BioWare Tackles Handheld Platforms

Bioware saw continuous transformation over the years, as the company started in the area of PC role playing games, eventually going for console titles and now, they are announcing a new development studio to manage games for handheld consoles only. Bioware representatives revealed that a new Austin-based division is focused on handheld games development. The first effort focuses on developing a yet unnamed title for Nintendo's DS system, and marks BioWare's debut in the handheld game space.

There is still little information available about the upcoming title, as well as future projects in the making. For now, Dan Tudge, former president and founder of independent developer Exile Interactive, has been appointed project director. Exile is known for their collaboration with Visual Concepts and Blue Shift in making games for Sega, World Series Baseball 2K2 for the Dreamcast, and more recently World Series Baseball 2K3 for Xbox and PlayStation 2.

"As always, we are committed to creating the best story-driven games in the world, and the Nintendo DS offers us an exciting new platform to engage," said Greg Zeschuk, president of BioWare. "The new project offers tremendous opportunities, and we're looking for talented and passionate developers to become part of that."

Looking deeper into the upcoming DS release, it's a good bet developers are cooking up a new role playing game. The company's job listing page confirms Bioware is looking to hire a principal lead designer. One must be familiar with the fantasy genre, role playing games and must possess the necessary experience in the design of successful titles targeted at the Japanese market. It can't get any more obvious than that. With Mass Effect being an Xbox 360 exclusive, this can only lead to the announced development of yet another new massively multiplayer title that remains unnamed.