Source: Gaming site Shacknews, spotting a handful of retailer Web sites.

What we heard: Initially, the PC edition of BioWare's fantasy role-playing game Dragon Age: Origins was expected to ship before March 31, 2009. However, to the collective groan of all who had been waiting for the game since it was announced in 2004, EA said in February that the PC edition of the game had been bumped to this fall to coincide with the launch of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. That date was eventually honed down to October 20.

Now, it's possible that even those many months of extra development time won't be quite enough. As first spotted by Shacknews, a handful of retailers have updated their online databases to indicate that Dragon Age has been pushed to November.

GameFly, which owns Shacknews, now lists the Xbox 360 edition of the game for a November 3 release, with the PS3 date pegged to November 19. Tech gear wholesaler Newegg lists both console editions as coming November 4, while the PC edition has retained its October 20 date. CD Universe, on the other hand, has the Xbox 360 and PS3 games holding onto their October 20 date, but the PC edition has been bumped back to November 4.

Notably, two of the largest retailers don't reflect any change at all for the heavily anticipated game. According to Amazon's and GameStop's online databases, Dragon Age remains on track for its announced October 20 launch.

Retailers are often tipped off by publishers of changes in a game's release schedule so that they can accurately allocate shelf space and promotion. However, their online databases are far from the final source of information concerning any given title.

The official story: "I can't comment on what's appearing on other sites but BioWare is still targeting an October 20 release date," a BioWare representative told GameSpot. "If the release date changes, we'll issue a press release."

Not long after, IGN confirmed a small delay and a post stickied at the official forums. From IGN:

"Dragon Age Origins will be released on November 3rd in North America and November 6th in Europe for Xbox 360 and PC. The Playstation 3 version will follow later in November," the BioWare rep said.

We've been playing around with the origin stories in Dragon Age and it's kind of staggering at how complex and flexible the entire story is. The origin story you choose plays a big role, but after that there are many life and death decisions being made that affect the course of your game. It's safe to say that you could probably play the game several times and you'd have a remarkably different experience in terms of companion characters and story each time.

One nice thing is that you can adjust your character's in-game portrait; remember the old days when BioWare supplied hand-painted portraits for your characters? Now you can pose your character's face, and even adjust their facial expression. There's something cool about having a wry smirk for your portrait.

This is a Mature-rated game, which you'll quickly discover when your characters emerge from a battle with blood splattered all over their armor and faces. However, to hammer in the theme that BioWare is playing for keeps, there are some deaths of innocents that might surprise some. Believe us when we say that's just the tip of the iceberg, though.

Ced_Quijote
Posted Aug 15, 2009 12:32 pm GMT +3

yeah, I don't know about this game. 5 years ago this would've been a blast to play, but now I have got a hunch it's going to feel a bit... dated. I played the old Baldur's Gate (Durlag's Tower, anyone?), as well as Icewind Dale and the Neverwinter Nights games and loved them to bits. However, it's going to take more than slightly updated graphics and "tailor-made" backgrounds for your main PC to make me play this game. I don't know about you guys, but I'm seriously considering procrastinating until Diablo 3.