Bioware gets eaten?

[Judge Hades]

Even for a thousand dollars you

[Ellester]

This statement is awesome. BIO is focusing on action/console RPGs yet tehir prime game in development is DA  for the PC which is a party based RPG. Not to mention their continued support of NWN a PC RPG.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

DA is about keeping PC-platformers at bay...some red meat for the wolves.

The JE franchise and, I suspect, the ME franchise, will be alot of fun even if they are action-RPGs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Also Dragon Age is catering to the old time Bioware fans, the ones who fell in love with Baldurs Gate and NWN the two franchises that really made Bioware (at least initially). I don

[Ellester]

Even for a thousand dollars you

[Morgoth]

A Bio Doctor and a Pandemic Clown are giving an interview.

 

...Because we guarantee that there's stuff we're going to learn from Pandemic and vice versa.

 

What could Bio possibly learn from Pandemic? Wait.... what I'm talking about? They're one company now! HAHA!

[Draikin]

An alliance with the most evil person in this industry (in 1996 EA was still a good publisher, now it's an evil empire thanks to this guy), that doesn't sound good to me. The doctors never cared about games, they were just lucky Interplay gave them the d&d licence and a lot of money to make BG when they just wanted a publisher for their mmo project.

[Volourn]

.

 

"One of the "demands" (among many) that both BioWare and Pandemic had before agreeing on the partnership was that no one from either of the existing companies would lose their jobs and ALL current projects (announced and in developement) would continue as planned.

 

Another result of the new partnership with BioWare, Pandemic and Elevation is that we plan to continue to increase the size of the teams that we have. So not only are we not losing anyone, we're actuially planning on hiring more. How many? I'm not really sure, but there is talk of hundreds being hired between both studios over the next 3 years (based on qualified applicants, of course). If you are interested in possibly working for BioWare or Pandemic in Edmonton, LA or Brisbane, check out the link to our current available positions at the top of this page:"

 

The above is from the BIO baords from a BIO employee.

 

 

 

"Think on this, Volourn. There recent titles have been one released PC only game, a cross platform game, 1 console only game. Now they only have one console only game they just announced and one PC game they announced so early that it feels like Duke Nukem Forever."

 

Youa re forgetting SOU, HOTU, Kingmaker, Gold, Platinum, Electrum, Spaghetti, Macaroni, Spahhire, and Opal versions of NWN.

 

Seems to me they've been pretty busy on the PC front.

 

And, aagin, BIo has stated that DA is currently their signature game in development. That's right, a console focused company's main game is PC.

 

Go figure.

 

Game over.

 

 

 

"An alliance with the most evil person in this industry (in 1996 EA was still a good publisher, now it's an evil empire thanks to this guy), that doesn't sound good to me. The doctors never cared about games, they were just lucky Interplay gave them the d&d licence and a lot of money to make BG when they just wanted a publisher for their mmo project."

 

You don't know what youa re talking about. BIO had no intention of making mmo projects, fool. And, they cared enough about games to give up their former job. They cared about games so much that they had JE in their minds sicne BIo was formed ten years ago. Do you even know what youa re talking about? I think not as your post proves.

Edited November 3, 2005 by Volourn

[Judge Hades]

I count NWN (in its various incarnations) as 1 game. SoU, HotU, the Premium mods, are not stand alone products so they are lumped with NWN as being 1 whole product. Being busy in the PC front means more than 1 PC game in development with a lot of filler products. Especially for a company Bioware's size.

 

If DA was their "signiture" product then there would be more screen shots, trailers, and whatnot. There is more media available for people to view on Mass Effect than there is Dragon Age. Except for a small handful of pics released earlier this year we have seen nothing but the word of Biowarians that this game is being developed.

Edited November 3, 2005 by Hades_One

[Volourn]

There's been lots of details shared by BIO on DA. Lots.

[Judge Hades]

Anything officially released to the media or just words spouted out on the internet forums?

[Draikin]

You don't know what youa re talking about. BIO had no intention of making mmo projects, fool. And, they cared enough about games to give up their former job. They cared about games so much that they had JE in their minds sicne BIo was formed ten years ago. Do you even know what youa re talking about? I think not as your post proves.

 

good thing i archived baldur's gate website. They can say whatever they want about JE, only NWN is worse.

 

In the Beginning... no, really, here's where the programming actually all gets started: in the heads of the lead designer, the producer, and the head programmer. But that's perhaps an oversimplification, so we'll try and be a little more specific...

Baldur's Gate was originally going to be a game called Battleground Infinity. We started work on this game back in January 1996, and it was going to be a monster of a game. Perhaps even larger than Baldur's Gate, though that's hard to imagine. Essentially you started out on as a lesser deity on one of the outer planes (Norse, Egyptian, Celtic, etc.) and traveled around the planes solving one quest or another. One problem with this idea is that it was originally intended to be a full Online world - and we planned a ridiculously small team and budget to finish the game. One good thing that came out of this game is that we actually sat down and prepared a short demo of the game which showed off some rather primitive terrain and animations...

 

 

 

 

After shopping the idea around a few publishers, our favorite, Interplay decided to bite. They had in their hands the AD&D Forgotten Realms license that we and they felt would be a perfect match for the engine that we planned - so we promptly began developing the game that would later become Baldur's Gate.

 

Initially the key developments around the game weren't all that exciting - 300 pages of design doc, a few extensive graphic testbeds, and a lot of headaches were all we had to show for quite a few months of hard work by the initial team (of about 12 people for the first 9 months). The team expanded by the end of that year to about 18 and stayed at about this level until early 1997.

 

We took a fairly disciplined approach to the program early on, with the hope that we would encounter fewer bugs in the final game engine. So far this seems to be true...

[Volourn]

Your little blurb proves nothing. I need something substantial - like a signe ddocument from the BIO and BIS CEOs. I'll be waiting.

 

 

"Anything officially released to the media or just words spouted out on the internet forums?"

 

1. The media screws up facts, anyways.

 

2. Yes, do some research.

 

3. Read previews.

 

4. Read the FAQ.

 

5. The list goes on.

[Draikin]

this was never signed since the mmo project was never approved, cant you read ? it's a copy/paste from the old http://www.interplay.com/bgate/info.html webpage, here's a screenshot: http://vrac.draikin.info/bgisbisidea.jpg you think i rewrote the page ? my english is not good enough.

[Judge Hades]

So, basically nothing.

[Volourn]

Draikin: I'll give the odds for that being ana ctuall screenshot, and will say sorry for being wrong. That still doesn't eman they were all about mmo and money.

 

It seems to they did everything they could to mkae Bg (and their later games) a success. Not to emntion that BG (or the IG) was NOT thier first game.

 

Hades, I shall not apologize to you. You are wrong. there's LOTS of info for DA. LOTS.

[Judge Hades]

In PC Gamer? In EGM? How about Computer Gaming Monthly? All there is on DA is at Bioware's site with not actual proof the game is being made seen by a third party.

Edited November 3, 2005 by Hades_One

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

In PC Gamer?  In EGM?  How about Computer Gaming Monthly?  All there is on DA is at Bioware's site with not actual proof the game is being made seen by a third party.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Would there be any point if it's not due for over a year ?

[Volourn]

"All there is on DA is at Bioware's site with not actual proof the game is being made seen by a third party."

 

False. You musta missed all those previews last year.

 

R00fles!

[Judge Hades]

Must have. I guess it just wasn't important enough.

[Morgoth]

"All there is on DA is at Bioware's site with not actual proof the game is being made seen by a third party."

 

False. You musta missed all those previews last year.

 

R00fles!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Those weren't previews with anything substantial, just some raving about the DA technology demo, which is now completely irrelevant since the game got a complete overhaul. So basically, aside from the Bio forums, we do not have any official news at all.

[Meshugger]

Most has been said already in this thread, but i still can't stop laughing about the new president of Elevation. Oh, the irony.

[alanschu]

A Bio Doctor and a Pandemic Clown are giving an interview.

 

...Because we guarantee that there's stuff we're going to learn from Pandemic and vice versa.

 

What could Bio possibly learn from Pandemic? Wait.... what I'm talking about? They're one company now! HAHA!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

That's not correct.

 

 

Youa re forgetting SOU, HOTU, Kingmaker, Gold, Platinum, Electrum, Spaghetti, Macaroni, Spahhire, and Opal versions of NWN.

 

I must have missed the Pasta versions

 

 

EDIT: Just in case anyone (i.e. Hades) feels Dragon Age is vapourware, Bioware is taking part in the University of Alberta's Industrial Internship Program with the intention of hiring people to work on Dragon Age.

 

I was also at a talk on campus yesterday where the speaker gave an overview of the Eclipse Engine and how various things like scripting and AI will work with the Eclipse Engine.

Edited November 3, 2005 by alanschu

[mkreku]

Hades, I shall not apologize to you. You are wrong. there's LOTS of info for DA. LOTS.

This is complete bs. I work as a newswriter for a gamesite and there have been NO official pressreleases about Dragon Age for well over a year. Probably longer (I didn't care to search any further back).

 

If there's "LOTS" of info about Dragon Age (outside your own mind), care to share it with everyone else? A link perhaps?

 

Edit: Checked the Previews page on Bioware's own homepage. They're all from May 2004.. And the Dragon Age FAQ is not really a FAQ, but more of an early ad for the game.

Edited November 4, 2005 by mkreku

[Volourn]

Um.. It is a FAQ. And, nowhere did I stae that the previews were from 2005 to my recollection. All I said was that there is tons of info on DA out already. Is there a 10 page article in some silly paper mag? No. But, there is LOTS of info to be had.

 

Check out both the Official, and Unofficial FAQs. Offiical well because its official and the unofficial because it tends to contain quotes from BIOaramiks.

[GhostofAnakin]

Youa re forgetting SOU, HOTU, Kingmaker, Gold, Platinum, Electrum, Spaghetti, Macaroni, Spahhire, and Opal versions of NWN.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

As an aside, I just noticed on I believe EB games' site that there is now a NWN Diamond edition (or some other kind of mathematical shape) which includes the OC, HotU, SoU and Kingmaker.

[Darque]

Gamespam is sad

 

Bad Bioware, no cookie!