The official site has been updated with a developer walkthrough video, showing off the newly revealed Tatooine. The video is played from the perspective of a Sith Sorcerer with his companion Khem Va and narrated by producer Dallas Dickinson. The quests are the same we saw earlier in the week during the Tatooine live stream with Daniel Erickson, this time however played as a group and with different classes. We get a good look at the Sorcerer’s abilities as well as a clearer look at the UI during group play. Check out the walkthrough video below.

Earlier today, BioWare streamed live gameplay along with a Q&A sessions with Daniel Erickson, lead writer on The Old Republic. This was the first time Tatooine had been shown playable in the game. If you weren’t able to catch the play session live, we’ve got you covered with what you missed.

Daniel played a Rattataki Bounty Hunter at level 26. The demo focused on showing off different areas of Tatooine, and we also got to take a look at player speeders. The main quest accepted had to do with finding out information on Czerka Corp., which you may remember from the original KotOR. There were also optional quests to kill Sand People.

One of the first reveals in the demo was the companion being taken along: Blizz, a jawa. Blizz seemed to be able to hold his own in combat, though it was jokingly (or not) noted that Blizz will not be a romance option in the game.

While zooming around on his speeder, Daniel answered some questions from stream viewers. The first question asked had to do with whether other classes would have access to Blizz or other jawa companions. Daniel reminded us that each of the companions in the game are class-specific and thus Blizz will not be available to other classes. He also confirms that there will, in fact, be no Ewok companions, much to the disappointment of many.

When it comes to player speeders, the one shown in this demo will not be the only one available in the game. There will be multiple speeder designs meant for either the Republic or the Empire, but by difficult means, players will be able to obtain the opposing side’s speeder. The reason for not going with the more traditional sit-down style speeder such as what was seen on Endor in Return of the Jedi is because they became too bulky in crowded areas. Remember that the more traditional speeder design is being used for fast travel in the game. In the current build of the game, vehicles are becoming available to players at level 25, but of course this is subject to change.

While Daniel was not super focused on combat in this demo as he was answering questions while playing, there were still a few interesting tidbits confirmed. For example, auto-looting is in the game by right clicking or shift-clicking.

Another point of note of this demo was that the graphics of the game were not set on high settings. Shadows were missing and other settings weren’t on full. This was simply to get as high performance as possible while streaming the game. So this was not a good example of the game’s looks. From the recent screenshots released, the game is looking great.

It was confirmed that once players unlock their personal ships, they will be able to travel to whatever planet they choose. “If you want to march off to Corelia and just run around the warzone and get completely destroyed, you absolutely can,” said Erickson. “Story is an important thing but we never want it to be something that limits the base use of an MMO.” Beforehand, elements like shuttle passes are required to keep you on the right track.

Later in the demo, death was demonstrated. After dying, players are given two choices: have a medical probe revive you, or return to the nearest medcenter. If the option to be revived by a probe is selected, after a few seconds the player will be revived and placed within a stealth mode to get to safety. The more often you die, the longer it takes for the medical probe to appear.

A few more notes from the stream:

• The game will have world bosses
• Ships and other objects in the game are to scale (read: ships are huge).
• You cannot completely level and progress with PvP.
• Mounts/vehicles will have different speeds, feels and costs
• Companions can be resurrected as long as the player lives
• Some companions such as Blizz will not change with their equipment, but instead will have several variant appearances. Human companions will usually change with their equipment.

Make sure to check out the posted video to hear all of what Daniel had to say and see Tatooine for yourself. You can follow all of our E3 coverage by visiting our E3 2011 page.

This week’s featured image on Facebook is a screenshot of a damaged Imperial transport on Tatooine.

After a catastrophic systems failure on Tatooine, these Imperial troops must find another way to transport their prisoners securely off-world.

The latest planet has been revealed for play in The Old Republic and it is none other than Tatooine:

There are also new screenshots, concept art, and wallpaper for Tatooine.

The latest Threat of Peace, issue 22, has been released this week as well:

Lastly, IGN has run an article dealing with what clichés we can expect to see in The Old Republic based on common themes from the Star Wars movies and other games. Check out the full article here.