As San Diego Comic-Con 2011 moves into its final day, lets zero in on Star Wars: The Old Republic. Thursday, July 22nd featured the TOR panel with game director James Ohlen, executive producer Rich Vogel, and community manager Stephen Reid. Dallas Dickinson, TOR's senior content producer, was the moderator. Here are cliff notes from the panel and beyond...
- As previously reported, you can pre-orderStar Wars: The Old Republic in Standard, Digital Delux or Collector's Editions. Those who pre-order now will get early game access (in the order that pre-order codes are redeemed) and will also receive a color stone/lightsaber crystal for use when the game launches. Speaking of game launch...
- We're currently looking at a "Holiday 2011" timeframe for release.
- Expanded beta testing will commence in September
- The traditional opening Star Wars crawl will unspool, with differing text for each character class, as you begin the game.
- The scale of the game is wide with dozens of planets. As is noted in an article at Big Shiny Robot: "According to the developers, if you started running at one end of Tatooine, it would take you a half hour to run to the other end of the world. And that is one of dozens. So, yes, EPIC scale."
- Each character class will have hundreds of unique hours of playing time.
- A few new land vehicles were displayed including landspeeders and speeder bikes.
- Companions will take a big part in TOR combat. They will be customizable and may feature combat commands.
- And turning towards the publishing side of things, Gamespot.com reports on a panel featuring representatives from Dark Horse and BioWare discussing their mutual interests; such as Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Lost Suns. Excerpt below...
"The panel also talked about the upcoming Old Republic comic series, Lost Suns. This story follows two previously released Old Republic comic books--Threat of Peace and Blood of the Empire--which were both prequels. It was created and written by Dark Horse with the help of the game's development team at BioWare's shop in Austin, Texas.
According to Freeman, Lost Suns' narrative is the first to take place during the events of The Old Republic, BioWare's upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The fiction follows a spy for the Republic, who is the son of a Jedi grandmaster, but not a Jedi himself. The character gets keyed onto an "enormous" secret and teams with a "senile" Jedi to learn more."
The cliff notes just scratch the surface of SWTOR at SDCC. Here are some links to first-person coverage from the con that served as sources for the cliff notes above.
And for your convenience, here are the specs (courtesy of SWTOR.com) for the 3 versions of Star Wars: The Old Republic that are now available for pre-order.
"The Standard Edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic comes with all of the essentials that you will need to get into the game, including the game software and thirty days of game time. The Standard Edition will be available in both physical copies that will be sold at most video game retailers, and a digital edition that is exclusive to Origin.com. Learn more at our Pre-Order page.
The Digital Deluxe Editionof Star Wars: The Old Republic, is available exclusively through Origin.com, comes with both the game software and thirty days of game time. In addition, the Digital Deluxe Edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic comes with the following digital items that your characters can use in the game:
?Flare Gun: Fires flares into the air. ?Training Droid: Hovers at your side for combat assistance. ?HoloDancer: Project your own holographic dancer. ?HoloCam: Keep visual records of in-game adventures. ?STAP (Single Trooper Aerial Platform): Sleek and unique in-game vehicle.
The limited Collector?s Edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic can only be purchased physically. Packaged with thirty days of game time and all of the virtual items that are included in the Digital Deluxe Edition, the Collector?s Edition comes with a number of physical and digital collector?s items that you cannot get anywhere else:
?The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural: 111 pages of notes and sketches by the revered Jedi Master from the early years of the Great Hyperspace War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Features never-before-seen artwork and all-new information. ?Darth Malgus statue: The villainous Darth Malgus comes to life with this exclusive 9 in. collectible statue from Gentle Giant studios. ?The Old Republic Galaxy Map: 14 x 20 in. at-a-glance look at the known galaxy. ?Security Authentication Key Fob: Keep your Lightsaber and credits safe with this custom Security Authentication Key Fob for your game account. ?Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic CD: Seventeen orchestral music tracks from The Old Republic. ?Star Wars: The Old Republic game: The full Star Wars: The Old Republic game on DVD-ROM in a collectible metal case.
The following virtual in-game items are exclusive to the Collector?s Edition:
?Exclusive Mouse Droid: A faithful droid to join you on your adventures. ?Exclusive Collector?s Edition Store: Unique in-game store with a dynamic array of items to assist you from your humble beginnings through your journey to become a galactic legend."
Visit SWTOR.com for more details, pre-order rules, and an urging to pre-order now for early access.
UPDATE: Here's a video of the SDCC TOR panel courtesy of GameSpot:
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