There must be something wrong with me. Despite the fact that Dragon Age: Origins, Bioware’s first ever PS3 game, scored very well with reviewers – it just didn’t click for me. I loved the universe, enjoyed the story. I even got hooked on the associated web game Dragon Age: Journeys, which allows you to unlock special items in the PS3 version of Origins. I just never adapted to the battle system, and eventually abandoned the game.

After reading Tweeted adulation and hearing the raves of seemingly everyone else who loved Origins (Qore’s Veronica Belmont chided me for quitting recently), and after hearting Bioware’s Mass Effect 2 on PS3, I found myself all too ready to give the upcoming Dragon Age II another chance.

That chance came last week, as EA held a preview event featuring the upcoming Dragon Age II demo (which you’ll be able to download from PSN and play on February 22nd). To me, improvements were apparent and multiple. Visual upgrades (the game has a definitive style), technical polish (inconsistent frame rate begone!), and refined, impactful gameplay were all on display. This is a game I can get behind for 40+ hours.

Afterwards, I spoke with Bioware Lead Designer/Creative Director Mike Laidlaw about the direction of Dragon Age.
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Hello PlayStation 3 Mass Effect fans! Well, time has finally come and you can now play Mass Effect 2 on your PlayStation 3. On behalf of BioWare and the Mass Effect team, let me say thank you for being patient and welcome to finally being able to enjoy the full Mass Effect 2 experience.

The Mass Effect team is very proud of the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 and has done an excellent job of bringing the award winning game to the PS3 console. Mass Effect 2 has already a won multiple awards from many different sources. Recently Mass Effect2 has won such prestigious honours as being named IGN’s Game of the Year as well as Best Sci-Fi Game, Best Blockbuster Game, and Best Story. Gametrailers declared Mass Effect 2 as Game of the Year as well as Best Story, Most Innovative Gameplay, Best Character, Best Visuals, Best Soundtrack and more. And early word on the PS3 version is extremely positive with a 5/5 rating from The Toronto Sun, 5 Stars from The Guardian, 9.5/10 from IGN and Official Playstation Magazine giving it 10 out of 10!

Now, I hear you ask “Why should I play Mass Effect 2 since I never played the original Mass Effect?” and “Won’t I miss out since I didn’t play the first game?” Well, the truth is that Mass Effect 2 is an incredible standalone game whether you have played Mass Effect 1 or not. Yes, there are some story choices from Mass Effect 1 that do give some background, or flavour if you will, to the story of Mass Effect 2, but the Mass Effect team has worked out a very cool way to ensure you don’t miss either the back story or these story choices.

BioWare and Dark Horse Comics, the same studio that has created the Mass Effect Redemption and Mass Effect Evolution comics, have created an introductory motion comic narrated by Mark Meer, the voice of Commander Shepard, that provides you the story of what happened in Mass Effect 1. And this is not just a really cool comic to watch, it is also an interactive comic that allows you to make the important choices, like who lives or dies, and creates a starting point for your play through of Mass Effect 2. This way you not only learn the back ground story from the first game, you also directly get to choose the important story options that carry over into Mass Effect 2.

Not only do PlayStation 3 users get an award winning game and not miss out on the story choices from Mass Effect 1, you also get a huge heap of extra content included in your copy. Over the past year after Mass Effect 2 came out on the PC and Xbox 360, we released downloadable content to allow players to continue their Mass Effect 2 experience. For the PlayStation 3 version, we bundled much of this DLC into the game, so you get the Normandy Crash site, Firewalker, Overlord, Zaeed: The Price of Revenge, Kasumi: Stolen Memory, the Blood Dragon Armor and the award winning Lair of the Shadow Broker as part of your game right from the start. If all of that doesn’t already convince you, PlayStation Plus members have access to an hour long trial of the game.

So there you have it. Mass Effect 2 for the PlayStation 3 is a multi-award winning game, with an interactive, motion comic introduction to keep you current with the story that allows you to make choices, and a huge amount of bonus content bundled into one awesome package. This is the game that PS3 fans have been waiting for. So head out to your favourite game store to buy a copy or hit the PlayStation Network and download your digital copy of Mass Effect 2.

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I’m excited to announce that we have some very special guests joining us for our first livechat on this side of the pond. Two of Bioware’s co-founders, Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuck, will be here to discuss their upcoming medieval RPG, Dragon Age: Origins.

The live Q&A will be taking place here at 7pm BST, so make sure you get your questions prepared in advance and do whatever you can to be here tomorrow. You can set an email reminder for youself in the window below. On Friday, try to keep your questions as relevant to Dragon Age as possible – you might want to ask about upcoming DLC or their Warden’s Quest event.

Hope to see you there!

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