All Articles: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Shadow Realms has been canceled by BioWare
Electronic Arts and BioWare unveiled Shadow Realms with quite a bit of fanfare during last year’s Gamescom expo… and now the multiplayer PC title is no more. BioWare Austin’s Jeff Hickman talked about the cancellation on the game’s official website, but didn’t list the reason behind EA’s decision:
While the team did amazing work on the game concept and we got lots of great feedback from our fans at events and through other game testing, right now there are other projects for the team to work on within the BioWare studios for the coming year and beyond. We’ve got an incredibly talented team here at the Austin studio, and they are excited and already deep on new projects within the BioWare family, ones that will make some great BioWare games even better.
In the original announcement, BioWare Austin said that Shadow Realms would have taken the form of a “4v1” RPG, which they hoped would evoke the pen-and-paper RPGs the team grew up playing. But even with the cancellation, the Austin team is being kept busy as Hickman revealed they’ve begun work on “ongoing enhancements” to Dragon Age: Inquisition. They will also provide development support on Mass Effect 4 and “other new IP.”
Shadow of Mordor wins eight awards at 2015 DICE Awards but not Game of the Year
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor won eight awards during last night’s DICE Awards ceremony (out of nine nominations), but it was unable to snag the big prize. Instead, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences chose to award “Game of the Year” to BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition.
But don’t feel too bad for Monolith Productions and their romp through the Lord of the Rings universe. Shadow of Mordor’s eight wins included “Adventure Game of the Year,” “Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction,” “Outstanding Achievement in Game Design,” “Outstanding Innovation in Gaming,” “Outstanding Achievement in Animation,” “Outstanding Achievement in Character,” “Outstanding Achievement in Story,” and “Outstanding Technical Achievement.”
The third game in the Dragon Age series was only able to walk away with a single other award: “Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year.”
Bungie’s Destiny (which took home four awards) and Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (“Mobile Game of the Year” and “Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year”) were the only other multi-award winners last night. Though Nintendo’s pair of Smash Bros. games were awarded “Handheld Game of the Year” (Super Smash Bros. For 3DS) and “Fighting Game of the Year” (Super Smash Bros. For Wii U).
The complete list of winners can be found after the break. (more…)
Shadow of Mordor and Dragon Age 3 lead all nominees at 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards
Another major award show has announced their 2014/2015 nominees and, once again, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor lead the pack. This time, we’re discussing the 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards, where each game has secured five nominations apiece.
Naturally, both games are competing for the Game of the Year prize, alongside Bayonetta 2, Dark Souls II, and Shovel Knight. Dragon Age: Inquisition was also nominated for “Excellence in Gameplay,” “Excellence in Technical Achievement,” “Excellence in Narrative,” and “Excellence in Design and Direction.” Shadow of Mordor is up for most of the same secondary awards, except swap out “Excellence in Gameplay” for “Excellence in Animation.”
The winners of the 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards will be announced on Saturday, March 14 as part of the SXSW Gaming Expo, which runs from March 13th through the 15th in Austin, Texas. The first list of nominees can be found after the break. (more…)
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor leads the way among 2015 DICE Awards nominees
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences have announced the nominees for this year’s DICE Awards and, just like the GDC Awards, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is leading the pack. Monolith’s expansion of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings garnered nine nominations including “Outstanding Achievement in Animation,” “Outstanding Achievement in Game Design,” “Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction,” “Outstanding Achievement in Story,” “Outstanding Innovation in Gaming,” “Outstanding Technical Achievement,” “Outstanding Character,” “Adventure Game of the Year,” and “Game of the Year.”
Shadow of Mordor will be competing against four games for the top prize. Rounding out the category are Bungie’s Destiny, BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition, Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4, and Blizzard’s Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. All told, 56 games received a nomination in at least one category.
This year’s DICE Awards have added a new category to the festivities, the DICE Sprite Award, in an attempt to recognize work done by smaller studios. The Banner Saga, Hohokum, Monument Valley, Threes!, and Transistor will be competing for the inaugural DICE Sprite Award, which honors “innovative gameplay and experiences.”
The full list of nominees can be found after the break and don’t forget to tune in to Twitch.TV on Thursday, February 5 at 7:00 PM (Eastern Time) to find out the winners. (more…)
Dragon Age: Inquisition wins Game of the Year at 2014 Game Awards
The inaugural Game Awards was held last night in Las Vegas. In between all the major announcements for future releases, Geoff Keighley and crew managed to hand out awards in 16 categories honoring 11 of 2014’s best games.
BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition took home “Game of the Year” honors as well as “Best Role Playing Game.” Three other games took home two awards including Mario Kart 8 (“Best Family Game” and “Best Sports/Racing Game”), Valiant Hearts: The Great War (“Best Narrative” and “Games For Change”), and Destiny (“Best Score/Soundtrack” and “Best Online Experience”).
In addition to Mario Kart 8’s two wins, Nintendo also collected the “Developer of the Year” award and “Best Fighting Game” for Super Smash Bros. For Wii U. The consolemaker’s four wins were matched by Ubisoft who matched Valiant Hearts’ two awards with wins in “Best Shooter” (Far Cry 4) and “Best Performance” (Trey Parker as Various Voices in South Park: The Stick of Truth).
Other winners include Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (“Best Action/Adventure”), Shovel Knight (“Best Independent Game”), Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (“Best Mobile/Handheld”), and Grand Theft Auto V (“Best Remaster”).
The full list of winners in a handy list format (including all the viewer-voted categories) can be found after the break. (more…)
Nominees for the 2014 Game Awards have been announced
Geoff Keighley’s VGX Awards replacement, The Game Awards, got a little more real as the show’s advisory board announced its inaugural list of nominees. Dozens of games were nominated in 16 categories, with six titles (Dark Souls II, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Destiny, and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare) notching three nominations apiece. Dark Souls II, Hearthstone, and Shadow of Mordor are all competing in the Game of the Year category against Bayonetta 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition.
A complete list of nominees can be found after the break. The 2014 Game Awards will take place on December 5 at the AXIS Theater in Las Vegas. (more…)
Xbox Store Today: GTA5, Far Cry 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, many more
Aside from LittleBigPlanet 3, today’s Xbox Games Store update looks like a copy-and-paste of yesterday’s PlayStation Store update. As such, here’s what Xbox One and Xbox 360 should definitely be looking forward to this week:
- Rockstar has released Grand Theft Auto V for the Xbox One, adding a first-person mode, extra missions, a graphical upgrade, and a few other tweaks.
- Ubisoft dives back into the Far Cry franchise with Far Cry 4 (Xbox One, Xbox 360), another whacked out first person shooter that takes the action to the Himalayas. And as the trailers keep reminding us, you can wreak havoc while riding on the back of an elephant.
- BioWare brings back the Dragon Age series with Dragon Age: Inquisition (Xbox One, Xbox 360), a huge new RPG that looks like it’ll dwarf the much smaller Dragon Age II.
Other games of note this week include Deep Silver Dead Island spinoff, Escape Dead Island (Xbox 360); the next-gen launch of 2K’s WWE 2K15 (Xbox One); and yet another Rabbids game froom Ubisoft, Rabbids Invasion (Xbox One, Xbox 360).
More details on all of these games (and a few others) can be found after the break. (more…)
GTA5, Far Cry 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and many many more added to PS Store
Another double digit explosion of new releases hit the PlayStation Store yesterday, but four titles stand head and shoulders above the rest. Care to take a guess what they are? Trust me, it shouldn’t be too difficult…
- Rockstar has released Grand Theft Auto V for the PS4, adding a first-person mode, extra missions, a graphical upgrade, and a few other tweaks.
- Ubisoft dives back into the Far Cry franchise with Far Cry 4 (PS3, PS4), another whacked out first person shooter that takes the action to the Himalayas. And as the trailers keep reminding us, you can wreak havoc while riding on the back of an elephant.
- BioWare brings back the Dragon Age series with Dragon Age: Inquisition (PS3, PS4), a huge new RPG that looks like it’ll dwarf the much smaller Dragon Age II.
- And finally, Sony has pushed out LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS3, PS4), the latest game in their game-building franchise and the first solely developed by Sumo Digital.
If you’re looking for additional details on even more new releases (including Escape Dead Island, Samurai Warriors 4, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd, and many others), you can find them after the break. And for a complete rundown of this week’s discounts and new game add-ons, plan a visit to the PlayStation Blog. (more…)