Game Developers Choice Awards Nominees Announced

Written on January 19, 2010 at 5:24 pm, by James Fudge

Who will win big at this year's GDC Awards?

For developers by developers is the mantra of the annual Game Developers Awards held at the game Developers Conference in San Francisco every March. this year developers have given nods to Dragon Age: Origins, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Demon’s Souls and many other great games from 2009. In addition to these awards, a special award will be given to Gabe Newell for his contributions to the industry including the Half-Life series, Counter-Strike, Portal, Team Fortress, Left for Dead and Steam.

Nominations this year are led by Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2, with seven nods in various categories. That game is followed closely followed by five nominations for Thatgamecompany’s Flower, and four nominations for Ubisoft Montreal’s Assassin’s Creed II. Other multiple nominees include notably diverse titles such as Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum, PopCap’s Plants Vs. Zombies, Infinity Ward’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and more.

For the biggest prize of the awards, Game of the Year, it is a battle amongst such notables as Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog), Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare), Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios), Demon’s Souls (From Software), and Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal).

Full list of nominees after the break.

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Dragon Age: Origins Return to Ostagar DLC Removed From Xbox Live

Written on January 14, 2010 at 7:29 pm, by James Fudge

You can never go home or apparently, Return to Ostagar..

What a difference a day makes, huh? Just yesterday BioWare released the Return to Ostagar downloadable content to Xbox Live Marketplace, and today it has been removed! Perhaps a bit more time should have been spent on quality assurance testing before deploying to millions of people, perhaps? According to word on the official Dragon Age Forums, the title update to the 360 version of the game was released before the Ostagar content was posted on Xbox Live hand this caused some serious problems.

“This title update introduced a previously undetected issue that causes specialization classes to not work correctly in Dragon Age: Origins,” said Community Manager Chris Priestly in a post on the forums. “We are removing Return to Ostagar from Xbox Live until the issue is resolved and are recommending that you do not download the title update. If you have already performed the update, we apologize for this and are working hard to ensure a fix is available as soon as possible.”

No word on exactly what the title update  might have done to damage players’ Dragon Age: Origins game or progress – if  at all - but BioWare is not revealing particulars at this time. No new estimated time of arrival for this DLC at the moment, but we’ll keep you posted. If you were slow in buying this DLC you may (or may not) have dodged a bullet.

Dragon Age: Origins – Return to Ostagar released on Xbox Live

Written on January 13, 2010 at 9:53 pm, by James Fudge

Better late than never?

The Dragon Age: Origins downloadable content, Return to Ostagar, has made its way to Xbox Live Marketplace today and will be released for PC soon. The DLC was supposed to be released last week but was suddenly delayed for some unknown reason. Chances are there was something seriously wrong with it last week so it is best that we didn’t get it on time with some horrible bug or glitch in place.

The PS3 version of the DLC has been given a release date of “later,” so who knows exactly when it will hit PlayStation Network. We’ll keep you posted. The new DLC, which opens up a whole new area and a new plot line revolving around an ancient king and his arms, is being released alongside a new title update for the game.

Return to Ostagar sends players on a brand new adventure to collect the arms and armor of the once great King Cailan in Ostagar, the site of the Grey Wardens’ greatest loss. Players will have to find these mythical arms and weapons and learn the secrets of Ferelden’s fallen king, discovering his secret political agenda and going behind enemy lines to revisit a place that many believed was forever lost to history. This location is particularly foreboding for a Greay Warden, because it was here that the powerful force was almost wiped out.

Look for it on Xbox Live Marketplace now.

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening in March

Written on January 5, 2010 at 3:50 pm, by James Fudge

Major expansion to Dragon Age coming in March.

BioWare announced today that Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening, the first official expansion pack to Dragon Age: Origins, will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on March 16. The Awakening expansion pack offers a brand new area of the world to explore known as Amaranthine, and an all new story to go with it. In the expansion players will have to unravel the secrets of the darkspawn – and their true motivations, and face new enemies including an evolved breed of darkspawn and other menacing creatures such as the Inferno Golem and Spectral Dragon.

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening also lets players re-spec their character attributes for greater customization and replayability; an increased level cap, new spells, abilities, specializations and items, and five all-new party members.

Learn more about it by visiting www.dragonage.com/awakening. Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening will be available for $39.99 on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America and will require Dragon Age: Origins to play.

Dragon Age: Origins Return to Ostagar DLC January 5th

Written on December 29, 2009 at 1:45 pm, by James Fudge

Return to Ostagar DLC coming January 5

BioWare’s first bit of downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins, Return to Ostagar, will be released on January 5 in North America and Europe for the Xbox 360 and PC for 400 BioWare Points or 400 Microsoft Points.  BioWare had intended to release the DLC in December, but something happened.. The DLC will be available for the PlayStation 3 later in January. Return to Ostagar allows players to exact their revenge and embark on a quest for the mighty arms and armor of the once great King Cailan when they revisit Ostagar, the site of the Grey Wardens’ darkest hour, to reclaim the honor and learn the secrets of Ferelden’s fallen king.

Return to Ostagar sends players on a brand new adventure to collect the arms and armor of the once great King Cailan in Ostagar, the site of the Grey Wardens’ greatest loss. Players will have to find these mythical arms and weapons and learn the secrets of Ferelden’s fallen king, discovering his secret political agenda and going behind enemy lines to revisit a place that many believed was forever lost to history. This location is particularly foreboding for a Greay Warden, because it was here that the powerful force was almost wiped out.

You can learn more about this DLC by visiting dragonage.bioware.com.

Dragon Age: Origins coming to Mac users Dec. 21

Written on December 14, 2009 at 4:40 pm, by James Fudge

BioWare and TransGaming have teamed up to bring Dragon Age: Origins to Mac users on December 21. The epic fantasy RPG will be available to Mac Players as a digital download as a Standard or Digital Deluxe version. The Digital Deluxe version will feature additional content including a collection of wallpapers, in-game bonus items, the game’s soundtrack and the Warden’s Keep DLC content. Warden’s Keep provides players with a new adventure, new loot including a set of ancient Grey Warden armor, a chance to gain two of six mysterious new abilities, a new base complete with merchants and a party chest to store their hard-earned items.

Each version of Dragon Age: Origins for the Mac will also include The Stone Prisoner and the Blood Dragon Armor. The Stone Prisoner gives players access to new environments, items, hours of additional gameplay and the mighty stone golem, Shale, who can become one of the most powerful party members in the game. In addition, players will receive the Blood Dragon Armor, a set of themed armor that gives players additional protection in combat and will be available for use in both Dragon Age: Origins on the Mac and in Mass Effect 2 on the Xbox 360 and PC.

The Standard and Digital Deluxe versions are available now for pre-order through many popular online digital retailers. Find out more at dragonage.bioware.com/game/preorder.

Uncharted 2 Named Game of the Year at Spike TV VGAs

Written on December 13, 2009 at 4:10 am, by James Fudge

Spike TV aired its annual Video Game Awards (or VGAs if you like), naming Uncharted 2 for the PS3 its pick for Game of the Year. Really it’s the only award that matters to most, but Spike TV’s awards are so “all inclusive that there’s room for every game on the planet to get an award it seems. of course I am exaggerating, but did X-Men Origins: Wolverine really deserve and award for best cast? I think not. Let’s be honest – everything about the film and the game related to it sucked. Uncharted 2 also won the award for Best Graphics and Best PS3 Game. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 won Best Multiplayer Game and Best Shooter, while Dragon Age : Origins won Best RPG and Best PC Game awards. God of War 3 was selected as the Most Anticipated Game.

There are some awards that do matter like platform specific awards and genre awards, which I won’t make any disparaging remarks about. The point is, if you are worried about your favorite game not getting an award, don’t worry too much – there’s plenty of them to go around! Check out the list below.

Full list after the break.

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