It seems like Dragon Age: Origins has been hovering around in the background for some time now ... that’s because it has. Announced as far back as E3 2004, Dragon Age: Origins, the “spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate,” has been in production now for well over 6 years. For BioWare fans and those eagerly anticipating the game, the wait is nearly over as Dragon Age: Origins will be with us by the end of October. The fantasy RPG was one of three BioWare titles on show at this year’s E3 and we got the chance to see it in action, better still ... we actually saw a dragon! Seriously! It only took 6 years.

Dragon Age: Origins casts you into the role of a Grey Warden plagued with the formidable task of stopping the Blight from raining down death and destruction on the fantasy world. The Wardens are an ancient order that have been around for a long time, longer than Oprah apparently, and have long stood to defend the world from the Blight. The Blight are ravenous dark spawn who are unified by an arch demon (you know, that big dragon we keep seeing) by bringing them to the surface where they spoil the lands and poison the water. Seeing as the Wardens are the only ones able to defeat an arch demon, the fate of the world rests in their hands.
Your story begins from one of six different origins which not only affects your introduction into the game, but so much more. Like many other BioWare games, Dragon Age: Origins has deep seated roots in choice and consequence which will intertwine with the main themes of the game; violence, lust and betrayal. The demonstration at E3 allowed us to see a softer side of the game as Lead Designer, Mike Laidlaw focussed on the relationship and lust aspect, and what sort of implications and bonuses it can carry.

Dragon Age: Origins allows you, the player, to fuse meaningful relationships with various characters in your party. Your decisions effectively dictate how they act as part of your party, with some decisions improving their combat efficiency as they gain faith in your leadership, and other decisions having an opposite effect. We pick up our Warden about 30-40 hours into the game in the party camp – a moving location that allows you to interact with your allies in a peaceful locale. Our Warden’s current love interest is Leliana, a master archer who has shared many an intimate moment with our hero (or villain). To stir the boat a little here and demonstrate the party reaction and interaction aspects of the title, Laidlaw navigates across the encampment to Morrigan, the parties’ sorceress.
Morrigan has a hunger for collecting lore and rituals, and just as chance would have it, our Grey Warden has a book of secrets that she may be interested in. After handing over the book to the busty wench, Morrigan acquires a new skill meaning she will peform better in combat. This is all down to her being much more assured of your leadership. Up until now, Morrigan has been rather flirty with you, and this new act has opened up the chance for our Warden to bed this fair maiden. At this point, you can choose which way to pursue it. Being a live demonstration, Laidlaw decided to pursue the Morrigan love interest but of course skipped the “love scene” (let’s see Fox blow this one out of proportion). “Love isn’t free guys,” Laidlaw jokes.

Each of your party members in Dragon Age: Origins will have their own characteristics – all members will have needs, motives and desires. As a result of your womanising, Leliana is quite pissed off to say the least and demands you make a choice between her and Morrigan, and show them both a little respect. Laidlaw went with the crowd on this one choosing Morrigan as the Warden’s true holder of his heart. As a result, Leliana now becomes disapproving of our main character which will negatively affect her in combat. Laidlaw comments that you can actually disgruntle them enough to make them leave your party, and on some instances if things escalate fast enough, force them into attacking you. The whole interaction with your party seems like a complex and intuitive system but only reading what your character says rather than hearing dialogue seems a bit of a faux pas to us and a little 1990. Don’t expect anything as advanced as Mass Effect’s dialogue because you’ll be sorely disappointed.

The second part of the presentation/walkthrough was more combat orientated as the Warden and co. head out to visit Flemeth, the source of the book of the secrets you gave Morrigan, and her mother. Flemeth was not only expecting your confrontation but heavily infers that Morrigan is just using you, and using sex as a weapon – something that Laidlaw commented was entirely possible. This puts you in a bind giving you the option to abandon Morrigan to her fate, work with Flemeth to cast her over to the old witch or kill Flemeth. As usual, the almighty power of sex presides and so the Warden chooses to kill Flemeth ... or at least try. Did we mention that Flemeth was a shapeshifting mage who could turn into a dragon? Ah ha ... course we didn’t.

So our band of merry men face off against the huge dragon and its multi dimensional stomps, tail sweeps and kicks. There is at this moment in time an awful lot of blood spillage going on, and the Warden and his allies seem to be struggling. It’ll be up to Morrigan to heal the wounded and shapeshift into a spider to poison the dragon before the Warden can gain the upper hand. Whilst Morrigan’s trickery had the dragon distracted, it gave the Grey Warden enough time to mount Flemeth the dragon and drive a sword through her skull ... as you do, pretty much wrapping up the demonstration.
Dragon Age: Origins looks to be shaping up to be a fantasy RPG of many different dimensions but nothing on show struck me in the face as being outstanding. The interactivity of the party does seem pretty complex and in-depth, and combined with the choice and consequence aspects of the title; it could really bring the game into its own. However, I’m still pretty astounded that in the 21st century, with a renowned developer like BioWare, we still have to read text from the bottom of a screen for our main character’s dialogue outside of the cut scenes. You’ve also got to question why for such a huge trade show like E3, BioWare decided that a 15 minute presentation on the birds and the bees in Dragon Age, finishing off with 5 minutes of combat was a good balance. Of course, it’s a BioWare title, so you’ve got to expect a powerful story and delivery, but everything from the presentation just screamed Carry On Lord of The Rings. Sure there was blood and gore, but after seeing the trailers released in the build up to E3, I had to question whether I was looking at the same game. Let’s hope for a better showing in Cologne in August.

Dragon Age: Origins will be available on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC this coming October 20th in North America and what we can only assume is October 23rd in Europe.

Source: X360A.org

Update: Thanks for @SnakeEyes5 on Twitter for informing me of more  screenshots.

Check Out These New Screenshots for Modern Warfare 2.

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The Highly Anticipated Second Trailer For Modern Warfare 2. So All I Can Say Is Sit Back And Hold On To Something and Watch 2 Minutes Of Modern Warfare 2 Awesomeness, Also Please ReTweet This if you have Twitter And leave A Comment Below.

We've already gotten the first third-person look at BioShock 2 Big Daddy — in the sequel players get to be this "new" Big Daddy. New to us, but not the in-game world.

"The player doesn't just play any Big Daddy, he plays a prototype Big Daddy — the very first one that was successfully created," BioShock 2 exec producer Alyssa Finley told website CVG. And as a prototype, this Big Daddy is quicker and more agile than the standard Daddy. The prototype also has the ability to switch weapons and use plasmids. However! It is not as powerful as the other Big Daddies.

"Another thing that is special about the prototype Big Daddy is that he has somehow regained his free will which is a very important distinction," said Finley. That free will allows players to grapple with the moral choices and interact with Little Sisters. "You aren't a stranger to them, you are Mr. Bubbles and they look to you for protection," Finley added. "What you do with that trust is your choice as the player."

Questions that remain include how the player became the first Big Daddy and why did someone think a quicker, more agile Big Daddy should only remain a prototype?

Deux-deux-deuxs and Cuban cigars are joined by the 1 vs. 100 closed beta on the list of semi-forbidden indulgences Americans are sneaking from across the great northern border. Virtually of course.

Kotaku reader Tai Youkai Sama figured out how to do it rather simply. He found nothing prevented him from creating a Canada-based Xbox Live account, then using it to send his U.S. - based account reminder notices the next time 1 vs. 100 went live. Bingo, when he accepted the notice, it allowed him to download the beta. And from there, he was able to invite plenty of Yanks to also download the game and peek in on the fun. Here's what they saw and what you might see, unless and until Microsoft tightens the IP filtering and kicks us out.

• As of now, all prizes are bogus - that goes for the Xbox Live Arcade games The Mob wins when The One craps out, as well as any Microsoft Points accumulated by The One, who is given the option of cashing out early or trying to outlast all 100 in the Mob. Since the cash doesn't exist, there's no reason to take the money and run, although some players yesterday didn't know that.

• Stephen's observations about questions being too easy also is right on the mark. Unfortunately, this can cause the bored to outsmart themselves, thinking that the obvious answer is a red herring. (There will always be at least one blatantly obvious incorrect answer.) I incorrectly answered that South America, not Australia, was home to the most marsupials, simply because I figured there might be a ton of possum down there or something. Don't make it complicated, because it's not.

• Two people were able to beat the entire mob of 100 last night. I'm sure this is partly because they had nothing to lose, so everyone kept playing, but I doubt Microsoft wants that to happen so frequently.

• The more dated questions proved to be the most difficult. A question about Dolly Parton singing the title song in "9 to 5," a 1980 movie, booted a bunch of people from the Mob. On the other hand, a question about "Mr. Dressup," a Canadian children's show, weeded out all the Americans.

• The host did live phone interviews with previous winners from the evening. (One, from Prince Edward Island, won playing on her brother's XBL account. I'm sure this will be an issue going forward.) None of The Ones, nor did it appear that anyone featured from the Mob, was from the U.S. I'm not sure if they're region-locking your ability to get into The Mob. (I didn't, and none of my friends did.) It's still fun to play along.

• The advertising is also inoffensive and largely organic. Really, it's a gameshow, so you have to expect the sponsor breaks. Plus it allows you to get up and pee or grab a beer, or check your stats. I saw spots for Sprint and a Naruto DVD during breaks. However, one question about a Burger King ad from 2006 led me to believe that some of the questions themselves could be sponsored. I hope not.

• The avatars' reactions are delightful. Especially when The One is sweating out a question or calling in for help. My avatar didn't seem to be doing much of anything up in the audience though, even though my other three party members were dancing, roof-raising and doing all sorts of things. I was wondering if I was doing, or not doing, something to cause that, or if I was inert on my screen but going crazy on everyone else's.

So, there you have it - a look inside the closed beta for all the non-Canadians, and a way to possibly get in on the action. 1 vs. 100 is a very innovative, very memorable experience the first time you do it. I'm looking forward to tonight's play. I'm not sure how long the replay value will last - this is for now a cool thing to do with my long weekend. But once Microsoft adds real prizes, that should boost interest, and fun, considerably.

Reports are just coming in about broken street dates for Sony’s highly anticipated game, inFamous, all over Switzerland.
This comes just 3 days before the scheduled release. No word yet on what retailers are participating, or if it just a nation-wide occurrence. Just to prove it, here is an image of a lucky buyer.

Yesterday I posted that Ubisoft had upgraded their Splinter Cell: Conviction page on their website with a cryptic clue and a small segment of map.

Rabby86 From X360A.org was the first to crack the code correctly deciphering "vomacoifinnocnt" as an anagram for Man of Conviction. In a quick turn of events today, the Man of Conviction site actually came online with a short clip of good ol' Sam Fisher talking a bit about its past.

Also on the site are two other dates that are currently locked, one that expires on May 20th and one that expires on May 28th, both holding a few juicy details no doubt. Just in time for E3, huh? Fancy that.

The slow but steady leak of concept art from Mass Effect 2 creators, BioWare, continues today with something with a little more substance than some pretty fancy environments.

Today's piece of concept art shows what looks like our man Shepard about to start a bit of a showdown with a couple of mysterious silhouettes off in the distance. What makes me say it's Shepard? Well, for starters, he has the same build, haircut, ears (yes, I said ears) as our man from the original, and you know when you see something ... and go, "that's got to be him." Well, that's me right now.

This is despite the debut teaser that revealed that Commander Shepard was "Killed In Action" and BioWare commented that "everything we've said in the teaser is absolutely true as well. What does that mean?! How can it fit? That's a surprise."

However, if that is Shepard in the concept art, it would be more in-line with what Executive Producer Casey Hudson said on his IGN blog at the end of last month. Hudson states, "Oh, and I’ve heard some rumors that Commander Shepard is dead. Better not be. We had a lot of big plans made, so if someone’s gone and killed Shepard then things are going to take an unexpected turn…"

All this to-and-fro'ing is giving me a brain aneurysm. Mass Effect 2 will be at E3 and we will check in after we've taken a look at it (and hopefully Shepard), till then, here's today's piece of art. Head here to get your own copy.

Have you not yet purchased the new "See the Future" DLC for Fable 2? If not, you may want to check out Microsoft's latest Download and Win contest.

Simply download the registration gamerpic, and then download the See the Future DLC to be entered.

But wait, why should you bother entering? Well, for the prizes of course! This time around there's:

One Grand Prize Package:

Three First Prize Packages:

Twenty Second Prize Packages:

For full details, check out the official sweepstakes page HERE.