The Sands of Tatooine

In another big disappointment in what seems to be end endless series of them it seems that BioWare Austin have decided to include the most boring and over-used planet in the entire Star Wars setting in the MMO as well, namely Tatooine. And the planet they promised to unveil today happens to be that one. Great.

They also have a comic, which I must admit having lost all interest in as well (in my opinion it's drawn badly and the story doesn't seem to go anywhere). Anyway, here's the official news:

The twenty-second issue of Threat of Peace™ takes us to the long-abandoned Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, where Lieutenant Tavus meets the true culprit behind the efforts to undermine the peace treaty. It seems Master Dar’Nala survived her Imperial captivity after all, and everything that’s happened since has been all part of her plan. Despite his doubts, Lieutenant Tavus agrees to assist Master Dar’Nala in completing her plan by slaying the Sith mastermind, Lord Baras.

Check out the latest issue of Threat of Peace now.

And here's the official news for the planet; you can just hear them struggling trying to make the planet sound even remotely interesting:

Far in the Outer Rim, the sands of Tatooine bake beneath the glare of two bright suns. Small pockets of barely civilized communities dot the desolate landscape, surrounded by the endless expanse of barren dunes and rocky canyons that have silently slain so many of those who ventured out into desert. Among the small shantytowns and settlements that persist, travelers may find shelter from the brutal climate, but trust is as rare as water on this lawless world. Visitors and locals alike must constantly watch their backs in Tatooine’s townships.

Access the HoloNet records to find out more about the desert wasteland of Tatooine, and the mysteries buried in its scorched sands. Be sure to check out the Media section to get the latest screenshots, concept art, and wallpapers depicting this harsh, desert wasteland.

Anyone else shaking their head over how this nothing of a planet always seems to be at the center of pretty much every major event in the Star Wars history? Just because a planet happens to feature in the movies doesn't mean that you have to include it in your game as well. Part of what made Tatooine interesting, once upon a time, that it was such a remote corner of the universe that where the Star Wars sage (and I'm talking original trilogy here) started. But every time it's included in another Star Wars story it makes the original story less because now apparently it's the planet where everything always happens. <sight>

There are other "desert planets" in Star Wars you know; ones you can actually do something interesting with.

The one good thing to come out of this is that they've got a wallpaper of the planet as well; after all your desktop is kind of supposed to be boring, right?


I'm sorry for being so negative, yet again. But I was hoping that for once Tatooine would not be included in a Star Wars game. And it seems as if my hopes for this game are getting dashed one by one.

IGN's Star Wars: The Old Republic Clichés

There's a brief article over on IGN looking at the Star Wars clichés that The Old Republic has to have to be a truly authentic Star Wars experience. The article is clearly tongue-in-cheek and is as such a fun read. Here's an excerpt:

Affirmative Action: The Republic has always been a leader in providing good jobs to non-Basic speaking races and shown particular acceptance to those races who mangle the language by confusing word order or inserting an annoying "sa" at the end of every pronoun. This tolerance even extends to droids who communicate through a sophisticated system of beeping and shoving. All the human player characters will be required to have at least one non-human or droid sidekick that doesn't speak any Basic but is still able to understand and be understood by everyone else in the game. To keep these sidekicks in their proper place as defined by the traditions of the Star Wars universe, their promotion opportunities will be limited by the so-called "cockpit glass ceiling," leaving them stuck as co-pilots and completely unable to find work as main characters.

[link] to "Star Wars: The Old Republic Clichés" article at IGN.

Darth Hater: The Audio of Star Wars: The Old Republic

Over at Darth Hater they have an interview with some of the LucasArts guys responsible for the sounds and music in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The interview is split into three part; music, sound fxs and voiceovers. Here's an excerpt:

DH: The original score by John Williams became an integral part of Star Wars culture. How did the audio team approach creating new pieces with such iconic shoes to fill?

JH: We’ve assembled a team of composers for The Old Republic who are all well-versed in the language of John Williams. Mark Griskey, whose previous Star Wars work includes both KOTOR II and The Force Unleashed, is returning as our lead composer on the project. Joining him are composers Lennie Moore, Gordy Haab, and Wilbert Roget, II. Lennie comes to us with a diverse background in games, TV, and film. Gordy recently worked with us on Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings and Wilbert wrote new music for the recent DLC levels for The Force Unleashed. In addition, we’ve also hired composer Peter McConnell (Grim Fandango, Brütal Legend) to compose 90 minutes of original cantina music for us. We’re deep in the heart of writing material for the game right now and things are sounding fantastic.

DH: When will we find out about a Star Wars: The Old Republic Official Soundtrack and how can I preorder it?

JH: All of the details are still to be determined but we’ll have more info on that soon!

Some new details to be gleaned from that, including that each class will only have two voice options (male and female). Of course I still feel that the player character shouldn't be voiced at all as voicing the player takes away player ownership of the character. But ah well.

GameSpy: An Inside Look at Star Wars: The Old Republic

GameSpy has a preview article up for Star Wars: The Old Republic. This looks to be from the November press event where they unveiled the Jedi Consular and the Sith Inquisitor (and the Imperial Agent IIRC). Here's an excerpt:

Before delving into the gameplay demo proper, BioWare unveiled the final list of classes. The approach that the developers are taking with class design eschews the traditional roles you've seen in most MMOs, where a balanced party is comprised of an aggro-generating tank, damage-dealers, and a healer. Instead, the intent is to allow players to live out their Star Wars fantasies, presenting familiar but flexible character archetypes. The eight playable classes are as follows, with noteworthy inspirations from the Star Wars universe.

It's a fairly brief article without anything new that I've noticed. In fact, some of their points are questionable (such as their list of iconic characters with each class; I would've thought Qui-Gon Jinn to be more of a Consular and the developers have already said that the Inquisitor has a Darth Maul-type spec; making Darth Maul an Inquisitor instead of a Warrior... though that probably just shows how the Sith/Jedi classes don't have distinct enough icons in the Star Wars movies; if someone said that Palpatine was a Sith Warrior because he was also one of the greatest lightsaber wielders then I would've completely believed that).


[link] to preview at GameSpy.

Sith Inquisitor Class Reveal

The eighth and final (not counting any possible expansions and whatnot) class reveal, the Sith Inquisitor:

The history of the Sith Empire is fraught with scheming politics and dark secrets—the lifeblood of the Sith Inquisitor. Treachery hides around every corner in the Empire’s dark corridors, and survival depends on an individual’s natural cunning and the will to manipulate and defeat enemies and allies alike. The Inquisitor experiments with forbidden powers to not only survive in this cutthroat environment, but to excel and seize authority.

Access the latest HoloNet entry now to see a full profile of the Sith Inquisitor, including footage displaying the destructive powers of the dark side! Also, be sure to visit the Media section to get downloadable screenshots, concepts, and wallpapers!

And wallpapers as well:

   

GameSpot Sith Inquisitor Hands-On

Though they already posted an earlier article talking about the press conference (where the Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor were unveiled) GameSpot has posted another hands-on article. Here's an excerpt:

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, game developer BioWare, a studio founded by two medical doctors on the foundations of nerdy swords-and-sorcery role-playing, made the jump to deep space with Knights of the Old Republic, a Star Wars-themed role-playing game that told a story that predated the events of the motion pictures by several centuries. Some years later, the developer is now working on a massively multiplayer online game in the same universe--a game that will let you play as a Boba Fett-like bounty hunter, a Han Solo-like smuggler, or a Mace Windu-like Jedi Knight…among others. We recently had a chance to get a bit more insight on the game from its developers, and we also had our first chance to play the game using the Sith inquisitor profession, which we'll discuss shortly.

There's at least one inaccuracy in the article though; I'm fairly certain that the Dashade companion for the Sith Inquisitor isn't "a Sith inquisitor whose powerful lighting-based abilities provide excellent ranged damage" but in fact a melee character who is particularly resistant to the Force.

Anyway, the HoloNet page on the Sith Inquisitor should be up later today.


[link] to Hands-On at GameSpot.

Rumor: Star Wars: Legends?

In non Star Wars: The Old Republic related news, Kotaku has a rumor of a new Star Wars game in development (and likely to be announced soon). Here's their text:

There's a listing over on the website of the Australian Classification Board for a game we've never heard of. It's called Star Wars: Legends. And no, before you ask, it hasn't been banned.

The title was submitted for classification way back in June, and earned the game a Mature rating (for "fantasy violence"). Interestingly, it's listed as an internal Lucasarts project, with Activision down as publisher.

And it's not just the Classification Board making stuff up; "Star Wars: Legends" also appears as a recent filing with the US Patent Office.

A Star Wars game we've never heard of, developed by Lucasarts, mature content...anyone would think this was the game due to be revealed at the Spike VGAs later this month.

Has me curious what game that might be. Though to be honest, judging on the title alone (as that's all we have), it wouldn't surprise me in the least if this is a game trying to cash in (again) on all the popular Star Wars characters. I'd expect a game where you get all the "legends" (think "famous characters from the movies") together.

But who knows.


[UPDATE]

The Star Wars game revealed at the Spike VGAs turns out to be The Force Unleashed 2. Pity.


[link] to Star Wars: Legends rumor at Kotaku.

Jedi Consular Class Reveal

It seems that today we get one class reveal, with the last one seemingly reserved for in a week or two. But first, they also have another issue of the comic. Here's the official news:

The twenty-first issue of Threat of Peace™ begins with Lord Angral returning to Korriban in full fury. Based on the message from Master Dar’Nala, Angral accuses Lord Baras of secretly ordering the recent attacks. Meanwhile on Dantooine, Jedi Knight Satele Shan reacts to the accusations against Baras with surprise and skepticism

Check out the latest issue of Threat of Peace now.

So next is the official class reveal. Here's the official news:

Channeling the power of the Force for strength and wisdom, the Consulars of the Jedi Order cut to the truth of any complicated situation as cleanly as their double-bladed Lightsabers cut down an army of Imperial foes. Whether unlocking long forgotten mysteries of the Jedi, raising armies to fight for the Republic, or engaging in mortal combat with Dark Lords of the Sith, the Jedi Consulars’ deep attunement to the Force gives them all the power they need to rise to any battle with poise and balance.

Access the HoloNet to read archived reports on the mystical Jedi Consular and to see footage of the Consular in action! Also, be sure to check out the media section for new downloadable screenshots, concept art, and wallpapers!

The screenshots and concept art is also listed on the Holonet page, but they've also added two wallpapers:

  
I hope that as a Consular you're not forced to use the double lightsaber to be effective, because I find it an decidedly silly weapon (I really wish that they would've just stuck to one kind of lightsaber where, at most, you might be using two at once. But I guess the double lightsaber is a staple now). So far I'm utterly underwhelmed by the class, and I generally like the more peaceful, meditative, negotiating style.

The November Press Event, Part 2

There's a few more articles from the November press event, first a couple as listed in Sean's updated post:

Destructoid

Quote:

Going to a galaxy far far away with The Old Republic Let's be real: the most exciting elements of The Old Republic would be those features that are distinctly BioWare. With over a year's worth of voice-over, each character class will have distinct plot lines with proper acting. Conversations, too, are acted out directly using the real-time dialogue systems of Mass Effect and Dragon Age. With eight character classes split between the two factions, and each offering completely different plot elements, there is a huge amount of story in The Old Republic.

Giant Bomb

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Interview (video) Ryan talks new classes, companion characters, and more with Mr. Christine of BioWare.

Game Informer

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Video Interview There’s a lot of buzz in the air over Bioware’s Star Wars MMO set in the KOTOR time period. There’s also a lot of tidbits users are still itching to know. We sat Lead Writer Daniel Erickson down and had him go over everything from how the game ties into Star Wars cannon to the newest class announcements: The Sith Inquisitor and Jedi Consular. There’s also some good new info in there about the new companions in the game and how they will make MMO gameplay work for whatever size party you play in.

Two of those are videos, so let me embed those here as well:

[UPDATE] The embed of the second video didn't seem to work, so removed that one. Instead just go there directly.


And finally there's a couple that Sean hasn't put in his post yet (though I'm sure he will soon). Let me list those in the same format as Sean's list:

IGN

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Hands On A long time ago in a demo far, far away we found ourselves waiting to see the final two classes for Star Wars: The Old Republic. BioWare and LucasArts had already revealed six of the eight total classes for the game (Jedi Knight, Smuggler and Trooper for the Republic and Sith Warrior, Imperial Agent and Bounty Hunter for the Sith) but there were still two spots at the bottom of the roster that had yet to be filled in. Today we're able to reveal that the two new classes are the Jedi Consular and the Sith Inquisitor. BioWare and LucasArts gave us a thorough demo of each new class and even allowed us to spend some hands on time in the Sith Inquisitor's opening chapters.

1UP

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Preview I've been waiting a long time to go hands-on with Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming Star Wars MMORPG set during, well, the Old Republic. At a recent LucasArts event, I finally had my chance. In addition to that, this is the first time I've had a chance to write extensively about the game (outside of my nerd rage over the first screenshots). We (myself, David, and Scooter) were treated to the reveal of the final two character classes, the importance of companions, class customization, and saw the Imperial Agent class in action. I don't currently play MMOs -- the last one being the ill-fated Star Wars Galaxies -- but since Old Republic plays more like a single-player RPG set in an online world (and I'm more than familiar with Star Wars), nothing felt that alien to me once the presentation started up.

BitMob

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Interview: Companions, Romance, No Alien Side-Boob Got something you'd like to know about BioWare's upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic? After playing around with a Sith Inquistor for about 20 minutes, I had plenty of questions for Producer Blaine Christine. Unfortunately, stumpers like, "Hey, when's this game coming out?" and, "What's the level cap, anyway?" all earned me a whole lot of we-haven't-talked-about-it-yets. So while we didn't talk about all kinds of amazing stuff, we did talk about storytelling, romance and sex in BioWare games, and the recently announced companion feature -- players will pick up their very own Chewbacca- and R2-D2-esque followers. Perhaps even a Jar Jar, if you're lucky! But I can't talk about that.

One quote that I found interesting from the IGN article is the following: "The Inquisitor uses basic saber strikes to build up Force energy which he can then unleash in stunning lightning attacks" That gives me some hope, if it works like that for the Consular as well, that the Consular might be able to me played as a melee healer (using melee attacks to build up the Force to use for healing). But then, considering how a number of articles say how drastically different the Inquisitor and Consular actually play it's probably a vain hope.

The November Press Event

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 game's final two classes, the Jedi Consular and the Sith Inquisitor, and was kind enough to write-up his impressions:

GameSpot

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Video Interview (Video) We talk to the developer of Star Wars: The Old Republic about the newly announced character classes.

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Hands-On - The Sith Inquisitor Star Wars stole the limelight at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. There, the creative forces of BioWare and LucasArts revealed some juicy new information about their upcoming sci-fi online role-playing game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. In addition to unveiling a mouthwatering cinematic trailer at the show, the developers gave us a taste of the smuggler and bounty hunter character classes behind closed doors. Since then, we've seen the Sith warrior, Jedi knight, and Imperial agent. At a recent EA showcase in London, BioWare revealed the remaining two classes: the Jedi consular and the Sith inquisitor. We got the chance to play through an inquisitor quest during the event and talked to the development team.

Kotaku

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Preview: The Space Inquisition I played through about 95% of a quest we'll call "The Tomb of Tulac Horde" because I'm not sure what its official name is, but that just about sums it up. I was in the role of a Sith Inquisitor acolyte with a nice rack and red hair — and I was role playing her with an attitude problem that somehow didn't get her Force-choked even once during the play through. The quest involves going into a tomb to collect three tablets and returning to your Sith master. Additionally, you could accept a quest to activate something in the tomb called the Red Machine for some other dude standing outside the tomb.

Darth Hater

Quote:

December 3rd Information Extravaganza 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.

GameSpot UK

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Hands-On - The Sith Inquisitor Our hands-on with the game featured a combat-heavy side quest on the Sith homeworld of Korriban--which was also featured in Knights of the Old Republic II. The area that we saw was certainly a desolate place, featuring red dirt and rock formations and some dangerous alien life-forms. Our character, a level eight Sith inquisitor, had come to Korriban to study the lost laws of the Sith and to be trained in their ways. After talking to a shady quest giver called Ephram Zell, we needed to enter a Sith tomb and acquire an artefact known as the Red Engine. This mission also served as a test for would-be dark lords like us, as we needed to kill the monsters that lurked within the tomb before collecting the device and returning to Zell.

Joystiq

Quote:

Hands-on: Star Wars: The Old Republic While navigating the corridors of the planet's sprawling, temple-like fortifications on our way to the dig site, we were approached by another Sith. She informed us that some Jedi had been captured and were being held prisoner on Korriban, and wanted us to interrogate them. Knowing our time was short, we left this for later, having seen what will likely be only the beginning of multiple, intertwining quests for each class.

Eurogamer

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic You can't fault BioWare and LucasArts' showmanship, but when you're working with what they're working with, it's almost too easy. At a recent EA press event, we were shown and allowed to play their Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic, behind closed doors. We suspect this was only so they could have a hydraulic octagonal door to put the game behind, with a Stormtrooper guarding it, quacking officiously at loitering journos. Cheesy? Perhaps, but it's impossible to stop a little genuine excitement slipping into your cynical smile.

VideoGamer.com

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Interview VideoGamer.com: Can the companion characters replace human-controlled characters in a raid of an instance? Blaine Christine: They're not meant as replacements. If you're in a group, each one of the group members could still have a companion character. It's an augmentation, but that works with the solo game as well. So really they're there for you to be used when and how you see fit. Similar to other BioWare games, we don't necessarily force companion characters on you. It's a way to augment your play style.

IncGamers

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Interview IncGamers: I've had the chance to play and get my hands on The Old Republic today, and I have to say it does feel quite different to other MMOs. How did you actually approach developing it and designing it and making it different? James Ohlen: Well, there's two major differentiators for our game, we feel. One is story, and the other is combat. Well, I guess there's a third if you count Star Wars, because Star Wars allows us to kinda be fantasy without being fantasy - you know, you have to differentiate yourself and so many people are just in the fantasy genre, so Star Wars is big.

NOWGamer

Quote:

Star Wars: The Old Republic The most in-depth look at The Old Republic anywhere on the internet? It sounds like a recipe for guaranteed success: the most renowned RPG developer in the industry with a license for the biggest IP in the history of the world, takes on what has proven to be one of the most profitable mediums in gaming… potentially, at least. As much as we hate to trivialise Star Wars: The Old Republic, we still feel obliged to put the question of whether The Old Republic will just be a standard MMORPG in a Star Wars skin to the man in charge of the project.

Ten Ton Hammer

Quote:

Not SO Far Far Away - A Preview of Star Wars: The Old Republic I have been fortunate enough, in my short career in the gaming field, to be able to meet some great people and travel to some interesting events, but none of them ever instilled in me that pit-of-the-stomach anxiousness, which borders just this side of uncomfortable, until I was invited to LucasArts HQ in San Francisco to gets some hands-on time with Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The Kotaku, EuroGamer and Darth Hater links I already reported on this morning, but the rest is new.

The only thing that I will put here is GameSpot's interview video (just because I can easily embed the video):


There will probably be more articles over the coming day(s). And it wouldn't surprise me to see Holonet pages for the new classes tomorrow, but we'll see.


[link] to Sean's post listing all the articles.

The Muzzle Comes Off

For the last couple of weeks we've had rumors and leaked details on the last two classes, the Sith Inquisitor and the Jedi Consular, while the news sites stayed 'strangely' quiet. No so strange when you realize that they've been under a gag order, not allowed to say anything until December 3rd.

Which, if you note your clock, is todays date. So I expect a number of news sites posting articles with their experiences. First to the post are Kotaku, EuroGamer and Darth Hater.

EuroGamer has what can only be called a fairly skeptical view with some hints of hopeful enthusiasm in their article. Here's an excerpt:

The "thoughtful" Consular will also be able to specialise in healing, but The Old Republic's specialisation system is intended to offer options not restrict them, and reduce the obstacles to soloing or finding a suitable group. You'll be able to quickly swap between specialisations on your character, so there should be "no worrying about finding a healer", according to LucasArts. Using the Smuggler as an example, you could choose to configure the cowboy opportunist as a "scoundrel" - a short-range stealth rogue, skilled in medicine - or a "gunslinger", your classic dual-wielding ranger.

In that quote is the most interesting detail in the entire article; apparently you can swap specializations easily. Which is a good thing, as it means that nobody has to be a dedicated healer. You can be a healer when needed/wanted (with the Jedi Consular of course) and not when you don't. Though it doesn't make much lore sense and it depends a lot on how it's actually implemented, it does sound good to me.

Kotaku has an article in their usual style with the text divided into segments for what it is, what they saw, how far along it is, what needs to be improved and what needs to stay the same. Here's the section on what they feel needs to be improved:

What Needs Improvement?
I can't tell the difference between Sith Warrior and Inquistor: Just looking at the list of powers suggests that the class difference between Warrior and Inquisitor is supposed to exist. But while playing my big jugged female character, I just didn't feel any different from a Sith. I shocked people, I drained life force, I cut ‘em up with lightsabers. How is this different whether I'm a Warrior or Inquisitor?

Wow, is the whole galaxy a size D or just the Sith chicks? I'm not as annoyed as I am bemused by the boobs I saw in Old Republic. I almost missed half of what my acolyte was saying during the opening quest cinematic because I was watching her bosom stay oddly stationary while the rest of her body would shift when she sighed in boredom at her boss. Then, I practically ran into the bosom of another Sith female just trying to walk out the door. Finally, the Sith who assigned me the Jedi mind-rape quest I wasn't permitted to explore must've been using the Dark Side to keep her rack from sagging. Seriously, they took up one third of the screen in some camera angles during her quest-assignment cinematic.

Ugh, having gotten the impression that there wouldn't be any use of sliders for customization and having seen the screenshots I was afraid of this. I'm getting so very, very tired of game developers giving their female character ridiculous chest sizes as if that's somehow 'heroic'. My back hurts just thinking about it. But I guess that falls under the "our characters are all horribly mis-proportioned" heading.

Lastly, for now, is the near orgasmic explosion of details and articles over at Darth Hater. You can just feel that they've been chomping at the bit, eager to release all this. I haven't read any of it yet, and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to before tonight (as I've got a busy day with meetings and Christmas lunch at work), but here's their list of articles with brief descriptions:

General Information Learned – An in-depth dissection of the general abilities and information that does not pertain to any specific class. Information you can expect to see in the article includes the questing system, sprint mechanic, and much more.

The Sith Inquisitor – An in-depth dissection of the history, class abilities, combat, and more of the Sith Inquisitor.

The Jedi Consular – An in-depth dissection of the history, class abilities, combat, and more of the Jedi Consular.

Smuggler Class Trees – An in-depth dissection of the smuggler class trees shown in the presentation as well as Jake Neri’s comments from the second part of our interview.

Companion Characters – An analysis of a couple companion characters and how BioWare and LucasArts think they could change the way we play MMOs.

Jake Neri Interview Part Two – The second part of our interview with Jake Neri discusses the Jedi Consular, Sith Inquisitor, why the team decided on four force users, companion characters, and the smuggler class trees.

Darth Hater on the Four Force Users – Our very own take on the possible reasons behind using four force using classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic. We offer our own, unfiltered, opinions regarding the very heated debate and how we feel after a month of consideration.

Lots of details to go through there; thanks Darth Hater team.

I'll post more articles as I come across them (though probably not before tonight as I said).


[link] to hands-on article at EuroGamer.
[link] to preview article at Kotaku.
[link] to collection of articles at Darth Hater.

The Expanded Universe of The Old Republic

BioWare just let us know of some upcoming books related to Star Wars: The Old Republic set to expand the Star Wars (and The Old Republic) Expanded Universe expansionistically. Ok, that last wasn't a word. In Sean's much better words:

LucasArts and BioWare are forging a new Star Wars™ era of epic adventure with their forthcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Set more than 3,500 years in the past of the far-away galaxy, the game occurs in a time when the Jedi and the Galactic Republic clashed with the Sith Empire. It is an era rich with storytelling opportunities not only for players, but for fans of Star Wars literature.

Already, online fans are aware of Threat of Peace™, the serialized web-comic written by BioWare's Rob Chestney. This April, Dark Horse Comics begins collecting the comic into a 96-page trade paperback, Star Wars: The Old Republic Volume 1: Threat of Peace, with art by Alex Sanchez, and colors by Michael Atiyeh.

Threat of Peace author Rob Chestney is also slated to write a new, original The Old Republic short story for online publication here at StarWars.com.

Next July, Del Rey Books will publish in hardcover Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance, a novel by bestselling author Sean Williams. Now in the early planning stages is a second novel set in the Old Republic time frame, written by Paul Kemp, author of the forthcoming Crosscurrent.

[Link]

Unfortunately it looks like the novels won't be fully voiced (unless they do an audio book as well).