Well, it was also called “the coming surprise”, and, you know, ew. Alright, that was lifted out of context for a cheap laugh. Here’s the verbatim post on Mass Effect 2’s official fan page on Facebook:

Man, so much time tied up today in meetings and “secret stuff” I didn’t get any time with ME2 at all. =( Still with the coming surprise for next week on the ME2 website, I’m sure fans will forgive me for no update. Did I, Evil Chris Priestly, just drop a hint? Yes. Yes I did.

Read literally, that could mean it wasn’t Chris Priestly dropping a hint, but in fact it was Evil Chris Priestly his palette-swap nemesis from planet Zantrar 5.

Mass Effect on Facebook [via Hot Blooded Gaming]

At the beginning of Dragon Age: Origins, a battle between the forces of good and evil at Ostagar leave the Grey Wardens nearly extinct and young King Cailan seriously dead. In Return to Ostagar, players revisit the scene of the slaughter, exacting revenge, uncovering secrets and seeking out the arms and armour of the fallen king. I’d expect the armour might need a little hammering out, considering the good king was crushed like an empty Sprite can.

“We are very proud of the phenomenal launch of Dragon Age: Origins and we’re pleased to announce the next installment of downloadable content that will be available to fans of the game,” said Ray Muzyka, Group General Manager, RPG/MMO Group of EA and Co-Founder, BioWare. “The Return to Ostagar DLC pack is a prime example of BioWare’s commitment to give fans a game that continuously offers new experiences and further enriches a storyline that has already received critical acclaim and positive feedback from the players.”

Return to Ostagar will be released for the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360 around Christmas/New Year, with a price tag of 400 Microsoft points, 400 BioWare points or $US4.99 depending.

It appears that this largely reviled, totally not final version of Mass Effect 2’s cover was nothing more than a passing high-resolution fancy. The stars of Mass Effect 2’s box, who will defend the universe against whatever menace is to the right of the game’s case, are Commander Shepard, Thane the Assassin, Miranda and the planet Tuchanka.

Those unsatisfied with either box art option still have the collector’s edition to consider.

Gone is Shepard’s blank stare at the consumer. Retained is ample bosom. Replaced is Shepard’s alien comrade. Hopefully, European Mass Effect fans find this box art option less “hideous”, “off-putting” and “shockingly bad” than the Kotaku readership found the North American version.

Neither, of course, is as subtle and understated as the collector’s edition version of Mass Effect 2. But subtle and understated box art doesn’t sell games, people.

Exclusive Illusive [sic] Man Gameplay [GameTrailers]

Revealed last Friday, the Imperial Agent is a powerful player in the Empire’s ploy for universal power. Whether working in the shadows with his or her trusty sniper rifle or boldly calling in an orbital strike, the Imperial Agent has the full power of the Empire behind them at all times, in exchange for their undying loyalty.

Hit up the link for some videos of the Agent’s skills in action.

The Imperial Agent [Star Wars: The Old Republic]

Lots of gruff talk around here tonight. High-fives, gunfire, manly things. It’s all that Modern Warfare 2. So let’s take a break from all the HOO-RAH with something a little gentler, brought to you by BioWare’s Dragon Age.

With Fahey posting that lady-elf-on-lady clip, it’s only fair I post this one. Of man-elf-on-man action. Complete with a Spanish lisp. Funny how sex with a blue alien can land a company in hot water, yet in the shadow of the biggest game of the year, this goes by with naught but a smile and some YouTube captures.

Oh, and for the record, this post was in no way brought to you by the Fight Against Grenade Spam.

BioWare just launched the Toolset page, touting the ability to “create new adventure,” “stage massive battles” and of course, “be the director,” with a “powerful cinematics editor” offering complete control over the camera, plus voice and lip synching tools.

If you’re fired up enough, check it out at BioWare’s official page.

Dragon Age Origins – Toolset [BioWare via Blue's News]

First, the changes, according to BioWare:

• Fixed potential corruption of character statistics
• Fixed portrait appearance sliders when importing a character from the downloadable Character Creator
• Fixed import for preset face settings from the downloadable Character Creator
• Made Easy difficulty easier
• Slightly increased attack, defence, and damage scores for all party members at Normal difficulty
• Fixed video issues when running on a very wide screen display, including ATI Eyefinity displays

Hey, who doesn’t like easier easy? Anyway, notice of the patch brought out some catcalls about the quality of the game’s shipped code. So Laidlaw posted a comment to “pull back the curtain a bit,” on game development.

Game development seems like it’s extremely up to the moment, but at the end of every game there is a period where you have to enter a lockdown so that final QA runs and certifications can be completed. This process is exhaustive and is the kind of thing that you have to completely re-do if you make any changes.

That said, it’s hard not to be proud of your game, and to want it to be perfect, so we try to identify things that might be patch candidates. In Dragon Age’s case, we had a unique opportunity to compare balance numbers between console and PC, and in the end we decided to make some tweaks and put them in the pipe for around launch day, while keeping an eye for any extremely bad bugs to include.

There’s good odds that there will be another patch, as there seem to be a few issues still creeping up (dagger damage, etc) and I would like to see those addressed. Of course, we have to do due diligence and test and QA these things properly, so it’s not an instant fix. Just be aware that we are watching these forums and working to try and nail down any issues that are creeping up.

Laidlaw then returned to the forum to say that future patches will likely continue to address game balance. “Mages, however, are awesome,” he wrote. “That’s not going to change.”

Dragon Age Origins Patch v1.01 Released [BioWare Forums]

The Imperial Agent is all about high-tech gear, subterfuge and subversion. They are the assassins of the Star Wars universe, prowling the seedy underbelly of the Empire as they go about their dirty deeds. They’re probably the closest thing to a rogue you’re likely to find in BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Looking at the screens posted over at IncGamers, the Imperial Agent reminds me of the Agent class in Anarchy Online, which also specialise in sniper rifles and have a flair for concealing their identities. Slap a balaclava on that guy’s head and the resemblance is uncanny.

The class was revealed during a European press tour earlier this week. Expect more information to show up on the SWTOR website with next Friday’s update.

The Imperial Agent Revealed! [Star Wars: The Old Republic Forums]