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(Neverwinter Nights 2 screenshot submitted by Ragusa)
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Latest General News Headlines:
Latest Poll Results - Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited - February 8, 2010, 7:15 pm by Taluntain
Weekly Wizards of the Coast News Round-up - February 8, 2010, 6:48 pm by Taluntain
BioWare Interviews - February 5, 2010, 12:13 pm by chevalier
Star Wars: The Old Republic Previews, Lucas Arts Interview - February 5, 2010, 12:08 pm by chevalier
More on the Dungeons & Dragons Online Update - February 5, 2010, 12:03 pm by chevalier
More from Bethesda v. Interplay - February 5, 2010, 11:55 am by chevalier
Feargus Urquhart Interview at TS2 - February 5, 2010, 11:49 am by chevalier
Dungeons & Dragons Online Award, Update, Penny Arcade East and More and The Escapist - February 5, 2010, 11:44 am by chevalier
Weekly Wizards of the Coast News Round-up - January 30, 2010, 10:19 pm by Taluntain
Weekly Wizards of the Coast News Round-up - January 27, 2010, 7:57 pm by Taluntain
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Latest Poll Results - Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited
Posted: February 8, 2010, 7:15 pm by Taluntain
 What we asked:
Q: Now that the Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited MMORPG has been free to play for some time, have you tried it out yet?
(110 votes total)
No and I have no intention of playing it (39) 35%
I haven't tried it yet but intend to in the future (23) 21%
Yes, but I don't play it any more (20) 18%
Yes, I play it occasionally (12) 11%
Yes, but I rarely play it (10) 9%
Yes, I play it regularly (6) 5%
Of those who voted, the relative majority (35%) haven't given Eberron Unlimited a try and have no intention of doing it in the future either.
However, 21% of the poll participants haven't tried it out yet, but intend to do so in the future.
Of the (combined) 53% of those who have played Eberron Unlimited already, 18% don't play the game any more, 11% play it occasionally, 9% rarely and 5% regularly.
» Current Poll
» Poll Archives
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Weekly Wizards of the Coast News Round-up
Posted: February 8, 2010, 6:48 pm by Taluntain
 » Martial Power 2 Excerpts: Combat Styles (Excerpts)
» Favored of Mielikki (Channel Divinity)
» The Ruthless Reach Barbarian (Class Acts)
» Back from Indiana (News)
» Martial Power 2 Excerpts: Epic Destiny (Excerpts)
» Explore Fairhaven: Villains and Vagabonds (Features)
» February and Beyond (Previews)
» Coming This Fall ... (Ampersand)
» Winterkin Eladrin (Features)
» The Battlemind Class (Design & Development)
» Doors (Editorial)
» The Shrine of Glass-Spire Forest (Adventures)
» Figurines of Wondrous Power (Bazaar of the Bizarre)
» I Got a Pony ... (Editorial)
» Martial Power 2 Excerpts: Feats (Excerpts)
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BioWare Interviews
Posted: February 5, 2010, 12:13 pm by chevalier
 There's one at GameInformer. The focus on that one is Game IP (Intellectual Property) and here's a snip:
BioWare is a strong company name. People usually know what they’re getting into when the buy a BioWare game. How did you guys go about building up your brand?
Ray Muzyka & Greg Zeschuk: We’ve thought about branding in a few different ways over the past couple decades. First, with regard to BioWare’s studio brand, and going forward our brands within the RPG/MMO Group at EA, we’ve always strived to be polite and humble, yet aggressive and assertive in ensuring that the BioWare brand was associated with the quality games our teams work so hard to deliver. In our early years, before people had heard of BioWare, we often had to email press to ask for preview and review corrections in order to make sure our team was getting credit. There was never any malicious intent on anyone’s part, but 15 to 20 years ago the publishing companies were consistently the big name brands, and often got credit for games developed externally by companies just like ours. We were just doing our part to help educate people. After about five to 10 years of this, most of the press folks finally got the idea. From that point on generally most press remembered to cite BioWare as the developer on our games.
Another one at NowGamer...:
The Infinity Engine behind the game later powered a number of stellar RPGs developed in Baldur’s Gate’s wake, including Black Isle’s Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale. “We fundamentally built a game engine that could support the type of game we were making,” Zeschuk says. “Around that time there had been a couple of shooter engines that had been coming out, but we had a goal of trying to pick the complexity of the D&D system, but also try to capture a world that’s worth exploring, great combat, and the sort of story we were delivering via the conversations and stuff. The engine had to cover all bases.”
There's finally an audio one with Greg Zeschuk at Kotaku.
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Star Wars: The Old Republic Previews, Lucas Arts Interview
Posted: February 5, 2010, 12:08 pm by chevalier
 Here's a clip from Game Revolution's preview:
The Han Solo-esque smugglers are offset by the bounty hunters, both using deception and trickery in order to take on much more powerful opponents. Jedi Knights and Sith Warriors are probably the classes that will seem the most familiar to anyone whose played through either of the original KOTOR games: They're your standard lightsaber-wielding, force-using fighters who you've wanted to be since your were six years old.
And from another one, at Square Go:
Now the Star Wars universe wouldn't be itself without a vast number of our old time classic planets to revisit and hopefully some new ones to sink our teeth into. At the moment Bioware have confirmed some of the oldies like Korriban, Coruscant, Alderaan, and Tatooine will be present alongside the addition of some new ones like Tython, Hutta, Ord Mantell, Balmorra and Dromund Kaas. Each will have it's own unqiue setting and atmosphere that will help you to dive in at the deep end and truly become immersed in the experience.
LucasArts' President Darrell Rodriguez has been interviewed by Gamasutra and asked, among lots of others, how closely Lucas Arts cooperates with BioWare:
How closely do you work with BioWare? They have a very robust creative process that they're bringing to the project. Is it more approvals, or do you support them when they have questions about the lore, that kind of stuff?
DR: We work with them very closely. We work with them very closely on marketing, on the voiceover, on content in the game. BioWare, yes, they are brilliant at what they do, and they've got a great team and a great process, but it's much more than approvals. There's a great back and forth and great communication.
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More on the Dungeons & Dragons Online Update
Posted: February 5, 2010, 12:03 pm by chevalier
 So, here are the release notes (wiki format), here's MMORPG.COM's preview. It seems levelling restrictions have been removed and there's new content, but the actual information tree is long, very long.
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More from Bethesda v. Interplay
Posted: February 5, 2010, 11:55 am by chevalier
 Duck and Cover has managed to take a look at a new 17-page statement from Herve Caen, the CEO of Interplay. He explains things from Interplay's point of view and it must be said that the piece is very informative, at least from the point of view of what Interplay's position is. Here's a snip:
On April 4, 2007, Interplay and Bethesda entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the "APA") releated to the Fallout intellectual property, which superseded the Exclusive License [the exclusive license agreement licesed the rights to make Fallout 3, 4, and 5 to Bethesda]. Under the APA, Interplay transferred the Fallout mark and related intellectual property to Bethesda, in consideration of Interplay receiving a certain cash payment and the perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide, and exclusive right to continue selling the Interplay-developed Fallout games, which consisted of Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, referred to collectively in the APA as the "Pre-existing Fallout Games."
Interplay retained the rights to "exclusively manufacture, have manufactured, sell and distribute" the Pre-existing Fallout Games (the "Merchandising Rights")....Interplay would never have entered into the APA unless it received the perpetual Merchandising Rights, as part of the considertaion for entering into said Agreement...If you takeaway the rights granted to Interplay, then a material portion of the consideration that Interplay was to receive in exchange for the transfer of rights to Bethesda is substantially, if not totally, eliminated.
Sigh. Wonder how many good games could occur if time, effort and money didn't go to litigation.
Read the rest at Duck and Cover.
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Feargus Urquhart Interview at TS2
Posted: February 5, 2010, 11:49 am by chevalier
 TS2 has conducted a poll for the "Most Successful & Respected Executive Producer" and Feargus Urquhart came out on top. They produced an article-interview paraphrasing answers they were given in April '09. Here's a sample:
What advice would you give a young game tester that aspires to be in your position some day?
With Feargus starting out playing D&D in the early 90’s the industry was much different. The risks are higher, the teams are larger and Feargus himself said in today’s climate he could not put someone in charge of a project that has the level of experience he had when he was charged with running his first title. So with the industry maturing Feargus still manages his team encouraging the traits that led him to where he is today; being aggressive to learn more about your job.
We talked about how it has been said that in order to get promoted you need to start doing your bosses job. Feargus disagreed, “I am going to promote the guy who is best at his current job, not the guy trying to learn someone else’s.” He admits having a technical background has served him well in the industry but he still had to learn the individual components in the development process. Being able to talk with an art director about tone mapping or other technical aspects is how Feargus remains connected to the project at every level. Feargus does point out that to get involved to that level of understanding requires a love and passion for the industry. As a producer Feargus said perseverance is a must-have quality. “Every day you need to get 40 things done, now at the end of the day you may only get 10 of those completed but the next day you need to get things ready to go again; and you need to do it with a smile.”
Read the rest at TS2.
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Dungeons & Dragons Online Award, Update, Penny Arcade East and More and The Escapist
Posted: February 5, 2010, 11:44 am by chevalier
 There's a couple of interesting articles at the online magazine The Escapist. The first one (semi-random selection) (link) claims that, "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Dialogue Trees," there's also wondering, Why "Nerds" Get Bullied (link), as well as information on a Dungeons & Dragons Online update, information on Penny Arcade Expo East exhibitors and an article about NPCs link) from the current issue. Here's a snip from the last:
By this point in Fallout 3, I was already unsure about my character. Earlier in the game, he was stained by my own impatience: In a situation that was more nuanced than I understood, I mistook some of my fellow vault-dwellers for Bad Guys and gunned them down, appalling the childhood friend I thought I was rescuing. I was desperate for some action and curious to see how the gunplay fit within the gameplay. As a result, my character had become a brutal young monster. What was for me a misunderstanding of the game's moral dynamic was, for my character, a bloody crime. This is why my characters usually end up being impossible for me to like: My curiosity leads them into actions I can't condone.
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Weekly Wizards of the Coast News Round-up
Posted: January 30, 2010, 10:19 pm by Taluntain
» Dragon 383 (Art Galleries)
» Martial Power 2 Excerpts: Warlords (Excerpts)
» The Underdark (D&D Alumni)
» D&D Encounters (News)
» Dungeon 174 (Art Galleries)
» Dungeon 174 (Map Galleries)
» Looking Back (Dungeoncraft)
» Dungeon's Master (Spotlight Interviews)
» 2010: Outlook Good (Confessions...)
» The Steel Princess (Fiction)
» Shamans of the Body and Mind (Class Acts)
» The Endless Road (Adventures)
» D&D Experience (News)
» Martial Power 2 Excerpts: Rogues (Excerpts)
» Dungeon Tiles (Design & Development)
» Warlock Vestiges (Class Acts)
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Weekly Wizards of the Coast News Round-up
Posted: January 27, 2010, 7:57 pm by Taluntain
» Martial Power 2 Excerpts: Rangers (Excerpts)
» Winning Races: Humans (Features)
» Stat Blocks for Roleplaying (Ruling Skill Challenges)
» Invoker Essentials (Class Acts)
» Winning Races: Tieflings (Features)
» Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn (Art Galleries)
» Five DMs (Spotlight Interviews)
» Class Acts: the Bard (Class Acts)
» Underdark (Wallpapers)
» The New Hotness (RPGA Report)
» Hybrid Characters (Features)
» Underdark (Use This Book Tonight)
» A Few Quick Giveaways (News)
» Sliver's Call (Adventures)
» The Resurrection Agent (Fiction)
» Martial Power 2 Excerpts: Fighters (Excerpts)
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Latest Poll Results - Bethesda vs. BioWare
Posted: January 22, 2010, 7:34 pm by Taluntain
What we asked:
Q: Overall, which of the two game developers do you feel produces better RPGs?
(251 votes total)
BioWare (Neverwinter Nights 1, Dragon Age...) (149) 59%
Both produce equally good RPGs (56) 22%
Bethesda (The Elder Scrolls series, Fallout 3...) (25) 10%
I've only played BioWare's games (20) 8%
I've only played Bethesda's games (1) 0%
Hands down, the majority of those who voted (nearly 60%) feel that BioWare produces better RPGs than Bethesda. Of course, considering that most of our visitors primarily play BioWare's games, that's not very surprising.
Interestingly, however, 22% of the poll participants feel that both BethSoft and BioWare produce equally good RPGs.
10% of those who voted feel that Bethesda produces better RPGs, followed by 8% of those who have only played BioWare's games and consequently couldn't vote for either of the companies (though we suspect that that didn't stop a good number anyway... ahem).
Amusingly, only a single participant in the poll has played Bethesda's games exclusively.
» Current Poll
» Poll Archives
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Star Wars: The Old Republic Release Date, Classes
Posted: January 18, 2010, 11:41 am by chevalier
Here's what BioWare's Sean Dahlberg says about the targetted release date being spring 2011:
While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. We’ve got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It’s not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can’t wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.
Also, GameDaily goes through the classes we'll be able to play. Apparently, Jedi Consular is separate from Jedi Knight. I've always though Consulars are as much knight as Guardians are.
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Why PC IGN Wonders
Posted: January 18, 2010, 11:35 am by chevalier
IGN's Steve Butts is taking up the PC cause and explaining his reasons for sticking with the PC platform. Here's a little bit:
Frankly, I didn't want to complain about hardware, controllers, piracy or any of the usual suspects that normally populate these discussions because I feel those subjects have been done to death and ultimately aren't the true source of the PC's vitality. Good graphics don't define PC gaming anymore than flexible hardware or equitable DRM solutions do. Those issues are important (crucial in the case of some titles) to PC gaming but they're not as important as the way developers and publishers think about the platform and what we, as gamers, expect from it.
Read the rest at IGN.
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BioWare Austin Interview at Bit Mob
Posted: January 18, 2010, 11:31 am by chevalier
Bit Mob has interviewed Lou Talamo of BioWare's Austin studios. They talk about quite a lot of HR, including how to land a job or how BioWare outsources some of the things formerly done in-house. Here's a clip:
Austin has become a center for gaming development over the last twenty years, why do you think that is?
I'm trying to figure that out myself. I think that its because they have the infrastructure for tech. You have Dell here and a lot of tech start-ups. Austin and Southern California are set up for that type of thing. For example, we are moving into a new building with T1 lines and all that kind of stuff...older cities just don't have that set up. It's also the cool factor of young developers starting up and attracting others to do the same.
It seems ever since NC Soft set up in 2001, all these MMO companies have been coming in and now Bioware Austin is MMO dedicated along with Sony Online Entertainment and THQ. Why is Austin so MMO focused?
Read the whole thing at Bit Mob.
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Game Developers Conference Canada Opens Registration
Posted: January 18, 2010, 11:17 am by chevalier
GDC Canada is scheduled for 6-7 May 2010 at Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, BC, and registration is now open. See on your own eyes at the official site.
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