I loved the galaxy map in Mass Effect. It was just Sci-Fi enough to make my nerdy senses tingle. We heard before that there will be a similar map in The Old Republic as well. This Friday update brings us an unexpected new feature on the official Holonet portion of swtor.com site – an interactive Galaxy Map. This is probably a preview of the map we will find in the game, only you view it in your browser. The interactive map features each of the planets we will be able to visit in-game together with all the information and videos that we could find on “plain old regular” web pages about those planets. There is also a special section dedicated to personal spaceships each of the classes will be getting. You can view details about each of the spaceships as well as look at their 3d models (and rotate them to see every detail from every angle). Although this is just a fluff update, I enjoyed it nevertheless. The feature is just that cool.
 

((The RP XP with MJ #6 – Sex and RP))

The bounty hunter released the Twi’lek’s chin and let her head fall forward. “She’s out cold.”

Agent Jenla Ruf smirked, disappointed. “Maybe we should just kill her.”

Boarsch looked down at Yulel, her orange skin now pale except for the bruises and cuts, her lekku hanging limply over each shoulder as she slumped in the chair to which she was bound. “Pity she couldn’t tell us what we needed to know.”

Jenla looked up at the hunter and shrugged. “There will be other runners we can torture.” She sighed. “I’ll have to report this to Lord Tagious.”

“Why?”

Jenla narrowed her eyes at him. “Hm?”

Boarsch set his helmet and gauntlets on a nearby crate and stepped around the unconscious Twi’lek to the agent. He gently placed his hands on her arms. “Why? I mean why tell him anything?”

Jenla’s red eyes sought meaning in the Mandalorian’s question, she searched his face but could only frown. “I must. It’s my duty to–“

“Tell him nothing until you have something to report.”

Jenla looked to the beaten Twi’lek. Boarsch gently took her by the chin and turned her face to meet his eyes. “I’m serious,” he whispered. “When you left home and sought me out, you said you loved me. You said you trusted me.”

“I do, but–“

“Then trust me now.” Boarsch shifted his stance. The belt loaded with grenades and blaster packs creaked and clacked at his waist. “Look, who’s the one who helped you when you needed it? Who watched your back while you fought your way through the Imperial Training Facility on–“

“You did.” Jenla now held his gaze, her voice harder but her red eyes softening.

“Who brought you here and protected you, delivered this Twi’lek to you?”

“You did.” Jenla reached up and rested her hands on his armored shoulders. She leaned into him and felt the support of his armored body. “You always do.”

“Then don’t say anything until you have something to say. I don’t want Tagious to kill y–“

Jenla’s hands moved to the sides of Boarsch’s head and she pulled him down to kiss her. Their lips lingered as the Mandalorian and the Chiss relaxed into the familiar precursor of their physical desires, each one surrendering responsibility and time to passion.

As their breathing became heavier, Jenla reached down and unhooked the bounty hunter’s belt. It dropped to the floor with a loud clank. Boarsch reached for her neck and slowly unzipped her uniform tunic. He said, “I want you.”

Jenla smiled as she led him toward an adjacent room. “Everyone does.”

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If you are like me and woke up to find a couple of emails from EA/Bioware mentioning SWTOR game testing – do not get your hopes up. There has been a mistake in the Bioware offices last night and a huge number of emails were sent to swtor.com members. One of the emails asked people to take a survey about their game testing experience (as if you are a participant) and the second email thanked you for your participation in game testing and offered to pre-order the game. Both of these were not intended for all the recipiants and were sent to a much larger group than they should have. Just a human error. So, no – you did not somehow miss your game testing invite email. This was just a honest mistake. As always, the best way to see if you are a tester or not is to log into www.swtor.com and check www.swtor.com/tester page. Here’s the official statement:

Earlier today, two e-mails were sent to members of the Star Wars: The Old Republic community. These e-mails were sent to a larger group than intended, and have caused some confusion in the community. We can confirm that these e-mails were from EA and BioWare and apologize for any confusion they have caused. Please note that receiving these e-mails does not affect your chances to be invited to test the game. Thank you all for your understanding!

 

 
Am I the only one that cried a little inside when I realized the emails were an error?
 

September was not a particularly good month for beta testing of The Old Republic. There were problems with executing the planned Beta Weekends and there was considerable downtime because a new build was being prepared for testing. This caused even further delays to larger scale European testing. With only 1 and a half days left unti lthe end of September we get news that will probably make up for all the misses that happened this month. Chris Collins, the recently employed European community manager, posted on the official forums that a batch of invites has been sent out today to EU players. Here’s a snippet:

Today, we’re excited to announce that we are sending out a batch of invites! In particular, this initial batch marks the start of a series of invites to our larger European player base, who get the chance to join the Star Wars: The Old Republic Game Testing program and provide feedback during the months up until launch.

To further the excitement it seems that tomorrow we might get even more news about the upcoming beta weekends and testing in general. Everyone is hoping that his means an all out widening of the beta testing program so that a lot more people get to experience SWTOR before launch (and help splash those nasty bugs). This was hinted at in Chris’ forum post, but also, Stephen Reid tweeted the following:

We sent both NA and EU invites in the last 48 hours. More news on testing is coming tomorrow.

Considering all of the above I think tomorrow’s update will not be disappointing.

One of the things that I loved most about the original Knights of the Old Republic game was the deep, rich story it weaved. It took a virtually untouched area of the Star Wars timeline and created a setting just as touching and moving as the original movies themselves. One of the things that made this story so great was the introduction of a species that traveled the stars and ruled the galaxy long before the creation of the Republic. I speak of the Rakata and their Infinite Empire, a species that had a drastic impact on the galaxy and whose history is the subject of this week’s TOR Lore.

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Stephen Reid has once again come to the forums and reaffirmed something that should not need to be said.

Since the pre-orders went out we all knew was that it was a first come first serve basis and that by entering your pre-order code would determine when you would gain access to the game.

I took this as a given, and this is not a debate about who got shafted by what company’s on the pre-order codes that got held back. I know mine did as many others in the UK.

This following yellow text post was just to say that nothing had changed and that access would be granted to in the order of which the code where entered on the site.

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It came in an instant we received the release date E-Mail and the posts went up on the SWTOR forums about when the early access would begin.

Now normally early access to MMO’s have been anything between 3 and 10 days before the release date or there about’s. As far as I know no other high profile games are being released at the same time. This gives BioWare a nice window so they do not have to push it out early and they can concentrate on just getting the game right. Without the fear of another MMO breathing down TOR’s neck.

So what would be an ideal time to start the early access party going ?

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Ok, first let me start by saying like many other followers I’m stocked that we have a release date at long last.

But could SWTOR have picked a more awkward date to release a MMO ?

Also the way it was announced was very strange indeed, with no sign that the formidable train was entering the station.

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In a completely unexpected turn of events, Bioware and Lucas Arts announced today at Eurogamer EXPO that Star Wars: The Old Republic will launch on December 20th in the USA and on December 22nd for European customers. The announcement was first made by BioWare co-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk during their keynote address at the Expo. The official news can be found over on this page. I would like to say that after more than 2 years of following news about this game and writing about it for more than a year this is the most exciting piece of information we have had. In my name and I guess everyone’s here at SWTOR Life there is one thing I would like to say:
 

 
Here’s a snippet from the official announcement:

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)

 
You can preorder the game by visiting this link.
 
 

UPDATE

 
It seems that this trailer is actually the PAX East 2011 trailer. The only difference is the inclusion of the release date at the end of the trailer. The updated trailer was uploaded to Youtube at the time this article was posted and that got me confused as if it is a trailer following up the release date announcement. I knew that the trailer looked familiar, but I did not do my research before posting this article due to all the excitement about the release date announcement. I apologize to everyone for any inconvenience caused.
 

Along with the announcement of the Release date (which is Dec. 20. 2011.) there is a new SWTOR trailer available proudly displaying the release date at the end. it is combined of footage we’ve mostly seen in other trailers, nevertheless it is exciting. Enjoy Fate of the Galaxy trailer below.