Electronic Arts has dropped a cold, emotionless reminder of its late-2007 acquisition of both BioWare and Pandemic Studios, announcing that the pair have now been officially digested by the EA collective. While we remain cynical of the whole affair – it is, after all, what we do – EA has announced that the pair has been tapped to create a whopping ten new franchises for EA, based on six different "wholly-owned" properties. 10? Seriously? BioWare alone hasn't touched that much code in nearly a decade, though to be fair EA hasn't laid out a time line for how often these games will emerge.

Both BioWare and Pandemic will be overseen by EA Games' top cheese Locutus...erm, Frank Gibeau, and according to the executive the acquisition will broaden EA's game portfolio in the RPG, action and adventure genres. A cloud of mystery continues to hang over the bulk of these new projects, though EA has confirmed that BioWare remains hard at work on Dragon Age and the DS Sonic RPG, while Pandemic is chugging along developing Mercenaries 2: World in Flames and Saboteur. At least it seems as though the assimilation hasn't freed the developers of independent thought, though granted it does take some time before the implants take hold.

BioWare looks to start swinging episodes like it was 1993 again (LL Cool J? "Back Seat"? Too obscure?). The Mass Effect developer recently pledged to support all of its confirmed upcoming titles with post-release episodic content, including Dragon Age and Jade Empire: Special Edition. BioWare even claimed that its "other" (read: announced) titles would be treated to digitally distributed content, suggesting the studio's total adoption of a longevity model built on episodic releases. The strategy will span both "console and PC" platforms, confirmed CEO Ray Muzyka.

"Consoles," eh? Could BioWare be expanding its console development beyond Xbox 360? After all, a DS title is in the works.

1UP reports that their soon to be relaunched sister publication, the elegantly titled Games for Windows the Official Magazine (née Computer Gaming World), will have the scoop on Dragon Age, the latest RPG from Canadian developer Bioware. 1UP says it uses an evolved form of Baldur's Gate's"tactical real-time combat" and a "modified" version of Mass Effect's branching conversation system to bring us a new, "much darker" outing than earlier titles like Jade Empire.

So, why is this a fetching cover model for the newly relaunched mag (and the newly reinvigorated Games for Window marketing campaign leading up to the Vista launch)? Because Bioware has been all over the console scene lately, with initial releases of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire hitting the Xbox first, and Mass Effect slated to be a 360 exclusive. Dragon Age will mark the developer's first PC debut title since 2002's Neverwinter Nights ... but how long until they exploit Microsoft's XNA cross-platform tools and release a 360 port?

[Thanks, EvanB]