dragon-age-2 posts

Dragon Age 2 came out nearly two months ago but the fantasy RPG from developer BioWare is finally offering its gamers its first post-release downloadable content. This release is an item pack (the first of a series apparently) that gives your characters some extra stuff to use.

In fact there are three items packs to download and install for the Mage, Rogue and Warrior characters to use. Each pack has new weapons, amour and other in-game items for your RPG pleasure. You can download each of the character packs for 240 BioWare points (about $3) or get all three character DLC packs in a bundle for 400 BioWare points (about $5).

This patch for Dragon Age 2 fixes a a list of bugs and gameplay issues, including DirectX 11 performance and quest problems. Full patch notes can be found after the jump.

Download Dragon Age II v1.02 Patch (21 MB)
Download Dragon Age II Demo (1.9 GB)
Check out all Dragon Age II downloads

Do you like free games? Of course you do. Do you want a free game when you purchase a game that you are already pretty sure that you are going to get anyway? Of course you do. That's why BioWare is offering such a deal if you buy its latest game Dragon Age 2.

From now until April 30 anyone who purchases Dragon Age 2 will receive a download code to get the PC version of BioWare's sci-fi RPG Mass Effect 2 for free. Yep, totally free. BioWare says that it's a "thank you" for making Dragon Age 2 a sales success. Which is cool and all but we just like the whole "free game" bit. The BioWare web site has more info on how to claim your free Mass Effect 2 PC download code.

Valve seems to have skipped this week in terms of offering a "mid-week madness" sale on Steam. We wonder what that might mean. In any case other sites are offering sales today.

• Direct2Drive is offering a 15 percent discount for a number of recently released PC games from now until April 4. The games on sale include titles like Crysis 2, Dragon Age 2, Total War Shogun 2 and more. You must put in the promo code "MARCHMADNESS" at checkout to get the discount.
• Direct2Drive is also offering a sale for today only for Alien Shooter 2 for just $3.98.
• Direct2Drive is also letting folks vote on its Facebook page on which game should get a big discount on Thursday: Crysis 2 or Dragon Age 2.

BioWare games have never been shy about protraying sexuality. But a gamer who wrote on the BioWare forums claiming that the developer is forgetting the "Straight Male Gamer" in its latest title Dragon Age 2 got a spirited defense from the game's main writer David Gaider.

The forum poster claimed that the romances in the fantasy RPG " ... were designed to appeal to other groups foremost, Anders and Fenris for gays and Aveline for women given the lack of strong women in games, and that for the straight male gamer, a secondary concern." Gaider fired back, stating, "The romances in the game are not for 'the straight male gamer. They're for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention."

He added, "In this case, are all straight males left out in the cold? Not at all. There are romances available for them just the same as anyone else. Not all straight males require that their content be exclusive, after all... Romances are never one-size-fits-all, and even for those who don't mind the sexuality issue there's no guarantee they'll find a character they even want to romance. That's why romances are optional content."

Total War Shogun 2, the latest game in The Creative Assembly's historical RTS game series, found itself on top of Steam's latest weekly top 10 PC game sales list. THQ's shooter title Homefront is in the number two spot while the RPG Dragon Age 2, which had been on top for the past couple of weeks, is in the number three spot this week.

The full top 10 list is as follows:

1. Total War Shogun 2 - The Creative Assembly/Sega
2. Homefront - Kaos Studios/Digital Extremes/THQ
3. Dragon Age 2 - BioWare/EA
4. Portal 2 - Valve
5. Assassins Creed Brotherhood - Ubisoft
6. Crysis 2 - Crytek/EA
7. Darksiders - Vigil Games/THQ
8. Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Retribution - Relic/THQ
9. Magicka - Arrowhead Game Studios/Paradox Interactive
10. Call of Duty Black Ops - Treyarch/Activision

Last week there was a lot of "he said, she said" accusations about the PC version of Dragon Age 2's DRM set up. A self-appointed watchdog web site called Reclaim Your Game claims that the PC port of BioWare's RPG sequel had used SecuROM without revealing that fact to consumers. BioWare reps denied that, stating that the PC version used a release control software made by the same company that also made SecuROM but that the two were not the same product.

Now Reclaim Your Game has fired back, saying that Dragon Age 2's use of the company's release control product is just another form of SecuROM, stating, "Contrary to what EA and Bioware have stated, SecuROM Release Control is implemented in Dragon Age 2 without Consumer notification through its Game Packaging, Manual, Readme and EULA." The organization also claims that it won't help BioWare with "fixing" this situation while at the same time offering its services to other game publishers and developers.

[Via Blue's News]

This patch for Dragon Age 2 fixes a number of minor gameplay issues and bugs. A list of changes can be read after the jump.

Download Dragon Age II v1.01 Patch (9 MB)
Check out all Dragon Age II downloads

The time has come to take up your weapon, dust off the spellbook, and look destiny in the eye before kicking it where it hurts, because this is Dragon Age II. Players take the role of an all-new hero named Hawke, who fled with his family from the town of Lothering as the darkspawn destroyed it, and ends up in the city of Kirkwall. From there, the hero goes from being a impoverished refugee to one of the most important figures in the series. Since the Blight is happening in your old homeland, there isn't much emphasis on fighting darkspawn, but there's still great controversy to uncover and overcome. Fans of the previous game may need to get used to how much has changed, but the game features a lot of fast action, an excellent story, and some great characters.

Download the Dragon Age II Demo
Check out all Dragon Age II downloads

It has not been a good week for Dragon Age 2. BioWare's fantasy RPG sequel got accused of using SecuROM for its DRM which BioWare quickly denied. Also a player got himself banned from playing the game due to a forum comment on BioWare's message boards (the game's publisher Electronic Arts later admitted an "error" was made and got the ban lifted).

Now a Reddit user named "GatoFiasco" has written that after checking out a glowing 10 out of 10 user review of Dragon Age 2 on the Metacritic web site written by "Avanost" the writer discovered with some internet snooping that the reviewer's name might be used by an engineer at BioWare. "GatoFiasco" tries to make the case that if the review writer does indeed work at BioWare that person should state that fact in the user review. That Metacritic user review has since been deleted.

Of course, the opposite has also happened; we have seen games and other products in the past get slammed in user reviews that have nothing to do with the product itself but with other issues. Indeed it appears that a backlash against "Avanost's" review has resulted in a number of negative Dragon Age 2 user reviews being written on MetaCritic.

[Via Blue's News]