Or so we’re supposed to think, I guess. Hey, everybody! We’re on time this week! Let’s not dawdle, here’s what’s going on:
- Microsoft unveils the Surface, a powerful new tablet with a keyboard cover
that may cost $800-$1000 we’ll discuss price later
- Nintendo shows off a new, bigger 3DS with a longer battery life, possibly at the expense of the whole ‘portable’ thing.
- Persona 4: The Golden gives Vita sales a shot in the arm. Good game Sony, now you just need, oh, another couple dozen of those.
- A week after EA’s Origin pointman says they won’t be offering “going out of business” deep discounts, Origin offers deep discounts. EA GOING OUT OF BUSINESS FULL STORY AT 11
- Squenix might bring Final Fantasy VII to Steam, if only they could get it to work. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy XI continues to print money.
- Sega launches a browser-based card game for Valkyria Chronicles, to be depicted in the TBS miniseries, “How to Ruin Everything Beautiful in This World.”
- Blizzard suspends digital Diablo III sales briefly to combat goldfarmers, another Capcom fighting game veteran leaves for greener pastures, and more!
Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – Tablet Plus Keyboard Equals Innovation’ »
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What Happened This Week
Hello everybody, and welcome back! Sorry to push the update back without notice, but a shortage of time this week really cut into the editing process. It’s a long story, but after careful consideration, What Happened This Week will now be uploaded every Sunday instead of Saturday. Again, my apologies. With that said, let’s get to the news:
- Zynga buys out yet another indie developer, then tries to bribe tax cuts out of San Francisco. Where have I seen this behavior before…
- Blizzard moves its MMO veterans to other projects. Negative projections may be premature, but a decade is a long time.
- Microsoft has something big coming up for 2015. Let the Xbox 720 speculation begin!
- BioWare: Our romances are for everyone, not just straight men. But don’t misunderstand, they are quite angsty.
- AT&T rolls out bandwidth caps in May, invests in a doom fortress, and hires a short man with a bladed hat.
- Portable gaming news, Metacritic rating people, and more!
Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – AT&T Bills Zynga, Blizzard Gets Too Old for This’ »
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BioWare has just revealed the latest downloadable add-on for Dragon Age: Origins. The tellingly-named Darkspawn Chronicles puts you in control of a hurlock vanguard, responsible for carrying out the whim of the Archdemon and leading the darkspawn against the human nation of Ferelden.
The bullet points suggest some kind of alternate history is at work, exploring what would happen if your Warden didn’t survive their Joining. Unlike previous content, Darkspawn Chronicles is a standalone adventure, though it does unlock an item for both Origins and Awakening.
The content is set for a May release, though an exact day has not been stated. Further information can be found on the Dragon Age website.
What often separates a good adventure from a classic one is whether it leaves you immediately wanting more. So it is with last year’s Dragon Age: Origins, a game sometimes hampered by technical and balance problems but broadly acclaimed for its storytelling and depth of character. The first proper expansion for the game, Awakening is at once familiar territory and new ground, taking established lore and mechanics from Origins and making smart additions to both. Small but recurring issues keep Awakening from ever quite stepping out of Origins‘ shadow, but it takes a lot less time to do much of what Origins did right. Continue reading ‘Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening – Staff Review’ »
The Return to Ostagar content for Dragon Age: Origins has been temporarily removed from the game’s download list due to an ongoing technical issue. According to BioWare’s Chris Priestly via the BioWare forums, a title update for the 360 version caused class specializations to function incorrectly. Until more information is available or a fix has been provided, players are advised to not download the content if they have not already done so.
However, BioWare also announced that Dragon Age will be receiving a full-fledged expansion come March 16. Entitled Awakening, the expansion will immediately follow the events of the game as the player takes command of the Ferelden chapter of the Grey Wardens. It has been confirmed that players can import their characters from Dragon Age, or roll one up from scratch.
Further details on Awakening can be found on the official website.
BioWare has announced that Return to Ostagar, the upcoming DLC for Dragon Age: Origins, will be available for purchase January 5. As the title suggests, the content revolves around the old fortress of Ostagar, where the Grey Wardens joined with Ferelden’s king to stand against the darkspawn blight. Do note there are possible spoilers for players who haven’t cleared Ostagar. Continue reading ‘Dragon Age Takes Players Back to Ostagar Next Week’ »
BioWare has confirmed that Dragon Age: Origins will be hitting the Mac platform this holiday season. Community Coordinator Chris Priestly stated that both editions of Dragon Age are available now for preorder, and he also posted the required system specifications: Continue reading ‘Dragon Age: Origins On the Way to Macs’ »
Half Baldur’s Gate, half Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins hits too many of the right notes for fans of either to ignore. It’s big, it’s epic, it has tight production values, and it does a superb job of creating a unique set of mythos for its world, staple fantasy elements notwithstanding. Unfortunately, a score of small issues drag down much of the game’s interaction and controls, and some aspects of the story aren’t as clever as they think they are. Still, if you can get into the complex, well-written story, Dragon Age will grab you and not let go. Continue reading ‘Dragon Age: Origins – Staff Review’ »
Bioware recently announced that it has added more DLC for Dragon Age: Origins. Entitled Return to Ostagar, this addon allows players to return to the site of the Battle of Ostagar to seek revenge against the darkspawn and lay claim to a king’s armor and weaponry. They’ll also have a second chance to add Dog to their party.
The DLC will be “available this holiday season,” according to the official site.
Hello again, ladies and gents. Dragon Age: Origins is on a few of our playlists, and while I was waiting for it to arrive, I wrapped up my mandated quarterly playthrough of an older Bioware/Black Isle joint. It goes without saying that the Baldur’s Gate series is critically acclaimed, but it’s got problems; big ones that not everyone can overlook. I wonder sometimes how I got past them, how it became one of my favorite series. Was it in spite of its flaws, or because of them?
Do note that this was recorded a few days ago, just prior to the game arriving. In any case, let’s chat, shall we?
Continue reading ‘NPCast 14: Baldur’s Gate – Better Living Through Ham and Cheese’ »
A chunk of our Halloween content has been eaten by zombies. Given the nature of the zombie virus, we expect it to reanimate in a matter of hours… after which it will have to be put down again. RandomNPC’s Zombie Pacification Division apologizes for the inconvenience.
In any case, BioWare has released details of a social networking feature for the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins. This network will record and store key information about each player’s achievements, character builds, decisions in the story, and even screenshots, to be shared with other players across platforms. Continue reading ‘Dragon Age Social Network Takes Comparing Achievements Up a Notch’ »
Via a live chat with the official PlayStation Blog, Bioware announced that Dragon Age: Origins will be landing on the PS3 in North America on November 3. This means that all three versions of the game will be in stores on the same day, so PS3 owners won’t have to wait an agonizing two weeks for their copies while all the Xbox and PC owners chatter about the game.
Bioware has released a companion flash game for their upcoming Dragon Age: Origins. Entitled Dragon Age Journeys, the game tasks players with rolling up character types and completing various adventures and quests with a turn-based combat system. Certain achievements will unlock special items in Origins, accessed by logging in with your EA account through the game itself.
Dragon Age Journeys can be played here. Download access to the special items expires June 30, 2010.
Time was, companies waited a few months before releasing expansion content, usually to the tune of $29.99 and with a few new monsters/maps/weapons to hold players over until the sequel rolled around. Breaking the mold they used not long ago with Mass Effect, Bioware have announced its downloadable expansions for Dragon Age: Origins will be available on release day. Continue reading ‘Dragon Age Getting DLC Content At Launch’ »
In preparation for next month’s release of Dragon Age: Origins, the folks from Bioware have released the DA:O Character Creator for download. The creator will allow players to build and experiment with a variety of character setups prior to launch, and may be used when the game is released.
Additionally, Bioware have joined with EA and IDW Publishing to produce the upcoming Dragon Age comic book, to be written by “Ender’s Game” author Orson Scott Card. There has been no answer as to the question of whether the comic will segue into a second civil war in the near-future United States.
The character creator will be available for download on October 13. Further details are available through the official site.
Fantasy just can’t get away from elves, as a rule, and Dragon Age: Origins is no exception. The latest video from Bioware depicts the elven mercenary Zevran, a talented swordsman who inexplicably sounds like Antonio Banderas. The video depicts an encounter in which Zevran, coated in blood and lying on the ground, gives the lowdown on his occupation and signs on with the group; presumably in the aftermath of some battle, as blood splatters also cover the hero and some of his entourage. The trailer can be found here.
Bioware also revealed another in-game region known as the Korcari Wilds: a cold, ominous forest far from civilization, where superstitious locals speak of witches stealing their children and rely on the guidance of tribal shamans. A short video on Bioware’s website elaborates, suggesting that something called the Dark Spawn have infested the area.
When I married Mrs. Right I didn’t know her first name was Always. Continue reading ‘Mass Media 09/12/09’ »
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Yesterday, Bioware announced some of the voice actors for Dragon Age: Origins. Leading the list is Tim Curry, who is lending his well-practiced sinister voice to the game’s calculating villain, Arl Rendon Howe. Kate Mulgrew and Tim Russ, both of “Star Trek: Voyager” fame, are also cast members. Mulgrew will be providing the voice of Flemeth, an immortal witch who plays an important role in the player’s survival. The cast also includes Claudia Black from “Stargate SG-1” and Steve Valentine from “Crossing Jordan.”
Bioware has posted a video on YouTube that shows Tim Curry and Kate Mulgrew at work in the studio. Curry also makes a few comments about his character.
Hang in there Slayer, I gotcha! Right after I eat this cake that’s mysteriously lying out on the table for some reason, on which that dead guy was apparently trying to write ‘poison’ before he keeled over. There we go! Now, on to save the good man from the – gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! *death*
In this update: Cross Treasures, Dragon Quest IX, Dragon Age: Origins, Persona 3 Portable, Phantasy Star Portable 2, Wizardry: Dungeon of the Imprisoned Souls, Vandal hearts: Flames of Judgment, and Guild Wars 2. Continue reading ‘Mass Media 08/23/09’ »
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