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Interview Bioware interview at CVG, part II

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Tags: BioWare

Here is the <a href=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=155829>second part</a> of the CVG <a href=http://www.bioware.com>Bioware</a> interview and two exclusive Mass Effect screens:
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<blockquote><b>In what areas do you think the PC gaming scene needs to develop, and as a developer what efforts are you making to move it in that direction?</b>
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In many ways the PC gaming scene is developing in the ways we think it should - developers are taking advantage of the PC's strengths by building online-enabled games (both MMOs and games with connectivity, strong post-release content as featured in BioWare's Dragon Age etc). Some developers are building the more casual games which draw in non-gamers to the PC gaming market and others are focusing on episodic content - both are exciting initiatives.</blockquote>It's nice to know that even though Dragon Age hasn't been released (finished?) yet, it already has a "strong post-release content". How innovative.
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<blockquote><b>Finally, what are you most looking forward to in the world of videogames in 2007, and why?</b>
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So many games, so little time! A number of titles stand out as games I'm really looking forward to. Speaking as both a gamer fan and as the CEO of BioWare, our own Mass Effect is a game I am incredibly excited to play once it's finally released (even though Greg and I are both playing it over and over to help the team find and solve bugs and provide gameplay suggestions as our awesome Mass Effect team works hard to bring it to conclusion in the next few months).
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Mass Effect will be truly innovative in a number of respects over past games - as an epic RPG, the digital actors are probably going to be the most credible, realistic characters ever yet seen in a videogame and the uncharted worlds promise amazing exploration and depth. As well, the story is really good and the game is quite seamless in terms of accessibility fused with great depth. Another BioWare title, Jade Empire: Special Edition is also a really great game - something BioWare's RPG fans on PC will be able to sink their teeth into before Mass Effect when Jade SE comes out early this year!</blockquote>Here are the new screens illustrating the awesomeness and hard realism of the game:
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<center><a href=http://www.rpgcodex.com/images/screenshots/masseffect001.jpg><img src=http://www.rpgcodex.com/images/screenshots/masseffect001tb.jpg></a> <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.com/images/screenshots/masseffect002.jpg><img src=http://www.rpgcodex.com/images/screenshots/masseffect002tb.jpg></a></center>
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Volourn

Pretty Princess
Pretty Princess Glory to Ukraine
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Messages
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"It's nice to know that even though Dragon Age hasn't been released (finished?) yet, it already has a "strong post-release content". How innovative"

You are slipping. At least your snide comments are usually funny.


One thing that's funny is people keep whining about BIO 'abandoning' the PC yet.... they are developing JE for PC, DA for PC, a MMORPG for PC, still working on NWN for PC, and also wasting their time disucssing the future of PC gaming. If BIO didn't care about the PC why would they care about it's future?


R00fles!
 

Texas Red

Whiner
Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
7,044
Did anyone else notice the way he answered when asked about his expectations regarding games in 2007? For Gods sake, you werent asked to praise your bullshit products! Can the shit-spinners answer *anything* without hyping their next game?

Pete's mother: "Did you like the juice, honey?"

Pete: "It was quite good. Although did you know that you can make various potions, juice if you will, in Oblivion? Its amazing what a huge, next gen crafting system we have implented!"

You gotta love PR talk!
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
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"Did anyone else notice the way he answered when asked about his expectations regarding games in 2007? For Gods sake, you werent asked to praise your bullshit products! Can the shit-spinners answer *anything* without hyping their next game?"

Why should they? BIO doesn't exist to make sales for other companies. In fact, I'm damn glad they are (sometimes overly) enthusiastic about their games. It sure beats them being bored.

Besdies, he did mention like at least half a dozen other games he's looking forward two plus mentioned VD's precious G3 *again*.

Stop the whining! :evil:
 

Texas Red

Whiner
Joined
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Messages
7,044
Volourn said:
One thing that's funny is people keep whining about BIO 'abandoning' the PC yet.... they are developing JE for PC, DA for PC, a MMORPG for PC, still working on NWN for PC, and also wasting their time disucssing the future of PC gaming. If BIO didn't care about the PC why would they care about it's future?


R00fles!

DA? We have got 0 official information on that game. The first screens were taken with, as we now know, the scrapped NWN engine. I wont be surprised if the hyped mass battle system is in the trashcan now. A MMORPG? Im sure everyone here cant wait till they can start grinding those levels with 9-year olds! And ooooh, JE! Thank you Bioware, thank you for porting a game from 2005. Thanks God Bioware still supports NWN, even though the sequel is out.
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
Pretty Princess Glory to Ukraine
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"We have got 0 official information on that game."

Bullshit.

" The first screens were taken with, as we now know, the scrapped NWN engine."

Firsts creens, yes. The screens released just awhile ago at 1up and its sister mag; no. Those were actual screens from the DA engine.

You are an idiot.
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
Pretty Princess Glory to Ukraine
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ME shouldn't matter tot he Codex depsite VD's billion threads on it. It's a console game, and the Codex hates consoles. :roll: DA is for PC so it should only concentrate on that, anyways.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
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Messages
28,024
Volourn said:
One thing that's funny is people keep whining about BIO 'abandoning' the PC yet.... they are developing JE for PC, DA for PC, a MMORPG for PC, still working on NWN for PC, and also wasting their time disucssing the future of PC gaming.
Jade Empire is a two-year old port; MMORPG is...wait, I don't really have to explain this one do I?; NWN for PC? you've gotta be kidding me, they are merely supporting a very old game - kudos for that, of course, but that in no way shows their PC commitment.

So, Bio's current projects are:

Mass Effect - THREE (not one, not two, but THREE) console games in a row.
MMORPG - that's what we've been missing, yet another massively multiplayer game
New Next Generation game - 'nuff said
New Handheld game - yay!
And Dragon Age.
The last released game is Jade Empire. So, that's one out of six (or eight), if you count all three Mass Effect games. I guess, if not for Bio's efforts, PC gaming would have been dead by now.
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
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"Jade Empire is a two-year old port; MMORPG is...wait, I don't really have to explain this one do I?; NWN for PC? you've gotta be kidding me, they are merely supporting a very old game - kudos for that, of course, but that in no way shows their PC commitment."

Sure, it does. If BIO was done with PC; why would they release it for PC at all? And, why would they do anything for NWN1? It's not like they're really making money on it anymore yet they are committed to still supporting a PC game.

So, Bio's current projects are:


"Mass Effect - THREE (not one, not two, but THREE) console games in a row.
MMORPG - that's what we've been missing, yet another massively multiplayer game
New Next Generation game - 'nuff said
New Handheld game - yay!
And Dragon Age.
The last released game is Jade Empire. So, that's one out of six (or eight), if you count all three Mass Effect games. I guess, if not for Bio's efforts, PC gaming would have been dead by now."

Huh? L0L Noboidy said that BIo was 'saving' the PC gamings cene. The issue is of them abandoning it or not. It is obvious theya re not abandoning the PC.

To say they are is a flat out lie.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Volourn said:
Sure, it does. If BIO was done with PC; why would they release it for PC at all?
Porting console games to PC and developing PC games are two different things.

And, why would they do anything for NWN1? It's not like they're really making money on it anymore yet they are committed to still supporting a PC game.
They are committed to supporting their games, which is great, but hardly the point.

Huh? L0L Noboidy said that BIo was 'saving' the PC gamings cene. The issue is of them abandoning it or not. It is obvious theya re not abandoning the PC.
One out of six, Volly.
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
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You are an idiot. Do you even know what abandonment means? Case closed.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
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Messages
28,024
Volourn said:
You are an idiot.
Not everyone is as smart as you are, Volly, so don't judge us too harshly.

Do you even know what abandonment means?
I think so. It's a process during which a company that used to make PC games switches its attention to the console market. Happens quite a lot these days.
 

z3r'0'

Liturgist
Joined
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Messages
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Location
the namib desert
"That makes it almost sound like Mass Effect is coming to the PC."

It probably will ... after a year or so ...


Concerning Bioware's PC efforts - It is no surprize they are focusing on consoles.
That's where the money is.

Its disheartening, but at least they still intend on releasing for the PC. Bioware are probably itching to do a MMorpg(?).
Devs hear 'MMorpg' and they all get dollar signs in their
eyes. Notwithstanding most MMorpg's horrible base game-design. aka :slash/level/loot:repeat

I'd wager that anyone would be hard-pressed to name any five established dev-studios that are PC-only... if there are even any at all.
 

Azarkon

Arcane
Joined
Oct 7, 2005
Messages
2,989
What's sad is not that Bio is concentrating on consoles. What's sad is that you are part of a diminishing market. Let's look at how sad your options are for DA:

Option 1: Bioware tries to appeal to the hardcore crowd. DA bombs. Its bombing is blamed on the platform and "hardcoreness." The good doctors declare PC and hardcore gaming to be dead, and transfer all Bioware assets into the casual console scene.

Option 2: Bioware tries to appeal to the mass market crowd. DA is a slam dunk! Its success is attributed to "next generation gameplay" and "Bioware's special touch." Leading Codexers rail against the dumbing down of the genre, and Obsidian signs up to produce DA 2, this time with More Bioware Goodness(tm).

Either way, you lose.
 

aries202

Erudite
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Denmark, Europe
OK, here's something I just posted over at
http://www.rpgwatch.com

It is not about the interview pr.se, but it deals with an important aspect of the interview, the fact? that Bioware is trying to make Mass Effect look 'photorealistic'.


"Personally, I'm not much for my games being 'photorealistic' in their visuals & graphics.
I don't know to explain this, but I sort of like that feeling you get when you play a game,
which lets you know it is a game, just by seeing it. And by that I mean that the visuals &
graphics are a bit off, so that they are not that real i.e. something you wont see in a movie or even in IRL.

Maybe it is just because I really don't understand why every (major) developer, including bioware thinks it is necessary to go 'photorealistic' in games.

If I look at the released screenshots, they look nice & all, but they look to me like something from a movie or something like that, except for the humans. They look sort of out of place, as if someone has captured a person with a camera, then digitized him or her, and then used his or her portrait (head) on a suit of armor in the game. While this may look photo-realistic, I don't think it looks very natural, and by natural I mean like
it does in real life...

Personally, I would rather say a good game with focus on the narrative, the dialoque,the choices, the character interaction and the quests in the game rather than a focus onon how it looks... Or maybe just a better balance between form & content than ME's focus is, at least to me.."

Maybe it is just me, but i'm sort frustrated over
the fact? that more & more developers and publishers seem to be going down the 'shiny, glossy' road, and not take into account that games are games and movie are movies. And that both movies and games as well has their unique narrative structure i.e. way of telling stories.
 

Voss

Erudite
Joined
Jun 25, 2003
Messages
1,770
So you regurgitated an old argument about graphics and how games aren't movies over on rpgwatch, then spammed the same shit here. Well, goody for you, sweetcheeks. Do you have something to contribute beyond 'I don't like it. Wah.'?
 

DemonKing

Arcane
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
5,958
The Walkin' Dude said:
Did anyone else notice the way he answered when asked about his expectations regarding games in 2007? For Gods sake, you werent asked to praise your bullshit products! Can the shit-spinners answer *anything* without hyping their next game?

Agreed. While he did go on to list a few games from other manufacturers the fact that he couldn't keep himself from hyping his own (unreleased) product to the stars was a little sad considering the question was clearly not put to him to elicit that kind of response.

I have generally enjoyed most of the Bio games I've played but their heavy-handed approach to marketing grates a little.
 

obediah

Erudite
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
5,051
DemonKing said:
The Walkin' Dude said:
Did anyone else notice the way he answered when asked about his expectations regarding games in 2007? For Gods sake, you werent asked to praise your bullshit products! Can the shit-spinners answer *anything* without hyping their next game?

Agreed. While he did go on to list a few games from other manufacturers the fact that he couldn't keep himself from hyping his own (unreleased) product to the stars was a little sad considering the question was clearly not put to him to elicit that kind of response.

I have generally enjoyed most of the Bio games I've played but their heavy-handed approach to marketing grates a little.

Ouch, that was bad.

Interviewer: "What are your thoughts on the conflicts this year between Israel and Hamas"

Bioware PR Puppet: "Wow, great question. That is a very tragic conflict, the type that only occurs because neither side is willing to sit down and play our great games like Mass Effect. Rage at the Zionist pig-dogs just melts away when you spend a few minutes watching our neato-amazing facial animations and effortlessly flipping through conversations. In fact, after 3-4 minutes of Mass Effect, anyone would be far too stupid to drive a bulldozer or prime a suicide vest."

Mass Effect is on my, grab it as soon as I can for <$30 used (edit: list). I doubt anything Bioware says will change that.
 

Volourn

Pretty Princess
Pretty Princess Glory to Ukraine
Joined
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Messages
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Their heavy handed, and hands on approach to marketing is one of the reasons they are still in business.

If nobody hears about your product; they won't buy it. Duh.

You think the BIO CEOs agree to do these interviews for the hell of it or to beef up the competition? No, of cours enot. They do it to hype their games.

Gah. The Codexers can be so retarded. :roll:
 

Voss

Erudite
Joined
Jun 25, 2003
Messages
1,770
DemonKing said:
The Walkin' Dude said:
Did anyone else notice the way he answered when asked about his expectations regarding games in 2007? For Gods sake, you werent asked to praise your bullshit products! Can the shit-spinners answer *anything* without hyping their next game?

Agreed. While he did go on to list a few games from other manufacturers the fact that he couldn't keep himself from hyping his own (unreleased) product to the stars was a little sad considering the question was clearly not put to him to elicit that kind of response.

I have generally enjoyed most of the Bio games I've played but their heavy-handed approach to marketing grates a little.

Meh. It does grate a bit, but in all fairness the journalistic community allows this in pretty much every format. Questions are largely just lead-ins to whatever the interviewee wants to say. The journalists (and I use the term loosely) don't seem to have any problem with it and print/show the response anyway, knowing they aren't going to get much else out of a subject.
 

Ladonna

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
10,637
Marketing is marketing. Its natural they would say that stuff, though it can be funny when you read it. What this marketer thought of any other games (Does he actually like games?) besides Bio's products would have been interesting as well.
 

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