As the spiritual successor to BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate, one of the most successful role-playing games in the industry, Dragon Age: Origins represents BioWare’s return to its roots, delivering a fusion of the best elements of existing fantasy works with stunning visuals, emotionally-driven narrative, heart-pounding combat, powerful magic abilities and credible digital actors. The spirit of classic RPGs comes of age, as Dragon Age: Origins features a dark and mature story and gameplay.

This summer consumer show tour gives fans the chance to experience the game’s dark and gritty world of violence, lust and betrayal first-hand, before it hits stores this fall. Dragon Age: Origins promises gamers an epic adventure as a Grey Warden where they set on a course to defeat the Archdemon in a dark, stunning world. Dragon Age: Origins offers an engrossing story, unprecedented player choice, and bone-crushing, visceral combat, making it one of the most highly-anticipated releases of 2009.

“Dragon Age: Origins is the biggest, most ambitious BioWare game to date, and we will be delivering that great experience simultaneously on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, CEO and co-founder of BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, Electronic Arts. “Whether you’re a PC or console gamer, Dragon Age: Origins reinvents the fantasy experience, combining a great story with raw emotion and brutal action. We’re excited to share it with gamers before it ships this fall.”

Gamers can begin to follow the trail of blood this summer and can get their own hands on Dragon Age: Origins at the summer’s five biggest public game and entertainment events:

• San Diego Comic-Con, one of the world’s largest comic book, science fiction and fantasy conventions of its kind, on July 22-26 in San Diego, California.
• Gen-Con, one of the longest running and best attended gaming conventions in the world on August 13-16 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• GamesCom, Europe’s biggest game convention on August 19-23 in Cologne, Germany.
• Fan Expo Canada, one of the country’s largest comic, anime, science fiction, horror and gaming events on August 28-30 in Toronto, Canada.
• PAX, a three-day game festival for tabletop and video gamers on September 4-6 in Seattle, Washington.

Each Origin Story starts the player off with a unique series of locations, characters and events that establish their motivations and lay the groundwork for the adventure to come.

With each Origin Story boasting several hours of unique game play, as well as challenging strategic combat and exploration, these 6 distinct preludes make Dragon Age: Origins the first BioWare game to offer not only multiple endings, but also multiple beginnings.

Players will start their adventure in one of the following roles:

1. Dalish Elf: As one of the last "true elves", you were content to spend your life wandering with your clan...until a chance encounter with a relic of your people's past threatens to tear you away from everything you've known.
2. City Elf: You have always lived under the heavy thumb of your human overlords, but when a local lord claiming his "privilege" with the bride shatters your wedding day, the simmering racial tensions explode in a rain of vengeance.
3. Dwarf Commoner: Born casteless in a land where rank is everything, bound as the lackey and thug of a local crime lord, you have spent your life invisible...until chance thrusts you into the spotlight, where you can finally prove whether you will be defined by your actions or your birth.
4. Dwarf Noble: The favored child of the dwarven king, you proudly take up your first military command...only to learn that the deadly intrigues of dwarven politics pose an even greater danger than that faced on the battlefield.
5. Mage: Gifted with a power considered a dangerous curse by most, you have spent most of your life secluded in the remote tower of the Circle of Magi to be trained and watched closely by the dreaded templars. Now your final test is upon you -- succeed and prove your strength, fail and you will perish.
6. Human Noble: Born to wealth and power second only to royalty, you find your training in both diplomacy and war put to the test when your father's castle is betrayed from within on the very night your elder brother is to lead the family's forces to war.

The player's choice of Origin Story lays the foundation for a profound journey based on the character's past experiences, establishing how they perceive the world and how the world perceives them. The choices you made during an Origin Story will influence the way the game unfolds, including different story elements, dialogue options and even plot branches, providing a wealth of replayability.

Key Features :

• Epic Party-Based Combat – Dragon Age: Origins will introduce an innovative, scalable combat system, as players face large-scale battles and use their party’s special abilities to destroy hoardes of enemies and massive creatures.
• Powerful Magic – Raining down awesome destruction on enemies is even more compelling as players apply “spell combos,” a way of combining together different spells to create emergent unique effects.
• Deep Customization – Players will develop their characters and gain powerful special abilities (spells, talents and skills) and discover ever-increasing weapons of destruction.
• Your Story, Your Way – With its emotionally compelling story, players choose with whom they wish to forge alliances or crush under their mighty fist, redefining the world with the choices they make and how they wield their power.
• Origin Stories – Players will select and play a unique prelude that provides the lens through which the player sees the world and how the world sees the player. The player’s choice of Origin will determine who they are and where they begin the adventure, as they play through a customized story opening that profoundly impacts the course of every adventure.

Dragon Age: Origins is scheduled to ship for the PS3, X360 and PC on Oct. 20, 2009.