"Bioware has done it again"

"Bioware has done it again." That's what my brother said as he was putting in his Mass Effect disk in his Xbox 360 to show me what the game was like. I had just bought the game but I hadn't had a chance to play it yet. I didn't know what he meant at first but then he said Bioware was the developer who did Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Ah, now I understand.

But I didn't really understand. Not at first anyway. Then I watched him play. He replayed the first couple of missions so I could see how the game was set up. I was impressed. And eager to play. But his "Bioware has done it again" comment got me thinking. What else have they done? And did I like any of it?

I looked up Bioware's inventory of games and I was pleasantly surprised. I knew about almost all of them and I not only did I have most of the them I loved them too. Balder's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, Jade Empire and now Mass Effect. These are all great games. KOTOR came out in 2003, Jade Empire 2005 and now Mass Effect in 2007. What great game are they planning on releasing in 2009?

Usually it's the game that gets the attention and then you see who the developer is. If I mentioned Final Fantasy you'd think of Square (Squaresoft, Square Enix or whatever they're calling themselves these days). If I mentioned Crash Bandicoot you'd think of Naughty Dog. And if I mentioned Jak & Daxter you might be a little surprised to realize that Naughty Dog developed them too. And I'm sure you know Ratchet & Clank are done by Insomniac Games. These are all games or a series of games that gets you interested in what the developer is going to do for the next game in that series. But what about new games?

And then there's Bioware. Yes, they've done expansions for Balder's Gate and Neverwinter Nights but they're expansions. Other than that each new game that has come out has been a new entity. A new world to play in. A new chance to be blown away again. I can't wait to see what they come up with next. I hope the next time I can say "Bioware has done it again" . . . and again . . . and again.