"But whether you seek answers, revenge, or reconciliation with your lost love, you may find more than you bargained for."
Contrary to the marketing line, you'll likely find less than you bargained for in Dragon Age: Witch Hunt, a disappointing and flimsy finale to the Dragon Age: Origins storyline. It's not a terrible chunk of content -- and it would have to do far worse before it could tarnish BioWare's other efforts in keeping the Dragon Age universe alive for almost a year now -- but the crucial failure to deliver a satisfying conclusion is hard to forget. We'll talk forgiveness later.
Next week, we'll finally get to find out what became of Morrigan at the conclusion of Dragon Age: Origins. Well, technically that wasn't the conclusion of the game -- this is the end, but you get our point. Sort it all out for yourself past the break, courtesy of a teaser video from GameTrailers.
Dragon Age Origins - Ultimate Edition has yet to be officially announced, but it has now been rated by Australia's OFLC. Previously popping up as a GameStop listing with a $60 price and an October 12 release date, the re-release once again prompts us to blankly stare in EA's general direction until it confesses like a mage in the Chantry. We've sent couriers off to EA for official comment.
It's not quite the "Dragon Age Molybdenum" edition, but one can safely speculate that this "Utlimate" package would include all of the Origins DLC, along with the recently announced "Witch Hunt" add-on. With Dragon Age 2 half a year away, it really is time to wrap up Origins in a nice bundle.
And you thought they'd save this one for the sequel! BioWare has announced "Witch Hunt," a new Dragon Age: Origins add-on that concludes the storyline and investigates the true motives of Morrigan, the sardonic witch known for delivering sick burns via verbal insult or fireball incantation. This will be of particular interest if you spent time, err, investigating Morrigan during the main quest.
As BioWare puts it dramatically, "Her plans and her whereabouts have remained a mystery... until now."
Well, until September 7, when you'll download Witch Hunt for $7 (or 560 MS/BioWare points) on PC, PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. The content will allow you to create a new, high-powered character or import your hero from Dragon Age: Origins and the Awakening expansion. "But whether you seek answers, revenge, or reconciliation with your lost love," BioWare warns, "you may find more than you bargained for."
That's always nice when it comes to DLC, isn't it?
#dlc
BioWare ties off a major plot thread in preparation for the coming of Dragon Age 2 with Witch Hunt, the climactic ending to the Origins storyline where players will finally uncover the secrets held by Morrigan, the incredibly under-dressed witch. More »
If you just can't wait for official details on Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition (or if you already have the game), this XBL Deal of the Week is for you. It's all Origins content this week, with the highlight being Awakening. Gold members can snag it for 1600 MSP ($20), down from 2400 MSP ($30).
If you've held off on purchasing Dragon Age: Origins until now ... keep holding off. GameStop listings have appeared for something called "Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition" on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, supposedly due for release on October 12 for $59.99.
The listings have no information at all about what's included in the package -- and neither EA nor BioWare have officially announced this thing, though we've asked for a comment regardless -- so it's anyone's guess as to what's included. If it were truly "Ultimate" it would include the Awakenings expansion and all the DLC. Now that word's out about this thing's existence, we expect an announcement soon, at which point we'll learn the precise level of ultimateness contained within.
#gay
Robert Yang, a video game design student, created a Dragon Age mod that enabled new dating options, including gay romance. We're republishing his account of what happened when he played it. There will be marked spoilers. More »
You know that Dragon Age: Origins DLC, "Golems of Amgarrak," we just played at Comic-Con? You'll be playing it soon yourself -- on Tuesday, August 10, to be exact, for PS3, 360 and PC. (Unless, that is, you don't like Dragon Age, in which case we can't be friends anymore. Kidding!)
BioWare's, er, bio on its new 'ware -- which is meant for seasoned adventurers -- tells of a backstory involving a "missing dwarven expedition" and "ancient secrets for creating monstrous constructs." How this is all that different from most normal people's days escapes us, but at least we can look forward to fighting an "all-new terrifying creature!" (Spoiler alert: it's probably a golem.)
"We just brought it down," the marketing guy from BioWare told me while waiting in line. The company was already bringing a bunch of computers to Comic-Con to let visiting fans preview Dragon Age 2, so they figured why not bring some PCs down all loaded up with unreleased DLC to play, too? Other companies hold secret sneak previews and require pages of NDA agreements to see their unreleased games for the first time, but BioWare just brings them to Comic-Con.
So yes, alongside the public, I got a chance to see the upcoming DLC. And the first thing I heard about it is that it's hard. Really hard. Dragon Age: Origins is already a game that requires some thinking, but BioWare has apparently turned up the difficulty on this one -- there's lots of big enemies, I was told, that will provide a challenge even on the easiest setting.
#dlc
While fans wait for next year's Dragon Age II, BioWare continues to pump out the downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins, uncovering the ancient secrets of the dwarves' magical constructs in Golems of Amgarrak. More »
"We just brought it down," the marketing guy from BioWare told me while waiting in line. The company was already bringing a bunch of computers to Comic-Con to let visiting fans preview Dragon Age 2, so they figured why not bring some PCs down all loaded up with unreleased DLC to play, too? Other companies hold secret sneak previews and require pages of NDA agreements to see their unreleased games for the first time, but BioWare just brings them to Comic-Con.
So yes, alongside the public, I got a chance to see the upcoming DLC. And the first thing I heard about it is that it's hard. Really hard. Dragon Age: Origins is already a game that requires some thinking, but BioWare has apparently turned up the difficulty on this one -- there's lots of big enemies, I was told, that will provide a challenge even on the easiest setting.
#patch
BioWare says a PC patch is due to arrive tomorrow for Dragon Age: Origins, and indicated the same thing is in the certification pipeline for PS3 and Xbox 360. It arrives on schedule and corrects a ton of things. More »
There's a strange calculus that we all apply to digitally-distributed gaming content. iPhone games, XBLA and PSN releases, etc., divorced from the usual MSRP for retail products, all suffer the same fate: intense pricing scrutiny. While our reviews aim to be more experiential and less commercial, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't applying that same calculus to the latest Dragon Age: Origins DLC, "Leliana's Song," while I played it. How much new content is there? How long is it? How does that compare to the retail version? And, of course, how much does it cost?
Let's cover that new content first: "Leliana's Song" is a fully-voiced expansion featuring several new characters (like your companions Sketch the mage and Tug the dwarf), some new music, and some new (albeit dull) locations. A particular disappointment: despite Leliana's Orlesian (read: French) lineage, and despite this being her origin story, you won't see a single Orlesian blade of grass in this adventure. Instead, you'll spend time in the oft-recycled Denerim Market and you'll sneak through the Arl's castle; familiar environments, to be sure. Depending on what you're hoping to extract from "Leliana's Song," there's either a wealth of content (new dialogue! new music!) or a dearth of it (old locations!).
#bioware
The first details we saw about Dragon Age 2 were not shocking. New game, new hero. The second batch of details? Consider the eyes of Kotaku raised. More »
#dlc
The latest downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins drops today on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, allowing players to delve into the shady past of the lovely bard Leiliana. More »
Direct2Drive has the PC version of Dragon Age: Origins for $20 today. For those seeking an even epic-ier quest, one could go spelunking for coins between the sofa cushions to pick up the "Digital Deluxe" version for $5 more. Even by our most conservative estimates, that price makes the Joystiq best of 2009 epic something around the cost of a pack of gum per hour -- although we don't recommend actually chewing a pack of gum per hour. You'll get a jaw like an ogre.
EA, BioWare, and Japanese animation distributor FUNimation have teamed up to create an animated movie based on the award-winning role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins. Production bega last month, with a direct-to-video release slated for 2011. More »
Continuing the inexplicable trend of western games being adapted into anime (see also: Halo, Dante's Inferno), BioWare and anime publisher Funimation have announced a deal to produce an anime movie based on the Dragon Age franchise. Production started last month, with an intended 2011 direct-to-video release.
This will be the first release from Funimation's new Original Entertainment department, started to do exactly this kind of thing: develop new anime based on existing IP. We do wonder about the strict definition of the term "anime," though: if it's produced by an American publisher and based on an American (Canadian, actually) game, is it still anime? Luckily, this is one of those distinctions that doesn't matter at all. Regardless of the name, if you like Dragon Age, you'll soon get to watch a cartoon about it.
Jonesing for more stories set in the grim Dragon Age universe, but don't have the patience to wait for the game's next expansion? Machinima.com recently produced a canonical miniseries set in the days following Origins' ending, and tells the story of Kristoff, another Gray Warden which players encounter in the Awakenings DLC. Considering the miniseries is titled "Warden's Fall," we seriously doubt things are going to turn out all roses and sunshine for him.
The first episode of the series went live earlier today, and can be found posted after the jump. If you're a fan of the game, it's well worth seven minutes of your time.
The game-crashing errors which have plagued the PS3 version of Dragon Age: Origins since firmware update 3.30 launched have finally been remedied. A patch, available today in the U.S. and Europe, fixes the frequent freezes, and also sorts out an issue which removed free DLC redeemed with promo codes from the in-game store.
It also adds Trophy support for the "Darkspawn Chronicles" DLC, which was added to the game yesterday. Apparently, when BioWare said the PS3 version of the expansion was "coming soon," it actually meant, "in like, a few hours."
Do you feel like satisfying that evil streak you've got locked away deep, deep inside you? You can now play as the maleficent baddies of Ferelden by picking up Dragon Age: Origins' newest DLC pack, Darkspawn Chronicles. It's available today on 360 and PC for 400 ($5). Check out the trailer above to get an idea of how the other, uglier half of Dragon Age's epic conflict lives.
According to BioWare's official website, the PS3 version of the DLC is "coming soon." We're not sure what the hang-up is, but we've contacted BioWare to get a rough idea of the content's ETA.
Dragon Age: Origins is great and all, but it's a little too goody two-shoes, if you ask us. Thankfully, some new DLC is set to cater to our evil side. Darkspawn Chronicles will allow players to step into the grotesque, mud-soaked shoes of Ferelden's evil inhabitants and play out an alternate scenario: What if the good guys never won?
BioWare is in the process of developing a patch to fix Dragon Age: Origins' game crashing bug caused by the PS3 firmware 3.3 update. If the thread on the BioWare forums is any indication, the developer was just as flummoxed and frustrated by the situation as the players. It appears that BioWare, after much collaboration with the community, has a patch in the works that should fix the problem.
The bad part is there is currently no timetable for the patch to make its way to the masses. If the code changes work internally, then it's off to EA for "publisher side certification testing." After that, it goes to Sony for testing. We sure hope Sony takes the BioWare team who ended up having to work extra on this out for a nice steak dinner.
#dlc
What if your character hadn't survived the Joining at the beginning of Dragon Age: Origins? That's the question explored in the Darkspawn Chronicles, a standalone adventure in which you lead the Darkspawn to victory. More »
#patch
A patch to fix the frequent crashing issue that's plagued PlayStation 3 players of Dragon Age: Origins since the release of firmware 3.3 is currently being tested by BioWare, though an actual release date is still up in the air. More »
#patch
A patch to fix the frequent crashing issue that's plagued PlayStation 3 players of Dragon Age: Origins since the release of firmware 3.3 is currently being tested by BioWare, though an actual release date is still up in the air. More »
This is the best name for an article.