Tag Archive

Dragon Age: Origins: Origins

Written by John Walker on October 30, 2008.

Below the jump is a pleasantly long video showing off Dragon Age’s conversations, from the perspective of a few different races, and demonstrating the difference that various origin stories will make. Some of the acting is quite a relief - a good degree better than in other videos we’ve seen of the game. And extremely British, which I hadn’t realised. (And amazingly, actually British actors, rather than embarrassing mockney attempts).

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The Old Republic - Reactions Brain Dump

Written by Jim Rossignol on October 22, 2008.

So the new Star Wars MMO news is pouring in now, and I thought I’d have a little look at what’s known about it so far, and post some thoughts.

The thing that Bioware are most keen to emphasise is that this will be an MM that tells a story. They’re aiming to make this a game in which their classic RPG-creating skills will come to the fore, allowing MMO players to have a solo adventure of the highest standard. This is commendable, I suppose, at least if you set it against the backdrop of World Of Warcraft and the other big, quest-based MMOs. If The Old Republic is able to tell a lengthy, on-going story that encompasses our entire game life, rather than a series of multi-level bursts of questing narrative, then Bioware could be on to something.

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That’s No Moon. It’s An MMO: The Old Republic!

Written by Kieron Gillen on October 21, 2008.

Well, it appears that gaming’s most open secret is finally confirmed proper-like. Bioware KOTOR (+300 years) MMO, The Old Republic, has been announced today. There’s plenty more screens on the site and I’ll lob the press release beneath the cut, but this is really the sort of thing which makes me think creating an RPS code where if we print rumours and use a certain code word (”Tartan”) it means we know this rumour is totally true and you shouldn’t even consider any other possibilities. Less cynically, they’ll be more theorising around it in the next few days - and I suspect more than a little in the comments thread. Until then, examine the press release or devour all the info on their site to feed your own theories.
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That KOTOR MMO: Big Reveal Soon?

Written by Alec Meer on October 3, 2008.

Oddly, the story we ran four months back about EA letting slip that Bioware were working on a Star Wars: Knight of the old Republic MMORPG is one that continues to pick up sporadic comments even now. Seems there’s a lot of very, very strong feelings about KOTOR, with a lot of people concerned that it moving online means they’ll never see another single-player outing or have the various dangling plot-threads resolved. Even without any details whatsoever, there was a lot of spitting, expletive-filled fury about the game’s mere existence, much of which we removed in the name of peace, harmony and not having this site be the number one Google hit for “F*CK YOU EA!!!!!!!”

Sounds like we’ll soon find out whether folks’ fears are justified, as ‘orrible UK tabloid The Daily Star has blared that it’s off to see the game in San Francisco. Details and screens soon then, hopefully. Will it be Galaxies 2, WoW in space or will a rejuvenated Bioware - going on what we’ve seen of Dragon Age so far - come up with something new and distinct? Via CVG.

Mass Effect Goes To The Movies

Written by John Walker on September 21, 2008.

According to Variety, BioWare’s most recent RPG, Mass Effect, is to definitely be a movie. There have been rumours floating around for a while, but Variety seem assured that the rights have been optioned by producer Avi Arad (responsible for every Marvel movie you can think of).

Of course, stuff gets optioned all the time, so this isn’t exactly the beginning of production. This is Mr Arad expressing an interest in getting a film off the ground. Although he must be a bit busy, with his own recently launched company, as well as producer/exec producer credits on thirteen forthcoming Marvel movies in the next five years. So there’s likely a bit of a wait before we find out which version of Commander Shephard will make it to the big screen. But if it’s not a she, with red hair and a pointed face, who survived a terrible attack, then I shall protest outside cinemas. (Thanks to Andrew for the tip).

Dragon Age: Origins ‘Dev Walkthrough’

Written by Jim Rossignol on September 17, 2008.

The two sizable videos that lie beyond the cut contain a wide expanse of Dragon Age information, with tonnes of in-game footage. There’s plenty of time spent in the game world, looking at quests, conversations and so on - far more detail of the general RPG stuff than we’ve seen previously. It’s spoilerific, obviously, but the amount of detail covered in the two pieces certainly has me looking forward to this game even more than I had been previously. The GameVideos servers seem to be creaky slow at the moment, so this might take some time to load.

Dragon Age is due in Q1 2009, apparently.
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Morality Tales - BioWare Versus The Issues

Written by John Walker on August 26, 2008.

I’ve been playing lots of Mass Effect recently, because as a leading games critic it’s essential I stay ahead of the curve and keep my finger on the pulse. A mere nine months after buying it on 360 and then never playing it, and then blagging a PC version only three months after its second release, I’m on the case.

It would probably be controversial to say that BioWare’s three most recent RPGs, Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect, are all exactly the same game in a different setting. Because Mass Effect’s setting is quite similar to KotOR’s. But what’s rather fortunate is that they change the combat style in each, so there’s always something unique to complain about on a forum. What’s also important to note is that they’re all three flipping ace, and I love them. They just… they just tend to do this one really silly thing.

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Dragon Age: Oh The Acting

Written by Jim Rossignol on August 25, 2008.

Among the residual Leipzig footage was a few minutes of Dragon Age cutscene, and a it’s a pretty good barometer for the kind of acting we can expect from the new Bioware RPG. It’s looking like splendid ego-action from men in armour discussing the Fate Of The Kingdom, not unlike the RPS chatroom every morning. Sadly, it does not feature much acting from the Big Blue Toothface Of Doom (pictured) although he does a good growl.

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More Dragon Age Footage

Written by John Walker on August 21, 2008.

Like the title says. I’m finally playing Mass Effect for the first time at the moment, and oddly it’s making me look forward to Dragon Age a lot more. I’m not Mr Orcs & Goblins (RPS has enough of that type already), but the sterility of Mass Effect’s future has me aching to get into an olde worlde fantasy setting. What I’m loving about the in-game footage we’ve seen so far is quite how trad it all appears. Despite being in a far more versatile engine than Bioware’s previous D&D games, seeing those little green circles around their feet has made me feel all nostalgic.

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Mass Effect Brings Down The Sky

Written by John Walker on July 29, 2008.

Remember when we were all fussing about the copy protection on Mass Effect, and then there was that compromise where EA said you’d need to authenticate for downloadable content? Well, it’s time to put it all to the test, as the first lump of new content is available: Bring Down The Sky.

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