dragon-age-origins-awakening
Latest
EA Week on Steam kicks off with discounts on Dragon Age titles
Every day this week, Steam's offering discounts on select EA titles and franchises. To kick things off, the retailer's knocked a number of bucks off the various installments of the Dragon Age franchise today, including Origins, Awakening and ... um, 2.
Impulse takes dragon-sized bite from Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition price
From a value perspective, it's pretty hard to deny the cost to amount of game ratio of Impulse's half-price deal on Dragon Age: Origins. It includes both Origins and the Awakening expansion for 25 bucks. Throw in the fact that it's actually a good game and, well, you've got yourself a heckuva deal.
BBFC: Dragon Age Ultimate Edition to include Awakening and all DLC
Despite popping up on GameStop and having been rated by Australia's OFLC, the so-called "Dragon Age Origins - Ultimate Edition" still hasn't been officially announced by EA. Now the British Board of Film Classification has gone ahead and listed the supposed contents of the re-release, which is "made up of a number of separate components," including: Dragon Age: Origins (original game) Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening (standalone expansion) "The Darkspawn Chronicles" (DLC) "Feastday Combo Pack" (DLC) "The Golems of Amgarrak" (DLC) "Leliana's Song" (DLC) "Return to Ostagar" (DLC) "The Stone Prisoner" (lDLC) "Warden's Keep" (DLC) "Witch Hunt" (DLC) While the GameStop listing has since been removed, the retailer had posted a $60 price and an October 12 release date for the Ultimate Edition. We'll be sure to note the official details when EA officially announces them.
Dragon Age: Origins Awakening now available on Mac
Mac users, it's time to brush the caked-on dust from the once-shiny pauldrons of your Dragon Age: Origins party. We know you've been forced to wait patienty for months while BioWare readied the massive RPG's similarly sizable expansion, Awakening, for your particular gaming platform of choice. Your wait is over -- the add-on is now available on major digital distributors for the price of $30. Of course, it's probably been close to eight months since your Warden's seen any combat action. We strongly suggest you do some stretches to avoid damaging your atrophied Darkspawn-slaying muscles.
Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2 gain +10 cheapness on Amazon
At their standard retail prices, BioWare titles typically offer players an unparalleled amount of HEPD, or "hours of enjoyment per dollar." That highly scientific ratio has been significantly altered by Amazon today.
Sins of a Solar Empire for $4; Mass Effect and Dragon Age bundles part of Impulse sale
Impulse's Memorial Day sale this weekend has Sins of a Solar Empire at the heavenly price of $4. Go buy it now -- full stop. Whatever nit-picky issues the 4X strategy title may have can be thrown out an airlock at that price point. It may lack a single-player campaign to teach the ropes of glorious galactic armada warfare, but setting up a medium-sized map using normal AI is a good place to start. Which reminds us: Gratuitous Space Battles is also on sale. Impulse also has a more mainstream space opera experience on sale with the first two chapters in the Mass Effect saga bundled for $42. Want something not involving spaceships? There's a Dragon Age: Origins bundle, which includes the original game and Awakening, for $48 -- that'll definitely keep you busy all weekend. Check out the rest of the Impulse weekend sales after the break. %Gallery-15134%
Alienware offering free Dragon Age shield codes for PC
Ah yes, Dragon Age Origins' storied realm of Thedas, where great warriors and mages do battle against the Demon Spawn, play kings and knights off of each other in political schemes, and register promotional DLC codes for in-game items. What's that? Your heroic Grey Warden hasn't done the last one yet? Here's your chance -- Alienware is giving away some free DLC keys for an in-game shield called the Bulwark of the True King. If you only have the original PC game, it's a tier 5 shield, but apparently if you have the Awakening expansion, it revs up to a Tier 7 item. All you have to do is run over to the Alienware website, create an account in its Arena community (you didn't think it'd be that "free," did you?), and then redeem the code in-game to claim your shield. Note that these keys don't work in the console versions of the game -- Alienware only wants you PC users. But it is a pretty easy way to get a new shield. Much easier than slaying the mad mage of Ferelden or saving the Arl of Redcliffe. [Thanks Wayne!]
Interview: BioWare's Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka
"Are you saying BioWare fast turnaround?" company co-founder Greg Zeschuk asks jokingly. The respected RPG developer has been known for taking its time with producing hits like Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate, but has seemingly never been as prolific as it has been in recent months -- just over two years after being acquired by EA. How's this for fast turnaround? Dragon Age: Origins in November 2009, Mass Effect 2 in January, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening in March and several DLC packs in-between (and more on the way). We spoke with BioWare co-founders and super-doctors Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka at the Game Developers Conference about their improved production pipeline, the practical challenges of creating DLC and, of course, how fast the turnaround could be on Mass Effect 3*. *"It's not official!" - Greg Zeschuk
European PSN releases for March 18
Though there's not much on the "new game front" in this week's European PSN update, there's plenty of new stuff for the games you already know and love. There's the release of Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening, new cars for Need For Speed: Shift, some LittleBigPlanet PSP love, the arrival of Patchwork Heroes and, of course, the Gaga-ization of the Rock Band Music Store. Check out the full list of releases after the jump! Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
New Dragon Age Awakening character needs to go eat a sandwich or something
Justice takes center stage in the latest, and perhaps last trailer for Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening (which is due out this week). Justice is actually a "person," and not the principle -- a ghost trapped in a human body by a sorceress. Uh-huh, it's up to you to help him escape this mortal dilemma. To make things worse, Justice's "new" body is basically Christian Bale's body (and not the Batman one). In other words, he's a skeleton tightly wrapped in skin. We're surprised Justice can even lift that shield and mace! Forget Elfroot, somebody get this guy some delicious Corpse Gall to fatten him up.
Mystery Dragon Age project dated Feb. 1, 2011
[1UP] It would appear that the still-unnamed next project in the Dragon Age series has been given a date, as spotted by 1UP in an early retail box of Dragon Age: Origins -- Awakening for PS3. Aligning with the release window hinted at by EA hinted earlier this year during a financial call, the scarcely-detailed game will arrive on Februrary 1, 2011 -- or, in the graphic's terms, "02.01.2011." We're not exactly sure if this is part of the two years of promised content that BioWare outlined late last year, but at very least it's an extremely early (possible) release date for more content in a critically acclaimed series. We've asked EA for more information on the date and will let you know more as soon as we do.
Dragon Age Origins: Awakening trailer introduces The Disciples
You know how in Gremlins 2, the Gremlins all break into a genetics lab, and they eat all of the weird gene goop and it gives them superpowers like bat wings or vegetable bodies? And remember how one of them drinks like a brain hormone and becomes Brain Gremlin and gets played by Tony Randall? That's kind of what's happening to the Darkspawn in the Dragon Age Origins: Awakening expansion, according to this new trailer. Of course, we don't know what kind of brain goop they ate -- and they definitely don't sound like Tony Randall -- but they're all called The Disciples and are all smart and talkative now. And evil. As you can see in the various screenshots below, they've got a face only a Gremlin could love. And honestly, while you might play the expansion on March 16 "thinking you know of our kind, human," you're wrong. All they're looking for are things like the Geneva Convention, chamber music, Susan Sontag. That's right: They just want to be civilized. %Gallery-87408%
Pre-order Dragon Age expansion on PC, get Origins 40% off
If you're anything like us, you simply weren't impressed enough by the already overabundant amount of content available in Dragon Age: Origins. No sir! You wanted -- nay! -- demanded more content. Luckily for you, you immovable demander, EA is offering a deal in its online store for the first Dragon Age expansion where pre-orders of the new content can snag the original game on PC for 40 percent off its normal $50 asking price (now just under $30). That means you could get both Awakening and the game it's based on for a combined $70 -- just $10 more than the Game of the Year edition that's sure to come out in a year's time! It's like an early reward for being hesitant ... almost like you paused the action and arranged the tactics ahead of time. Is there something we should know? Hmmm? %Gallery-81512%
Dragon Age Awakening videos: meet Sigrun, ogle B-roll
BioWare recently released a handful of videos promoting the upcoming expansion to its humongous RPG Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening. In the first, posted above, we meet dwarven legionnaire Sigrun, tasked with returning to the old fortress of Kal'hirol. There's talking Darkspawn, those merry band of adventurers known as the "Legion of the Dead," and even a cameo from our old friend Oghren. The additional two videos (which come to us via IGN) are simply B-roll, but that means gameplay footage. You'll get a look at some of the new characters in action and even some vistas of the new environments. We get it, it's not much, but you've got less than a month until this old-school expansion pack (remember those?) slays its way to retailers.
Kal'hirol: Explore this mysterious dwarven fortress in Dragon Age: Awakening
click to awaken the gallery BioWare revealed one of the new venues being added for the Dragon Age: Origins expansion Awakening. Kal'hirol was once a dwarven keep, a center of learning and culture for dwarf society. At some point, however, the dwarves were driven out. BioWare won't say what horror resulted in "the fortress's elite one day [showing] up at Orzammar's great doors, exhausted and in despair over the loss of their home," but we have a theory: a Subway opened up next door, and the dwarves couldn't stand its constant weird baking-bread smell. Either that or some kind of monsters. You can scour our new gallery for any evidence of $5 footlongs. %Gallery-85814%
Dragon Age: Origins Awakening on PS3 download-only in Europe
We usually think we're too smart for FAQs, preferring the sort of random, only moderately relevant questions that no one ever asks. But the FAQ for Dragon Age: Origins Awakening does provide some pretty useful insight. For instance, we learned that the expansion won't appear on disc for PS3 owners living in Europe. It seems like an odd decision to make, but perhaps you European PS3 fans can enlighten us. Do you guys just hate discs without us knowing it? If so, why did you let us keep buying you all those discs for Christmas without saying anything? [Update: We just heard back from an EA spokesperson, who told us "Apparently this is a Sony Europe rule – you cannot have expansion packs be available on PSN and at retail. You can in North America, which is why we have both here." Huh, who knew?] Less perplexingly, we saw that lovably grouchy dwarf Oghren plays a "large role" in the expansion, which is great news for all thinking people.
Velanna joins the growing Dragon Age Awakening cast
The second character from the upcoming Dragon Age expansion Awakening to be introduced is Velanna, whose main characteristic is that she hates humans a bunch. Also, much like Awakening's other new character Anders, she keeps her arms out at all times. The Dalish elf is "nature's hand, an instrument of vengeance, and she will never submit" in her unending fight to avenge the treatment of the Dalish at the hands of humans. Which means your relationship with her probably isn't going to be too chummy if you're playing a human character. And by "not too chummy" we mean "she will murder you with a tree."
Dragon Age Awakening: now with creepy Children!
Felt like your copy of Dragon Age: Origins was missing something, eh? Say, maybe, slugs with demonically mutated children's faces? Perfect -- we've got just the trailer for you today, care of upcoming DA:O expansion Awakening, full of creepy-crawly things called "The Children." There's not much in the way of an explanation of exactly what or why they are, but there are some pretty awful birth pods full of (presumably) amniotic fluid -- well, y'know, evil amniotic fluid (they're bad guys, after all). Hopefully the Children aren't working in concert with that terrifying blue dragon we saw last week. Man, that'd be just the worst! Get fully creeped out by the trailer after the break. %Gallery-81512%
Meet Anders, your new party member in Dragon Age 'Awakening' expansion
In the run-up to the expansion's March 16 date with store shelves, BioWare has begun to make formal introductions of the new characters who'll be joining your Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening quest. First up: Anders, a Chantry mage and ... "born troublemaker." In fact, BioWare makes him sound more like Han Solo than a robed magic user, what with his lust for "freedom, a good meal and a pretty girl on his arm." We'd like to point out that there is not a single screenshot in the gallery below in which Anders doesn't have his arms raised to some degree. %Gallery-84521%
Pre-orders for Dragon Age: Origins 'Awakening' expansion now available on Steam
Ever since Dragon Age: Origins' upcoming expansion, titled Awakening, was announced back in early January, we've been pining for the chance to drop the $40 on it well before the content actually releases. Thankfully for us, Steam has just opened up pre-orders for the expansion, meaning we can play the expansion in only one month, three weeks, three days and XX hours! We know, we know -- but you're gonna have to calm down. All that excitement could crash your computer. And then where would you be, hmm? No expansion at all! No chance to hang out with Skeletor! %Gallery-81512%
