GamersCircle

SAN FRANCISCO–Today at a flashy media event in San Francisco, LucasArts and BioWare announced development of the PC massively multiplayer online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Though ostensibly suspenseful, the unveiling’s thunder was stolen this past July by John Riccitiello, CEO of BioWare parent Electronic Arts. Speaking to a business-oriented magazine, the executive casually confirmed that, yes, BioWare was working on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Universe.

However, Riccitiello’s comments–which weren’t officially corroborated until today–were unsurprising even then. Whispers of a KOTOR MMOG began back in March 2006, when BioWare opened a satellite studio dedicated solely to an unnamed massively multiplayer online role-playing project. Leading the new operation were James Ohlen, lead designer of the original KOTOR, and Richard Vogel, former vice president of product development at Sony Online Entertainment, developer of the only current LucasArts MMORPG, Star Wars Galaxies.

The fact the studio was in Austin, Texas–home of SOE’s Austin shop, which is the developer of Galaxies–only heightened suspicions that the BioWare game was Star Wars-related. A year and a half later, speculation reached stratospheric levels when BioWare and LucasArts announced they were collaborating on a “next-generation entertainment product.” Since the only joint ventures between the Edmonton, Alberta-based developer and the San Francisco, California-based publisher had been the two KOTOR games, it seemed likely the new project would be a follow-up of some kind.

Now that cat is officially out of the bag, as GameSpot sat down with the architects of the forthcoming MMORPG to find more about the The Old Republic. Lead designer Ohlen discussed what will set it apart from other MMORPGs, and its head writer Daniel Erickson explained how it will implement story in a way never seen before in the massively multiplayer space. LucasArts executive producer Tom Nichols talked about working with BioWare–and how SW:TOR will not be replacing Star Wars Galaxies. Finally, BioWare co-founders and EA vice presidents Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka laid out the game’s origins and ambitions–and why they wanted to get into the cutthroat MMORPG space in the first place.

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