Star Wars: The Old Republic announced
October 21, 2008
Our The Old Republic Wiki Database is now live at http://torwiki.com
Allright, folks. Looks like we were right. Tonight BioWare officially announced Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Set 300 years after the events in Knights of the Old Republic (and featuring some familiar faces), Star Wars: The Old Republic will put players on either side of a massive war between the Republic and the Empire. “It’s not a day-in-the-life of Star Wars,” Ray emphasizes; “It’s about being a hero.” They want the game to fit the scale and proportions of a conflict that spans the entire galaxy. The game will follow BioWare’s emphasis on “choice with consequences” with room for players to be ambiguous or conflicted about their motives. In short, Greg says, it’s what BioWare fans want: a perpetual RPG that delivers the full BioWare experience.
KotOR MMO announcement rumored to be coming soon
October 5, 2008
Our Kotor MMO Wiki Database is now live at http://torwiki.com
ComputerAndVideoGames.com claims that an announcement about BioWare’s secret MMO project should be expected pretty soon.
A column that appeared last Saturday reports that the rag is soon off to San Francisco to “file an exclusive report on the game”, after stating that BioWare is working on “a MMO of Knights of the Old Republic”.
Obviously this comes not from the most reliable source. I guess we have to wait and see what happens.
KoTOR MMO confirmed by EA Boss!
July 18, 2008
In an interview with Portfolio.com, John Riccitiello of Electronic Arts, “may” have spilled the beans on the new Bioware MMO being published by EA as Knights of the Old Republic. The article quotes Riccitiello as saying:
Tags: BioWare, Electronic Arts, KotOR MMO, Star Wars: The Old RepublicWe’ve got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development,” said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. “And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about — in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it.”
Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? “Yes,” he said.
World of Starcraft still a possibility
July 5, 2008
The Blizzard World Wide Invitational 2008 is over and as we all know Diablo 3 was announced. Although, slightly disappointing for those of us who had hoped to hear an announcement about the secret MMO project on which Blizzards “Team 3” has been working for a while now. But there were indeed tiny bits of information. You only had to listen carefully:
- Rob Pardo, Executive Vice President of Game Design at Blizzard: He confirms in an interview at the WWI in Paris, that Diablo 3 isn’t the secret MMO: “..Diablo 3 isn’t an MMO,” Pardo says, “So we have another development team.” (Editor’s Note: that should be Team 3)
- Paul Sams, Blizzard’s Chief Operating Officer: Confirmed in an interview with Gamasutra that no new IPs are coming soon. “Are we ever going to release a new [franchise]?” Sams says, “I would absolutely say we will at some point. I just don’t know when that day will be quite yet.”
So let’s recap the current situation with Blizzards major franchises keeping in mind that no new Blizzard IP is to be expected anytime soon:
- World of Warcraft: the game is still doing well and Blizzard has projected the lifespan for WoW to be approximately 10 years. That would put a sequel quite far away.
- Diablo: The non MMO successor has just been announced. But even IF Blizzard had a Diablo MMO in the works it would probably cannibalize on the WoW subscriber base due to the relatively similar background.
- Starcraft: Starcraft 2 has been announced on last year’s WWI and similar to Diablo 3, the title has strong multiplayer capabilities but is definitely not an MMO. The difference is that unlike with a Diablo MMO, a Starcraft MMO would not interfere with the WoW subscribers but instead would open a MMO market for Blizzard without any real competition except maybe for Anarchy Online.
Ex-Lucasarts Employee claims BioWare MMO is Kotor3
June 8, 2008
According to some recently laid-off Lucasarts Employee(s), BioWare’s top-secret MMO project is KotOR 3:
“We’ve continued to receive e-mails throughout the day from folks who it seems are now formerly in the employ of Lucasarts, telling us this and that about the circumstances behind their departure from the company … Some of the titles they report Lucasarts apparently have in this stacked pipeline, whether as publisher or developer, include:
- KOTOR 3 (They say it’s an MMO: most likely a joint project between Lucasarts and BioWare)”
Tags: BioWare, KotOR MMO, Lucasarts, Rumor, Star Wars: The Old RepublicThe Secret World inspired by movie The Ring
January 30, 2008
Funcom product manager Erling Ellingson explains: “The setting for The Secret World is actually our own world… But there is something out there, another world beyond our own”. Further down he reveils: “We’re putting a lot of effort into making huge, believable environments … you will actually be exploring vast cities such as London and New York. This creates some really exciting opportunities for us as a developer, to actually set a massive online game in real-world cities.”
Ok Funcom you got me hooked! More details please. Kthxbai.
Tags: Funcom, Interview, Movie, The Secret WorldMore Rumors pointing to Starcraft Online
January 29, 2008
Netease CEO Ding Lei didn’t confirm the market saying, adding that the company is observing many online games and has not signed any formal license contract.
On an industry meeting earlier this month, Ding disclosed that Netease will strive to provide more game products by being licensed foreign games and co-developing games with foreign partners.
Jumpgate Evolution gets publisher
January 29, 2008
29th January (2pm GMT) - Codemasters Online have today unveiled their next generation MMORPG set for release in 2008, Jumpgate Evolution. Developed by the US-based experienced MMOG developer NetDevil, Jumpgate Evolution is a space-based MMO incorporating all-new action style gameplay like never seen before in any previous online game.
Tags: Codemasters, Jumpgate Evolution, NetDevilNew Interview with Hermann Peterscheck
January 28, 2008
The Escapist recently interviewed Hermann Peterscheck, Lead Producer of Jumpgate Evolution. In interview Herman talks about his job as producer, why Jumpgate Evolution turned out as sequel rather than an expansion and how the game has evolved over time.
In late 2001 NetDevil, a small independent developer, released Jumpgate: The Reconstruction, a unique take on a then young MMOG market. The game, which would earn a devout if relatively small following, centered on intense space combat in a massively multiplayer setting, though it would remain overshadowed by larger projects with bigger budgets. Now, NetDevil is looking to reinvent its own niche with a sequel to Jumpgate called Jumpgate: Evolution, a larger and more organized effort to finally make the property both a cult and bona fide hit. We sat down with Hermann Peterscheck, Lead Producer of Jumpgate: Evolution to find out how NetDevil is planning to elevate their game to the next level.
Tags: Interview, Jumpgate Evolution, NetDevilBioWare conducting market research on MMO
January 26, 2008
- Aren’t affiliated in any way with the fields of advertising, journalism (d’oh!), public relations, video game hardware or software developers, video or computer game retail.
- Can’t have participated in more than 3 paid focus groups in the last 6 months
- Must own at least one video game console or handheld system, but no more than four.
- Must play games on the PC, but have no experience with MMOs
- Must own 2 or more video games
- Must have purchased 1-5 games in the last year
- Must play between 1-9 hours a week
Unfortunately this information still does not provides us with any clues as to what the secret MMO project is all about, so we have to continue speculate if the project is the rumored KotOR based Star Wars MMO or something entirely different. Want to hear my personal opinion? I say its Star Wars and here’s why.
Tags: BioWare, KotOR MMO, Market Research, Star Wars: The Old Republic
