Dragon Age: Origins - Holiday Updates

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Dragon Age: Origins - Holiday Updates

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

With the Holiday season over and everyone back at work (and my own vacation having come to an end) there’s still a number of updates from over the Holiday period. Since there is a lot I’ll do my best to group things together and likely won’t quote every single piece of news.


[b:2lqglsq8]Awards[/b:2lqglsq8]

We’ll start with some awards that Dragon Age: Origins won over the last couple of weeks. The Holiday season is usually a time where various websites start making lists of awards for the best game of 2009 in various categories (usually an overall best game, a best game per platform, and a best game per genre). This year was no different and Dragon Age: Origins managed to walk away with a couple of awards.
[list:2lqglsq8][*:2lqglsq8][url=http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/features/5 ... s:2lqglsq8]Voodoo Extreme[/url:2lqglsq8] – Best PC Role-Playing Game of 2009
The people visiting Voodoo Extreme voted for Dragon Age: Origins as best PC RPG, beating out Torchlight, Risen and NWN2:MoW. But a game called “Killing Floor” walked away with best PC Game Expansion/DLC and Overall Best PC Game. I hadn’t even [i:2lqglsq8]heard[/i:2lqglsq8] of that game before.
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[*:2lqglsq8][url=http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dragonage ... 5:2lqglsq8]GameSpot[/url:2lqglsq8] – Best of 2009 Platform Award PC
GameSpot considered Dragon Age: Origins to be the best PC game of 2009, beating Batman: Arkham Asylum, Left 4 Dead 2, Resident Evil 5 and The Sims 3. But for their RPG Genre Award they thought Demon’s Souls the better RPG (note that they voted Demon’s Soul best in every category that it was in, including overall best game of 2009).
[/*:m:2lqglsq8]
[*:2lqglsq8][url=http://www.ablegamers.com/game-news/200 ... l:2lqglsq8]AbleGamers[/url:2lqglsq8] – Mainstream Accessible Game of the Year
AbleGamers voted Dragon Age: Origins the most accessible game due to various subtitles settings, extreme mobility options, colorblind friendliness, and extra accessibility. They note that providing many options to set your own level of accessibility is what makes it exceptional.
[/*:m:2lqglsq8]
[*:2lqglsq8][url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/2624 ... p:2lqglsq8]Gamasutra[/url:2lqglsq8] – Best of 2009
Next to having a number of top five lists (where they awarded Dragon Age: Origins best PC game as I reported on before) they also released an overall top ten for best game of 2009 across all platforms, awarding Dragon Age: Origins with the top honors of first place.
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[*:2lqglsq8][url=http://www.gamezone.com/goty/2009/index.htm:2lqglsq8]GameZone[/url:2lqglsq8] – Best PC Game & Overall Game of the Year
GameZone awards Dragon Age: Origins with two awards, both best PC game of 2009 and overall best game of 2009. For best PC game it won out against Modern Warfare 2, Empire: Total War, Left 4 Dead 2 and The Sims 3.
[/*:m:2lqglsq8]
[*:2lqglsq8][url=http://www.actiontrip.com/features/best ... l:2lqglsq8]ActionTrip[/url:2lqglsq8] – Reader’s Choice & Best RPG
ActionTrip also gives Dragon Age: Origins two awards; one for Best RPG and a Reader’s Choice award. For Best RPG it won out against Risen and for the Reader’s Choice award it won against Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2 and Left 4 Dead 2.
[/*:m:2lqglsq8]
[*:2lqglsq8][url=http://www.giantbomb.com/news/giant-bom ... /:2lqglsq8]GiantBomb[/url:2lqglsq8] – PC Game of The Year
GiantBomb awards Dragon Age: Origins with PC Game of the Year, winning against Trine and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II.
[/*:m:2lqglsq8]
[*:2lqglsq8][url=http://compactiongames.about.com/od/top ... m:2lqglsq8]About[/url:2lqglsq8] – PC Game of the Year
About.com list Dragon Age: Origins in the first place in their top ten of top PC games of 2009. Second and third place go to Left 4 Dead 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum.[/*:m:2lqglsq8][/list:u:2lqglsq8]Congratulations to BioWare; the awards are well deserved. :)


[b:2lqglsq8]Return to Ostagar DLC[/b:2lqglsq8]

BioWare was originally set to release the Return to Ostagar downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins on the 5th of this month. But a last-minute problem forced it to be delayed. Though the [url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/addon/rto:2lqglsq8]official website[/url:2lqglsq8] seems to suggest that it is available, I’m not entirely sure if this is true. But if it is then it’ll cost about $5 and you should be able to buy it through the ingame menu. More detail on the downloadable content itself can be found on the [url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/addon/rto:2lqglsq8]official website[/url:2lqglsq8]. I haven’t seen any reviews for it yet either (which might be because it’s not available just yet).


[b:2lqglsq8]Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening[/b:2lqglsq8]

The big news over the Holiday season however was the announcement of the first official expansion for Dragon Age: Origins, named “[url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/awakening:2lqglsq8]Awakening[/url:2lqglsq8]” (here is the [url=http://investors.ea.com/releasedetail.c ... 7:2lqglsq8]press release[/url:2lqglsq8]).

As you can read in [url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/105/10586 ... l:2lqglsq8]IGN’s Q&A[/url:2lqglsq8], [url=http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6244898.html:2lqglsq8]GameSpot’s news[/url:2lqglsq8] and [url=http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/61805:2lqglsq8]Shacknews’ news[/url:2lqglsq8] (as well as the [url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/awakening:2lqglsq8]official page[/url:2lqglsq8]) the expansion takes place in Amaranthine, which in an area to the north of Ferelden (close to the Warden’s Keep from the DLC). It will raise the level cap to somewhere around level 30, add new spells, abilities and items, allows characters to respec, include new enemies and have five new party members (only one character from the main game is returning as a party member). You can continue to play with you character from the main game (though I wonder how that’ll work with one of the ending; maybe it won’t allow that one) or you can play a new character; a Warden from Orlais.

The expansion is set to cost about $40 and should be released worldwide on March 16.

A [url=http://www.gametrailers.com/video/expan ... v:2lqglsq8]trailer for the expansion[/url:2lqglsq8] has also been released:

[center:2lqglsq8][html] <div style="width: 480px;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shoc ... on=8,0,0,0" id="gtembed" width="480" height="392"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap ... 8"/><param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=60438" swLiveConnect="true" name="gtembed" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="392"></embed> </object>[/html][/center:2lqglsq8]
Definitely looking forward to this. Though for that price it better have a lot of gameplay.


[b:2lqglsq8]Comic Book[/b:2lqglsq8]

BioWare also announced that a comic book for the game will arrive in stores in March, as you can read at [url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi ... h:2lqglsq8]The Escapist[/url:2lqglsq8]. The story is being written by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston, Mark Robinson will do the art and Humberto Ramos will do the cover. The story seems like it will be about a group of mages who defy the rule of the Templars.


[b:2lqglsq8]Various[/b:2lqglsq8]

IGN has an article up titled “[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/105/10573 ... l:2lqglsq8]The Year in Sex 2009[/url:2lqglsq8]” where they look at how sex has been handled in games in 2009. The article mentions Dragon Age: Origins in that it extends player choice to sexuality, allowing for both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. It ends the paragraph with “But BioWare is one of a small handful of developers willing to acknowledge that sex at least has a place in game worlds. And if sex has a place in a game, sex between two men has every right to a cutscene of its own.”

And to close off this post I’ll end with some humor. Over at The Escapist they have a weekly video called “[url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... s:2lqglsq8]Unskippable[/url:2lqglsq8]” in which two guys make (humorous) comments during the opening cutscene of a game. And recently they did Dragon Age: Origins as well. So enjoy:

[center:2lqglsq8][html] <embed src="http://cdn2.themis-media.com/media/glob ... -3.1.5.swf" flashvars="config=http://www.themis-media.com/videos/conf ... Fembed%3D1" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" width="650" height="389" wmode="opaque"></embed>[/html][/center:2lqglsq8]

And that’s it for now. I’ve also got a load of updates for Mass Effect 2 (even more than I had for Dragon Age: Origins) which I hope to post in the coming days as well.


[[url=http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/features/5 ... s:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to award at Voodoo Extreme.
[[url=http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dragonage ... 5:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to award at GameSpot.
[[url=http://www.ablegamers.com/game-news/200 ... l:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to award at AbleGamers.
[[url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/2624 ... p:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to award at Gamasutra.
[[url=http://www.gamezone.com/goty/2009/index.htm:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to awards at GameZone.
[[url=http://www.actiontrip.com/features/best ... l:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to awards at ActionTrip.
[[url=http://www.giantbomb.com/news/giant-bom ... /:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to award at GiantBomb.
[[url=http://compactiongames.about.com/od/top ... m:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to award at About.

[[url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/addon/rto:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to Return to Ostagar DLC at BioWare.

[[url=http://dragonage.bioware.com/awakening:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to Awakening expansion details at BioWare.
[[url=http://investors.ea.com/releasedetail.c ... 7:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to Awakening press release at EA.
[[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/105/10586 ... l:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to Awakening Q&A at IGN.
[[url=http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6244898.html:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to Awakening news at GameSpot.
[[url=http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/61805:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to Awakening news at Shacknews.
[[url=http://www.gametrailers.com/video/expan ... v:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to Awakening trailer at GameTrailers.

[[url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi ... h:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to Comic announcement at The Escapist.

[[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/105/10573 ... l:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to “The Year in Sex 2009” article at IGN.
[[url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... s:2lqglsq8]link[/url:2lqglsq8]] to Unskippable at The Escapist.


Love -x-x-x-

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

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