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Report: BioWare San Francisco closes, up to 30 staffers laid off
According to a report on GamesRadar, BioWare San Francisco – the studio formerly known as EA2D and responsible for titles like Dragon Age Legends and Mirror's Edge 2D – has been closed by EA, leaving between 25 to 30 employees jobless. Citing a source inside the studio, the report suggests EA felt it was "too expensive" to make mobile games in Redwood Shores, CA.Joystiq has followed up with EA to check the veracity of this claim. Dragon Age Legends' servers were shut off last year, but the developers at BioWare San Francisco were kind enough to make an offline version available for fans to continue to play.
EA2D pixelates into BioWare San Francisco in company shake-up
EA has rebranded EA2D as BioWare San Francisco, sending the arcade-focused studio the way of the dinosaurs (or 2D in EA games). As we know, EA2D was responsible for The Fancy Pants Adventures and Facebook's Dragon Age Legends, and had studio goals of putting the core back in gaming and making players cry. EA2D's dissolution is part of a larger company shift that CEO John Riccitiello describes as an attempt to build its "intellectual properties/franchises into year-round business" and focus on its digital ventures with Origin. Considering EA2D was a digital-based studio, we can only imagine what more virtuality BioWare will add to it.
What's in a Name: EA2D
Mark Spenner is the vice president and general manager of Electronic Arts' EA2D studio, which makes smaller games with smaller teams. It's just launched Dragon Age Legends on Facebook and is working on an XBLA/PSN version of the Flash hit The Fancy Pants Adventures. Spenner elucidated the meaning of the studio's name in a conversation with Joystiq at South by Southwest Interactive: "A lot of people think 'EA2D' is about graphics, because obviously the '2D,' but the inspiration was: We wanted to get back to small teams, core gameplay. We had this manifesto at EA when it was founded, all about that -- and about making people cry through video games. So very player-focused; 'back to our roots' gameplay; and then not worry so much about the number of pixels we're pushing onto the screen. "So that was the genesis of the name, and then some fabulous people at EA did this logo for us, which captured the spirit perfectly." Dragon Age Legends is playable on Facebook. Fancy Pants Adventures is due on XBLA and PSN this spring. Like this feature? Be sure to check out the What's In A Name Archives.
Dragon Age Legends now live on Facebook, go poke some Darkspawn
At last, social game aficionados/haters have a new title to sink their teeth into/receive hundreds of unwanted Facebook invitations to: Dragon Age Legends. The network-connected strategy RPG lets players work together to complete quests, and earn equipment -- both in Legends and the recently released Dragon Age 2. If you're feeling lost after loading up the game, you're not without options -- perhaps you could consult with one of the thousands of players who got in on the game's beta, which kicked off in January? We bet they know a thing or two about putting down Genlocks.
Fancy Pants Adventures gets fancy trailer, screens
Look, we're not going to lie. We've been checking out new screens and a trailer for Fancy Pants Adventures -- coming next year to XBLA and PSN -- and we have to admit: Those are some darn fancy pants. They just might be the fanciest we've ever seen. Look for yourself and just try to disagree. %Gallery-107228%
EA bringing Fancy Pants Adventures to XBLA and PSN
If your thirst for 2D platforming was left unquenched by Super Meat Boy, well, for starters, you're insatiable. But you're also in luck! EA just announced it'll bring Flash hit Fancy Pants Adventures to XBLA and PSN in the spring of 2011. The beautifully animated and scored platformer will come from Borne Games, Over the Top and EA2D, a digital-distribution focused branch of the publisher. We normally would buck at paying for a game that's been free for so long, but a promised new world, new weapons and new enemies may be enough to have us digging for our wallets in our gigantic, flowing orange pants.
Dragon Age journeys to browsers in Flash-based tactical RPG
BioWare and EA2D, a web game team at Electronic Arts, have announced their collaboration on Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads, a browser-based tactical RPG set in the world of Dragon Age: Origins. Early details on the planned three-chapter game are laid out on BioWare's blog, along with a roster of the indie Flash devs contributing to the project. Development is being led by Daniel Stradwick, creator of the web-based strategy RPG The Monster's Den. According to EA2D, "The Deep Roads features character classes, talent trees, sound effects, music and user interface taken directly from Dragon Age: Origins," and that it's getting "invaluable feedback and insight on the game from members of the Dragon Age team, including Drs. Ray [Muzyka] and Greg Zeschuk]." The confines of a browser seems like an odd place to play a game from a maker of epic RPGs like BioWare but, then again, the studio recently released an iPhone title -- so we're thinking any platform's fair game. Next up: Dragon Age for graphing calculators. [Via VideoGamer.com]
