While only one of these titles will be a surprise to those who regularily visit the Madman Entertainment website or The Otaku’s Study, but Madman Entertainment have just announced a partnership with Funimation Entertainment to distribute the upcoming animated feature films Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker and Mass Effect: Paragon Lost in Australia for release on DVD and Blu-ray during 2012. Both of these films as you might be aware are based on the acclaimed Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts.
Tim Anderson, Managing Director of Madman Entertainment had this to say on the announcement:
There are plenty of avid gamers at Madman, myself included, who are big fans of both the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games. Both franchises offer great stories and rich characters, and we couldn’t be more excited to see BioWare’s immersive storytelling brought to life in these animated films.
Produced by T.O. Entertainment and Production I.G. respectively, these feature-length animated films will bring the deep fiction of the Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises to animated film. Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker which has already been announced will be purchasable on DVD and Blu-ray from the 6th June 2012. Mass Effect: Paragon Lost however will be available on DVD and Blu-ray in late 2012, with no specific date set as of yet.
Casey Hudson, Executive Producer for the Mass Effect series had this to say:
Over the last few years, we have revealed different pieces of the Mass Effect world through different media. Extending the story through an anime medium is another amazing opportunity for us. Partnering with FUNimation ensures that we will bring this rich universe to life with the utmost quality and the same attention to detail that the Mass Effect games are known for.
The following is brief blurbs on both of the films:
Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker follows heroine, Cassandra Pentaghast, in an epic quest to uncover a conspiracy that threatens the realm’s most powerful religious order, the Chantry of Andraste. Accused of treasonous crimes and hunted by friends and foes, Cassandra must clear her name and overcome her raging emotions to ensure order in the realm.
Mass Effect: Paragon Lost is centered on the early career of alliance marine, James Vega, as he commands a squad of elite special forces into battle against a mysterious alien threat known as The Collectors. The animated film will follow Vega’s journey in the epic science-fiction saga.
