BioWare Corp : bioware

Dragon Age: Origins Snags Tim Curry, Kate Mulgrew, and Others

Browncoat — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:08:48 GMT

Curse received a press release today from EA and Bioware about the voice talent added to their upcoming RPG Dragon Age: Origins. Tim Curry, he of Rocky Horror fame (and countless other films) and Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager) will be lending their talent to making the game a success.

Looking at the cast so far, it looks like it's going to be interesting to see how the various folks contribute to adding to the atmosphere of the game. Check out the full press release below:

BIOWARE’S DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS TO FEATURE THE VOICES OF FANTASY AND SCI-FI STARS TIM CURRY AND KATE MULGREW

Award-Winning Celebrities Featured in BioWare’s Dark Fantasy Epic

EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA – August 27, 2009 – Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) has secured a star-studded voiceover cast for its upcoming blockbuster game, Dragon Age™: Origins. Featuring Tim Curry, star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Broadway’s Spamalot, as well as Kate Mulgrew, well-known for her role as Capt. Kathryn Janeway in “Star Trek: Voyager”, Dragon Age: Origins also includes notable cast members Tim Russ (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Samantha Who?”), Claudia Black (“Stargate SG-1,” “Pitch Black”) andSteve Valentine (“Estate of Panic,” “Crossing Jordan”). Dragon Age: Origins marks BioWare’s return to fantasy, created from the ground up to take players through a dark epic tale filled with violence, lust, and betrayal.

Tim Curry will play the villainous Arl Rendon Howe. Howe is the calculating villain, cultured and charming, with an insatiable lust for power who never hesitates to harm anyone who gets in his way. Kate Mulgrew will lend her vocal flair to Flemeth, a powerful witch who maintains her immortality through the darkest of means, and who plays a pivotal role in the player’s survival. Both roles provide the actors with the opportunity to bring their considerable talents to bear in their portrayal of these characters.

“Dragon Age: Origins has the largest cast of characters of any game BioWare has ever made,” said Mark Darrah, Executive Producer, BioWare. “By working with an incredibly talented cast of actors we are able to bring reality and depth to the characters, their back stories, motivations, and dreams that our talented writers have created for them.”

In Dragon Age: Origins, players take on the role of a Grey Warden, one of the last of an ancient order of guardians who have served as protectors throughout the centuries. Only they have the power to unite the shattered lands, defeat the Archdemon and drive back the darkspawn that threaten to destroy the world. Players will interact with many interesting characters who may join them in their quest, and they will choose whether these characters become friends, foes, or even a romantic interest. Featuring a deep and compelling story where every choice can have a dramatic impact on the game, Dragon Age: Origins is scheduled to release on November 3, 2009 in North America, for the PC and Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and later in November for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.

Dragon Age: Origins is rated M by the ESRB. For more information about Dragon Age: Origins, visitwww.dragonage.com. Pre-order the game now at www.eastore.ea.com.

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About BioWare

BioWare develops computer, console, handheld, mobile and online video games focused on rich stories and memorable characters. Since 1995, BioWare has created some of the world's best-selling titles, including the award-winning Baldur's Gate™ and Neverwinter Nights™ series, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™ and Sonic™ Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (for the Nintendo DS™). Original BioWare-created intellectual properties include Jade Empire™ and the 2007 Game of the Year, Mass Effect™. With studios in Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montreal (Quebec), and Austin (Texas), BioWare is hard at work on the epic fantasy roleplaying game, Dragon Age™: Origins, Mass Effect 2™, the epic sequel to Mass Effect, and the story-driven massively multiplayer game, Star Wars®: The Old Republic™, as well as several unannounced projects. In 2008, BioWare was acquired by the world's leading electronic entertainment publisher, Electronic Arts. For more information on BioWare, visit www.bioware.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA^TM, EA SPORTS^TM, EA Mobile ^TM and POGO^TM. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

BioWare, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Jade Empire are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. in the U.S. and/or other countries. EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. “PLAYSTATION” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Nintendo DS is a trademark of Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Bioware Reveals Second Member of Shepard's Mass Effect 2 Crew

Browncoat — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:26:28 GMT

Today, Bioware sent Curse a press release announcing the latest addition to hero Commander Shepard's crew for Mass Effect 2. "Grunt" joins the assassin Thane as a member of the growing cast of this highly anticipated title. You know, I always ran Wrex as a member of my adventuring crew in the first Mass Effect. The fact that another Krogan could be replacing him makes me a little sad - but if he's as cool as they're saying he is, I could forgive them.

Check out the press release below.

BIOWARE UNVEILS NEW STORY DETAILS OF THE EPIC ACTION RPG

MASS EFFECT 2

Captain Shepard Recruits Critical Squad Members Starting with the

Merciless, Vicious Krogan Character “Grunt”

Cologne, Germany (August 18th, 2009) – Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today revealed new plot points in the epic sci-fi fantasy Mass Effect 2™. Once again stepping into the role of the heroic Commander Shepard, gamers will command their crew on a suicide mission in space. Players will strategically select each member of their squad, all of whom have a direct impact on the direction of the story and the squad’s chances for survival. Players will select from a motley cast of characters including the newly revealed ‘Grunt’ – a blood-hungry Krogan.

Once players have assembled their squad from amongst the galaxy’s most powerful mystics, geniuses, and convicts, they must lead them on a suicide mission to discover why humans are vanishing from the galaxy. The success of the mission hinges on the squad recruited and their loyalty to the mission. Shepard’s future depends on it.

“The Mass Effect trilogy is an epic saga with consequences that will carry through from chapter to chapter” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, GM and CEO BioWare, VP EA. “Building out a diverse and loyal party is one of the features that makes the Mass Effect series unique. “The characters Commander Shepard recruits are not only pivotal to the storyline but essential to the players overall success.”

The new character revealed in the Mass Effect 2 squad is ‘Grunt’. A violent and unpredictable Krogan fighter, Grunt has never faced true defeat. His unsurpassed physical strength makes him a strong asset to Commander Shepard’s team, if he can be tamed, and if he can be trusted.

Grunt is the second party member to be revealed in the Mass Effect 2 universe following ‘Thane’ a deadly assassin who was first introduced in June. More details about the rest of Shepard’s crew will be revealed in the coming months.

The Mass Effect trilogy is a masterful science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life and mysterious uncharted planets. Mass Effect 2 is scheduled for release on Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PC in early 2010. The new recruitment gameplay video and screenshots can be found at info.ea.com. Follow us on Twitter at:http://twitter.com/masseffect2.

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About BioWare

BioWare develops computer, console, handheld, mobile and online video games focused on rich stories and memorable characters. Since 1995, BioWare has created some of the world's best-selling titles, including the award-winning Baldur's Gate™ and Neverwinter Nights™ series, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™ and Sonic™ Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (for the Nintendo DS™). Original BioWare-created intellectual properties include Jade Empire™ and the 2007 Game of the Year, Mass Effect™. With studios in Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montréal (Québec), and Austin (Texas), BioWare is hard at work on the epic fantasy roleplaying game, Dragon Age™: Origins, Mass Effect 2™, the epic sequel to Mass Effect, and the story-driven massively multiplayer game, Star Wars®: The Old Republic™, as well as several unannounced projects. In 2008, BioWare was acquired by the world's leading electronic entertainment publisher, Electronic Arts. For more information on BioWare, visitwww.bioware.com

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA^TM, EA SPORTS^TM, EA Mobile ^TM and POGO^TM. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

*BioWare, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Jade Empire are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. in the U.S. and/or other countries. EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

BioWare not put off by Blizzard

Indelible — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:02:00 GMT

BioWare Softworks, the development studio famous for titles such as Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, haven't been very forthcoming with information about the new MMO.

That's a little bit of an understatement. They haven't told anyone anything which means that the lid is well and truly closed on this one for the time being.

That didn't stop GameSpy from getting straight to the nitty gritty at GDC this week, when the gaming websites went right out there and asked the questions that almost all MMO developers get asked.

GameSpy: Following Microsoft's cancellation of Marvel Universe Online, it's easy to be cynical about big publishers' willingness to invest in the MMO space. Are you afraid that EA will be hesitant to support BioWare's MMO if it doesn't reach WoW's critical mass?

Dr. Ray Muzyka: No. We have brought ambitious goals, but we're competing with ourselves as much as anybody. That's how we're looking at it. It's a good thing that World of Warcraft has such great quality standards for that kind of game. It is the highest-rated MMO that's been launched to date. There are others that are very innovative, but it's the one whose [Metacritic rating] is the highest. It's grown the audience, and that's a good thing. It's a really good thing for the industry. We're ambitious and cautious and humble at the same time, so we're not afraid on taking on that challenge. But we're not going to make an assumption that we're going to get every person that's played WoW. But we're going to get people that didn't, because we'll have things they don't have, and that's a good thing for the industry. Our goal is to [continue to] grow that industry that they've grown, and we're going in a new direction.

Dr. Greg Zeschuk: We want to make something that is first and foremost great. It's a great business to be in, but we also have to be moderately successful. We're very confident that we have a great team in Austin that really knows what they're doing. We have a lot of faith in the kind of stuff that they're thinking of for the genre.

Perhaps BioWare may present the challenge that we have all been waiting for. After all, this is a company that has extensive and award-winning knowledge of the RPG genre spanning multiple rulesets. BioWare haven't just hit it off in one genre of RPG either with titles spanning from fantasy to sci-fi. Perhaps we are all just a little too hopeful?

BioWare really are promising us gamers a lot to look forward to with this MMO and that doesn't include the potential for Mass Effect 2, Knights of the Old Republic 3, a new Sonic title as well as the debut of Mass Effect on the PC in May.

EA clear up KOTOR slide

Indelible — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:07:20 GMT

Earlier this week, multiple sites reported that an analytical report released by EA revealed a new Knights of the Old Republic title, to be developed by BioWare.

It now seems that this bit of news may have simply been a misunderstanding on the part of Kotaku, who reported this break.

EA contacted Kotaku shortly after they posted the article revealing the rumour, to clear up the KOTOR slide, saying that the report in which it was presented was titled, "Best Creative Talent," and it was a look at, "future and past titles."

KOTOR, Black, Boogie, Skate and some other titles on the slide speak to past portfolio releases and the pedigree of the studio but do not specifically address future sequels. The MMO in development at Bioware Austin is listed a "New MMO". We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Basically, this puts us all back to square one where the new MMO and a potential KOTOR3 are concerned. We all have our suspicions and we are all 99% sure that there is something to do with KOTOR3 going on at BioWare. Now we just have to wait and see if those suspicions prove correct...

Rumor: BioWare at work on a new KOTOR?

Zyuu — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:44:05 GMT

This will be such an awesome game if it's true. I'm 99% sure it's true, though. Bioware is making an MMO and partnered with Lucasarts right after announcing that they are making it.

Wondering what that BioWare/Lucasarts project was going to be? Oh, come on. Like you couldn't guess. During EA's analyst report earlier today, it was seemingly revealed that in addition to working on more Mass Effect, Dragon Age and a "New MMO", BioWare are also handling a new Knights of the Old Republic title. Which means that, if accurate, it's not their upcoming MMO. So, a new, straight-up RPG, then? Probably. If this is indeed correct (and we're checking with EA), your excitement glands can't possibly repel joy of this magnitude.