Dragon Age II steps up the action

I spent a significant part of my spring break playing Dragon Age II, the sequel to Bioware's RPG Dragon Age: Origins. I don't play many video games, but I played Bioware's Mass Effect games last summer and discovered there's a whole world of video game RPG storytelling that is absolutely brilliant. Mass Effect 2 significantly stripped down the RPG gear and skill management and Dragon Age II does the same thing. Basically, I spent a lot less time managing my inventory and a lot more time talking. That's right, talking. Dragon Age II utilizes Mass Effect's dialogue wheel, and a fully voiced main character, which was one of my favorite things about Mass Effect and the reason I found this sequel to be a great step up.

Spider-Man, Felicia Day and more

It's time for a few links I've gathered up over the week.

It's the "Amazing Spider-Man"

Sony announced the official title for the Spider-Man reboot starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. It's "The Amazing Spider-Man," so don't confuse it with regular "Spider-Man," but hey, it's better than the disaster that is "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," right? Still, this is looking good. Andrew Garfield was great in The Social Network and I personally like that they've gone back to mechanical web-shooters.