Dragon Age: Origins Interview Snippets

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Written by BuckGB on September 8th, 2009

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"Piracy is always a problem, for all media," answers Mike Laidlaw. "Certainly offering people editions of the game that include bonus items do help encourage them to purchase the title rather than pirate it, as do options like additional content that check for valid copies of the game, these measures help because they don't penalize the legitimate users of the game by adding additional steps to install or launch, for instance.

"Instead, they offer an incentive to the player who is running a legitimate copy of the game. This is certainly a paradigm shift away from the harsher copy protection we've seen in the past, and I think it's not only working, but appreciated. It creates a friendlier environment for everyone."

"I think we're lucky in that, as a company, we have a pedigree and history of doing fantasy games that were landmarks of their time, memorable and very strong in the way that they delivered the story, to create the experiences that I think have lingered with people," he explains. "... The pedigree helps when trying to make our mark because it gives people a bit of trust that BioWare's done this before and we're really happy with it.

"Obviously they have to be cautiously optimistic because it's a different world and a new approach but what we've got is frankly a bit of an attempt to do something different and hit the tone of dark fantasy and create a world which is grittier, edgier and honestly more unforgiving than what you'd expect out of high fantasy.

"Certainly the experience with elves, right? They're not what you expect. The dwarves are much more politically motivated. So it takes a lot of the expected and the known and twists it. I mean, if you're a dwarf, you're short, you have a beard, but at the same time you can take that base and explore and do things we haven't done to it before."

"I think good writing is honestly essential, because as we see the technology curve start to slow down, we're kind of past that exponential two-year gain that we used to have ... we're wrestling more with the uncanny valley than the number of pixels," argues Mike. "I think a good story is what makes [a game] linger.

"So in terms of how important it is I'd say it's vital, and I think where certainly there's been huge successes are games that embrace the understanding that ultimately the gaming medium is defined by interactivity and reactivity, as opposed to narrative. A game that forces me down a single path and has no options or any sense that I'm actually affecting the world leaves me a little bit colder than a game that actually has some sort of interaction.

"Exercise games were around before, but they only felt like an ancillary product or interactive guide until Wii Fit suddenly started judging us, and encouraging us to get better using real data, or Dance Dance Revolution tasked us with actually moving our feet quickly and in patterns.

"Second, you have an attempt at immersion. The players motions are translated directly onto the screen, and that pulls you in. Does it work in all cases? Nope, but we're just at the beginning of translating motion into on-screen action. The new announcements like Natal seem to be pushing things further in that direction, and it's exciting to see where we'll be in a few years. Bioware, of course, is always looking at new technology to see how it can be used in our games, and anything that increases immersion is exciting for us, as we see investment in your character as one of the key strengths of our games."

"An extravagant collector's edition is one of those fantasy RPG traditions, and frankly the world of Dragon Age is one we want to share with people," he explains. "Cloth maps, additional in-game content and the soundtrack are all part of letting people dive into this brand new world, and BioWare's always had a tradition of providing value for your money.

"... It all comes down to the definition of 'Collector,' really. From one angle, a person may be a collector of a specific property, insofar as they have every Elvis album, ticket stubs from every show and so on. On the other hand, there are people who collect video games as a media, building up as large a library as they can.

"Ultimately, though, let's ignore the word 'collector' and look at the options: you can buy a fantastic game, or you can spend a bit more to get that game with additional thematic stuff. Nothing to justify there, it's just two ways to purchase the game. I suppose we could call it the 'Extra Stuff Edition' but that really doesn't have the same ring."

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