Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume 1

Guys, I have seen the annotated history of the world, and it is glorious.

Many years, coffees and sleepless nights in the making, The World of Thedas is a hefty 185 page hardback that has been designed and orchestrated within an inch of it's life. This has been released by Dark Horse, who were responsible for last years The Art of the Mass Effect Universe, and there's a very similar approach taken in basic format - though AoME is primarily a Making-Of with a focus on design, and The World of Thedas is an encyclopedia of what we know about Thedas and it's history and inhabitants up to the current day, written in-world.

Join me after the jump for some beautiful imagery and excitable babbling - or click HERE for my exclusive interview with author and BioWare editor Ben Gelinas!

We talk to BioWare's Ben Gelinas - The World of Thedas, gaming, and Dragon Age!

Guys - this is ultra exciting. I had a chance to exchange a few emails with the very talented (and very tolerant) principal writer of Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, Ben Gelinas! 

Dragon Age 2 concept art 

Volume 1 of Dragon Age: The World of Thedas has been released, and among all the build up of E3 and the unveiling of a truly beautiful teaser for Dragon Age: Inquisition, the third installment of the Dragon Age franchise is back in the spotlight and the anticipation is palpable and and very, very exciting. For obvious reasons we aren't hassling Mr Gelinas about DA3, but we will be hassling him about everything else.

You might want to read our review of DA:WOT as well - over HERE!

Join me after the jump for some hardcore lore-ing. Worldbuilding enthusiasts celebrate!

Nerdcraft - Etsy Mass Effect roundup

Welcome back to the Etsy roundup! I've missed you. Let's hug.

Surprising no one, today's roundup is all about Mass Effect, that epic sprawling space opera that made me totally creep onto various male aliens. Ah, Bioware, you bring out the best in me. 

Click on the images for links to the listing, and join me after the jump!

Mass Effect: Redemption - Dark Horse and Bioware get snuggly

Mass Effect is a bit of a difficult proposition as a graphic novel for me - primarily because I think a lot of the charm of the game is down to voice acting, party banter, and the epic over-arching story. Since this particular one takes place before the events of Mass Effect 2, and involves some key threads from the Shadow Broker DLC, anyone who’s played the games will have a fairly good idea how it will pan out, meaning the story’s been essentially de-fanged. There can’t be any big revelations, or twists, or deaths, so there isn’t much in the way of suspense.

Redemption is concerned primarily with Liara T’soni and her attempts to secure the body of Shepherd for Cerberus, who are trying to keep it out of the Collectors hands. She teams up with the rogue/scoundrel type Feron, a Drell who also appears in the Shadow Broker DLC, and together they track the location of the body.

Images and dissection after the break!

Traces of Thedas - Geek Chic's Dragon Age perfume collection

So I bet you're thinking - "oh no, there's NO possible way she can still be going on about Dragon Age". Well, you'd better believe it, kids, because Geek Chic Cosmetics - otherwise known for their makeup collections based on World of Warcraft, True Blood, Serenity and Portal (among others) have released their very first perfume line, namely Traces of Thedas, and the news of this sent me into such a flurry of excitement I have never logged into Paypal so fast.

So I received my little bundle of solid scents today - for the uninitiated, these are a heavily scented waxy balm that you rub onto pulse points, as opposed to normal alcohol-based liquid perfume - And first was stunned at how many there are. I only vaguely remember buying the whole lot for about $20 and I think I mentally allotted that at maybe four scents. Nope - eight.

Read after the break for smellz!

Mega64: DLC The Game

So as you may have heard due to an xbox live mistake Mass effect 3 revealed it already has dlc pretty much there on release date that you can only have if you bought the now rare collectors edition or you have to pay for it after already paying full price for a new game.

Mega64 has done a pretty funny video about DLC as you can see here:

Now I don't really think DLC is that bad say compared to subscription fees.  I thought the dlc was a nice addition to Little Big Planet and I bought some outfits for my sackboy. Then there was the Undead DLC for Red Dead Redemption which was a whole new game that took the main storyline in a left field direction.

Day 1 dlc however is not cool. If I was to buy ME3 on day 1 just the standard edition I'd be paying (bullshit Australian priced) $99 and as soon as I log on to my psn (or is it soe now?) shop and see that this (bullshit Australian priced) $99 game is not complete that I still have to spend more money ($10 was what it was priced on Live marketplace) to have the complete Mass effect experience....

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Now there are quite a few people who were upset by this so there was a response given on the Bioware forums. Basically what was said was "it's only an optional thing, you're still getting the full ME3 experience" ... "but you really want this dlc so pony up the extra $".

As one commenter said. "It's in their rights to do that, welcome to the free market"

hahahaha free market hahaha ha haha ha

Anyway I did download the ME3 demo the other day and I played it. I felt the cutscene acting was a bit off like thier bodies were moving but their faces were very still and for some reason (I don't know if anyone else experienced this) whenever the shot would change characters would be missing for the first few frames and then pop on. I also felt Sheppard's run was a little weird and it felt a bit slow, but maybe I'm just not used to it yet. I do plan on getting this game as I want to see the end of Saul Tigh Sheppards story but with this dlc thing and those few little bugs in the demo I might wait awhile. 

I suffered the wiped saved game glitch (Gahh Jack Bauer Sheppard's 24hours were up!!) and suffered the horrible trying not to fall through the ground in the Shadow brokers section of ME2 so I did plan on waiting until the first "make the game not suck" patch is released which I'm glad that is not paid dlc 

Dragon Age 2: Mark of the Assassin. First impressions

Oh, dear. This was a very mixed experienced for me, for so many reasons.

And I do have to admit that the majority of my issues stem from Miss Day herself. I have infinite love and respect for Bioware, but I can't come to any conclusion other than the cynical one regarding why on earth they chose to take her LARPing character and centre a whole expansion around it.

More after the cut:

Felicia Day plus Dragon Age Equals Tron for Girls.

What would happen if geek poster girl Felicia Day was sucked into a fantasy role-playing videogame? Would we be sucked in too? Or would it just suck? Is Felicia Day's appearance in Dragon Age 2 kind of like Tron for girls? And is her chest as hairy as Jeff Bridges? None of these questions will be answered in the following trailer for Dragon Age Redemption, which showcases clips from the upcoming live-action web series, as well as a few shots at the end from the future DLC where you get to play as (or alongside?) a virtual Felicia Day!

If you listened to our first Fruitless Pursuitscast then you may have already heard some angst from one of our contributors about mixing Felicia Day all up in our Dragon Age. I enjoy her as a personality, and like her comedy, but sorry, Felicia, I just don't buy you as a serious action hero - especially after suffering through the interminable and awkward Red: Werewolf Hunter. This looks to be more of a LARP with doods in the woods than Game of Thrones. But I've been wrong before. In 1993.

What do you guys think?

The Old Republic: Smuggler Class. Nobody's Buying It.

Star Wars extra extra saturation week continues (I pick up my Blu-ray set tomorrow!) and another video for the elusive, yet presumably upcoming, MMORPG The Old Republic has been caught in the 'net. We've already seen the Jedi Consular and everybody's favourite sport Hutt Ball, now it's time to zero in on the Smuggler Class and its character progression. And it looks a little fishy to me. Take a look for yourself:

I've been worried that smuggler is going to be a kind of pussy support class, and although this (admittedly amazing looking) video does its best to pump him up, I'm afraid I'm just not buying it! Look, I love Han Solo - he's my favourite (human male) character in the saga! He's one suave customer and totally cocky and badass. His mere presence makes everyone pregnant. Even Greedo!

But if you honestly think, in the in-game environment, that your little unarmoured smuggler with his fancy vest and little pistol is really going to be punching fully battle-suited bounty hunters and troopers in the chops with his bare fists, or killing double-bladed lightsaber wielding Sith demi-gods with a single shot of his puny blaster, then you are having a psychotic episode. Because I'll tell you what's going to happen out there to your smuggler - he's going to have his shifty arse handed to him. By me. Who'll be wearing armour made out of flame-throwers and jetpacks.

My excitement for this game is at all time high - I can't wait to play it and I wish the team every success! It looks stunning. But I'm filing this one under "S" for "Seriously, You've Got to be Shitting Me".

In defense of Bioware - when did boobs start equalling sexism?

This may well get my feminism stripes taken off me, but I've been doing a lot of internetting in recent times (no more so than usual, mind you) and since I've been revisiting Dragonage Origins I've found myself frequently on Bioware forums, the Dragonage wiki, things like that. Anyone who's done something similar will agree that it's a sometimes infuriating read. Everyone's a critic, everyone hates everything, so on and so forth. But the one thing that REALLY seems to get everyones hackles up is a particular character from Dragonage 2 - namely Isabela.

More after the cut:

The Old Republic Will Feature Hutt Ball!

Hutt Ball! Come on! You know what I'm talking about! It's the hutt equivalent of Earth's most popular sport: Human Ball! The Star Was Old Republic MMORPG is going to have a series of pvp war zones and the latest one has a sporting twist. Granted, once you watch the game play it's really just a clusterfunk of dudes bashing on each other while trying to capture the "flag", but you have to admit that the framing device is pretty stylish. It's giving me fictional sci-fi sports fever! I might even watch Rollerball again! Now if only they'd stop releasing clips and give us an actual release date!

Would you like to be on my Hutt Ball team?

KOTOR: Jedi Consular Video is Bald and Beardy!

Elusive MMORPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic still doesn't have a release date, but that hasn't stopped the shifty folk at Bioware from releasing more video content. This time it's footage of the somber, rigid, humourless, sexually ambivalent Jedi Consular:

I'm super excited about this game (when it finally arrives) (and is actually available in my "region") (I'll punch you in the "region") but I don't think I'm going to be playing a Jedi Consular. I think I want to play a badass bounty hunter with flamethrower breath and jet-packs on every part of my body. And when I sneeze my helmet lights up red and shoots shurikens.

The big question that I have about this video though, is why would you choose to play a bald man with a beard? Isn't that something that real life thrusts upon you? Why would you want to incorporate that into your escapism? I've probably got that to look forward to in ten years anyway. No, no, no. When I play my Star Wars I want a giant seventies bouffant and amazing sideburns. When my bounty hunter helmet comes off there'll be so much hair spilling out of it you'll think I'm a wookiee. ARRRRROOOOOWRR.

What class are you going to play?