The Announcement
I am not sure how this skipped everyone’s radar, but this last Friday update, entitled “The Old Republic at Comic-Con“, said that there will be some sort of announcements at the show. Here’s the exact quote:
This year is looking to be another big year for the event and both BioWare and LucasArts will be there to make some announcements about Star Wars™: The Old Republic™
It might be that people have grown tired of catching every little glimpse of what might possibly turn into big news, but I am still a sucker for hype and I will take this bait with open arms and share a few of my thoughts on what these announcements might be.
It could be hard to beleive, but if you look at it without passion we now know almost all the most important things about The Old Republic. We know it plays as a standard, non-sandbox, MMORPG. It will have classes, skills, large open spaces, PvP and all that good stuff that we expect from an AAA MMO. A few minor details remain to be reveled (a few, I firmly believe, most of us will not expect), but mostly everything has been described in detail in all the hands-on articles out there. The big question that remains is when will this game reach us, the gamers.
That is why there’s been so much excitement about the potential release date. Waiting for 3 or 6 months more makes all the difference in our lives (mainly so we can plan our yearly gaming schedule accordingly). Could this San Diego Comic Con announcement(s) shed some light in that direction? Looking at last year’s Comic Con, the biggest reveal was Space flight. We all know how that turned out. Having that in mind I issue the following warning: DO NOT GET YOUR HOPES UP. Wait and see is the best tactic here.
In my mind if they choose to do a BIG announcement, for me, it can only be one of three things: expansion of Beta testing to include a lot more people, Pre Order details or release date info. I reject release date info as the least likely of three. From my experience such info comes after the other two I mentioned. The other two though, are both pointers at the possible release date window. As my comparison subject I will take Rift as the most recent AAA title to be released. Time between Rift’s Pre Order details (January 4.) and release (March 1.) was three months, so if Bioware decides to do Pre-Order details at SDCC we can expect it to go retail some time in October/November. If they however choose to start doing beta tests (invite only closed beta weekends with beta key giveaways around the net for example), these were started December 3rd. That places them 4 months before release. Both of these are pretty close to each other and Bioware might not choose to go about things Trion did.
Whatever the case, we will know more in three days. I am sure Bioware will not disappoint and we will have a lot more to speculate about once SDCC is over. I am rather confident to place an educated guess though. If a big announcement is made at SDCC we can expect to have the game in our hands October/November. There, if anyone asks, you heard it here first (lol).
6 Responses to “The Announcement”
I hope we get some good info during SDCC. I would love to see an in depth reveal of the crew skills and crafting systems but I know that is more friday update style of material so I dont expect to see that.
I expect we will hear some sort of pre-release info, I highly doubt we will hear any release date announcements. I would love to hear about a chance to get into testing so a announcement about letting more testers in would be awesome to me.
Other than that I am not really sure what to expect from them.
My own personal best guess, time frame on launch is Nov-Dec. That is what I have felt since mid last year and it is seeming to look plausible based on what I am seeing from the development.
another thing,
how awesome would it be to put on that Darth Vader costume and just walk down the street with lightsaber in hand. That would be so awesome to see Vader marching down the street. 🙂
I think you will see pre-release info at SDCC. Release date will be announced at PAX and that date will be end of September/Early October.
It’s finally sinking in, that we’re going to see this baby launch soon… 🙂
Pre Order info leaked for the comicon announcement
Leak is irrelevant now, main site has preorder info up.