Sean Dahlberg posted an announcement on the official Star Wars: The old republic forums: If we can help Bioware get 200.000 followers on Facebook and 30.000 followers on Twitter, we get cookies. Comic-Con International is almost upon us! You already know about the “Beyond Solo” panel being held on Friday, but we have something extra we want to announce during it. You’re going to work for this one, though. If we get at least 200,000 “Likes” on our Facebook page and 30,000 Followers on our Twitter page by Friday, July 23rd, 2010, we will bring you this cool reveal! So there you have it. Get your friends, family, inmates, drug dealers, parole officers and random people you meet on the street to join the Star Wars: The old republic Facebook page and twitter account. And while you are at it. Get them join ours also 🙂
News
Kemp’s The Old Republic: Deceived in schedule shuffle
Sue Rostoni updated her schedule blog today, and most of 2011 is affected. A lot of the moves are only by a month or so, however, and perhaps the biggest news here is that Timothy Zahn’s Allegiance sequel finally has an official title: Hand of Judgment. It’s also moved up a month to July. The most pressing move is Paul S. Kemp’s The Old Republic: Deceived, which drops from December to March – to be closer to the release of the MMO. Joe Schreiber’s Red Harvest moved into the vacant late-December spot. Also drastically pushed back were Alex Irvine’s Nomi Sunrider novel (from May to December 2011) and Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion (to March 2012.) As for the rest, check clubjade’s book schedule.
The official first testing phase for SWTOR begins
The long awaited testing phase of Star Wars: The Old Republic has officially begun. The announcement was made today in the game’s Friday release and testers that have been selected will gain access to the new Star Wars universe. From LucasArts: “Game Testing for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is underway! Those selected to test will gain access to the game and be able to provide valuable feedback to help tune particular areas of gameplay and begin the process of balancing and tweaking content. Game Testing is an on-going process being rolled out in several phases. These phases began with smaller, more focused tests with community members from North America, and later will expand to other territories. Users selected for the test program will be notified via email with more information on accessing the Game Testing Portal. Those not chosen yet may be selected in the next wave! For those…
Rob Chestney Signing in Austin, TX
theforce.net is reporting that Rob Chestney will be signing in Austin, TX. this Thursday at 5-7 pm Rob Chestney is an employee of Bioware and one of the game developers of the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic massively multiplayer online game. He also is the writer of the Star Wars: The Old Republic – Threat of Peace webcomic, which will tie into the videogame. He also wrote The Old Republic: Smuggler’s Vanguard, a short story published exclusively on StarWars.com which tells a story about an adventure of the Mirialan smuggler, Hylo Visz. Star Wars: The Old Republic Rob Chestney Signing Thursday 5 – 7pm Austin Books & Comics is thrilled to be joined by writer Rob Chestney for the debut of Star Wars: The Old Republic #1! This new series sets the stage for the hotly-anticipated massive multiplayer online game, and publisher Dark Horse went to the game’s developer…
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…
Star Wars: The Old Republic at Celebration V and Comic-Con
A few days ago, we asked Sean Dahlberg if Bioware will show up at Celebration V convention next month in Orlando. This was confirmed, but he couldn’t share any more details about what there plans at the convent was: Sean Dahlberg said: Actually, we will be there! We’re not quite ready to share what exactly TOR will be doing at Star Wars Celebration V but we will soon. Star Wars Celebration V takes place Aug. 12-15, 2010 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. You can find ticket and event information at the official Star Wars Celebration Website. Yesterday Sean posted an official announcement that Star Wars: The Old Republic will have a presence at this month’s Comic-Con International in San Diego! Comic-Con International is coming to San Diego, California! Meet up with The Old Republic team at the panel entitled Beyond Solo: Crafting the Multiplayer Story in Star Wars™: The…
Star Wars: The old Republic – E3 Multiplayer Demo
This week’s Friday update brings us a Multiplayer Demo from E3. This demo is an edited versino of the Video G4 hosted a few weeks ago. In this first-glimpse video Dallas Dickinson, the Director of Production, examines the core roles for SWTOR group missions. Dickinson explains the possible functions each class can have: the Trooper can be a tank, the Jedi Knight as an off-tank, the Jedi Consular works primary healing, with the Smuggler covers the DPS and alternate healing. Commander Narlock readies his troops for an Imperial assault. As he does, all four Republic classes; a Jedi Consular, Jedi Knight, Smuggler, and Trooper join together to assist in fighting off the attack. Watch as each player does his or her part to take on the enemies, and beat the Imperial Troopers and Imperial Breach Droids. Is it just me, or is anyone else concerned about the “class = role”…
No Star Wars: The old republic for consoles
Daniel Erickson, lead designer and story writer on Star Wars: The Old Republic, told CVG in an interview today, that no one at Bioware is working on a console version of the game. “We all know the drawbacks of PC. We all scream at our boxes and try to make stuff work. But at the same time, the interface is made for games,” he said. “The mouse/keyboard interface allows so much less restriction [than console]. “”There was not a question when we started Old Republic – or any of our games, for that matter – [what the lead format would be]. There’s a reason the lead SKU for Dragon age was PC as well. When we’re developing an RPG, it’s a natural place to be.” Source: CVG Update: There have been many questions about Mac support. Sean Dahlberg Tweeted a response about this yesterday: @swtorstrategies Currently we are only working for Windows…
BioWare, LucasArts Choose Monolith Monitoring For Star Wars: The old republic
Yesterday Gamasutra reported that BioWare and LucasArts will be utilizing Monolith Software for their IT management of Star Wars: The Old Republic BioWare chose Monolith’s solution for its ability to manage the real-time monitoring of thousands of devices at several data centers in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa “We are building a large game that will be supported by an expansive, complicated IT environment,” says BioWare’s director of infrastructure and services Ruben Cortez. “When you have this complex of an environment for a business reliant on continuous connectivity, you need a monitoring solution that can manage that in real time.” He continues, “We needed a solution that would not require a large footprint so we can identify and respond at Internet speed. Monolith won us over for its robust feature set, real time dashboards, reduced total cost of ownership and commitment to us as customers.”
Star Wars: The old republic – closed beta happening this weekend
There is a thread on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums started by community member Awran that talks about rumors of a “beta” session this weeken. Apparently reports are that 100-200 people received such an invite. Then when Sean Dahlberg responded he didn’t confirm, but he didn’t deny or lock the thread either. Here’s his post: Hey everyone, Thanks for the information and it’s definitely interesting that people are posting about our Game Testing Program. We don’t have anything official to say at this moment but if you have any questions, please check out the Game Testing Program FAQ. And a little later he posted again to reiterate what people are allowed to disclose and what not: The Game Testing Agreement that was agreed upon (when signing up for game testing) states: PERMITTED DISCLOSURES 1. The fact that there is a Game Program. 2. The fact that you are…
EA’s E3 2010 Press Conference Roundup
EA’s press conference for this year’s E3 just finished… and as expected it finished with a smashing The Old Republic cinematic trailer. I Just wanted to put together a quick post that details the things we’ve discovered today, the day BEFORE E3 officially begins! Player Ships! IGN UK revealed through their play with the Smuggler that each class will get their own ship, and it will be highly customizeable. Though they didn’t go into more detail than that I suspect (as I have for a long time) that ships will function much the same as your ship did in the first two KotOR games… a place where your companions hang out, from where you can travel to other planets, and perhaps for things like crafting. Now, they don’t say anything about space combat but if the ships are highlyg customiseable, that’s likely to mean other people will be able to…
Behind the scenes – making of a new Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer
GTTV brings E3 to you early with an exclusive behind the scenes making of a new Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer. The show will be broadcast this Friday at 11PM
LucasArts Gets A New President
It looks like LucasArts will be at E3 2010 next week with their new president in place. ust a month after Darrell Rodriguez left his position as head of LucasArts, the gaming company has named Paul Meegan to fill the void at the helm. Meegan formerly helped found Epic Games China and worked at Ubisoft and Jaleco Entertainment. Meegan has had a long history in the game industry. He founded game developer Sinister Games in 1997 which was bought by Ubisoft a few years later. After serving as an executive at both Ubisoft and the now defunct Jaleco Entertainment, Meegan became the co-founder and CEO of Epic Games China. There’s no word yet if Meegan will be attending E3. IGN also reports that Meegan will get started at LucasArts in mid-June. Source: Kotaku
A favored SWG developer moves to SWTOR
Massively reports that a one of Star Wars Galaxies’ developers, and apparently a fan-beloved one, has moved on to join the The Old Republic development team: Massively has learned some exciting news for Star Wars: The Old Republic and sad news for Star Wars Galaxies. According to his Linked-In profile, the fan-beloved developer, Matt Boudreaux, landed a new job at Bioware’s Austin studios working on SWTOR. Boudreaux, known as AdeptStrain on the SOE forums, implemented some of the most ground-breaking additions to the aging game Star Wars Galaxies, such as new Jedi and melee animations, the Appearance Tab, and the Chronicles System. His role on the SWG team was solidified by his role in creating some of the best instances like Hoth and Death Troopers. His wit and easygoing demeanor gained AdeptStrain quick rapport among fans. Roleplayers, in particular, have a vested interest in his work because of the added…
Friday Update: Blood of The Empire Issue 4
Today’s Friday Update is now online. It is a new issue of the webcomic Blood of the Empire – like announced earlier today. It deals with Teneb Kel’s search for the Emperor’s apprentice. In the fourth issue of Blood of the Empire, Teneb Kel begins his quest to find the Emperor’s apprentice and learn the reason she betrayed her master. But a war-torn galaxy isn’t always friendly toward Sith, and without a squad of Imperial soldiers to back him up, Teneb must rely on his wits and his lightsaber for protection. Also: what role does the Republic play in Exal Kressh’s machinations? Check out the latest issue of Blood of the Empire now! In reference to hints contained in webcomics, BioWare’s Sean Dahlberg had a statement: While we can understand some people may be frustrated, I want to say the vast majority of people will forgive us after E3 2010….
BioWare adds Irish customer service center
Electronic Arts has announced plans to open a European customer service and operations center for its BioWare studio, to be based in Galway, Ireland. The new facility will provide BioWare with greater proximity to European players. This investment is being supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland. The Prime Minister of Ireland, Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD, said, “EA is the global leader in interactive entertainment and a very important addition to the thriving games industry in Ireland.” Here’s the press release from EA. It also includes a link to apply for a position if you feel the need. Congratulations to Bioware and Galway: EA TO OPEN CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER IN GALWAY, IRELAND Irish Government Welcomes Investment By Leading Interactive Entertainment Company Geneva, Switzerland, May 26, 2010 — Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced plans to open a European customer service and operations center for its BioWare™ studio, to be based…
Leveling is, let’s face it, ridiculous… ?!?
There has been an ongoing thread on the official forums this past week entitled “Leveling is, let’s face it, ridiculous” that has garnered quite a bit of attention. It became so popular in fact that the Lead Combat Designer Damion Schubert decided to drop in and leave a line. In his post he discusses a lot of interesting faults with skill based leveling systems. Quote From: Damion Schubert Not to go into the details of what advancement systems we will have or not have inside the game but… this doesn’t always work out this rosily, without great designer care. I worked on Meridian 59, which was a wholly skill-based game, and learned a lot about the strengths and pitfalls of systems like it. One of my great pet peeves of pure skill-based systems is that they claim that they are more realistic, but they in fact can create extremely unrealistic situations…
SWTOR Reveals Hoth and Blood of the Empire Issue 3
Precisely as we speculated yesterday, today on The Empire Strikes Back’s 30th birthday BioWare BioWare’s latest announcement reveals the icy planet as the latest addition to the game and it comes with new HoloNet details and a short video preview. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Thirty years ago to the day, Star Wars™: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back™ opened in movie theaters, forever changing the cinematic landscape. Bursting with action-packed battles, fast paced dialogue, and characters faced with complex choices, the echoes of this landmark film are still felt today. From toys, to fashion, to punk rock, its influence is everywhere. The Empire Strikes Back has not only changed how we relate to our favorite movies, but has made a lasting contribution to our very culture. To commemorate this monumental continuation of the Star Wars™ story, we are proud to reveal the ice world…
Star Wars: The old Republic – Species and Specializations
Aparently there have been a press event hosted in the UK over the last few days on Star Wars: The Old Republic class=”Apple-style-span”> ( Damn I would have liked to be invited).
SW:TOR not planned for fiscal year 2011
During EA’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call, CEO John Riccitiello made a reference to a “major new massively multiplayer online game” — probably Star Wars: The Old Republic. “”EA is incurring significant development costs for a major new massively multiplayer online game,” he said. “”However, this game is not expected to ship in fiscal ’11.” Later, CFO Eric Brown responded directly to a question about The Old Republic, saying that “It’s not included in our FY11 release slate.”” This all but confirms that Star Wars: The Old Republic is the game referred to by Riccitiello during a similar call in January, when he gave a “major MMO” a release date of spring 2011. If it’s in the spring, but not in EA’s fiscal 2011 (which ends March 31), that means we can look forward to some Jedi fellowship sometime between April and June of next year.
What does Alganon and SWTOR have in common ?
The fine people over at Kill Ten Rats alerts us of press release for the upcoming fantasy MMORPG Alganon, that copies one of the first BioWare press releases almost word by word. Here you got Alganon press release. Note it is dated Wednesday, April 28, 2010. Traditionally, massively multiplier online games have been about three basic gameplay pillars – combat, exploration and character progression,” Derek Smart continued. “In Alganon, in addition to these we’ve added the fourth pillar to the equation; a story. We delivered a fun, immersive adventure that gamers expect in a top quality massively multiplayer online game. To top it all off, we’re not done yet. A whole new adventure with new updates will follow soon, starting with a consignment house, new classes, PvP and much more. Read this before somewhere? That’s probably because it was posted a while back on The Old Republic’s official site – October 21, 2008 “Traditionally, massively multiplayer online games have been about three…
No Sarlacc Enforcer Class!
At the start of April BioWare announced that they were including a ninth class in Star Wars: The Old Republic, namely the Sarlacc Enforcer. And I’m sure that many of you were looking forward to playing the stealthy lurker. But now BioWare dashes all of your hopes and dreams by announcing that the Enforcer won’t be a class after all. As per Sean Dahlberg’s post: Hey everyone, We hope that you have enjoyed the Sarlacc Enforcer class reveal we made on April 1st. We just wanted to confirm that the Sarlacc Enforcer is not going to be a class and that it was just some fun we were having for April Fool’s day this year. We’ve had quite a bit of fun reading all the posts and threads that were created and we sure do hope you’ve had as much fun as we’ve had! While you can no longer post…
LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez has resigned
And for some real shocking news, that is if you’re shocked by that kind of thing, it seems that LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez has resigned from his position. It is uncertain why he resigned, but it seems that LucasFilm’s Jerry Bowerman will hold LucasArts‘ reigns until a full-time replacement can be found. It is said that a number of other top executives are leaving as well, though apparently it shouldn’t affect any games in development. According to a statement given to IGN: “”Darrell Rodriguez has resigned and we have initiated a search for a new leader,” the company said in a statement given to IGN. “”Jerry Bowerman – a member of the Lucasfilm Board of Directors and a games industry veteran – will be stepping in to lead the LucasArts executive team during this transition. Lucasfilm remains fully committed to making great games and we continue to invest in our…
Star Wars: The old republic Revealing Darth Malgus
Today was a day where we got to know more about those living in the universe of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Next to a trio of new biographies, we also got a new section to the HoloNet. But let’s start with the biographies, as per the official news We’ve expanded the Biographies section of the HoloNet to include more of the exciting figures you will meet in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™! This update includes profiles of three of the most influential people in The Old Republic era: Galactic Republic Special Forces commander, General Garza; the fierce warrior and sole ruler of the Mandalorians, Mandalore; and the star of the “Deceived” cinematic trailer, the ruthless Darth Malgus! This is just the second in a series of regular updates to the Biographies section so be sure to check back regularly! For this “star of the “Deceived” cinematic trailer” they’ve got…