a little design on Mass Effect. Laidlaw announced his departure last night with a tweeted statement. He doesn't explain why he's away but I suppose it's not our business. What's next? Well, for starters, a lot of Twitch and Twitter.
]]>Not for the first time, I've spent quite a while recently pondering the nature of roles - more specifically, mechanical role versus narrative role. When we think of RPGs, what we're usually thinking of is the latter. You play the role of the Hero, but in a universe that's typically designed to let you define that however you like. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but there's a key difference between that and stepping into the shoes of someone more specific. Geralt in The Witcher 3 for instance is - spoiler alert - a Witcher. Every encounter revolves around that, every system involves it, every decision has, whether it's by your choice or Geralt bringing it up, a mercenary element that reinforces that asking for money in exchange for your services is expected and not, as is often the case, the first step towards douchery and getting the Evil ending.
I've also been playing a lot of Hearthstone. The two things are linked.
]]>The times change, and we change with the times. Or in the case of RPGs, not. I've always felt this a bit of a shame, especially in games like World of Warcraft, where your character is officially hanging around long enough to see the leaves fall off the trees and the snow to cover up the capital cities. That's why I was quite keen on both Fallout 4 taking the time to redecorate Diamond City a little for at least Halloween and Christmas, and last week, to see a mod take the next step and give the Commonwealth a makeover for all seasons in a way that nobody's really tried since Lords of Midnight 3 way back in the 90s. Whole minutes of fun with the system clock there!
But then as now, it's hard not to start wondering how time could be given its due as more than the fire in which bad movies turn out to be even worse than they initially seemed. Maybe it could be our friend too, and in so many interesting ways.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
I don't want to talk about reused environments or mages running rampant or plot holes or spawning enemies or... I don't care. I want to talk about Kirkwall, more specifically how I really like Dragon Age II [official site] following up on another tedious 'roam the world saving it from ancient evil' fantasy gufffest to focus on one city over a few years. It's great that, isn't it? Pay attention, boring fantasy RPGs.
]]>Given a choice, I almost always play as a mage. Swords? Pah. Divine magic? Save it for Sunday School. Give me control over the elements, the power to reshape the very building blocks of the universe according to my every whim, and if at all possible, a cool hat. It's an easy fantasy to indulge in almost any RPG out there.
I just wish it was a more satisfying one.
]]>From 2014-2015, RPS's Senior Scottish Correspondent Cara Ellison wrote S.EXE, 29 columns about games about sex, games about love, games about the space in between those two things, games about sexuality, and games about schlongs. Unfortunately the series is on indefinite hiatus as Cara takes a break from writing about games after her spectacular but surely exhausting Embed With... project, but whether you missed it the first time, didn't catch all of them or are simply missing it already, you should absolutely revisit S.EXE yourself now. It's a by turns insightful and funny (and very often both) document of the wilder side of games, the darker side of games, the sillier side of games and a hugely important but often little-seen side of games. Here's the complete archive.
]]>I usually discover the best stories about games over a quiet drink with a friend. This week I am residing in the Isle of Wight, working with the artist Howard Hardiman, author of The Lengths. The Lengths is, amongst other things, an exploration of the world of male gay escorts based on real conversations with sex workers; illustrations and dialogue of the feelings and life of someone who lives to please other people. I found myself in The Mess asking Howard which games he liked that expressed something about the relationships between people. This will contain spoilers for Dragon Age II.
Howard explained to me that Aveline's crush on a coworker in Dragon Age II almost broke his heart. So we went back home to play The Long Road.
]]>This year? THIS YEAR? Why was I not told of this? (I was. It's just that I have the memory of a Leveson Inquiry witness these days). Yes, fantasy RPG sequel Dragon Age Inquistion is due this Autumn/Fall, and much as Bioware have some faith-rebuilding to do after the double-whammy of Dragon Age II and Mass Effect Ending-Gate, I really would like a big, fat, indulgent, glossy RPG on my hard drive right now. Will it be Dragon Age Not-III? The trailer below, which focuses on Frostbite 3 engine-powered environments, suggests I will at least be cooing at its surface.
]]>I actually don't think Dragon Age II was all that terrible. Or rather, I fully understand that elements of it were very, very bad (it had more caves than Ron Gilbert's The Cave, for instance; and not on purpose), but others were incredibly fascinating. Party members lived their own lives, themes like racism and security-vs-freedom got the spotlight, and your choices really, really didn't matter all that much. Was it a game whose budgetary and time constraints hung about its neck like a noose, leaving only gasping wisps of potential? Absolutely. But those limits also shaped it, so it was interesting to see a less powerful BioWare craft a narrative about, well, powerlessness. After discussing the baffling impracticality of sexism, Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider and I talked about the ups and downs of Dragon Age II and how they've ultimately guided Dragon Age III to a very different place.
]]>All this talk of sexism isn't going away, nor should it. The gaming industry's sick, and the symptoms are plain as day. Mystifyingly often, however, the immediate reaction to even the faintest hint of that suggestion is "No, nuh-uh! You just want to censor expression! Give me one good reason we actually need to change."* Well, if you really want to move beyond "Because jeez, it's basic human decency to treat someone else the way you'd like to be treated," Dragon Age III lead writer David Gaider's got a laundry list of practical reasons for you. 14 years at one of the most influential studios out there, after all, will do that to you. Especially when it's one that's certainly not innocent of mistakes and missteps of its own. Prior to Gaider's GDC talk on the very same subject, I caught up with him to discuss why sexism (and any sort of "-ism," really) is bad for everyone: you, me, the industry, and of course, women or anyone else directly affected.
]]>↑ that logo is a fake, sorry.
With Mass Effect now concluded, at least until the inevitable announcement of a new trilogy, a first-person shooter and a free-to-play god-knows-what, and SWTOR currently being fitted into its microtransacted iron lung, all eyes turn to the core Bioware team's next roleplaying move. The smart money is surely on a new Dragon Age game, and tiny wee scraps of hint have seemed to support this. Today we got significantly more than tiny wee scraps, as an alleged survey allegedly leaked by alleged specially-selected community members offers all manner of alleged potential details on a third Dragon Age game.
]]>Rumours are flying that Dragon Age 3 might be something more like the sequel to Dragon Age we've been hoping for. After Dragon Age 2 came out feeling more like a side-project, BioWare have dropped some hefty hints that they're looking to redress much of that in an unannounced third game for the series. At a PAX East panel, as spotted by Eurogamer and recorded by Gamespot, Dragon Age developers discussed what a hypothetical game might contain, were it to exist, which it currently doesn't, but obviously does. It's to be a far more varied game, with new locales, and decisions that carry over from previous games.
]]>Gameworlds have become ever-more lavish, but has there been a dark price paid for this? Craig Lager believes so. Production values are up but these worlds don't seem to react to players' actions as fulsomely as they once did, he worries - are we allowing games' strange logic to take us for granted? But there is yet hope. Frowned at: Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dragon Age II, Skyrim. Smiled at: The Witcher 2, Dwarf Fortress, Outcast. Please note these are Craig's views, not necessarily those of RPS.
In my version of Human Revolution, the police station should be surrounded. There should be SWAT teams, negotiators, probably even an evacuation zone. Adam Jensen’s face should be being projected from every single screen that litters Detroit's streets as Eliza explains him as being a more-than-prime-suspect in a new, horiffic incident. An hour ago, she would explain, Jensen asked for access to the police morgue and was declined. Now the back door has been broken into, and a path of corpses and hacked computers lead to the morgue in which a body has been clearly tampered with. Instead, Jensen walks into the main lobby and is greeted with “Hello”.
]]>Here's the trailer for that live-action Dragon Age TV series, starring that woman people on Twitter all have a crush on, and it's... Well.. It's. Well. Well, it makes Dragon Age II seem an awful lot more palatable all of a sudden. Bless everyone involved, but the budget's just not there, is it?
]]>BioWare have just released a trailer for a fresh chunk of Dragon Age 2 DLC, Mark of the Assassin. I’m not sure how big a chunk is - in fact, all I know about this one is that it involves an “impregnable fortress” that you’ll end up pregnating, “monsters” that you’ll end up killing and an elf voiced by Felicia Day, she of The Guild and Dr Horrible, among other things (presumably) that I don't know about. In fact, that seems to be the main selling point. It’s mentioned well before any details regarding content other than voice recordings. In fact, it’s pretty much the only detail mentioned at all, apart from the fact that this is "story" DLC rather than "item" DLC. Who wants more Dragon Age narrative? Anyone? See what you can glean below.
]]>Yes, obviously there's going to be a third game. It's a long way off, still. But what are they going to do with it? Match-3 puzzler? We should be so lucky. Instead it's going to feature an art style similar to DA2, and you'll be able to full tinker with the loadouts of your party members. Fighting will also be encounter-based, rather than surviving waves of enemies. Hooray!
]]>Oh, I hope this isn't a sign of a dark, headline-writing times to come. I don't want to spend the rest of 2011 writing 'Game X Gone From Steam' every other day. The latest departure from the packed ranks of Steam is EA and Bioware's Dragon Age II - and right on the eve of the launch of its new DLC Legacy.
Something which may be no coincidence.
]]>Ooh, EA have announced that Dragon Age 2's first big bit of story-driven DLC is nearing. Legacy, which features Hawke going into a Grey Warden prison to deal with a particularly unpleasant darkspawn nasty, is going to arrive on 26th of July. Needless to say, magicks which imprisoned the unpleasantness have worn out, because magic sort of "goes off" if you leave it in a dark dungeon for too long, and Hawke will have to deal with the consequences. Will it be any good? How much will it cost? I don't know, but one of our sinister agents has seen Legacy and talked to the team behind it, so we'll have more on that stuff soon.
In the meantime, you can watch the trailer, beloooooooow.
]]>This is a depressing year to be on the internet. And a doubly-depressing one to be a newswriter on the internet. The latest (but, let's not bloody kid ourselves, not last) game company to suffer the peculiar ire/amusement of hackers is Bioware. Fortunately, only a very specific bit of Bioware, so don't panic too much: their 10-year-old Neverwinter Nights forum. It actually happened a little earlier this month, but now Bioware are alerting everyone affected and opening up about exactly what details were compromised. You may have thought, following the initial talk of this hack, that it was no big deal for you, but if you used to play NwN you might well have left passwords, email addresses, phone numbers or CD keys in the information these imps have made off with. Credit card details are apparently safe, however. Full Bioware statement below.
]]>EA may not have given Battlefield fans the answer they wanted to hear, but meanwhile, back in the kingdom of Ferelden, things might be looking a little rosier. Eurogamer had a chat with EA bigwig Frank Gibeau about the reception to Dragon Age 2. He was careful not to actually slag off the game or its makers, but he did imply that the negative feedback has very much been taken on board.
]]>Now this is more like it. Dragon Age: Legends, the Facebook game intended to a) promote Dragon Age II and b) suck out your very soul, has been remixed by indie chaps Pixelante, creators of the lovely Pixel Legions. (But not the same lot as Auntie Pixelante aka Anna Anthropy - that would be something). The net result? Dragon Age: Legends becomes a romping good time, a festival of monster-splatting and levelling up rather than a glacially-paced exercise in begging.
]]>Bioware have released the first post-launch piece of downloadable content for Dragon Age II, Item Pack #1. For some £2.50 a pop, several "unique" items relating to each of the game's three classes (Warrior, Rogue and Mage) could be yours! That's the Warrior gear you can see up there. On the plus side, it reminds me of Morrowind's Ordinators, who were top-quality fascists to a man. On the down side, I'm not sure I can imagine a less interesting bit of bonus content, and the "#1" unsettles me. If you haven't yet read John's studious analysis of what he think Went Wrong with Dragon Age II, it's definitely worth a read.
]]>Coo - want Mass Effect 2 for free? If you've bought Dragon Age II, then it's already yours for the taking. Indeed, even if you buy a copy of Dragon Age II now, before 30th April, you can get the superb space-RPG for zero dollarpounds as well. This is, BioWare say, how they're celebrating their having sold one million copies of DA2 in two weeks.
]]>You may have noticed the lack of a full Dragon Age II review on RPS. This has nothing to do with slacking. I’ve been playing the game almost every day since my WIT of the first few hours, now on my second play through, just trying to get my head around what it is they got wrong. That's what I've tried to process here. As such, the below contains information that could spoil the story of the game.
]]>A peculiar accusation was made against Dragon Age II on the BioWare forums, in which a user accused the game of not properly catering for the straight male gamer. Honestly, I'd launched into writing this with the intention of factually reporting it, but just typing those words has made me want to start throwing chairs. What? Good grief, even if that were true, which it so spectacularly isn't, wouldn't it... but... good grief. Amazingly, one of BioWare's writers, David Gaider, gave a calm, level-headed response where I would have said capital swears. He makes some interesting comments, as EG point out.
]]>It’s often the case when reading a review of a longer game that you’ll see the phrase, “The first few hours struggle to get going,” or perhaps, “It takes a while to find its feet.” Which I think is enormously unreflective of the experience, and indeed the experience others will have when playing it. When other games regularly last five or six hours, an RPG having a poor opening five or six hours seems pretty hugely significant to me. And so it is that today I’m writing about the opening eight hours or so of Dragon Age II, before the improvements I’m already starting to see wash the memories from my head.
]]>Wow, well here's a crazy update. After being repeatedly told that he was intentionally locked out of his EA games because he broke the rules on the BioWare forum, and that this was in accordance to the Terms Of Service that he'd agreed to, this morning's internet famous man, Arno, has just been told that it was in fact a mistake.
]]>UPDATE: EA are now saying this was a mistake, and Arno has access to his games during the ban.
Original story: Be careful what you say. That's the lesson BioWare forum user Arno has learned in the last 24 hours, after an ill-advised comment on the BioWare forums has led to his EA account being locked, such that he cannot play his purchased copy of Dragon Age 2 for 72 hours.
It reveals a clause in the terms of service that accompany buying an EA game that will surprise the vast majority who do not read the microprint. Misbehave in the forum (as Arno fully admits he did), and you can have your right to play a legitimately purchased game taken away from you. Forever, if they want to.
]]>Dragon Age II is available for download today! If you're American, anyway. If you're in Europe, a magical temporal vortex of data-sucking horror slap-bang in the middle of the Atlantic is delaying the several gigabytes that comprise the digital version from reaching these shores. I mean, I presume it's that. There's no other rational explanation for introducing a gap of 3 days in an age where information can travel between continents within moments. There's no way it could be a silly retail decision that risks piracy from frustrated fans. No way it could be that.
Regardless, the official texture pack, which is something I wish more games would do, is excellent news.
]]>Oh I don't understand videogames any more. I feel like such an old man, harking back to the days when the game would come out, and then eight months later there'd be an add-on. Now I'm not sure if I'm only getting a fraction of the intended game when I open the box, what with pre-order bonuses, special editions with extra quests, and most of all, DLC. DLC is a great idea! More content, and downloadable because we've got this new thing called the internet. Great plan! But why am I posting a trailer for Dragon Age II's DLC below, over a week before the game has come out?
]]>That's all the information you need, isn't it? Get all 1.9GB here.
]]>Still nothing unlocked on the Dragon Age 2 demo page, but the demo is apparently out later today. We'll keep this post updated, so please put links in comments once it's live so we can get some mirrors and stuff. That said, I don't know whether the mirrors will count towards Bioware's one million downloads challenge, in which they've offered to unlock some in-game items if that figure is reached. Perhaps that's just downloads from the official page? Hmm.
]]>We're in for a whole lot more of this kind of thing, I suspect. Assassin's Creed 2 did it, Mortal Kombat's doing it, and now Dragon Age 2 is planning it. As the web becomes ever-more important to marketing games, viral techniques are springing to the fore. And what's more viral than a video you can embed all over the internet?
In this case, it's to be a live-action, six-part online TV show set in Bioware's Dragon Age universe. Both writing and starring in it is actor Felicia Day, a perennial Joss Whedon favourite and creator of WoW player-beloved MMO sitcom The Guild. So it probably won't be a cheap affair, but what kind of tone will it take?
]]>One day, in the distant future, we will have online meetings, conversations and indeed demos of games that don't begin with. "Uh... uh... yeah... I think so, yes, just give me... Hi! I think things are working now? Can you hear me at your end? Yes? Good, great, let's get started."
A new walkthrough live chat trailer thing has appeared for Dragon Age II, which is out in precisely one British month. It's a good chance to see the game running as it really runs, rather than in a smooth, rehearsed sequence. It's narrated by Mike Laidlaw, who is great, and I think is being played on a 360, which is less so. But hey ho, it's a remarkable 55 minutes of footage, accompanied by the silently heckling crowds of chatroom onlookers. And it's gone gold today! Which is good news, since PC Gamer's review is already with subs.
]]>So, after having too many options for creating a character in Dragon Age: Origins, we are now down to just three options for the Hawke character chap in Dragon Age 2, II, Two. He can be a mage! (DUDES GET MAGICKED TO DEATH!) He can be a rogue! (DUDES GET STABBED TO DEATH!) He can be a warrior! (DUDES GET UH MORE STABBED I GUESS!) You decide.
Watch it, below.
]]>And for once, that appears to be an accurate use of the word. "Mature" in a game rating tends to mean anything but. But once again BioWare are offering sexual freedom as one of the many ways you're free to define your experience of Dragon Age II. It means if you want to roleplay a gay character, you can.
]]>This forum post on the Bioware forums has detailed how the Dragon Age 2 DRM will work. The Steam version will use Steam, and nothing else. For the retail version there is no limit to install, no disc check, and are online checks, which mean that only five PCs can be used to play a single version of the game within a 24-hour period. While this game can also be played offline, you will need to "check in" after a number of days to keep playing.
]]>When it was announced that there would be Dragon Age armour in Mass Effect 2, it may have gone crashing through the fourth wall like a confused rhinoceros, but at least the two games came from the same developer. It's bemusing to try to fathom how the two universes might cross over, but we got over it. But for Dragon Age 2 you'll be able to unlock unique armour if you also have, er, Dead Space 2. Buh-huh?
There's a trailer explaining all this below.
]]>Bioware has revealed the plethora, the deluge of imaginary items they will be gifting to first-hand buyers of Dragon Age 2 and the game's pre-order customers. Are you sitting down? Are you reading this on an empty stomach? Because if not you may fall down and vomit simultaneously.
]]>I don't know why it should seem weird for DLC to be teased ahead of a game being release, but it just does, okay! It's like announcing your new haircut before you're finished growing the current one, or something. It's just getting ahead of yourself! Anyway, Dragon Age 2's Exiled Prince actually comes with pre-ordered versions of the "Signature Edition" of the game, which can be ordered from now until Jan 11th. For everyone else it will be a paid extra. It's some kind of murder mystery, but the looks of it, and also adds a character to the game. Head over to RPGSite for the trailer.
]]>There's been a tangy whiff of "hmm" around Dragon Age 2 amongst the PC faithful, with the game apparently headed in something of a press all the buttons kill all the monsters press them kill them press them kill them direction we perhaps hadn't expected from our beloved tactics'n'conversation opus. Turns out that perhaps we've got the wrong impression, though.
Now, while this video makes the bewildering mistake of primarily consisting of a chattering man filmed in near-darkness, it also very deliberately seeks to demonstrate that pause'n'play tactical combat remains present and correct in the PC version of the game.
]]>Thanks to some tricksy Russians operating out of the Igromir Game Expo,there's now in-game footage of Dragon Age 2 doing the rounds. You can watch it below. It's the same level I played at the GamesCom expo that made me very nervous indeed, and is (I think) the opening of the game. Click on through for a little bit of dialogue, a little bit of cutscenery and a whole lot of combat.
]]>How are we all feeling about Dragon Age 2? Quintin wasn't too impressed when he played it at this year's GamesCom, but me - with no experience of the game - I'm determinedly optimistic. I mean, it's not like BioWare messes up very often. However, if picking my ideal Dragon Age sequel, I wouldn't have it be more action orientated. Quite the opposite. They spent a decade developing that world's lore, and exploring it, interacting with it, learning from it: that's my motivation. Hitting it doesn't quite grab me in the same way. Still, it's not out for another six months, and I've not even seen it running, so I'm just wildly guessing. To become more informed on the matter there's a new trailer below, that shows some glimpses of in-game footage.
]]>UPDATE: Three new screens below, click for full image.
I've posted the Dragon Age 2 CGI trailer from EA's press conference below, via PCG. It features some fancy fighting, and doubtless at least half a dozen other clues about the full game. DA2 is out March 8th for the North Americans and March 11th for the Europeans.
]]>The EA GamesCom 2010 press conference has been wrapped up - and there was no Battlefield 3 showing - but there is some interesting material in there. I've quickly jotted the relevant stuff below.
]]>This video (below) from Game Informer's visit to Bioware is clearly grossly unrepresentative of what the finished game is going to be like, but it does contain lots of chatter from the devs, and a brief glimpse of a battle going on in the new game engine. Not looking particularly finished, but it's there nonetheless. It also demonstrates that games really are made by guys sat at desks, and not by cackling EA money-bots in a city of darkness in the caves beneath California.
]]>Just as a follow-up to Jim's post earlier, it's worth pointing out a Bioware comment from last week in which they revealed that Dragon Age: Origins was their most successful game ever. Which makes it doubly weird that they're trying to make Dragon Age 2 more like the Mass Effects. The first one, at least, was a less successful project.
*As of last November. Mass Effect 2 probably did okay too.
]]>Why change a winning formula? That's what I was left wondering after discovering that, on the one hand, Dragon Age sold better than any Bioware game ever as of November, and on the other, that the formula is changing dramatically for Dragon Age 2. It's worth noting that the PC version isn't changing as much as the console versions of the game. We will apparently retain "strategic combat", which is a good news, while console chums will be "playing to their strengths" with more actiony combat mechanics. Conversation will also now be handled via Mass Effect's wheel system. The biggest change, however, is that Dragon Age 2 will be getting its own equivalent of Shepard, with player character options reduced to the male of female versions of "Hawke" (pictured? I think). Bioware confirmed on their forums that you will have to play a human.
The Official Dragon Age 2 site is live. No trailer just yet, but that's coming on the 17th of August, apparently. There is some fey concept art, too, and that possibly links to the last of the details that the site holds:
]]>[EDIT: Actually this was also confirmed in February, as we reported here.] According to IGN, Dragon Age 2 has been officially confirmed by EA, although it had already been partially revealed both by a previous mention of another Dragon Age game in the works, and an inclusion of the title of the game in a Warhammer Online press release. Bioware had been teasing something, too, as their Twitter mentioned that today would be "great" for Bioware fans. So there might be more action when Americaland wakes up. In the meantime we've had our artists knock up an impression of the new Dragon Age logo.
]]>Dragon Age 2 could be with us as soon as 2011? This appears to be one of the headlines to emerge from EA's latest telegraph broadcast, alongside Dead Space 2's peculiar disappearance from the PC, release dates for APB and Crysis 2, and signs of improving fortunes at the publisher. Oddly enough there's details below.
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