Star Wars: The Old Republic Confirmed for 2011

By Marcus Yam
published

Another long year of waiting for a return to the Old Republic.

Were you hoping to play Star Wars: The Old Republic sometime this year? It's not going to happen, but there's a New Hope definitely for 2011.

Announced on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, BioWare is targeting a spring 2011 release date for the highly anticipated MMO.

While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars: The Old Republic. We’ve got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It’s not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can’t wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.

I suppose that gives us all time to go back to the first two KotOR games for another play through, perhaps even the "complete" version of The Sith Lords.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
24 Comments Comment from the forums
  • vulmer
    Just hope I get in for some beta testing! :)
    Reply
  • sliem
    I hope they have unlimited free trial (limited to lv 10 or whatever) but free for life trial. I prefer hourly game time (not monthly) or even daily but I'm hoping too much.
    Reply
  • Abrahm
    I hope the game isn't just WoW with a Star Wars skin. I also hope there is something more to the game than story, something that will keep me playing when the stories run out. I hope it's actually an MMO, and not just an online rpg with a monthly fee.
    Reply
  • TheDuke
    hope the beta starts by May or June so it can have ample time to get those game breaking bugs. great thing about games is that they have helped my patience grow because of the long waits after announcement to release
    Reply
  • Sicundercover
    Well from what Ive seen so far it looks like its going to be pretty good.

    With that said, man this is the last thing I need. I love Star Wars and can be succored in by just about anything Star Wars with a Bioware logo on it. I already ruined one marriage with Eve Online. Must Resist the shiny Bioware logo.
    Reply
  • jalek
    Bioware can't possibly screw this up more than SOE did with Star Wars Galaxies.. or can they?
    Reply
  • mjello
    Give me a founders subscription like Lord of the rings online and im all in.

    I hate monthly fees. I would rather pay a lot once and then never again.
    Reply
  • gilbertfh
    I personally can't wait for TOR to come out. People complain about WOW but it has evolved over time and any good MMORPG takes a lot of lessons from what Blizz and all the other MMO have learned. That being said it will be hard to give it a completely unique feel and no matter what people will compare it to WoW for both good and bad aspects.
    Reply
  • Xzar
    WoW had very good graphics by 2004 standards.

    SWTOR has all the good features that Dragon Age has, such as:

    -origin quest lines for each class
    -future quest lines change depending on how you do earlier quests
    -quests seem to have multiple solutions
    -you can play evil, or good, whatever floats your boat, it's not linear like other mmorpgs
    -fully voiced dialogue

    Just reading the wiki for SWTOR had me sold. I am not a fan of the Star Wars movies(nor a hater, just never watched them except for when I was a kid), but The Old Republic setting looks very interesting.

    However, the completely SHI-TTY animations totally blew me off. I am not particularly picky, I don't demand Crysis or Far Cry 2 level graphics, but after seeing the good graphics and art of Dragon Age, I want something at least as good:

    -considering SWTOR will be completed 2 years later
    -SWTOR also has access to Dragon's Age code, since they are from the same company

    NO REASON for SWTOR to have the main character running around like he's CONSTIPATED. Just terrible animation and blocky graphics lacking details.

    Why not use the good stuff you have in Dragon Age and build from there??? This is beyond me why they can't do at least that. Improve, don't regress Bioware...
    Reply
  • anamaniac
    mjelloGive me a founders subscription like Lord of the rings online and im all in.I hate monthly fees. I would rather pay a lot once and then never again.Amen.

    If you're only going to play for a month, it gouges you, but if you play for years, it saves you tons of green. =D
    I played WoW for 2 years... $20x24months +$40 for game and $40 for expac = $over $500.

    I have high hopes for this, and in all hope, they don't make some boring peice of junk, or something more addictive than cocaine...
    Reply