TGN.TV Interviews Stephen Reid at Eurogamer

Ned from TGN.TV interviewed Stephen Reid at the Eurogamer Expo 2011. Because the audio was bad, Ned took the time to subtitle the video, which is why it is out when it is, although it sounds fine.

One question touched upon is why announce the release date at Eurogamer. I am glad to see that Mr Reid is honest and tells us that it was because they were worried about leaks from the game stores, given we now know this to be the case.

TOROCast Interviews Daniel Erickson, talks Social Hubs

TOROCast interviewed Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer, at Eurogamer. Sadly there was serious communications interference, making the audio very hard to hear. A communications disruption can mean only one thing...

Luckily TOROCast have posted a transcript of the whole interview, so you can read along. Daniel Erickson talks about the social hub they are putting into the game, where end gamers should be hanging out:

There’s—one, they are actually the segues off to most of the endgame content, and a whole lot of the Flashpoints and things like that. In addition, they are rest hubs, and we’re making it very easy to get to them directly, so what we’re hoping is that especially for elder game players, this is going to be where those players log on and off, and where most people come together to put groups together, to go off and do any of the elder game stuff.

This sounds cool, the atmosphere of hanging out in Ironforge or Orgrimmar in WoW is pretty cool, especially in Vanilla cos everyone was wandering around there, forming groups to go do this raid or that dungeon. What they are putting together sounds much like Dalaran was in Wrath; a social hub to do your professions, dailies, find groups and get to the bank.

Ned from TGN.TV talks about Sith Warrior, Imperial Agent Starter Experiences

Ned from TGN.TV has posted a Eurogamer round up, where he talks about doing some PvP, the Sith Warrior (11:21) and Imperial Agent (14:25) starter zones.




Ned promises an interview with Stephen Reid by the weekend, so subscribe to his tgnSWTOR channel if you're interested.

My beta invite has become... precious to me

There has been major ranting on the forums about people going to Eurogamer getting invites, before those who signed up on the SWTOR website.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wakingdream I think the general vibe has been miss understood by Mr Reed however, the reason people have sour grapes over this topic is the fact that people are annoyed that the key note attendees have received something that is practically coveted simply for listening to the good doctors speech, even if they lacked enough interest in the game to actually have signed up on the TOR site.

No, I do understand, but I'm afraid there's not much I can do about it. We gave a pre-order code to everyone in the room during San Diego Comic-Con. We gave t-shirts to everyone who played the game at many different events. We gave unique concept art to some people who turned up to our meet 'n' greet during PAX East.

While I totally understand that testing access is arguably the most 'prized' thing of all of these, all I can say is... come see us at a show if you can. You never know what surprises we might have in store.

Everyone who pre-orders the game and redeems their code will get to play it early. Many, many people will also get to play during testing in some form. Others may be lucky enough to get testing access in some other way. We'll get as many into testing as we can, in as many ways as we can.

While it may be "coveted" to have a beta invite, or even get some Beta Weekend (eh Europe), the thing in my mind is that the game is out on the 22nd December 2011. According to my little count down ticker, that's 83 days from now. Which is like 12 weeks or 3 months.

If you can't wait for 3 months to play the game, then I am truly sorry for you. Omg other people get to play it before you do. How awful. It's funny, because in life there are other people doing things you've not done before, all the bloody time. Plus sometimes you have to damn well wait for things.

So am I sorry I didn't go to Eurogamer? Yes, but I'd have been playing on Thursday or sommat and also missed the keynote, I'll get to play on the 22/12. Am I sorry I didn't go to London for the Meet and Greet? Yes, but that's because it looked like fun, not because I "missed" out on a free beta key.

I guess I'll just have to somehow fill 3 months of time before I get my hands on a polished and working game, one in which my toon won't get wiped regularly.

Eurogamer Meet and Greet videos Ahoy!

Three videos from the Eurogamer Meet and Greet event have surfaced on YouTube.

Part 1 has the Q&A which is funny, especially when they get asked about Early Access:

Part 2 continues the Q&A:

Part 3 continues the Q&A some more:

Darth Hater interviews Chris Collins, European head

Darth Hater interviewed Chris Collins at Eurogamer Expo. Among the topic were the European centers and thus the EU testing:

Off the top of my head they probably won't differ. The European testing center is very close to coming online -- and I know everyone hates the whole 'soon' terminology or imminent or whatever sort of different word I want to throw in there -- but it is something we need to make sure is ready.

 He did say they will not announce anything until it is 110% ready. So I am hoping for a Beta Weekend for 8/9th October.

Why not 1st and 2nd? Stephen Reid said they are inviting Game Testers to try this new client, so given that is happening this week, I find it unlikely the Beta weekends will start this coming weekend, whereas a week to test with external testers should be enough to judge whether the client is ready for Beta Weekend testing. I hope by then the EU data center will be online and they will want to get feedback from us Europeans about the ping experience, and of course those all important translations.

Eurogamer Expo Meet and Greet Q&A

Darth Hater have a transcript of the Eurogamer Expo Meet and Greet Bioware held in London. Most of the talk covered information we already have, but Daniel Erickson did confirm that Achievements are in:

DE : Not correct. Achievements have made ship in fact.

Although just the complete quest line variety.

They said there will be 8 characters per server, then a overall limit they are not ready to say. Which seems reasonable, as that is one of each Advanced Class per server.

Stephen Reid also talked about the EU beta and Beta Weekends, and how everyone who was at the Eurogamer keynote and the meet and greet will be getting into beta:

In fact, as you can tell, we took five hundred odd names today. So we're taking them in as fast as we can. Will we invite people in this room? If you weren't given a little ticket today from me, if you weren't at the keynote session, assuming you stay around, because you're going to have to stay around so we can get your name and everything else, we'll put everybody who's here tonight in testing.

He didn't really say which testing however, Beta Weekend or General Testing. There has of course been rumblings on the forum that if you didn't go to Eurogamer you won't be getting into Beta, which is clearly rubbish because they are running the weekends up until launch. We have 2 and a bit months of Beta Weekends, of course they won't be running every single weekend, but still, that is a lot of chance to get in.

Reid, Collins & Erickson at HMV Trocadero, London

Exciting news about the SWTOR meet and greet has been posted by Stephen Reid. On Saturday 24th September they will be in London, with alcohol, Reid himself, Chris Collins and the one-and-only Daniel Erickson. However, it is limited to 100 people at once, so Reid suggests you arrive a bit before 8pm, but don't camp out the place from 3pm. I suggest you do camp the place out, because the lines are likely to be out the building and into Leicester Square.

Hello everyone!

I'm very happy to re-announce that we're bring Star Wars: The Old Republic to Eurogamer Expo 2011. This show is near and dear to my (blackened, cold ) heart so I'm very happy we'll be there.

As our news article on the show mentions, we'll have The Old Republic available to play on the show floor for all four days of the Expo. We'll be showing off all four of the Origin Worlds, as well as having PvP matches in the Alderaan and Huttball Warzones.

On Saturday 24th we'll be returning to Gamerbase inside the London Trocadero (more specifically, inside HMV) for a meet 'n' greet. In attendance will be myself, Chris Collins and the one and only Daniel Erickson. This event is entirely free, you've just got to get yourself to the venue.

Unlike our previous Gamerbase event we will not be issuing invites to this meet 'n' greet, however due to fire regulations there is a limit to how many people will be allowed inside the venue. We're told this is roughly 100 people at any time. Once we hit capacity we may conduct a 'one in, one out' policy, or we may clear the venue at some point to allow others in. We'll judge that on the night based on attendance.

We'll have the game playable on dozens of PCs, and will be limiting play time, but arrive a little earlier than 8pm kick-off if you want to get in first (ish). Please don't camp the venue from 3pm or something.

Currently closing time for the event is midnight, although knowing London transport you might want to leave earlier than that.

As well as getting a chance to play the game, we'll also do some Q&A with Daniel to give you an extra reason to come by.

Last but not least, we will be catering the event and alcohol will be included. Therefore unfortunately only those 18 or over will be admitted. Please bring appropriate ID as your age will need to be checked at the door.

Man I'd love to be there, or at Eurogamer, but alas I have the usual non-changeable plans for the weekend. Darth Hater at least will be at Eurogamer and likely this.

The Old Republic at Gamefest, Birmingham UK, Sept 16-18

A stealth update to the SWTOR events page, then tweeted by @RockJaw, brings us news that Star Wars The Old Republic will be at the Gamefest event at the NEC near Birmingham, UK.

BioWare and LucasArts are excited to be bringing Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ to GAMEfest in Birmingham, England! GAMEfest is an event put on by video game retailer GAME that is held from September 16th to September 18th and is open exclusively to individuals who have the GAME Rewards card. Those lucky enough to make it to the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham will be able to get some hands-on time with The Old Republic.
GAMEfest Hours:
* Friday, September 16th: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM GMT 
* Saturday, September 17th: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM GMT
* Sunday, September 18th: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM GMT

This is actually this Friday/Saturday/Sunday, although I expect long queues to play the game, because the Game Reward Card is free to get. Tickets cost 10 uk pounds. Saturday is now sold out. Don't forget SWTOR is also going to be at Eurogamer on September 22 to 25th in London, UK.