Star Wars: The Old Republic - Delayed til September

humanji

Just saw this on Gamespot:

Gamespot wrote:

A year ago Electronic Arts announced that Star Wars: The Old Republic--BioWare's massively multiplayer online role-playing game take on the esteemed film series--would arrive during the spring 2011 window. However, according to one report, the publisher was a bit ambitious with that date.
The force of delay is strong with The Old Republic, it seems.


Game business site MCV is reporting that sources within BioWare have informed it that the long-awaited PC MMORPG will arrive at an undisclosed date in September. As of press time EA had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment or clarification on the purported delay.

SW:TOR is currently in testing phase, where BioWare-selected bug squashers are traversing the game's universe, said to be bigger than every BioWare game released to date…put together.

SW:TOR--which EA will publish solo--takes place approximately 300 years after the events of the original game but some 3,600 years before the events of LucasArts' quintessential films. Players can choose to align themselves with either side of the Force, taking on professions like the Sith warrior and bounty hunter for the Dark Side and the trooper and smuggler for the Galactic Republic.

Wonder if they found some serious bugs or are overhauling part of it?

Kiith

Not too bothered by the delay, as i hadn't even realised that it was supposed to be out in Spring 2011. More time to polish an MMO is always a good thing.

Gamespot wrote:

traversing the game's universe, said to be bigger than every BioWare game released to date…put together.

Holy ****, i didnt realise it was that big.

Nody

Kiith wrote: »

Holy ****, i didnt realise it was that big.

Big does not equal good though; esp. if you think back to a certain other game that came before which had huge land space and no content in it...

Columc

Nody wrote: »

Big does not equal good though; esp. if you think back to a certain other game that came before which had huge land space and no content in it...

like eve? like come on only stars and planets in the game, you would think you could land on the planets or something

de5p0i1er

I was looking foward to that one, I guess I'll just give DC Universe a try instead.

Venom

Kiith wrote: »

Not too bothered by the delay, as i hadn't even realised that it was supposed to be out in Spring 2011. More time to polish an MMO is always a good thing.


Holy ****, i didnt realise it was that big.

Would that still not be small for an MMO tho? Maybe I'm just spoiled from the like of WoW, AoC, LOTRO and EQ1+2.

Sucks balls about that release date tho.

Looks like its delayed again , 2012 .

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/42826/EA-confirms-Old-Republic-delay

humanji

Well it's sometime in the next fiscal year, so that runs from April '11 to march '12. They still think it'll be about September.

seriousbuns

cant wait for this

ZeitgeistGlee

humanji wrote: »

Well it's sometime in the next fiscal year, so that runs from April '11 to march '12. They still think it'll be about September.

As far as I remember in the last financial report they said TOR would be Fiscal 2012 but Calender 2011 and they're still aiming for the Spring release which I think would be between April and June.

Wezo1994

Magill

Venom wrote: »

Would that still not be small for an MMO tho? Maybe I'm just spoiled from the like of WoW, AoC, LOTRO and EQ1+2.

Sucks balls about that release date tho.

I'd imagine it would be bigger than WoW at least, not too sure about the rest as i've never played them enough to see everything.

Baldurs gate 1 + 2 / KOTOR / Mass Effect 1 + 2 / Dragon Age / NeverWinter Nights are all pretty big games tbh

ZeitgeistGlee

Deleted User wrote: »

Looks like its delayed again , 2012 .

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/42826/EA-confirms-Old-Republic-delay

The article is incorrect, EA have made no official changes to the expected launch date of Spring of this year. The writer seems to have mistaken Fiscal 2011 (ending March 31st) with Calender 2011. While there's a lot of speculation the game may be pushed back a few more months (and PAX will probably reveal the truth of the matter), there's still quite a bit of time left on the clock for the game to release in the expected time-frame.

TheDoc

March 25th was the release date I was told and it seems firm on,

Interesting to hear if there is any change to that date

allanb49

Everyone at BioWare and EA is working to ensure that Star Wars: The Old Republic is delivered at the quality level you expect from BioWare and Star Wars.

‪Star Wars: The Old Republic is expected to launch this year after the close of EA's fiscal 2011 (which ends March 31st, 2011). Information on the release date and pre-order programs will be released as it becomes available.


http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=258996

TheDoc

Well still have on preorder from Amazon, they had it at €23 euro few months back, that site rocks for preorders, get it at price you booked in at

allanb49

i wanna wait for a trial before i commit


linky

Kiith

Looks like it's delayed again. Oh well...

Kotaku wrote:

BioWare's ambitious Star Wars massively multiplayer online role-playing game is still officially on the books for a 2011 release, penciled in for the second half of the calendar year—though publisher EA is hesitant to pin it down more specifically.

The company mentioned today during an investor call that there's an "outside possibility" the PC game won't hit this year, with Star Wars: The Old Republic possibly hitting as late as January 2012. Or maybe even later, as EA offered a "guidance range" that stretched to the end of EA's fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2012.

"While we fully anticipate launching Star Wars: The Old Republic in Q2 or Q3 [of EA's fiscal year], the low end of our guidance range assumes the outside possibility of a January launch," EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau said.

EA opted not to nail down The Old Republic's release date today for two reasons, executives said, one being that "we don't want to tip off the competition." The other? "We want more data from the beta test to guarantee a spectacular experience at launch," Gibeau said.

If Star Wars: The Old Republic does slip to the first quarter of 2012, it will face competition from two other EA role-playing games. 38 Studios' Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and BioWare's Mass Effect 3 are both planned for the same window.

http://kotaku.com/#!5798708/ea-says-theres-an-outside-possibility-star-wars-the-old-republic-could-slip-to-2012

Raphael

That delay still leaves a September release on the cards. Q2-Q3 of this fiscal year is a July-December 2011 launch window.

Ravage1616

Raphael wrote: »

That delay still leaves a September release on the cards. Q2-Q3 of this fiscal year is a July-December 2011 launch window.

I hope its September/October, wishful thinking I know!

Raphael

September with an Open Beta in August is my hope. I'm betting we'll get information at E3.

Asry

I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS GAAAAMMMMMEEEEE.

[I'm building a new PC for it]

As my boyfriend says...it's weird to think that life has an expiry date. :cool:

I have decided that this game does not exist to me yet. I have not heard anything about and i do not know that its going to be released .

So when it does come out , it will be a surprise.

Asry

that's a good idea maybe. I could stop staring at the website and trying to decide if I really want to be a Sith Inquisitor and just...not think about it

Shiminay

I thought I posted this write up some time ago, but I guess I didn't Sorry about that...

Last November I spent 6 hours playing a pre-alpha of this game. This was actually my second look at it, having seen a *really* early version of it in the spring (which I wasn't really able to make much sense of as I'm not an MMO person).

I was worried about the dangers of this being a really un-enjoyable experience for me as I'm not into the MO thing at all, this game has me convinced that I will enjoy the experience We got to play as a Jedi in training getting to choose either the Consular or Guardian classes (I think they were called) - the first focussed on light-sabre combat, the other on Force heavy combat.

After spending an hour trying to get used to the controls (which as an non MMO player, I considered fundamentally broken). I'm told they're "standard" MMO controls, but I won't be using them. If BioWare don't let me re-bind the keys, someone's getting punched in the face!

Anyway, after that hour of faffing about trying to remember that A and D are not Strafe and trying to remember that the animations I'm seeing on screen during combat aren't necessarily an indication of what the numbers are saying (and therefore I didn't need to panic), I felt comfortable enough with what was happening and I was bouncing through the easy quests and enjoying a wander around the planet where the Jedi Training Academy was. The world was pretty rich with several villages and outposts and of course, the Jedi Temple itself where you would go and talk with your master. There were training exercises there too and traders - all the sort of thing you'd expect in any RPG and all felt pretty reasonably "Star Wars" despite being set several thousand years before the events in the films.

It's story heavy as you'd expect from a BioWare game and they're really trying to make sure you don't feel like you have to grind as much as do missions which should give you the experience necessary to avoid the dreaded grind.

In the 6 hours I played, I managed to get just past level 7 (10 being your first "full" Jedi status - there's even a cut-scene where you build your light-sabre and it then launches you into another dungeon/instance). In the time I played, I went through 1 dungeon, got killed on the last guy of it, went back out and did a couple of more side-quests to get to my next level and then rocked through the dungeon this time completing it. One of the lads with us skipped lunch so he could hit that magical 10 and he did

We were then given a group instance to fight. We were travelling from one planet to another (this will be done at space ports) and an emergency breaks out on-board the ship. So, we tear off to do whatever it is we were doing. This was quite buggy and crashed out a few times and was slow because the test servers we were playing on were in the states. No one really minded as this was pre-alpha code and they were so unhappy about it themselves, they considered not showing it to us, but we were happy with all we saw. The instance was fun, quite challenging and again, quite story centric.

I got a short video interview with Mr Daniel Erickson who's the lead writer for the game. I'll just need to tidy it a bit and I'll do my best to get it uploaded today - I apologise in advance for the not spectacular quality of it, we were sitting beside some of the massive air con units in the O2

[edit]
Video is currently processing, again I apologise for the quality, but you shouldn't have any difficulty in listening in and who wants to look at me anyway?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeGzHBEmShk

Asry

aw, legend!

Lemming

New trailer

I need a brown paper bag .... can't .. bre... ath .... :pac: :eek:

Kiith

That's actually the opening cinematic to the game. Bioware sure do know how to do intro's.

Venom

That new trailer is just epic

I'm in the "waiting until Beta / Trial" boat after so many MMO disappointments.

That said - I actually think it is a really good thing that Bioware are pushing release dates back. If the game comes to the market broken, even if it is fixed in the first quarter of release (3 months) the community will take a huge hit as people drop interest fast and never come back.

The days of MMOs releasing in early beta form (Star Trek, Warhammer, Age of conan etc etc etc etc (etc etc)) should really be behind us at this late stage. No matter how much games improve, the initial damage can be irreversible to the lasting community which really is what an MMO is all about.

Also to note - Blizzard are notorious for pushing back start dates. I'm fairly sure WOW was over 6 months after its start date.

All the trailers so far look good, I'm sure it will be worth playing at least for the story elements - whether it has longevity of gameplay or not will be another big issue. Blizzard had no MMO experience before WoW so I figure it's only an issue if you make it one.