Today marks
the official launch of
Star Wars: the Old Republic, a new MMOG from BioWare, EA, and LucasArts. The game's population has been building throughout the week as players who pre-ordered were
granted early access, but now the gates have been thrown open to everyone. By using the
Star Wars universe and a 'story-driven' approach to MMO gameplay, BioWare hopes to draw in a new group of players
who don't typically consider themselves MMO gamers. Since the game is still largely unexplored, comprehensive reviews have yet to be written, but Shack News has
a write-up about the early game. An article at Eurogamer discusses whether this sort of game launch marks
the end of an era for the MMOG industry — the game's budget is estimated to be as high as $100 million, and it relies on a traditional subscription model when many games are making the switch to free-to-play.