I talk weekly about the convergence of pen-and-paper gaming with the digital game space of video games but today I get to announce a convergence going in the opposite direction.. Green Ronin, publishers of the popular Mutants & Masterminds, True 20 and the current publisher of The Song of Ice and Fire RPG just announced that they will be taking the world of BioWare’s forthcoming Dragon Age: Origins and converting it into a traditional RPG.

Dragon Age, often referred to in hype releases as “the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate” (BioWare’s original Fantasy RPG based upon the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms settings), will be getting a “box set” release in the summer meant to introduce both the world of Thedas (Dragon Age’s setting) and the concepts of traditional role playing to video game fans.

“We’re delighted to be working with Green Ronin to explore more of the Dragon Age universe through a pen and paper role-playing game. We’re excited to deliver Dragon Age’s unique dark, heroic fantasy to our audience in a brand new way—a perfect complement to the landmark game we’re launching on PC, Xbox 360, and PLAYSTATION 3 this fall,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA. “Our development teams craft rich, deep worlds, and this is an excellent way to expand the franchise.”

This is not the first RPG setting to make the transition from video game to paper – previously Everquest, Diablo, Starcraft and World of Warcraft have gotten a conversion to traditional RPG products at Wizards of the Coast and with White-Wolf’s Sword and Sorcery imprint. While none of those settings are still in active development this is the first time I can recall that an in-development video game property is getting a tabletop treatment before its even been released.

Who knows, maybe if Dragon Age grabs its audience Green Ronin and BioWare can negotiate to bring Mass Effect to pen-and-paper RPGs as well. I’d be first in line for a game based on that setting. Dragon Age feel like more of the same Tolkien derivative fantasy at this point unfortunately. You can read the full details of the press release after the jump.

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Nintendo has announced its early 2009 game line up which kicks off with Pokémon Platinum. the popular DS title will hit shelves March 22, 2009.

Other familiar games among the over 100 planned releases are New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis and New Play Control! Pikmin are coming out for the Wii with edutainment title Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Personal Trainer: Math and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars headed for the Nintendo DS.

More games from the Q1 2009 Nintendo line up follow the break.
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The results for the Best of Games Convention 2008 are in. The list of winners should look familiar to anyone who paid attention to the winners of this year’s Game Critics Awards for E3.

Awards were given in nine categories with EA and Sony featuring prominently in the winners circle. Spore took Best PC game while EA Mythic walked away with Best Online Game for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Little Big Planet scored Best PS3 game while Mirror’s Edge took Best Xbox 360 title. Skate It rolled over competition for the Best new Wii title.

A full list of the Best of GC 2008 follows the break.
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Speaking exclusively to Eurogamer Germany, BioWare’s Miles Holmes stated that the developer is considering doing DS versions of Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Dragon Age: Origins, and possibly a few others.

Holmes, who is the lead designer of the upcoming Sonic Chronicles (DS), is looking at games that will reinforce the franchise  and bring the handheld team’s goal of running at full capacity to fruition.

“I tell you which one I would want. I want the Mass Effect one. We have a lot of big plans for Mass Effect. Having a DS version would be an awesome way to keep interest alive and keep it going in addition to Mass Effect 2.”

Purchased by Electronic Arts last October, BioWare is hoping that Sonic Chronicles, slated for a September 26 release, is a way to get the handheld division off and running. Holmes’ thinking is similar to Mark Darrah, fellow Sonic Chronicles team member who stated back in June that BioWare was looking into the possibility of developing titles for the PSP and WIi in order to broaden their horizons a bit.

While the idea of bringing RPGs Jade Empire and Dragon Age:Origins to handhelds seems plausible, one would think that bringing such a large and detailed game like Mass Effect to the DS would be a massive undertaking. Maybe if they were to make the game a “lost chapter” of sorts it could work, but as a whole, the original port would just be too time consuming for handhelds. Titles that can be completed in one to three days tops are more marketable on a casual gaming systems such as the Nintendo DS and PSP, not huge open-ended RPGs like Mass Effect.

It has been one crazy week, and the craziest thing happening at home base while Jonathan and Shawn were in LA was the amount of assets we received in our inboxes on a daily basis. I have decided to post the lonely screens and trailers that did not get their very own post into one large post full of links. There’s just is not enough time to post them all, so this is the best way I know how.

While this is not a comprehensive list of what was not covered, it is close. There are more screens floating around out there that we have yet to get, but if or when we do, we will do our best to wow you with them.

Below you will find a list of games from A-N and a link to the trailer or screens for it. Be sure to look over the list carefully, because something you are interested in may be included. I have highlighted ones that may be of special interest.

Games O – Z are posted after the jump

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand Screens
Active Life Outdoor Challenge Trailer
Afro Samurai Screens
Age of Booty Screens
Age of Booty Trailer
AWAY Shuffle Dragon Screens
Babysitting Mania Screens
Bangai-O Spirits Screens
Bangai-O-Spirits Trailer
Battlestations Pacific Screens
Bionic Commando Screens
Bionic Commando Trailer
BioShock PS3 Screens
Borderlands Presentation Trailer
Borderlands Screens
BUZZ! Master Quiz Trailer
Champions Online B-Roll Trailer
Champions Online Screens
Chrono Trigger DS Screens
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Trailer
Cooking Mama World Kitchen Screens
Dark Void Screens
Dark Void Trailer
Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon Trailer
Digimon Championship Trailer
Digimon World Championship Screens
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen Screens
Dungeon Hero Screens
Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero Screens
Empire: Total War Screens
Eternal Sonata PS3 Screens
Eternal Sonata PS3 Trailer
Final Fantasy IV DS Screens
Flock! Screens
Flock! Trailer
Gran Turismo 5: Prolouge Trailer
Heavy Duty Screens
I Am Alive Trailer (This looks rather interesting)
I Heart Geeks Screens
Infinite Space Screens
Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Enc. 2 Screens
Kill Zone 2 Trailer
King’s Bounty: The Legend Trailer
LEGO Batman: The Video Game B-Footage Trailer
LEGO Batman: The Videogame Screens
Little King’s Story Screens
Luminous Arc 2 Teaser Trailer
Marker Man Adventures Screens
Marvel Ultimate Alliance II: Fusion Trailer
Mega Man 9 Screens
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Trailer
Metal Gear Online Screens
Monster Lab Screens
Monster Madness: Grave Danger Screens
MySims Kingdom Screens
N+ Screens
N+ Trailer
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 Screens
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja STORM Screens
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja STORM Trailer
National Geographic Panda Screens
Neopets Puzzle Adventure Screens
NHL SK9 Screens

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It’s Thursday, so PS3-owning Rainbow Six fans needn’t wait any longer: the Vegas 2 Gift Pack DLC has finally arrived. PC and Xbox 360 owners have had it for almost a week, but when you’re talking about playing the same exact maps you’re already used to — only at night — there’s really no wait that’s too long. That might not be entirely true, but as I said before, at least it’s free.

Rock Band’s weekly track release includes four songs from Rush and Red Hot Chili Peppers, which is also the number of new demos that have been released: Siren: Blood Curse, Monster Madness: Grave Danger, WALL-E and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian are all available in demo form on the PlayStation Store.

And there’s all sorts of trailers for you to check out, including one for the Super Stardust HD add-on which I’ve been raving about ever since it was released. Now you can see what I’ve been talking about.

Hit the break to check out the full list of content.

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SEGA has committed to participating in the locally organized Summer of Sonic event in London. The company is using the event as an opportunity to promote two upcoming games featuring its Sonic the Hedgehog character.

“The Summer of Sonic is essentially a community get-together/convention arranged by a number of Sonic fansites, such as The Sonic Stadium and Sonic Wrecks,” a SEGA spokesperson told Eurogamer.

“Although independently organised, SEGA’s online community team will be providing some support for the event as part of the promotion for Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood and Sonic Unleashed.”

The Summer of Sonic event is scheduled for August 9th at the Dragon Hall in London’s Covent Garden. For more information on the event, visit the Summer of Sonic website.

via Eurogamer

SEGA has just confirmed the release dates for their upcoming titles. When I say “confirmed” this also includes a vague time frame for a particular month or quarter and even titles coming in the first part of 2009 – one of which is Aliens: Colonial Marines which has been pushed into next year.

• Beijing 2008 PS3/360/PC – June 27
• Space Siege PC – August 22
• Picto Image DS – September
• Golden Axe: Beast Rider 360/PS3 – September
• Sonic Chronicles – September
• Yakuza 2 PS2 – September
• Sonic Unleashed 360/PS3/Wii/PS2 – November
• Empire: Total War PC – Q1 2009
• Alpha Protocol PS3/360/PC – Q1 2009
• Madworld Wii – Q1 2009
• Aliens: Colonial Marines – Q1 2009

All release dates are subject to change so don’t blame me if that should happen.

Thanks: Videogaming247

If you’re like me, you probably heard that Sega was releasing a Sonic RPG and immediately started banging your head against a wall. But then you, once you discovered that BioWare was developing it, you probably stopped, put some ice on your skull, and settled into a state of guarded optimism. That’s about where I sit with this game: it looks great, but they could still screw it up somehow. This trailer kind of sways me to the more optimistic side, but we’ll have to see. At any rate, it’s still nice to see the game actually runs smoothly in motion.

Sega is offering players the opportunity to make history by choosing the name a for the evil alien adversaries in Sonic Chronicles: the Dark Brotherhood. European and North American fans will have a chance to pick a single name for the alien race, which will be voted on by the Sonic fan community.

Starting now until midnight (BioWare/Mountain standard time) Monday February 25 we will take any suggestions for the name of the alien race that you want. Each community member may submit up to three potential names for the alien race. Then on Tuesday, Brand Manager Randall Bishop and Community Coordinator Chris Priestly will comprise a list of the names we think are best and post them for your votes. Whichever of the chosen names gets the most votes from community members, will be the name that we submit as the BioWare entry.

Interested gamers can enter by submitting their ideas on the BioWare Forums for the chance to win the BioWare submission. There are already some cool submissions up and some very puny ones as well. Be sure to check out the competition for inspiration. The winning name will be announced March 15.

UPDATE: Found the silhouette of an evil alien. It actually reveals a few things about the race, and will hopefully be more inspirational.