The Danish Gaming site Pixel.tv ( or TV station as it actually is) released an interview with Biowares co founder Greg Zeschuk about Star Wars: The old Republic. We’re probably about at the tail end of E3 now. There might be a few more things (like perhaps some awards) after this, but I’m not expecting much more.
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Star Wars: The Old Republic nears completion
BBC has an interesting interview with Greg Zeschuk from Bioware. We don’t get an exact release date, but it seems like spring 2011 is still the goal. The interview mostly made for people that are new to the MMORPG scene, but it is till an interesting read. The massive multiplayer online role-play game (MMORPG) Star Wars: The Old Republic is nearing completion. While the Canadian developer BioWare would not be drawn on an exact date, it said that spring 2011 “was not unrealistic””. “”It’s getting closer, it’s coming down the pipe,” the firm’s founder Greg Zeschuk told BBC News. At present the MMORPG market is dominated by World of Warcraft, which boasts more than 10m players. Star Wars: The Old Republic is set 4,000 years before the events in the movies, which gave the developers almost a free hand in creating a unique persistent Star Wars universe. “The only requirement…
Interview with Alexander Freed – Questing and choices
Massively brings an interesting interview with Managing Editor on Star Wars: The old republic, Alexander Freed. The interview is mainly about what the different types of quests will be available in SWTOR, what compelling choices players have to make, and what it takes to write for a project of this magnitude. Here us a snip: We’ve got four different kinds of quests. We’ve got our class quests, which is what we’ve really focused on when we’ve talked to the press about story. It’s traditional BioWare storytelling in an MMO space. The other three types of quests that we’ve got are all group quests. We’ve got world quests which are essentially like the side quests that you’d see in Dragon Age or Mass Effect. They can be played in a group. That is where you see our multiplayer dialogue system in action. Then we’ve got our flashpoints, which are our big,…
Sean Williams Interview
Author Sean Williams talks about “Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance“, his other books (“The Force Unleashed, New Jedi Order: Force Heretic”)and blogging! at Comic-Con in 2010. Remember to check out our Fatal Alliance Review Update;: You can now read the first 50 pages of the book here.
The Guild – Talking with Krom
Last week I asked for people to write me about their guild experience, and it didn’t really matter if you were a leader, officer or simply a member – all we’d like to know was your experience in mmo’s. Luckily I encountered Krom, who was so friendly to share some of his thoughts and experiences through several mmo’s and over several years. He was also so kind as to answer some of my questions. What you read below is uncut. You can visit Krom’s guild here: www.crimsonnova.net And now, on to the interview! Hello. I go by the name of Krom in most of the games I’ve played. I got into guild leadership in 2001 as a third tiered officer in a Diablo 2 clan. Eventually, I became one of the tier one officers in that guild, KLS, and remained so until I left d2 for SWG at its launch….
More making of the Music for Star Wars: The Old Republic
GameSpot brings an extra dose of yesterdays goodies, as they go behind the scenes at Skywalker Sound. The website interviews, the 5 full-time composer who work on the music for Star Wars: The Old Republic, about the challenges and the excitement of not only writing their own pieces for the game, but also how they had to look at the music John Williams composed 30 years ago without copying his music and style. We have some really, really talented people working on this project. I think it’s going to sound spectacular. – Will Roget, Composer Check ut the full movie below, or watch it at Gamespot (Video also available in HD) Update: One sharp-eyed fan, Chronium, in the official swtor forums caught the title of the sheet music in Gamespot’s video documentary about the music of TOR. At the top it clearly says, “Corellia Intro.” Could this mean that Han Solo’s home planet will…
Bioware: thoughts on game development
BioWare is a company that’s known for its big titles, like Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age. The one thing all these have in common is their size; in terms of length, depth, and scope, BioWare adventures and RPGs are all epic. But BioWare co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk says the company is currently working on a small-scale MMO and is looking at titles for non-console platforms. Dr. Greg Zeschuk was on stage at this year’s Develop Conference in Brighton yesterday, providing wisdom culled from over 15 years in the development trenches at the top-tier developer. Over the course of the keynote, Zeschuk warned against new developers aiming to create blockbusters, stating “Striving to do triple-A console development right now is the wrong goal for most developers.” Zeschuk also spoke of the drastic changes that come with success, noting that BioWare has had a tough…
TOROcast Exclusive with Deborah Shin and Rob Cowles
They guys over at TOROcast have put up an excellent interview with Deborah Shin, Marketing Manager for BioWare, and Rob Cowles, Marketing Manager for Lucas Arts. I wasn’t aware that this was interesting people until I found out they work closely with Darth Dahlberg on what, were and when new info is being released on Star Wars: The old republic. While at E3 2010 Brandon and I had the chance to sit down and talk with Deborah Shin, Marketing Manager for BioWare, and Rob Cowles, Marketing Manager for Lucas Arts. The first thought through your mind is most likely, “why in gods name would I want to watch an interview with the Marketing Managers for a video game?” Well, the answer to that question is this, Deb and Rob work closely with Sean Dahlberg in picking out what and when something will be released about TOR. The three of them…
Daniel Erickson: “Star Wars: The old Republic is your dream game”
ComputerAndVideoGames.com posted an interview with lead designer and story writer Daniel Erickson. In it Daniel claims that Star Wars: The Old Republic is “the dream game” for BioWare fans and for MMO fans: “”If you are a hardcore, traditional Bioware fan – a Mass Effect or especially Dragon [Age] fan – this is the dream game. It is an RPG forever. It is an RPG that at the speed and pace that I play RPGs as a gamer, five or ten hours a week, I could never finish this game,” Erickson says. He doesn’t stop there though. “If the idea of story and context really turns you off, if what you want is [just the] complete Disneyland experience, where you run on the rides and repeat the stuff, this probably isn’t your favorite MMO,”. Check out the original post at CVG. And if you’re lucky enough to be attending the…
BioWare Has Plan For Star Wars End Game
BioWare has told IncGamers that gamers who are worried about the ‘elder’ game – once you’ve completed levelling up your character – in Star Wars: The Old Republic, shouldn’t be worried. Speaking to IGTV, Ohlen said that a game of Star Wars: The Old Republic’s scope “has so many features” that it’s hard to talk about them all. He confirmed the team were aware of the frustrations gamers feel when they level up to the max and complete all the quests, and said that SWTOR will not be like other MMOs out there. “I know some people are worried, for example, about the elder game [and are asking] ”what happens in the elder game, what happens when you get to the highest level?’ We do have a plan for that and we will be revealing it the future.” Ohlen says that because the team are all MMO gamers, their concerns…
BioWare team totally rebuilt conversation system after seeing Mass Effect
In an interview with CVG lead designer and storywriter Daniel Erickson revealed that BioWare had to re-think the Conversation System in Star Wars: The old republic after seeing Mass Effect. Originally the game was built far more like Dragon Age as far as Conversation System went,” he said. “”Our player characters were not going to be voiced because it’s a massively insane expenditure and hugely complicated to do. You have to cast 16 of the best actors ever and then hold them for eternity. He goes on to illustrate how the original Mass Effect caused the TOR team to adjust their thinking, as it debuted very early in the latter’s development cycle. You can read the full article at CVG.
Brian Arndt Video Interview
The guys over at Torocast, have released yet another video interview from E3 2010. This time it’s the interview is with Media Designer for SWTOR – Brian Arndt. Much like our last interview, we focused on asking questions that were outside of the box to get to know the people behind Bioware and what their job is like. So we didn’t ask those juicy questions that only get a “We can’t talk about that now” answer and focused on the behind the scenes peek at what is going on with the game and how things are done. As a result we have our interview with Brian Arndt about his role as a Media Designer for SWTOR.
Angry Joe nterviews Creative Director James Ohlen
Angry Joe invades the TOR Booth @ E3 2010 and interviews Creative Director James Ohlen Sith Lord Angry Joe fights his way through Jedi Warriors to get a behind closed doors demo & Interview with James Ohlen, the Studio’s Creative Director – Who then puts a STOP to Joe’s Rampage!
35 Minute Video Interview with Sean Dahlberg (E3 2010)
The fine people over at Torocast.com had the chance to speak with the The Community Manager for Star Wars: The Old Republic, Sean Dahlberg. This turned out to become a pretty interesting 35 min. long interview were “the big boys” discuss E3 and all the news about the game that has been released during the last few days.
Video Interview with Daniel Erickson
DarthHater.com had the opportunity to make a pretty interesting video interview with Daniel Erickson – the lead writer for Star Wars: The old Republic. The interview touches subjects such as: player ships, warzones, companions and party dynamics. See the interview right here:
IGN Interviews BioWare on Companions
IGN has an intresting interview with James Ohlen about the companions in Star Wars: The Old Republic: IGNPC: Companions have been part of BioWare games from Mincs to Liara. How has the role or design of companions evolved over the years? How will The Old Republic improve on the existing companion systems? What have you learned about players’ expectations for the companions? James Ohlen: Companions have evolved a lot since the days of Minsc and Baldur’s Gate. In Baldur’s Gate the companion characters we created were limited to voice over barks and a little bit of story. In Baldur’s Gate 2 we expanded that significantly, adding the ability for players to get to know his companion through intricate conversation trees, companion centered quest lines and romances. Occasionally we wouldn’t have companions as part of our initial design (Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire were examples of that), but we’d always add…
GameSpot interview with Daniel Erickson
GameSpot has a intresting video interview with Daniel Erickson, taken during EA’s London Showcase: We speak to lead writer Daniel Erickson about the bounty hunter class and combat in this long-awaited massively multiplayer online game. Bioware has always been people of their word. When they say “not a shred of repeated content…” I get all wet inside. This is what i look forward to for an RPG. Not to excited about the rattataki. Not a race i took interest in. Hopefully, the Great Hunt of the Terentateks returns to Star Wars: The old republic. This would be an amazing storyline to follow through with.
Genocide and Jedi: why the Sith may be right in Old Republic
arstechnic has a great interview with Daniel Erickson about who the real bad guys are in Star Wars: “The one thing you’re never going to hear is ‘make the bad guys less interesting.’” I’m sitting in an out-of-the-way room of Lucasarts with Daniel Erickson, who keeps swinging back to one topic: why the people we’ve come to hate in the Star Wars universe act as they do. He’s given this some thought; as the lead writer on Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming Star Wars MMO, it’s his job to help tell both sides of the story. In our time together we discuss the extended universe, he makes the case for Grand Admiral Thrawn, and explains how the Jedi attempted genocide… and why the Sith may just be right. While we’re on the topic of the extended universe, he brings up the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn. “Thrawn is…
GDC 2010 Wrap up
With GDC last week, even though Star Wars: The Old Republic had no specific presence, there were a number of interviews and details popping up all over the web. In particular from the off-site event that LucasArts held where the press got some hands-on time with a Trooper. Over on the official forums Sean Dahlberg made a post listing a lot of them (some of which I already reported on before): While there were no panels this year specifically related to The Old Republic during Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2010, there are a few panels that consisted of BioWare developers. There was also an off-site event specifically for The Old Republic that various press and fan sites were invited to. None of this information will show up till early next week so keep your eyes peeled for that. We will be updating the list in this post as more articles…
IGN Video Interview with Daniel Erickson
It’s fairly brief at two-and-a-half minutes and has Daniel Erickson talk a little about the Trooper. “A lot more of the game, really soon” is what caught my attention most, though that’s probably referring to E3. [link] to video interview with Daniel Erickson at IGN.
SWTOR in PC Gamer UK Magazine
When I dropped by the supermarket this weekend I noticed that one of the magazines had a familiar Sith Warrior on the cover. And indeed, what I found was PC Gamer UK’s April 2010 issue, which they’ve labeled “The MMO issue”. And indeed it is, with articles looking at WoW: Cataclysm, a number of future MMOs, rating a number of current MMOs against each other, a free trial for EvE Online on the cover DVD and a number of other articles. But the main article of interest is a six-page article, titled “Tour de Force” looking at Star Wars: The Old Republic. Not that there’s much of any new information in it. Considering when the magazine was published it can’t even cover the presentation given last week during GDC. Though it’s still a nice read. I won’t include scans of the article because I’m sure they’d not be happy with…
Plans for endgame in place
Not really that surprising, but BioWare’s Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk noted that they have plans for The Old Republic’s endgame in place, as noted by VG247: BioWare bossman Ray Muzyka has told VG247’s US editor Stephany Nunneley that plans for what happens after you finish Star Wars: The Old Republic are in place. But speaking at GDC alongside fellow head of the studio Greg Zeschuk, the pair wouldn’t go into specifics as to what would be coming. “We have plans for end game, but can’t be more specific,” said Muzyka, before teasing: “Actually, we can, but we won’t. “But soon actually, it’s nice to be able to reveal things a little bit over time.” “It’s been a long cycle, but we knew that going in and we’ve been very thoughtful about details. People who play MMOs want details,” added Zeschuk. That said, there will be stuff in the game…
Compilation of SWTOR Developer Quotes on Companions
After compiling all I could find on SWTOR companion characters Im certain the experience will be light years beyond any Pet Character we have seen in previous MMORPG’s
Gamasutra Interviews LucasArts President
Gamesutra has an interview with LucasArts President Darrell Rodriguez “On 2010 And Beyond. They talk about all kinds of games-related LucasArts things, but there are a few bit about The Old Republic as well, which I’ll quote here: You’ve worked with some obviously strong partners to bring some of the Star Wars game in recent years, like Krome. Do you hope to continue those relationships or are you staffing up to sort of bring back control of your products in-house? [Darrell Rodriguez]: We’re doing both. So, we’re definitely growing internally, like I mentioned. And we’ll also have phenomenal partnerships. We’ve got a great partnership with BioWare on The Old Republic, one of the best partnerships that I’ve personally worked with. I love working with Ray on a personal level, Ray and Greg, and we’ll continue to look for those opportunities. How closely do you work with BioWare? They have a…