You needn’t see out the last few days of 2012 wallowing in a figgy pudding-induced sugar-crash: perk yourself up with this collection of the great features we’ve put up on the site this year. We’ve got informative how-to guides, insightful retrospectives, polemics, play-throughs, ‘making of’ stories and much more. You’re sure to find something in here to jolt you back to life or, at the very least, help to annul the post-Crimbo indigestion.
Star Trek Online producer Dan Stahl spoke with [a]listdaily in an interview about the benefits of well-known science-fiction franchises spearheadingfree-to-play MMOs and how the genre's constantly shifting content isn't congruous with traditional review systems, saying, "In my opinion, the whole game rating business doesn't necessarily do a great justice to MMOs."
24 hours before closure, Star Wars Galaxies does something few MMOs get a chance to: declare a winner. Like the world’s longest game of Battlefield, Imperial and Rebel control is assessed city by city, planet by planet. For years, players aligned to either faction have fought for this territory: now, at the end, it all boils down to a percentage.
On Starsider, the SWG server where I spent nearly three years, the breakdown is Imperials 28%, Rebels 72%.
Sci-fi MMO Star Wars Galaxies’ servers will close on 15 December at 9PM PST (1PM GMT), according to a post on the game's official forum, and reported by VG247. The Galactic Civil War will end 24 hours earlier, with various battles and events ocurring during the morning of 15 December.
It’s been a grand intergalactic journey for Star Wars Galaxies - the game's been up and running since 2003, and eight years certainly isn’t a bad lifespan for an MMO. In that time it’s had three expansions, a spin-off trading card game and a novelisation. It also survived the Sony Online Entertainment mega-hack that occurred earlier this year.
Part of its closure is undoubtedly down to BioWare and EA’s upcoming Star Wars MMO, The Old Republic. The fact that Star Wars Galaxies has been online for such a long time casts doubt on Activision head Bobby Kotick’s claims that The Old Republic won’t be able to sustain its Lucasfilm licence fees.
It's always sad when an MMO closes down, but there's often a good side to it: amazing end-of-game events. Star Wars Galaxies is going out with a bigger bang then most, with September 15th kicking off an all-out civil war between Empire and Rebels. For the next three months, both sides will be gathering points, which will be tallied up at some point on December 15th. Winners will be given a glorious celebration in honour of their victory. The entire losing faction will be fed to the Sarlacc.
Venerable MMO Star Wars Galaxies will shut it's doors on December 15th of this Christmas after eight long years. Bowing out at the same time another Star Wars themed MMO takes centre stage.
Details on the closure within.
Rumors have been swirling about possible layoffs at all of SOE's studios. We contacted SOE directly to get the official word on what's happening, and it's a mix of good and bad news for gamers. Read on for the full report.
