Dragon-Age-Origins posts (Subscribe to this feed)

If you're pacing out your Dragon Age playing to ensure that you have a steady drip of elfin lovemaking and epic dragon fighting, here's a bit of new info to consider for your tactics: EA is planning to launch a new Dragon Age title in Q4 of its fiscal 2011, which, in real-world time, falls between January 1 and March 31, 2011. The sequel is far from a surprise, given that EA has also announced that global sell-in (read: shipments) of Dragon Age: Origins has reached 3.2 million units.

Intriguingly, EA currently lists "Dragon Age Title TBA" (that's what it's called at the moment) for consoles, PC and handhelds -- which could mean either handheld game devices (think: DS and/or PSP), cell phones or both. Whatever platforms it appears on, expect the game to be super hot. Assuming, of course, this is the real sequel to Dragon Age: Origins and not a spin-off.

Felt like your copy of Dragon Age: Origins was missing something, eh? Say, maybe, slugs with demonically mutated children's faces? Perfect -- we've got just the trailer for you today, care of upcoming DA:O expansion Awakening, full of creepy-crawly things called "The Children."

There's not much in the way of an explanation of exactly what or why they are, but there are some pretty awful birth pods full of (presumably) amniotic fluid -- well, y'know, evil amniotic fluid (they're bad guys, after all). Hopefully the Children aren't working in concert with that terrifying blue dragon we saw last week. Man, that'd be just the worst! Get fully creeped out by the trailer after the break.

In the run-up to the expansion's March 16 date with store shelves, BioWare has begun to make formal introductions of the new characters who'll be joining your Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening quest. First up: Anders, a Chantry mage and ... "born troublemaker." In fact, BioWare makes him sound more like Han Solo than a robed magic user, what with his lust for "freedom, a good meal and a pretty girl on his arm."

We'd like to point out that there is not a single screenshot in the gallery below in which Anders doesn't have his arms raised to some degree.

Alright, alright, you kind of already knew about the giant blue dragon in the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins 'Awakening' expansion pack, but you hadn't seen her (yes, her) in all her rage-filled majesty, scaring the crap out of those venturing into Blackmarsh. Between her and Skeletor, we're getting pretty psyched for March's DA:O content infusion. Sure, there's that other BioWare RPG that we're obsessively playing for now, but how long will that last before we feel the urge to venture back into the fantasy realm? We're guessing about two months. And hey, if nothing else, it'll give us something to talk about at PAX East during the Joystiq / Blueberry Muffintops Breakfast.

Dragon Age: Origins presents strong evidence that great games can overcome gawd-awful graphics, but BioWare isn't about to test that theory -- and the limits of our forgiveness -- again in the sequel. "I think one of the key things we're working on in Dragon Age 2 is the technology," BioWare VP Greg Zeschuk recently told Joystiq. "I can confirm that we're doing a lot of work on the Dragon Age engine, and doing a lot of stuff to pump it -- to make it visually super hot."

Now, to clarify, frisky rogue foursomes and lesbian alien sex are measured on different "super hot" scales, as Zeschuk conceded, "Dragon Age is, in the structural sense, a fundamentally different game than Mass Effect ... You have to make different technical considerations." Certainly, with Dragon Age: Origins, those considerations were designed to benefit the superior PC version.

Still, there's hope for a console sequel makeover, since, in Zeschuk's words, the process of iteration allows a developer to "get to a much higher level." "I think the overall visual style we're going to continue to evolve in Dragon Age," Zeschuk added. "People are going to see some cool ... I can't really say too much, but I think Dragon Age as a world is interesting. It's a timeline, and you can go anywhere." Go anywhere, huh? So, like the future Ferelden, where a race of sexy blue aliens has been possessed by horny desire demons? Super hot.

As evidenced by the image above and this link, Dragon Age: Origins' once-released and subsequently pulled DLC offering, Return to Ostagar has, uh, returned to Xbox Live! No, seriously, we're not lying -- we understand your skepticism, but, we assure you, it's there. As for the PC and PS3, well, it's still not available on those platforms at the time of writing this post. BioWare says it'll be on those platforms "soon."

The 400 campaign add-on takes you to Ostagar, the site of a vicious battle with the Darkspawn. One captive has managed to escape and seeks the Grey Wardens' aid to ... wait for it ... Return to Ostagar. Epic!

Update: The PC version of Return to Ostagar has also been released (400 BioWare Points / $5). The PS3 version is still "coming soon," as of today, January 29.

Shortcut: Add Return to Ostagar to your Xbox Live queue [Xbox.com]

Bioware's Ray Muzyka has been spilling some Bio-beans over on Eurogamer today. In the public interview, he says that while there is both PDLC (the "P" stands for "Premium") being developed for Mass Effect 2 and expansion content planned for Dragon Age: Origins, most of the core team for the sci-fi series has already started working on the as-yet-unannounced Mass Effect 3. He does promise that there's been a vision from the beginning and that the vision has been tweaked and changed as the games are coming along, so hopefully the trilogy will lead to a worthwhile conclusion.

He also hints that there's lots more to see coming from Bioware -- Muzyka is working on both PS3 and 360 titles (some still secret) "across the studios I manage," and of course The Old Republic, which he describes as "KotOR 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 in one project," is in development as well. And at the very end of the interview, to a question about what we can expect at this year's E3, he only answers a cryptic, "Yes!" Maybe Muzyka should have been in charge of the dialog trees in Dragon Age; the game would have been a lot shorter.

[via NeoGAF]

The Dragon Age: Origins DLC "Return to Ostagar" was delayed at the eleventh hour, then mysteriously appeared on Xbox Live on January 13, before disappearing once again. In an interview with PCGZine, BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka assured readers that Return to Ostagar will return to availability sometime soon. "We have a big investment planned for Dragon Age with more DLC coming in the next week or so," Muzyka said.

Muzyka's explanation for the botched DLC launch echoed that of community manager Chris Priestly, with both citing complications from a title update that had launched simultaneously with the Xbox Live release. "I don't know if it was a communication error with our distribution partners or what happened there," Muzyka said. "If they were released in order it would have been fine, but it created a bug which prevented progression, and obviously that wasn't acceptable, so we pulled it down."

Is it too cynical to suggest that you wait a few days to download the DLC even after the "real" release?

Ever since Dragon Age: Origins' upcoming expansion, titled Awakening, was announced back in early January, we've been pining for the chance to drop the $40 on it well before the content actually releases. Thankfully for us, Steam has just opened up pre-orders for the expansion, meaning we can play the expansion in only one month, three weeks, three days and XX hours! We know, we know -- but you're gonna have to calm down. All that excitement could crash your computer. And then where would you be, hmm? No expansion at all! No chance to hang out with Skeletor!

Activision has announced that DJ Hero was "the #1 new intellectual property by revenue in the U.S. and Europe for calendar 2009, according to the NPD Group." Lest you sped through that proclamation, take note of the two key words: "by revenue" -- in other words, the total amount of money spent by consumers. Considering DJ Hero debuted at $120 for the standard turntable bundle and $200 for the Renegade Edition, it's no wonder that it managed to bring in the most money (though not necessarily the most profit, and certainly not the most units sold for a new franchise).

NPD representative Anita Frazier clarified for Joystiq the performance of last year's new IPs in terms of actual unit sales. As you might have guessed, DJ Hero wasn't quite #1 in that category, but managed a respectable 789,000 units in U.S. sales. Still, it was soundly outsold by other new IPs, including Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins, which sold 1.11 million and 1.14 million units, respectively. Besting them all, however, was EA Sports Active, which amassed 1.2 million units sold.

And get this, if we consider new IPs that launched before 2009, then Wii Play and Wii Fit were technically the best-selling new IPs in 2009 in terms of unit sales and revenue, according to the NPD.

Finally, we should point out -- as did Frazier -- that NPD data only covers the U.S., despite Activision's claim that the group provided European sales data regarding DJ Hero.

According to Previews' February order form, Mass Effect isn't the only BioWare property getting the action figure treatment from toy manufacturer DC Direct. Located on the form are four listings for statuette'd Dragon Age: Origins characters, including Morrigan, Loghain, Duncan and, everyone's favorite troublemaker, Genlock. No price is listed for these figures, but a release date of September 29 is mentioned.

Though we know it's not technically feasible, we're still a little disappointed that we can't get a figure made of our customizable protagonist. We're pretty sure DC Direct wouldn't know to make him look like Ernest Borgnine, but with a horrifically long chin. Nor would they know to call the figurine by his Christian name, Borgnine Mountainjaw.

[Via Big Download]

After some minor delays and a recent "now you see it/now you don't" routine on Xbox Live, the Dragon Age: Origins DLC, Return to Ostagar, seems to have introduced a new bug to those who picked up the most recent title update. According to a BioWare forums post by community manager Chris Priestly: "This morning a title update on the Xbox 360 for Dragon Age: Origins was made available in preparation for the release of Return to Ostagar ... this title update introduced a previously undetected issue that causes specialization classes to not work correctly."

Additionally, he apologizes to those affected and notes that the DLC has been removed from Xbox Live "until the issue is resolved." We're also ensured that more information will be provided on this as soon as it's available. Oh, and in case it wasn't already apparent -- if you're thinking about downloading the title update, you probably shouldn't.

[Via Eurogamer]

Update: BioWare has announced issues with the Return to Ostagar DLC that lead to its being pulled from the Xbox Live Marketplace. More information here.

The twice-delayed Return to Ostagar DLC for Dragon Age: Origins seems to have fought its way onto Xbox Live, as reader Harry has sent in a couple images showing the item being available through the in-game menu. Going through Xbox Live, we managed to access the content after sorting by "All Downloads." We can confirm that neither the PS3 nor PC versions of Dragon Age: Origins could access the add-on at the time of writing this post.

By the way, Harry, if you need some help spending all those points you've stacked, we may have a few ideas for you.

Shortcut: Return to Ostagar for Dragon Age: Origins [Xbox.com]

[Thanks, Harry]

Source - Return to Ostagar download screen
Source - Dragon Age: Origins menu

This March, fans of Bioware's epic RPG, Dragon Age: Origins, will be able to extend the experience through 'Awakening,' the hefty retail expansion bearing an equally hefty $40 price tag. While the new trailer coinciding with the announcement was gripping in its own right, many gamers are likely wondering what is deserving of so much coin. Sure, we know it takes place after Origins, we know players will be fighting new Darkspawn baddies and we know there's new items and a raised level cap, but what else should gamers look forward to spending another gazillion hours on?

Well, in a recent interview with IGN, Bioware's Fernando Melo put it all on the line. Basically, the Darkspawn haven't retreated underground after Origins' Blight -- as was the case following previous Blights -- and in the land of Amaranthine, one Darkspawn in particular has evolved to the point where it can talk and reason: the Architect. And if you haven't played through Origins at all and have no character to import, you'll have the option to create a new one that will automatically be placed somewhere between level 17 and 20, around the toughness of Awakening's roster of bad guys.

Then there's the raised level cap. Melo couldn't confirm where it would be when Awakening releases in March, but said it will "probably end up in the mid to high 30s." Also, you'll gain access to a bunch of new followers, complete with all-new banter and micro-managing. This will have a greater affect on imported characters, as Melo says a lot of the choices you've made in Origins carry over and, depending on what point you're currently at in the main game, characters will act accordingly. And if you choose to play Awakening first, decisions there will transfer back to Origins in the same way.

Melo even detailed a bit of the "re-spec" ability you'll have in Awakening. You'll be able to force a reboot of your character's skill points through a tome, allowing you to retain whatever level your Origins character is at, but have a fresh start in terms of where you want to place your points. Obviously, if you choose not to import a character, this feature is moot because you'd be spending all of the points you'll get from starting at the high level Awakening begins.

It's a lot to process and IGN's interview is three very lengthy pages, so if you want to read the rest, head on over and check it out. Just beware of spoilers.

You'd hoped that after investing 60 hours of your life, you could hang up your sword and catch a breather until the next BioWare RPG, but, oh no, the Darkspawn did not simply disappear. Thankfully, today's announcement of Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, a retail expansion to IGN's & Spike's RPG of the Year Joystiq's "4th Best of 2009," has been accompanied by this video pep talk. After all, you have quite the task ahead of you.

Awakening will be released March 16 for $39.99 on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. A copy of the original Dragon Age: Origins is required to play.