Category Archives: Convention Coverage

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 22-24th, 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.

BioWare at PAX East

Hello, BioWare fans!

We are pleased to announce that BioWare is returning to PAX East March 22-24 in Boston with another awesome BioWare Base. This year, our Base will be open daily from 10am until 7pm upstairs in Room 206 near the Wyvern Theater. Members of the Mass Effect, Dragon Age, HR, and Community teams will be present at the BioWare base to meet and talk with our fans. We are also very pleased to announce that actor Raphael Sbarge, the voice of Kaidan Alenko in the Mass Effect series, will be joining us on Saturday and Sunday.

Each day, we’ll discuss topics like our games, working at BioWare, and the voice acting process—and we’ll be answering your questions.  We will also have signings with staff and guests (make sure you bring games or other items you’d like signed), an art portfolio review for aspiring artists, a free photo booth, a costume contest Saturday evening, giveaways, and much more.

A BioWare panel will also take place on Saturday March 23 from 2:00 till 3:00, on the PAX East Main Stage. If you can’t make it to Boston for PAX East, we’ll record it so you won’t miss it. The panel’s title is The Mass Effect Trilogy – A Retrospective:

In 2004, BioWare set out not only to create a new science fiction universe, but also a new way for their fans to experience interactive storytelling across an entire trilogy of games. Nine years and three games later, the Mass Effect trilogy has ended. Relive some of the most memorable public and private moments in the creation of the trilogy with development team members including Casey Hudson – Executive Producer and Project Director, Preston Watamaniuk – Lead Designer, Parrish Ley – Lead Cinematics Director, John Dombrow – Writer, and Dusty Everman – Level Designer. The panel will be moderated by SpikeTV’s Geoff Keighley.

We’ll reveal the daily schedules of BioWare Base activity as we get closer to PAX East, so check back for details or check your PAX East guide. We look forward to seeing you at the BioWare Base at PAX East!

BioWare Attending MomoCon

Going to be near Atlanta, Georgia between March 8th – 10th, 2013? We are! BioWare is proud to announce that we will be attending MomoCon this year, and we’re not coming alone. Come meet Mark Meer, Jennifer Hale, Steve Blum and members of the Mass Effect team from Edmonton! We’ll be holding panels, meeting with fans and answering your questions about Mass Effect and BioWare.

Will we be seeing you there? Click here for more information about this year’s MomoCon!

Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo Recap

The first annual Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo is in the books, and we were so excited to be a part of it! As we take a few moments to consume nearly toxic levels of caffeine and refill our bottles of hand sanitizer, we thought it would be a good opportunity to provide a recap for those that were unable to attend the expo in person.

Saturday

Fans in attendance during the Dragon Age panel were treated to the unveiling of Dragon Age III: Inquisition concept art. This was the first time anyone outside of BioWare had been given a chance to see it! The Dragon Age team was thrilled by the reaction of the crowd, and so very appreciative of the support. In case you missed our posting over the weekend, you can see those concept art images for yourself right here

“The audience was enthusiastic, and the crowd at ECEE was busier than I would have anticipated for a first-year con.” – David Gaider

Mark Meer, the male voice of Commander Shepard, guest starred on our panel for a discussion about voice over in video games. Mark shared so many funny and captivating stories that the panel discussion portion took up the entire 45-minute time slot!

As a local celebrity in Edmonton, Mark’s fans filled the room to capacity for a chance to meet and greet him. In a charming bit of fan service, Mark got on the phone with the friend of a fan who couldn’t attend the show and did a little impromptu Commander Shepard voice work. D’AWWW!

Sunday

We kicked off the day with a panel to discuss how to land a job in the video game industry. Always a popular discussion with our fans, helpful tips and advice were shared by our HR and Recruitment experts for almost a full hour!

After the panel, our experts stuck around to review portfolios brought in by fans looking for guidance and feedback. The turnout was amazing, and we felt fortunate to meet so many talented folks.

Mark Meer returned on day two, this time donning a custom piece of N7 armor. The line-up of fans waiting to receive Mark’s autograph stretched the length of the expo hall! Many fans at the show told us that meeting Mark was the highlight of the entire show, and yeah, we kind of like him, too. :)

The day concluded with our biggest panel of the show: The Mass Effect Universe. When surveyed, the crowd told us that they wanted more time for Q&A, so the panelists cut their presentation down to accommodate. The panel members were asked so many great questions that they all stuck around an extra fifteen minutes to answer as many as they could!

Of course, capturing all the excitement of a con in words is difficult, so we’re happy to report that the panels were all recorded, and that we’ll be posting them on YouTube very soon for you to watch. Be sure to tell us what you liked, and give us your suggestions for next year.

After all the panels, cosplayers, and prize give aways, we hope you had as much fun as we did. Thank you, Edmonton! We’ll see you next year!