Pre-E3 Bioware interview

[Darque]

[kirottu]

Bio makes good rpgs although they tend to be on the average side.

[kumquatq3]

Bio makes good rpgs although they tend to be on the average side.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

So they make good average rpgs??!

[kirottu]

Average as in they don

[mkreku]

http://dragonage.bioware.com/

 

vs.

 

http://masseffect.bioware.com/

 

Bioware is a console market bitch by now.

[Llyranor]

Not to worry! Us PC gamers might end up with a MMORPG!!! It's the wave of the future!

[Dark_Raven]

Lovely I am sure.

[Judge Hades]

Remember, hwoever, you are as big a fanbouy if not bigger fnaboy than me. You complain, and complain yet you'll buy every game they release.. heck, you bought a x-box just for JE... an action RPG of all things. LOL

 

I haven't bought every game they released. Also I got a X Box for other games as well.

[Dark_Raven]

Now that is dedication. Even I am not that big of a fan girl to do that.

[Judge Hades]

http://dragonage.bioware.com/

 

vs.

 

http://masseffect.bioware.com/

 

Bioware is a console market bitch by now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yep, that is quite evident on where Bioware is placing their priorities.

[Judge Hades]

Now that is dedication. Even I am not that big of a fan girl to do that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If I am going to bad mouth a company I have to know the quality of their work. It would be unethical of me to criticize Bioware's games without playing them.

Edited April 11, 2006 by Judge Hades

[Gromnir]

http://dragonage.bioware.com/

 

vs.

 

http://masseffect.bioware.com/

 

Bioware is a console market bitch by now.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

am not sure what that proves. spend 20 minutes reading the da boards and you can see that the developers is working on the title... and actually responding to fan questions. the fact that the da site is offering ups a paucity o' info means what to you? means that bio ain't working on da? heck, bg3 never had a site, so we guess josh should quit bitching 'bout that title getting killed 'cause it never really existed and nobody were really working on it anyways, yes?

 

that being said, Gromnir does wonder if bio is trying to become the sisyphus of the game development world. nwn were not the failure some suggest, but it were not the game bio hoped it would be. even so, bio spent 5 years on a game that were incomplete in every aspect. the biowarians, post nwn, admitted that they tried to do too much in creating a compelling sp crpg & a toolset & dm client. too much... somewhere maj. general stanislaw sosabowski were turning in his grave. so what is they doing for da? the same damn thing. 'stead of trying to makes a really good sp game or mp platform, they is again trying to do both... but this time they is gonna improve sp campaign by making it shorter.

 

...

 

we like the biowarians well enough, but sometimes we wonder if they is completely oblivious... kinda likes how they insist that je were a wonderful selling game and the start of a grand new franchise.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[mkreku]

am not sure what that proves.

So let me help you with the thinking part. It means that it looks like Bioware is wasting a lot more resources on marketing/developing their next console action RPG than on their next PC title. We'll see, maybe I'm wrong, maybe E3 will prove that Dragon Age is a top priority project at Bioware.

 

I think it was almost two years since Bioware sent out their latest press release concerning Dragon Age.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

...

 

we like the biowarians well enough, but sometimes we wonder if they is completely oblivious... kinda likes how they insist that je were a wonderful selling game and the start of a grand new franchise. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Sometimes they fall for thier own hype. There are two factors when it comes to Bioware though.

 

1. They got very luck with Interplay and BG1/2.

2. They have had the CRPG field more or less to themselves for quite a number of years.

[Llyranor]

Well, it's not like the CRPG market is flooding with titles nowadays, either.

[Gromnir]

"So let me help you with the thinking part. It means that it looks like Bioware is wasting a lot more resources on marketing/developing their next console action RPG than on their next PC title. "

 

and you arrive at such a conclusion 'cause the me site has more stuff on it, right?

 

*snort*

 

again, as we noted only a post ago, the da undertaking is Huge in scope, and they not even has settled on a publisher. they not necessarily have neither 'nuff material to be worth revealing, and they very likely got reasons to not wanting to step on toes of the eventual publisher... a publisher who typically handles the release o' such info. is all kinds of likely reasons for not making more info readily available, but somehow a handful of smart guys reach the most dubious of conclusions. the way some folks arrive at conclusions w/o any kinda support save for their gut boggles the mind.

 

*shrug*

 

you can't fight the conspiracy theorists.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Llyranor]

Isn't ME expected later this year? Or maybe early next year? Of course they have to hype it. Game's dev cycle is much shorter. Heck, already planning 3 titles is telling.

 

Hey, if they want to spend 4 yrs on DA, all the better. I'd rather have a polished title. I can live without DA, so it might as well become a great game. 2007 at the earlier sounds reasonable. Hype machine has no reason to really pump the game at this point.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Isn't ME expected later this year? Or maybe early next year? Of course they have to hype it. Game's dev cycle is much shorter. Heck, already planning 3 titles is telling.

 

Hey, if they want to spend 4 yrs on DA, all the better. I'd rather have a polished title. I can live without DA, so it might as well become a great game. 2007 at the earlier sounds reasonable. Hype machine has no reason to really pump the game at this point.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

How similiar is ME to Gears of War ?

[Gromnir]

...

 

we like the biowarians well enough, but sometimes we wonder if they is completely oblivious... kinda likes how they insist that je were a wonderful selling game and the start of a grand new franchise. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Sometimes they fall for thier own hype. There are two factors when it comes to Bioware though.

 

1. They got very luck with Interplay and BG1/2.

2. They have had the CRPG field more or less to themselves for quite a number of years.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

you ignore reality. bis didn't have as much luck with interplay as did bio?

 

HA!

 

and there weren't a flood of crpgs following diablo, the game that resurrected the genre? most of 'em is so bad that you don't recall maybe. and let us not forget that bio released far more than bg1 + bg2, and sales for almost all has been very good... excepting mdk2 and je.

 

the bio fanboi thing is as incomprehensible to us as is the people who insist on ignoring what bio has accomplished. you both gots your dogma.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Llyranor]

Erm, other than having a third-person 'shooter' combat, I don't really see the similarities.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

you ignore reality.  bis didn't have as much luck with interplay as did bio? 

 

HA!

 

and there weren't a flood of crpgs following diablo, the game that resurrected the genre?  most of 'em is so bad that you don't recall maybe.  and let us not forget that bio released far more than bg1 + bg2, and sales for almost all has been very good... excepting mdk2 and je. 

 

the bio fanboi thing is as incomprehensible to us as is the people who insist on ignoring what bio has accomplished.  you both gots your dogma.

 

HA! Good Fun!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I am ? Whether or not Bioware jumped ship dosnt change that they had a very lucky break.

 

Interplay had D&D at the time so I'd definately call that lucky.Biowares name was made with those two titles. MDK isnt really well known.

 

Read the bits I've bolded.

What that says to me is the big sales have been of known properties.

[Volourn]

"1. They got very luck with Interplay and BG1/2."

 

It wasn't luck. Afterall, the most successful D&D games ever are BIO D&D games. I don't think even the GB games did as well as the BIO D&D games.

 

 

"2. They have had the CRPG field more or less to themselves for quite a number of years."

 

This is false. The only problem is that outside of Betehsda and the ES series, BIO has completely flattened the competition so it *seems* they have the market alone. On top of tat, you are ignoring BIS/Interplay, Troika, Bethesda as well as the Gothics, DSs, and so on and so forth.

 

 

"How similiar is ME to Gears of War ? "

 

It's not.

 

 

"kinda likes how they insist that je were a wonderful selling game and the start of a grand new franchise."

 

Got proof it isn't?

 

 

"third-person 'shooter' combat"

 

ME isn't a shooter. It's a 'story focused squad based action RPG'. That comes straight from this article. What a mouthful. Action RPG fits it fine, I think.

 

 

 

"Bioware is a console market bitch by now."

 

It's good for you to ignore the facts.

 

BIO is working on 2 console games - ME, and another game. Both these are going to have comparitively short dev cycles showing that BIO's focus isn't really on them.

 

BIO is working on NWN still... a pure PC game.

 

BIO is working on DA, and is putting a great amount of focus in this pure PC game.

 

BIO is working on a MMORPG which will almost likely be a PC game. In fact, they made a whole new division for it. NOW, that's focus.

 

Going by the facts, it seems their focus is still inching towards the PC.

 

LOLOLOLLIPOP

Edited April 11, 2006 by Volourn

[Gromnir]

you ignore reality.  bis didn't have as much luck with interplay as did bio? 

 

HA!

 

and there weren't a flood of crpgs following diablo, the game that resurrected the genre?  most of 'em is so bad that you don't recall maybe.  and let us not forget that bio released far more than bg1 + bg2, and sales for almost all has been very good... excepting mdk2 and je. 

 

the bio fanboi thing is as incomprehensible to us as is the people who insist on ignoring what bio has accomplished.  you both gots your dogma.

 

HA! Good Fun!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I am ? Whether or not Bioware jumped ship dosnt change that they had a very lucky break.

 

Interplay had D&D at the time so I'd definately call that lucky.Biowares name was made with those two titles. MDK isnt really well known.

 

Read the bits I've bolded.

What that says to me is the big sales have been of known properties.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

you is being silly as vol, but opposite.

 

how many d&d titles has failed? more than has made money... in fact, before bg1 the franchise were often described as "dead" as far as crpgs were concerned... and the pnp game weren't far behind. bg1 resurrected d&d, not the other way 'round

 

how many star wars games has failed? more than has made money... etc.

 

and again, you misses the point. if bio success were simply luck in being tied to IP, then why did bis and IP end up in the tank? bio is still 'round. bio is making games. bis, which were the development arm of the publisher bio were so damned lucky to be involved with, died... and their games didn't sell near as well even when they were still around.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

you is being silly as vol, but opposite.

 

how many d&d titles has failed?  more than has made money... in fact, before bg1 the franchise were often described as "dead" as far as crpgs were concerned... and the pnp game weren't far behind.  bg1 resurrected d&d, not the other way 'round

 

how many star wars games has failed?  more than has made money... etc.

 

and again, you misses the point.  if bio success were simply luck in being tied to IP, then why did bis and IP end up in the tank?  bio is still 'round.  bio is making games.  bis, which were the development arm of the publisher bio were so damned lucky to be involved with, died... and their games didn't sell near as well even when they were still around.

 

HA! Good Fun!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

How many non D&D tiltes have failed ? How interesting did Biowares original idea for the game (name I completely forget) sound ?

 

Why was Bioware chosen for NwN ? Because of BG. Why were they chosen for KOTOR ? BG/BGII.

 

Jade Empire you can see as Biowares first attempt to escape from doing licenses. And as you yourself said it was hardly a spectacular success.

[Volourn]

"How many non D&D tiltes have failed ?"

 

Irrelevant.

 

 

" How interesting did Biowares original idea for the game (name I completely forget) sound ? "

 

Who knows. Enough for Interplay.

 

 

"Why was Bioware chosen for NwN ? Because of BG."

 

Really? From what we know, NWN was in the planning WHILE BG1 was made; not after. Hence, the hints in the game.

 

 

"Why were they chosen for KOTOR ? BG/BGII."

 

Because of their proven successes from the start of the line.

 

 

 

"Jade Empire you can see as Biowares first attempt to escape from doing licenses. And as you yourself said it was hardly a spectacular success."

 

It still was a success. Anyone who expected it to sell as well as BG/NWN/KOTOR overrate BIO's popularity.

 

The bottom line that Grom is getting at here is that compared to the majority of devs for both D&D and SW games; BIO is quite successful.

Edited April 11, 2006 by Volourn