Star Wars: The Old Republic

[Morreion]

Star Wars: The Old Republic - A Star Wars MMO being developed by Bioware.

The official SWTOR site

SWTOR game overview at MMORPG.com

SWTOR promotion video

The Old Republic Unveiled: Classes, Jedi, and Crafting

Star Wars: The Old Republic – A New Hope For MMOs?

[Morreion]

SWTOR official class page

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Hands-On Preview (MMORPG.com)

While the demonstration and hands on time were still very rough, I wouldn't worry too much given the amount of time left in development. MMOs tend to come together over the last few months. There is a long way to go and the theme of their demonstration was "theme" itself. So, if the question is, "Does this game feel and look like Star Wars?" the answer is an emphatic "Yes!" If the main Star Wars Galaxies complaint was "I wanted to be Luke or Han running around killing bad guys, not Uncle Owen farming moisture," they seem to have taken it to heart and all the classes we've seen seem to map to recognizable figures from the movies.

Good article, giving you a feel for what the game will be like. Bioware builds the excitement!

Darth Hater: SWTOR Blog and Podcast

This is an excellent source of information for the game- very detailed.

December 3rd Information Extravaganza (Darth Hater)

Today is the day! The Information Extravaganza has begun! Below you will find links to all of the articles posted on December 3rd pertaining to what we learned at LucasArts about Star Wars: The Old Republic. This includes information regarding the Jedi Consular, Sith Inquisitor, Smuggler class trees, second part of our interview with Jake Neri, other general information learned during the hands-on demo, and our take on the four force users debate.

SWTOR Massively articles

[sinaedh]

You know, this looks very cool, but the EA logo there just turns my stomach. I simply cannot find it in myself to give them another penny.

[EchoVamper]

The emphasis on "story" and the use of "stylized realism" (from the trailer) are indeed interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing how this game develops.

[Regolyth]

I sooo can't wait for this game. The first thing that caught me, with disappointment, was the art style. It is designed to look like the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon on Cartoon Network. I'm sure this is intentional to draw that crowd, as well as for lower polygon counts (for smoother, faster gameplay).

The second thing that made me squeamish about playing was the same thing that Sinaedh mentioned, EA. They ruined what was going to be a great game, with Warhammer (IMO at least). It seemed like a lot of cool features were trimmed off after they took up. Games Workshop (the IP owner of Warhammer) has openly expressed their disappointment and disgust with the way EA has handled Mythic and WAR. I don't think EA will ever get anywhere close to any of GW's games ever again.

Since EA acquired Bioware, I fear for the Bioware studio and the future of SWTOR. If I don't get in the beta to "test" the game myself, I don't think I'll even contemplate buying it until a few months after it's released, to make sure it hasn't been picked clean by the vultures over at EA.

EA is a festering plague of a company that lays waste and destruction to anything it lays it's greedy, grimy, corrupted hands on.

But I'm not bitter or anything!

[Loendal]

EA also shut down Earth and Beyond, but at the same time, kept The Sims Online active....

[Regolyth]

It just occurred to me, EA is the Fox of the gaming world.

[Morreion]

The Digital Continuum: SWTOR's content conundrums (Massively)

Every MMO that's launched, has launched without all the content its designers wanted it to have. In reality, this is true of every videogame, but for MMOs the desire to "perfect" is significantly stronger because they're an ongoing development project. So, for this game, I find myself wondering what exactly it's going to have missing for launch day. As it turns out, there's a lot of potentials.

Something has to give, even with the deep pockets that Electronic Arts and LucasArts offer, there'll be some kind of issue leading up to that fateful day. My hope, of course, is that Star Wars: The Old Republic's hiccup is minor, rather than major. I just don't think every feature of an MMO is immune to damage when a developer promises three or four games' worth of content in a single title.

I'm glad to see this kind of coverage. Bioware, a solid company, has set the bar high for SWTOR, yet many of us are cautious on unreleased MMOs after being burned too many times by the hype.

This also ties in with Keen's recent criticism of the companion mechanic.

[Regolyth]

Everyone wants to be the WoW-killer, or its mirror. So instead of doing that, perhaps they should take Blizzard's approach to making a game, rather than trying to kill, or copy, a game they've already made. Blizzard gives a game the time it needs to develop. If it takes a year, or four, they put the time and effort needed to create a good, well-balanced, and finished game. They don't cut stuff or release unfinished games (although they did have issues with the servers and such with WoW's release).

Then again, not every company has the money and power to both develop and produce their game. Then again, neither did Blizzard when they release Warcarft or Starcraft, but they made it work anyways. This is what developers need to learn from Blizzard.

[Morreion]

Bioware confirms 2011 SWTOR release (Massivley)

Sean Dahlberg of Bioware confirmed the rumor on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums earlier today: While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. We've got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It's not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can't wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.