• Bounty Hunter Video & Interview at IGN



    Today IGN released an interview with Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Georg Zoeller, Principal Lead Combat Designer. The article also included the newest class video for the Bounty Hunter.

    "The Bounty Hunter is his own man and always needs space to stretch out, so as much as possible missions take you into situations you won't see with other classes," Erickson said.

    On the roles a Bounty Hunter can take, Zoeller commented:

    The Bounty Hunter's role for the Empire is similar to that of the Trooper on the Republic side. One could say that they are arch enemies. Within the class, the roles are divided as follows : the Mercenary advanced class can take the role of ranged damage dealer or healer [and] the Powertech advanced class can take the role of close range damage dealer or tank. The skill trees for these advanced classes offer various ways of sub-specializing these roles (e.g. burst vs. sustained kind of damage dealing roles, etc.)

    Hit the Media Gallery below for the Working Dissection. As with all Dissections we will be avoiding things seen in prior Dissections. Make sure to check back throughout the day and weekend for new images as we will be adding them throughout the weekend. If you notice something that we don't have in the Dissection, feel free to point it out and we will credit you with the find. Video is embedded after the jump.

    Gallery: Bounty Hunter Class Video Dissection

    Bounty Hunter Dissection Screen 13
    Bounty Hunter Dissection Screen 14
    Bounty Hunter Dissection Screen 15
    Bounty Hunter Dissection Screen 12

  • SWTOR Comic Previewed in Star Wars Insider

    The upcoming issue of Star Wars Insider Magazine features a preview panel of a new Star Wars: The Old Republic comic titled The Old Republic: The Lost Suns to release in June:

    The Old Republic: The Lost Suns. A five-issue series set during the timeframe of the highly-anticipated MMO The Old Republic, The Lost Suns is set approximately 3,600 years before the movies. It stars Republic spy Theron Shan, son of Jedi Master Satele Shan, and packs explosive revelations relating to the events of the game. For this tale the games senior writer Alexander Freed reunites with the Blood of the Empire creative team of Dave Ross (pencils), Mark McKenna (inks), Michael Atiyeh (colors), and Benjamin Carre (covers).

    The magazine's cover also advertises original SWTOR fiction with an image of Darth Malgus, which may be the short story Deceived author Paul S. Kemp alluded to back in December. Star Wars Insider hits the newsstands on March 16.

    (Credit to SWTOR forum goer Rouge for the find)

    Update: Dark Horse posted a press release on their blog detailing the comic along a few quotes from The Lost Suns writer Alexander Freed. Catch the full Press Release after the jump.

  • GDC: Localizing Star Wars: The Old Republic

    The 2011 Game Developer Conference takes place this week and as scheduled, the first of BioWare's panels discusses Localizing Star Wars: The Old Republic called "Localization and Development: A Love Story...That Leads to Great Business!" Gamasutra brings us the details of this talk on Localization lead by Gordon Walton of Playdom (formerly Co-Studio Director of BioWare Austin) and BioWare's Localization Representative Ian Mitchell.

    "We have dedicated teams building our localization toolsets," he said. "I can't stress enough how important it is to have good tools. [If not], your process can't be facilitated and it makes it impossible" to get the development team to work with you.

    The tools are built "to empower the localization team"; it's a cross-project tool suite because this "encourages reuse and helps sharing of knowledge" He describes BioWare's localization tools as "an organic construction of tools that build on one another."

    Check out Gamasutra for the article in its entirety.

  • EA at Morgan Stanley Technology Conference

    Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello is currently speaking in San Francisco at Morgan Stanley's Technology, Media & Telecom conference. Once again, we're listening in to see if he'll answer or talk about Star Wars: The Old Republic. Riccitiello already reaffirmed double digit growth for the upcoming financial year, and reassured investors worried about the NFL lockup affecting Madden sales.

    The full quote to the SWTOR question is transcribed after the jump, but Riccitiello once again stated they are going toe to toe with Blizzard's World of Warcraft and "great money" can be made at the 2 million subscriber level.

  • Friday Update: 'Living the Life of a Live Producer' Developer Blog



    Today's Friday update features a Developer Blog from Live Producer Blaine Christine. He discusses what his job entails and his role in the Star Wars: The Old Republic game testing process. He also included some quotes from various game testers.

    Blaine Christine

    I work with the development team to ensure that anything released to our fans (read you!) meets the quality standards that are so important to any BioWare product. That means any time a new build of the game makes it into our Game Testing Program, I need to ensure that any content or features that we specifically want to have tested meet the designers needs and don't contain any major bugs.


    Update: Stephen Reid explains the reason for the Developer Blog showing up this week and hints at a heroic update incoming next week leading into PAX.

    Stephen Reid

    A little peek behind the curtain.

    This week's blog was originally intended to be part of next Friday's update. We ran into some unexpected issues finalizing this Friday's originally scheduled content, and so chose to move that content out to next Friday. As a result, next week, you'll get an update-and-a-half... and then after that, you'll soon see the cool stuff we've all been hard at work on for PAX East.

    Part of the reasoning for this blog was to give you a peek into some of the feedback we got from our Game Testers; on the whole, feedback has been very positive and we're excited to see the response. We also wanted to remind everyone about our Game Testing Program, as feedback from our community so far has been extremely valuable to the development of The Old Republic.

    We realize we can't please 'all of the people, all of the time' but we remain committed to giving you regular updates on the development and features of The Old Republic.


    More excerpts from the Developer Blog and official yellow post follows after the jump.

  • DevTracker Highlights For The Week of February 24, 2011

    This week's DevTracker Highlights are less about hard data and more about social aspects and interaction in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller talks about the selling of vendor trash, recovery and player downtime, and the importance of social hubs. Lead Writer Daniel Erickson explains culture as it changes during the time period of The Old Republic. Check out the full posts after the break.

  • Friday Update: Fan Friday



    Today's update is a Fan Friday, which of course brings with it a Studio Insider: an in-depth look at Concept Artist Diego Almazan's creation of a Sith Temple. The Fan Friday includes some new concept art scenes that look to include pieces from Alderaan, Taris, Voss, Nar Shaddaa, and Hutta; a selection of new emoticons, and some new creature avatars. Fan site Mos Eisley Radio got the spotlight shone on them, and the chance to answer some questions from BioWare.

    The Community Q&A thread to go along with the Fan Friday is focused on Flashpoints, which should mean plenty of answers about TOR's answers to dungeons coming down the pipe in a few weeks. Head on over to the official thread and ask the devs some of those burning and insightful questions you have!

    As usual for a Fan Friday, there's a couple of new polls up on the forums. The first is Where do you spend most of your time on the forums, and the second is Which Flashpoint are you most interested in so far?

    As we mentioned on Tuesday, Gordon Walton, BioWare Austin's co-Studio General Manager, has left BioWare. Stephen Reid stepped in to the forums to talk about Walton's recent departure--or more accurately, to pass along Gordon's own words about his departure. Stephen reports that "Gordon's a great guy and left us on great terms, we thought we'd give him one last right of reply." His quote, along with lots of juicy tidbits from the Studio Insider, available after the jump. You can also find our Media Gallery of the update below.

    Gallery: 2.18.10 Fan Friday Concept Art

    Sith Temple Concept
    Voss Concept
    Taris Concept
    Nar Shaddaa Concept

  • DevTracker Highlights For The Week of February 17, 2011

    You can tell BioWare's mind is on PAX East in this week's DevTracker Highlights. Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert discusses the flow of XP while grouping and armor deterioration. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller restates the range of normal ranged combat and gives the community a hint at how placeholders play into the development cycle. Lead PvP Designer Gabe Amatangelo stops by to let players know that no matter the advanced class, players will have a role in PvP combat. Check it out after the break.

  • Facebook Image of the Week

    Star Wars: The Old Republic reached 250,000 likes on Facebook this week and in response the team released a new Concept Art image of Ord Mantell. With this truly heroic feat accomplished, a new image will be released weekly via Facebook.

    BioWare

    This week, we reached 250,000 likes! Were honored to have so many enthusiastic fans, and to celebrate we will begin releasing a brand new Star Wars: The Old Republic image every week just for you. Thank you all for your support, and enjoy the very first Facebook Image of the Week!


    The volcanic mountain ranges of Ord Mantell provide the perfect cover for top-secret installations.

    If you would like to keep track of the Facebook Image of the Week, make sure to visit the Star Wars: The Old Republic Facebook Page.