Is morality a black and white issue? Senior Producer on The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Tomasz Gop, clearly explains the game will not be heading down the conventional “good versus evil” path familiar to Mass Effect and will instead draw inspiration directly from award-winning Polish fantasy writer and short-story author of The Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski; Geralt, the main character of The Witcher, operates on his own moral code in an ethically hazy universe or in “grey areas,” so to speak and Gop wants The Witcher 2 to closely resemble the novel in this regard. Also, The Witcher likes boobies.

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Coming September 7th to the 360, PS3, and PC collectively is yet another DLC for Mass Effect 2 focusing on Asari Scientist Liara T’soni, her troublesome mission, and of course, her relationship with Commander Shepard. If the thousand-year-old Justicar in Mass Effect 2 named Samara left you just as sexually frustrated as I, you’ll still have a chance at woo-ing another blue chick from your past. The Lair of The Shadow Broker DLC will retail for $10.00 or 800 Microsoft Points. Don’t forget to check-out the trailer for the upcoming DLC.

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Today, BioWare has confirmed the date for the next downloadable expansion to their biggest title this year, Mass Effect 2. The expansion, titled “Lair of The Shadow Broker” is set to release on September 7th, and is going to cost 800 MS Points for the Xbox 360 and 800 BioWare Points for the PC.

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BioWare has done a more than fair job so far at releasing DLC.  A few of their packs have been decent, a couple above and beyond what I generally expect of DLC, and now with the release of Golems of Amgarrak we get a new end of the spectrum.  If you don’t want to read the rest of this review, I can tell you how much this DLC is worth in dollar terms right now: one shiny American dollar.  Big Dragon Age fans might be interested in throwing down more.  The measly five dollars they ask for it, however, is overpriced for what it’s worth.  In short, this is Dragon Age’s worst DLC to date, and its shortest, to boot.

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This news is going to be a short one – as BioWare is being cheap on the details, but they are going to be giving away downloadable codes for an “epic in-game weapon” in Dragon Age 2 this month. They will be giving away 50,000 codes randomly to those who hit the Like button for Dragon Age on Facebook via the official site as well as sign their name in blood and drink a good ol’ goblet of darkspawn blood. Well, maybe it’s a little easier than that. Just sign up for the Dragon Age newsletter after you do that whole Facebook thing. And if you’ve already done both then consider yourself already entered. According to the news update from BioWare, codes will be delivered via e-mail by the end of September.

[Source: BioWare Newsletter]

BioWare recently snuck in five new Dragon Age 2 apparel  additions to the BioWare Store. They’ve been shopping around ideas for new shirts that fans would like on their Facebook page for a while now and have finally listed up a few of the main designs. The new shirts are mostly logo-style designs on a few new t-shirts and hoodies. I’m always in season for a new hoodie so I’m being slightly drawn in by the charcoal hoodie with the “II” on front and the blood spatter dragon on the back… But where are those Alistair shirts that were going down on the Facebook page? What gives!? More Alistair! You can check out all of the new designs front and back as well as a close-up of the dragons in the gallery below.

In lieu of a very PS3-critical announcement via Gamescon, one would think that Microsoft would be a very jealous and bitter ex-lover of Bioware and their Mass Effect franchise—what with their previous choice to see each other exclusively and all. Whelp, not exactly. “Xbox 360 remains the best place to experience the Mass Effect franchise,” a Microsoft Representative seemed very matter-of-fact about declaring to IGN. So, you’re probably thinking, “How am I supposed to enjoy Mass Effect 2 if I’ve never played Mass Effect?” Good question, Aguado.

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BioWare fans have plenty to look forward to: a new Star Wars MMO is in the works, a rumored Dragon Age: Origins GOTY may be coming soon, and Dragon Age 2 is on the horizon.  Today, BioWare and EA gave the RPG sequel a firm release date, and also revealed that Mass Effect 2 will be hitting the PS3 in January.

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Some Mass Effect fans noticed something strange with the “Lair of the Shadow Broker” screenshots: the guns in them don’t exist in the current game or DLC. Quickly responding was BioWare community manager Jarrett Lee, who explained that these new weapons were part of an upcoming DLC weapon pack that will be released before “Lair of the Shadow Broker.”

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If there was one major plot concern that wasn’t addressed in Mass Effect 2, it was why the hell the Shadow Broker was so interested in Commander Shepard’s body. The Mass Effect comic mini-series, Redemption, lightly explored the struggle my ex-girlfriend Liara went through to recover Shepard’s body. In the latest DLC that BioWare has announced today titled “Lair of the Shadow Broker,” you, your crew and Liara T’Soni will join ranks to seek out the Shadow Broker and hopefully find out the secret behind his plans. It could be just plain greed with the intent to profit off the body of a strong Commander of the galaxy, Saren’s killer, but it has to be more than that.

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BioWare fans, you know one of the big disappointments of E3 was the lack of any news about the sequel to Dragon Age: Origins.  Never fear, friends, for today BioWare has revealed Dragon Age II. As usual, Game Informer has snagged the exclusive 10-page reveal, and those of us who don’t subscribe (or don’t have a GameStop nearby) will be forced to suffice with the bare-bones webpage BioWare has provided, which you can find here.  (more…)

During the EA press conference, more exciting features were revealed for Bioware’s upcoming MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Blaine Christine, Producer for The Old Republic, put the new features pretty simply, stating that they will “show ownership for players.”

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Dragon Age fans, you have yet another thing to get excited about: Bioware has announced that they are partnering with anime publisher FUNimation to produce an animated movie based on the Dragon Age universe.  Production is already underway with a direct-to-DVD release expected for 2011.

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The galaxy is cold, vast and very, very dangerous.  BioWare is aware of this, and if you’ve ever fantasized about flying around with your own Chewie, pay very close attention to Star Wars: The Old Republic.  According to the updated Star Wars: The Old Republic site, “these characters complement a player’s strengths or weaknesses, and provide company for the epic journey you will inevitably undertake. Whether they’re combative, friendly, flirtatious, or even just good for a laugh, companions always contribute to your adventure.”

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In the original Mass Effect game it was a player’s job as Commander Shepard to stop a Reaper invasion of the galactic government body known as the Citadel.  Leading this invasion was the rogue Spectre agent Saren, who had uncovered an ancient Reaper mind-controlling ship and was using it to wreak havoc upon the galaxy.  This ship, the Sovereign, succeeds or fails to destroy The Citadel’s ruling body, The Council, based on the player’s decisions.   With Revelation, Drew Karpyshyn, lead writer for the game, gives us an origin story of sorts.  It does not relay any information about Shepard or any of his crew (Shepard isn’t even in the book), but it does uncover something probably equally important.  Revelation reveals how Saren came into possession of the Sovereign, or rather how the Sovereign came into possession of Saren.

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