Project Haruhi

The first cinematic trailer for Bioware's new MMORPG is available online. Watch and download it here.

The game's official site is here. Be sure to check out the entries for The Treaty of Coruscant and The Mandalorian Blockade. The site also has some beautiful concept art, like this piece depicting a female bounty hunter.

No gameplay footage, sadly, but the trailer certainly did a good job getting me excited for the game. That was a well-choreographed action scene. And since I like speculation, the trailer seems to indicate that both Twi'leks (hooray!) and droids will be race options. After all, I can't find any other reason for that one-second scene with the astromech droid than to tease it as playable.

So, if you were to play the game, what do you think you'd be? As for me, I'd like to make a female Twi'lek heal/support-class (Jedi Consular, maybe?) character.

My TOS character will likely resemble my Jedi Academy character... a female Zabrak, combat-oriented, wielding a purple lightsaber. Kinda like this...

I'll try and get a better screencap once I track down the Jedi Academy CD...

Apparently the game will be all talk... there will be no text messages. Hopefully that will keep the noobs from screaming "OMG UR JEDAI ROEB IS GEY!!1"

Bioware released a preview of the Smuggler class today. According to Kotaku there's "a heavy emphasis on being charming." Hey, sounds like the perfect alt character for me!

More updates to The Old Republic website!

The Power of Voice-Over

The Return of the Mandalorians

So, we recently got a Guild Wars 2 trailer showing off...flash-animated art and pretty environments. Okay, not particularly exciting, but it's nice to look at. What's your response, Bioware? What's that? You're going to release a 20-minute developer walkthrough of your game that showcases three character classes, your special dialogue system and a bunch of other stuff? Well, yeah, I guess that's a pretty good response.

Impressive. Most impressive.

Definitely a huge step up from KOTOR. It looks like they're applying what they learned from Mass Effect, which should make this an excellent game.

This year's E3 has given us some more details on The Old Republic. First is a new cinematic trailer that--while lacking any sort of gameplay details--looks really cool.



Next is a brief video showcasing the exteriors and interiors of two different player starships. According to interviews, your starship will function as your transport (obviously) and base of operations. No word on whether you'll be able to fly them manually or engage in space battles.



For those of you who like loot, there's a video showing off the armor progression of the Bounty Hunter.



And, of course, there are some more videos of how co-op quests will work with different class combinations.

I'm calling BS on the Republic Trooper and Sith surviving a point-blank thermal detonator explosion.

The player ships look cool, but the battle system's ragdoll physics need work.