Beta

GameStar Magazine – skeptical about SWTOR – Stephen Reid Addresses

German Fansite We Don’t Serve Droids Took the time to do a translation of German GameStar Magazine Latest Star Wars the old republic article (GameStar XL (01/2011) and GameStar MMO Magazin (Dez 2010)) You can read the full transcript here The first article written by Petra Schmitz is the more skeptical one. They are actually two articles grouped in one big preview about SWTOR. In the first part she predicts that SWTOR will have big financial difficulties, because of the big money invested, and the needed number of players over certain time just to return the investment – the whole thing looks impossible to achieve.  But I’m not worried about that part. The most important second part of the interview had some good and bad news about the game Quests According to them the story is great, the dialogs too due to the voice-over and the cinematic experience. Although they…

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Bioware sends out another wave of beta invites in the form of a survey

Several Users from the SWTOR Forums got the following Message via Mail Here is the official Statement from the swtor crew: Some of you may have received an email from Magid, regarding a survey concerning Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. As there has been some confusion, we wanted to let everyone know that it is indeed valid. We are partnered with a third-party agency, Magid, to conduct some focused playtests for TOR. These are part of our ongoing Game Testing Program. As part of that testing, a number of emails were sent to registered community members like you who’d opted in for game testing. What to do now? If you were sent an email and haven’t clicked through to the survey yet, well, go ahead and click. If you haven’t been emailed, don’t bother asking someone else to share; the surveys are individually linked to email addresses. If you are…

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Consequences for leaking Information about Star Wars: The old republic

Sean Dahlberg explained to us on the community forum, what should be done, if you encounter any leaked information about Star Wars: The Old Republic. either on the official forum or any other website. He continues to point out the consequences for revealing information that has not yet been released officially by Bioware. These consequences range from a simple request to delete your post to being suspended from any Star Wars: The Old Republic ‘service’ indefintely. Below, we have listed Sean Dahlberg’s official responses. Consequences “”Being able to have the community help us test The Old Republic is very important and valuable to the development process. The Game Testing Program allows community members to give us quality feedback so we can make adjustments and have a highly effective service and entertaining experience when we do launch. Since we have some time until the game is complete, some of the information testers have…

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The official first testing phase for SWTOR begins

The long awaited testing phase of Star Wars: The Old Republic has officially begun. The announcement was made today in the game’s Friday release and testers that have been selected will gain access to the new Star Wars universe. From LucasArts: “Game Testing for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is underway! Those selected to test will gain access to the game and be able to provide valuable feedback to help tune particular areas of gameplay and begin the process of balancing and tweaking content. Game Testing is an on-going process being rolled out in several phases. These phases began with smaller, more focused tests with community members from North America, and later will expand to other territories. Users selected for the test program will be notified via email with more information on accessing the Game Testing Portal. Those not chosen yet may be selected in the next wave! For those…

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Star Wars: The old republic – closed beta happening this weekend

There is a thread on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums started by community member Awran that talks about rumors of a “beta” session this weeken. Apparently reports are that 100-200 people received such an invite. Then when Sean Dahlberg responded he didn’t confirm, but he didn’t deny or lock the thread either. Here’s his post: Hey everyone, Thanks for the information and it’s definitely interesting that people are posting about our Game Testing Program. We don’t have anything official to say at this moment but if you have any questions, please check out the Game Testing Program FAQ. And a little later he posted again to reiterate what people are allowed to disclose and what not: The Game Testing Agreement that was agreed upon (when signing up for game testing) states:   PERMITTED DISCLOSURES 1. The fact that there is a Game Program. 2. The fact that you are…

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E3 – Day 1 Roundup: Ships, Groups and more

Looks like we are getting treated to at least some more eye candy today… If you’ve seen the latest update to BioWare’s “The Old Republic @ E3 2010” post then you’ll have noticed the following: The Old Republic Live on G4! Make sure to check out G4’s half-hour blowout on Star Wars: The Old Republic starting at 2pm PT! Adam Sessler, X-Play host and G4’s Editor-In-Chief of Games, plans to deliver a 30-minute all-access coverage of The Old Republic including live game-play. “Never before have we granted so much time to one game at E3,” said Adam Sessler. “Star Wars: Old Republic is a game of such breadth that the excitement around it and the time we are dedicating to it will have a huge pay-off for the viewers.” Want to see what the press are seeing? Then don’t miss a minute of it! Below are embeds of the Bounty…

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Star Wars: The Old Republic Exclusive Hands-On – Bounty Hunter, Trooper, Imperial Agent, Smuggler, Sith Inquisitor, and Sith Warrior

It’s starting! Today Gamespot published a long article, which does not only talkt about gameplay impressions, but also announces two playable species: Twi’lek and Chiss. In addition to 4 brand new screenshots, they reveal lots of combat – here is a snippet The Republic trooper and the smuggler professions begin their lives in the same area under different circumstances. As a trooper, we started our career as the newest member of the elite Republic commando unit known as Havoc squad–a handsome human soldier riding on the inside of a giant walker into a war zone on the planet of Ord Mantell. The planet is a Republic world torn apart by a civil war waged by separatist rebels. As a smuggler, we played as a Twi’lek, which is the humanoid Star Wars race that has long tentacles down either side of their heads, similar to the Bib Fortuna character in Return…

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This is not the Game Tester Login page that you are looking for…

Sean Dahlberg posted on the forum in regards to the “hidden launch website“, confirming that it is indeed a game tester login page: You have indeed found the login portal for Game Testing. That said, this is not a new page and we are not ready to make any additional announcements about our Game Testing Program. When we are ready, we will make sure The Old Republic Community is the first to know! If you haven’t signed up yet to be a tester or wish to learn more, access our Game Testing Portal. And a little later he posted some more answers: A couple of quick answers: Yes, it is indeed called the Game Testing Program and not anything else. As when we originally announced sign-ups, Game testing for Star Wars: The Old Republic will be rolled out in several phases over an extended period of time. These test phases…

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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…

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What Race Will You Be?

So what is everyone thinking as far as Race is concerned. I am torn at the moment between really wanting to play a Chagrian and possibly having to play a Human. Hrm… So, there are some races that are quite obvious will be in this game. Kind of because they have to be, like Humans. But what races can we say we have seen in screens or movies for sure, that because of so must show up. Well, here are some of them.

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Sign Up to Test Star Wars: The Old Republic

Sign up for your chance to become a tester for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Star Wars: The Old Republic is now taking applications for beta. This game has been high on the radar of many gamers and now you can start signing up for betato help bring the universe of The Old Republic to life. We are excited to announce that we are now collecting information for those interested in applying for the opportunity to test Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Our goal is to get feedback to help us make the best game that we can. We will be selecting testers from the Star Wars: The Old Republic community based on various requirements such as systems specifications, age, and region. Because the testing program requires feedback from within the community, you must have an active Star Wars: The Old Republic (“TOR”) community account to participate (no banned accounts)….

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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.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic Video – Diverse Worlds

Majestic forests, toxic swamplands, desert landscapes, and hazardous war zones the worlds that make up the Star Wars™ universe are unique and enriched with compelling storylines. Watch Developer Dispatch: Diverse Worlds and go behind the scenes to find out how the developers are bringing the worlds of Tython, Korriban, Hutta, and Ord Mantell to life a few of the many playable worlds in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

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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…

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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…

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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.

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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…

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