Of course we can’t see it for ourselves yet, but BioWare’s Neil Thompson says that once screenshots for the game are released to the wild, we’ll all be true believers.

“Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 were both done using BioWare’s own Eclipse engine, and it was starting to creak a little bit when Dragon Age 2 came out,” said Thompson to OXM. “Inquisition is being done on the Frostbite 2 engine and it is an astonishingly powerful engine.”

“The Dragon Age artists were always slightly disappointed at how their work was visualised in the final product with Eclipse, but with Frostbite, they’ve just done some amazing stuff. There was a pre-production period where almost on a weekly basis I’d be sitting in the environment reviews and being blown away by what was coming out – it looks stunningly beautiful. So I think when we do start releasing screenshots, people won’t be disappointed.”

Big talk, but the Frostbite 2 engine is an impressive piece of kit, and it’s never been turned towards the fantasy genre before. Fingers crossed!

Source: OXM via VG247

At the Bradford Animation Festival, BioWare art and animation director Neil Thompson gave a talk highlighting how game art has changed over the years. The first image featured was of retro classic Space Invaders, while the last was an image from Dragon Age: Inquisition. “It’s the first time anyone has seen a frame of it outside BioWare studios,” he told the audience.

It was on screen for no more than three seconds, but someone managed to grab a blurry, camera-phone shot of it – which you can see here. More important than the image though, was Thompson’s praise of the Frostbite 2 engine being used to create the latest chapter in the Dragon Age saga.

“Obviously Frostbite is the Battlefield engine built by DICE. It’s a beautiful, beautiful engine. And what we’ve found is an improvement with DA3, is the artists who were really battling with the Eclipse engine have just embraced Frostbite. The work they’re doing now is stunning.

“I think the screenshot I showed earlier is pretty stunning. That’s unusual for pre-production. Usually you don’t get to that kind of quality until a week before gold master.

“It makes my job easier because then it’s all about discussing the aesthetic and what you want to achieve. When you’re a character artist or an environment artist you’re focusing on a small aspect of the greater whole of the game. As an art director you’re concerned about the whole, the frame and everything it contains and how everything sits and the consistency. An engine like Frostbite allows you to focus more on that rather than the technological challenges of just getting the damn thing to run.”

After everyone’s complaints about the engine used for Dragon Age 2, I think this sounds like a welcome change.

Source: Eurogamer (Thanks, Darren)

BioWare have taken to their blog to show off the first pieces of concept art for the upcoming Dragon Age III: Inquisition, for which many details were revealed over the weekend. The concept pieces show an epic scale somewhat lacking in the previous two games, and fits in quite nicely with the claim that “one level in Dragon Age III is as big as all the levels in Dragon Age II combined”. I’m excited.

Click to embiggen, as always.

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Let’s pretend for a minute that we’ve already had the long boring fight about whether Dragon Age 2 is good or not and skip right to being very excited for what BioWare has in store for the recently-announced third entry. The hometown development team was on hand at the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo and was expected to show some concept art, but got a bit enthusiastic and gave out a bunch of new details instead.

Although a full report has not emerged, BioWare staffers said that “one level in Dragon Age III is as big as all of the levels in Dragon Age II”, which should please those who criticised the sequel’s repeating environmental designs. Continuing the trend of addressing critique, the third game will have “bigger” customisation than even Dragon Age: Origins, including the return of follower customisation.

Although players will be restricted to a human character, they will be able to choose and play through a background story which will have “significant impact on the story”. You’ll also be able to control your own castle.

Finally, the game will support importing save data from previous titles, but BioWare is looking at some way to allow new players or those switching platforms to craft a custom backstory. Dragon Age III: Inquisition is expected in late 2013.

Source: Kotaku

After leaking like a sinking ship, BioWare have finally officially confirmed the existence of Dragon Age. Subtitled Inquisition, Dragon Age III has also been announced to be using DICE’s Frostbite 2 engine for what BioWare are calling “a more expansive world, better visuals, more reactivity to player choices.”

The official announcement is heavy on words but light on detail, with the only confirmed points so far being the title, the Frostbite 2 engine, and the same development team from both of the previous Dragon Age games. The leaked storyline so far revolved around a civil war in Orlais that the player character — an Inquisitor, natch — is sent in to investigate.

Source: Press Release

New rumours have surfaced from the Bioware Social forums that the company is taking polls from select fans to learn more about where they would like the next Dragon Age — and the future of the series — to go. There are only a few details at the moment, and even those are open to change before we see the next game on the shelves.

That said, it seems as though Dragon Age 3 will revolve around a civil conflict in France Orlais, where the player will take a role as an Inquisitor investigating the cause. There’s also something about demons. Not sure how that fits in to the civil war side of things.

Finally, it seems as though the select few fans polled are also being asked to choose from a selection of, well, frankly underwhelming subtitles. These include Dragon Age: The Breach, Dragon Age: Exarch, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Inquisitor, and Dragon Age: Apocrypha.

For more details, there’s a great summary of all the info over at VG247, including images of potential companions.

Source: VG247