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Today RPG fans can go wild, Bioware brings official confirmation that Dragon Age 2 will be coming in March of 2011 to the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The latest story will take players into the role of Hawke a Blight survivor and hero set to transform the world.

Details are vague on the changes to the game for the sequel, noting only that the game will deliver the same epic story and a new bar for action. The key of course is that they still wish to keep original fans happy and familiar with the sequel instead of jumping beyond the target. New combat systems, improved graphics and storytelling are just some of the foundations to be focused on.

From EA/Bioware:

Dragon Age 2 thrusts players into the role of Hawke, a penniless refugee who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age. Known to be a survivor of the Blight and the Champion of Kirkwall, the legend around Hawke’s rise to power is shrouded in myth and rumor. Featuring an all-new story spanning 10 years, players will help tell that tale by making tough moral choices, gathering the deadliest of allies, amassing fame and fortune, and sealing their place in history. The way you play will write the story of how the world is changed forever.

For more information, keep an eye on the Dragon Age website / twitter / facebook pages.

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Nothing like cool clips from the latest hot games. Check out our mini gallery of Dragon Age: Origins videos from Gamescom 2009. Some story on the City of Haven is provided by the folks at BioWare:

Some years ago, a lone traveler paid a visit to a tavern in Denerim, and after imbibing a great quantity of ale related a tale of his travels to the tavern-keeper. The traveler claimed to have stumbled upon a strange village high in the Frostback Mountains. The village was peaceful, he said, and the villagers polite, if a little aloof. They fed him and watered his horse, and then urged him to be on his way. When he lingered too long, suddenly their mood changed. Their faces grew cold and knives appeared, and the traveler was told that what was to happen next “was done in Andraste’s name and for the good of all.” He fled in a panic and could not afterwards retrace his path. The traveler took a room at the tavern and yet never slept there. He disappeared that night and was not heard from again.

Haven:

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The Beatles are blowing up with more info for Rock Band fans this week, 19 new tracks on the upcoming themed game arrive with matching venues for the tracks.

* “Boys” / Cavern Club
* “A Hard Day’s Night” / Ed Sullivan Theater
* “I’m Looking Through You” / Shea Stadium
* “If I Needed Someone” / Shea Stadium
* “Ticket to Ride” / Shea Stadium
* “Drive My Car” / Budokan
* “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” / Abbey Road Dreamscape
* “Getting Better” / Abbey Road Dreamscape
* “Good Morning” / Abbey Road Dreamscape
* “Hello, Goodbye” / Abbey Road Dreamscape
* “Hey Bulldog” / Abbey Road Dreamscape
* “Dear Prudence” / Abbey Road Dreamscape
* “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” / Abbey Road Dreamscape
* “Helter Skelter” / Abbey Road Dreamscape
* “Something” / Abbey Road Dreamscape
* “Come Together” / Abbey Road Dreamscape
* “Don’t Let Me Down” / Rooftop Concert
* “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” / Rooftop Concert
* “I Me Mine” / Rooftop Concert

The game itself is stacking up to be a great experience, people can team up in game for up to 6 players including the three way vocal section of the game. Personally it would have been great to see a full band setup with Lead / Rhythm and Bass as well as drums since that’s how they did it as a band but I guess we’ll have to wait until Harmonix finds a way to make it work. Unfortunately Guitar Hero 5 will be featuring just that which is a bit disappointing.

The game is almost set to launch this September, hopefully we’ll be able to do some impressions on the game when it arrives.

Mass Effect 2 is coming along strong this year, today we get a new character reveal of the Grunt a blood hungry Krogan ready for battle. EA / Bioware drop the full word in this release

Once players have assembled their squad from amongst the galaxy’s most powerful mystics, geniuses, and convicts, they must lead them on a suicide mission to discover why humans are vanishing from the galaxy. The success of the mission hinges on the squad recruited and their loyalty to the mission. Shepard’s future depends on it.

“The Mass Effect trilogy is an epic saga with consequences that will carry through from chapter to chapter” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, GM and CEO BioWare, VP EA. “Building out a diverse and loyal party is one of the features that makes the Mass Effect series unique. “The characters Commander Shepard recruits are not only pivotal to the storyline but essential to the players overall success.”

The new character revealed in the Mass Effect 2 squad is ‘Grunt’. A violent and unpredictable Krogan fighter, Grunt has never faced true defeat. His unsurpassed physical strength makes him a strong asset to Commander Shepard’s team, if he can be tamed, and if he can be trusted.

Grunt is the second party member to be revealed in the Mass Effect 2 universe following ‘Thane’ a deadly assassin who was first introduced in June. More details about the rest of Shepard’s crew will be revealed in the coming months.

EA has already taken a few international fighters over to their side of the fence since this issue broke out, today though the company announces they’ve picked up Randy Couture and Jay Hieron as well.

“I have been a part of MMA for over 10 years and I am excited about the global visibility that a game like EA SPORTS MMA will bring to the sport,” said Randy Couture. “Like my fighting career, I look forward to taking on all comers in EA SPORTS MMA.”

Randy Couture, a 6’1”, 220 pound heavyweight, who currently holds a 16-9 record and is a five-time MMA champion. Couture, a living legend in the MMA world, utilizes his wrestling expertise to take down and control opponents before finishing them off with ground and pound strikes. Couture is scheduled to fight at the end of this month against former Pride World Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. In addition, this is not Couture’s first foray into the world of video games, as he was featured in EA’s Command & Conquer™: Red Alert™ 3 as Commander Warren Fuller.

Jay “The Thoroughbred” Hieron, a high-profile fighter, joins the EA SPORTS MMA roster and will be taking on Jesse Taylor in tonight’s STRIKEFORCE fight on in San Jose, California.

Hieron currently holds a 17-4 record and the Long Island native utilizes his wrestling prowess as his primary fighting style but has become a formidable striker as well. He fights out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and was the last Welterweight Champion of the International Fight League.

EA SPORTS is sponsoring three fighters in the STRIKEFORCE event, including Jay Hieron, Gegard Mousasi, and Renato Sobral.

How the UFC will respond? no one really knows but it is crazy to see things picking up steam after all the initial fire went down about kicking people out of the association.

Recent news from UGO is giving the community a heads up that Dana White is ready to clean house with those under his fighting franchise group the UFC, the reason being that he’s a bit miffed over EA apparently giving him the boot in the past with not very flattering remarks about what UFC is to them, as many know UFC games have come about over the years through other vendors, THQ has been vital in their latest venture and so they’re sticking close to that.

The reference to house cleaning though comes from the recent announcement of MMA from EA, a Mixed Martial Arts fighting game to use dynamics and graphics and so on from Fight Night Round 4 something that has been pretty widely recieved with praise as of late. Dana White notes this according to UGO

But, what’s to stop EA from signing licensed fighters to associate with their game? The answer: Dana White, natch. Besides Randy Couture, who struck a deal in court with the UFC.  White said of fighters who deal with EA, ”You won’t be in the UFC.”

Pretty hardcore I mean I know in WWE people are basically the property of the company, their likeness and all other such items basically get bought up at day 1 unless they copyright and protect themselves beforehand. Given that the UFC was a lot more free formed and independent and has top fighters alternating all the time it seemed like it would be hard to impose given how everyone seems to dabble in other competitions as well. Apparently not though, one would have wonder what would happen if EA bought up their top 10-15% of their talent though, would Dana White really kick off all those PPV earning seat stacking fighters?

I have to wonder this because EA likes to get what they want, and given the size of their company, money isn’t much of an issue when it comes to securing a dominant license. It’s a unique battle because it’s a battle of games and a battle of corporate figures as well, and even potentially the UFC fights if fighters do take “incentives” to be in the new MMA game and suddenly start vanishing out of key events.

Source: UGO