Dragon Age: Origins - Loads More News

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Dragon Age: Origins - Loads More News

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

That's what you get when you procrastinate and don't immediately post all the news you come across... you get one big massive post of Dragon Age news. :p

I'll try to go through it fairly quickly, though I'll probably mess up the order I found them in some (which really shouldn't matter).

We'll start with some [url=http://www.rpgamer.com/games/other/pc/d ... l:3us4315l]hands-on impressions at RPGamer[/url:3us4315l]. It contains some (very) minor spoilers for the early game, but nothing big I think. Here's an excerpt:

[quote:3us4315l]In contrast to RPGamer's other recent [i:3us4315l]Dragon Age[/i:3us4315l] impressions, I was able to spend a sizable chunk of time with the game's PC version. The menu screen's operatic music alone starts to sets the stage by emphasizing the feeling of sadness in [i:3us4315l]Dragon Age[/i:3us4315l]'s mature, dark world. A notable addition to the game's menu screen was the ability to select DLC right out in the open, which makes sense considering BioWare's announced intention of supporting the game with DLC for at least the next two years.

Starting a new game brought me through a cinematic intro showing [i:3us4315l]Dragon Age[/i:3us4315l]'s basic history. A group of dark mages once cast out from society return as the first darkspawn, which results in the formation of the Blight: the game's major evil force. The Grey Wardens at one time pushed the Blight back, saving Ferelden, but now after four centuries the people ignore, or even have forgotten, this noble group. This leads us to the current time in [i:3us4315l]Dragon Age[/i:3us4315l]'s storyline.[/quote:3us4315l]
Next up BioWare has [url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/game/product:3us4315l]posted the second half[/url:3us4315l] of the first chapter of the new Dragon Age novel (being released later this month). Here's an excerpt from the preview chapter:

[quote:3us4315l][t:3us4315l]Maric pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He had known Loghain to dislike dramatics, once. It seemed that the years had given him an appreciation for it. “Perhaps you’d prefer to throw yourself on it instead?”
[t:3us4315l]“I’m not trying to kill myself.” Loghain’s expression was dark, almost hurt. “This will make it quicker, easier. At least this way we’ll have a body to burn. I won’t need to explain to your son why his father went off on a mad mission and never returned.”
[t:3us4315l]“The darkspawn are real, Loghain. What if the Grey Wardens are telling us the truth?”[/quote:3us4315l]
BioWare also put up [url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/pennyarcad ... 5:3us4315l]the fifth page[/url:3us4315l] of the Penny Arcade comic. Check it out by following [url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/pennyarcad ... 5:3us4315l]the link[/url:3us4315l].

Speaking of comics, BioWare has also announced that [url=http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic ... 1:3us4315l]EA and IDW Publishing are publishing a Dragon Age comic book[/url:3us4315l]. The story will be written by acclaimed author Orson Scott Card. Here's the press release:

[quote:3us4315l][b:3us4315l]EA AND IDW LAUNCH Army of Two and Dragon Age COMICS[/b:3us4315l]

Redwood City, CA – September 29, 2009 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that it has signed a deal with IDW Publishing to expand two of its intellectual properties, Army of Twoâ„¢ and Dragon Ageâ„¢, into comics under a new EAâ„¢ Comics imprint with IDW beginning in January. EA and IDW will launch monthly, ongoing series for both Army of Two and Dragon Age. Each issue will be published in print and distributed nationally at comic book outlets, with digital versions released for iPhoneâ„¢ and iPod® Touch and other emerging digital platforms.

“We’ve seen an increasing number of video game tie-ins with comics over the last few years. This marks another step in our strategy for extending EA’s wholly-owned game properties to new media. It is exhilarating to be working with the comic book creators directly,” said Mike Quigley, Group Vice President, Global Marketing, EA Games Label.

Under terms of the agreement, EA will fund and manage the creative aspect of the comic book series, while IDW will be responsible for printing and distribution. IDW is the leader in digital comic book distribution and the nation’s third largest comic book publisher overall.

”This is a great opportunity for IDW to work with a worldwide leader in video games,” said Greg Goldstein, chief operating officer for IDW. “We look forward to bringing a tremendous amount of great content into the comics market.”

Written by veteran comic book writer Peter Milligan (X-Men, Batman, Hellblazer), Army of Two is being published as a comic starting in January 2010. Rising star Chester Ocampo is the cover artist while the interior artist/penciler, Dexter Soy, is a ‘hot newcomer’ on the comic scene. Soy’s work suggests influences from well-known comic artists such as Whilce Portacio and Leinil Francis Yu. The first story arc, “Across the Border”, follows ex-Army Rangers Salem and Rios as they form their own Private Military Corporation: Trans World Operations. The story of the comic follow the events of the first Army of Two game but take place before the deadly invasion of Shanghai by The 40th Day initiative in the videogame sequel. In the comic, Salem and Rios the pair get more than they bargained for as they are unexpectedly caught in a brewing war between the Mexican Army, drug cartels, and The Maras – one of the most powerful street gangs in Mexico.

Inspired by the highly-anticipated BioWareâ„¢ RPG, Dragon Age: Origins, the Dragon Age comic book series will be written by award-winning fiction writer Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game, Ultimate Iron Man). The cover artist is the critically acclaimed Humberto Ramos. Story details and the interior artist are expected to be announced shortly.

To sign up for the EA Comics mailing list, register at: [url:3us4315l]http://www.eacomics.com.[/url:3us4315l] The site will have complete information on all the EA comic book series, as well as unique “behind the scenes” content, news, blogs and artwork. The site will feature weekly content updates to keep audiences apprised of the latest developments on current and upcoming projects.[/quote:3us4315l]
Since their previous two Origin updates IGN hasn't been sitting still and posted the other four as well: [url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/103/10302 ... l:3us4315l]dwarven noble[/url:3us4315l], [url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/103/10304 ... l:3us4315l]city elf[/url:3us4315l], [url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/103/10310 ... l:3us4315l]human noble[/url:3us4315l] and [url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/103/10310 ... l:3us4315l]dwarven commoner[/url:3us4315l]. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any IGN Insiders versions of those yet (except for Dwarven Noble, though I haven't found it uploaded to YouTube yet). So you'll have to get [url=http://uk.media.pc.ign.com/media/682/68 ... l:3us4315l]the videos directly[/url:3us4315l].

I'm not embedding those (since there's a lot of them), but basically there should be two per origin: one showing combat and one showing dialog. Of course, they can be considered spoilers for the origins (i.e. the first two hours or so of the game) and as such I haven't watched all of them yet.

From that video link above you might also notice that IGN has posted another video titles "[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/dor/objects/682217 ... j:3us4315l]A Living World[/url:3us4315l]". In this video the developers talk a bit about designing the Dragon Age world. Video follows:

[center:3us4315l][html]<embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=682217&downloadURL=http://xbox360movies.ign.com/xbox360/vi ... rking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed>[/html][/center:3us4315l]
Quite impressive. I particularly liked seeing how they used NWN to do some of the early designs. :)

In other big news BioWare [url=http://daforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.h ... 5:3us4315l]has also announced[/url:3us4315l] that they're [b:3us4315l]going to make the character creator available as a free, stand-alone download October 13[sup:3us4315l]th[/sup:3us4315l][/b:3us4315l]. Though this will be PC only, everyone can download the creator and get started customizing their character(s) appearance(s). What's more, you can then use this appearance as an avatar on the Dragon Age social site (that's also said to be opened on the 13[sup:3us4315l]th[/sup:3us4315l]). Here is the news:

[quote:3us4315l]We are happy to announce that BioWare will be releasing the Character Creator from Dragon Age: Origins on the 13th of October. This will give you 3 weeks to play around and get your Player Character just right before launch of the game on November 3rd – 6th.

What we have managed to do is get the awesome BioWare dev dudes/dudettes to break off the Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator from the main game so you can download it as a separate application to your PC. Once you have downloaded and installed the Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator you will be able to “pre-create” characters for use in the PC version at launch.

The Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator will allow you to create numerous different characters before launch and experiment with the different classes, races, and create multiple faces for the 6 Origin stories and save them to your hard drive for safe keeping until the game is released.

As you may be aware we are extending the BioWare community with a new social community site for Dragon Age: Origins. The great news is when we launch the Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator we will also be launching an open beta of the new social community site. You will be able to log into the new Social community site with your existing BioWare forums account name and password, and update it to the new social site account. Characters created with the Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator can also be uploaded to your account from within the Character creator. Once logged in to the social site, one of the first things you will be able to do is use one of your uploaded characters as your social website avatar for your profile on the new social website forums (yes we got that in!!), exciting stuff! Stay tuned for more information on the social website from now through launch.

[b:3us4315l]Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator Details[/b:3us4315l]
Download location – BioWare/Dragon Age: Origins website (A link will be made public when ready)

File size - Maximum file size 320meg.

Languages – Available in English, German, French, Polish, Russian. Also available in Czech, Hungarian, Italian and Spanish with English Voice Over.

System specifications to run the Dragon Age: origins Character Creator – The Character creator runs on the same system specs as Dragon Age: Origins. Please check the FAQ here for more information: [url:3us4315l]http://dragonage.bioware.com/game/faq[/url:3us4315l]

The character creator is currently only available for PC users.[/quote:3us4315l]
That's some very exciting news and might just be enough to tide one over until Dragon Age is released. :)

Next is GameInformer who has [url=http://gameinformer.com/games/dragon_ag ... x:3us4315l]the first English-language review of Dragon Age: Origins[/url:3us4315l] in the world (there was a polish magazine, I think, which released a polish review in print before them). And the review is overwhelmingly positive, giving it a 9/10. Here's an excerpt:

[quote:3us4315l]Before BioWare amassed a following among console gamers with games like Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect, the developer already had a significant fanbase. These gamers loved the studio for its work on the PC series Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights – tactical, story-driven RPGs with an emphasis on party mechanics. No developer did that style of game better in those days, and Dragon Age: Origins proves that BioWare isn’t giving up the crown. Dragon Age brilliantly combines the genre’s old-school conventions with a few modern twists to create one of the most addictive and expansive RPGs of its kind.[/quote:3us4315l]
If they're all going to be as positive then I can't wait to read more reviews. ;)

And last, but certainly not least, another CG trailer, titled "[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOWl34ccIgI:3us4315l]Saced Ashes[/url:3us4315l]", has been hade available as well, showing a Grey Warden (which would be the player presumably) fighting alongside Sten (the guy), Morrigan (the mage) and Leliana (the rogue) against a number of Darkspawn.

[i:3us4315l][EDIT] It seems that the video has been taken down due to copyright claims by EA; and I can't find any other place for it. Originally the video is from GameSpot, but they don't seem to have it anywhere either. Guess it'll be made available later.[/i:3us4315l]

[i:3us4315l][EDIT2] Here's another one you could try (until they take that one down as well): [url=http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... 4:3us4315l]Sacred Ashes video[/url:3us4315l][/i:3us4315l]

I think I'm in love with Leliana; "the righteous stand before the darkness, and the Maker shall guide their hand". :love:

Ahum. Anyway, some very impressive stuff. Can't wait to play this game (one more month to wait...).


[[url=http://www.rpgamer.com/games/other/pc/d ... l:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to hands-on impressions at RPGamer.
[[url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/game/product:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to Dragon Age: The Calling preview chapter.
[[url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/pennyarcad ... 5:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to the fifth page of the Penny Arcade comic.
[[url=http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic ... 1:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to Dragon Age comic book announcement.
[[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/103/10302 ... l:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to the Dwarven Noble article at IGN.
[[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/103/10304 ... l:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to the City Elf article at IGN.
[[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/103/10310 ... l:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to the Human Noble article at IGN.
[[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/103/10310 ... l:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to the Dwarven Commoner article at IGN.
[[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/dor/objects/682217 ... j:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to the "A Living World" video at IGN.
[[url=http://daforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.h ... 5:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to the Character Creator release news.
[[url=http://gameinformer.com/games/dragon_ag ... x:3us4315l]link[/url:3us4315l]] to the 'first' review of Dragon Age: Origins at GameInformer.


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Shir'le
F'sarn natha tithaur wun l'su'aco.

-= Shir'le E. Illios =-
Chosen of Eilistraee
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