EA's 3rd quarter reporting has produced a couple of interesting tidbits regarding Dragon Age.  First, EA took this opportunity to announce 3.2M units have shipped:

BIOWARE’S DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS REACHES TRIPLE PLATINUM SALES

Legendary Studio’s Newest Title Wins over 30 Industry Awards, Ships Over 3 Million Units Becoming BioWare’s Sixth Consecutive Blockbuster Franchise

Edmonton, Alberta (February 8, 2010) – Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), announced today that Dragon Age™: Origins has sold-in over 3.2 million* units worldwide. The “RPG of the Year” as named by Game Informer, G4, SpikeTV, AOL.com, and PC Gamer, Dragon Age: Origins has been hailed by Seth Schiesel of The New York Times as, “…perhaps the best electronic game made yet.” Dragon Age: Origins has won over 30 “Best of 2009” awards and has an average review score of 91**. This staggering critical and commercial success makes Dragon Age: Origins the sixth consecutive blockbuster from BioWare, alongside Baldur's Gate™, Neverwinter Nights™, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™, Jade Empire™ and Mass Effect™.

Since the release of Dragon Age: Origins in fall 2009, the studio has continued to enchant gamers with additional content packs including Warden’s Keep and Return to Ostagar. The upcoming expansion pack, Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening is set to launch on March 16, 2010.

“This is a tremendous start for the Dragon Age franchise and we are extremely pleased with the great reception the game has already received from critics and fans worldwide,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder, BioWare and Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group of EA. “Our team is dedicated to crafting high quality, engaging new adventures and stories in the world of Ferelden for our fans!”

Second, the summary of the 3rd quarter results has a business outlook section that lists an unannounced Dragon Age title for January - March 2011, on consoles, PC and handhelds.

Handhelds?

Yes, this is one of those previews of a preview but while we wait for more substantial New Vegas news, this is nice to see.  CVG reprints a snippet from their sister magazine PSM3 about the quality of writing in New Vegas:

As part of its world-exclusive cover feature, PSM3 played an extensive demo of New Vegas. The mag reported that it was 'apparent that Obsidian are much more comfortable behind the keyboard than the team that made Fallout 3 and, before that, Oblivion. The scripting is wittier, the characters more distinct.'

MTV looks at Return to Ostagar and says "you're better off staying at home":

Even if you've just picked up "Dragon Age: Origins," this DLC isn't worth your time. Another piece of DLC, "Warden's Keep," has decent armor in it, as well as presents fiction that is much more compelling than this. If you've already conquered the all that is offered in the game, well, you're definitely not missing anything here. "Return to Ostagar" adds almost nothing to the fiction, and doesn't even offer up worthwhile loot.

IGN catches up with Biodoc Ray Muzyka about the success and future of the Mass Effect franchise:

IGN: There's a renewed focus on the shooter aspect for Mass Effect 2. Was there a concern that it would put off BioWare's more traditional RPG fanbase?

Ray Muzyka: The RPG features are still there. A lot of the reviews I've read are very interesting and accurate, because at first glance the RPG features are not as strong, but keep playing and you can see that they're there in a different fashion. For example, you can grab weapons off the rack when you send your team off on away missions, and you progress your ship, which is almost a character – that you're adding research modifications to increase your chance of surviving the final battle. That's a progression mechanic in its own right, and it's pretty satisfying and deep.

And there's lots of new tactics and abilities, all embedded in the squad command wheel now. It's not an inventory management system now as much as your commander's quarters – you can change your armour, appearance. And then ammo and other things like that, you break down on your squad command wheel, so it's done tactically in the heat of battle, so you can change from incendiary to freezing to disruptor ammo and so on.

Guhndahb sends in this excellent article at The Brainy Gamer that doesn't so much look at Mass Effect 2 or even the critical praise but some of the commentary that has accompanied the game - in particular, the assertion that ME2 represents the refined future of RPGs.  Genre classification is a related topic covered.  A bit of a lengthy clip as introduction:

I've been reading lots of reviews and blog posts certifying Mass Effect 2 as the future of RPGs. It fixes what's wrong with the genre and sends designers of backward-looking games scrambling to the drawing board. It represents, as several notable outlets have noted, the future of storytelling in games and a lesson in how to do narrative games right.

I'm going to play contrarian here, but first let me say I think Mass Effect 2 largely earns the lavish praise heaped upon it. It's an exceptionally fine game with fabulous production values, and I've enjoyed just about every minute I've spent playing it. I'm not quibbling with the hype. Not much anyway.

I'm troubled by the mentality that games exist to invalidate other games; that the most effective measure of a game's value is its ability to surpass or trump other games that preceded it. Among its many praiseworthy aspects, Mass Effect 2's success as a kind of refutation of other games is considered an especially noteworthy achievement.

If you preordered Din's Curse and joined the beta, a new v0.901 has been released.  You can grab the file here and read the change log here.  Balance changes, fan suggestions and a bunch of typos are all addressed.

UK site Critical Gamer has interviewed Cyclopean developer Scott about the game and his preferences.  Here's a sample:

CG: It’s clear from the posts you’ve made on your forums that you’re not happy with many RPG staples. What are you changing and why? Which of your ideas would you most like other companies to pick up on?

Scott: I’ll stick with these three things:

I dislike dialogues where you choose from a selection of clichéd responses that have no actual impact on the game, or navigate to and from a menu of questions and answers. These antediluvian RPG conventions are nothing like real life conversations, and only barely distinguish dialogue from reading a message on a billboard.

I dislike FedEx quests and other meaningless in-game busywork. Go collect ten stalks of wheat from this field. What is that? It is a chore. The developer is making the player perform an uninteresting task as a build up to some fun gameplay which hopefully will be introduced later on. Shouldn’t the developer at least attempt to make the whole game fun?

Lastly, I prefer turn-based combat to real time. There are precious few true turn-based RPGs these days. Real-time-with-pause has become a common RPG compromise, but to me is completely dissatisfying. If I’m in charge of a group of NPCs with different skills and strengths, I want turn-based control. I enjoy watching attacks play out one at a time instead of trying to track a confused, start-and-stop melee. On the other hand, if I’m playing a shooter-style action game, I want action.

ComputerGames.ro writes in with their review of Mass Effect 2.  The score is 85%, although the text seems more ambivalent:

Mass Effect 2 is a good game… but not quite. Good because, strictly from an entertainment standpoint, it can be recommended without hesitation, not quite because some of the good things from its predecessor were left out, while others were overly “streamlined”.

 Some players will see only the flaws and the “shortcuts” taken by the developers, while others, who don’t give a damn about these details, will say that the former are just looking for something to bitch about. Two sides, with completely different philosophies, and me stuck in the middle on punching bag duty if I don’t back one of them. And like that wasn’t enough, everybody’s pretty much right.

The votes are in and everything has been tabulated!  Head here to find the results of your vote for the Best RPG of 2009, as well as the choices from the RPGWatch team.

We bring you the Most Anticipated results in the next day or two.

GameInformer has a piece on a specific ending in Mass Effect 2, which results in not having a save game for ME3.  This relates to a design choice and a specific mission, not a technical fault, so massive spoilers apply.  No quote in that case, so head over if you don't care about being spoiled on a particular ending.  You've been warned!

It's nice to see something on M&M, with GamersInfo kicking up a review of Might & Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven.

It can be overwhelming to have destroyed a few dozen monsters, have no magic power left, be close to the reaper’s door and then have a few stragglers left at full health. Thus, Might and Magic VI is not an easy game to get into. But what makes it a joy is to take that party and see how far you can go. Exploration expeditions abound! There is this massive sandbox waiting for you. Every nook and cranny is open. Sure, the quests are not as diverse as some games are today. But it is fun. And Might and Magic VI is one of the few games that I can and will play happily for hours.

The Big Download has a short review of Return to Ostagar.  No score, but they seem pleased:

Despite its brevity, the Return to Ostagar quest is well worth having since Cailan's weapons and armor are very useful and powerful. It's also very good for fans that appreciate having closure, like finding out what happened to Cailan's body. However, we were a little disappointed that we were unable to find Duncan body anywhere. Also, this quest seems best geared toward melee characters, since we didn't find any loot that suited mages, even in the remains of the area where the Circle of Magi camped out. When all taken together, Return to Ostagar provides an excellent reason to play load up Dragon Age again, if only for a little while, or perhaps start a new character. If nothing else, it helps prepare for the full expansion that will release in March.

As often happens, magazines have hit some subscribers early and some tidbits on Fallout: New Vegas have hit the 'net.  There's a lengthy thread at the Bethsoft forums from the PC Gamer cover article but NMA has collected the comments together.  A sample:

• There is an optional hardcore mode, the character needs to drink water, ammo has weight, healing isn't instant etc.


• Normal mode is more similar to Fallout 3 gameplay.


• The storyline is focused on the New California Republic vs. Caesar's Legion (slavers from the east) vs. New Vegas residents.


• You are not a vault dweller but are given a Pip-Boy by someone who is one.

They also have some clarifications and comments from Josh Sawyer here and here.  In particular, dialogue is clarified:

This is how it works. Each skill-based dialogue option has two different texts: one for high skill (which will result in success) and one for low skill (which will result in failure). If you do not meet the required threshold, you see the latter.

MTV is another site to attend Sega's recent press event and they claim a Summer release for Alpha Protocol.  Here's a quote from Sega Assistant Produce Matthew Hickman on the delay and some improvements:

We had a few reasons for doing it. One: We wanted to position it better, give it a lot of time. The main reason: We really wanted to polish the game up, make it everything Obsidian planned it to be, and give the consumer a very polished game. "We added a couple of other things. Tweaks in lighting here and there, added the inventory comparison screen so you can compare what you're buying to what you have equipped. Just bringing the whole quality level up.

EvilKoala points us in the direction of a Rock, Paper, Shotgun newsbit about a mod for System Shock that adds mouselook, key configs and other niceties.  Many, many years ago, I remember ordering System Shock for my store and (at the time) dismissing it as "stupid" because I struggled to even move around.  History shows how wrong I was but it would be hard to underestimate how nice mouselook would be to replay this classic.

Read the RPS article here or head straight for the mod.

After the various rumours some weeks back, the Bethblog has official word on the imminent magazine reveals for Fallout: New Vegas.

After yesterday’s unveil of the Fallout: New Vegas teaser trailer we wanted to make sure you knew about some of the “first looks” publications are getting of the game.

Next week in the UK be on the lookout for New Vegas cover stories in OXM, PSM3, and PC Gamer. All three publications will be on newsstands on February 11^th.

Stateside, PC Gamer subscribers can expect the New Vegas cover story next week (on newsstands on March 2^nd). Meanwhile, both OXM and PlayStation: The Official Magazine will have features on the game – subscribers can expect to see these later in the month.

Playstation site Dual Shockers has a generic preview of Alpha Protocol from a recent Sega press event, which will hopefully provide other info as we move along.  A snip:

Speaking of choices, the game’s narrative is heavily influenced by the many choices you make. Here’s a brief breakdown of what I mean. Let’s say I’m Saudi Arabia tracking down gun runner “A”, who has information on where I can find gun runner “B”. Now depending on how I deal with “A” will determine how “B” will in-turn deal with me. If I simply arrest A, then B might be okay with exchanging information with me. If I kill A, then B might not be so hot about telling me anything as he’ll think I’m going to kill him anyway. I hope you guys understood all of that. Moral decision making is an aspect of gaming that has become more frequent in the current console generation, nevertheless I think that AP, is the first title to truly hit the nail on the head.

We won't be covering Bioshock 2 in full detail but IGN seems to have negotiated for the first reviews and it's interesting to see the results.  It's a 9.1/10 from IGN and 9/10 from IGN UK, written by Alec Meer.  Here's Alec's great intro:

One of my flat mates, not a gamer but drawn to the sound and fury, sits down to watch me play. "Is this Quake?" "No, it's called BioShock 2." "Uh-huh. But it's like Quake, right?" "Um, not really - it's about the nature of man" - BLAM! Aaargh! - "and the effects of trying to create Utopia "BIFF! Aieeeeeeeeeee! "in an art-deco city populated by artists and scientists" CHUDDA-CHUDDA-CHUDDDA-YeaaaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaAAA-SPLAT" and inspired by the philosophical theories of Ayn Rand and John Stuart Mill." I messily ram my giant drill-arm into the face of a screaming, swearing mutant in a party dress, and then we both fall silent as we watch the blood fade from the screen. He looks at me, brow furrowed. I relent: "Yeah, it's kinda like Quake."

It has become too easy to forget what BioShock is, and too tempting to discuss it purely in terms of the more high-minded ideas behind its narrative, not the practicalities of what happens when we press buttons on the gamepad. It is a game in which you will spend much of your time messily ramming a drill-arm into the face of a screaming, swearing mutant in a party dress. While it's lovely that the voiceovers have a literate backdrop, this is not a game in which you will actively engage in consideration of utilitarianism and objectivism. It's a first-person shooter, first and foremost.

Shamus Young from Twenty Sided has started another of his twitter reviews where he tweets comments as he plays and then pulls them together for a review at the end.  The format didn't do much for me but in theory it adds some spontaneity and it's interesting to read the tweets as they come in (spoilers!).  His Mass Effect 2 play through has just kicked off.

Remember E.Y.E.?  The Source-based FPS/RPG from Streum on Studio?  The official site has some new screens and three soundtrack samples on offer.

A silly article at GameDaily compares western and Japanese RPGs across a handful of categories to determine a winner.  Here's a dodgy history lesson to start:

Before people started rolling the dice in Dungeons and Dragons, role-playing games got their start in the early 80s on the Atari 2600. Adventure and Dragonstomper laid the foundation for RPGs to come, despite their simplicity. When the Nintendo Entertainment System arrived three years later, Japanese developers took over and began incorporating storylines, characters and battle systems. Some players were overwhelmed by the complexity, but top-notch efforts such as Dragon Warrior, The Legend of Zelda (it's more of an action RPG, but it counts) and the original Final Fantasy attracted players by the thousands. Outside of specific developments around the U.S. (including Origin's Ultima games), Japan dominated the genre.

Gamebanshee publish ther GotY list; the overall winner is Dragon Age: Origins with Drakensang: The Dark Eye being the runner up. Demon's Souls wins best graphics and Hybrid of the year.

First announced in 2004, the originally non-subtitled Dragon Age had a long time to build up expectations. BioWare's releasing of a few RPG-lite titles in the interim – Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Sonic Chronicles – only served for people to clasp to Dragon Age as a "last hope" of another great cRPG from the company. BioWare played into these expectations, calling this game the spiritual sequel to their seminal work, Baldur's Gate II.

With expectations built up that high, it was easy for Dragon Age: Origins to fall a little short. And in a few elements - most noticeably the lack of character advancement options, the occasional filler combat, and the arguably mediocre soundtrack - well, it did. But despite a handful of shortcomings, the game excelled on many fronts that are crucial to a party-based role-playing game - and it did so without sacrificing a whole lot to today's rampant "consolification" trend. It's our opinion that Dragon Age: Origins is BioWare's strongest title since Baldur's Gate II, and it could even be argued that it rivals their former masterpiece in a few areas.

Here's a new DA: Awakening trailer, titled The Children.  Here's Chris Priestly's description from the forums:

THE CHILDREN

When the Blight pushed the darkspawn to the surface, human expeditions were able to venture deep underground for the first time in centuries, meeting very little resistance apart from stragglers. Then people started disappearing. Men would make camp and wake to find one of their number missing. Scouts left on missions, never to return. Search parties found no trace of the lost men, not even their bones. Some saw movements in the darkness, a shifting of shadows that torchlight would reveal as nothing. When a single warrior survived from one squad, he spoke of nothing comprehensible except grinning worm monsters that devoured his companions. The expeditions made haste back to the city.

Check out the new Children video over on Gametrailers.com here: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-the-dragon-age/61560

A tweet from BioWare on Mass Effect 2:

Free in-game content in a couple weeks for those who have activated Cerberus Network! Stay tuned for more details.

GameInformer's Tidbits column brings a piece called What You Didn't Know About Mass Effect 2, a list of minor odds and sods about the game and its development:

• Boo, the space hamster, is actually voiced by the lead programmer.
 

• Mass Effect 2 was the first game to use exotic dancers at EA Canada’s motion capture studio in Burnaby, Canada.

• We did eight full HUD revisions during the development phase of Mass Effect 2.

• There have been over 900,000 code and content submissions (so far) during the Mass Effect franchise development.

Here's a handful of Call of Pripyat reviews, courtesy of Blue's.

• bit-tech - 7/10
• CNET - 4/5
• GameSpot - 8/10
• GameSpy -  4/5

...and a sample from GameSpot:

And what environs they are. Shacks dot the grassy landscapes, cracks open in the earth's crust, and the famed Pripyat Ferris wheel looms beyond a barbed-wire fence. Storms rage across the skies, and frightening radioactive emissions spread across The Zone, threatening the small pockets of human life that populate it. You encounter groups of bandits fending off mutant attacks or huddled around a fire, camped near a radioactive anomaly. This is a tense, unpredictable, and sometimes scary place where the next step could invite danger or bring respite. You get some forewarning of some attacks, such as the frenzied barking of mutated dogs before a pack of them descend upon you. But other times, the darkness hides a shocking surprise, like a new enemy to the series called the burer. These misshapen dwarves are like mutant poltergeists, flinging objects at you and even telekinetically yanking your weapon out of your hands. A sinister encounter with one of these creatures in the center of Pripyat near the end of the game is one of several nail-biting highlights.

JoWood has announced a March release for an EU boxed copy of Torchlight:

TORCHLIGHT THE NEW HACK'N'SLASH CREATED BY DIABLO DEVELOPERS - BOXED VERSION TO HIT STORE SHELVES IN MARCH!
JoWooD takes over offline distribution of Runic Games' Torchlight

Vienna, Austria, February 4th 2010; The Austrian publisher JoWooD Entertainment has obtained the rights to distribute Runic games’ brand-new Hack and Slash game “Torchlight”, adding another triple-A brand to JoWooD’s distribution titles in the first quarter of 2010. The publisher takes over all Marketing and PR, as well as sales agendas for Torchlight. The game will be available in retail stores by end of March – as demanded by many fans who still prefer to own a physical copy of games they buy.

A new teaser trailer is up over at Gametrailers. Or you can check it out on Youtube, if you'd prefer.

Update: Bethsoft also sent us this accompanying PR, announcing a Fall 2010 release date:

BETHESDA SOFTWORKS ANNOUNCES
FALLOUT®: NEW VEGAS™ SET FOR FALL 2010 RELEASE

 

Official Teaser Trailer for Fallout: New Vegas Revealed Today

 February 4, 2010 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, today announced that Fallout®: New Vegas™, the next chapter in the critically-acclaimed Fallout franchise, will be available in Fall 2010. The game is currently in development at Obsidian Entertainment for the Xbox 360^® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and Games for Windows. The first trailer, which provides new insight into the game, is now available at fallout.bethsoft.com.

Fallout: New Vegas, the follow-up to Fallout® 3 – the 2008 Game of the Year – brings this beloved franchise to a location only Fallout could do justice: Vegas. Fallout: New Vegas takes all the action, humor, and post-apocalyptic grime and grit of this legendary series, and raises the stakes.

To view the Fallout: New Vegas trailer and for more information on the game, please visit the   official Fallout site: fallout.bethsoft.com.  Fallout: New Vegas will be featured in magazine cover stories around the world in the month of February. Check the official site for updated details.

...and a FAQ can be found at the official site.  It doesn't go beyond the obvious at this time but we'll keep an eye out for updates.