Dragon Age: Origins

Electronic Arts is apparently very pleased with the release of BioWare's fantasy RPG Dragon Age Origins. So much so in fact that the publisher has already revealed in their new fiscal 2011 release schedule their plans to release a new game in the franchise sometime in their fourth fiscal quarter. That is equal to a first quarter 2011 (January-March) calendar release date.

Dragon Age Origins was a major critical hit when it was released in November 2009 and the game has already spawned a number of paid downloadable content expansions. A retail expansion, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, is due for release in March.

Update: During their financial conference call EA exec stated that Dragon Age Origins sold 2.7 million copies worldwide. That total includes both PC and console sales.

Children can be cruel... especially when they're the of the insectoid Darkspawn variety like the ones featured in this Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening trailer. These kids are hungry and looking to munch down on some unwary heroes.

Continue after the jump to watch a trailer introducing Anders, one of the new traveling companions included in Awakening. He's a powerful apostate wizard who goes against the rules governing the Circle of Magi. Ever since hanging out with Morrigan in the main game, adventuring without an apostate just doesn't seem right. Awakening is scheduled to release on March 16.

Download HD Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening 'The Children' Trailer (45MB)
Download HD Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening 'Anders' Trailer (47MB)
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The newest downloadable content expansion for Dragon Age: Origins takes players back to the scene of the crime, so to speak. Return to Ostagar starts with a clue that leads back to the battlefield where King Cailan and Duncan were betrayed and fell to the Darkspawn horde, kicking off the main Dragon Age storyline. Searching through the Darkspawn filled area reveals secrets Cailan had tucked away while providing a chance to retrieve special items thought lost, like the king's armor and the weapons Duncan had on him. Beyond that, it extends the story of that key event and provides closure, especially if players revisit the area accompanied by Alistair and Wynne, who both took part in the Battle of Ostagar, and offer personal thoughts and commentary while exploring.

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It probably goes without saying that players will encounter more than a fair share of challenges when playing the Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening expansion. Although there are more than a few dragon encounters in the main game, this is probably the first one that's made of magic. Players will have a chance to test their might in the Black Marsh when the expansion releases on March 16.

Download HD Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening 'Queen of the Black Marsh' Trailer (49 MB)
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It took almost a month but developer BioWare has finally released the long awaited mini-expansion Return to Ostagar for the PC version of Dragon Age: Origins. The DLC was supposed to be released January 5 but BioWare delayed the expansion at the 11th hour due to technical issued. The DLC is also available for the Xbox 360 version but the PS3 port is still not available.

For a mere five bucks (or 400 BioWare points) you can play in an all new mini-campaign for the fantasy RPG were players will "discover King Cailan's top-secret political agenda." Let's hope it's not health care reform; that causes lots of screaming matches.

We know that BioWare has begun preliminary work on Mass Effect 2 but what about their other recent RPG game. Dragon Age Origins finally came out last year after an over five year wait but it looks like BioWare is getting set to make a sequel to their acclaimed fantasy RPG..

Chatting with our sister site Joystiq, BioWare co-founder Dr Greg Zeschuk said, "I think one of the key things we're working on in Dragon Age 2 is the technology. I can confirm that we're doing a lot of work on the Dragon Age engine, and doing a lot of stuff to pump it -- to make it visually super hot." Certainly the graphics in the first game were just on the average side. Now if we could just get BioWare to get their DLC working as promised; the wait for Return to Ostagar is getting longer and longer.

Technical issues prevented BioWare from releasing their Dragon Age Origins mini-expansion Return to Ostagar as planned earlier this month but now the company's co founder is saying the DLC is finally coming soon. Gamerzines quotes BioWare's Ray Muzyka as saying, ""It's almost through certification and it will go back up very soon." He hints in the article that the release should be made available "in the next week or so." If that holds true that means the DLC will be released about a month after its originally planned January 5 release date.

BioWare has been pushing the fact that they will have lots of downloadable content, both for free and for money, for Dragon Age: Origins and the just released Mass Effect 2. However it seems like the developer has had some growing pains on making that content available for its users. Hopefully these issues will be dealt with soon.

[Via Joystiq]

If you have been wondering what's been happening to the planned release of the mini-expansion for Dragon Age Origins, get in line. We've been waiting for about two weeks for developer BioWare to get the Return to Ostagar DLC out to us but so far there's been no real update on what's been happening since BioWare delayed its release.

Today a new forum message from BioWare's Victor Wachter gives some more info on the delay, saying that their testing did not take into account certain changes across all of the game's platforms. Wachter states, "we're updating all our test plans across all platforms to take additional edge cases into account, as well as committing to more detailed test passes that will also prevent something like this happening again." That means Return to Ostagar is being kept in BioWare's testing bay and there's no word on when it will be released.

Last month word got out that there would be Mass Effect action figures coming in August 2010. Now the latest Previews order form has revealed that the company behind those figures, DC Direct, is working on action figures based on BioWare's other big original RPG property Dragon Age.

The order form states the figures will be released this September and will consist of four characters: Duncan, Genlock, Loghain and Morrigan. There's no word yet on what the figures will look like nor what they will cost. Of course, Dragon Age: Origins already has two prose novels released and an upcoming comic book series is in the works.

Scheduled to release on March 16, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening is the first full expansion to the dark fantasy role-playing game.

"Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, BioWare's next thread in the Dragon Age: Origins tapestry, occurs following the events of Dragon Age: Origins and puts players into the role of a Grey Warden Commander entrusted with rebuilding the order of Grey Wardens. In addition to rebuilding the ranks of the Grey Wardens, you will be tasked with uncovering the mystery of how the darkspawn survive after the slaying of the Archdemon dragon. How players choose to rebuild their order, resolve the conflict with the mysterious "Architect," and determine the fate of the darkspawn are just some of the many intriguing moral choices that will shape each player's heroic journey. Players will be able to import their character from Dragon Age: Origins or start out as a new Grey Warden from the neighboring land of Orlais."

Download HD Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening Trailer (111 MB)
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It's been a busy day for Dragon Age: Origins with the announcement of a retail expansion release and a delay in its next DLC project. Now BioWare's hit fantasy RPG has gotten a very interesting honor. The PC version has been named as the most accessible game of 2009.

The award from the AbleGames Foundation said that the game was extremely easy for anyone to play, offering features like multiple levels of subtitles, fonts that are friendly to the color blind, several layers of mobility options and more. In naming the game for the award, AbleGames states, "As long as developers like Bioware continue to add accessibility in layers of options that enhance their gaming titles, disabled gamers will continue to be able to play great titles such as Dragon Age: Origins."

Looks like the rumors were true. BioWare and EA have now officially confirmed plans to release the first retail expansion pack for their hit fantasy RPG Dragon Age: Origins. The expansion, subtitled Awakening, is due for release on March16, just over five months after the release of the original game. In something of an unusual move, EA's asking price for the expansion is $39.99, only $10 less that the regular price of the original PC game.

The expansion pack adds the new land of Amaranthine to the game as players will control a Grey Warden Commander that has to rebuild the Gray Wardens following the events of the original game. Of course things aren't that easy as you have to deal with new theats including an "evolved, intelligent breed of darkspawn." You will be able to import your character in the original game to use in Awakening or start a new one from scratch. New spells, skills, party members, a rise in the level cap and more will all be a part of the expansion.

Looks like we won't be getting a new mini-expansion for Dragon Age: Origins today after all. Last week BioWare and Electronic Arts announced that Return to Ostagar, featuring a new quest for the acclaimed fantasy RPG, would be released via download today.

However it looks like a last minute delay has crept up with BioWare's message board announcing that the DLC won't be released today as scheduled. There's no word as to why Return to Ostargar was delayed nor any word on when we can expect the DLC to be rescheduled. The delay does affect all three platforms, including the PC version, so it's likely to be a content problem rather than a tech issue.

If you have been keeping up with Big Download's holiday features you know that we have picked BioWare's RPG Dragon Age: Origins as the best PC game released in 2009. As it turns out we are not alone in that assessment. Here's a quick look at what other web sites believe are the best in PC games in the last year.

IGN picked Dragon Age: Origins as the best PC game in 2009, saying "Dragon Age is the RPG that will keep fantasy fans satisfied for quite a long time." GameSpot agreed with them, saying, "This was a good year to play games on the PC, and Dragon Age is very much the reason why." GameSpy took a different tack and gave their PC game of the year award to Plants Vs Zombies, saying, "Plants vs. Zombies may not push your PC's hardware to its absolute limit, but it's amazingly fun, at what I'm guessing is a fraction of the everyday game development cost.."

Just because 2010 has started that doesn't mean that all of the holiday sales have disappeared. Publisher Electronic Arts has launched a New Year's sale on their online store that will give gamers a chance to take 30 percent off several EA titles until January 10.

Among the games on sale are Need For Speed Shift for $34.96, Ultima Online for $27.99, The Sims 3 for $34.96 and Dragon Age: Origins for $34.96. Keep in mind that Steam's holiday sale ends on January 3 and GoG.com's own holiday sale also ends on January 3 so there's still some time to use up that spare Christmas money.