BioWare Begins a Mysterious Countdown

[Flying-Emu]

The Old Republic beta is coming, young meatbags

Fixed that for you~

I hope Bioware doesn't shaft me like Blizz did.

 

[Nouw]

With Mass Effect 2 in the background, it could be a red-herring. Or not.

DLC Possibly? Probably Mass Effect 2 related.

 

[SquirrelPants]

A new MDK game would be the best thing EVER. Those games were FANTASTIC. *Digs up his game disks and goes to play 'em*

 

[Ghost1800]

Oh look! Another mysterious countdown!

I wonder what vastly disappointing announcement looms around the corner!

Sorry, but I'm a bit burned out on this particular marketing scheme.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Maybe they're linking all of their DLC services int a single bioware Steam-esque service.

 

[Fritzvalt]

Well, It should be obvious. It's on the Bioware main site, it's on the Dragon Age site, and it's on the Mass Effect site. This obviously means that the crossover is on the way. You know, that one that David Gaider ran off at the mouth about a little while back. You know...

Spoiler: This one

A long time ago an Asari dreadnought was brought down by an anomaly over Thedas. The sizable crew and the Asari commando units aboard settled onto the planet and mingled with the natives, teaching them to make use of the abundant Element Zero (called 'lyrium' on this world) to manifest potent biotics or magic.
These humans that benefitted first from the tutelage of the Asari became the Tevinter Imperium. In time, they became powerful in their own right. They constructed wonders that Thedas had never seen before, technology fueled by biotics (using element zero/lyrium) or technology that functioned of biological energy (blood magic). The dwindling Asari population, still hoping to someday return to the stars by contacted other Asari, helped the Tevinter construct a beacon that would broadcast a powerful distress signal.
This distress signal did eventually attract the attention of the Council races. The Council saw what the crashed colony of Asari had done to this world called Thedas, and how much they had changed it, and decided that the proper thing to do was to purge the planet of all extraterrestrial influence.
They sent one of their best to take care of this, a Spectre named Andraste. The Asari on Thedas became wise to the Council's plan and used their crude resources to destroy Andraste's ship on arrival. But Andraste was a Spectre, and they are nothing if not resourceful. Recognizing she did not have the capabilities to directly confront the Asari and their Tevinter protectors, Andraste assimilated into the population and used her knowledge to manipulate other races and peoples of Thedas into march against Tevinter.
In the final confrontation, Andraste was, in fact, severely wounded by a Tevinter archon. However, she did not die and ascend to join the Maker as his bride. In actuality, she was extracted from the combat zone by a friendly Council ship.
At this same time, both Andraste and the Asari had failed to notice that the beacon had also attracted the attention of the Geth. The Geth, for uncertain purposes, perhaps to claim the wreckage of the Asari capital ship for their own, endeavored to take control of Thedas. Initially, they did deploy geth troopers, but the native populace, even the weakened Tevinter, proved resilient.
Ultimately, the Geth instead introduced a techno-organic retrovirus akin to the kind used to create Husks. This virus would spread by contact and convert native species to Geth forces, connected by a hive mind similar to the Geth collective mind itself. It turned the native dwarves into genlocks, humans to hurlocks, qunari to ogres, and elves to shrieks, by 'tainting' them and integrating synthetic systems into their organic ones.
The hiveminds for this retrovirus were inevitably centered around nodes or clusters of more powerful AIs that became known as archdemons. The retrovirus could be more effectively produced in so-called Broodmothers.
The first Grey Wardens mastered a 'ritual' that was, in essence, producing a vaccinated 'dead' version of the techno-organic retrovirus by treating it using biotics. Using this vaccine, they could integrate some bit of the synthetic systems into their bodies, and use it to tap into or 'listen' in on Geth communication frequencies.
But more importantly they discovered that the Archdemon AI clusters, when nearing destruction, would begin to transmit all their data and programming into the nearest synthetic. A Grey Warden could disrupt this failsafe by intercepting the data and then destroying it internally.
Of course, most of these facts have been lost through the ages, and the actual truth has become shrouded in myth and legend and stories.

It's all true, according to David Gaider (Bioware head writer) during a Gamespot Fan Q&A session.

He later added:

Andraste's ashes are actually dried-up medi-gel.
The next DLC will be an adventure into buried Prothean ruins.
The tentative title for Dragon Age 2 is Dragon Age: Fulcrum. It will explore more deeply into the nature of the (interdimensional) Fade and will chronicle the events leading up to the Darkspawn overmind's fateful contact with and takeover of the greater Geth neural network that sets the stage for Mass Effect 3.

Search Your feelings. You know it to be true.

Did.... did you just trick me into reading fanfiction? Does your evil know no bounds?

Umm, no, actually. That wasn't fanfiction. That was an actual announcement made by David Gaider in an acutal fan Q&A section to commemorate the launch of ME2. So he, the head writer of Bioware, whose word is law within the Bioware games, said that and effectively made that real. I didn't make that up. That was actually a thing, and it actually happened. And it's actually the truth.

You will regret asking me that question.

Wow. I am literally speechless.

 

[Icehearted]

Another Jade Empire would be pretty overdue a wicked sweet.

I'm anticipating an anticlimax. Far be it for any game dev, especially one owned by EA, to over-sensationalize any upcoming project.

 

[Pimppeter2]

I put my cash on an Expansion Pack for ME2

 

[im-white]

KOTRO beta

 

[legion431]

It's the Mass Effect 2 hammerhead DLC.

 

[Fappy]

Sonic Chronicles 2 obviously

Lol. You win.

Seriously though ME3 info please!

 

[Turing]

They're going to announce a delayed release date

 

[Eleima]

Yeah, I noticed this countdown yesterday when I passed through ME2's site to go download the new Firewalker/Hammerhead pack (whatever it's called, I keep forgetting), and did wonder at it. I didn't give it a second thought until I saw you guys speculating.
I'd like to think it's KotOR 3, even though I know chances of that are non-existent. I certainly hope it's not a Baldur's Gate 3 (guys, the series is over, the PC discovered he/she was a child of Bhaal, dealt with it, and in the end got rid of it or ascended. End of story). I don't think it's the Kasumi, Stolen Memories DLC, that's scheduled for April and the countdown ends on March 29th.

My money's on the Star Wars MMOG beta (The Old Republic, was it?). But if they're already unveiling ME3 (less likely, but a girl can dream, aye?), I'll squeal with joy.

 

[Buffoon]

Holy crap, a new MDK? That'd be brilliant!

On a related topic, I may be totally wrong, but don't BioWare have the rights to the Descent IP now? Descent 4... that'd be even more brilliant!

Planescape: Torment 2... that'd be even MORE brilliant still! In fact that'd be the best thing ever.

... All of this is exceptionally unlikely

 

[Bat Vader]

The Old Republic beta is coming, young Padawans.

For some reasone, this caused me to start humming the Terminator theme.

Anyway, considering it has Mass Effect in the backround, it's probably some sort of DLC.

The reason it has the Mass Effect 2 background is because it's their newest game. It's on DA:O's website too. I don't see how a countdown on the DA:O can mean new Mass Effect 2 DLC.

It might be that they are releasing another cross game DLC. Kinda like how the Dragon armor was in both Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2.

On Topic: I hope it has something to do with Star Wars: The Old Republic beta, that would be quite awesome.

 

[OmegaCheese]

How about...... a worse DRM than UbiSoft? A new ME2 DLC that makes it more boring than watching grass grow? An announcement that says all upcoming games have been cancelled and they will never make a game again? Don't blame me for being cynical.

 

[Flamezdudes]

Did...did any of you even check me last post? I'm pretty sure i'm correct.

 

[Bigsmith]

Maybe the ME2 vehicle DLC?

]

Sorry about this mate... it already out and i've completed it

 

[NLS]

Dragon Age versus Mass Effect crossover for sure.

 

[OmegaCheese]

Did...did any of you even check me last post? I'm pretty sure i'm correct.

True but a lot of people are guessing what sort of game that is or if it is a sequel to a current game. Me? I'm just throwing water of the flame of hope you people have. HOORAY for cynicism!