Dragon Age 'Return to Ostagar' DLC on 360, PC Jan. 5; PS3 'later in January'

by Christopher Grant on Dec 29th 2009 1:15PM

click for "Return to Ostagar" gallery

While trailing behind what some of us might call "this holiday season" (as originally pledged), the latest expansion for BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins, dubbed "Return to Ostagar," has been given a more finite release date of January 5th for both Xbox 360 and PC. The PS3 release is slated for "later in January." Aaryn Flynn, General Manager and Vice President at BioWare Edmonton, says of the DLC offering, "Return to Ostagar represents BioWare's commitment to providing a steady stream of compelling post release content as we continue to expand the Dragon Age universe."

For just $5, and the promise of "the mighty arms and armor of the once great King Cailan," we imagine we'll be returning to Ostagar next week ... and as long as we're there, it won't hurt to find out what "King Cailan's top-secret political agenda" is, right? Check out a video of DLC expansion after the break.

Dragon Age: Origins "Return to Ostagar" DLC

Source

Tags: BioWare, DLC, Dragon-Age-Origins, EA, Electronic-Arts, Microsoft, release-date, Return-to-Ostagar, video, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (78)

Bioware's been pretty good with the pricing of their DLC. Mass Effect only had those 2 episodes, but both were $5, and bring down the sky was a good value at that price. This looks like it will be an hour or two long but probably entertaining, and priced just right.

"The PS3 release is slated for "later in January"

Ouch, well at least they won't be left out of some Bioware goodness while we're playing ME2 :P

ME2 is the only game your looking forward to at the moment, am I right?

Only one in January. Heavy Rain and Splinter Cell in feb. and God of War 3 in March.

nice flame bait

Nah that wasn't flamebait, more like a friendly jab.

GOW3?
Well, at least you like one good franchise.

Nothing like a friendly jab in the eye. ;)

You can always count on Tmac to be his usual dick-like self

In my game I killed of Alistair, I wonder how that will work out with my leveled character.

You heartless son of a bitch. Alistair is the best character in the game!

I didnt say I did it willingly!! It was him or me & frankly I think I am the best character in the game. So, between him & me there isnt much of a choice.

I really don't care for the whole "choose your path" game, but when it involves killing off certain characters, count me in. I really hate some of the annoying characters in games. If OoT was this kind of game, Navi would be the first one to kill off, then I would make it so I wouldn't have to kill anyone else because without Navi, OoT is flawless.

Dude, you killed the main character! Alistair is THE MAIN CHARACTER!! YOU BASTARD!

SPOILER ALERT! Sorta

** If you kill Allistair who comes forward when you challenge Logaine at that meeting?

Actually I asked him to kill himself & did not kill him myself.

Thanks for the spoiler dickface, I wasnt that far in the game yet.

Why would you read the comments if you did not want your surprise to be spoilt. Also, FYI the game is so good you might not even encounter that situation if your decisions are different. Every action maters in the game.

how did you do that? I'm on my 4th playthrough and ive yet to encounter a way to directly kill Alistair other than having him slay the archdemon

Yeah. Bioware did NOT outsource development. They concentrated more on the PS3 version and as a result it looks a lot better than the 360 version and it also has a slightly smoother framerate.

...Reply fail

I didn't think it was possible either. The only ways I know to kill him are:

SPOILAHZ

Let him slay the Archdemon
Don't speak up for him when Anora sentences him to death

Unless, of course, he means that he convinced Alistair to sacrifice himself, which I guess would be suicide.

it better have lots of content. cause the wardens keep was dissapointing. you were pretty much buying a skill upgrade and a suit of armor and 1 hour of gameplay. I hope it is isn't 1 hour gameplay and the princes awesome armor. I don't need items when I can just use my characters don't need to call any allies for the whole last battle.

for $5 it doesnt need a whole lot of content. The Wardens keep was something like $10 and the STone Prisoner was $15

@ Pirate

Sure, Bioware worked on Dragon Age. The same Dragon Age that was then ported to PS3 and 360. Bioware made the original and thus did indeed work on all versions. But the actual porting was outsourced to a development studio named Edge Of Reality.
Look at the credits from the game, or look at the opening movies where the EoR logo comes up or check out the Edge Of Reality site at http://www.edgeofreality.com/games.html

Seriously, just repeating 'Bioware did da PS3 verion and they luvs it', doesn't make it any more true. Unless you're saying that the credits of the game are just making it all up.

If youd have made a post like that in the first place then i would have believed you. Anyway, i didnt know that. Very interesting. Technically Bioware did develop it but the porting was done by Edge of Reality? I get it now.

I lol'd at PS3 Version Shipping Later.

firstly it's dlc, so it doesn't "ship"

secondly, why?

Who's this Candlejack guy and what in t

@atrimus: Because BioWare contracted out the porting of the PS3 version of the game to another company. Odds are they're doing the same with the DLC.

Joystiq had a post where members of Bioware's DAO team expressed how much they liked working on the PS3. some sites said the PS3 version had the edge as far as visuals (over the 360 version), and Bioware even un-delayed the PS3 version so that it could ship simultaneously with the 360 version. none of this alludes to a situation where Bioware outsourced development.

Yeah. Bioware did NOT outsource development. They concentrated more on the PS3 version and as a result it looks a lot better than the 360 version and it also has a slightly smoother framerate.

Actually, both console versions were outsourced to a development studio named Edge Of Reality. The PC version is the one version where Bioware did all the work.
Check out: http://www.edgeofreality.com/games.html
Or, you know, the openning titles of the actual game.

Boware worked on ALL versions. Check the interviews, they say Developing Dragon Age on the PS3 has made them more open to PS3 development.

I bought the 360 version, played through once. Gonna sell it and get it for PC. It loses so much between the two.

"it also has a slightly smoother framerate"

That's not really true, the framerate is actually worse, all you have to do is pan the camera in one of the open environments and you'll experience skipping. Some may not notice it or mind it, but it is there. I'm pretty sure it has more to do with streaming data from the blu-ray than anything or just poor optimization.

Personally, I could not take it 2 hours in, I literally felt sick to my stomach. Luckily I was able to trade it in for the 360 version. Textures are slightly worse, but DA isn't much of a looker on any platform to begin with.

Other things I've noticed from PS3 to 360 version:
-Loads much faster especially with the game installed
-Subtle shrubbery/bush animation cut absent from the PS3 version
-More detailed water than the PS3 version
-No skipping, pretty consistent 30fps
-I dunno if they fixed the Blood Dragon Plate armor for PS3, but the stats (for some reason) are stronger on the 360 version

On bioware.com PS3 DA:O forums players are requesting a patch for the framerate issue, but bioware has been quiet on it. Again, the issue is there, but some don't mind playing with it or don't notice it.

rhys.corlett: If youd have made a post like that in the first place then i would have believed you. Anyway, i didnt know that. Very interesting. Technically Bioware did develop it but the porting was done by Edge of Reality? I get it now.

Ryan: Alright, i will give the framersate is a tiny bit smoother on the 360. But the PS3 version does have vastly improved textures and the load times are faster than the 360. Water is absolutly 100% the same between both versions and the shrubbery animation IS in the PS3 version.

And just to further hammer home my point to Ryan (im not ragging on the 360 im just hammering home a point that Dragon age is better on PS3). Heres what a few reviews have said about the differences:

Gamespot -

"he PlayStation 3 version features higher-quality textures than those on the Xbox 360, better color saturation, smoother facial animations, and shorter load times."

IGN -

"The 360 version has downright disgusting textures and horribly long load times, whereas the PS3 has neither of these problems."

Gamepro -

"The PC version is the supreme ruler here, however, if you're choosing between the two console releases, the PlayStation 3 has the upper hand with higher resolution textures, shorter load times and better animations"

You wouldn't know the differences Pirate since you never owned both versions. I have, and my reasoning for trading in the PS3 version was soley on the framerate since the game is visually unimpressive across all platforms, the visual hit in textures made no difference to me in my decision.

Of course the textures are better on PS3, I never EVER said otherwise.

The water IS MUCH more detailed on the 360 version. Just watch the gametrailers vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVmQ7RK4lhA

The load times ARE MUCH faster on 360 if you install the game to the HDD (I think I mentioned this...yup I did). This is something reviewers don't mention since they are most likely running it without installing.

I never said that the 360 version was better or anything I just pointed out that both are different. A Bioware employee has been quoted that both are exactly the same performance and graphic wise when it's obvious that is not the case.

Also:
http://www.lensoftruth.com/?p=16618

If you scroll down, you can see the difference in the amount of reflection detail lacking in the PS3 version. Again, I'm not saying that one is better than the other, the article even says that PS3 version "wins".

To me tho, if the game looks as mediocre as DA:O does across all platforms, it all comes down to which has better performance and playing it on PS3 was like playing a PC version that couldn't handle high settings. Which is pretty odd considering it's not a visually taxing game to begin with. It SHOULD perform flawlessly, and yet it does not. (It was my first choice afterall).

360 on the other hand, was like running settings on medium with much better performance. I wanted to play it on high, but I didn't like odd frame skip. I can play the game without feeling nauseous. I wanted PS3 to be the superior version to play, but the framerate hindered my experience so bad.

[banned]

First of all, Ryan. Your just funny. I have owned both versions (rented for 360, bought for the PS3). No matter what you say you cannot change the fact that almost EVERY reviewer has said the PS3 has the better version. Gametrailers has some of the most laughable comparisons ive seen. Their Assassins Creed one was just hilariously bias. Lens Of Truth has had quite a few whoppers as well. Ill take the word of almost every reviewer and my own conclusion over any "Comparison" website.

Ok, ignore the fact that the water is more detailed in the 360 version and I'll continue to ignore that the PS3 has better textures and skippy framerate, oh wait, that's right I DON'T ignore the fact that it does! I completely acknowledge the differences between both!

I never have said that the PS3 wasn't the "better version" and that those website reviews lie (there was no need for you to post them in the first place). I merely state reasons why I choose the 360 over it, the differences between the two and that seems to translate to you: me bashing the PS3 version and saying that the 360 version is the end all be all version to own.

Please know that I mean no ill will whatsoever. I apologize for assuming you never tried both versions, I just thought that you would know the water detail differences more if you had played both. Same for load times when both versions are fully installed.

"Return to Onstar" ehh? So I can expect some General Motor's product placement in this then? What? Opps... nevermind.

So dumb, but I genuinely laughed out loud! Ha ha..

Christmas has 12 days, so it's not really over until the Epiphany (Jan. 6th is the last day). They get off on a technicality by releasing on the 5th.

Another reason to wait for the GOTY edition!

Has EA historically done GoTy editions? The only one i can think of is the Left 4 Dead 1 goty, but that only came with dlc that was already free. If they really plan to have as long term support of DLC as they have promised, wouldn't they stand to profit more from people buying the regular edition and then all the DLCs?

I dunno, just crossing my fingers that some future GOTY edition will release with all DLC included.

In the articles about DLC, please put the prices in MS Points too.

As $5 means nothing to those in the UK like me. However MS Points are used on Xbox LIVE in all regions.

I'm guessing $5 = 400 points?

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Dragon Age 'Return to Ostagar' DLC on 360, PC Jan. 5; PS3 'later in January'

Dragon Age: Origins "Return to Ostagar" DLC

Reader Comments (78)

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