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So, thanks to some kind (although slightly NDA breaking) fellows in the beta, we have a glimpse of the options for character creation for FFXIV. I've uploaded the most interesting images from these, including beards and hairstyles. Tomorrow, there should be more images showing the particular facial features available to each face (such as scars and tattoos). So keep checking this gallery as the beta progresses.

Back during E3, Bioware sneakily announced a new DLC pack for Dragon Age - Leliana's Song. And, it's out today! For all platforms! Surprise! $6.99, or 560 points, wherever those apply. You play as Leliana (with her same voice actress), exploring her past with Marjolaine, her mentor.

edit: Bioware also released the "Aegis Pack" of DLC for Mass Effect 2. It's 160 MS points, and includes a few new armor pieces for your N7 armor.

Valve recently announced that it would make Steam and its suite of games available for Mac. This is awesome. Around the same time they did that, they updated Portal with a new achievement and some sound files. Some bored Internet users later, we found ourselves with encrypted messages and images, all hinting at something more from the Portal universe. This orgy of information climaxed with a second patch for the game, in which the end of Portal was extended by about 20 seconds (that video after the jump).

Soon after, Portal 2 was announced officially, and the world rejoiced. The new game is slated to come out this Fall for PC, Mac, and 360. It will be a "full" game, with full retail pricing, presumably longer than the first. There's a Co-op mode with its own maps and story. Oh, and it takes place hundreds of years after the Portal.

So that game will be pretty cool.

Anyone up for some Portal theory discussion? Chell is a clone? Android?

3 weeks ago or so, my attempts at completing all achievements for Dragon Age: Origins were halted when the Return to Ostagar DLC was first made available, as the accompanying patch rendered my game temporarily unplayable. At first, I was obviously annoyed, but then I decided to reward Bioware for this only recently fixed bug by buying Mass Effect off XBLM. In the weeks that followed, I have discovered a new favorite franchise, having now completed the original game in full twice, only putting off my third play-through in order to pick up Mass Effect 2.

The first Mass Effect was pretty awesome. I don’t often whore myself out to achievements, especially when it comes to difficulty-based things. Yet, somehow the game demands it from me. It remains rewarding on multiple iterations through the story, while posing an increasing challenge with each unlockable difficulty. The story is communicated through strong characters, really strong emotional choices, and a general drive for the hero’s success, as I find is the case with many Bioware games. Yet, unlike games such as Dragon Age and Baldur’s Gate, Mass Effect allows you to step into the shoes of a pre-existing character, our noble Commander Shepard. You guide his actions and speech without defining them, which allows him to surprise you fairly often with his intelligence and wit. Without writing a full review, suffice it to say I’m quite fond of the game. It is definitely one of the best I’ve played. (More after the break)

EDIT: Check out the FFXIV site for a blurb about character creation, with better pictures than these scans, new screens, new music, and some generic story content.

Famitsu is a pretty cool magazine. They’re more closely tied to the developers than any American games journalist publication/site currently is, so they have a tendency to present material in a sugar coated way, depending on the manner in which it was provided. As such, scans have emerged from the Japanese magazine showing off the finer details of the character creator in FFXIV. Of course, by "finer," I mean they've shown us an inordinate amount of beautiful women, plus some manly men... with scars! In short, those characters are going to be fiercely customizable. In long, I translated some of what the scans said.

The text given at the top of this article, paraphrased a whole bunch, says that the system allows for simple variations, like changes in skin and hair color. Then, if you want to get into the finer details, you’ll find things such as various eye colors and different underwear material textures. The blurbs on the full version of that page (the first scan here, after the jump) continue to elaborate on those points, showing how each detail is in fact, there. Looks like there’s some breast size action as well, so if you were worried about that, go smoke a celebratory sausage. Other scans with these “Hyur” women point out that lip color can be changed as well.