So I cracked open a copy of the hot off the press Dragon Age expansion from the suddenly prolific RPG gurus at Bioware only to discover the following card inserted into the game’s packaging:
Sorry for the crappy webcam pic, awash as it is with overhead flourescent lighting, but you can clearly see a nice rendering of the Dragon Age poster child, the Blood Dragon, and a single date…
02/01/2011
Dragon age II? Another Dragon Age expansion? Your guess is as good as mine. Either way i applaud Bioware’s brilliant efforts at teasing the crap out of us. Given the relatively distant date given, my money is on a sequel.
Opening Statement:
Everyone’s favorite extra-terrestrial Cuisinarts are back, and as per usual, mankind is caught in the middle. Can Rebellion, the studio behind the original PC classic, manage to get it right this time around?
Facts of the Case:
The Weyland-Yutani Corporation has found something beneath the surface of BG-386, a discovery so valuable that even Karl Bishop-Weyland (Lance Henriksen, of course!) has taken an active role in the excavation. When the planet side colony goes silent, the USS Marlow is dispatched on a search and rescue mission. The Marlow however isn’t the only ship in the stars above Freya’s Prospect; a group of Predators has made one hell of an explosive entrance. They’ve got some time to kill, and more than enough prey (of the soft meat and hard meat varieties) to keep them occupied.
Opening Statement
The first Mass Effect blasted onto the Xbox scene and revolutionized many elements of the action/RPG experience, from its brilliantly-realized new IP, the revolutionary dialogue wheel and the pants-drenchingly fantastic graphics. Bioware’s anticipated follow-up is here and it is so, so much better.
From the Makers of the Best RPG of 2009, Dragon Age: Origins, comes the first official expansion pack.
For centuries, the Grey Wardens—the ancient order of guardians, sworn to unite and defend the lands—have been battling the darkspawn forces. Legend spoke that slaying the Archdemon would have put an end to the darkspawn threat for centuries to come, but somehow they remain.
You are the Grey Warden Commander and have been entrusted with the duty of rebuilding the order of Grey Wardens and uncovering the secrets of the darkspawn and how they managed to remain.
How you choose to rebuild your order, how you resolve the conflict with “The Architect”, and how you determine the fate of the darkspawn will be but some of the many complex choices that await and shape your journey as you venture to the new land of Amaranthine.
A Stunning World Expanded: BioWare’s deepest universe to date just got bigger with an all new area of the world to explore, Amaranthine
Unlock the secrets of the Darkspawn and their true motivations
Rebuild the Grey Warden order and establish their base of operations at Vigil’s Keep
All-new Complex Moral Choices: Embark on an epic story that is completely defined and reactive to your play style
Shape your entire experience based on the choices you make and how your handle complex situations
New Ways to Customize your Hero: Experience additional spells, abilities, specializations, and items to further personalize and customize your hero and party
Import your character from Dragon Age: Origins or start anew as a Grey Warden from the neighboring land of Orlais
Encounter five all-new party members and an old favorite from Dragon Age: Origins
Even more Bone-Crushing, Visceral Combat: Battle against a new range of horrific and terrifying creatures
Put your skills to the test against an evolved, intelligent breed of Darkspawn and other menacing creatures including the Inferno Golem and Spectral Dragon!
Let me the first to say; “HELL YES!” Release date is at the end of the trailer, and it’s closer than you think!
The Charge:
Word of Ember blazed across the land, and the town of Torchlight flared to life…
Opening Statement:
Let’s get this out of the way right now: Torchlight is the least original game you will ever play. It is impossible to compare this little game to another, more popular iteration in the dungeon clicker/crawler genre—Diablo, the big kahuna, the head cheese. And Torchlight is okay with this. After all, the game was developed by Runic Games, and two of its members, Max and Erich Schaefer were co-designers on Diablo and Diablo II. They stick to what they know. And you’ll be delighted that they did.
Opening Statement:
How many games come along and promise to provide a mish-mash of “Genre A” and “Genre B” and wind up with a watrered down version of both that dissapoints and frustrates. Gearbox Software, those guys behind Ubisoft’s Brothers in Arms series have unleashed their new baby onto an unsuspecting Fall market. Promising a fresh combination of first person shooter and action role playing, does Borderlands cross the gameplay border into awesometown? Or is it better off being detained at customs.
With the busy fall season officially upon us, I’m sure we’re all prepared to face a deluge of console software in the coming months.
Sure, everyone is following the big guns, we’re all ready for and awaiting our Uncharted Twos and our Modern Warfare twos and our Assassin’s Creed Twos and on and on. I’m not going to preview or run down the hot commodities here, no, my purpose here is to shed some light on a few other titles you may have overlooked in the stream of sequel hype that preceeds the glut of triple-A high-profile wallet-fodder.
I’m kicking things off with my personal favorite genre. I’m a dice roller, a stat geek, a fantasy devotee with more repeat readings of The Lord Of The Rings under my belt than i care to admit. Join me brave adventurer, or whatever, y’know, as i present to thee, or you, 5 Role-players coming to consoles this fall (marring unforseen delays) that just might be worth your time and hard earned cash, perhaps you’ll see something that looks kinda cool.
Check out the first official trailer for “MECHWARRIOR” courtesy of IGN.com.
Coming to the xbox360 and PC sometime in the undisclosed future, Mechwarrior is a releaunch of the classic series that was a fan favorite on PC’s in the mid to late 90’s.
Mechwarrior is being developed by Smith & Tinker, a company founded by Mechwarrior/Battletech creator Jordan Wiseman, and co-developed by Piranha Games out of BC, Canada.
As someone who blew over a hundred hours of his life on Activision’s Mechwarrior 2 and Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, and a ton more on Microprose’s Mechwarrior 3, i’m very very excited!
