EL33TONLINE: News tag archive: starwarstheoldrepublic
BioWare executives Dr. Greg Zeschuk and Dr. Ray Muzyka have today formally announced the news of layoffs at Star Wars: The Old Republic developer, BioWare Austin.
In a post on the official Old Republic forums, Zeschuk wrote:
If you’ve recently finished Mass Effect 3 and are looking for another BioWare-developed sci-fi saga to sink your teeth into then why not take advantage of an upcoming free trial for Star Wars: The Old Republic?
On December 15th, and after eight years, players said goodbye to the massively multiplayer online RPG, Star Wars Galaxies, after Sony Online Entertainment and LucasArts shut down the servers forever.
A final release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been formally announced this weekend, with subscription fee details and a fantastic launch trailer accompanying the reveal.
So many tiny pieces of videogame news have emerged over the last day or so, but despite their relative size to, say, the reveal of a circle pad peripheral for 3DS, they’re still very important and/or interesting.
Just take our word for it.
Let’s try to round up some of the more important bits of tiny game news in this edition of News B33ts:
EA’s comments to investors at the end of July revealed that pre-order numbers for the publisher’s upcoming blockbuster Battlefield 3 were, at the time, sitting at roughly ten times those of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 in a similar timeframe.
This achievement is quite outstanding considering Bad Company 2 went on to sell two million units on launch, no doubt spurred by healthy pre-order numbers of its own.
With just under two months to go until the release of Battlefield 3, what kinds of pre-order numbers are we looking at now, over a month since the initial ‘ten times greater than Bad Company 2’ claim was made?
If you weren’t aware, gamesom 2011 was a pretty eventful time for El33tonline, which naturally means we were completely focussed on getting to meetings with the developers of upcoming games, and then writing our impressions and previews of these exciting titles… which in turn means that we haven’t had much time to sweep for tasty morsels of videogame news.
If you’ve been similarly busy in your daily activities, then we’re in the same boat, so together we’re going to catch up on a few tiny crumbs of information that may tweak your interest:
It’s not uncommon practice for game publishers to offer various incentives to ensure consumers pre-order their product. EA are taking it one step further by warning people that there’ll only be a set number of retail and digital copies of Star Wars: The Old Republic at launch, and once this supply is exhausted it could take up to a month before the game becomes available again.
EA’s rationale for this counter-intuitive practice is to guarantee that their servers are not overloaded at launch, ensuring that the first adopters of this highly anticipated MMO have the smoothest experience possible from the get-go.
There are only a few hours left before we cram ourselves into the Palladium in Cologne, Germany, a rocking performance venue that last year played host to EA’s overwhelmingly impressive gamescom presentation with eardrum-cracking sound, eye-searing visuals, celebrities, special EA guests and, most importantly, jaw-dropping games.
What about EA’s press conference at gamescom this year? What is there to look forward to in only a few hours?
Friends, get ready for Battlefield 3 to blow your hair back, Mass Effect 3 to throttle your attention and FIFA 12 to crack your expectations for football games!
EA and Bioware today finally revealed pre-order offer information for the publisher and developer’s upcoming epic online RPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and although there are three versions of the game to choose from and promises of beta test periods in September, it’s also been revealed that the game will see a limited launch supply run.
[Update] The lack of pre-order availability in regions of the world outside of North America and Europe has since been confirmed by Bioware. Get the details over here . [End of Update]
So you live in South Africa and want to pre-order Star Wars: The Old Republic? Or perhaps you’re in another region of the world that isn’t North America or parts of Europe?
You’re out of luck, I’m afraid, because only “certain regions worldwide” are currently able to pre-order EA and Bioware’s upcoming online RPG.
[Update] It seems as though Star Wars: The Old Republic isn’t available to pre-order in certain regions of the world just yet, including South Africa. Find out why over here. [End of Update]
EA and developer Bioware have today revealed pre-order information for the pair’s upcoming epic Massively Multiplayer Online RPG (MMMORPG), Star Wars: The Old Republic, while also revealing ‘beta test weekends’ and three versions of the game “designed to delight RPG and Star Wars fans worldwide.”
In an event dedicated to the announcement, Bioware and LucasArts jointly revealed their much anticipated, much-rumoured massively multiplayer online game set in the Star Wars universe.
Entitled Star Wars: The Old Republic, in development for the PC, the game is set roughly 300 years after the events of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic RPGs and thousands of years before Darth Vader makes an appearance. The Old Republic is said to represent ‘an innovative approach to interactive entertainment, featuring immersive storytelling, dynamic combat and intelligent companion characters.’
Players will be able to choose between a Sith, Jedi or other ancillary characters in the Star Wars universe as they journey through the game, edging every closer to either the Light or the Dark side. Players will also be able to team up with companions (presumably non-player characters) who will fight alongside you, either befriending or betraying you, based on your actions. President of LucasArts, Darrell Rodriguez, commented:
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