Dragon Age Origins: Meet Leliana

Posted on September 11, 2009 by geelw

In this week’s Dragon Age: Origins update, we’ll take a look at one of the game’s female characters, Leliana, a bard from the land of Orlais who also happens to be a selectable party member and from what I can tell a “romance” option in the game. As I can see some of you less lucky guys getting royally slugged by your real-life significant others over choosing this lovely virtual redhead as your potential partner, you may want to keep the fawning to a minimum…

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The Beatles: Rock Band Final Song List/Pricing

Posted on September 8, 2009 by geelw

“All together now:” Who’s not even the least bit curious about how this game will affect the interest level in both the music games genre and video gaming in general. With media outlets covering this as if it’s some sort of alien spacecraft making first contact and interest in the game from plenty of non-gamers who grew up listening to the Fab Four, it’ll be quite interesting to see how this translates at retail starting tomorrow.

Anyway, here’s a chunk of the press release that just landed in my inbox. Gallery to come in a separate post.

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Dead Space Extraction Goes Gold

Posted on September 3, 2009 by geelw

EA has announced that Dead Space Extraction for the Nintendo Wii has gone gold and should be in stores on September 29, 2009. Also announced was a nice bonus: pre-ordering the game at selected retailers will give gamers access to four of the game’s ten challenge modes for solo or co-op play. The Wii exclusive game is a prequel to the events of last year’s huge sci-fi/horror action hit on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Dead Space and was developed by Eurocom with a huge assist from Visceral Games.

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Dragon Age: Origins Voice Cast Revealed

Posted on August 27, 2009 by geelw

BioWare is set to give genre fans a real treat in terms of killer voice acting in its upcoming RPG, Dragon Age: Origins. The game will feature the vocal talents of Tim Curry (“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, Broadway’s “Spamalot”), Kate Mulgrew (“Star Trek: Voyager”), Tim Russ (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Samantha Who?”), Claudia Black (“Stargate SG-1,” “Pitch Black”) and Steve Valentine (“Estate of Panic,” “Crossing Jordan”).

Do I hear a press release (perhaps voiced by Tim Curry, pictured left)? Ah, here we go… put your ear to the monitor and listen to this…

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BRÜTAL LEGEND, I Have Not Forsaken Thee!

Posted on August 27, 2009 by geelw

Thanks for asking, really… but nope, I absolutely have not been ignoring my man Tim Schaefer, Double Fine Productions or BRÜTAL LEGEND, their Rocktober “surprise” that’s taken the game world by storm this year (cue:“Lightning Strikes Again,”Thor). I’m just sitting here cracking up on a near-daily basis at how all of a sudden everyone has finally discovered just what a group of fantastically talented creative geen-yusses he and his crew are.

I mean, I and many other editor types around the frickin’ world trumpeted the joys of the eternally awesome, amazingly funny platformer Psychonauts* until we turned blue in the head and beyond (cue: “Among the Living,” Anthrax). Nevertheless, did enough of you so-called “hard-core” guys and gals actually BUY the game and justify all the well deserved ink we spilled? Nope (cue: “Backstabber” by Hytz).

*That, and the man’s tenure over at LucasArts cleeeeeeeeearly shows he’s got more than enough proof of Legendary Status (no certificate required). So There.

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EA & BioWare Reveal Mass Effect: Pinnacle Station Content Pack

Posted on August 27, 2009 by geelw

EA and BioWare continue to generate Mass Interest in the upcoming Mass Effect 2 by adding more download content to the original game (which in turn, gives folks like me yet another fine reason to hop back into the boots of Commander Shepard for a few more hours). Mass Effect: Pinnacle Station, the latest add-on for the original game is now available as a downloadable pack for the Xbox 360 for 400 Microsoft points via the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The PC version of the content pack will set you back $5 and can be purchased through EA’s online store. By the way, the 1.02 patch for Mass Effect is required for the installation of Pinnacle Station and is available over at BioWare’s web site. First things first and all that…

So what’s in the pack? Glad you asked – let’s go to the press release…

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Gallery: The Saboteur

Posted on August 25, 2009 by geelw

Did you ever find yourself walking home from a meeting, take a wrong turn down a dark alleyway (well, there WAS that ‘Detour’ sign with an arrow pointing right, so I detoured) and next thing you know, you wake up a short time later in a rumpled heap with a folder of screenshots in your hand and a hastily scrawled note that says: “éditez ces images, svp – des mercis, Devlin.” taped to your forehead?

No? Well, that happened to moi last night. I find out later that had I merely taken a left turn then three blocks to the subway and gone straight home, I could have picked up the same screens from one of EA’s helpfully handy PR folks and NOT get bonked on the head. Damn.

Need to find out who this “Devlin” guy is soon and give him the what-for, grrrrr…

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Dragon Age: Origins Update #2: The City of Haven

Posted on August 21, 2009 by geelw

In this week’s Dragon Age: Origins reveal, we’ll take a trip to what looks like a fairly normal village similar to what you’d find in any typically grand role-playing game. However, as you’ll read (and as life in a BioWare RPG often teaches us), sometimes what looks perfectly normal is often far more sinister once one lets one’s guard down. With that, welcome, dear readers to… Continue reading →

Gallery: Dragon Age Origins

Posted on August 19, 2009 by geelw

My, oh my… BioWare is making waiting for Dragon Age: Origins as painful as possible without causing actual physical harm, aren’t they? Just look at these new GamesCom 2009 screens and make believe you’re holding a controller. Hmmmm… between this and the Mass Effect 2 shots, I just may hike up to Canada and camp out for a bit outside the company’s HQ. What’s the weather like up there in November, eh?

By the way, dear reader, the slightly bloodier DA:O screens will appear shortly on my other blog where “M”-rated game screens and video will be posted until further notice. While I;m no prude at all, we don’t want the ESRB harassing my PR pals now, do we?

MTV & Harmonix Reveal 19 More Beatles: Rock Band Songs

Posted on August 18, 2009 by geelw

MTV Games and Harmonix have revealed 19 more of the 45 on-disc tracks that will be featured in The Beatles: Rock Band – leaving all, but one song a mystery. A gameplay trailer featuring ten of the 19 newly announced songs can be viewed by visiting the game’s official web site. “To the press release, Robin!”: Continue reading →