“Early Game Access* for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is only a few days away! Starting December 13, 2011, The Old Republic will begin emailing invitations to start your Early Game Access.” This just in from the official website news section- are you ready to play? The announcement adds: “To ensure that players can get into the game as quickly as possible when their Early Game Access begins, we are now allowing everyone who has redeemed a Pre-Order Code at our Code Redemption Center to pre-load the game to their computer”. Bioware’s Courtney Woods announced that the game is available for pre-load to anyone who has already redeemed their pre-order codes. Stephen Reid also clarified the announcement on Twitter, and notified the community that the Early Access section of the Preorder FAQ had changed. You can now preload the game if you pre-ordered by visiting the SWTOR official website and…
release date
Amazon Germany Showing SWTOR Ship Day December 15th
Possibly due to stocking days when most stores fill up their shelves, some reports are saying that SWTOR will ship to Europe on December 15th. This news came after the confirmation that SWTOR would, in fact, be a worldwide release on December 20th and that European players would not have to wait days after North America to get the game for themselves. Some gamers are reporting stores in Europe letting them pick up pre-orders on the 13th as well as having email alerts of shipping on the 15th or arrival by December 15th. One poster on Reddit had this to share: I just got an email from Amazon (Germany), stating that the “release date” of SWTOR has been moved up to the 15th and that they will ship it earlier because of that. However, the email also states that the official start is still the 20th and only preorders will…
No Need to Uninstall SWTOR Client if You Tested This Weekend
Have you recently beta tested SWTOR? If you were one of the weekend testers this past weekend, you will not need to uninstall the SWTOR client before playing the actual game. Pretty much everyone seemed to be in this massive scale SWTOR game test this past weekend so if you were dreading having to re-download the game client afterwards, you are in luck. As long as you have the most recent version of the game client installed from the Thanksgiving weekend test, you can save some bandwidth and time and just patch the game client, rather than deleting and starting new. Stephen Reid tweeted today: “FAQ: if you played this weekend you do NOT need to uninstall the #SWTOR client. We are planning to patch it to Early Game Access / Live.” Not only is this good news for those who plan to play but it’s also one more sign…
EA Downplays Old Republic Shortage Fears: Will You Get Your Copy?
Don’t have your pre-order copy of SWTOR yet? Are you worried about not being able to get a copy due to the shortage fears that have been going around? Well, you might not need to worry so much after all. While it’s true that EA said they would be rationing/limiting the sale of the game, they have reassured gamers that they are set on a very ambitious launch. “We’re using our beta test to inform us of what scale that we can handle. Our pre-order campaign is tailored towards how we’re going to do that.” EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau told investors. “We’re looking at a rollout plan that is fairly ambitious. We don’t feel like we’re going to be leading too much demand behind at launch but we definitely are going to be very cautious and thoughtful about how many people we bring on and in what order,” he…
SWTOR Release 5 Days before Christmas- a Genius Idea?
Now that we finally have a release date for SWTOR, people are talking about the choice of that date. With December 20th, 5 days before Christmas set for launch, could BioWare be onto something special here? Why did BioWare choose this date anyway? We know the launch date was of super importance when it comes to SWTOR but we almost never see blockbuster titles out so close to Christmas, or even in December at all. So what was EA thinking with this decision? The guys over at Mad Tang have a theory on this topic. A snippet: “It doesn’t matter when the game is released there will be a line out the door to pick up every copy. People are going to do whatever they have to to get a copy of this game. Nerds will fight other nerds during the last minute Christmas rush in epic battles to get…
SWTOR to Model WoW for Launch Strategy
The delay in SWTOR launch is based in part off of Blizzard’s launch of World of Warcraft. Gamasutra explains in an article with quotes from the Citi 2011 Tech Conference. SWTOR has an intended launch with a strong focus on the initial player base. They would rather limit this number and give better service to a smaller demographic than try to reach too many people at once, this diluting the experience overall for everyone. “”We’ve actually studied WoW pretty carefully,” CFO Eric Brown said at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference on Wednesday. “”We spent a lot of time studying the first twelve months or so of WoW, and just to be clear here, when they initially launched, they did not launch in dual geographies. They went North America only.”” Gamasutra covers more from Brown on the topic: “”We really want to make sure that the first group of users into…
TOR date set to be announced later this month or sometime in October
Battlefield 3 pre-orders hit 1.25M: During the Citi 2011 Tech Conference on Wednesday, September 7, Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown announced that Battlefield 3 pre-orders have hit around the 1.25 million mark, and are tracking ahead of previous Battlefield games. “To date we have about 1.25 million preorders on Battlefield 3, so it’s still well ahead of its predecessor title, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, in regards to preorders in the same number of weeks till launch,” he said during the conference, which was listened to by Gamasutra. “So it’s doing very well.” You can read more details in this article on VG 24/7. More exciting news from the Tech Conference: Star Wars: The Old Republic is still aiming for a Q4 release, but, as the firm mentioned earlier in the year, it is prepared for a possible slip into Q1 2012. “We have a date set internally, with a lot…
Old Republic Release Date Tied to Beta, Says EA
EA says, “We don’t want to happen to us what happened to WoW,” in reference to their launch and not in reference to success, of course. EA Labels boss Frank Gibeau explained to CVG that while they have a date for the SWTOR launch, the deciding factor will rest in the hands of the beta testers. The date is tentatively set for “holiday 2011” but will be dependent upon fan reactions to the beta of the game. “We’re driving towards a date, but the very issue you raised is why we’re not announcing a date yet because you want to make sure that these services can last a decade,” the exec said. He adds, “It is definitely tied to the beta test feedback that’s ongoing and so far, so good. We feel good about the date that we’re heading towards but you’re right, you could have a Crazy Ivan show…
The Guardian Says SWTOR Coming In November
SWTOR release date? Such is the fervent desire among Star Wars and MMORPG players these days to find out when we’ll all be able to play SWTOR , that anyone with the actual release date for SWTOR could make an absolute fortune right now. So every time someone reports a date, or even a general time of the year as fact, we’re all bound to pounce on it and further fuel the rumour mill. Today, that reporting body is the UK’s The Guardian newspaper – and despite the track-record of British newspapers in the past few months, we might actually be ready to believe their statement that “Star Wars: The Old Republic is set to launch on PC in November”. That brave statement came at the end of an excellent article on Bioware, in which SWTOR director of production Dallas Dickinson explained why Bioware were brought on-board to build the…
James Ohlen: Companions, Release Date Talk
James Ohlen says large component of SWTOR still un-announced and he explains to Newsarama why this is the case. With all the hype and anticipation that’s been building for this game since it was first revealed, BioWare wants to make sure it lives up to its expectations. The director says “it would be terrible if something went wrong just as the game was getting going,” especially after BioWare has put so much work into TOR for several years. They want to ensure the launch goes smoothly without any major issues. Ohlen also states that any catastrophe such as the games servers going down would be upsetting and disappointing for everyone from the players to the team developing the game, which has worked diligently to get things ready for the big release day. He also said there is more to The Old Republic than what gamers know about so there will…
Actual Confirmation – No Region IP block
When it comes to region blocks and no SWTOR on initial release to certain areas of the globe, there have been many, many questions. Allison Berryman, Senior Community Coordinator for SWTOR attempted to clear up some of the questions on the official SWTOR forums. In a post from earlier, Berryman explains: “Hello everyone. We know that you have questions about this topic, and we hope to have more clarification for you all very soon. For those who may not have seen Stephen Reid’s tweets from this weekend regarding some of these subjects, I’d like to share that information here. Regarding whether the game will block players from some regions by IP address: currently, there is no plan to block players from the game by regional IP blocking. Playing on servers physically distant from your location might mean you experience some issues with latency, but at this time we don’t plan…
No SWTOR for the Aussies- Maybe Someday but Not at Launch
We previously wrote about how (and potentially why) there was no pre-order available for SWTOR to Australia, or anyone outside of the US and Europe. While many were searching for answers and speculating on the reasoning behind this, Darth Hater set out to get us some answers at San Diego Comic Con this weekend. They posed the question to Stephen Reid as follows: Darth Hater: We know that publishers have a variety of problems when trying to launch a game overseas that range from regional politics, ratings boards, server infrastructure, localization, distribution, and more. Why did you choose not to launch in certain regions? Stephen Reid: The answer is “none of the above.” We didn’t make that decision because of ratings board issues, localization or whatever else. What it ultimately comes down to is simple, but it is kind of a difficult concept to grasp: it is about quality of…
SWTOR Pre-Orders will open on July 21st and other Rumors
The rumor mills were buzzing yesterday and today about pre-orders, pricing, collector’s editions and release date announcements for SWTOR. First, we stumbled upon the screenshot of EA Support saying that Pre-Orders would open on July 21st: Then we also got a report about a pre-order placed with the online retailer hmv.com being cancelled. This was presumably because there will be new, upcoming news about preorders. Our belief is that they buyers first bought it for 26.99£ but now the price will be more like 35£. With Spanish and Polish retailers putting out info about the pre-order, it seems like this was more than just another rumor in the rumor mill. One of the more interesting screen shots shows the Collector’s Edition package. Gamestop was another retailer that put out early info about the pre-order that was later was removed. According to Gamestop’s site, the Collector’s Edition will run for…
SWTOR Moves from TBD to TBA
There has been a recent move in the status of Star Wars: The Old Republic. It is now listed on EA Games as To Be Announced (TBA) instead of TBD. We weren’t the only ones to discover this as the discussion heated up in the official forums about it as well. So what does this really mean? Opinions are varying but it could be one of two things: a. Not really a big deal at all and TBD and TBA are considered pretty much the same thing b. A date has been officially set and could be released soon. If the date has been released, is it possible they might reveal it at SDCC? Well it is always possible, of course, but who can be certain at this time? Many people thought they would release it at E3 and that turned into a big disappointment. It could mean that they…
E3: Stephen Reid Updates – No release date and NO preorder details
In a post on SWTOR.com yesterday, Stephen Reid confirms that there will be no release date and no preorder details at E3 2011. While I’m not really surprised, it’s still great to have the official word so we’re not sitting on the edge of our seats waiting. Reid says, “While I know many of you believed a release date announcement was going to happen – which is understandable – as I’ve said before, an announcement of that size will effectively be ‘pre-announced’, and we will not ‘bait and switch’ you. We aren’t going to lay a trail of subtle clues that lead to a release date announcement. We’ll be obvious. We’re just not there yet.” Reid also had some words about the trailers and the release of “Return”. “’Choose’ was always going to be shown at the E3 press conference. Unfortunately for us, we had a timing issue which put…
Danish Shops are starting to promote SWTOR
It pays to preorder SWTOR, at least if you order from certain Danish shops. This neat little find shows that many countries are already promoting pre-orders of Star Wars: The Old Republic. The sign says: “Order now – it pays off” “Double bonus points if you pre order” The Bonus points are a point system the shop has. You can trade the bonus points to discounts on games. (As if we needed more motivation to buy SWTOR!) Most video game stores and shops around the globe have similar deals and discounts in the works. There’s no word yet on whether or not BioWare will be offering special deals or discounts to Other gaming sites around the globe have had preorder deals up for as long back as 2010. play.com says : Star Wars: The Old Republic £29.99 Free Delivery Pre-order. | Due for release on 28 Oct 2011 (later changed…
Will SW:TOR Release Be Announced at E3?
Stephen Reid, Senior Online Community Manager for SW:TOR answers a forum question regarding more release date debate. GamewizX was trying to locate a quote from Reid regarding the release date announcement and a possibility of a connection to E3. Who would then pop into the thread to clear up the confusion? Why, none other than Stephen Reid himself: “Or I could just say it for you right here. I seem to recall I was trying to address the idea that the ‘only’ time a release date would be announced would be at a major show (this was pre-PAX). I have no idea where this idea started, but it’s not a definitive suggestion. It’s just a possibility. That said, if we chose to announce a release date at any show, E3 would be a good choice, as it’s probably the most high-profile games industry show on the calendar. (It’s not the…
Making of SWTOR Book Removed from Amazon’s Listing
If you’re looking for the book, The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic, you might not be able to find it any more, at least not on Amazon. Last month the official SWTOR forums were abuzz about the book but now it seems to have disappeared. The release date for the book was listed as November 1, 2011, leaving many fans to speculate that this could be the same time the game is expected to be released. So why did The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic get pulled from Amazon’s listing? No one knows yet exactly why the book was pulled. We just know that it went down quickly after the new about its existence began to spread around the Internet amongst Star Wars fans. There are several different reasons why Amazon might pull a book that was listed but not released yet….
SWTOR will not launch before July 1, says EA
During today’s Lazard Capital Markets Technology and Media Conference, EA CFO Eric Brown said that the firm would not release Star Wars: The Old Republic during the firm’s FY11. At the same time, he reconfirmed that it will be released sometime during calender 2011. “So we said it’s going to launch sometime in calendar, but not within Fiscal 11. So that basically pens down between you know, April 1st and December 31st of this calendar year. It’s also reasonable to infer that it’s not in our Q1 guidance. We gave Q1 Fiscal 11, Fiscal 12 non gap revenue guidance, minus 39 minus 44 cents and I think it’s not unreasonable to infer that it’s not included in that 90 day period.” So it looks like March-June is likely out, leaving a release date of July 1 at the earliest. Personally I belive it will be out some time this fall….
Star Wars: The Old Republic Delayed into 2012?
The folks over at 1-up.com posted an article predicting that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be delayed. 1-up.com predicts that we have to wait another year to play the game, and belive the game will out in 2012. This is of course purely speculation, and not confirmed by BioWare, so don’t start a riot yet folks. Check out the full text about SWTOR below, and read the full article here BioWare isn’t known for its delays. On the other hand, MMORPGs are hard to nail down as the genre constantly evolves, and most avoid launching in the crowded holiday release season. DC Universe Online opted to release in the relatively quiet month of January. Only World of Warcraft: Cataclysm had the clout last year to hit in December. What we’ve seen so far has been promising, but the license and development costs make this a pricey proposition. If the…