Pre-orders for Dragon Age: Origins 'Awakening' expansion now available on Steam

You.... you don't understand what pre-loading is do you?
http://www.overclock.net/other-software/292825-how-pre-load-games-steam.html
It's for people who want to play it the second it comes out + extra goods within the game.

go back to engadget

it's actually a "pre-purchase". A "pre-order" implies you actually have the option of backing out.

Either one sounds stupid though. You're purchasing something before you purchase it?

I've never actually done this, but from what I've read on the Steam forums you can usually get a refund on a Steam preorder.

Was that joke really to high brow for you? Honestly?

@Zoinks -- you can; it involves sending a support ticket, but they're pretty responsive (within 3 hours on a Saturday night after I decided that I really didn't want Star Trek Online after all)

That's probably why it's not releasing until March.

I really, REALLY want to get this, but I won't give Bioware another dime for DA:O until they fix that new game-ending bug introduced with Return to Ostagar and the latest title update.

I want my specializations back, damn it!

You do realize that any specialization you've unlocked that playthough will still be functional.

WIth the exception of ones you have to buy, it's not a big deal, as getting most of them can be done fairly easy, as long as you're willing to let them talk your ear off.

YES TO THIS.

I didn't get burned on Fallout 3 because I'm aware of Bethesda's Modus Operandi so I simply waited for the GOTY edition instead of jumping on the DLC (They did get me on the double dip because I got both original and GOTY on Day 1, but at least with Bethesda you can count on a "blind" DLC install disc that you can share with friends and make it hurt a little less).

Bioware... this is new for you guys! Stop it. No really, stop it. I bought Warden's Keep because I wasn't expecting this foolishness, Now a retail expansion pack for the first part of a trilogy? What? I swear, if you release DLC for the EXPANSION pack, I will personally go over there and punch each of you in the face.

JUST GET ON WITH THE SERIES!

Stop making extra content that you don't have to buy but I want to?

Can I vote you down harder?

I'm all for expansion content for a stand-alone game, but for a trilogy? All I'm saying is hold off on the side story until you... well, you know, finish the story. It's the publishing equivalent of rambling. That's what editors are for.

Nothing good can come from a side story produced in the middle of a highly anticipated trilogy. Just ask The Star Wars Holiday Special. I say just get on with it, and double dip later. How annoyed with people have been if ODST came out before Halo 3?

They're already sort of phoning it in with this. The major enemy of this expansion is exactly like the other 1000 guys you killed in the main campaign (and got an achievement for doing so), except he can TALK. Wow. Day one purchase.

Look, I love strong content as much as the next guy, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't Bioware's idea. If you have an idea for an awesome trilogy, you don't want to sabotage yourself by going off on a tangent and losing half of your audience. I'm annoyed because I want this series to SUCCEED. That's part of why we never saw the end of the Oddworld Quintology,

Well ok that almost might be a valid point (not really) if Dragon Age was a trilogy (it isn't.)

It'll be avaliable as a retail disc for all platforms, last I checked.

Bah. Reply failure. Meant for Dalrint

TOOO MANY GAMES

All true Bradwart. All true.

Ah, apparently it's back up now. Now I can get that last damn Halo 2 map pack.

The sheer power of awesome.

They have a lot of staff, split into different projects.

The great thing about their studio is that its very open ended, the big guys (producers, production managers, lead designers and etc.) go back and forth with the programmers on various games.

Thats why, if you look at DAO and ME2's credits, you'll see a lot of the same people with some exceptions.

Clearly this open ended along with great working environment and lack of hierarchical management design makes Bioware a super awesome and successful team.

It's pretty easy to take the exact same game and copy and paste it into different unimaginative highly derivative settings.

You know what, that was rather mean spirited. I find comments like that slipping far too easily out of my hands/mouth, maybe it is all this stress coming and going. I don't even know why I had any sort of cynicism in me, and I don't know myself to be like that. What's the purpose, what's the point, where did these comments aim to go in the bigger picture? I can't find answers, and thus think it ridiculous.

I haven't even played Dragon Age or Mass Effect. I don't even know what qualities these game have (though I have been subjected to amounts of hype).

I apologize for that and other comments, and this just tells me more about what issues I need to think about more. I really need to question myself a bit harder and stop going on slur sprees, because it's aimless and stupid.

I just need to get that out.

@wcarnation

works for gta, call of duty, and just about any other franchise.

just not as well.

Trust me, wcarnation, Mass Effect and Dragon Age, Jade Empire, and KotOR are NOT alike. At all. Apart from the BioWare logo on the front.

I have actually heard that complaint before, due to the archetype they built their games around. In every game, you end up going to four different locations (planets, cities, etc.) and "collecting" important objects (Star Maps, squad members etc.) while completing your fair share of side quests. This is, of course, an overgeneralization, as their games go much deeper than that.

I don't know where your second post came from wcarnation, that was some weird stuff.

Except there are FIVE Star Maps in KotOR.

And there's Denerim, Kinloch Hold, Redcliffe, Orzammar and the Brecellian Forest in DA:O. I miscounted.

He is complaining about an expansion pack you fucking moron, also the Dragon Age DLC so far has easily been worth the price of a lunch.