14 DAY TRIAL // Today, almost all videogame releases get a pack or two of downloadable content after the release and it’s rarer to see a full-fledged disk-based expansion as in the old days. Even GTA IV, which received quite hefty episodes, got them first through Xbox Live and only then via a disk.
BioWare and Electronic Arts are buckling this trend by launching The Awakening expansion for Dragon Age: Origins via disk for the PC, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 from Sony while also offering it via digital distribution on the PC.
And Fernando Melo, the online producer working on The Awakening, is saying that the decisions made are a direct result of feedback coming from players. Talking to Gamasutra, he said that “The first thing we got requested as soon as we released our initial DLC was, ‘When is the full expansion coming out?’ We already had some thinking around it. The team has been working on Awakening for over a year, but the idea of releasing it as an actual boxed product came from a lot of what the fans were asking for.”
Melo also confirmed that they were actively working on new DLC for Dragon Age: Origins, showing a commitment to deliver new experiences in the game world and make it familiar for players. The Awakening is built around the idea of making only small changes to the actual mechanics of the game while telling a fresh story, which both shows off BioWare's writing chops and prepares the ground for the next full-fledged videogame in the series.
The Awakening is set to arrive on March 16 and will move the action to the land of Amaranthine, where a new type of smarter Darkspawn seems to be developing, despite the defeat of the Blight. Players can choose to import their character form the original game or start over anew. One potential factor limiting sales will be the 39.99 dollar price tag.