Yesterday EA had its Q3 FY10 earnings call, during which (as I understand) they let shareholders know how the company is doing and where it is going. That means that we get a sneak peak at what they’re planning to publish in the coming year. Regarding Star Wars: The Old Republic they made statements which seem to suggest that (unsurprisingly) the game won’t be released before March 31, 2011. As VG247 reports: EA’s confirmed that BioWare’s Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic, won’t make the publisher’s next financial year. Speaking in EA’s Q3 earnings call last night, CFO Eric Brown said the game won’t ship in the 12 months ending March 31, 2011. “We are not assuming that we bring a major new MMO to market in fiscal ‘11. We will continue to increase significant development cost as we prepare this title for launch,” he said. Both EA and Lucas…
Stuff
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…
SWTOR Trailer Nominated for VES Award
The Visual Effects Society (VES) announced the nominees for the 8th Annual VES Awards ceremony, with awards in various categories for film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Among the various categories Star Wars: The Old Republic has been nominated for “Outstanding Visual Effects in a Video Game Trailer. I’m assuming that this refers to the “Deceived” cinematic trailer they unveiled at last year’s E3 (mainly because it’s the only official trailer): Star Wars: The Old Republic isn’t the only BioWare Trailer nominated; one of the other nominees is Mass Effect 2 (with I assume their cinematic trailer revealed last Christmas). Both trailers were created by Blur. Though that makes me wonder why the Dragon Age: Origins trailer wasn’t nominated. Other nominees are DJ Hero (with I’m guessing this trailer) and Halo 3: ODST (I’m guessing for this trailer). I think that they make a decent chance of winning. Congratulations…
IGN Presents the History of BioWare
With Mass Effect 2 right around the corner, IGN posted an article, titled “IGN Presents the History of BioWare”, looking at the history of developer BioWare. Starting with their humble beginnings as two students of medicine programmign educational software at the University of Alberta, right down to the present day of them working on Star Wars: The Old Republic it looks at the string of successful titles they’ve released, the publishers they’ve worked with and such. Here’s an excerpt: Shattered Steel was a modest success, receiving positive reviews and seeing decent sales. Of particular note was the detailed deformable terrain that allowed players to blast craters in the sides of hills, and zone damage that allowed strategic-minded sharpshooters to take out weapons mounted on enemies. Interplay was pleased with the game, too, and a sequel was planned for 1998. It would never come to pass, as BioWare’s second game was…
Rumor: Elder Scrolls MMO
EDIT: Game is now out! Here is a Elder scrolls online digital download price comparison, if yo are looking to buysIn the “not SWTOR” news column a somewhat interesting rumor just surfaced. It’s been leaked (by the court filings of the case between Interplay and Bethesda over the Fallout MMO Interplay is working on) that Bethesda is working on it’s own “World of Warcraft type MMO””. Now VG247 claims to have been “very reliably informed” that this MMO is in an Elder Scrolls MMO. Combined with earlier rumors that elderscrollsonline.com has been registered by ZeniMax (Bethesda’s parent company) as well as a slip-up stating that the next Elder Scrolls game is set 200 years after Oblivion and it’s looking quite likely to be true. Apparently the MMO has been in development since late 2006. If we estimate a development cycle of four to five years then that means that this…
Jon Stewart interviews George Lucas!
The creator of “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” reveals the secrets of the blockbuster film. George Lucas didn’t actually write a book, it’s just a doorstop so he could get on the show. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c George Lucas www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis For those of you outside the US
December 3rd Information Extravaganza
And as I predicted there’s a lot more articles from the press event that BioWare held in November. But instead of quoting each one of them here I’ll just refer to Sean’s post: As some of you already know, we had two press events last month; one in Europe and one in the United States. Today, articles from various websites (and magazines) are being released based on information collected at these two events. We will keep a list of the articles and update this post as new ones arise. G4 Quote: Star Wars: The Old Republic Hands-On Preview BioWare has just released Dragon Age: Origins… Mass Effect 2 is on the horizon… but there’s a third game in development at the RPG mega-studio and it is none other than Star Wars: The Old Republic, the company’s foray into the MMORPG genre. X-Play’s Matt Keil recently got to check out the…
FLUFF
Ok I’m no Carebear, but I do like some fluff. In WoW, I like my little Mechanical Yeti, or My Disgusting Oozling. In WAR I love my Red Demon Horse, and the fact I can dye my armor, which like DAOC I spent a vast fortune on. In some upcoming games, and current games, I thought of some fluff I may want, and thought I would share. Today’s game will be….. Star Wars: The Old Republic. Pets/Companions That little black Tonka Truck Droid, that beeps at Chewbacca on the Death Star. Couldn’t find a pic, but ya know the little toaster on wheels. My Own Salicious Crumb, to laugh at all my bad jokes. Me Jabba No Wanka… HAHAHAHAHAAA A Twi’lek Dancing Girl. Hot Chick with Head Thingies…Nuff said. My Own Gamoreean Guard…How cool to have a Pig Man following you around. Last but not least I want a Jawa…….
Star Wars: The Old Republic Gamescon booth
Kotaku posted a few advance pictures of the TOR booth at Gamescon, and they are sufficiently cool enough to share. Here is a small Booth video:
Star Wars the Old Republic Release Date?
According to what was reported by a French fansite, Star Wars: The Old Republic is still a bit far away from being launched; in fact, the website claims that it will not be launched before October 2010. So far the game seems in a pretty damn good condition. The dialogs look great, and the world itself looks amazing from what ive seen on official E3 Stage Demos. So pray for a good development and in a year we will be able to zoom about in the star wars universe and make our own way thru the galaxy, the proper way. We will ofc keep you updated on the release date as updates come in.
Fastest Hunk of Junk Realty
The trilogy’s Millennium Falcon. KOTOR’s Ebon Hawk. These weren’t just vehicles shuttling folks to and fro in the Star Wars universe — they were as much of a locale as any planet or base that our heroes visited. We got to know the inner workings of these freighters, and grew to love them for all their blocky, chunky, low-tech hominess. I might have mentioned this before, but I sincerely hope that The Old Republic not only institutes player housing upon launch, but that the housing is a player’s ship. The more I played through KOTOR again, the more I love this concept, because it really does work on a MMO level: It solves the problem of “How do we move players from planet to planet without resorting to Star Wars Galaxies’ shuttle system?” by handing players permanent transport and leaving it up to them to use it. The acquisition of…
Star Wars: Sneaky, Sneaky
Since a great deal of TOR’s Holonet — the game’s official repository for info and features — is still hidden, fans have been hacking away at entering in random words into the URL to see if any might match and unconver potential secrets that BioWare is holding close to their chest. So far, the community has found a number of pages that do not give a “Requested Page Not Found” error, but merely a blank page — a placeholder, if you will. So what are the pages? http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/combat http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/pvp http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/professions http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/space http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/story http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/characters http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/guild http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/equipment http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/enemies Okay, so nothing eye-opening in the extreme, but it does make one curious for what they might be revealing in the future — especially under the “space” and “professions” pages.
STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ E3 Highlights
Star Wars: The Old Republic (TOR) kicked off at E3 with the help of the local 501st Legion. Championed by costumed Jedi and Sith from the Old Republic era, Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder and General Manager/CEO of BioWare and General Manager/Vice President of Electronic Arts Inc., and Darrell Rodriguez, President of LucasArts, revealed the first TOR cinematic trailer, “Deceived”, at the 2009 EA Press conference. At the TOR booth, the team took E3ers through the first live demo featuring a closer look at the game’s newly revealed class, the Smuggler, as well as the combat, flashpoint, cover, and multiplayer dialogue systems. Highlighted features from the demo: TOR will be the first fully voiced MMO – Every playable character (male and female) and every non-playable character in the game will be brought to life by voice actors – resulting in several thousand speaking roles and hundreds of thousands of recorded lines…
Star Wars The Old Republic Ingame Gameplay Footage + what we know so far
Info General: * Only being released for PC, no consoles * Seems that the Game has PvE Mode and a PvP Mode – SifiWire * Graphics are great and smooth – Mentioned in Multiple Reviews * The interface seems standardised. Hot keys on a UI Bar. – 1UP * The Majority of the Game can be done without Any help from anyone else – StarWarsMMO Demo * Space Experience will be in game, its still being worked on – Machinima * Subtitles for alien speech. – EuroGamer * BioWare is currently indicating that it will be unwilling to let players skip or read dialogue scenes- EuroGamer * The UI Can be customised!- StarWarsMMO * Naming Filters include not being able to have numbers, special characters or Star Wars names – StarWarsMMO Demo * Full Voice overs for all NPC, Companions and some extent our characters (There is a mention in…
Star Wars: The Old Republic cinematic trailer
The Sacking of Coruscant. It was the crowning achievement of the Sith Empires ambitious military strategy and the moment that changed the history of the Old Republic forever. You may have read about it before, but our first cinematic trailer captures this event with breathtaking action and beautiful detail. Republic leaders have traveled to Alderaan to engage in promised peace talks with the Sith Empire. The most powerful Jedi have accompanied them to safeguard against an Imperial deception. The Empires real motive, however, was simply to lure the Republics strongest defenders away from Coruscant and set the stage for an audacious attack. Under the command of Lord Angral, the Sith fleet approaches the Republics capital planet for the first time in centuries. In advance of the fleet, the strongest Sith Warriors have flown a stolen Republic ship into Coruscants orbit. Their mission is critical to destroy the planets defense grid…
Kotor: Sleheyron Demo Mod
This mod is being developed by Sithspecter, Dan Loto and Marius Fett. This is just the demo they have released to let the public know that it isn’t a dead project. I just walked around the only module they released in this demo and talked to a few guys so you would know what the demo is like. Looking forward to the completed project. If you’re new to this project and feel lost Sleheyron is a planet that was cut from the first KOTOR game that is being restored. To find out more information, visit the official thread at Holowan Labs: http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=186244 Want to keep up whats going on? make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed!
Bioware is Hiring
New from the Bioware forums: Come work at BioWare! 2 New Positions Open! We’re looking for a Senior Web Developer and Web Designer here at BioWare Austin. Do you fit these job descriptions or know someone who does? Applications and resumes can be submitted through the BioWare Austin Careers Page . BioWare offers competitive salaries and medical benefits, as well as relocation assistance. All applicants must be willing to relocate to the location of the respective studio.
The Old Republic – And Revan…
The new Starwars MMO: The Old Republic has been officialy announced and so exciting many KOTOR fans… But does the game also answers our questions on Revan? Will we ever see him again? Will we ever know what happened to him? This video is, according to me, one of finest fan movies on youtube! Want to keep up whats going on? make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed! or follow us on Twitter
Star Wars: The Old Republic Focuses on the Player, Says BioWare
The MMORPG genre is a pretty big one, but one of the most popular themes that appear on this market is the space one. Although EVE Online is currently the most popular space-themed game, a lot of other titles are beginning to show promise and will certainly make this genre very popular. One of the most ambitious projects is the Star Wars: The Old Republic title, which is currently being developed by Electronic Arts’ BioWare studio, makers of the original RPG series Knights of the Old Republic, and LucasArts, the owners of the Star Wars IP (Intellectual Property). Even though fans are eagerly anticipating any tidbit of information, the developers haven’t really made any big statements, only saying that it will dominate the space-themed MMORPG genre, and that it will make a big dent in the World of Warcraft user base. However, Greg Zeschuk, one of the co-founders of the…
Hippocratic Game Design on The Escapist
Hippocratic Game Design Try to view the game industry’s never-ending parade of dragons, robots and space marines from an outsider’s perspective, and it’s easy to see why many developers are growing tired of looking inward for inspiration. At first glance, BioWare seems to embody this gripe. Browse their back catalogue of games, and you’ll immediately be struck by their close involvement with the Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons universes – epicenters for the hardcore gaming fanaticism that have been a stumbling block for the videogame industry as it strives for mainstream cultural acceptance. Yet it was with these intellectual properties that BioWare made their name as a developer, breathing new life into them and creating something uniquely their own. Making a game larger than the sum of its intellectual property is no simple feat. But BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk are well acquainted with looking at things…
Design Q&A – Lightsabers, The Force, and Space Combat
Exclusive SWTOR Design Q&A – Lightsabers, The Force, and Space Combat What kind of level cap do you have in mind? James Ohlen: We are going to have a level based system, and we are going to have a level cap, When we know what that is we’ll share it with you. Gordon Walton: There are a lot of thing that we aren’t going to be able to share with you simply because they’re still in development. BioWare games go through a lot of iteration before we ever settle on something. We’d rather give you real information than blow smoke up your….whatever. When we share something with the community, we’ve played through that part of the game enough that we’re confident that it’s going to be in the final game. We’re really, really committed to no overhyping the game. Rich Vogel: It’s BioWare and it’s Star Wars. Overhyping the game…
Video Interview with Ray and Greg
After years of secrecy, LucasArts opens the book on its ambitious second MMORPG; BioWare’s Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk explain why it’s a bigger project than all their previous projects combined.
BioWare Blog and Dragon Age Updates!
BioWare has opened a new section on the official website called the BioWare Blog. The theme of the blog will be story-based gaming of all varieties. Make sure to check it out! In addition, the Dragon Age: Origins website has been updated with new content. See a new video showcasing how your choice of Origin Story can affect the game. New Dragon Age: Origins posters are also now available for download, and check out the Fanged Skeleton and Wynne updates, all on the official site.
A Q&A with Daniel Erickson [Ten Ton Hammer]
SWTOR Writing – An Exclusive Q&A with Daniel Erickson Are you looking at putting some of the expanded universe characters into the game that weren’t really mentioned in KOTOR I and II? Individuals like Exar Qun, Nomi Sunrider, and Ulic Qel-Droma? Daniel: Absolutely! It’s really one of the areas that’s important to us. Outside of the guy at Lucasfilm that keeps track of the Holocron – the repository of knowledge that is “true” in Star Wars – we probably have the largest group of experts on the Star Wars history. We never want you to have quest where you listen to a librarian for two hours, but we know that it’s very important to the people that are familiar with the IP. Even the things that contradict other things in the expanded universe, we’ve tried to iron out. One of the things you may have noticed in KOTOR is that…