In April, the team at BioWare Austin added a number of features and items to the game. Some were microtransactions meant to give players more options in customization, but the real treat will be coming next month in the form of new character customization options. Players will soon be able to change their physical appearance and even their race.

The guys at BioWare are not in an enviable position right now. They have to keep EA and the new overlords at Disney happy. Both companies are currently in the process of killing off studios and games. “>The Old Republic may be next on the chopping block if it doesn’t pick up some steam.

Spiders Studios first announced the title back in December, when it seemed the announcement of cyberpunk-themed games had become a trend. The developer revealed the game as being set in a decadent, dystopian Mars where survivors of a “great cataclysm” fight over the planet’s precious water supplies.

Though the fighting in the game is real-time, the game’s mechanics still incorporate many RPG aspects. Players will be able to level up their characters to make them hard-hitting, stealthy, or into a “technomancer.”

As a downloadable title, Mars: War Logs isn’t likely to be as long or as polished as RPGs from larger studios. As the launch trailer for the game shows, however, the game’s intriguing art direction and allusions to Dune may be enough for certain types of sci-fi fans to give it a try.

The launch trailer for Dark Arisen doesn’t show us anything that we haven’t seen already, but it does show us more. We get a good look at the new bosses that populate Bitter Black Isle as well as the new enemy types that will no doubt kill players again and again.

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is available in North America today, and will launch in Europe on April 26. We can only hope that it finds the audience that it so rightly deserves this time around.

Torment: Tides of Numenera went live on Kickstarter yesterday asking for $900,000 to fund the ambitious RPG. It raised the full amount required in less than six hours. Now at a little over a day later, the project has managed to raise almost $1.8 million with 32,900 backers.

The developers behind the project, inXile Entertainment, are no stranger to Kickstarter success. The studio raised almost $3 million for another sequel to a classic RPG – Wasteland 2. That game is still in development, but inXile assures fans that it will have enough resources to complete both games on time.

It looks like Torment will raise far more than Wasteland 2 did, and inXile has a few stretch goals on the horizon if it manages to raise more money. The project has already hit two of the stretch goals – the ability to play as either a male or female, and an expanded story with two new writers. If the game is able to reach $2 million, the development will add more story elements, a fully orchestrated soundtrack and a new companion character.

This week, CDPR has revealed even more about their upcoming open-world fantasy RPG. In a statement released today the developer is now making bold proclamations about Wild Hunt, such as the claims that all of the players’ decisions in major plot quests and some side quests will interact with each other in some way and change the game world, “creating an even more nonlinear experience than ever before.”

“The Witcher 3 is full of impactful decisions, and gamers will choose between storylines that exclude one another in a single playthrough, ensuring extensive replay value,” said Adam Badowski, managing director of CDPR. “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt crowns the trilogy with the main narrative, revolving around Geralt’s search for his loved ones and his conflict with the Wild Hunt. As players travel through the game, they visit lands with their own unique atmosphere, communities and memorable characters. CD Projekt RED didn’t create an open world with a singular theme, but concentrated on delivering diversified and engaging environments, 30 times larger than those in The Witcher 2.”

That may sound like a BioWare or Peter Molyneux-level claim, but CDPR is one of the few studios that might be able pull off an in-depth next-generation RPG. At the very least, the game will provide days worth of entertainment. The studio has announced that the game’s main campaign will take around 50 hours to complete, and that “additional stories” will add another 50 hours of gameplay.

Triumph Studios, developers of the original Age of Wonders titles, announced today that Age of Wonders 3 is on track for a PC release later this year. This new game will introduce a number of new features, including the addition of RPG elements.

Check out the debut trailer here:

Here’s a breakdown of all the new features the new title sports:

There’s no official release date, but the game will be available in late 2013 on various digital distribution channels. The game will also be getting a limited physical release, but it will probably only be available in Europe.

[h/t: Polygon]

It turns out the rumors were true. The Witcher 3 has been officially announced in the latest issue of Game Informer.

According to the write-up, the game world will be even larger than Skyrim, and the story will not be split into chapters. Instead, gamers will get free reign to wander the massive world slaying monsters, getting involved with the local politics, and crafting weapons and armor.

The screenshots of the game are supposedly running on development hardware. If true, it seems clear that The Witcher 3 will not be appearing on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. Though CDPR did not explicitly say the game will be coming to next-gen consoles (such as the PlayStation 4), but it did say the game will appear on all “top-of-the-line” consoles, which is almost certainly code for next-gen consoles. Also, the game will be built on the recently announced REDEngine 3, a “next-gen ready” game engine specifically created for open-world RPGs.

The video feature below reveals a bit about why CDPR chose to go the open-world route, and what may lie in store for Geralt:

The concept RPG, courtesy of CollegeHumor, starts off my letting you pump up your favorite characters’ attributes. Saul Berenson: Wisdom +10, Beard +10. Carrie Mathison: Sanity +1 (should probably be a bit lower).

From there we take an entertaining journey through Claire Danes’ cry face, PTSD rage punches, awkward car sex, and much much more. Spoilers lurk, if you haven’t ever seen an episode of the show.

[via College Humor]

Nintendo released a new trailer for Fire Emblem: Awakening today that details the character progression system in the title. Newcomers to the franchise can learn all about evolving their characters into the ultimate warrior or mage, while seasoned veterans can get a look at the changes being made to the game system in the newest installment.

Fire Emblem: Awakening will be made available on the Nintendo 3DS on February 4. It will retail for $39.99.

Most of the core Final Fantasy titles are included in the sale. Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX, and Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions for PSP and the PS Vita will cost €4.99/£3.99/AU$7.35. Strangely, Final Fantasy VI will cost the same €4.99/£3.99 as these other titles, but Australians will have to pay more at AU$9.75.

Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy Dissidia for the PSP will cost €9.99/£7.99/AU$14.45. The PSP/PS Vita version of Final Fantasy Dissidia will go for slightly less: €8.99/£7.29/AU$13.25.

Bulgaria, Hungary, and Qatar are all exempt from the sale and won’t be getting the sale prices on Final Fantasy games. For specific titles, other countries such as Hungary, Israel, Kuwait, and Turkey will also be left out of the sale.

Early in the year is a good time to catch up on the classics, before big summer titles such as Grand Theft Auto V begin to hit stores. Also, discounts are just what gamers will need to feed their habit this year while simultaneously saving up for the next-generation consoles rumored to be launching this fall.