http://www.lucasartsbioware.com/

Anach · Unread post by **Anach** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:27 am

SAN FRANCISCO, CA and EDMONTON, CANADA â€” October 30, 2007 â€” LucasArts and BioWare Corp. today announced that they have entered into an agreement to create an interactive entertainment product. The product, details of which will be unveiled at a later date, will be developed and published by BioWare and LucasArts, and will push the boundaries of the gaming market by utilizing the strengths of both companies to deliver an innovative, high-quality experience.

â€œLucasArts has a deep commitment to developing compelling stories and characters for the unique medium of interactive entertainment, and we have been searching for a developer that shares this value. We found this in BioWare,â€ said Jim Ward, president of LucasArts. â€œThrough our previous collaborations, we know that BioWare has an impressive ability to blend gripping stories with technological advancements, and we believe that our upcoming product will deliver an experience that will span the traditional boundaries of video game entertainment.â€

â€œBioWareâ€™s mission is to deliver the best story and character-driven games in the world, delivering powerful emotional experiences to our fans.â€ said Ray Muzyka, chief executive officer, BioWare Corp. Added Greg Zeschuk, president of BioWare Corp., â€œThe collaboration with LucasArts allows us to combine our passion for creating high quality and innovative experiences with those of a company dedicated to bringing only the finest games to market.

http://www.bioware.com/bioware_info/pre ... lucasarts/

A'Ton Sands · Unread post by **A'Ton Sands** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:00 am

Um, interesting.

interactive entertainment product = Game?
I do wish they would speak English or American English.

So it does look like something is happening, no whether this is a proper MMO
We will have to wait and see.

What I can say, is now they have admitted this much, the pressure on them for more details will mount rapidly.

A'Ton Sands · Unread post by **A'Ton Sands** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:09 am

Just read an interesting point on another forum.

It may be the reason for the vagueness of the announcement is because SOE's contract with LA isn't up yet.

Iakimo · Unread post by **Iakimo** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:36 am

A'Ton Sands wrote:Just read an interesting point on another forum.

It may be the reason for the vagueness of the announcement is because SOE's contract with LA isn't up yet.

Um, how about a linky?? Or are you referring to a comment made on the BioWare News forum? (which I just saw myself; a good point.)

A'Ton Sands · Unread post by **A'Ton Sands** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:00 am

Iakimo wrote:
A'Ton Sands wrote:Just read an interesting point on another forum.

It may be the reason for the vagueness of the announcement is because SOE's contract with LA isn't up yet.

Um, how about a linky?? Or are you referring to a comment made on the BioWare News forum? (which I just saw myself; a good point.)

Yep thats the one.

Iakimo · Unread post by **Iakimo** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:03 am

Gamespot.com has picked up on this story. They note the severe lack of information as yet, but they draw the scheduling correlation between the projected launch date of BioWare's new MMORPG (2009) and the premiere of the live-action Star Wars TV series (also 2009)....

...Today's announcement did yield one important nugget of information. The mystery game will be published and developed by LucasArts and BioWare, which is now owned by Electronic Arts. When EA bought BioWare/Pandemic for $860 million earlier in the month, one of the three reasons it gave for its pricey purchase was the unnamed MMORPG in the works at BioWare Austin. The secretive studio was formed early last year and employs several former members of the KOTOR, Ultima Online, and Star Wars: Galaxies development teams. BioWare's MMORPG is scheduled to launch in 2009.

Wouldn't surprise me a bit to see them shooting for a launch to coordinate with the premiere of the TV series. It would also fit with Smedley's conjecture last year about when a SWG-2 would release.

A'Ton Sands · Unread post by **A'Ton Sands** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:59 am

SW: Development teams!

Oh dear, all one can hope is that they are the Pre NGE Teams.

Thanks for pointing that out Iakimo, that peice of information has now convinced me we are talking about a SW MMO.

This is realy exciting news.

Iakimo · Unread post by **Iakimo** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:10 am

A'Ton Sands wrote:SW: Development teams!

Oh dear, all one can hope is that they are the Pre NGE Teams....

I have the original press release announcing the formation of BioWare/Austin bookmarked, just for references like this:

(Note that both Gordon Walton and Richard Vogel, former pre-CU SWG lead devs, are aboard at BioWare/Austin...)

BioWare Corp. Announces New "BioWare Austin" Studio
New Studio Recruiting for Massively Multiplayer Online RPG Project

EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada, March 13, 2006

...BioWare has recruited some of the top talent in MMO and RPG development, both to manage the development efforts at BioWare Austin and to collaborate with the experienced team at BioWare Edmonton, to develop a game that combines the best of BioWare's great past games with a compelling persistent online experience. Joining the Austin team as lead designer is James Ohlen, BioWare's Creative Director, whose previous credits include lead or co-lead design roles on Star WarsÂ®: Knights of the Old Republicâ„¢, Neverwinter Nightsâ„¢, Baldur's Gateâ„¢ and Baldur's Gate IIâ„¢. Also leading the BWA team are MMO veterans Richard Vogel and Gordon Walton. Richard Vogel brings 15 years of experience to BioWare Austin, previously serving as VP of Product Development for Sony Online Entertainment's Austin studio, as well as launching Ultima Onlineâ„¢ as a senior producer at Origin. Gordon Walton recently served as VP, studio manager and executive producer at Sony Online Entertainment as well as VP and Executive Producer at Electronic Arts....

http://www.bioware.com/bioware_info/pre ... 15_Austin/

Toucan · Unread post by **Toucan** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:19 am

A'Ton Sands wrote:Just read an interesting point on another forum.

It may be the reason for the vagueness of the announcement is because SOE's contract with LA isn't up yet.

when is it up?

Iakimo · Unread post by **Iakimo** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:37 pm

Toucan wrote:
A'Ton Sands wrote:Just read an interesting point on another forum.

It may be the reason for the vagueness of the announcement is because SOE's contract with LA isn't up yet.

when is it up?

Well, I have no idea. It's a question burning in a lot of people's minds, but SOE isn't gonna spill the beans, and I doubt LucasArts will. I'd say we'll know when it ends when it actually ends. Heck, I couldn't even tell you for sure that there IS an exclusive deal at all between SOE and LA.