Dragon Age golden, hitting PS3 Nov. 3

Over five years after it was first announced, Dragon Age Origins has gone gold. Today's announcement came over a year after Electronic Arts dated the role-playing game for the first quarter of 2009. It was subsequently delayed until October 20 before being pushed back yet again to November 3 on the PC and Xbox 360.

With an ambiguous "November launch" window, the PlayStation 3 version of Dragon Age was set to trail the other versions. However, today in a live chat session held by Sony this morning, BioWare cofounder and EA role-playing game chief Ray Muzyka announced that the PS3 edition would launch alongside its 360 and PC siblings on November 3. Muzyka also confirmed the game's PlayStation Trophies would correspond to the Xbox Live achievements found in the 360 version.

Unfortunately for European gamers, BioWare still plans on releasing the PS3 edition of Dragon Age: Origins after the PC and 360 versions launch November 6. "[We're] still working on the EU release timing for PS3," said Muzyka. "We'll have an announcement on that shortly--[it's] still planned for some time a bit later in November."

Dragon Age: Origins is described by BioWare as a "dark heroic fantasy role-playing game." It will be rated M for Mature for language, partial nudity, sexual content, intense violence and blood, although Muzyka said the gore can be toned down by the viscera-adverse.

Billed as a spiritual successor to the classic Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age: Origins will be jam-packed with BioWare's signature plot-altering choices and moral shades of gray. It will offer players six origin stories based on their character's social station and race: dwarf noble, dwarf commoner, city elf, Dalish elf, human noble, or mage. Those separate stories will tie into a larger narrative about the Grey Wardens, a mysterious order of knights guarding civilization from an ancient evil. The game will feature 60 to 80 hours of gameplay, with the first installment in two years of downloadable content expansions available at launch.

In terms of gameplay, Dragon Age: Origins will let players control four party members at a time to take advantage of their various melee, ranged, and magic combat abilities. For details on how combat works, check out GameSpot's latest preview of the game.