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A bit easier than finding numerous threads to these games falling under the umberella.

http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/899274-mirrors-edge-2-battlefield-bad-company-3-and-saints-row-4-outed

More evidence has emerged that EA is, or has been, working on a sequel to 2008 first person platformer Mirror's Edge. The CVs of two ex-EA developers both mention the game, as spotted by website GamerZines.

One of the developers was even fairly specific, claiming he worked on 'new gadgets and interactive features', 'leaderboards' and a 'mini-game embedded into Mirror's Edge game story'.

Although developer CVs are always a very reliable source the big question is not whether they really have worked on the games or not - but whether the publisher still is.

EA has hinted many times that it's interested in a sequel to Mirror's Edge, most recently last October, but publishers - particularly one of EA's size - often start projects and cancel them if they don't feel they're working out. And all without ever officially announcing the game in the first place.

That's unlikely to be the fate of Battlefield: Bad Company 3 though, which much more than Mirror's Edge 2 seems to be a case of when not if. There were six years between Battlefield 2 and 3, and though we'd be surprised if there was that long a wait again for Battlefield 4 it's not expected to be released next year.

Instead we'd guess that Bad Company 3 is much more likely, especially if these CV rumours are still accurate.

Also revealed under similar circumstances today is that THQ is already working on Saints Row 4 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Spotted by Superannuation, the CV of artist David Payne claims he's not only working on the game but also another so far unannounced Xbox Live Arcade game.

Another Saints Row was confirmed by THQ months ago, although most rumours prior to this have pegged it as a next generation Xbox 720/PlayStation 3 title. Although that doesn't mean it wouldn't also be on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Nice. I hope BC3 is better the BF3 on consoles. Nice to see they have not forgotten Mirror's Edge. New Saints Row too, I reckon a few of you'll be interested in that.

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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-18-ea-to-waive-origin-distribution-fees-for-all-kickstarter-games

EA is waiving Origin distribution fees for any game funded via a crowd-sourcing site like Kickstarter, the publisher has announced.

The offer will run for 90 days following the game's launch, and is open to any fully-funded, complete and ready-to-publish title.

"The public support for crowd-funding creative game ideas coming from small developers today is nothing short of phenomenal," commented Origin VP David DeMartini.

"It's also incredibly healthy for the gaming industry. Gamers around the world deserve a chance to play every great new game, and by waiving distribution fees on Origin we can help make that a reality for successfully crowd-funded developers."

inXile boss Brian Fargo, who recently funded Wasteland 2 through Kickstarter, offered EA a friendly back-slap in response to the announcement.

"I have had a long relationship with EA and it is great to see them recognise and support the crowd-funded games model," he said.

"Having Origin waive their distribution fees for 90 days for fan funded games is a major economic bonus for small developers. We look forward to bringing Wasteland 2 to the Origin audience."

Nice.

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  • 1 month later...

http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/905300-battlefield-4-confirmed-for-2013

Someone at EA better be polishing up their CV because they seem to have given the game away about the company's plans for a sequel to 2011's Battlefield 3.

As noticed by Digital Spy the advert above, for this year's Medal Of Honor: Warfighter, popped up on EA's download service Origin for a brief time. As you can see it has an unambiguously worded offer to get early access to Battlefield 4.

The only thing is EA has never admitted that Battlefield 4 even exists, and by offering beta access with Medal Of Honor that clearly implies that the game itself will be out next year. In fact that's exactly what happened with 2010's Medal Of Honor, which offered beta access to Battlefield 3 - which then came out the following year.

Obviously Battlefield 4 is a given at some point, with EA admitting as much months ago, but most observers predicted that EA's big shooter for 2013 would be spin-off Battlefield: Bad Company 3.

Perhaps that's what this advert was meant to be referring to, but although it's relatively easy to put an ad live by mistake actually having its texted okayed would've involved a lot of senior managers checking it was accurate.

The likelihood of Warfighter offering beta access to a game that isn't going to be out for two years also seems remote, especially as it would make more sense to simply offer beta access to what is due in 2013.

In other words it's hard to read this as anything other than confirmation that Battlefield 4 will be out next year. Potentially at the same time as the Xbox 720, and perhaps PlayStation 4, launches

I'll be really disappointed if they are doing the MoH one year, BF the other similar to how Activision does with IW and Treyarch. Saying that, I think BF3 sold in the region of 15 million copies or something. No doubt EA will want another slice of that lucrative pie.

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  • 2 months later...

Surprised no-one posted this - the two doctors, founding members of Bioware, have retired.

Rather big news and does put the future of the company into question. Especially as the Bioware name is getting used on pretty much everything outside of the sports brand, seemingly.

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And Dragon Age 3 is being made by another developer, I think.

I dunno what to make of it, really. I'm just not that surprised. I'm not excited by the prospect of another Mass Effect. I think it was tied up quite nicely, but I suppose I wouldn't be against another game set before the trilogy or thousands of years after or something. But I'd want to keep an eye on it; I wouldn't blindly jump in like I did with the other ME games.

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And Dragon Age 3 is being made by another developer, I think.

I dunno what to make of it, really. I'm just not that surprised. I'm not excited by the prospect of another Mass Effect. I think it was tied up quite nicely, but I suppose I wouldn't be against another game set before the trilogy or thousands of years after or something. But I'd want to keep an eye on it; I wouldn't blindly jump in like I did with the other ME games.

I haven't played ME3 yet, so something cataclysmic might happen that makes this impossible, but I'd like to see other games set in the ME universe. They really have created something amazing with it, and it would be a shame not to explore that more. It doesn't need to include any of the same characters, just the setting and races and planets.

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but I'd like to see other games set in the ME universe. They really have created something amazing with it, and it would be a shame not to explore that more. It doesn't need to include any of the same characters, just the setting and races and planets.

Yeah, I'd like to see more in the universe.

It'll never happen, but I'd love to see something where you're not a galaxy saving hero. Maybe a spectre team taking down criminal rings, corrup corporations etc. Unfortunately it's a more Deus Ex-y, thoughtful direction than EA seem to be taking it, but we can dream.

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  • 1 month later...

I didn't know where to put this, I don't want to start a thread for it myself but I didn't feel it needed to go in the Technically Bad Games thread either.

I played the new Medal of Hono(u)r this morning. It feels like it is 4 or 5 years behind the curve. It has no ambition whatsoever. It's just messy. Multiplayer is hampered by pretty bad hit detection and a slew of badly designed menus. For some reason each countries special forces has a specific set of skills which means dependant on who you pick to represent depends on who you have the advantage on. It's really campy and the buddy spawn the ripped from Halo Reach is sort of needless. Map design allows you to block yourself in if you are playing in the same fire squad and dominate.

It's a bad 'un.

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://blog.bioware.com/2012/11/12/an-update-from-bioware-montreal/

Hello Everyone,

I am really excited to share some news with you today, but first, since most of you probably don’t know who I am, I thought I would start with a bit of an introduction.

I was born and raised not too far from Montreal, in the province of Quebec, and while I won’t bore you with the details, I was lucky enough to grow in an environment where videogames were very present. The passion I had for them resulted in a bachelor degree in Computer Science, and in time work took me to Edmonton. I’d regularly play pen & paper role-playing games with my group of friends, until we switched to PC RPGs and played through Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, and Neverwinter Nights. You can imagine my surprise when I realized that the company who developed them, BioWare, was just down the street!

A few years later, in January of 2006, I was lucky enough to join my favorite game company! I was immediately assigned to the original Mass Effect, which was in very early production at the time, as its Senior Development Director. I worked closely with Casey Hudson and the Leads team through the rest of ME1 and the first half of ME2, when BioWare decided to open another studio in Montreal. I was honored to be asked to lead the team, so I wrapped up my work in Edmonton and moved back to Montreal in the summer of 2009, where our small team was being put in place.

Because BioWare has always believed that the company culture is one of the key ingredients of the games we make, we took two important steps with the team. First, we deliberately seeded the new studio with many transfers from Edmonton. Second, we chose to grow the team relatively slowly, allowing new people to join the team and integrate into its culture in due time. Even with that approach, though, the Montreal studio has made significant contributions to the Mass Effect franchise. We started by building about half the cinematics for ME2, then most of its N7 missions, and finally we played an important role in the development of much of its post-release content. Then on ME3, we took charge of the multiplayer portion as well as making significant contributions to the single-player campaign. Most recently, we built a large piece of DLC that will be released on November 27 and that you know under the name of Omega. With each new portion of work, we took on deeper and broader responsibilities, but we always worked in conjunction with Casey, the Mass Effect leads, and the developers in Edmonton.

That evolution now takes its next step, with the news that the next Mass Effect game is already in development, driven by the team here in Montreal. This is the goal we have been working toward for years now, and every member of our team is proud, excited, and humbled to take on the responsibility for the next game.

To ensure a proper and effective transition, we’ll continue to be supported by the Edmonton studio through the game’s development, working with and learning from them on some critical initiatives. On top of that, Casey remains the Executive Producer, but he will have a Project Director under him, working in Montreal, leading our development team and making day-to-day decisions for the game. We all care very much about Mass Effect and make our decisions based on what’s best for the game.

There is really not much I can tell you about the game right now, except that it will be built with the amazing technology of Frostbite as its foundation, enhanced by many of the systems that the Dragon Age III team has already spent a lot of time building.

The other thing I can tell you is that, while it will be very respectful of the heritage built over the course of the first three games, with the original trilogy now concluded and the switch over to a new engine, we are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts. You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling.

Now that the core of our team is in place, the next step for us is to have the BioWare Montreal studio grow at an accelerated pace over the next year as we build a team large enough to support the production of what we know is going to be an amazing game in the franchise. If you or someone you know is interested in joining our team, keep an eye on our job postings. We’re always looking for talented and passionate people, but it is more the case now than ever!

We’re all looking forward to telling you more about this next Mass Effect game, but it’s probably going to be quite a while before you hear from us again. We know you have high expectations for the franchise and we want to make sure whatever we show you lives up to those expectations.

Thank you all for your interest and your passion,

Yanick

Studio Director – BioWare Montreal

@YanickRRoy

New Mass Effect uses Frostbite then.

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.eurogamer...lefield-factory

UPDATE: Ben Cousins, general manager of ngmoco Sweden and former executive producer of the Battlefield franchise, has tweeted to say Mirror's Edge 2 is indeed in development.

Tweeting in response to this very story Cousins said: "It is general knowledge in the Stockholm dev scene that Mirror's Edge 2 is in production at DICE."

When contacted by Eurogamer on this latest development EA declined to comment.

ORIGINAL STORY: Swedish developer DICE doesn't want to become the Battlefield factory, it's insisted.

The last game it created that wasn't Battlefield was 2008's Mirror's Edge, and DICE's announced projects include Battlefield 4, Battlefield 3 DLC, ongoing support of Battlefield 3 itself and development of the Frostbite game engine.

But it's also working on non-Battlefield projects, EA Games vice president Patrick Soderlund told OXM.

Soderlund was asked if it was hard to justify risks such as Mirror's Edge while Battlefield continues to set tills alight. He replied:

“Well it depends, right? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. It's also important for us - the DICE guys are roughly 300 people in the Stockholm studio; not all of them are working on Battlefield things, and that's intentional, because we don't want to become a Battlefield factory.

"The minute we start saying 'you're going to make a Battlefield game for the rest of your life', they're going to go some place else. So for them to make great Battlefield games there need to be other things for them to do as well. That's why we have people who move around quite a bit. And then obviously we have a boatload of people that just want to make Battlefield because they love it.”

Solderlund added: “Same thing with the team in San Francisco that are making Dead Space. It's a stunning team and they're passionate about what they do, and they love making Dead Space. Then the answer's 'well, then make Dead Space'. Then we have to figure out how to sell it and make it successful."

Mirror's Edge fans will hope DICE is working on a sequel - perhaps for next-generation consoles and PC.

In October 2011 then DICE producer Patrick Liu said the marketplace was ready for a sequel to its acclaimed-but-underperforming free-running FPS.

Of course, enthusiasm is all well and good, but publisher EA has offered no indication that we're any closer to actually seeing that oft-discussed sequel on shelves.

"We're actively looking at how to bring it back in the right way," announced EA exec Frank Gibeau earlier in 2011.

"We love that franchise, the DICE guys really created something special the first time around. You've got to have a big idea to be able to do the next one, and that's what we're working on."

Mirror's Edge 2 lives!

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  • 2 months later...

EA have killed the Medal of Honor franchise after poor sales and feedback from Warfighter.

According to EA COO Peter Moore, the game's poor performance means that the publisher will not continue with the series. "The game was solid, but the focus on combat authenticity did not resonate with consumers," he said.

"Critics were polarised and gave the game scores which were frankly lower than deserved. This one is behind us now. We are taking Medal of Honor out of rotation and have to bring year-over-year continuity to our shooter offerings."

Moore blamed the game's performance on "slowdown that impacted the entire sector" as well as poor critical and commercial reception.

Meanwhile, EA labels president Frank Gibeau said "we're in a hit-driven business where it's about what you can build in a certain period of time and really deliver for the marketplace, and frankly we missed on Medal of Honor. And we take responsibility for that."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/388780/medal-of-honor-taken-out-of-rotation-due-to-poor-performance/

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