An interesting story popped up this weekend by
Dean Takahashi, journalist for
San Jose Mercury News and the author of
"Opening the Xbox" and
"The Xbox 360 Uncloaked". In the article, he claims to know someone who has seen game code for an Xbox 360 sequel to
Jade Empire that's apparently in the works. Not known as a drama queen or a news fabricator, Dean blogging about it adds a lot of weight and fuels further speculation.
Being a huge fan of all things BioWare, it's hard not to get excited at this, even if it's a semi-rumor awaiting confirmation or disapproval. However the recent acquisition by Electronic Arts will certainly raise some concerns about shameless ports for every system, OS and cell phone in existence. BioWare is a company who makes high quality games, one at a time, usually for one system at a time. When they do port something they take the time to improve it and add new content, not EA's typical
"If it gets to the title screen without crashing, certify it gold". Yeah that's right, I said it. EA and BioWare couldn't be any farther apart on the spectrum of policy and quality than they are right now.
But imagine the possibilities. The
Mass Effect engine and dialog system tweaked and improved. A new melee/martial arts combat RPG set in a part magic, part sci-fi, mystical Asian land. If you haven't had the pleasure of playing Jade Empire
on the Xbox,
or on the PC, I suggest you give it a try. A richly rewarding game with lots of replay value and a great story, or as I like to call it, "a typical BioWare game".
In any case, keep it tuned to this channel for future updates on this as they break. Like a beagle on a foxhunt, if there's news on a new BioWare game, you better believe I'll be on it's heels.
Original article:
http://blogs.mercurynews....e_empire_2_is_coming.html
