star-wars-the-old-republic posts

With the possible exception of Darth Vader, the coolest villain in the Star Wars fictional universe was the ruthless bounty hunter Boba Fett. The upcoming MMO Star Wars The Old Republic will allow players to have their Vett fantasies fulfilled with the game's Bounty Hunter class. The game's official web site has posted up more info about this new player class and its two sub-classes, the heavily armored Boba Fett-type Powertech (shown above) or the heavily armed Mercenary.

In related news, folks who are planning to attend PAX East 2011 in Boston a week from today will get to actually play the BioWare-developed game. It will be the first time at a public event that players will be able to check out all eight announced player classes along with other gameplay events, live demos, Q&As and more.

Download the Star Wars The Old Republic Bounty Hunter trailer at Big Download

Star Wars The Old Republic takes place long before the events of the Star Wars movies. However the conflict between the Republic and the Sith Empire in the upcoming BioWare MMO started long before the game's setting as well. In the latest video that checks out the game's back story and timeline we learn more about this earlier conflict, The Great Hyperspace War.

The nearly six minute video shows how the Sith Empire was expanding into Republic space and how the leader of the Empire used an opportunity to lead his people into a full scale war with the Republic. The Sith was on the verge of winning the war when another factor entered into picture. That caused the tide to turn against the Sith Empire, forcing it to head finally into deep space. The full video gives all the details of The Great Hyperspace War and how those events affect the story in Star Wars The Old Republic.

Download The Star Wars The Old Republic "The Great Hyperspace War" Timeline Video at Big Download

Electronic Arts execs have admitted that the long awaited MMO Star Wars The Old Republic has already generated "significant development costs" ahead of its planned launch sometime in 2011. During the publisher's regular quarterly financial conference call with analysts earlier today (you can listen to the repeat right here) EA's chief financial officer Scott Brown added that the game from developer BioWare can still be "substantially profitable" even with a base of just 500,000 subscribers.

Brown did admit, however, "Anything north of a million subscribers, it's a very profitable business." While he would not mention any specific financial numbers Brown decided to take a stab at game-based web sites and blogs for what he felt was poor reporting on the game's developments costs on their part. He stated, "Don't read gamer blogs as having any substance. They bring a chuckle, but they also bring a frustration for those that are being responsible with the management of EA's R&D dollars."

[Via Gamasutra]

Star Wars The Old Republic could be the most anticipated MMO launch of all time. So naturally lots of folks want to know when the game is going to launch. MCV, in an article that uses unnamed "development sources", claims it has learned that the BioWare-developed game will be launched in September 2011 worldwide.

This date has yet to be confirmed by BioWare or the game co-publishers Electronic Arts and LucasArts. Previously EA has said the target date for the game's launch was sometime this spring. However more recently the co-founder of BioWare, Ray Muzyka, has stated simply in recent interviews that the game will launch sometime in 2011.

It's been a while since the official web site for Star Wars The Old Republic has revealed a new planet for the upcoming MMO game. Today the site did just that with the introduction of Quesh. This seems to be an all new planet made for the BioWare-developed game rather than based on any previously mentioned Star Wars planet.

Quesh actually sounds like a nasty place to live with some toxic environmental chemicals. However "they can also be used to create some of the most potent adrenals in the galaxy." That naturally makes Quesh a target for both the Republic and the Sith to control. In fact the Republic needs the help of the Hutt crime clan in order to safely extract the chemicals and make them work as a adrenal. But the Sith Empire has other plans.

There hasn't been a lot to talk about lately in terms of new info for Star Wars The Old Republic but the official web site for BioWare's long awaited MMO still has new updates every Friday. This week the site talks about how the development team handles the design of player starships for the game.

The idea of players owning their own starship in the game was first revealed in the summer of 2010 and the feature goes over how one of the ships in the game, the X-70B Phantom. came about. The ship, which is meant for the Agent class, has influences like the Naboo starships in the Star Ware prequel movies but the team also "wanted to evoke the feel of something that a certain British spy might drive. " The article goes over how both the exterior and interior of the Phantom were designed and created.

And so another week ends as we await the next week when the first big PC game of the year, DC Universe Online, will be released. Will this game make super hero MMO players forget all about City of Heroes or Champions Online?

• Steam has an automatic update available for Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Source, Day of Defeat Source and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch.
• The Star Wars The Old Republic web site has added some more character biographies to check out.
• Medal of Honor-branded radio controlled vehicles are coming out later this year.
• We love cool PC case mods and this one that Nvidia showed off at CES 2011 may be one of our favorite.

Without a doubt one of 2011's biggest upcoming PC exclusive games is Star Wars The Old Republic. The long awaited MMO project from developer BioWare will have a ton of critical eyes on the game before and after its release. This week the game's official web site talks about how the game will handle what the developer calls "cinematic design."

Paul Marino, the lead cinematic design for the game, writes about how he is creating the many moments in the MMO where players will encounter conversations with other NPC characters via a directed camera. Star Wars The Old Republic is using full voice overs with text only used when your character has a choice of how to respond to an NPC (as BioWare has done in other games like the Mass Effect series). As Marino states, "These choices are gameplay, presented in cinematic form. Sure, they could be made through the use of simple point-and-click, text-only interface, but the reward of our choices would be passed over and the player would never fully experience the impact of those decisions."

PC gamers love role playing games in many different forms. Some prefer the huge sprawling single player RPGs while others like the fast pace of action-RPG titles. Still others like to gather with lots of friends and players in massively multiplayer RPGs. As Big Download continues our look into 2011's most anticipated PC games we give our picks for the top 10 RPG and related MMO games that we want most to play in the the next 12 months.

There are tons of sequels to previously released RPGs on this list. One developer, BioWare, has a whopping three games on this list. That includes perhaps the most anticipated MMO game launch in the post World of Warcraft world. Check out our top 10 list in order of their planned release date, plus two games that may or may not actually make it out in 2011, after the jump. You can also go back and check out our most anticipated 2011 games in the FPS and action categories.

Star Wars The Old Republic is still one of the biggest PC games that are currently scheduled to be released in 2011. Today the game's official web site continues to give us more info on the long awaited BioWare MMO. This time the spotlight is on one of the game's player classes, the Trooper.

While in theStar Wars movies the various forms of the Trooper, including the Stormtrooper, represent oppression and conformity, the Trooper class in Star Wars The Old Republic is a valiant defender of the Republic against the Sith. The web site goes over the Advanced classes of the Trooper; the defensive Vanguard or the gung-ho offensive Commando. You can check out a new video showing the Trooper in action after the jump: