In one of the stealthiest launches in some time, Aspyr Media has released a port of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic today for iPad. The original BioWare game came out on the Xbox almost 10 years ago in July 2003.
When Electronic Arts announced exclusive rights to publish games with the Star Wars license, the news was met with some degree of cautious optimism. EA has taken its licks in recent years, but that could also mean we'd get some games that fans have been asking about for a long time. A new Battlefront game, for example, would carry a lot of weight, and EA CFO Blake Jorgensen recently hinted at just that possibility.
Read more: 'The opportunity to do a new Battlefront is very exciting' »
Going free-to-play has paid off for Star Wars: The Old Republic. We knew that it had seen an influx of new players since adopting the model, but all those new players are just a drain on resources if they aren't spending money. According to EA's earnings call, they are.
Months after acquiring Lucasfilm, Disney shuttered its games division, LucasArts. Since then, fans have wondered: what will happen to Star Wars games? Surprisingly, they won't be published by Disney Interactive. Instead, Electronic Arts has announced a "multi-year exclusive licensing agreement to develop and publish globally new games based on Star Wars characters and storylines."
Read more: 'Every developer dreams of creating games for Star Wars' »
Footage from Free Radical's cancelled game Star Wars: Battlefront 3 continues to surface. This time, more pre-alpha gameplay appeared on Twitch over the weekend in a "May the Fourth be with you" celebration.
Lego Star Wars is getting a free-to-play mobile spin-off, called "Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles." It's due on iOS on May 4, also known in nerd circles as "Star Wars Day," and will follow on Android sometime this summer. It lets players align with the Light or Dark Side of the Force, take part in lightsaber duels, and explore dungeons for studs. Those parts can then be used to build soldiers and vehicles.
Disney has closed LucasArts, and with that closure goes several of the projects. But a look back at the last few months of the developer's life reveals that cancellations and shelved projects were already ongoing at the developer, and Disney seems to have simply accelerated the process.
Read more: Five games in development, most canceled before Disney »
Before it was put on hold and then unceremoniously canceled with the closure of LucasArts, Star Wars 1313 was a promising, albeit mysterious, game. LucasArts was notably cagey about it, only noting that the hero's character model was a placeholder without acknowledging who it would be. Now that such secrets no longer matter, sources have confirmed suspicions that the game was meant to star fan favorite character Boba Fett.
Disney has shut down LucasArts and canceled all current projects, as part of a move toward licensing out the Star Wars brand to other publishers. This would impact Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault.
Star Wars: The Old Republic started losing subscribers fairly quickly after launch. At a Game Developers Conference talk, BioWare creative director James Ohlen explained that the studio was inexperienced in MMOs, and therefore underestimated the speed with which customers would plow through the content.
If you want to boldly go and tease those husky Hutt, or simply spark a non-heterosexual romance, draw a big red ring around April 14 on your calendar (floating hearts optional). That's when Star Wars: The Old Republic's digital expansion Rise of the Hutt Cartel will launch, EA announced today.
It's been nearly half a year since Star Wars: The Old Republic transitioned into a free-to-play game. So, how did it go? Pretty darn great, if you asked Jeff Hickman, executive producer on the game.
In a new blog post, Hickman owns up to the shortcomings of SWTOR's rapid decline at launch. "Last spring, there was some uncertainty surrounding Star Wars: The Old Republic as we were starting to lose subscribers and players were growing frustrated," he said. "In fairness, many of the complaints and worries were justified."
Last year, LucasArts seemed prepped to release Star Wars: First Assault. With trademarks registered, XBLA art leaked, LucasArts looked gung-ho about the game's release.
And then it disappeared.
In an effort to upgrade security, BioWare is changing the way that players will be able to login to their account for Star Wars: The Old Republic. As of April 2, instead of using your email address to access your characters, you will need to login with your screen name instead.
When Disney acquired LucasArts, the company stated that "all projects are business as usual." That seemed to indicate Star Wars 1313 was still on-track, but sources state that the game has been put on hold.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is preparing to roll out its 1.7 update, giving the game a fresh in-game event and a new aspect of character progression. The "Relics of Gree" event kicks off with the update tomorrow and lasts through February 26, while the new "Galactic Reputation" system is here to stay.
Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behind Knights of the Old Republic 2, still wants to tinker more in the Star Wars universe. Studio CEO Feargus Urquhart says they pitched a new RPG to Lucasarts, before Disney bought it lock, stock, and barrel. Though it hasn't gotten approval from Lucasarts, Obsidian plans to keep pitching once the dust settles on the Disney deal.
"Star Wars Pinball." You pretty much know how the rest of this article goes. It's pinball. But with Star Wars. And it will be available on pretty much every video gaming device imaginable later this month.
Star Wars-themed pinball tables will be available as DLC for Pinball FX2 on Xbox 360 and Windows 8; Zen Pinball 2 on PS3, Vita, and Mac; Zen Pinball on iOS; and Zen Pinball HD on Android. Star Wars Pinball will also be available as a standalone app on iOS and Android, with new platforms to be announced later on.
These days, only suckers buy a game and only get the "game" part. Between pre-order bonuses, first-run bonuses, and Collector's Editions, publishers have found a myriad of ways to reward you for buying stuff. That trend is starting to bleed into expansions too, as pre-ordering Star Wars: The Old Republic's "Rise of the Hutt Cartel" expansion will net you some extra goodies.
BioWare's latest State of the Game blog for Star Wars: The Old Republic has revealed a few plans for the year, including more end-game content for level-capped players, and an ongoing effort by the developer to add same gender romance between players, as well as NPCs.
Angry Birds Star Wars rocketed to the top of the iOS charts, and now it's aimed squarely at its next platform: Facebook. The game is free-to-play with in-app purchases, and packs a few extra goodies to tempt back those who have already wrecked some piggie AT-ATs on their mobile devices.
Have you ever watched Return of the Jedi and wondered how a race of repulsive and not particularly mobile space slugs became a powerful crime syndicate? Star Wars: The Old Republic has your answer next year with the first full expansion to the game, titled "Rise of the Hutt Cartel."
When a subscription-based MMORPG turns free-to-play, as they almost inevitably do, it's very important to strike a balance between what's free and what players must pay for. Star Wars: The Old Republic kind of cocked that up. Responding to complaints, BioWare is still trying to find that balance, and yesterday rolled out a few more changes kind to players.
Story has always been a defining component of BioWare's RPGs, and it was one of the major strengths of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Since going free-to-play, what does the future hold for the MMORPG?
"If anything, The Old Republic's transition to a free-to-play game will create more opportunities to advance the epic story arcs and interesting characters we introduced when the game first launched," lead writer Hall Hood said.
In a move Electronic Arts has been prepping for months, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be going free-to-play on November 15. EA is hoping to renew interest in the MMO, which has seen its subscriber base dip below 1 million.
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