Entertainment Electronics Blog

Back when BioWare pushed back Dragon Age Origins’ release date one last time, from October 20 to November 3, they also announced the PlayStation 3 version would be following “later in November.” Not so anymore. Bioware co-founder Ray Muzyka has confirmed the game will release on the PS3 on November 3 right along with the 360 and PC versions in North America (via GameSpot).
The confirmation comes along with the announcement that the game has gone gold and is heading toward mass manufacturing, so stalwart fans who’ve been looking forward to this game for five frickin’ years can rest assured it won’t be delayed again. Musyka also confirmed that the PS3 version’s PlayStation Trophies will correspond with the previously revealed Achievements for the 360 version.

Now, there is one bit of bad news if you’re reading this in Europe, as the PS3 version of Dragon Age Origins is still releasing later in November there. “[We're] still working on the EU release timing for PS3,” said Muzyka. “We’ll have an announcement on that shortly — [it's] still planned for some time a bit later in November.”

It may be a spin-off of one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, but does that mean DJ Hero will be a sure success? Not right off the bat, Activision says. Speaking to IGN, Red Octane co-founder Kai Huang said they expect DJ Hero sales to start slowly and build momentum over time (via VG247).
“We’re not expecting a typical videogame curve where you sell the majority of the units in the first month and then it decays quickly,” Huang said. “We’re expecting this to be the type of game that may come out of the gate a little bit slower, but continue to grow over time.”

Huang explained that despite the built-in brand recognition, the drastically different gameplay style makes it a case of almost starting from scratch. “We’ve got a bit of a head start, people have an understanding what music games are, it has the ‘Hero’ brand on it,” he said. “But at the same time, people don’t know what a DJ game is. They don’t know what you’re supposed to do. Our strategy again is to focus on in-store demos.

“If you look at Guitar Hero 3,” Huang continued, “which to date has been the most successful Guitar Hero game selling 12 million units, it did take three iterations to get the game out there and for people to know how it works.”

And however DJ Hero sells at first, a sequel already seems certain as Activision is reportedly already scouting musical talent for the follow-up.