• Bayonetta & Darksiders – Xbox 360
• Collaboration & Information Sharing – Twiducate, Edmodo, SlideShare, Vimeo, Posterous
• Dragon Age Origins Mac – GamersGate
• On The Job
• Development Projects – GCNN, GCS

I picked up Dragon Age Origins for the Xbox 360 on release a number of weeks ago and really enjoyed playing it, it’s a fantastic RPG, perhaps one of the best I have played, but I couldn’t help but feel that I was missing something playing on my chosen platform. Having watched many reviews from the online gaming journalism community I think many people playing Dragon Age on the consoles, including myself, have formed the opinion that at it’s heart it is a keyboard and mouse experience. While the core elements of the game are the same on both platforms the console lacks the graphical polish that you get on the Mac and some of the key game play mechanics such as the over head camera angle are missing. If you haven’t got a computer powerful enough to play it on you should still check out the console version but if you do there really is only one way to go.

At the moment Dragon Age Origins is only available as digital download for the Mac. I acquired it from GamersGate, which was a smooth and hassle free experience. There are both standard and deluxe editions available with both weighing in as substantial downloads. I purchased the standard edition which comes in at just under 10GB. The download process is managed by a downloader intrinsic to the GamersGate purchase and the whole thing took about five hours. Once the download is complete you have a .dmg file which you can archive for additional installs at a later date. The company do use security measures for authentication but you can reinstall at a later date if required.

Dragon Age Origins is developed by Bioware, a name now synonymous with quality, particularly in the RPG field. Later this year they will deliver Mass Effect 2 to the gaming populous and I think if DAO is anything to go by we will be in for something very special indeed. DAO is a traditional RPG, goblins, orcs, mages and dragons all feature predominantly in a rich and engaging world. While the lore and setting may offer little in the way of something new the way in which the story is told and the detail present at just about every level does. I think spiritual comparisons to Neverwinter Nights are fair but there is a high degree of evolution here. To begin with the detail in the story telling is unparalleled, Bioware have established a name for themselves in terms of quality in dialog but it really is above all expectation here. The voice work is superb throughout and the story gripping from start to finish, moreover the background chat that takes place between characters is both humorous and engaging.

The party concept works really well in the game, throughout your adventure you will make decisions that will effect how various parties react to you. Some will help you while others will go out of the way to hinder your progress, sometimes this will be down to the people you are traveling with so you must choose your friends carefully and be prepared for the consequences of your actions. Consequences form a big part of the game, everything you do will effect how things proceed and I everyone that plays this game will do so in a completely unique and memorable way. Missions will have more than one way to be solved, the order in which you visit locations is completely down to you and in turn will have an impact on how the story proceeds. Visually, as mentioned briefly already, the game is stunning, from the lush textures and amazing locations to the wondrous magical effects that you call forth. The devil is in the detail and DAO is packed full of detail. Each character looks unique and each setting that you visit will remain with you for one reason or another. The cut scenes that deliver the story offer fantastic pacing and immersion into the story, the story really deserves special mention as it really well written.

The game holds true to the core mechanics of it’s RPG lineage with character development and skills unlocked as you progress and build XP – each character type can unlock a wealth of abilities and two specialisations at both level 7 & level 14. Again the choices you make here will effect how the game progresses. For example I was talking the other day with a friend about the game and we both has just completed a particular boss encounter, while he used the games built in tactics scripting options, which are complex and almost akin to a programming language in their own right, to manage party tactics, establish a healing routine etc I simply tanked the boss down with a mage – yes a mage, built around the arcane warrior spec. No two people are going to experience this game in the same way.

What everyone will experience however is a fantastic RPG, hours of fun and engaging gameplay and quite possible the RPG of the decade. It has magic, it has dragons and it has my unrequited seal of approval. Buy it now.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Over the past few days then I have been busy shopping, I spent Friday in the city with my brother picking up some presents and soaking up some of the changes that have developed since I was last there. I’m not a city person, I’ve worked in the two major ones in this part of the world and didn’t get on well with either. They can be great however for one day visits etc – I picked up some new comics from Forbidden Planet & some new gear in Cult as well as some goodies from the Apple store!! Saturday was spent in town doing some more shopping and visiting a few people I have barely had the time to say hello to over the past few months. I also established some fundamental goals for the blog and development projects over the weekend including the final conceptualisation of the GeekCaster Store and how that will function.

I’m really excited by the idea and look forward to getting that up and running in the near future. Speaking of development I really do love the software that I have on the Mac, I’ve said it before but I have no hesitation in saying it again – best computing experience ever. From the wonders of ScreenFlow to the awesomeness of Final Cut Express, with some Things to manage everything in between – it’s smooth development all the time. My primary focus in the last couple of sessions has been RapidWeaver development of the GeekCaster store and branding for the content. I have invested in some e-commerce software and need to spend time with that to establish how best to support store delivery etc. It’s all really interesting and engaging though so I don’t even think of it as work.

I need to put together some taster screencasts and tutorials to give people an idea of what to expect in the near future, those should be available in the next couple of days. The blog should also see some new articles being published in the very near future, commenting on topics such as the concept of screencasting, the year ahead, Dragon Age Origins, digital downloads and the Underworld movies – what a diverse range of topics. I hope to have the first of these available later tonight. For now I think some more Assassins Creed II followed by more LOTR is on the agenda, my digital copy of Dragon Age Origins for the MacBook Pro is almost 50% complete, still a good few hours to wait for that I imagine, still it’s gonna be awesome.

Dragon Age Origins is a game of humans, elves and dwarves; their neccessary alliance in the face of extraordinary evil with a good amount of adventure, magic, death, lust and sacrifice thrown in for good measure. No it’s not likely to win many awards for originality yet it presents all these elements in quite a unique way. As easy as it might be to make DAO sound like a traditional RPG it really is a very unique and challenging game to summise. We have all played games that have promised unique playing experiences; this might just be the first that actually delivers on that promise.

To begin with your starting race will greatly influence how things pan out – not only will decide where you actually begin the game but it will influence how others perceive you and what you are capable of as a character. For example dwarves begin in Orzammar, the dwarven capital city, but even the events that a player will experience there will differ quite a lot form adventure to adventure. The relationships you have, your allies and your enemies will all impact on how things proceed. Some common traits will of course be evident for every adventure with dialogue playing a significant role in all cases and combat punctuating progression for all. Combat take the form of a mix between real time elements and turn based orders in which you can control the entire party. On top of that the game features an elaborate combat tactics system which almost gives complete control over the AI of party NPC at a given moment or in response to certain criteria.

Despite being a game where politics, philosophy and relationships all have their influence a lot of conflicts are resolved through combat – which is no bad thing considering how well it works. Orcs, dragons and Darkspawn will all need to be slaughtered, so having a balanced party is vital. Here the game draws comparison to many of it’s MMO counterparts such as World of Warcraft. A party will need a healer, tanks and dps members in order to succeed. Thankfully it would seem that there are plenty of viable options to choose form. I have always liked playing mages – here they have healing abilities capable of reviving fallen allies, blood magic and shape shifting functionality – taking the form of a spider, bear or swarm of bees. I think my character choice has been confirmed!!

The game is steeped in lore with races and cities all carrying lots of historical detail. The game provides this information via the codex which updates as you explore. What seems really interesting is how completely unique each race seems and indeed how they relate to each other. Visually the game looks stunning with excellent character models and wonderful environments. I am immensely excited about Dragon Age Origins, hell I was excited at the word dragon, but further investigation and discussion with some people who have played the final build would seem to suggest that we may be in for something rather special in just over a week. Let me put it another way, PC Gamer magazine have just published their review and I will leave you with the closing line from such.

“… A truly astonishing game. Vast, vivid and microscopically detailed. Dragon Age is the RPG of the decade”

Roll on November 6th