Book Review: Dragon Age - The Masked Empire

If there's one thing that fantasy novels like Dragon Age: The Masked Empire share in common it's that after the first half or two-thirds of the novel, the story winds up describing a D&D campaign, especially when the book is set in a familiar video game world.

My memory of the first two Dragon Age games aren't branded across my brain like some games – where are the Cole Phelps novels? – so I'm not entirely sure where The Masked Empire sits in the chronology of the games, but the book definitely feels like it came from that universe. Mages, elves treated as second-class (or barely classed) beings, political machinations, rules of honour, and otherworldly beings popping up at the most opportune times.

Review: Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (PC)

You had to know that this one was coming.

Beamdog and Overhaul Games have released Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition for the PC.  It's a little surprising that it actually got done, given some of the legal wrangling that happened after the first one came out.  But it's all smiles and rainbows now between Beamdog, Atari, and BioWare.  Except for those of us who actually play the game.

Review: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (PC)

Many years ago, a friend of mine asked me why I was so much of a slobbering fanboy for
Forgotten Realms.

“It's so commercial,” he said with some bemusement.

I replied to him, “I blame Baldur's Gate.” And it's true.

Review: Mass Effect 3 (Wii U)

Being an Edmontonian, I have a special place in my heart for BioWare. I love the crap out of the Mass Effect franchise and Knights of the Old Republic, but there's also a bit of "home town" pride thrown in there as well.

The Mass Effect games, while not perfect, were some of the most entertaining games of the past 5 years in my mind. New consoles need strong launch titles, and while I agree that Mass Effect 3 is a strong title it's the final part of the trilogy and you're starting off with a pretty significant story handicap. As anyone who has played these games knows, this franchise is all about choices and their consequences (whether they are intentional or not).

Review: Mass Effect 3 DLC - Leviathan (360)

Part of the "game" of the Leviathan DLC for Mass Effect 3 is simply finding it after it's been downloaded.

This being the only bit of Mass Effect 3 DLC I've played, it's possible the other available content suffers the same problem but what I don't understand is why, after paying money for something, the player is left to hunt down the starting point of the extra content.

News: BioWare Founders Retire

One of the great success stories in the video games industry has been BioWare, and when talking about BioWare, one is inevitably going to have to mention the two men who've been for all practical purposes the physical embodiment of the company, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk.

Today, the two doctors from Edmonton who brought their favorite Dungeons & Dragons campaign to life with Baldur's Gate have announced on the BioWare web site that they are retiring from the company.  Dr. Muzyka stated in his farewell blog post that he'll be going into the social impact investment field.  Meanwhile, Dr. Zeschuk has outlined plans for a web interview series relating to craft beer and its brewers. An announcement from General Manager of BioWare Edmonton Aaron Flynn is also up, detailing the official response from within the company.

Thanks for everything you've done, gentlemen.  We won't forget it.

Ray Muzyka's Announcement
Greg Zeschuk's Announcement

The Weekly Checkpoint 16

It's time for Mr. Nash's weekly round-up of some of the bigger game news stories to emerge in the last little bit, and this go around he talks Steam sales, Bioware taking over the Ultima series, and the Ouya, among other things.

News: Star Wars: The Old Republic Going F2P (Somewhat)

Looks like Bioware is drifting to a somewhat free model come July for their Old Republic MMORPG.  At that point, the game will allow people to play the game for free whenever they want, but they'll only be able to go up to level 15.  So, it's pretty much the same as WoW's system of letting players futz around in low-level areas to their hearts content without paying a dime.

Of course, the question is whether this will be a slippery slope towards a full-on F2P model for the game.  Unlike WoW, TOR doesn't have 10 million subscribers to profit from, and the game has been riddled with problems like lack of subscribers, relatively unpopulated servers, and there doesn't seem to be much on the horizon that will convince the unconverted to invest their time, let alone their money, in the game.