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BioWare's Answer To PC Piracy: DLC, Multiplayer, Loyal Fans

Posted 7/8/08 12:00 pm EST by in bioware, Downloadable Games, Dragon Age, PC, Piracy


Piracy continues to hurt PC gaming, and no one has a clear answer to the problem.

Development studio Crytek has proposed abandoning PC-exclusive game releases. BioWare, however, is less radical. They're looking at downloadable content, access to multiplayer and -- here's a new one -- simply encouraging consumer loyalty.

"We're doing a lot of post-release downloadable content on all of our PC titles going forward," said BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka to me last week. "We think it's a good thing to encourage players to make them want to buy a PC title. That's ultimately the best, most successful path to prevent piracy -- to have players that want your games, want to believe in them and think they're high-quality and realize they're going to get a lot of value out of them as platforms for long time afterwards."

Muzyka said "Dragon Age" -- to be revealed tomorrow -- will join "Mass Effect" as a BioWare game supported long after launch with new content.

It won't be long before we find out how BioWare's hypothesis pans out.

BioWare On MMOs: 'Conan,' Their Own And Maybe A Console One

Posted 7/1/08 5:47 pm EST by in bioware, mmo


Unless you're "World of Warcraft," most massively multiplayer online games have proven passing fads. Eventually, most people move back to Blizzard's addictive game.

The term "WoW" killer has been banded about quite a bit. So far, no one has stepped up to the plate. Funcom's "Age of Conan," however, has done far better than most expected. To date, "Age of Conan" already has more than 700,000 registered players.

Considering BioWare has an MMO coming, it makes sense they've been checking out their competition -- "Age of Conan" included.

Yesterday, we spoke with BioWare co-CEOs Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk about their thoughts on "Funcom"'s latest, and whether BioWare could finally be the company that figures out why we still don't have a console MMO.

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BioWare Confirms PC Support, 'Looking At' iPhone Development

Posted 6/30/08 5:32 pm EST by in bioware


It's been more than six months since "Mass Effect" was released on Xbox 360 and BioWare was picked up by Electronic Arts. We haven't heard much from the studio since, outside of talking up the recently released PC version of "Mass Effect."

Their PC epic "Dragon Age" looms on the horizon and rumors continue to swirl about their long-anticipated entry into the world of MMOs. But announcements on those and the inevitable sequel to "Mass Effect" aren't yet here.

But we managed to corner BioWare co-CEOs Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk this morning for a conversation on a number of topics. First up? Where the future of BioWare's gaming development lies. PC gaming isn't dead for these guys. What about the iPhone? More DS? Read on to for their thoughts…

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Hands-On With BioWare's Suprisingly Dark 'Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood'

Posted 4/15/08 6:04 am EST by in 3DS / DS, bioware, Nintendo Spring Media Summit 2008, Sonic


Sonic Chronicles: The Dark BrotherhoodI still don't know what to think about BioWare's attempt to re-legitimize Sega's blue creature. Sonic has struggled for relevancy in a post-"Sonic Adventure" world, and while I'm more than confident in BioWare's ability to make an RPG, the game is so…dark.

It didn't work for "Shadow the Hedgehog," of which I played a good amount. At Nintendo's Media Summit late last week, however, I spent a little more than 15 minutes checking out -- and playing -- early bits from "Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood."

While the characters are rendered in 3D, the environments are made up of sprawling, beautiful bits of hand-drawn artwork. I'm told the BioWare offices are filled with gigantic versions of these Sonic worlds. I recommend they release some as desktop wallpapers.

With any luck, they will, but let me tell about how the game actually plays.

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BioWare: New RPG Will 'Revitalize The Love Of The Sonic Friends'

Posted 3/13/08 2:02 pm EST by in 3DS / DS, bioware, Sonic


sonic_281.jpgAm I correct in believing that many "Sonic" fans have grown tired of Sonic's friends?

That they are sick of Shadow and Rouge and the human characters he hung out with in his latest game?

I sure hope I read the situation right, because that's what I grilled BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk about during part of Game Developers Conference interview with them last month. But don't worry, they could handle it....

The reason for this line of questioning, of course, is because BioWare is developing "Sonic Chronicles," a Sonic role-playing game for the DS that will feature Sonic and, yes, Sonic's friends.

Here's the back and forth:

Multiplayer: I think people pretty uniformly love the games you guys make. And I think people pretty uniformly are getting tired of Sonic having so many friends in all of his games. I think that puts you guys and your team in kind of a funny spot. Do you think …

Ray Muzyka, General Manager, BioWare: Which people?

Multiplayer: Which characters?

Muzyka: No, which types of people complain about them?

Multiplayer: It seems like the "Sonic" series, which was beloved when it came out on the Genesis…

Muzyka: [smiling] I still have my signed Genesis, signed by Yuji Naka-san plugged into my TV and it still works and I still play it. It's fantastic.

Multiplayer: As the series has gone on, people loved it, loved it, loved it, and, when it went to 3D, there was some grumbling. The games have been somewhat maligned by the critics since then. And one of the things you hear is "Oh, every time they make a new 'Sonic' game, they're adding this character or that character. Now there's Shadow and he's got a gun… And then [Sonic]'s in love with human women who are bringing him back to life"…

People are like, "Can't we just have a game with just Sonic in it? A straight platformer like on the Genesis, maybe with Tails, maybe with Knuckles?" That's what I feel like I read in reviews. I'm not a hardcore Sonic fan myself, but that's what I sense…

So I'm wondering if you consider yourselves in that bind and if that's given any extra motivation to figuring out: "How do we make sure these characters don't drive people crazy this time?"

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BioWare: How We Can Improve The Side Quests For 'Mass Effect 2'

Posted 3/11/08 2:46 pm EST by in bioware, mass effect, PC, PS3, Side Quests, Xbox 360


Mass effectDid you think that "Mass Effect"'s side quests could be better? If so, then the guys who run BioWare agree that there is room for improvement.

They told me so at GDC.

I care, because I've been to a lot of those side-quest planets in "Mass Effect." In fact, I believe I've been to all of them. So I have my own feelings about what worked and what didn't. I wanted to get the official developers' take.

Here's my chat with BioWare general manager Greg Zeschuk on the topic:

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