Dragon Age - Story Blog @ IGN

BioWare's irrregular blog at IGN has an update from David Gaider titled What Makes for a Dragon Age Story?

When we approached putting together the Dragon Age setting and story, we wanted something darker and more mature than what we have traditionally worked on. But what does that mean, exactly? To some people, “dark” might simply refer to gore and violence. It might refer to a world filled with horrors where heroism never pays off and unhappy endings are the order of the day. It might refer to adult content and nudity or, if you prefer to be literal, areas bathed in shadow to punctuate the serious subject matter. Dragon Age: Origins has many of the above elements, but when we say “dark” what we are referring to are difficult choices.