Two BioWare games for 360, Dragon Age going next gen?

When the Xbox 360 was unveiled on May 12, it came as no surprise that one of the companies supporting the platform was BioWare. The developer has made two of the most acclaimed role-playing games for the current-generation Xbox console, Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. It is also responsible for some of the most acclaimed PC RPGs, including the Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights series.

However, it was unclear how many games BioWare was developing for the Xbox 360. While at E3, BioWare co-CEOs Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk were kind enough to sit down with GameSpot and talk about their company's future. During the interview, they revealed that they were working on not one but two games for the Xbox 360.

"We're working on two [Xbox] 360 titles right now, so we have a pretty good sense of what's possible, and where this generation's at," said Zeschuk. "I think we'll see where it's going pretty soon, but I think all the next-gen stuff is pretty exciting."

While Muzyka and Zeschuk couldn't go into detail, they did hint BioWare's title may ship after the Xbox 360's Q4 debut, which would mean 2006. "Microsoft seems to really be focusing on the [games scheduled for the Xbox 360's] launch window, but we'll be able to start talking pretty soon, and I think people will be pretty excited," Muzyka said.

That said, the pair shot down rumors that one of BioWare's two 360 titles was Dragon Age, its all-original fantasy role-playing game. "With Dragon Age--the first iteration of it, anyway--we're focusing on making it the most ambitious PC RPG we've ever done at BioWare," said Muzyka. However, just because it's not a current 360 project doesn't mean it won't be so in the future. "It's a franchise we own, so there will be other versions that will be on other platforms," Muzyka said, hinting a 360 version could be down the road.

The two executives also said that BioWare may not be devoted solely to a Microsoft console, as they are to the current-generation Xbox. "We're actually looking at all the next-gen systems closely--they all look impressive--very interesting and powerful," beamed Muzyka. Zeschuk chimed, "We're really excited about the [Nintendo] Revolution and the ability to download and play all those old games!"

As for other platforms, Muzyka and Zeschuk said that they were big fans of the Sony PSP and are considering developing for it and other handhelds. "We spent the entire time on the plane on the way down [to Los Angeles] playing Lumines... Can you imagine some of our RPGs on a handheld? All of a sudden, we've got these new handhelds that can actually handle it."

But for all their talk of other platforms, the pair assured PC gamers BioWare remains committed to them. "We certainly want to support our PC audience in the future too," said Muzyka. "We've got both a console community and a PC community, and we recognize there's overlap between them, but we also recognize that there are design preferences that are different between the two."

For more, check out GameSpot's full interview with Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk.