BioWare Countdown Ends, BioWare Blows Up - UPDATED

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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BioWare Countdown Ends, BioWare Blows Up - UPDATED


BioWare's [http://www.bioware.com] mysterious countdown has come to an end in a rather unexpected but completely hilarious fashion: A complete meltdown of the BioWare website. (But now they're back and the real truth is revealed!)

The BioWare countdown first came to light Mass Effect [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99365-BioWare-Begins-a-Mysterious-Countdown] websites. Speculation ran hot: Some suggested it could be the official opening of The Old Republic beta, while others called for a Mass Effect 3 announcement. But when the clock finally ticked to zero mere moments ago, we got something else entirely: A site crash.

Yes, that was BioWare's big moment: A big, fat kablooie. The official BioWare Twitter [http://twitter.com/biofeed] reported, "Servers crashed, huge views on our sites. Working to get them back up. Stand by ASAP."

Nice job, guys. Not that I want to be overly harsh about this, but I can't help but think that somebody should have seen this one coming. If you're going to start a big, super-secret countdown and get all the Dragon Age and Mass Effect fans worked up into a lather, then you should be ready when a bazillion of them are staring at your website waiting for zero hour. Otherwise, you end up looking just a little bit silly.

(And yes, we'll update with whatever the big secret is once BioWare gets its stuff together. Hopefully soon!)

UPDATE: BioWare is back and now, as promised, the real truth is revealed! To mark BioWare's 15th anniversary, the company is holding the BioWare Bazaar [http://social.bioware.com/bazaar], a series of "mock online auctions" with more than 400 prizes on the block, ranging from stickers and posters to unique items like Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins branded PCs and Xbox 360s.

Instead of cash, the auctions will make use of tokens, which can be earned by signing up for BioWare's social site, registering games and responding to timed challenges posted on BioWare's Twitter feed [http://twitter.com/biofeed]. The first Twitter challenge is already up and it shouldn't prove too complicated: Just name your favorite Dragon Age: Origins character.

The auction action begins at 9 am PST on April 6 and runs until 4 pm PST on April 10. Unfortunately (and rather ironically, given that BioWare is based in Edmonton), the Bazaar is only open to residents of the U.S., minus Florida and New York, which I guess are kind of like the American equivalents of Quebec. Full contest rules, a complete list of prizes and all the other details you'll need to know are available at social.bioware.com [http://social.bioware.com].

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Delusibeta

Reachin' out...
Mar 7, 2010
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It's US-only Twitter contests and autions of sorts.

Specifically, get tokens for registering your interest, registering ME2, DA:O and DA:A (or beating quizzes on them, yes it will be backdated), or winning Twitter contests. Use your tokens for bidding on swag such as PCs, games and merch.
Linkage [http://social.bioware.com/bazaar].

Oh, and New York and Florida is excluded.
 

oppp7

New member
Aug 29, 2009
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This is why you never do this kind of thing; it just causes a flood of people and it ruins servers.
 

Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
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How is a US exclusive prize auction an "Epic community event"? It doesn't only exclude the country where the company originated, but all the rest of the world, that's a pretty sizeable chunk of the community right there.

Not to mention that something like this hardly needed a countdown. March Mayhem was announced well ahead of time to get people preparing, you'd think something like this would have the same response, they have just pissed off most non-Americans and everyone hoping for a new game/DLC announcement.

Free Prizes are great and all, but that's a huge amount of exclusion and an insane amount of hype for something like this.
 

hazabaza1

Want Skyrim. Want. Do want.
Nov 26, 2008
9,612
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Ahh, so that's why it went to standard format when I tried to check it out a little while ago.

Think, if I didn't visit the site, iy might still be up. Probably not, but might.
 

AvsJoe

Elite Member
May 28, 2009
9,055
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That is hilarious! Oh wow, I should feel bad for the many BioWare fans out there but I'm too busy giggling right now!
 

addeB

New member
Oct 2, 2009
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Hah, let's hope it wasn't a joke crash and that they actually got some news :p
Maybe it was the Bioware bazaar thing?
 

UnkeptBiscuit

New member
Jun 25, 2009
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Delusibeta said:
It's US-only Twitter contests and autions of sorts.

Specifically, get tokens for registering your interest, registering ME2, DA:O and DA:A (or beating quizzes on them, yes it will be backdated), or winning Twitter contests. Use your tokens for bidding on swag such as PCs, games and merch.

Oh, and New York and Florida is excluded.
What? No Florida? I wasn't going to do the contests, but still. Why not Florida? It'd have made sense if it excluded Hawaii and Alaska, but New York and Florida? That's just completely senseless!
 

xavierxenon

New member
Aug 10, 2009
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I enjoyed both Mass Effect games and Dragon Age, but I really don't care for Bioware so an announcement this "big" means nothing to me, even if it is sequels.
 

Lost In The Void

When in doubt, curl up and cry
Aug 27, 2008
10,128
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Delusibeta said:
It's US-only Twitter contests and autions of sorts.

Specifically, get tokens for registering your interest, registering ME2, DA:O and DA:A (or beating quizzes on them, yes it will be backdated), or winning Twitter contests. Use your tokens for bidding on swag such as PCs, games and merch.
Linkage [http://social.bioware.com/bazaar].

Oh, and New York and Florida is excluded.
Awesome to see that Bioware's home country gets neglected in the contest. Thanks guys no big deal. /sarcasm
 

Baby Tea

Just Ask Frankie
Sep 18, 2008
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The website seems to be working, but I see nothing in regards to the countdown.
 

Delusibeta

Reachin' out...
Mar 7, 2010
2,594
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The Rules said:
Eligibility. This Contest is only open to residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia with the exception of residents of Florida and New York, who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry and who had Internet access as of March 15, 2010.
Source [http://social.bioware.com/auction_rules.php].
Triple fail: website crashes, US-only and New York and Florida excluded.
 

Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
7,190
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Lost In The Void said:
Awesome to see that Bioware's home country gets neglected in the contest. Thanks guys no big deal. /sarcasm
I hadn't even thought about that, but that's pretty stupid... I can't see what's wrong with New York or Florida either.

Baby Tea said:
The website seems to be working, but I see nothing in regards to the countdown.
There is a small banner on the Mass Effect site saying Bioware Bizarre, just below the 'home', 'universe' etc. sections. It took me a while to see it too.
 

Outright Villainy

New member
Jan 19, 2010
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SikOseph said:
Sarcasm is more than a little hypocritical here, given the wonderful, hitchless performance of this site whenever a new Zero Punctuation is released...
Oh snap!

Seriously though, at least the site doesn't melt! Bioware have a lot more moolah for this kind of thing too.
 

Nerf Ninja

New member
Dec 20, 2008
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Does New York and Florida have some gambling laws the rest of America doesn't or something?
 

Suskie

New member
Nov 9, 2009
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Machines said:
Lost In The Void said:
Awesome to see that Bioware's home country gets neglected in the contest. Thanks guys no big deal. /sarcasm
I hadn't even thought about that, but that's pretty stupid... I can't see what's wrong with New York or Florida either.
This contest is dependent on the sponsors providing the prizes, so it's out of BioWare's jurisdiction, really.