Dragon Age: Origins was BioWare’s first product to release on PS3, and many reviewers noted that version of the game had superior looking textures compared to the Xbox 360 version. Speaking to Joystiq, BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk commented that they worked with Edge of Reality to make the PS3 version shine.
“We spent six months, literally, and Ray and I would also sit in on some of the sessions – like quite a few of the sessions on interface – and we'd all play it for a week, and every week for six months we would review the changes," said Zeschuk. "We had very significant resources assigned: designers, producers, programmers, artists and Edge of Reality, a whole separate team as well at the same time. So, it's a big undertaking, I think. Again, one of our goals, and every time we have multiple platforms, is that we want people to feel that it was made for them, it was made for that platform they're playing on. We never ever want to play a BioWare game of any type that feels like it is secondhand or a sacrificed experience just because they happen to choose platform A, B, or C.”
When asked if PS3 products would be developed in-house going forward, Zeschuk responded, “Absolutely. We think it's one of the key platforms, obviously, so we're definitely going to be doing PS3. You know, I can't say anything about Mass Effect in that regard but you know, I can definitely say Dragon Age and other things we do will definitely be on PS3. It was great going through the experience of making Dragon Age, getting familiar with and understanding the PS3. Again, every platform is different, but now I think we're at the position where future PS3 stuff will be really solid.”
When asked directly about Mass Effect on PS3, Zeschuk became evasive and said, “We're not saying anything about Mass Effect for PS3. I don't know anything about that! That's crazy talk.”
It would certainly be unfortunate if PS3 owners never had the chance to experience Mass Effect, though BioWare’s non-comment on the matter is very curious; it leaves the door open a crack since it’s not a flat-out denial, but if there’s a contract with Microsoft to keep the game console exclusive to the Xbox 360, they should just say so and not let anyone get their hopes up.
