In what should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has decided that the latest update to BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO is more than just added content; it’s a strong political statement that must be stopped at all costs!

After some players complained about not having enough relationship options in the new game, BioWare agreed to allow gay and lesbian couples to pair up in the Star Wars universe. This, of course, makes them homosexual activists seeking to destroy the bonds of the family through devious digital means. I’ll let Tony put it in his own pun-laden words:

“In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists! Hello, I’m Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. In a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships. Bioware, the company that developed the game, said it’s launching a same-sex romance component to satisfy some complaints. That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that “gay” and “lesbian” don’t exist in the Star Wars universe. Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren’t. On the game’s website, there are more than 300 pages of comments–a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It’s time to show companies who the Force is really with!”
Read the rest at www.ology.com

Star Wars: The Old Republic is one of the most ambitious undertakings in video game history. When the game launched in December, it was the fruition of six years of work by as many as 800 developers and an investment of an estimated $200 million.

One of the secrets behind the successful development of the game was the HeroEngine, a development platform for building online games that was created by Maryland-based Idea Fabrik.The goal of the engine is to break down the barriers to good online game development by creating a free-to-use solution that lets creators take over and push the technology to the background.

The Star Wars game is the first gigantic title to use Idea Fabrik’s HeroEngine, which was designed to enable designers of huge multiplayer games, or massively multiplayer online games, to quickly add content or update existing features on a continuous basis. While the Star Wars game required a huge number of developers, the HeroEngine tools helped streamline the process so that those developers could work more efficiently and so BioWare, owned by Electronic Arts, didn’t have to hire an even larger army of game makers. With the HeroEngine’s technology, developers log into the HeroBlade client, where they can code, drop in art assets and build the entire game.
Via venturebeat.com

Labelling Star Wars: The Old Republic competent but not innovative is “unfair”, BioWare told Eurogamer – the MMO does more than today’s FPS and action games to push its respective genre forward.

“It’s been a little bit of an unfair characterisation,” SWTOR game director James Ohlen remarked to Eurogamer. “Because if you look at other game genres, if you look at a Battlefield or a Call of Duty or a Gears of War or even a Half-Life – those games use the same tried and true interface and the same tried and true game mechanics of the first-person shooter genre that’s been around for 20 years.

“If you look at real-time strategy games, they kept the same tried and true interface and the same tried and true mechanics that existed for 20 years. Same with adventure games, same with platformers, same with fighting games, sports games.

“I don’t know why the MMORPG genre is not considered to be a genre,” Ohlen shrugged. “It could be that World of Warcraft has dominated for so long that people just think of it as just a single game genre.

“But it is a genre, and we wanted to appeal to fans of that genre – we don’t want to turn them away by making something that’s radically different. And we wanted to take the lessons that have been developed in that genre over years and years and years and basically refine them, much like other companies do with other genres.
Via www.eurogamer.net

Sick of playing SWTOR? No, me neither, but if you want something a little different, jump in the TARDIS:

“If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be the Doctor’s companion, then wonder no longer as you can now undergo the experience yourself… at least digitally. ‘Doctor Who: Worlds in Time’ is a new MMO game from BBC Worldwide Digital Entertainment and Games and Three Rings Design which allows players around the world to enter the TARDIS and follow in the footsteps of the famous Time Lord while defending the universe from destruction.

The online game just went public yesterday and is still in the beta phase so expect a few changes along the way while in the preview period. Players can choose from four different races then personalize their avatar by choosing such attributes as hair color, skin color and facial features. Once you create an account, you can enter the TARDIS and join the Doctor.”

[Via sciencefiction.com]

Star Wars: the Old Republic already has a million registered users, and momentum seems to be picking up a week after the game’s launch.
Via mashable.com