Dragon Age 2 - Interview @ NowGamer and Gameplay Video from Igromir

NowGamer talked with Bioware's Mike Laidlaw and then this interview went up on their website. A question about DA: Origins being a niche is answered this way:

We understand that Origins is actually BioWare’s best selling game to date. Does it annoy you then that many still refer to it as a ‘niche’ game?
Not really, since I think that Origins was a bit niche in its overall presentation. You were hit pretty early on with a lot of statistics, and I think there were number of people who were a little turned off by that element of the game. Trying to figure out if you need a high dexterity or not is a little daunting when you’ve seen nothing of the game so far.

We have done a lot of work to make the entry into DA II be smoother and friendlier. You can literally start fighting within 15 seconds of pressing the start button, and then the complexity slowly unfolds, easing you into the experience over the first bits of the game. Will that make it less niche? Hard to say, but I think it’s a better experience overall.

In other DA 2 news, a gameplay video from Igromir Game Expo has been posted on Youtube. Apparently, the start the combat in 15 seconds seems true - at least from the way the video portrays the combat.