Machinima had a chat with Daniel Erickson. The interview covers Raids, flashpoints and what the BioWare team has for us at this years E3
interview
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…
Hundar Presents Old Republic’s Daniel Ericson
And a great new format for YouTube videos/interviews… Here is an awesome video interview with Daniel Erickson from Hundar. In this format, you can choose the questions and you can skip right to the answers you want to see the most. The video covers a variety of topics, including: TOR Dev Team A Love Letter to Star Wars Dragon Age? Party Comp Class Rivalries Release Date? Good vs Evil Player Choices Working with EA BioWare in Austin Class Balance The Dark Side Kill Your Companions KOTOR Answers Some highlights from the video interview include: You don’t have to have played KOTOR to understand TOR but there will be unanswered questions for previous KOTOR players that are answered in TOR, bringing some closure to the story and tying it all in neatly for the timeline. All of the questions about all of the major characters of KOTOR will be covered but…
USA Today chats with the BioWare Doctors
USA Today has an interesting Q and A with the two founders of BioWare; Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk. The interviews surrounds subjects like their recent induction into the AIAS Hall of Fame, how they ended up developing games, and personal stuff. Check out a snip below, and read the full Q & A here. Q: Ray, I know you are an avid poker player. What do you find that has in common with game development? A: There is a lot of nuance to it. It is fun to just sit at the table and talk to other folks. There is a story being told through what you represent with your bets and what you say and what other people say and how you interpret that. There’s a lot of math and statistics, so understanding that is an entry point, a requirement to be successful. It’s sort of a microcosm…
Star Wars: The Old Republic – Bounty Hunter Class Video
Bounty Hunters rock.. OK…. they ROCK! IGN has the sneak peek at the latest class video for Star Wars: The Old Republic – Properly the BioWare update tomorrow. The Bounty hunter was actually one of the first classes that BioWare revealed almost two years ago, and they are still amazing. These guys makes their own law, and enforces it with a wide array of gadgets and weaponry, including a jet pack, grapple cord, flame thrower, missiles, and our personal favorite: carbonite thrower. See it in action in the Bounty Hunter class trailer below and check out the IGN interview about the kick ass class here.
BioWare founders on why corporate humility matters
A few month ago we posted the story of BioWare. Now doing the DICE Summit in Las Vegas this week, the Founders of BioWare; Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk was honored in the gaming’s Hall of Fame for their contributions to the game industry over the past two decades. Venturebeat had a chance to sit down and speak about what the guys believe is the key behind BioWare’s massive success and to talk about their up comming games including Star Wars: The Old Republic. According to the doctors, their key to success comes from the corporate humility that is one of the foundations in their company philosophy. Muzyka and Zeschuk have a lot of old-fashioned values. They run their company as a meritocracy. They keep their promises. They communicate with a clear measure. They focus on quality. They are persistent in the face of adversity. In the interview below they…
Star Wars: The Old Republic Interview: Doctoring the Story
Gamespot.com did an interview with the two founders of BioWare Dr. Greg Zeschuk and Dr. Ray Muzyka. The interview is mainly about the forth pillar in SWTOR – the story. Not much new information is revealed, but it’s nice to hear them say that the game is in the “finishing stages.” Check it out below.
TORWars Chats with SWTOR’s David Bass
The crazy guys over at Torwars had a chat with BioWare’s Senior Community Coordinator for Star Wars: The old republic, David Bass. The interview has been broken up into two Q&A Sessions were Mr. Bass answers questions about him self and the community in the first part, and answers more concrete gaming related questions in part two. Here is a snip: TORWars: Will we see content rolled out in regular patches as well as in boxed expansions? David Bass: We will absolutely roll out patches on a regular basis post-launch. It’s extremely important that we get feedback from players from the first moment they get their hands on the game, as that will help drive future patches once we release.
News about SWTOR Flashpoints + new video
BioWare has never been shy about adding elaborate stories to their games and Star Wars: The Old Republic may be their most ambitious attempt to date. GameSpot recently got the chance to speak with World Designer Jesse Sky about the game’s Flashpoint gameplay. The interview features a look at the fortress mission on Taral V, which a full group of four players can play through in about 90 minutes. Along the way, players can discover things that may change the way that their adventure plays out. In the below video we’re introduced to the flashpoint Taral V, a Republic-based adventure in which you will be infiltrating an Empire facility to steal a specialized computer: Jesse summarize the contents of Taral V like this: The emperor is holding a powerful Jedi captive in his personal prison–a massive space station at the heart of the Maelstrom Nebula. Only a Gree computer is…
The Jace Hall Show visits BioWare
The Jace Hall Show is a video game show hosted by Jace Hall consisting of interviews with celebrities and those involved in the video game industry. The Jace Hall Show is a production of HDFILMS and is distributed by IGN Entertainment. In this episode Jace Hall took a trip down to Austine to visit Bioware. Out of that came some strange stuff, along with some new space footage at end. Enjoy:
Interview with Georg Zoeller
Torocast hat a chance to sit down with Georg Zoeller, the lead combat designer at Bioware and ask him a bunch of questions. TOROcast: Early in development, BioWare said that they were doing something unique and special with healing. What is happening that is different compared to a typical MMO design? Georg Zoeller: In Star Wars: The Old Republic, improving your character’s Presence attribute, which governs healing ability, also improves the character’s active companion in various ways. Coupled with the ability to adjust companion behavior and equipment, this enables the player to function as a healer; even in solo situations.
SWTOR’s Lead PvP Designer talks about warzones and PvP
With every Star Wars fan eagerly awaiting the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic from BioWare, Ten Ton Hammer’s own Jeff “Ethec” Woleslagle traveled to BioWare’s favorite spaceport cantina to learn more about the PvP aspects of the game. Quaffing a few bottles of Tusken Banthan Sweat with Gabe Amatangelo, lead PvP designer, he learned some interesting tidbits about the Alderaan warzone and PvP in general. Gabe Amatangelo: The major thing is that it’s an immersive experience and that the Alderaan war zone has a visceral mechanic or it has a visceral coding to every MMOG mechanic. You’re seeing ships go down, you’re seeing damage to the ship, you’re retargeting guns. I’m holding that philosophy to PvP in general in The Old Republic. Learn more about PvP in Star Wars: The Old Republic in TTH’s interview with Gabe Amatangelo.
Interview with Stephen Reid
SWTOR-ESP.com brings us an interview with Stephen Reid. Honestly Mr. Reid hasn’t said anymore than what we (the fans) already know, other than the fact he likes playing as a debonair smuggler as he woes the ladies at one of the local cantinas shooting one of Greedo’s ancestor right between the eyes than he does playing the celibate Jedi; although, wielding a lightsaber and the Force is super fun. Mr. Reid is from Britain who is the Senior Community Manager for The Old Republic and has only just moved into the U.S. last year, but has worked for U.S.companies for the past 2. He has had his hand in various game industries for the past 12 years but he’s been working with MMORPG’s for the last 6. To those that need TOR to be subtitled in another language other than English they’re currently working on French and German. Answering questions were tough, since…
More reviews from the big gaming sites
Reviews are still pupping up all over the interwebs. With in the last few hours, Massively, VideoGamer, Eurogamer, and some of the more “hardcore” Star Wars the old republic fansites such as DarthHater and TOROCast has posted their reviews of the Jedi Immersion Event. Here is an update and a snip from each site. Firstly we got Massively that spoils us with a long review plus a few ingame movies: And for the people worried that SWTOR is going to be a Star Wars-themed World of Warcraft, you can rest easy too. The dialogue system guarantees that returning to your quest-giver isn’t just a mad dash of clicks. Your quest choices actually matter. The NPCs talk to you, and you’re going to want to talk back. I never once had the urge to skip the quest text (in fact, I was terrified I’d miss something if I looked away!), and…
NowGamer interviews Daniel Eriksson
NowGamer had a chance to sit down with Daniel Eriksson and get some community question answered. Here is a snip: You’re entering a market that’s dominated by World of Warcraft – other than the license, what’s going to draw players to The Old Republic? I really think the unique selling point is going to be the storytelling. One of the great things about storytelling is it’s universal, it’s easy to get into – when you first played it you just clicked on a guy and started making choices in a dialogue, and it was easy to understand how to do that. It’s a great way to very gently introduce somebody to an MMO that has maybe not played something like that. Because we’ve taken the focus off the grind and the levelling, if you’re not that sort of player you can play our game for a couple of hours and put…
New SWTOR Video interviews from G4TV
G4TV have added two new Star wars the old republic video interview to their library. The first one is with Daniel Erickson in witch he explains the gathering, crafting, and mission components that make up crew skills. There is not much new information coming from Mr. Erickson in this interview, although he mentions some race/class combos. The Second interview is with BioWare Co-Founder Dr. Ray Muzyka. This interview is more or less the same as the one gamespot did, but have some information on Dragon age 2 also. Check em both below: Video Description: Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the largest Star Wars game ever and will feature PvP. Morgan Webb here visits with BioWare Lead Writer Daniel Erickson for a look at Gathering, Crafting, and Missions, and the Warzones these battles will take place in. Video Description: BioWare Co-Founder Dr. Ray Muzyka could have coasted along for…
Daniel Erickson & Gabe Amatangelo Interview by Game Revolution
Game Revolution Posted an interview with Daniel Erickson and Gabe Amatangelo the other day. The interview don’t bring anything new to the table, but it is still worth a watch – at least you get to check out this chick Alex and Mr. Erickson’s very benevolent arm resting behind her ( Hope you got her home safe buddy). Some small notes: Purple items mentioned (in regards to Treasure Hunting crits). “No crafting in PvP”. PvP is: “players fighting other players” (groundbreaking!) Philosophy to always be able to progress your character being described as “Multi-path playing” (through PvP, PvE, Space Combat etc).
Gamespot interview with Dr. Ray Muzyka
Gamespot had the chance to do an interview with BioWare’s Ray Muzyka at this years EA Winter Showcase. The interview is mostly about how the game is shaping up, but there is an interesting part about the recent announcement on EA being named the sole publisher of the game. Aparently this haven’t changed the development process of the game, and with EA focusing on worldwide publishing, Lucasarts can concentrate on adding ideas to the game and help out with the marketing end of it.
All about The Old Republic’s PvP with TOR’s Lead PvP Designer Gabe Amatangelo
Hundar from machinima.com awkwardly cornered Gabe Amatangelo and roughed him up for all of Star Wars The Old Republic PvP info he could wring out of him. They discussed in detail some of the PvP mechanics and what they’ll bring. Swtor-life.com has summed up the highlights: There will be experience awarded for PvP There will be token awards to get “identifiable” gear (so you get recognized as PvP player) There are different levels of PvP gear (level 15 and level 50) Alderaan warzone usually lasts between 5 and 15 minutes Next warzone (derelict starship one) will have Assault type game mechanics At the point of talking about whether there will be “seasonal updates” of PvP gear (so that it gets upgraded once first set of PvP gear gets “outdated”), Gabe Amatangelo mentioned that: “Yes there will be multiple level 50 PvP sets“. This leads us to believe that Level 50 is the max level…
Everything about The Old Republic with Daniel Erickson
Picture stolen from swtor-life Hundar from machinima.com talked with Daniel Erickson about everything we can expect to see in The Old Republic… and we do mean everything!
Interview with Stephen Reid
Star Wars – The old Republic has a new Community Manager. His Name is Stephen Reid and everybody wants to have an Interview and of course everyone wants to know : ” how is the game progressing and how do you like it ?”. Massively is introducing the new guy on the ship and his opinions about the game. Massively: We just had an article come out that was about whether or not the community should be agitating for the devs to change things to suit future players’ desires. That’s like the big community debate now… do you think it’s a worthwhile effort? Reid: This is kind of an eternal debate, especially for MMOs, which tend to have long development times, and especially for games like this one [that] have had a long announcement cycle, too. I absolutely think that healthy discussion and debate around a game’s development is fine…
Interview with Daniel Erickson on companion integration
In a recent Interview with Darth Hater Daniel Erickson covered the Crew Skills. Now he is going a little deeper into the companion integration and recipe mechanics.
SWTOR – Crafting and Crew Skill Interviews [Update]
Both Massively and Darth Hater, spoke to Lead Writer Daniel Erickson about the Crew Skills and the Crafting component of Star Wars – The Old Republic. Bioware revealed a new Trailer yesterday, which was introducing the main facts that were announced at EA’s Winter Showcase last week. On Darthhater, Daniel Erickson is speaking about everything from the video with some ingame references while the massively interview is more like a Question and Answer talksession with a comparison of SWTOR and SWG crafting , and more insight in PvP and Recipes. So we would get recipes that are super rare? Yes. There are elite, rare recipes. People who want to dabble in crafting, can, and can be successful in it and make themselves a little bit better. People who are not terribly interested in crafting can do the mission system and still get some cool stuff out of their companion characters….
Bigpoint CEO claims SWTOR won’t be profitable
Bigpoint is one of the Biggest Publishers for F2P and Browser Games and CEO Heiko Hubertz recently stated that he believes that Star Wars – The Old Republic will never be profitable with it’s current financial concept. “If you look in the traditional industry there are still a lot of big bets there,” said Hubertz, keynoting the London Games Conference this evening. “Still there are companies investing $20-40 million for a game. These companies have to be profitable after one or two months. They don’t have 12 months or even more. I think these companies are really in trouble in the future if a user can play online games for free. “If you look at a game like Star Wars from EA and BioWare, they estimated a development budget of more than $100 million. This is an online game for many million of subscribers, so a big publisher does not…