A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: Gaming

Thoughts and ponderings about PC and consoling gaming.

Republic News: Its Beta Time! [UPDATE]

Hello all, I’m thinking of starting a new segment called Republic News.

I have been selected to participate in the testing of Star Wars The Old Republic for the next three days. I am obligated under an NDA to not provide details of the game and I have no intention of violating that NDA. I figure my approach to Republic News will be similar to how BigRedKitty approached his closed beta testing of Cataclysm; for those of you unfamiliar with BRKs work, that essentially means non-specific statements and adjectives describing definite articles. I will NOT be posting screenshots.

The amount of testing I have been given the opportunity to do is very limited. I can only create characters of two classes, I can only be on one planet and my window for testing ends at 1am (EST) on Friday.

Now, I do not believe I am violating the NDA by telling you the classes and planet I can test. If, at any point, I find that Bioware wishes that this information be removed and not discussed, I will comply with their requests.

I have been allowed to test the Republic Trooper and the Smuggler (I think I mentioned Bounty Hunter before, but I was mistaken) and only on the planet of Ord Mantell. I may have thought that I was testing Bounty Hunter because Ord Mantell is a place Han refers to as having an unfortunate run-in with a bounty hunter (ESB).

I’m hoping to begin testing this evening (gotta do the work thing first) and I will most likely start with a Smuggler.

See You All Again Soon.

[UPDATE]: I just received word that Bioware had to cancel my entire test group so it looks like I will not be doing any testing of SWTOR for now. I haven’t received any additional information regarding the reason for canceling the test other then “unforseen circumstances” which is developer-speak for “we found something bad that must be fixed before anybody else finds it”

The MMO Times – The Identity Issue

Issue 3

Here are the latest MMO rumblings. This week is short but with the huge uproar over Real ID I felt it was time to send out the latest details from this week. enjoy.

Real ID – Is It The WoW-Killer? [UPDATED]
If you are a avid Blizzard gamer you have probably heard about the latest controversary to hit the internet. Blizzard announced that a new forums system will be released with StarCraft II, and ultimately with Cataclysm, that will display your full first and last name on all forums associated with Blizzard’s respective games. There is pandimonium running amuck. Here are a variety of links.
UPDATE: When I first wrote this the Real ID on the forums was still a reality, now that I am on the verge of posting this week’s email, a recent post has unveiled that Blizzard has backed down on this issue. I kept the original posts at the bottom for prosterity but also below is the link to the wow.com article which shows Michael Morheim’s offical response and retraction.
Blizzard Backs Down: http://www.wow.com/2010/07/09/mike-morhaime-real-names-will-not-be-required-on-official-forum/#continued
Official Announcement: http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/official-forum-changes-real-life-names-to-be-displayed/
Blizzard’s Responses: http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/blizzards-responses-on-the-real-id-situation/
Massively’s Response: http://www.massively.com/2010/07/07/the-daily-grind-real-id-do-we-finally-have-our-wow-killer/

Another MMO Goes F2P
There is a new MMO called Monato Esprit, a game I have not heard of, but I only mention this post/link because its another example of another MMO switching to the Free-2-Play paradigm. The increasing trend definitely foreshadows an interesting future for MMO games.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/06/monato-esprit-switches-to-a-traditional-free-to-play-model/

Areia Games Announces Legendary Champions MMO
Areia Games has released details of a new MMO coming out this summer. It is called Legendary Champions. Apparently its PvP heavy and your characters are famous figures from history. Below is the link to the Massively article and a link to the game website.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/07/aeria-games-announces-newest-mmo/
http://legendarychampions.aeriagames.com/

SWTOR Uses Combat AI
This is a really interesting Hypterspace Beacon post (on Massively) about Bioware’s “Combat AI” in The Old Republic. The concept seems to be going over really well among fans that are in the alpha release of the game. See below for the link to the Massively article.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/08/star-wars-the-old-republic-impresses-fans-with-combat-ai/

Jedi Knight Class Unveiled

I had to stop and take a brief moment to express my excitement about Bioware’s latest announcement about the upcoming Star Wars MMORPG, The Old Republic. They have unveiled the Jedi Knight as a playable class. Here is a link to the page about the class: http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/classes/jedi-knight. Just looking at the very brief 6 sec clips of in-game combat it already looks very cool. Also, when I was looking through some of the artist renderings about the class I noticed double bladed lightsaber hilts … could this mean your jedi can wield a double bladed lightsaber? The mere thought of that just makes me giddy like a school girl.

Page 44 of 44

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén