If you haven’t already bought Dragon Age: Origins for your PC, but you’ve been thinking about it, EA is offering you 40% off Origins if you pre-order the expansion, Dragon Age: Awakenings.
But only if you live in the US.
Make your way over to the EA Store and you’ll find that if you order Awakenings, you’ll get the original game on PC for 40% off the $50 retail price.
Again, it’s for US PC gamers only and it’s only digital, so don’t expect to get a disc in the mail.
Awakenings is out on March 16th.
BioWare has just announced the next piece of free DLC for Cerberus Network users, based around the awesome Hammerhead tank, which is due to hit Xbox Live and PCs in March.
The “Firewalker” DLC pack will contain five missions centred around the formidable tank (pictured above), which “hovers over the battlefield at up to 120 kilometers per hour and features a guided missile system ensuring accuracy even during aggressive maneuvering.”
So says BioWare. So it must be awesome.
Only players registered with the Cerberus Network – claimed by inputting a redeem code provided in first-hand copies of the game – will have access to the downloadable content.
BioWare has long been, in this journalist’s humble opinion, one of the masters of video game storytelling. Whether it’s in a futuristic sci-fi setting, a Tolkienesque fantasy world or a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the boys at BioWare know how to tell an engaging story. But the best is yet to come, says BioWare’s co-boss Dr. Ray Muzyka
In an interview with CVG, Muzyka said the developer is up to the challenge of topping its recent title Mass Effect 2, which has received universal acclaim from various gaming outlets.
“The way we approach it is that each game has to be better than the last one,” said Muzyka in the interview. “That’s always been true for the last 20 years we’ve been doing this, that’s just what we do. It’s kind of in our culture now.
“I think the team finds it reassuring that you’ve done something good, you’ve got great sales, great critical success, but they’re driven by making the next thing even better. That’s what drives me.”
BioWare seems to be taking a page out of Bungie’s book in announcing “The Cerberus Network” for Mass Effect 2. The Network is an in-game Mass Effect 2 portal that will keep fans updated on Mass Effect 2 DLC as well as news.
“The Cerberus Network augments and extends the rich universe of Mass Effect 2,” commented Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare, “We’re thrilled to be able to reward loyal BioWare and Mass Effect fans with ongoing, high quality content and provide a direct channel for our players to dive deeper into the intriguing lore of Mass Effect.”
The Cerberus Network is activated through a single-use code that comes included with the game at retail. Players who purchase the game used can unlock The Network through an in-game purchase. All content recieved through The Cerberus Network will be absolutely free.
BioWare has today removed Dragon Age: Origins DLC Return to Ostagar from Xbox Live, due to a title update creating a bug whereby specialised classes have stopped working in isolated circumstances.
The reason for the DLC being removed until further notice was explained on the official BioWare forums forums:
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 in Dragon Age: Origins. We are removing Return to Ostagar from Xbox Live until the issue is resolved and are recommending that you do not download the title update. If you have already performed the update, we apologize for this and are working hard to ensure a fix is available as soon as possible.
We’ll be sure to let you know when everything’s fixed and its back on the Xbox Live store.
LucasArts has confirmed via a recent statement that they are currently aiming to have the BioWare developed / E.A. published Star Wars MMORPG The Old Republic on store shelves by “Spring” 2011.
“While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars: The Old Republic,” said the statement. “We’ve got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game”
Time to start getting excited, people
Electronic Arts certainly knows when it’s onto a good thing. The company has just announced Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, a full expansion pack for Dragon Age: Origins, which will be available to buy from March 18th, 2010.
The expansion pack looks to be more than just a smattering of little extras, if the press release is anything to go by. Amongst other things, it will include five entirely new characters, an increased level cap, new abilities and spells, and an entirely new locations to explore.
Best of all, players will be provided with the ability to respec their character’s talents and abilities, something which many Dragon Age players have been begging for since the launch of the game. A dramatic and detailed story will feature in the expansion, continuing on directly from the end of the official game.
Dragon Age fans will definitely not want to pass this one up.
Full press release after the break.
It’s time for more fun with ESRB ratings, this time with the rating for Mass Effect 2. While the rating summary for Mass Effect 2 is not as funny as previous entries we’ve posted, but there’s the odd nugget of comedy here and there. One that sticks out is a reference to an alien strip club:
“During the course of the game, players may enter a bar where alien pole dancing exists (choreography highlighted on big-screen monitors) or hear suggestive comments such as “krogan sexual deviants enjoy salarian flexibility” and ”if this is just about sex, maybe you should just f**king say so.” [Italics added]“
There’s also mention of a “romantic encounter”, which players can engaging in with both humans and aliens. These encounters can vary from a normal conversation, unzipping a “future-blouse” (whatever that is), kissing, hugging or a full on sex scene.
Full summary can be found here
BioWare revealed on the official Mass Effect forums today that the sequel would arrive on two discs, with the 360 version requiring a disc swap at some point in the story.
“Even though there is a disc swap, it occurs at a carefully planned place in the game (that does not interfere with gameplay) and is done once,” stated community coordinator of BioWare Chris Priestly, “You do not swap back and forth. One swap and then done.”
The PC, on the other hand, will be a two-disc install
If you consider this disc swapping to be a serious problem with the game, then I would personally suggest going out and getting more exercise.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to be a big game, if ever there was an understatement. According to new information released today, the game will have “ten times more lines than Knights of the Old Republic” and “40+ novels worth of content”.
That’s a lot of words.
- - The Old Republic will have ten times more lines than Knights of the Old Republic
- - On any given day, there can be a dozen people working on voice-over — not including actors
- - By the time the game ships, they will have recorded 1,000 four-hour VO sessions.
- - The game’s entire script has 40+ novels worth of content
- - The’re working with hundreds of actors in five cities: New York, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto.
The awesome chaps at BioWare, creators of suchs RPG hits as NeverWinter Nights and Mass Effect, might possibly be thinking of developing games for the Nintendo Wii.
In an interview with IndustryGamers, BioWare chief Ray Muzyka said BioWare would “be intrigued by the idea of developing on Wii but we have nothing to announce right now”.
However he did state that BioWare does have some unannounced projects they weren’t ready to talk about. These new projects are different from the things BioWare have done in the past.
BioWare did create Sonic Chronicles for the Nintendo DS, so a Wii game might not be so far fetched. Though Sonic Chronicles wasn’t their best product.
Miss Electronic Arts live E3 conference? Never fear, we have a recording of the conference below for you to watch, courtesy of GameSpot.
Highlights included Dante’s Inferno, Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2, Fight Night Round 4, a new martial arts fighting game called EA MMA, Grand Slam Tennis, The Saboteur and the first ever cinematic trailer for BioWare’s epic MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Edge magazine have been busy updating themselves on BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, revealing a new class in the process; Smuggler.
This basically allows players to roleplay as Han Solo.
“Ord Mantell is a war-torn world and it’s where the Smuggler starts off, when his ship gets stolen,” said game director James Ohlem to Edge
“He’s pretty angry; imagine what Han Solo would’ve been like if the Millennium Falcon got taken.”
So that’s Bounty Hunter, Republic Trooper and Smuggler revealed for the game. Hopefully Sith and Jedi won’t be starting classes as well.
A new holorecord entry has been added to the Jedi Archives. The newest entry tells the story of the Mandalorian Blockade of Coruscant, and the heroic actions of the smuggler Hylo Visz.
The second entry is once again narrated by Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, Keeper of the Jedi Archives, a.k.a. Lance Henriksen.
You can watch it here
BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins will be shown in full at GDC in San Francisco next week.
The fantasy RPG is going to be demoed only, so don’t expect any play-reports.
Origins is planned for release in the second half of 2009 for PC and (hopefully) consoles as well.
More info when we get it.
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