 EA Fiscal 3rd Quarter Results - No Mention of SWTOR |
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Feb 08, 2010 - 8:34 PM - by Ryan
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So, even though we have a tentative release date of Spring, 2011 for Star Wars: The Old Republic, mum's the word at the latest financial reporting:
Following the release of its fiscal third quarter results today, Electronic Arts outlined its preliminary release schedule for the coming year and beyond, including sequels to Dragon Age and Dead Space as well as a console version of The Sims 3.
Both Crysis 2, externally developed by Crytek, and "The Sims 3 on Console Title," as EA is tentatively referring to it, are due during the last calendar quarter of this year.
Crysis 2, the third release in the franchise, is due for both consoles and PC, marking the first time the series will appear in a non-PC-exclusive capacity.
In the first quarter of next year, EA's fiscal 2011 fourth quarter, the company says it will release Dead Space 2 for consoles (almost certainly Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the launch systems of the original game), as well as a new and currently untitled Dragon Age game for PC, console, and handheld.
It is unclear in this case if "handheld" refers to traditional gaming consoles like Nintendo DS and PSP, or to iPhone and other multifunctional devices.
Also on the slate is the still-mysterious "Shooter from Epic," announced back in 2008 as being in development for EA Partners by Epic Games and its subsidiary studio People Can Fly, acquired in 2007.
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Source was Gamasutra, but this article is out there on the streets.
One interesting item is the talk of a Dragon Age: Origins sequel already. The game hasn't been out for that long, and there are a few DLC's for it as well as the first official expansion comming soon. This is priced as the same as the original release - hopefully meaning just as much content. And already a sequel. This is only good news for SWTOR and the plans / capability of the EA/Bioware team to release new content on a regular basis for SWTOR.
With the going rate of Star Trek Online and the time it will take Blizzard to release the next gen MMO they often refer to, Star Wars: The Old Republic is going to be an epic release - both for the gamer and Bioware. 
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SWTOR Junkies Site Update |
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Feb 08, 2010 - 1:50 AM - by Ryan
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Well, it's that time again that I posted on how the site upgrade is going. (And of note, I am in a limited connectivity environment as I do some last minute business traveling, so the updates will be spotty for a while.)
The site upgrade is going along nicely. The design is still in the "comp" phase and should be finalized shortly. When this is complete, I'll move to coding and alpha testing on a sandbox system.
All said and done, the new site system will allow easier end user interaction with news articles on the front page. I'm looking to integrate member guilds and similar features as well.
As Bioware developes for the game, expect to see some sort of player armory integration as well. Time will tell on this feature.
Feel free to list any features you would like to see added.
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Friday Update |
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Jan 31, 2010 - 10:08 PM - by Ryan
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Hey everyone,
It’s only a few hours till tomorrow’s update but I wanted to go ahead and post this now. Tomorrow’s update will be Threat of Peace #25. We realize some may be a little dismayed by this, especially after all of the updates we were having towards the end of 2009.
While we have announced our target launch window, we also realize there is a lot of information to release between now and then. We met with the development team soon after returning from the holiday break and discussed some of the information we want to release. In going over that, we decided to wait on a few things to ensure we are giving the community the most accurate information possible. We understand that pretty much everyone would love to have all the information about The Old Republic now but we wouldn't be serving the community properly if we told you all about a particular feature or mechanic only for it to be completely different than the way we explained it when The Old Republic releases.
We definitely have some new reveals and announcements coming up but I wanted to inform everyone that our next couple of updates won't be those. And while I'd like nothing better than to tell you what is on the horizon, I can't for the very same reason as I talked about above. We have a plan on what information we want to release and when we want to release it but we always make sure the rest of the team is confident with the information we are releasing before we put it out there.
We know that some of you come here weekly and some even daily no matter what information we release because you enjoy interacting with the community. But we also know that some come here for new information and we want to make sure you get that when it is made available. Here are our suggestions on making sure you know what's going on with The Old Republic if you don't wish to check the forums.
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 SWTOR Release Date and Update |
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Jan 18, 2010 - 12:27 AM - by Ryan
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Star Wars: The Old Republic is now slated for a Spring, 2011 release date. This date is in line with what has been speculated on SWTOR Junkies. Remember, that it is just a tentative date: more than likely it will be bumped to the right. It's a safe bet that Fall, 2011 will more than likely be the release time frame.
Speculation Dates:
Star Craft II - Summer/Fall 2010
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm - Fall, 2010
Diablo III - Spring/Summer 2011
Star Trek Online Expansion - Summer 2011
(I think a Guild Wars expansion goes in there somewhere as well.)
After participating in the Star Trek Online Beta phase, I can honestly say that SWTOR is going to be the competitor for the Warcraft Franchise. There has yet to be a new game on the market with as strong a content offering as what SWTOR promises.
Fan Friday Update:
Understandably, not everyone is going to like the update every week. That is why we do a variety of updates and not just the same thing every week. That said, not every week can be a "big" week. Some weeks we have videos, some we don't. Sometimes we have media assets that show off the game, sometimes we have assets that talk more about the thoughts and lore behind the game. Sometimes we reveal something new, and other times we delve a little deeper into something already known.
That all said, there are things we are just not ready to discuss at this time. We do not want to talk about "Feature X" or "System Y" only to have it not appear in the game. We'd much rather wait until "Feature X" is actually working the way we desire and then we'll talk about it.
If we did talk about things that weren't working the way we want, there is the potential it changes between then and launch. Then, if a player had his or her heart set on something we simply "announced" and then it wasn't there or completely different than they were told, that player will feel lied and betrayed to. This does more of a disservice to the community rather than making them wait for solid information to be released.
As for the Developer Corner, one of the nice aspects about it is we can release information there that sometimes doesn't quite fit our "bundled" approach. When we do a reveal, there are a variety of assets with a common theme. But sometimes there is just something cool that we want to show off that isn't a reveal or part of a bundle; the Developer Corner gives us an avenue to display things just like that.
So, while Fan Friday is highlighting some of the great community contributions, it now also lets us spotlight developer creations that didn't fit in some of our other updates.
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SWTOR Junkies Changes |
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Jan 07, 2010 - 11:40 PM - by Ryan
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Over the coming weeks, SWTOR Junkies will be getting a complete site revamp in preparation for Operation Spring Push.
SWTOR Junkies was established in June, 2009 in order to create a community of fans for BioWare's upcoming MMO-RPG release, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Since that date, SWTOR Junkies has been updated on a regular basis yet done so without the community authenticity that a site like this was created for. There are several reasons as to why. The biggest and most important reason is/was the rate of information flow from BioWare itself. This flow rate has a natural evolution for the release of a major gaming title increasing as the release date approaches. SJ is a firm believer in burn-out of rehashed information.
The point is that SWTOR Junkies is now poised to launch full force, with a re-grand opening for Spring 2010. Included is an extensive site upgrade bringing many new features.
So, I ask you to stay tuned, create an account on the forums, and enjoy the community.
- Ryan
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The Imperial Agent Is Shaping up to be an Interesting Class Choice |
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Jan 05, 2010 - 8:40 PM - by Ryan
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Conclusion
Playing the Imperial Agent isn’t for everyone. He’ll never be out front with a Lightsaber or torching Droids with a flamethrower, and he’ll never receive fame and recognition for his successes. The Imperial Agent lives in the shadows and, when he does his job right, no one ever realizes he was there. His best weapons are a sniper rifle, his gadgets and his ability to charm or lie his way through any situation. He works for an Empire that places little value on an individual operative’s life.
It’s going to be rough. It’s going to be fun.
For those of you giving it a try, one last word of advice: Whatever you do? Don’t trust XXXXXX.
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Source Here
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A Christmas Day Update |
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Dec 26, 2009 - 6:23 AM - by Ryan
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Inspired by notorious characters such as Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, the Sith Inquisitor and Sith Warrior take different approaches to their rise to power. The Sith Warrior achieves victory through pure aggression and might while the Sith Inquisitor excels by cunning ambition and Force manipulation.
From storyline, to art style, to combat tactics, each design decision was made to support the dark side themes of power, domination, and destruction.
Watch Developer Dispatch: Designing the Dark Side, and learn how Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ developers created this dominating force.
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Source here.
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 Happy Holidays! |
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Dec 20, 2009 - 11:40 PM - by Ryan
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From all of us behind the scenes at SWTOR Junkies, have a safe and happy holidays!
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Darth Hater on the Four Force Users |
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Dec 05, 2009 - 9:08 AM - by Ryan
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There is a very interesting post over on Darth Hater.com on having 4 force users in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Styled as an internal debate, DH raises issues that could ultimately affect the quality of the SW:TOR online game play experience. With millions upon millions of people playing their computer games in an online, MMO environment, it is incredibly important for today's game development studios to get things right the first time if the game is going to have success and coveted super-stardom. It is critically important for BioWare due to representing the Star Wars franchise.
My own, personal take on the situation is this:
I fear that the 'canon' of the Star Wars world (or rules, or realm if you will) could be disrupted or cheesed-up due to having a mandatory equal playing field between force users and non-force users. I'm scared that there may be the possibility of not having a truly authentic Star Wars experience. BioWare games are strongly story driven - see Dragon Age: Origins. Because of this fact, I think there will be a good population balance between the classes. However, everybody knows that the force will win hands down every time.
Each day is closer to release and the answer to this debate.
Here is the link to the original article.
Arguably the greatest rift in the Star Wars: The Old Republic community came from the possibility, now reality, of four of the eight classes as force users. This discussion spawned shortly after the Sith Warrior was released and described as a melee focused class, and only grew in intensity. Having nearly a month to think about this design choice, we felt it was important to weigh in with our opinion.
What it Means for RPGs
As pen and paper role-playing games moved into the realm of video games, designers realized that some alterations needed to be made for the sake of simplicity. When the game existed in the imagination of the user, a broad term such as “Wizard” could be used to cover any number of skills, spells and abilities. However, as each skill set needed to be programmed and visually realized, the more complex archetypes eventually splintered into different groups. Wizards became Mages, Warlocks, Necromancers and Pyromancers; Warriors splintered into Fighters, Barbarians, and Monks. Over time, the community learned to accept the idea that even though they are all intrinsically the same, they could still be considered distinct and separate classes.
BioWare and LucasArts appear to be betting that they can inspire the same change in the public perception of force users. Where we previously grouped Jedi as just Jedi, and Sith as Sith, they would have us break specializations into fully distinct classes. When using the fantasy archetypes as an analog it isn’t that hard to see their vision. They took steps towards this goal in KOTOR by separating the Jedi into three classes, and are continuing this trend by creating four force-using specialists.
In this regard, we would have to agree with the developers. Having two classes, both of which have access to every possible force power, would almost certainly mean failure in an RPG community. Either the selection of force powers would be limited dramatically, leading to Jedi and Sith players bemoaning the lack of depth, or the selection would be so great that all non-force classes would feel left out and inferior; the latter we already saw in action.
What it Means for PVP
One of the greatest worries in the early TOR community was how to make Jedi and Sith balanced in a game with non-force using counterparts. This is doubly important in a game that includes any form of player versus player combat. It appears that the developers’ answer to this problem is to force (no pun intended) Jedi and Sith players into distinct roles with recognizable skill sets.
On a purely mechanical level, we would have to agree with this point as well. Without this distinction, a player wielding a lightsaber could have any specialization and his opponent would not know how to handle the situation until the battle was over. A Trooper is a Trooper, and an Imperial Agent is an Imperial Agent. But a Jedi, with any number of skill tree options, could be anything. By placing different force users into recognizable archetypes, we believe it evens the playing field by allowing non-force users to develop appropriate tactics for each.
What it Means for Story
Another issue in this debate focuses around the possible story arcs for four force users. The concern being whether or not their stories can be as unique and distinct as those seen with the other classes. For example, the life of a Smuggler varies greatly from the life of a Trooper. We know the individual narratives will be high quality and engaging, this is BioWare after all, but how different and special can the stories be between a Sith Warrior and a Sith Inquisitor?
On this point, we will have to file ourselves as mildly worried. The life of a Jedi Knight, who goes through the trials to destroy things with a lightsaber, seems far too similar to a Jedi Consular, who goes through the trials to destroy things with the force. While it is true that you could take two law enforcement officers, ask them their life story, and get completely different tales — would they be distinct enough to warrant two archetypes? We have not yet seen enough, and cannot confidently say we are convinced.
What it Means for MMOs
For players who choose to play a Jedi or Sith, having four force users means they have a much larger set of options for being who they want to be. If we imagine that a Trooper has 20 skills and a Smuggler has 20 skills, then a single Jedi class would also have 20 skills. This means that splitting force users into two archetypes per faction basically allows for 80 skills to be available for anyone looking to play a force user, thus allowing them to find the precise set that suits their desired style.
We understand this choice. Community polls are roughly estimating 60% of the pre-launch player base wants to roll a force user, and splitting the field does allow this group to find what they want. However, we feel this could be a squandered opportunity to add a fresh or unique new skill set to the game. In the end, while the force abilities are different, they are fairly similar to each other. A fully-realized fourth class could have been as unique and distinct as the Imperial Agent is to the Bounty Hunter.
The Final Verdict
We are taking a “Cautiously Optimistic” view on the four force users. During the time we’ve had to consider this decision, many worries have subsided and a couple new ones have emerged, but the reasoning behind this choice is starting to shine through. We have confidence in the developers and are looking forward to seeing how this design works in the live product.
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Last 2 SWTOR Classes Revealed! |
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Nov 24, 2009 - 12:37 AM - by Ryan
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Yesterday, Sean Dahlberg posted this on the official forums:
Fans of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be in for a treat this week! Several magazines in North America and Europe will have articles that not only talk about The Old Republic but also reveal our final two classes: the Jedi Consular and the Sith Inquisitor!
We will be updating the HoloNet with information about both of these in December, but in the meantime, feel free to participate in discussions within the class areas for both the Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor.
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Write up to come soon!
Explanation - Dragon Age. <3 BioWare!
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