BioWare's Mike Laidlaw thinks good writing in games is "essential"

BioWare's lead designer for Dragon Age: Origins, Mike Laidlaw, has said that good writing in videogames is "essential."

"I think good writing is honestly essential, because as we see the technology curve start to slow down, we're kind of past that exponential two-year gain that we used to have," he told D'Toid.

"We're wrestling more with the uncanny valley than the number of pixels. I think a good story is what makes [a game] linger.

"... Maybe there's only one path to do that ... That's where I see a game like Splinter Cell succeeding. Sam Fisher's got a got a cool, strong character but at the same time he's also pulled in to do stuff that no one else can do, and as the player I get to adopt some of that coolness and what I'm doing is guiding how he achieves his objectives.

"The story itself can be linear, yet I'm still immersed in the gameplay."

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