TOR Universe » Resources

What PAX Revealed to Us

Jacob — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:48:28 +0000

As much as we haven’t really talked about PAX, there was a lot of information there that really give some interesting components to TOR that many people, including myself, were curious about. Although it’s not The Old Republic release date, what it does provide is just a good amount of information that makes you sit back and go, “Cool, that makes the game even more exciting.” It’s these little bits of information that make the game more real.

First and foremost, we have finally learned that Coruscant is going to be a playable planet. I expect that there will be an official announcement about this (which we will talk about), but I have to say that I am pleased with this. Coruscant has always been a planet that has been left to the imagination except for the short scenes portrayed in Episode II. Other than that, we’ve never really seen much of Coruscant.

Another thing that is apparent now is that there is going to be farming and an in game economy. An in game economy, in my opinion, is a must. There needs to be ways for players to become rich one way or another based on their own skills, not just satisfying missions and getting money that way. Some people, as much as the classes are geared towards war, would rather be a business man and sell merchandise to those that are too busy waging war to sell things. That’s basic business.

What we have learned about TOR so far is that the game is going to have components that we would otherwise see in other MMOs. It’s because of this that I have come to many general conclusions about the game. Is TOR going to be a WoW killer? No. Is TOR going to be revolutionary? We’ll have to wait and see. These, though, will be articles written at a later time.

What needs to be remembered mostly, though, is that the game is not released yet and there is obviously a lot that BioWare doesn’t want to tell us. When we know, we will pass that information on to you. For now, rest easy knowing you’ll get to play on Coruscant and you’ll have the opportunity to harvest and do all those other MMO oriented activities. Oh yay!

The Speculations of Release Date

Jacob — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:35:11 +0000

After a long and grueling summer, TOR Universe is back. Or, I’m back. Chris was always here. Anyways…I spent the summer watching a lot of what was going on with TOR and more importantly, trying to determine what exactly was going to be the next week’s news. I missed out on publishing articles about a ton of comics as well as some other things, but what I’ve constantly been trying to determine is what the actual release date will turn out to be.

First and foremost, we look at the fact that they are going to be showing a true demo of the game at PAX. That’s legit. I have to ask myself, “If they are showing a demo, how much do they have done?” If they show a ton of different aspects of the game, I feel firmly that the game is close to a beta testing release. Whether this is true or not, though, is entirely up to speculation hence the title of the article. So, I call release date being in the very beginning of 2010.

To back this up, we look at the fact that on Amazon.com, there is an actual game listing there. The only reason I can think of this being there is that BioWare is getting ready to start announcing things and Amazon wants to be the first one to start getting the pre-orders. More importantly, though, is the fact that Amazon had a listing of the game once before, but for whatever reason, BioWare wanted it taken off. I wonder…

Then there are people that suggest that it will be released in March. That may be a better guess because it gives four more months than what I am suggesting and more time for marketing once the game’s release date has been announced. The Amazon.com listing could still be legit, or more daring, a release date’s release date. In other words, perhaps January 1st is when the release date will be announced. Now I’m getting ahead of myself.

According to swtor-welten.de:

A reliable source in contact with Lucas Arts, has claimed that the game is planned for October 2010

This is obviously a scary idea because that means the game won’t be released for an entire extra year. Who wants to wait that long to play TOR? I sure as heck don’t. Will I be angry? Nah. A bit disappointed. Perhaps. In the end, the fundamental question we have to ask ourselves is:

What information is there to back up a potential release date? I have to stick with the Amazon.com and my own speculation. I can’t trust someone who says they claim to know someone in Lucas Arts. These people that work for companies have to keep extra quiet. They can’t release information.

We’ll have to wait and see, though. My guess is first quarter 2010. Any other guesses?

WE NOW HAVE GALLERIES

Chris — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:20:15 +0000

Hey there all, I just wanted to tell you all about TOR Universe’s latest upgrade…Picture Galleries!!!

We now have galleries for all the images released by Bioware to date and we will be updating them frequently!!

We have two galleries, one dedicated to Screenshots, while the other is dedicated to Concept Art and Wallpaper

Hope you all enjoy!

The URLs for the galleries are:

http://www.toruniverse.com/screenshots

and

http://www.toruniverse.com/concept-art-and-wallpaper

Hutta Announced!

Jacob — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:10:49 +0000

I have to admit that there is nothing more exciting than when BioWare releases some exciting concept art of what the game is going to look like. Alright, there are more exciting things than that…Such as a bloody release date. But, I will be fine with just some nice concept art. What we are gifted with today is a little bit of Nal Hutta or as they like to call it, Hutta. I’m not going to lie, but I’ve always heard it called Nal Hutta and never heard it called Hutta. I suppose Hutta is what the Hutts would call it.

The first thing that we have is the image of their huge palaces. I remember watching Return of the Jedi and having to marvel at the large palace that Jabba lived in, but then they came out with this image and wow…That is one HUGE palace. I guess it fits a Hutt’s life. The bigger the better.

Now there is one thing that Star Wars did do for me and it’s probably not what any girls will admit, but every guy will and that’s introduce me to just a mild bit of sexuality. Princess Leia in that metal bikini? Come on! Like that wasn’t screaming “I’m hot, you want me.” I almost feel that scantily clad women and cantinas go hand in hand and I have to wonder if that might be the same as here. We’ll have to see…
When looking at this, I have to wonder about two things. The first is whether or not there will be a lot of interaction between the NPCs in the images or if they are just scenery. And the second is whether or not we will be getting some interesting quests from those people. I mean, if I play a Jedi, I may not get anything good. This could introduce us to perhaps a third or fourth class? Maybe a smuggler? I mean, who better than a smuggler or bounty hunter to deal with the Hutts? Luke obviously couldn’t do it without killing the rancor first.
These are just a few of the images that were released. The rest are below. When push comes to shove, all this shows us is that the game is really quite amazing looking. Since BioWare said that the concept art is very close to what the game looks like, we can image the game playing with this. I just hope that with the knowledge that Hutta is a playable planet, that there is more than just the Jedi or Sith. Those two classes just don’t seem to fit with the Hutts. But hey! We’ll have to wait and see. I can’t wait until Friday.

What do you think, though? Think these images rock or are you bored of concept art and want to see some really in depth playable footage?

****UPDATE****

by Chris.

Friday, February 20, 2009, Bioware released four new concept art images for Hutta. Hope you enjoy!!

THE FORUM IS UP!

Chris — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:02:05 +0000

In addition to being a blog, TOR Universe also aims to become an active community for people to discuss the happenings in The Old Republic, and just the Star Wars universe as a whole.

On behalf of the management here at TOR Universe.com (all two of us), I welcome you all to the TOR Universe forum, please feel free to sign up and post up your two cents.

Although the forum is a bit dry at the moment, we hope that with your help, we can build into a strong community and resource for these months prior to the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

To access the forum, you can find the link under Blogroll on the right side of the site, or go to http://toruniverse.com/forum