Category Archives: BioWare

BioWare goes down under to PAX Australia

PAX Aus

G’Day! I’m very pleased to announce that BioWare will be attending the very first PAX Australia in Melbourne from July 19 to July 21. BioWare has been part of both PAX Prime and PAX East for years, and we are thrilled to now be able to come to Australia and meet our fans there.

Come out to PAX Australia for your chance to meet Cameron Lee (Producer), Patrick Weekes (Senior Writer), Karin Weekes (Lead Editor), and “Evil” Chris Priestly (Community Event planner) as they hold their first-ever-in-Australia panel “BioWare Goes Down Under” Friday July 19 from 4:30-5:30 in the Dropbear Theatre.

We’re still finalizing other activities for our visit and want to hear from local Melbournians… Melburnians… Melbournites…. BioWare fans about where we should go and what we should see. We want to see the sights and meet our fans during our stay, so any suggestions for gatherings, parties or ways we can talk with you are very welcome! Email us your ideas to community@bioware.com or contact me through Twitter at @BioEvilChris and visit the BioWare Facebook Page for updates on our Australian trip.

We hope to see you mad blokes and ace sheilas for a fair dinkum chin wag when we come down under for PAX Australia! (Ok, ok – I promise no more Canadian guy trying to use Australian slang. No worries.)

The 5th Annual CMPUT 250 Game Development Awards

By: Shanda Wood, Recruiter and University Relations Specialist

For the past 6 months I have had the great opportunity to attend the CMPUT 250 class during presentations and lectures, and I have witnessed the student’s desire and passion for the gaming industry.

For years, BioWare has helped to inspire and educate game design students at the University of Alberta. Numerous members of the BioWare staff participate in lectures, Q&A sessions, studio tours and panels for students interested in this industry.

The CMPUT 250 class is a multidisciplinary course that brings student teams together to create a video game using BioWare’s Neverwinter Nights engine. Each semester, groups of six students from different backgrounds (art, writing, programming, audio) produce an original game design.

On April 23, 2013, the class celebrated their achievements at the 5th Annual Computing Science 250 Game Development Awards. The teams showcased their products to a panel of judges who chose winners for various categories: Excellence in Art and Design, Excellence in Writing and Story, Audio Achievement, Technical Achievement, and finally, Game of the Year.

Edmonton’s General Manager Aaryn Flynn, said the studio has only enhanced their support for the course as it helps students from different programs, get involved with all aspects of game design in a team environment. Aaryn added, “We really like that CMPUT 250 has adopted that approach because it is representative, more or less, of what you’d find in a studio like ours. All the challenges you guys face are almost identical to those you’ll face building multi-million dollar games like we do with Dragon Age and Mass Effect.”

Team Platypus, pictured below, won the prestigious Game of the Year award with their game “Morph.”

The team took home collector’s editions of Mass Effect 3 signed by the game’s developers.

BioWare recognizes all the hard work and passion that the students have put into their games and we want to congratulate them on their achievements this year. We look forward to many more award ceremonies to come.

Dragon Age Week: Show & Tell

At the beginning of Dragon Age Week, we invited you to participate along with us and tell us how Dragon Age inspires you. The response has been incredible! You sent us photos of your intricate cosplay outfits built from scratch. You shared pictures of your Dragon Age themed tattoos. Artwork, fan fiction, even custom-crafted Fenris dolls! We saw it all and we thank you for it!

As Dragon Age Week draws to a close, now that we’ve seen how Dragon Age inspires you, we wanted to share a couple of things that were put together by our dev team.

This Qunari symbol wall hanging, made of folded paper, was created by Owen Borstad:

Unfortunately, most of what was submitted is still a bit too spoiler-y to share right now, but we searched the archive of items created from previous Dragon Age Weeks and wanted to share this fairy tale written by Heather Green:

We hope you had a good time celebrating Dragon Age Week with us this week, and we look forward to the next opportunity!

BioWare Base Schedule PAX East 2013

Hi Everyone,

Evil Chris Priestly, BioWare’s Live Event Coordinator here.

BioWare will be attending PAX East in Boston, Massachusetts from March 22-24^th, so if you’ll be there, be sure to visit us at the BioWare Base. What’s the BioWare Base?

It’s a place for BioWare staff and fans to hang out and talk to each other. There will be mini-panels with BioWare staff and VIP guests, a free photo booth, autograph signings, a costume contest with prizes, portfolio reviews and of course, giveaways. We hope you’ll join us each day at the BioWare Base at PAX East.

Where will it be? This year our Base will be upstairs in Room 206 near the Wyvern Theater, and we’ll be open daily from 10:00am till 7:00pm daily.

The Base will be open daily from 10:00am until 7:00pm. Please check the daily calendar below for our planned activities. Any unplanned changes will be posted at the BioWare Base each day. You can also follow me on Twitter @BioEvilChris for live tweets from the Base and PAX East all weekend.

Friday March 22

10:00 – BioWare Base opens

10:30 – How to get a job at BioWare & Art Portfolio Review

BioWare’s HR team will be on-hand to explain how to get a job at BioWare and answer your questions
Senior Artist Nick Thornborrow will be on hand to review artists portfolios

12:00 – Dragon Age: Thedas Unlocked

Dragon Age Executive Producer Mark Darrah and members of the Dragon Age team & guests will be talking about the world of the Dragon Age franchise

1:00 – Dragon Age Team Signing

Get autographs from the Dragon Age team – be sure to bring your Dragon Age materials to be signed!

2:00 – Creating BioWare comics, novels, clothing and more

Dragon Age Creative Director, Mike Laidlaw, and guests from Dark Horse Comics, TOR Publishing and Treehouse Brand Stores will discuss how we work with our partners to bring you the coolest tie-ins to our games

3:00-7:00 – BioWare Photo Booth Open

Come out and have your picture taken

3:00 – BioWare: Behind the Scenes

BioWare staff talk about what it’s like working at BioWare, how we make our games and answer questions on what it is like to work at the Edmonton studio

4:00 – Mass Effect: Exploring the Universe

Mass Effect Senior Creative Director, Preston Watamaniuk, and members of the Mass Effect team talk about the Commander Shepard trilogy

5:00 – Mass Effect Team Signing

The Mass Effect team will be on hand to give autographs – don’t forget your Mass Effect games, comics & books!

6:00 – Hang out with BioWare

We’ll close out the first day of PAX with staff on-hand to talk with fans, answer questions and recap the day’s events

7:00 – BioWare Base Closes

See you Saturday

Saturday March 23

10:00 – BioWare Base opens

10:30 – How to get a job at BioWare & Art Portfolio Review

BioWare’s HR team will be on hand to explain how to get a job at BioWare and answer your questions
Senior Artist Nick Thornborrow will be on hand to review artists portfolios

12:00 – Dragon Age: Thedas Unlocked

Dragon Age Executive Producer, Mark Darrah, and members of the Dragon Age team as well as special guests will discuss the Dragon Age franchise

1:00 – Dragon Age Team Signing

Bring your Dragon Age materials to be signed or show up to get autographs from the Dragon Age team

1:30 – BioWare Base Closes so fans can attend the Mass Effect Team Panel in the main theater at 2:00pm

2:00-3:00 – The Mass Effect Trilogy – A Retrospective Panel (PAX East Main Stage)

Join Mass Effect Executive Producer Casey Hudson, members of the Mass Effect Team and special guest Raphael Sbarge, the voice of Kaidan Alenko, as they relive some of the most memorable public and private moments in the creation of the trilogy.

3:00-7:00 – BioWare Photo Booth Open.

Come out and have your picture taken as a free souvenir from PAX East

3:30-5:00 – Mass Effect Team Signing

Casey Hudson, Raphael Sbarge and the Mass Effect Team will be on hand signing your Mass Effect swag

5:00-7:00 – Cosplay Extravaganza

Calling all costumes, calling all cosplayers! We want everyone in costume to come to the BioWare Base to show off your costumes and possibly win some excellent prizes. All costumes, not just BioWare games, are eligible. Special Guest Holly Conrad from Crabcat will be on hand to talk cosplay and help judge the costume contest.

7:00 – BioWare Base Closes

Come see us Sunday on the final day of PAX East

Sunday March 24

10:00 – BioWare Base opens

10:30 – How to get a job at BioWare & Art Portfolio Review

BioWare’s HR team will be on hand to explain how to get a job at BioWare and answer your questions
Artists, this is your last chance to have Senior Artist Nick Thornborrow review your art portfolio

12:00 – Mass Effect: Exploring the Universe

Mass Effect Senior Creative Director, Preston Watamaniuk, and members of the Mass Effect team and special guest Raphael Sbarge, voice of Kaidan Alenko, will discuss about the Commander Shepard trilogy

1:00 – Mass Effect Team Signing

The Mass Effect team will be on hand to sign your games or come out and get autographs from the team

2:00-6:00 – BioWare Photo Booth Open.

It’s your last chance to get your free picture taken at PAX East

2:00 – Voice Acting – Tips, Tricks & How to Get Started

Join special guest Raphael Sbarge, the voice of Mass Effect’s Kaidan Alenko and Knights of the Old Republic’s Carth Onasi , and BioWare staff to get insight into the world of being a voice actor in video games.

3:00 – Raphael Sbarge Signing

Raphael Sbarge will be signing cards featuring his Mass Effect character, Kaidan Alenko

4:00 – Dragon Age: Thedas Unlocked

Dragon Age Creative Director, Mike Laidlaw and members of the Dragon Age team as well as special guests will be talking about the world of the Dragon Age franchise

5:00 – Dragon Age Team Signing

Bring your Dragon Age materials to be signed or come out and get autographs from the Dragon Age team

6:00 – BioWare Trivia Contest for Prizes

We will have lots of swag from our partners on display at the BioWare Base, but we don’t want to take any of it home with us. Bring your big BioWare fan brains to answer trivia questions for a chance to win some cool prizes.

7:00 – BioWare Base Closes

Thanks for hanging out with us at PAX East

We hope to see you at the BioWare Base in Boston!

BioWare Live & Online Events

Hi everyone,

My name is Chris Priestly (some call me “Evil” Chris), and I am part of the BioWare Edmonton/Montreal Community Team. Here at BioWare the Community Team works as a bridge between our studio game developers and you, our fans. We work online through the BioWare Social site, blogs, and social media channels. We also hold live events to meet our great fans.

Many of you who know me likely know my work on the BioWare Social Network (BSN). For many years I was the chief BSN moderator and one of BioWare’s most prolific forum contributors. BioWare always looks for ways to improve our interaction with our community and the BSN, and my role on the Community Team will soon be changing to reflect this. Starting immediately, my activity on the BioWare Social Network will decrease as I take on a new role as BioWare’s Live and Online Event Coordinator.

A key part of my new role at BioWare is planning our online events. What is an online event? Well, it is basically any interaction between BioWare and our fans on the internet: blogs, podcasts, twitter chats, livestreaming… The possibilities go on and on. We’ll be trying new ideas and listening to our community on how they want to interact with us. If you have a suggestion on what you would like to see from BioWare, send me a tweet at @BioEvilChris.

Another key part of my job here at BioWare is planning our live events. Our live events are always based on talking to our fans. We might have a BioWare Base to hang out and talk to developers in; we might work with partners and be part of their booths; and we might hold panels and remain mobile, but the key thing for us is to get out and talk about BioWare with our fans. As we get closer to upcoming events, we’ll be able to go into better detail about what you can expect when we come to your event.

We have a huge network of fans all around the world, and we want to meet as many of you as we can. Our next event is PAX East in Boston Massachusetts, but we are working on attending many more and will give you details of where and when as soon as we can. If you know of a local event that you would like to see BioWare appear at, let us know. Also, if anyone reading this works with a convention or event that you would like the BioWare team to attend, you can let us know at Community@bioware.com. We’d be happy to investigate the opportunity.

We hope to see you this year as the BioWare Community Team hits the road! If we don’t get to see you in person, please join us for fun, informative online events this year.