Tag: bioware

The Star Wars: The Old Republic Pre-Order Debacle

star wars the old republic pre-order

Some exciting news out of Comic-Con today regarding the Old Republic, but maybe not the kind that people were expecting. It’s not the release date as many people might have hoped, but rather the news that you can pre-order Star Wars: The Old Republic in one of three flavors (regular, Digital Deluxe and Collector’s
Edition).

Pre-ordering is all well and good and as natural to the video game industry as wetness is to the ocean, but letting people pre-order without a release date is a little strange. Beyond that, the Collector’s Edition was very limited (it was sold out by the time I looked at the page this morning) and apparently the Digital Deluxe version is in limited supply as well. You can still pre-order the DD SKU, but after dropping your cash-monies on it you’ll be informed that you are “likely” to receive the thing you paid for.

I’m going to try and not editorialize this too much, but there’s something wrong if you can’t guarantee people something they paid money for, especially if it is digital. What many people suspect EA and BioWare are attempting to do is limit the amount of people logging in on day one in order to transition smoothly from development to MMO-sentience, but they way they’re going about it is all wrong. Opening pre-orders before a solid release date and telling people that they might get what they paid for smacks of under-preparedness among other things.

EA will no doubt bequeath people their Digital Deluxe editions, but whether or not you’ll be in the first run remains to be seen. I get that the Collector’s Edition is supposed to be rare (given the number of Halo 3 boxes I still see in stores makes me scoff at that notion), but putting a limit on a digital item will no doubt raise eyebrows.

What do you guys think of EA’s move? Is it a little too much taking money before putting out a release date?

Star Wars: The Old Republic Has an Amazing Opening Cinematic

I know that I’ve been quite vocal in my condemnation of Star Wars: The Old Republic’s hype train and its constant parade of pre-rendered trailers and no solid release date. After three consecutive E3s of all show and no tell, I was starting to get a little ticked off at the constant stringing along that TOR is pulling. Of course, being a gamer, I am a fickle creature and the recently released opening cinematic for The Old Republic is nothing short of mind-blowing. It’s seriously everything I love about Star Wars, condensed into six minutes.

I’m looking forward to watching this video again when I boot up the game, whenever that is. Lucas Licensing should just contract Blur to make a Star Wars movie with BioWare as the writing staff, because every trailer they’ve made have been better than the games they’ve been associated with (case in point: Force Unleashed 2). What do you guys think of the opening cinematic for The Old Republic? Was this sick, or what?

Hindsight: Looking Back at Dragon Age II

Dragon Age 2

I know that a fair number of us at GamerSushi have played through the depths of Dragon Age II, exploring the streets of Kirkwall and siding with Mages, Templars or both. I also know that a few of us (including myself) have had some discussions about the shortcomings of Dragon Age II, places where it might have been lacking in comparison to the epic original.

These gripes are well-documented around da Webz, and it seems that Bioware has been listening to people’s issues and complaints. After some flack received about different comments made about Dragon Age II’s design choices, here’s what lead designer Mike Laidlaw had to say on a recent forum post, addressing the swell of criticisms that have been leveled against the sequel:

I am absolutely aware of the concerns voiced here. Issues like level re-use, the implementation of wave combat, concerns about the narrative and significance of choice and so on have all been not only noted, but examined, inspected and even aided me (and many, many others on the team) in formulating future plans. Further, I’m not only aware of the concerns, but I agree that there are aspects of DA II that not only can but must be improved in future installments. And that is precisely our intent.

I’m not really posting this to alert everyone of its existence, but rather use this as a spoiler-filled forum for us to talk about how we feel about Dragon Age II, looking back. We don’t do that often enough on GamerSushi, so I want to start making it a point to revisit these games and talk about them in a more open way. Continue reading Hindsight: Looking Back at Dragon Age II

Review: Dragon Age 2

dragon age 2 review

Dragon Age: Origins was a strange sort of game when it released back in the Fall of 2009. Not to say it was bad by any means (Eddy gave it a good review), but the game seemed to draw on more of the old RPG conventions than newer ones. It still retained that BioWare dedication to character and story, but for those of us who got most of their RPG experience from games like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect, it was a little difficult to get into.

Regardless of what you may have thought about the original’s mechanics, the success it obtained meant that BioWare launched head-first into a sequel, dropping Dragon Age 2 a year and a bit after the original and all of its expansion. A lot of things have been changed, re-vamped or just plain dropped this time around. Does BioWare work their magic again, or should we call the Templars?
Continue reading Review: Dragon Age 2

Dragon Age 2 and Sequel Changes

Dragon Age 2

Hark and rejoice (and other fun things) friends, for Dragon Age 2 has been bestowed upon our collective brows, adorning us with epic RPG action and signature Bioware storytelling know-how. That last bit was an unintentional rhyme, but I don’t feel like editing the sentence. It seems you’re stuck with my accidental poetry.

Anyway, Dragon Age 2 is out, and I happily plunged into it last night for a couple of hours. After more than half an hour of fiddling with some ridiculous online EA garbage to redeem my preorder bonuses (which didn’t work), I was finally able to play the game proper. I was admittedly nervous about this game after the review embargo lifted yesterday, because so far everyone seems to have it pegged at about the same scores the first game received. Not that that’s a bad thing, exactly. I loved the first game, it’s just that I was hoping for a Mass Effect 2 style improvement.

It seems that the biggest complaints being leveled (get it?) against Dragon Age 2 would be that in terms of its story, it replaced the grand, sweeping 60 hour tale of the first game with a more local, small scale story that only spans about 20-30 hours. Instead of Ferelden-hopping and dealing with a massive conflict, the game focuses on one city and the political events inside of it. Other complaints about the game deal with its inventory system, which, while benefiting from a good old-fashioned streamline, makes almost all loot generic. And we all know we love us some RPG loot, yes? Continue reading Dragon Age 2 and Sequel Changes

What The Old Republic Needs to Do to Survive

As GamerSushi’s resident MMO player (that is to say, the person with the most experience), I believe it is my duty to try out BioWare’s upcoming Star Wars flavored offering, The Old Republic. While I don’t currently play any MMOs, I’ve made my history with that genre well known on this site, starting with Sony’s Star Wars Galaxies, then moving to World of Warcraft and trying City of Heroes and Champions Online in between.

Since I have such a breadth of knowledge about MMOs and what makes them tick, that means I’m well positioned to know that there are certain check-boxes that The Old Republic needs to cross off to be considered a “success” in this most competitive of arenas. While it isn’t going to unseat World of Warcraft, there are some very important features it needs to launch with in order to ensure that it lives past its first year. What are those things, you might be asking? Read on, and you’ll find out just what The Old Republic needs to do to stay afloat.
Continue reading What The Old Republic Needs to Do to Survive

Defining Good Choices in Gaming

Mass Effect 2

It’s been said often, but Bioware is the developer that gets the most praise when it comes to infusing a game with player-made choices (and more recently, Quantic Dream). However – is choice always the best route that a developer can take? Could choice restrict or limit game design? Could choice make a game less interesting?

That’s the question that Robert Green at Gamasutra poses this week. Green discusses the choices in games that have mattered most to him, and the ones that really fell flat. He makes some spot-on points about good and bad choices just for the sake of having them, and how they don’t really add much to a game. Green also waxes eloquently about how putting players into a class or upgrade box before giving them all the information they need is limiting for the player as well.

I totally agree with the assertion that players need more information before choosing classes and certain upgrade paths. The skills you have at the end of the game can make or break its enjoyment, and I hate not knowing what becomes more important later on. I’ve spent dozens of upgrade points leveling up completely useless things before in games, and it’s fairly irritating. I also agree with the idea that hard choices are better than simple morality choices.

What do you guys think about how choices are being used in games? What choices have felt too simplistic or not impacting? Which choices have really stuck with you?

Source – Gamasutra

Rumor: Bioware Blogger Reveals The Old Republic’s $300 Million Price Tag and Other EA Secrets

The Old Republic

The rumor mill churned out a doozy today, kids. A person claiming to work at Bioware Mythic started a blog, EA Louse, and has decided to air out some dirty laundry, the kind that I’m sure the masters at EA would rather the world not know. Granted, all of this is unconfirmed, but it’s too juicy to just ignore. Some of the tidbits include details about upcoming EA layoffs in November, keeping with the current trend in the industry of letting people go just before the holidays.

In addition, he or she claims that the budget for the upcoming Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic, is a whopping $300 million and that EA is panicking because they realize now that they have a failure on their hands. He goes on to claim that it will be the biggest MMO failure in EA’s history. There is plenty more on there, including some gossip about Warhammer, so head on over if you want to read more about that.

Assuming (dangerous, I know) that this is true, it would spell disaster for EA, as that is a lot of money to throw out the window. Do you see any truth to these claims? Do you think it’s ethical for an employee to reveal company dirt like this? Let’s hear it!

Source: EA Louse

Mass Effect 2 on PS3 Will Use Introductory Module to Bring Players up to Speed

mass effect 2 ps3One of the biggest features touted for Mass Effect 2 was the ability to import saves from the original game and carry on your story as Shepard. While PC and X-Box 360 gamers world wide were able to enjoy this bonus, PlayStation 3 users are going to have a bit of a handicap going into the sequel due to the first game never making it to their system. BioWare, ever the crafty sorts, have a solution in the form of an introductory module. BioWare founders Dr Ray Muzyka and Dr Greg Zeschuk relieved a little bit about the module in a recent chat with CVG:

“What we’re providing is an introductory module. We haven’t revealed the details of what that is yet, but it’s going to provide a lot of information on both the context and setting of Mass Effect”

So nothing significant at this point, but its good to know that PS3 players won’t be totally in the dark when they step into Mass Effect 2. Hopefully this introductory module will enable gamers to make the big decisions from the first game in a truncated form, instead of having Mass Effect 2 assign them a pre-determined background like it did for the PC and the 360.

There you have it, PlayStation 3 folks, not only do you get all the DLC bundled with the disc when the game hits in January 2011, but you’ll also have an opportunity to catch up with the universe pre-ME2. This is definitely good news, and the more people that get to experience Mass Effect the better. Any PlayStation people excited about this news?

Source: CVG

The Mass Effect 3 Wish List

Mass Effect 2

I’ve made no secret of my favorite titles of this great gaming year of 2010 so far. Red Dead Redemption, Limbo and Mass Effect 2 are all currently gunning for “game of the year” status in my eyes, with an especially close race between those first two. We’ve said it a million times around here – Mass Effect 2 is spectacular and simply must be experienced for its storytelling, choices and Bioware’s original universe.

Naturally, there are several gamers out there gunning hard for Mass Effect 3, and already giving thought to certain qualities the title should possess. In fact, GamesRadar has put together a list of what they want to see in Mass Effect 3. Without spoiling too much, I think it’s a really great list of things that would be awesome for the next edition, particularly the idea of the “Dark Shepard” clone, gunning around the galaxy and ruining your good (or bad) name. This could easily work, seeing as how we know that Cerberus has Shepard’s DNA. I also like the idea of making Shepard’s backstory a more central part of at least one major sidequest.

For me, I would love to see bigger parties but also a few momentous and game altering choices in more moments than just the big ending mission. Something that Dragon Age: Origins nailed was a few “holy crap” moments sprinkled throughout the game, rather than bunching them up at the end the way Mass Effect 2 did.

Anyway, what do you guys think? What are some things you’d really like to see in the next Mass Effect game?

Source – GamesRadar

About Time: Mass Effect 2 On PS3 In 2011

Mass Effect 2 PS3

File this one under “better late than never”, for sure. There has been speculation for some time that EA and Bioware would eventually bring their critically acclaimed Mass Effect series over to the PS3, and it seems that the time has finally come. At Gamescom today, Bioware announced that Mass Effect 2 will hit for Sony’s machine in January 2011.

While there doesn’t seem to be any word about the first Mass Effect and whether or not it will come included as part of an anthology or if it simply won’t be showing up at all, this is still exciting news. Even though the experience will be slightly diminished without your choices carrying over between two games in such an unprecedented way, Mass Effect 2 will still have a lot for newcomers to enjoy. In terms of storytelling, it’s one of the better games of this generation, and it has to be one of the best and most developed original universes we’ve seen in gaming to date.

I know a bunch of you have already played this game, but surely, there are some happy PS3 users among us who will jump on this on release day. My next question is: what about Mass Effect 3?

Source- Story and image from Joystiq

Space Combat for The Old Republic Explained

TORStar Wars: The Old Republic is number one on my list for upcoming PC releases, doubly so because it has the delicious flavor of a BioWare Star Wars game and an MMO rolled in to one. I know that there was a Star Wars MMO previously, but that was Galaxies by Sony Online Entertainment, and my therapist has advised me not to speak of that relationship. Regardless of how Galaxies was handled, one of the few things SOE did well was the space combat, taking away the turn-based dance endemic to MMORPG ground combat and making a more twitch-based system that resembled the X-Wing games of yore. Before the special ships were introduced and ruined the space combat with their ability to stock the highest grade equipment, blasting around between the planets was great fun. Star Wars just isn’t Star Wars without extra-planetary combat, and it seems that BioWare feels the same way.

MMO mega-site Massively (via the upcoming October issue of PC Gamer) reports that the space segments of The Old Republic will be “tunnel-based” as opposed to the free-form combat of its predecessors. If you’re having trouble picturing this sort of gameplay, think StarFox 64 or the old Rebel Assault titles. BioWare is apparently doing this to create a “cinematic” feel for players. I’ll reserve my judgment until I play the game itself, but I’d rather see a X-Wing vs TIE Fighter scenario. Massively does mention achievements, though, so I’ll be easier to mollify if that’s the case.

What do you guys think about this? Down for some rail-shooting, or do you hope BioWare will break out the combat for the inevitable PVP arenas?

Source: Massivley

Dragon Age 2 Coming March 2011

Dragon Age 2

Developer Bioware made quite the splash with Dragon Age: Origins last year by introducing a new RPG in the midst of dozens of sequels and shooters. The not so black-and-white tale that involved darkspawn, big choices and an epic story was one of my favorite games of 2009 by far, and while I haven’t been able to play its expansion Awakening yet, I’ve been anxious to hear about any news of a sequel.

Well today, Bioware and EA delivered with the announcement that Dragon Age 2 would be dropping in March 2011, with a debut trailer coming for the game as soon as August of this year. So does this mean we can expect more Morrigan loving, Orzammar questing and tricky gameplay? Well, perhaps not.

According to the official Dragon Age 2 site, some things are going to be changing:

  • Embark upon an all-new adventure that takes place across an entire decade and shapes itself around every decision you make.
  • Determine your rise to power from a destitute refugee to the revered champion of the land.
  • Think like a general and fight like a Spartan with dynamic new combat mechanics that put you right in the heart of battle whether you are a mage, rogue, or warrior.
  • Go deeper into the world of Dragon Age with an entirely new cinematic experience that grabs hold of you from the beginning and never lets go.
  • Discover a whole realm rendered in stunning detail with updated graphics and a new visual style.

Updated graphics? Count me in. I’m really excited about the direction of some of these changes, especially considering I didn’t have many complaints about the first game to begin with. The team also gave a brief plot overview:

You are one of the few who escaped the destruction of your home. Now, forced to fight for survival in an ever-changing world, you must gather the deadliest of allies, amass fame and fortune, and seal your place in history. This is the story of how the world changed forever. The legend of your Rise to Power begins now.

Anybody else excited about this? Just looking at the concept art gets me all a flutter. Consider me geeking out.

Source- Dragon Age 2

TOR: Hope of Alderaan Trailer

While the Ubisoft press conference was mostly a complete and utter disaster today at E3 2010, EA came through with some nice tidbits and announcements. In particular, there was this rad Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer called The Hope of Alderaan, which has some spectacular jedi on dark jedi action sequences. Sure, it flies in the face of Canon possibly, but who cares, because it is epic.

Still no word on a release date or some official gameplay footage yet from Bioware, but hopefully we’ll get some more information about either of those sometime later this week. We’re running on a couple of these great trailers for the last two years with no idea of when we can expect to see and play this game. Get a move on, Bioware!

Today’s WTF: Dragon Age Anime Incoming?

DA animeAdmittedly, I’m probably not the best person to debate the merits of transferring video game franchises into an animated format, but I guess that Halo: Legends sold well enough to encourage other publishers to take a crack at it.

EA and BioWare recently announced that they’re teaming up with FUNimation to bring Dragon Age to home video with a feature length film. You may know FUNimation from their long career of importing Japanese cartoons to North America, most notably the Dragon Ball series. Of course, any video gamer worth their salt knows of Dragon Age, the epic medieval fantasy RPG that was lauded by critics and players alike as the premier RPG of 2009. The game has already seen a novel tie-in and a comic book deal, so an animation project really isn’t that far fetched.

While Halo: Legends may have soured me on this kind of endeavor, the fact that this is a full length film instead of several shorts may address some of the things I found lacking about Legends. What do you guys think? Anyone on board for a Dragon Age anime?

Source: EA

Rumor: Mass Effect Going Multiplayer?

mass effect mmo rumor

Mass Effect 2 is one of the premier games of this year, and indeed, this generation. While the game could stand a bit of a slimming down in some areas (pre-patch mining being a good example), what could BioWare add to future iterations of the series? If you suggested multiplayer, it looks like you’re on the same page as the revered WRPG developers, as they’ve recently posted a few job openings for their Montreal, Quebec studio advertising Multiplayer Programmer positions.

Part of the job will be taking “existing single player experiences and making them multiplayer safe”, and ensuring that “the game engine and game systems work reliably and efficiently in a multiplayer environment.” While the job listing doesn’t state what kind of multiplayer the Mass Effect developers have in mind, it seems pretty clear that the studio is going to be making the jump very soon.

The posting doesn’t out and out say that Mass Effect 3 will be going online, but I wouldn’t rule anything out in that regard. Mass Effect 2’s engine was really, really solid so it could probably handle co-op play. Further speculation could point to a Mass Effect MMO, and, to use a term Eddy once coined, that very thought gives me a mind boner.

So, what do you guys think? Are you on board, and what do you predict will come of this? Is Mass Effect 3 going to have Team Deathmatch, or is this more of a long term goal for the series?

Edit: The posting has since been updated to exclude the mention of Mass Effect, so here’s the original blurb, to clear up any confusion:

We are working on Mass Effect, one of the industry’s most beloved and acclaimed franchises, as we build our way toward becoming a fully self-sufficient BioWare studio. If you want to help us achieve our mission of delivering the best story-driven games in the world, and you dream of being part of a dynamic, talented and focused team, now is the time to get onboard.

Source: Kotaku

GamerSushi Asks: What Developer Should Make A Lost Game?

Well, this is it, people. The final episode of Lost is airing as I type this. Having only seen the first episode, I am kind of regretting now watching the damn thing, but I’m sure someone will be kind enough to let me borrow the DVDs one day.

With that said, I know there has already been one crappy Lost game, which should have stayed lost from what I hear (nyuck, nyuck), but I wanted to know what developer out there that you guys think would make a good game that would stay true to the series and still be fun?

Bethesda? Imagine an Oblivion-style game, wandering the island, talking to people and doing quests, learning about the mysteries of the errant hunk of land in the middle of the ocean.

What about Bioware? They are great at writing dialogue and might be able to salvage something worthwhile from the wreckage of that doomed flight.

Or what about Remedy, which just released Alan Wake? They do atmosphere up like few others and might have an interesting take on things.

So…you get to pick: who makes a new Lost game? GO!

Bioware vs. Square Enix: An Unbiased Analysis

JRPGs vs. WRPGs seems to be a hot topic as of late, thanks to comments from a Bioware employee that Final Fantasy XIII is not an RPG. This is the stuff fanboys crave, which, in political terms, is called “red meat”. It stirs up a nice frenzy and everyone pontificates on what an RPG is exactly, but nothing ever gets accomplished. Just like Congress.

Well, I’m here to take a small look at the differences between the way Bioware and Square Enix approach their respective video game franchises. These two, I think it is safe to say, are the biggest RPG powerhouses on either side of the Pacific, so it turns out the little controversial comments mentioned above were a perfect jumping off point for me.
Continue reading Bioware vs. Square Enix: An Unbiased Analysis

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 2: 99 Problems and a Mitch Ain’t One

99 problemsAnd… we’re back! It’s episode 2 of The GamerSushi Show, our still new podcast that we are extremely excited about. From the response you guys gave, and seems like you were too, so we did another one. We cover a pretty wide range of topics here, making for a whopping hour and twenty minutes, a fair bit longer than the original, but I think we’re less nervous so the discussion is even better.

The title of this week’s episode will become apparent pretty obvious, as we did this recording without the aid of our good Canadian friend Mitch, who went out on a date to see Iron Man 2 instead of doing a podcast with us. Lame, right? Anyway, we fixed a couple of our sound hiccups this time around, but added a new one in that my voice is way louder than everyone else’s. So I just apologize for that up front. That’ll be fixed in the next one. Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 2: 99 Problems and a Mitch Ain’t One

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What Defines an RPG?

RPGTime for some fighting words, methinks.

For many years past, Square Enix has been the reigning king of RPG titles. From Final Fantasy to Kingdom Hearts, these guys have enjoyed many eons atop the RPG heap, reveling in their great successes and enjoying all of the accolades (and bling) that goes along with such a thing. However, in recent years, you could say there has been a bit of a changing of the guard in some ways. Not because Square Enix has gotten bad or anything, but simply because their releases are less frequent, and this period of time has come with the rise of many Western RPG developers: namely, Bioware.

So, how does the Bioware Writing Director feel about Final Fantasy XIII? He explains in a recent interview with Strategy Informer.

Well, before I address the main point I just want to take a slightly more controversial route: You can put a ‘J’ in front of it, but it’s not an RPG. You don’t make any choices, you don’t create a character, you don’t live your character… I don’t know what those are – adventure games maybe? But they’re not RPG’s.

I’m not entirely sure I agree with him, though he has a point about a role-playing game in the literal sense of the term. What do you guys think about what he said? To you, what constitutes an RPG experience? Go!

Source- Strategy Informer