BioWare announced today that they'll be opening a customer service center in sunny Galway, Ireland. The intention is that the 400 staff at the newly christened "BioWare Ireland" will help the launch of the new Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic, go as smoothly as possible in Europe.
Dr. Ray Muzyka, the BioWare CEO, was keen to see the new center employ a wide range of European nationalities to help diversify the help they could offer potential players. he stated that “MMO launches are complex, and we are determined to set a new standard for a high quality, stable, smooth launch for our fans. Our new BioWare facility and team in Galway is critical to ensuring we deliver on that goal. We’ve got a solid base of people here already in Galway . . . we’re looking for more. From Ireland . . . from the rest of Europe to support our German and French customers . . . from all over the world. We want you to join us here at BioWare Ireland.”
Dr. Greg Zeschuk added that "the BioWare team is responsible for 24/7 support of the game and every player subscribed to it.”
The site currently has a staff of 200 although that number is certain to swell leading up to the launch of the game on December 20th in America, and December 22nd in Europe.
On a personal note, i fully expect WrestleView International Desk Host Darragh O'Connor to be aplying for a job with Bioware as i type. Sup Darragh!
Most will agree that as much freedom as Deus Ex: Human Revolution gave you in general game play, it was woefully short of options when it came time to take on the bosses. Listeners to the Killer Keyboard podcast will know that Nick Rose took issue with this very point, and it would appear that Eidos Montreal agree.
The latest DLC to be released for Deus Ex, The Missing Link, was developed completely in-house by Eidos Montreal and marks a departure from the one dimensional boss battles that players of the game have experienced so far, reports Eurogamer.
Marc-Andre Dufort, the producer of The Missing Link DLC pack says, "You can actually not kill the boss. You can do a non-lethal takedown on him. And you can kill him from afar. You can even kill him without him seeing you. It's more of a bigger challenge than a standard boss fight like we have in many games."
Be nice if there was a patch that made all the Boss battles so variable, but there's most likely a good reason why that hasn't been fixed. This is, at least, a step in the right direction.
The above is allegedly a patent from Microsoft for a new modular "slider style" mobile phone. Those of you with sharp eyes may have noticed the QWERTY keyboard, controller pad, an extra battery pack and camera film modules (no idea what the camera film is supposed to be although the patent states that it's a second display screen). While this seems like quite a clunky solution to the dedicated controller problem that most SM-ONES have these days, it does at least show that someone out there thinks that real buttons are better than touch screen for some applications.
There's no guarantee that this will be the next Windows phone, but certainly many will see this as a potential rival to the Sony Xperia Play.
Leading on from the future of hand held gaming, there's been a new peripheral released for the 3DS, and no, this one doesn't give you a second circle pad...
Well, it gives you longer play time, and no-one would argue that the grip would make the console easier to hold, but who's honestly going to buy one of these? Plus I'm trying very hard not to cram a bunch of innuendo into this part so we'll finish that story there I think.
Who am I kidding, it can make you go twice as long and prevents your hand cramping up, i must have one! mmm, innuendo...
While I'm on the topic of Nintendo, they'll be releasing a black Wii Fit plus Bundle in the UK on October 7th for the rather reasonable price of £99. I'm not sure that a change of colour will convince anyone without a Wii to buy one now, but I'm sure a few people with the White version will trade it in for a Black version. If i might paraphrase an old saying: Once you go black, sales fall off rapidly.
You'd be forgiven if you'd never heard of this game, but Ubisoft's survival action game "I Am Alive" has finally been given a rating by the ESRB. It was initially announced 3 years ago, but since then it has made only a fleeting appearance during an unofficial trailer. Finally though we have a clue as to how the game is coming together.
The ESRB describes the game as this, "players traverse through city ruins and use a machete to kill human enemies in melee-style-combat."
I'd be surprised if the game sells all that well since the PR for the game seems to be working in reverse to every other game out there. They seem to be keeping it too quiet if anything. Even cult favourites get some publicity guys.
I Am Alive is slated for release in Fiscal 2011/12 (April 2011 – March 2012)
It might not be the game that Half-life fans wanted to see, but at least you get to satisfy that Freeman addiction when Sega's Renegade Ops is released on Steam on October 14th.
It's been announced that the Steam version of Renegade Ops, a top down action game that reminds me of Dead Nation crossed with Micro Machines and with a healthy dose of Twisted Metal for good measure, will feature Freeman, his Buggy and even Antlions as a special weapon!
Now maybe someone can go round to Valve studios with a crowbar and remind them about Episode 3?
Right now, take a look at this...
What did you see? If the answer is a cracking set of pins, you're correct but look again. That's right, M!NX have teamed up with Valve to create these immense looking Portal 2 Knee Socks, complete with aperture science logo. These really are a great example of Game inspired clothing and for $10 a pair they really are great value for money, much more so than the Minecraft socks mentioned on the Killer Keyboard podcast anyway...
Finally, as has now become customary, here are the Top 10 selling UK Games on all platforms for the week ending September 24th.
1 - Gears of War 3
2 - F1 2011
3 - Dead Island
4 - Zumba Fitness
5 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution
6 - Driver: San Francisco
7 - Warhammer 40K: Space Marine
8 - Resistance 3
9 - Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
10- Rugby World Cup 2011
Time for bed, not sure how well I'll sleep with those Portal Socks on my mind but I'll give it the old college try.
Later peeps.
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