Bioware plants their flag firmly in Microsoft's camp [Archive]

Draft

10-13-2005, 07:00 PM

A+E Interactive has scored an interview with Greg Zeschuk and some other folks at Bioware. In between talking about Mass Effect, their recently announced Xbox 360 game, Zeschuk reveals an interesting fact about Bioware's feelings on exclusivity."The last generation served us well," Zeschuk said, referring to Jade Empire and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic on the Xbox. "I like the 360. It's pretty well positioned and is a good piece of hardware. They are in a strong position this time. They're going to come out first and they could have a shot at leading the next generation. We believe it helps to associate yourself with one platform."He also goes on to explain that Bioware has four products in the pipe: Mass Effect, an unannounced X360 game, a X360 engine, and an unannounced PC game. Note the word "Sony" is conspicuously absent. You can read the entire interview here. (http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2005/10/x05_mass_effect.html)

Sounds good to me. It's important that all 3 console makers score themselves exclusive content. Better for them, better for the industry, and ultimately better for the gamer.

The Iron Weasel

10-13-2005, 07:52 PM

I'm not surprised by this at all.

Major Dan

10-13-2005, 07:56 PM

Dis is gud, me likd KOTOR 1 & 2 and Jadey Empir. Me hopes dey mak mor gameys lik dat, dat makey dis troll very happppy!

Bushido

10-13-2005, 08:03 PM

Jade Empire was cool Kotor was cool...but ohnos not more Xbox titles...make PC games again BIOWARE Arrg

The Iron Weasel

10-13-2005, 08:10 PM

They are making 2 pc games at the moment Dragon Age and a unnannounced one.

AspectVoid

10-13-2005, 08:13 PM

Bioware is making PC games. The next game they release will be Dragon Age, which is the PC game that's ther follow up to the Baldur's Gate series. It basically uses a KotoR camera for exploring, and then it pulls out into a BG view for combat. Add to that that they're bringing back full party control in it, and it's all good.

The game after that is Mass Effect, which is the XB360. My guess would be that the unknown PC game will be released next, and then the next XB360 game, which will be either Mass Effect 2 or Jade Empire 2. Probably JE2, since it'll probably go with the new XB360 engine.

Of course, everything after the first paragraph is my personal guess and has pretty much no facts to back it up. But, hey, anyway, they aren't abandoning the PC.

Major Scud

10-13-2005, 08:15 PM

The last EGM said jade empire 2 was going to be a PS3 exclusive. I didnt believe it when I read it, and this seems to agree there is no jade empire ps3 in the works.

The Iron Weasel

10-13-2005, 08:18 PM

The last EGM said jade empire 2 was going to be a PS3 exclusive. I didnt believe it when I read it, and this seems to agree there is no jade empire ps3 in the works.

Yeah, the fact that they said that they will associate themselves with one console would be a tip off...

Also i agree that you should stick to one console to develop for, otherwise your throwing your fanbase all over the place and its not good for business.

Spooky

10-13-2005, 08:19 PM

Dragon Age looks (what little we have seen of it) to be extremely cool. The combination (as Aspectvoid said) of the KOTOR/KOTOR II perspective with the Baldur's Gate party management combined with the awesome construction set of Neverwinter Nights promises to be extroardinary.

The unnannounced PC game is interesting to me as well. Bioware doesn't have a great deal of PC intellectual property that isn't directly tied to the Dungeons and Dragons license (which they no longer own) this makes one think of KOTOR III, or perhaps this is the Xbox360 game they have in development. One can only hope.

Vermy81

10-13-2005, 08:29 PM

The Iron Weasel

10-13-2005, 08:33 PM

Why is it good for the industry draft for MS to garner exclusives? We're never, as an industry going to be as mainstream as CDs or DVDs if we're dealing with format war in perpetuity. I'm really excited about these games but I don't relish the prospect of 4 viable home platforms ad infinitum.

The games look great to me and I'm buying an Xbox 360 for Bioware as much as anything.

I'm buying a 360 for North American developer support, i find that most North American developers favor Xbox and now 360. I suppose its not surprising but thats just my opinion.

agentgray

10-13-2005, 08:34 PM

Uh...is this anything new? What games did they do for other consoles? I'm too lazy to look it up.

Magnanimous Gnome

10-13-2005, 08:48 PM

They didn't do anything on any other systems.

Barely anything has been released about Dragon Age. The game has been in development for quite some time - surely we would see something soon??

sTubbs

10-13-2005, 08:56 PM

Uh...is this anything new? What games did they do for other consoles? I'm too lazy to look it up.

Not really, but the amount of resources they are putting into 360 development is certainly astonishing. I mean, aside from a relatively small PC team [Dragon Age], they are committed to an epic 360 trilogy [Mass Effect], an unannounced 360 game [possibly JE2? KOTOR 3?], and a new in house 360 engine. After Dragon age it is probably safe to say that the PC team will be absorbed by the other teams. It looks like BioWare is going to be strictly committed to the 360 for the next 5 plus years. Talk about putting all of your eggs in one basket.

As for the comments about exclusives, I agree in full. The current generation was positively abused by shitty multiconsole development that cloaked what each system was actually capable of. I can only hope that the systems will finally be different enough in the next generation that multiplatform development will no longer be economically efficient. The Revolution looks like it has already taken itself out of the loop [I honestly believe they are doing a good thing], so we are just waiting on the PS3 and 360. Wishful thinking I know.

Frogleg Special

10-13-2005, 09:33 PM

What I don't get is why Bioware haven't decided on which publisher they should go for Dragon Age? They have already become unofficial Microsoft's bitch. Why don't they go for a full bitch status?

As for the unannounced PC game, I want to see the spiritual succesor of Deus Ex. So, X360 gets Sci-fi Mass Effect (Halo RPG), PC gets Deus Ex-like RPG. I will buy them all.

nonchalance

10-13-2005, 09:34 PM

Damn. I would really have liked a Bioware RPG on the Revolution.

Ah well. Not surprised.

amusedtoe

10-13-2005, 09:42 PM

I'm so bloody confused. First it was Bioware's staying with MS, then it was Bioware's all but completely jumped ship to Sony, now Sony's not even in the picture again. If it keeps going like this my bloody face is going to explode. :mad:

Chris_D

10-13-2005, 10:09 PM

I liked JE and KOTOR so am looking forward to all of these.

Chill

10-13-2005, 10:29 PM

As for the comments about exclusives, I agree in full. The current generation was positively abused by shitty multiconsole development that cloaked what each system was actually capable of. I can only hope that the systems will finally be different enough in the next generation that multiplatform development will no longer be economically efficient. The Revolution looks like it has already taken itself out of the loop [I honestly believe they are doing a good thing], so we are just waiting on the PS3 and 360. Wishful thinking I know.

There's been a few posts about drafts comments in the news post, and I understand none of them.

sTubbs, the way I see it the watering down of multi-platform games will be a thing of the past in the next few years. While I agree Nintendo is kinda of out of the multi-platform thing, the 360 and the PS3 will have similiar enough specs and controls to port them with little lost in the process. Except for the controls which can always be an issue, or, at least, an issue for a shitty developer that's porting it.

I hate exclusives. Being a PC gamer, exclusives don't normally apply. It might help the industry with the extra cash they make, but it hurts the gamer. Luckily, MS is combining PC's and 360's so they can easily port games between the two, so I'm not buying a 360 anytime soon. Every major release will have a PC port. But, sadly, I will be buying a PS3. By the time MGS4 is out on the PC (if ever) it'll be old hat.

baz

10-13-2005, 11:49 PM

I'm bioware's bitch, completely. I have bought and finished every game they've made, and not been dissapointed yet. BG2 was my fave though, so I hope that Dragon Age hits those same notes. All they needed to do to BG combat for me was to have an indication of how big a spell effect was going to be, then it would have been sweet.

earthworm48

10-14-2005, 01:17 AM

Eh wah? From news over the last few months and the devs over at Biowares forums, there was Dragon Age and in like June they said they were working on 2 360 games. So now we have them making DA, ME and an unannounced (sp) 360 game. They have been saying DA will take a LONG time though, but if it ends up being as large and have the cool character interaction and excellent script of the BG series, like it should, it will be the first "full" RPG for a while, and it'll be great. I am a little worried they won't make PC games after this though, and that DA isn't really a project they are focusing on. They do say it is just taking them a long time as it is huge though.

There were some NWN2 scans over at obsidian's forums and I wasn't sure of it just yet...

Kefkataran

10-14-2005, 01:20 AM

otherwise your throwing your fanbase all over the place and its not good for business.

Er... I think there are reasons that console exclusivity is good, and many of them have been mentioned. But this almost certainly isn't one. I'm not sure it makes much sense at all.

disc

10-14-2005, 02:42 AM

How the fuck can that be good for the gamer?

GreenIce

10-14-2005, 02:58 AM

the same way ea's exclusive right's to NFL games is good for gamers. OH SHIT, sorry, we hate ea for that but love when consels get individual exclusives

H.Bogard

10-14-2005, 04:17 AM

It's important that all 3 console makers score themselves exclusive content. Better for them, better for the industry, and ultimately better for the gamer.

I seriously hope to God you're being sarcastic...

Vandenh

10-14-2005, 04:22 AM

Don't forget NWN2....

earthworm48

10-14-2005, 05:03 AM

What about NWN2?

swiftdraw

10-14-2005, 05:08 AM

Sounds good to me. It's important that all 3 console makers score themselves exclusive content. Better for them, better for the industry, and ultimately better for the gamer.

But not so good for my wallet. I really don't want to have to buy three different consoles again because each has 3 or 4 games on it that I want and can't get on the others. Also, I've kinda ran out of room to place these things in my TV cabinet.

Expugnare

10-14-2005, 05:09 AM

Bioware has got to be my favorite game developer, and yes, I'm buying a 360 and they are one my main reasons (hopes of Halo 3 didn't hurt either). ;)

Frogleg Special

10-14-2005, 05:19 AM

But not so good for my wallet. I really don't want to have to buy three different consoles again because each has 3 or 4 games on it that I want and can't get on the others. Also, I've kinda ran out of room to place these things in my TV cabinet.

Solutions:
1. Get more money.
2. Play less games.

I think both are connected like it or not. People who earn more money often play less games. People who spend less time in gaming have the opportunity to work their asses off on real money-making stuff.

And no, monopoly is never good for the consumers even if some short-sighted minds can't fathom it at firsthand. It stunted progress and the cost to customers would grow.

swiftdraw

10-14-2005, 06:10 AM

Solutions:
1. Get more money.
2. Play less games.

I think both are connected like it or not. People who earn more money often play less games. People who spend less time in gaming have the opportunity to work their asses off on real money-making stuff.

And no, monopoly is never good for the consumers even if some short-sighted minds can't fathom it at firsthand. It stunted progress and the cost to customers would grow.

Oh, if I get one console a year I can afford it. I work in a factory during the summer ($10.50 is nice) and work 2nd shift in a gas station ($7.75 hr. and meet tons of odd people) while I'm at college. However, if everyday games turn out to be $69.99, I might end up skipping this generation and stick with PC gaming. But that doesn't solve my space problem :P

I totally agree with that monoplies aren't any good for the medium and for the consumer. However I can't see where you got this from. I certainly didn't say "I wish we could go back to the NES days, when we only had one choice. It was so much easier." I'm just bitching about me having to buy three consoles to pacify my gaming tendencies (which I did this generation.)

nonchalance

10-14-2005, 06:25 AM

What about NWN2?

An Obsidian Entertainment game. Just like KOTOR 2.

Kelegacy

10-14-2005, 06:46 AM

Bioware has been in the pockets of MS since the announcement of the original KotoR. I have never thought otherwise. No shocker here.

More watered down games for everyone!! Let's rejoice.

earthworm48

10-14-2005, 06:52 AM

Yeah we know what it is, I said what about it, he said "Don't forget NWN2" so I wondered exactly what his point was. I'd already mentioned it in my earlier post.

Kefkataran

10-14-2005, 07:32 AM

And no, monopoly is never good for the consumers even if some short-sighted minds can't fathom it at firsthand. It stunted progress and the cost to customers would grow.

Er... you mean like how Microsoft seems pretty gung-ho about making $60 the new price point for new games?

Xerxes

10-14-2005, 07:57 AM

Hopefully I can still scrounge for decent priced games.

Fry's don't fail me now.

Mason

10-14-2005, 10:28 AM

Draft

10-14-2005, 05:44 PM

Wrong. Having no exclusive titles is best for the gamer, since then they could pick any console and get to play anything. It's better to have them balanced if we have to have them, but still, ideally every title would be multiplatform.Yes, I meant best for the gamer in the real world, not magical happy fairy land where everyone gets together and chooses one company to supply hardware for the entire industry.

BioGeorg

10-14-2005, 06:27 PM

Not really, but the amount of resources they are putting into 360 development is certainly astonishing. I mean, aside from a relatively small PC team [Dragon Age]...

I wonder where you take the information that the team on Dragon Age is a small.

After Dragon age it is probably safe to say that the PC team will be absorbed by the other teams.
Safe to assume, really? One world: Bull****.

BioWare has never been a PC exclusive development house (MDK 2 was released on multiple consoles, KotOR was PC and Xbox), but just the fact that we are doing games for any console, does not mean we are abandoning the PC in any way, even if some conspiracy theorists think that.

Some people here invest a lot of time preaching how BioWare is abandoning the PC, even to the point of making up statements ("they stated publicly that they are not interested in PC games anymore"), but they are wrong.

BioWare today consists of multiple full teams working simultaneously on several projects, so just because we announced our support for a console, it doesn't mean we are abandoning the PC in any way. We have an ambitious PC RPG in development ( Dragon Age (http://www.bioware.com/games/dragon_age)). We have a Live Team still patching and adding features (http://nwn.bioware.com/support/patchdetails166.html) to Neverwinter Nights, 3 years after it's release and have released several Premium Modules (http://nwn.bioware.com/premium/module_pirates_support.html) for NWN over the last 12 month.

It's a good thing to be able to offer products for more than a single platform, not just from a risk reduction point of view.

Anyway,

take it easy, the PC is far from dead :)

georg

BioGeorg

10-14-2005, 06:35 PM

Bioware has been in the pockets of MS since the announcement of the original KotoR. I have never thought otherwise. No shocker here.

More watered down games for everyone!! Let's rejoice.

You failed to mention that Baldur's Gate was a Microsoft OS exclusive as well, the conspiracy obviously goes much deeper.

Kelegacy

10-14-2005, 06:42 PM

You failed to mention that Baldur's Gate was a Microsoft OS exclusive as well, the conspiracy obviously goes much deeper.

I just hope you understand my statements were made out of love. My criticisms would never be so harsh if I didn't harbor feelings for your company and the fruit you produce. I never speak out about Electronic Arts, Activision or companies of their ilk. That's because I truly don't care about them.

Nice to see you update us though, BioGeorg. Last I saw of you was shortly before Jade Empire hit. We appreciate the updates.

Frogleg Special

10-14-2005, 07:54 PM

DigiWiz

10-14-2005, 08:21 PM

So BioGeorg, will Dragon Age be published by Microsoft? Dungeon Siege 1 & 2 were published by MS. Look how many sales they got even #1 is lame and #2 is just a par above average. The franchise also gets a movie in the making.

BTW, Bioware need to market Dragon Age more. It's certainly look suspicious to PC diehards when you release more information on the 2-weeks old Mass Effect than the roughly 2 years old Dragon Age. The website needs more screenshots, flash page, info etc to make it less like a Vaporware.

C'mon, you have already gotten bucketful of ideas from the DA message board. Start to create output from the input you've received.

According to their forums

http://forums.bioware.com/viewdevposts.html?topic=451087&forum=84

they don't have a publisher for the game yet and they won't announce any substantial information about it until they have a publisher to avoid compromising their negotiations.

There are only a handful of potential publishers on the market, so there is certainly a chance that they would go with MS. It is an open secret that they were not exactly pleased with Atari on NWN, that Electronic Arts is not a company you want to make an RPG for http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/14/21 . That doesn't leave to many options aside from Activision and MS. They have also said in numerous occasions that they enjoyed working with Microsoft in the past. There is always hope that they could just self publish like Valve, but that may be a pipedream.

While everyone is whining about MS as a publisher, I haven't heard significant complaints from game companies. There are plenty of complaints and lawsuits http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?comments=38470 floating around with most other publishers.

They probably announced Dragon Age much earlier than they intended to reassure the PC community that they are still committed to the platform. Judging from the forum comments the game must be more than 1.5 years out, possibly more. Recent dev comments hint at seperate SP and MP campaigns with different stories, which makes the project sound pretty ambitious (can't remember a game that did that yet). If I remember correctly Neverwinter Nights was more than 5 years in development, so I would not expect Dragon Age to be released after two games and with better art and two stories.

The website needs more screenshots, flash page, info etc to make it less like a Vaporware.
I'd rather see them work on the game instead, I WANT IT.

Edit: spelling

nonchalance

10-14-2005, 09:23 PM

It's a good thing to be able to offer products for more than a single platform, not just from a risk reduction point of view.

Definitely. You won a lot of my friends forever thanks to NWN working on Linux and Mac, for a start.

Good to see you here, too.

Expugnare

10-15-2005, 03:43 PM

Hey as long as I get good games from them I don't care what system they are on, if the are exclusive or PC only

http://go.bioware.com/badges/me_announce/me_announce_krogan_nwn_170x240.jpg
As a sidenote does that look like a robo-grunt or what? :rolleyes:

T-Dub

10-15-2005, 10:13 PM

What about NWN2?
You mean WoW?

Kefkataran

10-15-2005, 10:18 PM

You mean WoW?

Er... I can only see the most tenuous of connections between WoW and NWN gameplay-wise.

T-Dub

10-15-2005, 10:29 PM

You failed to mention that Baldur's Gate was a Microsoft OS exclusive as well, the conspiracy obviously goes much deeper.
ROFL ... that made me laugh ... during this entire post i've been thinking about the lack of any mention of developers that support both PC & Mac. Personally I like multi-platform material as long as it's done right (ie: PoP). I also understand the exponential costs involved in such a process. It's a tough call. Ironically some of my favorite console games are made by Nintendo. I don't think it has anything to do with being exclusive, but maybe.

I'm disappointed you guys won't be supporting any other platform though as I am a born in the wool x-box hater. I don't like the quantity over quality model that they seem to employ. Frankly the 3-4 good games on X-Box (original) have never been enough for me to buy it ... anyway i'll stop yammering on.

T-Dub

10-15-2005, 10:36 PM

Er... I can only see the most tenuous of connections between WoW and NWN gameplay-wise.
How about the fact that they are both fantasy RPG's based on the D&D Ruleset? Or are you refering to the oblique vs. 3rd person perspective? Personally i prefer the true 3-d off 3rd person, but that's just me.

The reason I equate NWN to WoW is because I went from playing NWN with friends (a pain in the ass) to playing WoW with them (much easier and more enjoyable). Same basic Fantasy RPG, way better gameplay IMO. I mean D&D is meant to be played with other people, one of the reasons NWN was a pain was because we either all played together or didn't play at all. Besides, let's face it, single player RPG is pretty weak compared to the dynamic nature of MMO.

Edit: Don't get me wrong, I loved NWN. I just feel WoW has surpassed it. I'm excited to see what/if bioware will do with NWN2. I like the idea of two quality game developers competing for the same gamer base.

T-Dub

10-15-2005, 10:44 PM

There is always hope that they could just self publish like Valve, but that may be a pipedream.

Ehh? Am I missing something? Valve publishes through Vivendi, thus why it costs just as much to purchase the game off the shelf as it does off steam. If they tried to undercut their publisher they would get sued even more than they already were.

Having said that I wonder if they will move towards steam exclusive releases when/if they get out of their contract with Vivendi

Kefkataran

10-16-2005, 12:44 AM

How about the fact that they are both fantasy RPG's based on the D&D Ruleset?

Uh... WoW isn't even remotely close to based off the D&D ruleset... I have no idea how you could get that.

Same basic Fantasy RPG, way better gameplay IMO.

It's definitely still a fantasy RPG. You got that right. And the gameplay is certainly a bit easier to get into, so I'm with you there. It's just that by calling WoW "NWN2" you made it seem like it's really similar to NWN when... in most ways it's just not.