BioWare

The highly anticipated Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG still lacks a release date, but Bioware isn't shying away from showing off some end-game content.

As a bit of background for the uninitiated, gamers can group together in SW:TOR and tackle challenges called "operations," which are similar to raids or instances found in World of Warcraft. These types of areas are critical to those who have reached the maximum level possible by offering intensive teamwork experiences and the chance to acquire high-powered items. Dallas Dickinson, Bioware's director of production, previews one of those operations, Eternity Vault, in a 10-minute video released a few days ago. … Read more

A slight disturbance in the Force was felt this morning after BioWare, LucasArts, and EA announced that Jedi and Sith everywhere can now preorder Star Wars: The Old Republic for a limited time.

Three versions of the highly anticipated MMORPG are available: Standard ($59), Digital Deluxe ($79), and the whopping Collector's Edition ($149). A preorder FAQ answers some common questions for curious padawans. Those who order soon get access to the virtual world early and obtain special items to make questing easier.

Star Wars fans have clamored for the title since its reveal in late 2008, with an expected release date later this year. According to the official preorder site, here is a breakdown of the three editions: … Read more

One of the holiday season's heavy hitters has bowed out of its expected fourth-quarter release. Today, via Facebook, BioWare announced that Mass Effect 3 will now arrive on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 during the first three months of 2012. The new date puts it in the similar launch window of Mass Effect 2, which launched in January 2010 for the Xbox 360 and PC and January 2011 for the PS3.

Mass Effect 3 needs to cook for a bit longer, says BioWare.

"The development team is laser focused on making sure Mass Effect 3 is the biggest, boldest, and best game in the series, ensuring that it exceeds everyone's expectations," Mass Effect series executive producer Casey Hudson said in a statement.

Read more of "Mass Effect 3 delayed to Q1 2012" on GameSpot. … Read more

Two years after the first Dragon Age: Origins game, developer BioWare is back with a new story to tell. Assuming the role of a character named Hawke (the sex and class of which you can customize), players will battle enemies, take on quests, and make various decisions in-game that ultimately alter the narrative. Gamers can even import their original Dragon Age choices if they choose to do so.

Does Dragon Age II trump its predecessor? Or is it filled with unwanted changes?

Jeff: Got a month to kill? That's the kind of time one can spend with BioWare's latest epic, Dragon Age II. Interestingly enough, the sequel plays more like a Mass Effect game than it does its predecessor. While hard-core RPG fans may view this as somewhat of a disservice, it certainly makes Dragon Age II a more accessible title at the end of the day.

For those who enjoyed the original Dragon Age: Origins on a console, the good news is that Dragon Age II plays even better on an Xbox 360 or PS3 this time around as the combat has been tweaked to resemble more of an action-RPG experience. This update is immediately noticeable--something we're not sure how we lived without during our Origins playthrough two years ago.

Choice is a main star of Dragon Age II, giving players a healthy amount of power with the decisions they make. While we really enjoyed this aspect of the game, it's definitely worth mentioning that we didn't always find the story as engaging as we would have hoped. At times it's confusing, others it's just uninteresting. Regardless, we still admire the fact that it's structured backward, in a way where players are told the ending just as things in the game are beginning to unfold.… Read more

When BioWare announced Tuesday at the Gamescom conference in Germany that its Mass Effect 2--arguably the best game to hit store shelves so far in 2010--was coming to the PlayStation 3 in January, many wondered how Microsoft would respond.

Prior to the announcement, the Mass Effect franchise was available exclusively to Xbox 360 and PC gamers.

Microsoft won't say whether it's disappointed to lose Mass Effect 2's exclusivity, but the company was quick to point out in an interview with IGN, that it believes its console is still the best place to play the venerable title.

"… Read more

BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk had some rather interesting things to say this week about the future of the gaming business.

Zeschuk, whose company has created major console hits like Mass Effect 2, said that going forward, the video game industry won't rely so heavily on the console market. In fact, he believes consoles could be a relic of the past as more players turn to portable devices to get their game on.

"The future isn't necessarily on console," Zeschuk said at the Develop Conference, an event for European game developers. "That's the past. It'… Read more

In recent years, the U.S. role-playing game landscape has become decidedly dominated by Western-based games, like Mass Effect 2 and the recently released Dragon Age: Origins. But according to Greg Zeschuk, co-founder of role-playing game company BioWare, Japanese developers might have only themselves to blame.

Speaking in an interview with Destructoid, Zeschuk said "the fall of the Japanese RPG (JRPG) in large part is due to a lack of evolution, a lack of progression." Zeschuk added that developers "kept delivering the same thing over and over. They make the dressing better, they look prettier, but it'… Read more

Sigh. Sellout blues today, people. But I'd like to see a digital download sell out!

As part of a Cyber Monday promo, Direct2Drive is offering the award-winning, uber-popular PC game Mass Effect for just $4.95.

How award-winning? How uber-popular? Check out GameSpot's review of Mass Effect, which awards it the rarely achieved score of 9.0. Average user score? About the same: 8.9.

In fact, the PC version of the Xbox 360 classic offers "streamlined combat and numerous minor improvements." (Sounds good to me: I prefer to game on my PC anyway.)

The game … Read more

As what one might call mainstream consumers of interactive entertainment, we're quick to snicker at anything too concerned with elves and dragons, or any kind of stat-juggling role-playing game. That said, we've always had a soft spot for epic, story-driven games such as Oblivion and Fallout 3, which use the trapping of the RPG format to build a fully realized virtual world.

This year's entry in the epic RPG/adventure game category is Dragon Age: Origins, released Tuesday. After getting an early preview during this year's Game Developer's Conference, we were surprisingly hooked and eager … Read more