Then after it gets pushed back until 2011 due to the amount of time needed for proper beta testing and the like....

At this point I am so jaded from all the release dates given for games that it's just easier to assume at least a 6-12 month delay on any MMO's original release date. Heck, that might still be undershooting the bar.

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That date is what most people are forecasting. Q3 2010. Q4 would work too.

Seems realisitc to me. They've been working on it for what? 3 years now? When was it first reported that LA and Bioware were teaming up for another "joint venture". Like, late 2007, I think? And I'm sure Bioware had to come to them w/ a pretty fleshed out idea for LA to even consider making another SW game that'd compete w/ the one they already have. Plus, there had to be legal ties to SOE that had to be ground out first before LA could "offiicially" entertain Bioware's idea. I bet they were working on it prior to that. Coupled w/ the Hero engine which is supposed to streamline the creation process.

Then EA jumps into the fold, and pours resources at it.

We've already seen a lot of ingame footage, and they stated that the game is playable in-house. Another year (-/+ a few months) seems really reasonable considering.

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Its still about 13 months too long to wait :S

Need lightsabre now!

Oh well I guess it gives me plenty of time to play KOTOR 1 and 2 again.

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The "source" was French.
"you cannot trust the French" Just happens to be my personal opinion.

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That trailer did a lot to get me interested in the game when I first saw it. That trailer was more entertaining than the last 3 movies (Episodes I, II, III).

I don't mind waiting more than a year to see this game released. I would rather wait and let them get it right. It really sucks to see a game with a lot of promise to get wasted by a rushed release.

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One factor going for the devs making their date is their use of the Hero engine which is supposed to really allow for almost real time construction of an MMO. Although no games have been released which have utilized their engine, Bioware have given a lot of praise to the engine and its abilities. I think they will look at beta testing more for balancing classes, quests etc. rather than bug fixing.

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Sounds about right. I could see beta about 8 months after playable. It'll be pushed back, might be early 2011, but unless they have some epic feature list I'm not aware of, they can make it by 2010's holiday season.

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Q4 2010 is probably the most hopeful you can get for SWTOR. If they can get beta going at least by Summer 2010, I think they have a realistic shot a Q4 release.

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Don't know about the accuracy of this rumor, but it would sure be great if it were true. SWTOR just sounds so good to me.

I wonder how a September 2010 release date (or, more likely, a few months later) will square with the release of the next WoW expansion? Seems like they may almost be going head to head (or pretty close to head to head).

That kind of matchup would be very interesting to see, if it works out that way, release-wise. It seems to me that SWTOR is going to appeal to the more SP-RPG/casual/solo crowd than WoW traditionally has done, even though SWTOR *is* technically an MMO.

Based on my own player/MMO preferences, I vastly prefer story-intensive small-group and solo content to the "Must be fully geared!" grindy epic instances of WoW. The only thing that makes WoW bearable for me is the fact that you can bypass the instances altogether if you want to.

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MMOs have been on a long slow path into a small group mentality. The shock factor of, "Look! You can play with 59 other people." from EQ or 39 other people in WoW's class raids is becoming very unappealing as more people actually start playing online games. I've done the big raids for years now and using those as a learning experience, I can say I really do prefer the small group instances to the huge battles. Playing with 4 people i know is just more rewarding than playing with 39 people I've never met outside of the game.

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Bleh. If they had said September 2009 for open beta I would be impressed. Time to carry on with the harmonica.

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Even if this is just a guess and not actually from some supersecret insider, it's a very good one. I hope for both the fans and the developers that the game is only about a year away because the hype train seems a little big if we're waiting longer than 13-14 months.

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Hope its not much later than that. The forums for TOR have been around since the game was announced in October 2008 and they have been super-active since then. People are going to get very tired of waiting if the game is more than another year away. Logic suggests it will be finished by October 2008, what with the game being in development for several years already (five I think), the size of the team they have, the upcoming gameplay demo (at Gamescon) and the fact that they're using the Hero engine.

Personally I wouldn't want to wait any longer than October 2010 as this is the only MMO in development that I really want to play (and I'm a big fan of the genre, but bored of the current implementations).

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I am going to bet on 2011. Fans are going to be picky as hell in beta.

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Am I the only one to see those graphics are a cross between Tabula Rasa and City of Heroes.

Both games failed completely.

I read also SW is only about surface pvp, no space abbtles at all at launch.

10 success, 90% another dud.

If this game fails, you'll have to play WOW for the next 25 years.....

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