Dragon Age - PC Delayed

This is so disappointing. I was so stoked for this to come out. I suppose I still would rather it be released 9 months late than 6 months early like Atari likes to do.

I'm surprised that in the current financial climate if the game is that solid that they would not want sales in the current quarter over the calender year end but yeah its their choice.

Anyway, my money is for a Nov. 17th release date.

Polyhedron said:

hey gang!
lets fight the pirates by treating every pc gamer like one and lie to them out right by saying that PC is our chief development platform while designing a multiplatform game.

gee i wonder why people pirate.

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I used to think people pirate to get the game for free, but thanks to reading this I now realize it's because of the way companies like Bioware handle game releases.

You know what's weird? Games used to have copy protection beck before people started to pirate as an organized, righteous, political protest of heavy-handed DRM. I wonder why devs bothered back then, since no must have been pirating in those days...

Remember the map tests in Starflight? The books of paragraphs in games like Wasteland? The various find the third word in the second pargraph manual quizes? I used to think I understaood the motivation for those, since I figured they were to prevent people from just ripping the game off since people like free stuff. But now that I know piracy is a reaction to industry practices that hadn't even happened back when these early games came out, I'm just confused.

Maybe the devs were just crazy back then?

Oh come on, people just want free things. Thats human nature, its not some glorified protest. I really hope that was a joke post.

Corwin said:

I think BW are just doing what their masters have told them to do!! I still haven't forgiven EA for U9

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I don't know wh I didn't thinkof that before. I had assumed since EA had failed so many times before with UOX, etc they'd leave the RPG shops alone and let them do what they needed to do but this makes sense.

However, I for one am not giving Bio a free ride, especially with all this typing that would make Winston Smith go, hmmm. We're delaying this because we love you fans? Please? When next the company has a serious marketing failure they are not going to know what hit them. That kind of PR makes it sound like no dissension is allowed even in the company. I still remember watching the DA toolset video and having the commentator drool over sub-NWN2 quality graphics in his generic ghoul he called a mxaposieapso or whatever.

Watch for another delay when the XBox get's exclusive first rights - Bio has already admitted MS paid them well for that with KotOR and JE.

As well, I'd hate to conjecture that this gives Bio time to focus on the console version and then port the changes over to the PC version in order to make it consistent.

txa1265 said:

The reason is simple, regardless of what is said:
- Rampant PC piracy *will* cannibalize their console sales. Simul-reease with good ol' draconian EA DRM is the best way to ensure maximum ROI. Actually, based on numbers they could delay the PC release about a month after the console and release it DRM free ... but ...

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That's the real reason. It makes sense from a business perspective. I don't see a reason to blame them.

I'll be going against the trend here and say that I'm happy with this: I was going to play it on xbox as I don't have a gaming PC anymore. And having everyone on the internet played a game half a year ago is usually a bad thing to your experience as spoilers can be hard to completely avoid.

someone call down an exterminatus

this thread has been tainted by Chaos

Not only will they boost sales due to the piracy thing - they also manage to put hype in turbo-gear with this: "It's so amazing, we actually want to delay it so that it can be even more amazing."

I mean, that does sound like it will be pretty amazing.

Anyway, I don't blame businesses for being businesses - how could I. If this was about artists, I might have lamented their focus, but this isn't the case so I don't see the problem.

This move seems very clever to me, and as such there's no denying they're damn good at what they do. I'll enjoy the salivating reviews and the mass market going all "Dark Knight" over it. I only hope some developer doesn't have to die to take it all to the next level.

I wonder when the big boys of gaming and Hollywood will merge. Imagine the kind of interactive blockbusters we'd get to see. I suppose with billions instead of millions of dollars - they could finally eliminate any inkling of quality writing left (games and blockbusters sort of share the same quality already) and just release interactive entertainment with the most AMAZING explosions you've ever seen, only now you get to PLAY them as well as watch them.

Maybe a handful would question why the writing is so poor, but they'll have the perfect answer: "Our product is so incredibly expensive and these explosions cost billions of dollars - we just can't risk scaring anyone away with confusing or mildly interesting plots." That's fair, right? I mean - they spent all that money and of course they need it all back and a whole lot more. Nothing wrong with that.

A brighter future wouldn't be in sight if we stared directly into the sun - and yet the latter seems preferable to me.

Then again, I always was a bit weird.

Good morning

instead of crying about the delay (which i haven't, in my first post) we should maybe be... happy? know why? because it's gonna boost sales. more sales=more rpgs.

and if you want EA games without EA's dumb DRM and stupid activations get them on Steam.

Badesumofu said:

Chris Priestly: Yes, part of the reason for this change is that it means a simultaneous launch for PC and console versions.

On the next page of the thread he says: The PC is not getting delayed "because of the console".

It's fairly clear that the motivation for the delay is to have a simultaneous release. That doesn't mean they can't use the time to further polish the game, which in itself is a good thing.

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Developers are hardly ever concerned about simultanious releases. Many pc versions today are delayed while console versions are pushed out first.

Also I dont think they would ever delay ready2release console version just to finish up pc version and get simultanious release. This whole "simultanious" thing just sound like a load of somthing. They only want it "simultanious" if pc version is suppose to be released first.

Is there going to be a simultanious mass effect release? Why didnt they delay the xbox release last time? They could have spent the time polishing it and release it simultanious with pc version in the spring.

F*C* NO !

That was my game of the year, and now it's delayed

Gorath said:

That's the real reason. It makes sense from a business perspective. I don't see a reason to blame them.

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Sure, quite right.

But you have to expect a backlash when you court PC fans by telling them it's a PC exclusive for 3 years, then console versions are coming but the PC is the lead platform, then...surprise! Simultaneous release.

I'll wait to see the interface now, thanks.

Dhruin said:

I'll wait to see the interface now, thanks.

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Note that Mirror's Edge, made by PC-focused studio DICE, was also delayed for PC, even until after the console release. Yet its interface is that of a PC-first game.

I doubt a simultaneous console release means years of work on building and designing a PC interface is undone. And believe it or not, EA has done relatively well on PC porting lately.

Pity. Ill probably still buy it.

But I cant see it been as good as it would have been as a PC only release... The resources required for a console port mean its just not going to be as good.

No longer a BG2 successor.... But probably still a great RPG.

Gorath said:

That's the real reason. It makes sense from a business perspective. I don't see a reason to blame them.

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Blame, no ... but call them on the BS press release? Yes.

Brother None said:

Note that Mirror's Edge, made by PC-focused studio DICE, was also delayed for PC, even until after the console release. Yet its interface is that of a PC-first game.

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I would say it is 'platform neutral' ... as 'PC first' games typically have bad console interfaces, which Mirror's Edge doesn't.

Also, is it really unreasonable - based on the disingenuousness of the PR - for us to call into question the veracity of what they are saying? It is all starting to sound a bit 'Bethesda like' ...

I just wouldn't hold it against anyone who sees this announcement as a coded message that we're seeing the final nail in the 'Bioware as PC studio' coffin.

txa1265 said:

Also, is it really unreasonable - based on the disingenuousness of the PR - for us to call into question the veracity of what they are saying? It is all starting to sound a bit 'Bethesda like' ...

I just wouldn't hold it against anyone who sees this announcement as a coded message that we're seeing the final nail in the 'Bioware as PC studio' coffin.

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Heck no, I agree. This is essentially an official announcement from BioWare telling PC gamers go f themselves. But that honestly should not be a surprise to anyone.

I'm not saying it's unreasonable to call 'em on that, I'm saying it's a bit odd to start worrying about the interface of the game on PC just because it has been delayed so the releases coincide. It's not like it's been delayed so they can mess with the interface and turn it from what they have into a really bad consolitis interface, just to bug us.

Yeah, well, maybe you're right...probably your right. I'll still wait, thanks. I don't know what decisions were made at what stage to make the console interface easier and all of BioWare's inventories (ported to the PC) have sucked for a long time. Why worry about it now? I'm not worried about it - I just haven't thought much about it until this announcement put the issue in front of me.

People tend to forget that the gap between PC hardware and console hardware is ever widening, at least if you're an enthusiast.

The interface is just part of the compromise you have to make to adapt a design to a console.

The biggest issues are those of memory and high performance storage space (i.e. HDD) - but though the average PC will perform similarly (or worse) due to lower-end hardware and crappy ports, it'll also mean less visual features like those of DX10 - or at least the focus won't be on them.

But with a Bioware game, I wouldn't worry.

The consoles tend to do reasonably well with linear and story heavy games, where freeform "playgrounds" tend to suffer greatly with limited memory and storage. Especially with seamless worlds that require constant data-access.

If - say - GTA4 had been PC only, it would have run and looked MUCH MUCH better. The irony is that it runs much better on totally inferior hardware, because it's a console focused title.

Fallout 3 is an example of a well-executed platform neutral game - but I'd still be very curious to see what a PC only version would have looked like. The things they could do with that amount of video and system memory - coupled with huge and fast hard drives.... But at least gameplay doesn't have to suffer much, except I hate controlling first person perspective with a console controller.

Anyway, just saying the interface is just part of what tends to suffer.

Hooray for capitalism. Their corporate announcements are as generic as their recent games. Who else can deliver us from our craving for a decent RPG?

DArtagnan said:

Fallout 3 is an example of a well-executed platform neutral game...

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No. Can I just press "m" to bring up the map like every other CRPG? "J" for the journal, like every other?

It's not terrible but it isn't a shining example.