pcgamer.com spoke to Bioware co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka at Gamescom this year about Bioware’s impressive lineup of upcoming games. Apparently BioWare are “testing the crap” out of Star Wars: The Old Republic, trying to squash every bug and glitch that they can find in TOR’s enormous world before it’s eventually released. Send over a few Beta test and we will be happy to help out:) Checfk out the full interview below:
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BioWare: The Old Republic will be “one of the biggest launches ever in the history of gaming”
Eurogamer explains how EA is waiting to make the announcement of a release date for when they are sure the game is ready to “pull the trigger” after they spoke with them at Gamescon last week. BioWare co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk explained that it was vital from day one – whenever that may be – to ensure the game was “available, reliable, [and] really solid”. He said: “We’re doing our very best to get it out as fast as we can. With a game like this, getting it all right, getting all the server stuff right is just as important as getting the game right.”” Thousands of people are waiting to play the game and while we are all super excited to finally have it for ourselves, we share the sentiments that we don’t want a launch until it’s properly prepped and ready to go. But just how much longer…
Greg Zeschuk Interview and Q&A with the Docs
Gamescom is over, but new interviews are still popping up all over the internet. Here is an interview with BioWare co founder Greg Zeschuk, and below is the Q&A session with the Docs in HD. The interview with Mr. Zeschuk also has some ingame content, all witch I believe have been showed before, but still nice.
BioWare Meet and Greet
Exciting news is coming out about the GamesCom this year over in Europe. The Bioware developers are planning on having a “meet and greet” to allow people to get to know them a bit better. This is likely to be on the must-do list for all GamesCom attendees this year. What is even more important to consider is that the event may be RSVP only, though this has not been confirmed. Something as cool as meeting the guys responsible for developing Bioware is sure to be a hit. Bottom line, you need to pay attention to Twitter and our website for more details as they come available so you know what to do to secure your spot. It is almost certain to be a hot ticket at such a huge event. On Twitter, Stephen Reid (Rockjaw) said that the event would be on Friday night but gave no further details….
Gamescon 2011: BioWare announces Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes
Here is the first of many fun updates from Gamescon 2011. BioWare has a great announcement for Warhammer fans… The Warhammer universe just got a huge boost in fun as BioWare announced Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes. This new free-to-play online game will be one of the most exciting things in the world of gaming for the fall season. Wrath of Heroes sounds like it should be a ton of fun and almost certainly will be a hit. Being free to play makes it all the better. BioWare is making quite the splash at GamesCom for 2011, and this latest announcement is a big example of why. Wrath of Heroes is being touted as a PvP combat type game that will be played within the Warhammer Universe. It is supposed to be highly competitive while at the same time extremely engaging. Plenty of heroes will be available to fit any…
The Force is with EA: Analyst Predicts Over 3 Million SWTOR Units sold
Yes… 3 MILLION! $ERTS stock has risen due to SWTOR pre-orders. EA is doubling projected sales from 1.5 million copies to 3 million copies. This is big news for EA, BioWare and anyone who is a fan of SWTOR or has an invested interest in the game. An article today on Forbes, an analyst discusses the rising predictions in sales and the potential success of SWTOR, which may be larger than anyone anticipated. ERTS this morning is up 24 cents, or 1.4%, to $17.86. Cowen analyst Doug Creutz says: “Since ‘Star Wars‘ became available for pre-orders three weeks ago, it has tracked very strongly on the Amazon.com top-selling video games list,” he writes in a research note. “We believe it is trending as well or better than two of the top-selling PC titles last year, Blizzard’s ‘Starcraft 2‘ and ‘World of Warcraft: Cataclysm‘, both of which went on to sell…
EA’s EA2D Studio Now ‘BioWare San Francisco’
EA’s EA2D Studio is now ‘BioWare San Francisco’! Electronic Arts made the announcement to Gamasutra confirming that it is now a division of BioWare and confirmed the new name. EA2D Studio was originally founded as a small browser-based site designed for casual titles. Its goal was to create high-quality social games that allowed devoted gamers to connect over different platforms, which include but are not limited to, playing online and on mobile devices. EA2D studio is known for creating “Mirror’s Edge 2D” and the prominent “Dragon Age Legends”, in which Soren Johnson (Former Civilization series lead designer) helped EA2D studio design. They’re also responsible for developing the tactical game “RPG Dragon Age Journeys” and the platformer game “The Fancy Pants Adventures”, which was ported to both the “Xbox Live Arcade” and then to the “PlayStation Network”. This big move comes after some changes took place at the studio and executive…
EA Reorganizes Divisions: BioWare Now ‘Own Label’
A story reported by Gamasutra says that Electronic Arts is making some changes in their company, including shuffling divisions and calling BioWare their own label. They will now take control of Dragon Age Legends studio EA2D. EA’s Frank Gibeau will run the new “EA Labels” that include BioWare, EA Sports, EA Play and EA Games. This is the first big change to the formation of EA Labels. Basically it means that BioWare is no longer part of EA Games but is instead its own label. Here is some information from the story on Gamasutra: EA Sports president Peter Moore, the former Microsoft executive who helped launch both the Xbox and Xbox 360, has been promoted to chief operating officer of Electronic Arts. According to company filings, he will oversee “EA’s global publishing organization, global online initiatives including the Origin platform, media sales and central development services.”” Finally, the company revealed…
BioWare brings Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age II DLC to San Diego Comic Con
On BioWare Social, Chris Priestly announces that Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age II DLC will come to San Diego Comic Con. “BioWare is once again returning to the San Diego Comic Con and this year, we are bringing Mass Effect 3 and a never before seen, Dragon Age II DLC with us. Comic Con begins Thursday July 21 and runs through Sunday July 24 and we will have all sorts of awesome BioWare coolness at our base in the Hilton Gaslamp hotel. This will be the first opportunity for fans to play Mass Effect 3 as well as the next Dragon Age II DLC. In addition, we will be hosting the first annual BioWare Costume Contest on Friday, July 22 for the best BioWare inspired costumes. We’ll be giving away awesome convention swag, opportunities to meet members of the BioWare staff, and we’ll have a special designated area…
18,000 Accounts Compromised in BioWare Breach
BioWare has joined the illustrious club of the recently violated after a hacker gained access to a decade-old community server system associated with their Neverwinter Nights forum on June 14th. According to a post from BioWare’s Edmonton Studio GM Aaryn Flynn, hackers breached the server and may have gained access to the account details of around 18,000 users that include user account names and passwords, email addresses and birth dates. But if you linked your legacy BioWare account with an EA account, additional information may also have been compromised that includes: your name, mailing address, billing address, language, game entitlements and games played, and other game-specific account information. Luckily, the BioWare investigation has determined that no credit card information was lost in the breach. As a security precaution, BioWare is suggesting that players change their passwords. Yesterday (June 14), we learned that a hacker gained unauthorized access to the decade-old…
High Scale Beta at the end of June?
A conference call on June 14th between William Blair and company analysts and CEO of Electronic Arts John Riccitiello discussed beta testing for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Certain information had players questioning the betas and what this means for a launch date. Daniel Erickson already previously confirmed there will be no open beta before launch so what exactly does “high scale beta” mean? John Riccitiello stated “we’re in mid-scale beta, we’ve got a high scale beta at the end of June.” Riccitiello added “and only the foolish assume they know the outcome of a beta in terms of whether it’s a six week hit or not.”” Stephen Reid responds to John Riccitiello’s comments on the official forum: “Take a deep breath, everyone… Game Testing is currently ongoing for Star Wars: The Old Republic. This isn’t news – it’s been ongoing for quite a while. At different…
BioWare Pulse ep2 – SWTOR & Mass Effect at E3
BioWare have it’s own online show named Pulse now. The show is available via EA’s new online service Origin.com and EA’s official Youtube channel, and is published each Monday. The second episode of the show was released this week, and has an interview with BioWare Co-Founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk. The interview was made immediately after the EA press conference held a last Monday, so it’s up to date stuff! In the interview the doctor talks about what we get to see at thus years E3, as well as his own personal faction preferences in the game. The SWTOR section of the movie starts around 3:40. Check it out below:
The Old Republic Downloads to be Exclusive to EA’s “Origin” Service
Will Origin Top Steam? I have been a Steam gal since 2005. I love the majority of the games released on Steam and I love access to old-school favorites and new releases all from one platform. When rumors first started that EA was building their own similar platform services, I thought it was a great idea, although I was still skeptical about whether or not they would truly compete with Steam when Steam has such a big head start. Launching with Star Wars: The Old Republic is as good a way as any to ensure they have the best possible chance of catching Steam in terms of users. The news was released today that TOR downloads will be exclusive to EA’s Origin Service which should be explained in more detail officially at E3. As of 11:24ET, Origin is officially online if you want to check it out for yourself. And…
Gamasutra interviews the BioWare Doctors
Gamasutra has just released yet another excellent interview with the founding fathers of BioWare Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk. This time the doctors describes why they believe why Star Wars: The old republic stands out from other MMORPGs, in addition to talks about Dragon Age and Mass Effect. It’s a rather lengthy Q&A spreading over four pages, but well worth the read for BioWare and SWTOR fans. There are a lot of experienced people that have worked on MMOs in the past working on The Old Republic, but it’s just hard to imagine how incredibly difficult it could be for a company that hasn’t released an MMO yet to support an MMO. I think players trust the design choices that BioWare is going to make, and innovations in that area, but the support for a game like that — a game as a service — how are you guys approaching…
Star Wars: The Old Republic – Will it Survive through the Hype?
There has been much debate about how SWTOR will stack up to other MMO’s, especially Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. The debate isn’t just about how it will measure up but if SWTOR should even be considered an MMO in the first place. With a supposed completely character-driven storyline how can it be an MMO? David Radd reports that these issues are both good and bad. MMORPGs generally have less story-driven content and more gear, co-operation and gold driven content. SWTOR has set to change that completely but it might come at the price of player numbers. Your average MMO player right now is used to going out and doing X thing to gain Y item. They’re under no illusion that their actions will actually make a difference in the grand scheme of things. Most MMO gamers are used to doing simplistic tasks to get what they want. So if SWTOR…
Could a Mass Effect MMO top The Old Republic?
Could a Mass Effect MMO beat out TOR when it comes to profits? In a recent investor’s note, Mike Hickey predicted that a hypothetical Mass Effect MMO could make more money for Electronic Arts than Star Wars: The Old Republic will. But is this really shocking news? First, the ME franchise has done really well for EA and there is a historical weakness surrounding Star Wars games, which is part of what Hickey made his predictions based on. This is due in part to the fact that royalties have to be paid on all Lucas Arts titles and themes. Hickey said, “Looking forward, we believe BioWare could develop an MMO based on their highly successful Mass Effect franchise, which should have a considerably better (relative Star Wars MMO) margin profile, given the dilutive nature of the LucasArts royalty.” But of course, there is more that goes into making a great…
Star Wars: The Old Republic development cost Could Exceed $80 Million
According to Wedbush Securities analyst – Michael Pachter, the development costs of Star Wars: The Old Republic, could exceed $80 million, especially if you factor in all the marketing and distribution costs. “The contribution from the Star Wars MMO is significant. Under the terms of its deal with LucasArts, EA is required to pay a royalty, but was required to front all of the development, marketing and distribution costs, as well as the costs of building out servers for the game. We estimate that LucasArts’ share is 33% of revenues, AFTER EA recoups its investment in game development. Given that the game was in development for over four years, with an estimated 200 full-time developers working on it, we estimate that EA’s investment exceeds $80 million,” EA has mentioned that it doesn’t need a whole lot of subscribes to make all that profit back and by having about 500,000 subscribers…
Mass Effect 3 delayed to Q1 2012
Interesting news for Mass Effect fans today. BioWare says that Mass Effect 3 will need to wait a little longer to be ready for release. While it was a much anticipated release for fourth-quarter, they have now announced that it will be bumped up to the first three months of 2012 for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. So no ME3 for Christmas guys, sorry. Could this delay have anything to do with the push of SWTOR MMO and the attempts and expectations to get it out before the end of 2011? It’s quite possible as it’s apparent that BioWare is putting most of their eggs in the Star Wars basket. However, another thing to remember is that pushing up the release date on Mass Effect 3 will put it right in the same timeline as the release of Mass Effect 2 in January 2010, bringing the 3rd installment…
BioWare Announces Jeff Hickman to be Executive Producer, Live Services
For those of you who have been wondering who will fill BioWare Austin’s Co-Studio General Manager Gordon Walton’s shoes, we now have an official answer. BioWare announced that Jeff Hickman will be Executive Producer of Live Services for SWTOR. During the Fan Site Summit event, Stephen Reid explained that Jeff Hickman joined BioWare to take on the role left open by Gordon Walton’s departure. Hickman is known for his roles in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning and Dark Age of Camelot. However, some fans are concerned about his role in SWTOR after the somewhat flop of WAR and the early launch problems the game had. But maybe the skeptics are being just a little too tough on Hickman. I mean, WAR struggled for many more reasons than just that and Hickman was not solely responsible for the issues that happened anyway. He was just following orders on what he was…
What is BioWare’s Mysterious New Project “Zulu”?
BioWare is working on a new secret project that might now be slightly less secret, at least according to some reports that say an entry on Microsoft’s PartnerNet service has leaked details about the game. “BioWare presents an adventure beyond your wildest imaginings – fantasy role playing action adventure in space!” The mysterious title reportedly appears on debug Xbox Live with an image and the above description. BioWare fans are all abuzz about what this new “project Zulu” might be. It appears to be episodic and does not appear to have multiplayer or co-op modes. The first episode is referred to as “Episode One: Too Many Cooks: Spoil the Broth” and there is a teaser to the second episode as well- “Episode 2: Another fun adventure to download and play.” Various sources are reporting that a new BioWare title, ‘Project Zulu’ has appeared on the development version of Xbox Live…
BioWare Auctioning Off Exclusive Goods for Japan Relief
If the thought of donating to charity for Japan relief without getting something in return doesn’t really sit well with you, Bioware have you covered. BioWare is holding a charity auction, and all proceeds go to the Red Cross to aid Japan and it’s citizens in light of the recent disaster. The items being auctioned are as follows; two Dragon Age 2 custom painted PS3′s complete with signatures from the founders of BioWare Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, two Dragon Age 2 custom painted Xbox 360s also signed by the founders and ten Mass Effect hoodies signed by the team that created Mass Effect. All of these items are exclusive to the auction, so be sure to check it out and bid on these incredible items for a worthy cause. If you’d like to help out, the auctions can be found here.
Played Dragon Age II? Get Mass Effect 2 Free
You loved Dragon Age II to the tune of 1 million unit sales in under two weeks, and now BioWare wants to love you back–by handing out free downloadable copies of sci-fi roleplaying epic Mass Effect 2. The PC version, that is. “””As a special thank you for helping with the game’s early success, BioWare would like to present you with a download code for 2010’s Game of the Year, Mass Effect 2 on PC,” it said on a page dubbed “The BioWare Sequel Celebration.””” The company also revealed Dragon Age II was faster off the mark than its predecessor, Dragon Age: Origins–no slow-starter itself. If you want to grab your copy of Mass Effect 2, you have until April 30th at 11:59pm PDT. And the offer’s not just for existing Dragon Age II owners: All you need to snag a code is a copy in hand before that end-of-month…
Pax East 2011: BioWare Developer Meet And Greet
TorSyndicate posted a few movies from the Developer Meet And Greet at years Pax East. People were attendance had a chance to ask the devs questions about SWTOR. It seemed like all the guest had a good time, and the camera man was good at getting footage of some of the larger upcoming guilds like “Eternal Vigilance”, “Saints of the old republic”, Requiem etc as well as bloggers from the SWTOR fansite sphere. Check it out below:
Watch out for the SWTOR Beta Scam
The community team over at teh official SWTOR forums, have issued a warning about an ongoing Beta Scam for Star Wars: The old republic: It has come to our attention that there are multiple individuals and sites claiming to sell testing accounts, “beta keys,” or other offers of access to our Game Testing Program. All of these offers are false. BioWare is not issuing invites to Game Testing via any method other than those we outline here on SWTOR.com. We must caution you that these offers are often scams designed to steal your money, credit card information, or identity. While we understand that you are eager to participate in Game Testing, your security is extremely important, and attempting to participate in these offers could put you in very real danger. Furthermore, the sale of accounts with access to the Game Testing Program is strictly prohibited by the Game Testing Agreement. We closely…