The Dragon Age toolset arrives.

And so it was that a fantastic RPG released it's mod creation software. And so the writers of Neon Turtles did raise their hands to the skies, and cry out in joy. For theses people had plans, plans to use the hallowed software to create reasonably shitty mods.

Yeah... We're planning a mod. Like that'll turn out well. Anyway, it's out, you should get it if you have Dragon Age: Origins for the PC, and make actually good content. If Neverwinter Nights is anything to go by, there should soon be some seriously good user-created stories available for all. You can find the toolset here.

MW2 Launch Trailer

Makes the singleplayer look like an epic movie! At 1.00 you see a space scene from a first person view...I wonder if you can play that or if it is just a cinematic?

Dragon Age Combat

Ok, I'm about 4 hours into Dragon Age and let me tell you: it isn't a cake walk. Sure, slaying people and decapitating them is easy enough, but eventually you're going to run into tactically placed enemies, such as archers behind warriors. This means you're going to need to use tactics and your whole party in order to take them down. Dragon Age has thrown up to 10 enemies at me at a time, in the first few hours and it really makes you appreciate your life when you defeat a giant and rather disgruntled ogre. This is some of the most thoughtful and addictive combat I've ever seen, you'll need to pause frequently to stay on top of the hard fights, but if you pull it off, you feel incredibly satisfied with yourself. More on Dragon Age later, assuming one of the other two don't shut me up in time.

Let the epic journey begin!

I woke up at 5am this morning for a little game called Dragon Age: Origins. I probably wouldn't wake up at 5am for my own wedding day, so it shows you just how excited I am about this game. I'm currently installing the 1st day DLC that BioWare has released (you get most of it for free if you purchase a new copy of the game) and so far the interface and online account idea is working really well. Essentially to get your DLC you need to register on the BioWare Social Site and redeem your codes. But you can also log into this site from the game, and keep track of your friends and their characters through this new hybrid of facebook and a games website.

Dragon Age: Origins is a massive game, so it'll probably be a while until we review it properly, needless to say though, we'll be updating you frequently with the awesome adventures we experience in Ferelden.

WTF of the Week: Aussie L4D2 players being kicked from foreign servers, not for ping?

Well through internet chat it has been brought to my attention that the censorship of Left 4 Dead 2 here in Australia has further ruined the game. There are reports from many Aussie gamers with the L4D2 demo on the steam forums claiming that they have been vote kicked off foreign games by other players with the normal version of the game.

Why? It appears that the censorship of the Aussie version has removed a special zombie from the game, the Riot Cop. When an Australian (or German) plays with players from another country with the normal version of the game, the Australian (or German) prevents the Riot Cop from spawning in that game. People have joined games, the other players get suspicious when the Riot Cop does not spawn, and then vote kick the Australian or German player with the censored version of the game.

This thread here on the Steam forum highlights all the problems/arguments related to this discovery. Here is an example of foreign players already looking for a way to ban all Australian and German players from their servers/games so that their gameplay experience is not ruined.

Borderlands thoughts..

I figured I should stop playing Borderlands to talk about it for a bit. For those unaware, this GearBox(the guys behind Brothers in Arms), developed game is described by them as an RPS(role playing shooter), combining skill trees and loot(in the form of a bajillion guns), with actually good shooting mechanics(I'm looking at you, Fallout).

I've only got a level 26(out of 50), so don't take my word as everything(and why would you anyway), but Borderlands is awesome. It's focused on co-op, which is always fun, and for lovers of loot(like me), this game is fantastic. The art-style is sexy(no, not in that way), the shooting really does work, and the netcode(though sadly through Gamespy), is still good enough to connect with your buddies and have a rip roaring good time.

I'd love to say more, but i have midgets to kill and quests to hand in. Go and buy Borderlands, unless you don't have any money, or hate games(or all these god damn brackets made you sad).

PodTurtles Ep2 - Games a'Plenty

 Second Podturtles is here! Topics from this PodTurtles include games we've been playing, previews of some big titles coming up and micro-transactions in video games.

You can listen to it right here using the DivShare embedded player or download the .mp3 from the DivShare website here
Run time is 63:36 (mins/seconds)