BioWare doing LucasArts game Comments by Robert Purchese

LucasArts had a deep commitment to developing compelling stories and characters for the unique medium of interactive entertainment

Please lets have another KOTOR!!!!

Supposedly this is KOTOR online (as in MMOG)

Maybe it won't be about Star Wars.

woohoo, KOTOR MMO!

Despite being a huge Star Wars geek, I'd kind of prefer if this wasn't Star Wars, but a new franchise entirely.

But then, this is LucasArts...

imagine if they did a sam and max game…

LucasArts has a deep commitment to developing more Star Wars shovelware for the unique medium of interactive entertainment

Monkey Island 5
DoTT 2
Full Throttle 2

Why would Lucas Arts want to cash in on crap games like those?

An Indiana Jones RPG..?

KOTOR MMORPG obviously

KOTOR MMORPG has lots of potential, this is exciting news as long as EA keep their nose out

I hope they make a kotor 3

I really dont want a KOTOR MMO. I just want KOTOR 3

"Bioware = sellouts"

That is what people say when they never find themselves in a position to "sell out".

no no no to MMO! single player all the way!

Think Sony have the rights for mmog star wars games

I really dont want a KOTOR MMO. I just want KOTOR 3
+1.

Not everyone is on Xbox live. im sure many people want a multiplayer online mode in the game, but single player is important as well.

Bioware announced some time ago it was working on a MMO. This new statement has Bioware working with Lucas Arts.

"The game is being developed by the company’s Austin studio, formed in 2006 and headed by BioWare Creative Director James Ohlen, whose past credits include the first KOTOR, Neverwinter Nights, and Baldur Gate’s I and II"

http://www.primotechnology.com/2007/10/1...

This link speculates the game on running on X360 (if so Lucas Arts must be really pissed off at Sony over SWG)

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/art...

Single player RPG please. Perhaps a post Return of the Jedi RPG as I'm not entirely sure where KOTOR could go from where it was unless they leave it a hundred years or so. Or they could set a Star Wars game between episodes 3 and 4, but that's Force Unleashed.

Indiana Jones RPG or bust mtfrs

Woo!

Last time we had Bio working with LA we had the best Star Wars game this decade [so far]. Here's hoping.

KOTOR 3 please! First was ahead of it time, second buggy and weaker but still a great game.

KOTOR 3 on next gen (current gen whatever youcallit) possibly better realize the universe of Star Wars, but that would perhaps be a bit too close to Mass Effect wouldn't it?!

All eyes would be on EA to ensure they properly preserve the great assets they have and not cashing in on the great brand name of Bioware.

More interesting is that it is NOT EA that is annoucing the partnership! As they now owns Bioware but it is them who are making annoucement so perhaps a sign of a new 'hand free' approach and thus enabling acquired studioes to be distinct and have a form of autonomy, but the bulk of profits get to EA in return for a more secure jobs? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Anything Bioware: pure gold.

"spanning traditional boundaries" means sticking firmly within said boundaries ( a shooting section, a driving section, a talking bit, some cutscenes, an AI helper?). I think they meant to indicate they would "break through traditional boundaries" somehow (probably some new bump mapping technique, I hope!)

KOTOR 3 ffs. They never concluded the story.

"More interesting is that it is NOT EA that is annoucing the partnership! As they now owns Bioware but it is them who are making annoucement so perhaps a sign of a new 'hand free' approach and thus enabling acquired studioes to be distinct and have a form of autonomy, but the bulk of profits get to EA in return for a more secure jobs?"

I think there's a bigger chance that Bioware has licensed Derek Smart's Battlecruiser series for KOTOR 3 than EA taking a hands-off approach.

Erm this was news 9 months ago guys?

"KOTOR 3 on next gen (current gen whatever youcallit) possibly better realize the universe of Star Wars, but that would perhaps be a bit too close to Mass Effect wouldn't it?!"

That's no bad thing - just means another stellar game and some more megabucks for Bio and LA.

I'm surprised they're going to do something else, when they've got Mass Effect 2 to start/complete yet. I don't think it'll be a Star Wars MMO as Lucasarts probably wouldn't want to license a competitor to Star Wars Galaxies.

Then again, they might.

SWG is pretty much dead, and sony's problem.

"KOTOR 3 ffs. They never concluded the story."

Uh, you are aware that Bioware didn't have anything to do with the story of KOTOR 2? It was made by the ex-Black Isle guys at Obsidian using Bioware's KOTOR engine.

"Anything Bioware: pure gold."

*Looks at Jade Empire. Barely resists the urge to throw it out the window. Again.*

However, what I really would like to see is a reunion with the Forgotten Realms.

Baldur's Gate I and II, that's where you have your supposedly pure gold.

JE was very good for what it set out to do. A very entertaining game imo.

It's a Howard the Duck MMO. ;-)

"Through are previous collaborations,..."

Come on EG?

What exactly is your point Gnort.

BRING BACK REVAN!

Ahem. Excuse me.

"Through are previous collaborations..."

Watch your grammar! Tisk.

(shakes head, dies a little inside)

Bioware guys have been going around for a while doing various talks on MMO infrastructure at places like Austin GDC, and since they've never made an MMO in the past, it stands to reason that they currently have one in development. That, plus they've also made an announcement along those lines.

So I'm guessing this is a KOTOR MMO, too.

Monkey Island 5?

;)

No MMO. KotOR III.

or Day of the Tentacle 2.

@ silke

i thought jade empire was awsome, its subjective.

most of bioware's games are ace!

>Anything Bioware until now: pure gold.

Fixed that. Now that EA slurped Bioware, I'll be very curious to see what will happen with future Bioware releases. Oh, weren't they going to do a Sonic RPG? Let's see what happens with that...

I rather liked JE too. The combat system crapped all over KOTOR's archaeic "turn based with running about" tomfoolery.

Not particularly liked anything they did in the last years - not even Knights of the Old Republic, not Jade Empire, and most certainly not the single-player campaign in NWN1. They haven't made a really great game since the year 2000, but I know I am in a minority at least with regards to Kotor.

And let's not even talk about Lucasarts.

@RexRunti: there is no way that an MMO set during the original trilogy would work. Galaxies showed us that quite clearly: most people want to be a Jedi, and the OT setting doesn't allow for lots of Jedi running around. You could cut everyone off from that but that would just doom the game. It's either got to be in the pre-history like KotOR, or it's got to be set further ahead in the expanded universe in the New Jedi Order or the like. KotOR is already established as a setting and has far more potential IMO.

Personally, if Bioware were to do a Star Wars MMO, I would be first in line to check it out. That said I'd not be upset if they just did another offline MMO, especially if it had the Mass Effect conversation engine. I'm one of the minority who vastly preferred the writing in KotOR II - I just prefer Chris Avellone's style - however Bioware's stuff is great too.

What I really wish is that they'd resurrect and reinvent Monkey Island, but the chances of that happening are minimal.

I bet EA is making Bioware produce Kotor 3 and drop Mass effect (meaning Microsoft would need to find another developer for the sequels) If this turns out to be true I'm going to be disappointed because I can't Imagine another Kotor it is just going to be all hype no substance, hence max profits.

@CouldntResist

My point is that the KOTOR storyline is no longer Bioware's, so they wouldn't feel any need to conclude it. Lucasarts should get Obsidian to work on it if they want the series closed off.

A KOTOR MMORPG only seems logical now that BioWare not only has the quality to make a great MMORPG, but also the money with the recent acquisition by EA.

My guess is KOTOR MMORPG will be EA's best shot at grabbing a piece of WoW's market.

Quality + Star Wars License + Money + Publishing power = Secret formula to beat WoW?