BioWare - LucasArts Collaboration Announced

Oh, I fully agree. The smiley was more to indicate that the rumors seem to be true now anyway. I suppose it was meant sarcastically.

Oh I see, sorry then, must be a language barrier.

Totally agree, the magic in KotOR was that you were one of the few remaining Jedi with a very distinct presence in the world. Now imagine 1 million of would-be Revans (no-one would want to play as anything else) running around, ridiculous.

For those of you that doubt that the game will be MMO, sadly this seems to be 99% the case. Apart from what Sorcha said, there have been various rumors in the net originating from the Bioware employees themselves. And then there is the simple fact of their site launching so early, this could never be the case for a single player game.
 
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Nowhere does it says its gonna be "MMO"...why does everybody think it will be MMO, that too based on KotOR universe?? KotOR 3 seems likely to me, though I am just being hopeful here.

True, however, we know that the PC department is working full time on Dragon Age and it has long been known that Mass Effect will be a trilogy with downloadable content in between each "episode", so even though Mass Effect has gone gold, I have no doubt that the team is already hard at work with the first batch of downloadables.

The only branch of Bioware not accounted for is their newly founded MMO department, so I would say that it is VERY likely that they've spent the time developing a "proof of concept" project that they've now managed to sell to Lucas Arts ... but what do I know.
 
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The Force unleashed anyone ? Maybe a spin-off product ?

We all know that this is the next LA product wich is destined to "break barriers in video gaming" or so.

Personally, I have the feeling as if there are two options:

- MMO
- Single-Player

I don't know.

Maybe they want to combine Mass Effect with The Force Unleashed ?
 
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Lets hope this new unnamed project isn't an other ultra boring mmo.
 
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While I do like my MMORPGs every now and again, in the Star Wars universe I want to be that one unique hero (like in KoToR, or like Luke in the movies), not jedi number 461234 killing 10 sandpeople to get a new belt of +10 midi-chlorians.

I couldn't agree more. Well, other than liking MMORPG :) A Star Wars game just wouldn't be the same if I was one of thousands of 'Lukes' in the universe.
 
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who can blame them..force is cool, jedi are cool and jedi using the force is not only uber cool, but he can also be very powerfull. People like kicking ass. Han solo is ofcourse cooler than luke, but cooler than Darth vader? no way. (to be honest its not fair, nothing could ever be as cool as Darth vader gripping imperial officers/rebels!)
 
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That is a good point, no matter how cool someone gets, they never get quite as cool as Darth Vader.
 
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I reckon it will be a Raiders of the Lost Arc MMO. haha.

I don't mind a good MMO but doubt I would play another Star Wars one. I realised a while ago that I only like 2 1/2 out of the 6 movies and could care less what Lucas is gonna do with the universe now.
 
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Another question is this, if they were so willing to collaborate why didn't Bio make KotOR2? Certainly those Austin Studios have been working on this for some time so why did LA have to take KotOR to another company?

Why the sudden reversal in policy for Bio? All the tools were there and OE added very little to the actual product - mostly it was the story itself.

Our impression at the time, at this is probably what convinced Dhruin they weren't making a SW IP, was that Bio was done with 3rd party IPs and were busy cashing in on their own name to sell and possibly publish original ones like DA and Mass Effect.

---

A Monkey Island MMO? That's fuel for the fire. Its the only other IP that Lucasarts hasn't buried and with the Sonic RPG coming Bio has shown its willingness to make children's games.

Man, talk about an optimistic thought...
 
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My Monkey Island comment was sarcasm ;)

As for it not saying MMO anywhere, the press release does say "interactive entertainment product" and then bandies about terms like innovation and whatnot. It all just sounds like MMO-styled marketing speak for some reason. And as pointed out, BioWare haven't done an MMO yet, and if they're wanting to forge ahead and be all innovative and next-gen and whatnot, they're going to go MMO.

But, I wouldn't at all mind a new Star Wars MMO. Galaxies has never caught my attention as I've never heard anything good about it, and BioWare did do a brilliant job in capturing the Star Wars setting with KOTOR. I remember playing it, thinking it was immeasurably better than the new Star Wars movie(s) that were out at the time. So, they can do SW well, and it's a large enough setting for MMO playing, so why not.
I just hope they don't go all next-gen tech with it, but rather realise that lower system specs are good for a large MMO subscriber base.
 
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who can blame them..force is cool, jedi are cool and jedi using the force is not only uber cool, but he can also be very powerfull. People like kicking ass. Han solo is ofcourse cooler than luke, but cooler than Darth vader? no way. (to be honest its not fair, nothing could ever be as cool as Darth vader gripping imperial officers/rebels!)

Even coller now: Play evil characters.

The coolest of all will probvably be the "Secret Apprentice" you play in "The Force Unleashed".

Slaughter Jedi ! Get close to Vader ! Break off the proto-empire in liasion with a female officer !
 
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KOTOR III would be my favorite alternative too. But part of the reason why MMOs seem so appealing to publishers is their revenue model. Publishers perceive them -and rightly so- as a "zero piracy, full revenues" PC games. Now I wouldn't be against some sort of online requirement to play a single player KOTOR III if that's what it takes to still have single player CRPGs.

On a side note, I wouldn't be so quick at blaming Obsidian Entertainment about Kotor2 not being that good... Lucas forced on them a very tight schedule. When you think about it the biggest complains about that game (inconsistent story and especially an ending that felt rushed) could have easily been addressed with some more time. NWN2 and even more NWN2's expansion MOTB are a proof that Obsidian is capable of well crafted stories when given the time.
 
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It would be cool if they could, somehow, make it genuinely difficult to become a Jedi Knight. Maybe the dark side could really be tempting too. I can imagine kids crying because they goofed and fell to the dark side!
 
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It would be cool if they could, somehow, make it genuinely difficult to become a Jedi Knight. Maybe the dark side could really be tempting too. I can imagine kids crying because they goofed and fell to the dark side!

It was very difficult to become a Jedi in SWG but the fan based complained and they made it easier. A Star Wars MMO just won't work even if Bioware is more brilliant than SOE. People seem to forget that all the changes made to SWG which ultimately led to its demise were made because the fans complained it was not "Star Warsy" enough.

I can't believe that anbody would get excited about another try at a Star Wars MMO.
 
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On a side note, I wouldn't be so quick at blaming Obsidian Entertainment about Kotor2 not being that good... Lucas forced on them a very tight schedule.

Specifically, LA ordered the game pushed out to release early. They wanted the XBOX version out for Christmas, when both the PC and the XBOX releases were actually scheduled for release a couple of months later than that. So they had to basically get it done for release and couldn't really change the PC version even though they had the time.

As for getting excited about another SW MMO, I suspect it's because SWG is so poorly regarded, and there's definite potential in the SW licence for a good MMO. If ever there was a good MMO setting, it's Star Wars. It just has to be done right, that's all. And BioWare have proven that they can indeed do Star Wars.
The potential revenues are huge, too. With a setting the size of Star Wars, the expansion pack options are nearly limitless, and there's enough useable content to keep a full design team working on regular updates in addition to full expansion packs. It seems a solid business model.

Now, whether BioWare can do Star Wars well beyond a scripted, controlled, single-player game is the the kicker. Sure, they can script a good Star Wars single player story, but can they keep that Star Wars feeling throughout a sprawling MMO?
 
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Now, whether BioWare can do Star Wars well beyond a scripted, controlled, single-player game is the the kicker. Sure, they can script a good Star Wars single player story, but can they keep that Star Wars feeling throughout a sprawling MMO?

Agreed, fully. I wouldn't mind something on the lines of Age of Conan where the first few levels are a single player game before it becomes a MMORPG. Imagine that, a true KOTOR III just like we're dreaming for and then once you've beat the story over and over and hoped you could have more of the same treat, you can enter a persistant world, revisit places from the single player game but in "free roaming" mode, engage in PvP against opposite side jedis. I know that would be really hard to imagine, write and implement, especially story wise but I am really excited about how the AoC single player game will be like and how well a mmorpg can blend with a single player game in general.
The singleplayer part of the MMORPG could serve as a filter to become jedi or not. You'd have to beat the singleplayer game in hardcore more to be a jedi in the mmorpg aspect, and the final battle in the singleplayer part would leave your jedi heavily weakened and the first levels in the mmorpg part would actually just be levels to put you back at the same level as other professions.
For those who haven't beat the singleplayer game in hardcore mode yet or don't want to bother can however jump directly in the mmorpg aspect as a scout, soldier, scoundrel, crafter or whatever non-jedi profession they can think of.
 
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