THESPY
The Spy once stole
the Statue of Liberty
during some jerk’s
magic trick.
heSpyhasjustreturnedfroma
relaxingholiday,touringthe
variousmuseumsoftheUnited
Kingdom.You’reprobably
thinkingthisispartofsome
escapadeorcaper,maybeeventhe
precursortowhirlwindstringof
heists.You’dbewrong.Yousee,
TheSpycan’tguaranteethatthe
d thispage.TheSpycan’tevenbe
surethatprintedwordcan’tbeusedina courtoflaw.
Andso,forallintentsandpurposes,thiswasa
‘vacation’.OK?Areweallonthesamepage?Good.HavingbeenthoroughlyconvincedbythesecurityofThe
BritishMuseum,TheSpydecidedtovisitsomeofthe
lesserknownsitesofhistoricalnote.Didyouknowthere
wasa DogCollarMuseuminMaidstone?A Lawnmower
MuseuminSouthport?AndeventheDerwentPencil
MuseuminKeswick,whichis hometotheworld’sbiggest
colouringpencil.Ifoneweretohypotheticallystealsucha
thing,TheSpyrecommendsconstructinga makeshift
catapultaroundit,andlettingtheaerodynamicshape
carryit intoBassenthwaiteLaketoberetrievedbya team
ofclandestinedivers.
AndsoTheSpyarrives
homewithanSDcardfull
ofphotosandblueprints
andcontactdetailsfor
peopleknowledgeablein
theconstructionofsiege
weaponry...justnormalmementos of a fun trip. What The Spy doesn’t have is any
idea what’s been happening in the world of PC gaming.
Hold on a second... just let The Spy boot up this
computer and check... oh God... oh no... oh BioWare.
Following on from his lengthy report into the problems
of Anthem’s development, Kotaku’s Jason Schreier has
returned to the BioWare well to shine a light on what’s
happeningwithDragon Age 4. First announced at Geoff
Keighley’sodetotheworst excesses of the industry, The
GameAwards2018,Dragon Age 4 has – according to
Kotaku– actuallyentered pre-production following the
releaseofDragonAge: Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC.
Theearlyplanfor Dragon Age 4 – codenamed Joplin- soundsgreat.Players would control a group of spies
operatingintheTevinter Imperium, a powerful
magocracytothenorth of Thedas. In stark contrast from
Inquisition’s Hinterlands, DA4 would focus on smaller
areasthatplayerswould frequently return to.
DRAGGINGONFOR A DRAGON AGE
Structurally,then,it offers shades of the maligned Dragon
Age 2 , butona bigger scale and (presumably) with more
thanonewarehouse.In fact heists would supposedly be a
focusofthecampaign, along with a systemic narrative
systemthatwouldlet players persuade or extort guards.
Unfortunately,it seems, Joplin isn’t to be. According to
Kotaku’sreport,theproject was first put on hold in 2016
sotheteamcouldhelp on Mass Effect Andromeda, and
thencancelledentirely in October 2017 so the team could
helponAnthem. Itwas restarted with the codename
Morrison. It’scurrently unclear how much of the original
visionremains,butthis new Dragon Age 4 is known to
havesomeformofa ‘live service’ element.
Thingshaveclearly been difficult at BioWare.
Hopefullythestudiowill work to fix the mismanagement
thatseemstohaveplagued Anthem’s development. As for
Dragon Age 4, maybe this
new version will have
heists, maybe it won’t. All
The Spy can say for sure is
that there’s a pencil in
Keswickwith The Spy’s
nameonit.Spy Out.
The Spy1
Inhiscoverfeature,TimEdwards’
suggestionthattheStarCraftII
trilogymightnotbefinisheduntilafter
2012 promptsa panicked“OhGod,I hope
not”fromthenseniordesignerDustin
Browder.Intheend,LegacyoftheVoid
wouldn’tarriveuntil 2015 – longafter
Blizzard’sRTSsequelhadtransformed
esportsforever.“ThesaviourofPC
gaming”indeed.(^3)
Quintin Smith tells a fascinating tale
of tragedy, heroism and wanton
cruelty in hardcore multiplayer survival
sim Wurm Online. “Egg’s my only friend in
the world, and right now he’s staring death
in the face over a mile away. I just don’t
know in which direction.” It’s a brilliant
example of the surprising turns that online
interactions can take. Spoilers: it doesn’t
go well for Egg.
(^2)
PC Gamer
gets a
new-look Extra Life
containing brand
new features like
Now Playing and
Reinstall. Graham
Smith explains the
joys of a little game
called Spelunky.
ISSUE
201, June 2009
ON THE COVER
Starcraft 2
IN THE CHARTS
Boom Boom Pow –
Black Eyed Peas
This month in... 2009
DID YOU KNOW THERE WAS
A DOG COLLAR MUSEUM
IN MAIDSTONE?
NEWS | OPINION | DEVELOPMENT
BUTWHOWATCHESTHESPY?
The Spy