BioWare and LucasArts are pleased to announce that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will launch on December 20, 2011 in North America and on December 22, 2011 in the European Launch Territories! The announcement was first made by BioWare co-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk during their keynote address at the 2011 Eurogamer Expo in London, England. Speaking to a packed room of press and fans alike, Dr. Muzyka acknowledged the weight of the moment and the patience of the fans.
“This is an incredible moment for everyone at BioWare and our partners at LucasArts who have dedicated their lives to build this extraordinary game. We appreciate the patience from the millions of fans who have been waiting for the game’s release.”
Each copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic will come with 30 days of subscription time, after which you have the option to continue playing with one of the following monthly subscription fees:
1 Month Subscription: $14.99 (£8.99/€12.99)
3 Month Subscription: $13.99 per month (one-time charge of $41.97/£25.17/€35.97)
6 Month Subscription: $12.99 per month (one-time charge of $77.94/£46.14/€65.94)
Those who have pre-ordered the game and entered their pre-order code on StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com are eligible for Early Game Access. If you haven’t yet reserved your copy of the game, be sure to visit our Pre-Order page and secure your place in the Old Republic now!
We want to thank you for your continued passion, dedication and support. Though one part of this incredible journey is coming to an end, we are confident that you all share our excitement for this new beginning. Be sure to check back to StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com as well as our Twitter and Facebook pages for all the latest news and updates on Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Cryptic is working on the free-to-play model for Star Trek Online. This is going to be launched by the end of this year as well. So I think free-to-play model we have a bigger potential in US market and also in China market.
“A sticky issue for PWE is going to be the fact that STO has run on a "sort of" item mall model from its inception. While the game charged a monthly fee, players who wanted to, for instance, play other races had to unlock them using the Cryptic Store. The new model is going to have to address some of that when it reemerges as a F2P game. Devs are going to have to ask themselves which things will stay in the store as vanity and which will have to be released wholesale as something required to "win" at the game. Without adequate answers, the idea of pay to win might have some merit.”
Dan Stahl starts the discussion with the comment First, I'm incredibly happy that Cryptic Studios is now a subsidiary of Perfect World. They are passionate about MMOs and have a tremendous amount of experience in both creating and marketing their products. You'd be as shocked as I was to know how well their games are doing in the US and they have found the right way to spend money to make money on their games. They deliver a great product with tons of content updates and great customer service.
STAR WARS GALAXIES SERVICE WILL END ON DECEMBER 15
Dear Star Wars Galaxies™ Community Member,
We write to you today to inform you that on December 15, 2011, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and LucasArts will end all services (MMO and Trading Card Game) for Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). The shutdown of SWG is a very difficult decision, but SOE and LucasArts have mutually agreed that the end of 2011 is the appropriate time to end the game.
We are extremely grateful to all of the SWG fans. We have had the rare opportunity to host one of the most dedicated and passionate online gaming communities and we truly appreciate the support we’ve received from each and every one of you over the course of the past eight years.
In recognition of your incredible loyalty, we are extending special Fan Appreciation offers to the current SWG community. We also plan to go out with a bang with a galaxy-ending in-game event in December and hope to see you all there. The details relating to these offers and events as well as the timeline and specifics regarding the discontinuation of the service, are provided below.
Again, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to our player community for making SWG one of the best online communities in gaming history.
Great news: The Foundry, the special tool that lets you create your very own episodes and stories in Star Trek Online, is live!
The Foundry for Star Trek Online gives you the opportunity to craft the Star Trek universe your way. With The Foundry, you can design and build brand new missions and stories to share with your friends and the entire Star Trek Online community.
The team over at Massively.com have published an interesting look at the Future of Fleets in Star Trek Online. A rather in-depth look, Brandon Felczer takes a look at everything from Fleet Size and Missions, to the Foundry and how that could benefit Fleets. If you play STO, take a look, it's an interesting read.
You can read the full article of Michael Bitton at MMORPG
While all the group role trappings are there, it was interesting reading reactions from users who were somewhat confused over the team makeup. I?ve previously expressed confusion over the fact the Smuggler can serve as a healer from a lore standpoint, but the fact he was doing it nonetheless was simply fun to watch. Keeping things in perspective, the Smuggler class also has high damage melee (including stealth) or ranged combat options that it can specialize in, so the fact it can serve as a healer as well is frankly a bit refreshing, if still confusing.
The Jedi Guardian was sporting its single-bladed lightsaber DPS specialization, something that was only revealed just recently. Previously, many were under the assumption that we?d only be able to fulfill a damage role dual-wielding lightsabers, so it?s nice to see that the singleblade is also an option outside of tanking.
BioWare released a 16-minute whopper of a video at this year's PAX East, providing us with a detailed walkthrough of Star Wars: The Old Republic's Taral V Flashpoint.
View the video here (Or simply click on read more)
