Game Update 1.2: PvP Preview
Game Update 1.2 brings with it a plethora of PvP changes, including a new set of gear, join us for a look at what's to come.
Patch Notes 1.2: Legacy
The highly anticipated Game Update 1.2, Legacy, has finally arrived. See the patch notes for the huge amount of changes that await in game.
Origin Not Required to Play The Old Republic
There has been much controversy of late surrounding EA’s new download service and storefront, Origin. It is the exclusive source for the digital download version of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the desktop application is required to play another upcoming EA game, Battlefield 3. This has had many gamers up in arms. With EA riding do much on Origin, many were questioning whether they would be forced to use the service to get their Star Wars fix.
Luckily, the issue has been cleared up and is in fact a non-issue. Stephen Reid has confirmed on the official forums that Origin will not be required in any form to run Star Wars: The Old Republic, even the digital download version.
Star Wars: The Old Republic will not require the Origin desktop application to download, patch or play the game, regardless of whether the game was originally purchased through Origin or at a retail outlet.
However, we encourage you to go ahead and try the Origin desktop app with Star Wars: The Old Republic or other EA games. Origin streamlines game downloads, makes game updates quick, easy and seamless for players, and offers social connectivity to your gaming friends.
The Old Republic is now available for pre-order!
That’s right, folks! LucasArts, EA and BioWare are now taking pre-orders for The Old Republic!
There are three editions of the game currently available to order – Collectors, Standard and Digital Deluxe, and with a pre-order they all grant early game access and a special in-game color stone, which allows you to change the colour of your lightsaber blades and blaster bolts.
The Collector’s edition, however, comes with a whole host of real life and in game goodies, including a soundtrack CD, a Gentle Giant statue of Darth Malgus, and more!
So don’t delay, Pre-order your copy today!
The Old Republic to be Exclusive to EA’s New ‘Origin’ Service
EA has announced a new online service today called Origin, which will provide a storefront for all EA-published games on PC and offer features similar to competing platforms such as Steam. The Origin web store is currently live with over 150 titles, and the downloadable client is available as a beta.
While Origin will offer exclusive limited editions of games such as Battlefield 3 Alice: Madness Returns, perhaps the most compelling pull towards the new service is that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be offered exclusively as a digital download through Origin.
What does this mean for the game? While Origin is the only digital download service that The Old Republic will be offered on, there will of course be standard retail boxed copies of the game as well. It has been suggested that even boxed copies of the game will work with the Origin service. However, the game will not be available for purchase from other digital retailers like Steam or Direct2Drive.
To clear up questions, Stephen Reid has posted an explanation on the official forums.
Hey everyone – well, apparently once again the online world trumps newsprint, as a story that was supposed to pop tomorrow popped up tonight! Let me give you a couple of notes on Origin.
First off: Origin is a fantastic new digital initiative from EA, and we’re pleased to confirm that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be available exclusively for digital download from Origin.
However, even though you’ll only be able to buy and download The Old Republic digitally via Origin, you will still be able to buy a retail, boxed copy of the game from your favorite retailer (and that includes online retailers who’ll ship the box to you). BioWare and EA know the value many gamers place on a cool boxed product… and we’re producing a cool boxed product. (Or maybe I should say ‘boxed products’. )
Second: it’s easy to hear an announcement like this and assume it means that we’re about to drop another bombshell or two, especially with E3 around the corner. The reality is, this sort of pre-show announcement is pretty standard PR work, so that the story can ‘breathe’ a bit before E3 news obliterates everything else.
While I will say we have some super-cool stuff coming out of E3 – some of which you’re actually going to see before E3 starts – I don’t want you to jump to conclusions just yet. Instead I’d suggest you just strap in and enjoy the ride. We know every single one of you wants to know when The Old Republic is going to launch, and I assure you, when we are ready to give you a date we’ll broadcast it loud and clear.
As I’m sure you know, we’re 100% committed to making Star Wars: The Old Republic the best quality game (and service) it can be, as you’d expect from a BioWare MMORPG set in the Star Wars universe.
I’ve said before that an announcement as big as release date will be so big, it’ll come thundering towards us and we’ll all hear it long before it arrives. That train’s coming… but so far, I’d just say we’ve laid down some early track.
You have questions, no doubt, and all of them will be answered in time. For now, sit back and enjoy E3 next week.
More will certainly be revealed at EA’s pre-E3 press conference, so make sure to tune in at 12:30pm PT this Monday.
