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18 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.. Part Deuce

Put on your tin foil hat folks – you’re in for a looooong ride!

<Begins to sing slurring>

18 bottles of beer on the wall.. 18 bottles of beer.. Take one down, pass it around.. 17 bottles of beer on the wall!

<Ends singing>

We are just over halfway through 2011 and we officially have 18 Friday’s left in the year for BioWare to release information on Star Wars: The Old Republic.  This is my “speculation” into what we may see in some of these Friday Updates and I don’t believe we will be using all 18…

September 2 - PAX Recap (Convention Video(s) of Fans & Booth, Huttball, Eternity Vault, Open World PvP, etc.) & Details on Beta Weekends
September 9 - Smuggler, Imperial Agent OR Sith Inquisitor Armor Progression Video (SR Already confirmed Jedi Consular was not next) (3 of 4 Remaining)
September 16 - Fan Friday | Studio Insider
September 23 - EUROGAMER EXPO Reveals (Smuggler, Imperial Agent, Jedi Consular OR Sith Inquisitor Armor Progression Video, EU Beta Weekends Start, Guild Phase 2 Begins*)  (2 of 4 Remaining)
September 30 - Fan Friday | US & EU Beta Weekends Restart
October 7 - Imperial Agent, Jedi Consular OR Sith Inquisitor Armor Progression Video  (2 of 4 Remaining)
October 14 - New York Comic Con Reveals (Release Date, Last HoloNet tab “Legacy System”**)
October 21 - Fan Friday | Studio Insider
October 28 - Smuggler, Imperial Agent, Jedi Consular OR Sith Inquisitor Armor Progression Video (Last Video), Early Access Details & Announcement of Beta Weekends Ending Oct. 30th
November 4 - Developers Blog/Dispatch: Advanced Class Tree’s, Website Update: Advanced Class Skill Tree “Calculators” & Guild Phase 3 Begins
Tuesday, November 8 - Early Access Begins!***
Tuesday, November 15- Star Wars: The Old Republic is Released!

Updated 09/23/2011:

• Moved  ”Website Update: Advanced Class Skill Tree “Calculators”" from Oct 21st to Nov 4th.
• Replaced Developers Blog on Sep. 30th with Fan Friday | US & EU Beta Weekends Restart.
• Moved Early Access Details from Oct 14th to Oct 28th.
• Moved “Guild Phase 3 Begins” from Oct. 28th to Nov. 4th.
• Moved “Announcement of Beta Weekends Ending Oct. 23rd” from Oct. 14th to Oct. 28th and changed the end date from the 23rd to 30th.

*Guild Phase 2 could likely happen the week before with the Fan Friday | Studio Insider OR on Wednesday (September 21) before the EUROGAMER EXPO. (Am I good or what!)
**The  ”rumored” Legacy system could likely be included in a content patch after the release of the software as hinted at the Sunday PAX Panel by Daniel Erickson when saying they were already working on the first content patch.
***A 7-day staggered release would allow for approximately 250K people per day for a total of 1.75m pre-orders.  If there are more than 2m pre-orders Early Access could be extended additional days +/- delaying the retail release to November 22. 

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27 Bottles of Beer on the wall….

Put on your tin foil hat folks – you’re in for a looooong ride!

<Begins to sing slurring>

27 bottles of beer on the wall.. 27 bottles of beer.. Take one down, pass it around.. 26 bottles of beer on the wall!

<Ends singing>

We are just over halfway through 2011 and we officially have 27 Friday’s left in the year for BioWare to release information on Star Wars: The Old Republic.  This is my “speculation” into what we may see in some of these Friday Updates and I don’t believe we will be using all 27…

Update 07/01/11: After reviewing all of the past trailers we are actually missing quite a few “Armor” Progression Trailers and of course the Jedi Consular class trailer.  I have updated my list below to compensate for these missing trailers.

July 1 - Jedi Consular Class Update (Actual: Bounty Hunter Character (Armor) Progression)
July 8 –  Developers Blog (A Path to Success: Maps, and their Making) ✔
July 15 – Fan Friday | Studio Insider (w/ Audio Q/A) ✔
July 22 – San Diego Comic Con Reveals (Reveals: Jedi Consular Class Update/Trailer, (Remaining) Crew Skills, War Zone – VoidStar, (Low) Pre-Order, Box & Collector’s Edition details)
July 29 – San Diego Comic Con Recap & Jedi Consular Armor Progression
August 5 – Developers Blog
August 12 – Fan Friday | Studio Insider
August 19 – GamesCon Reveals (Reveals: “Train Horn” AKA Countdown to release date announcement for PAX, Last HoloNet Tab Revealed (speculated Legacy system) & Guild HQ Phase 2)
August 26 – PAX Reveals (Major Reveals: Release Date, Sith Inquisitor Armor Progression)
September 2 – GamesCon & PAX Recap | Expanded Game Testing Details Revealed via Pre-Orders
September 9 - Developers Blog (Character Creation) | Removal of the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for Game Testers
September 16 - Fan Friday | Studio Insider (Guild HQ Phase 3*)
September 23 – EUROGAMER EXPO Reveals (Reveals: Imperial Agent Armor Progression, Smuggler Armor Progression, Head Start Details**, Server Lists & Website Update: Advanced Class Skill Tree “Calculators”)
Tuesday, September 27 – Star Wars: The Old Republic is Released!

*Guild Phase 3 could likely happen the Wednesday (September 21) before the EUROGAMER EXPO.
**Depending on the number of days they will be offering a Head Start the details could come earlier in the week

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Friday Update: Fan Friday, Developers Blog & ...

This weeks Friday Update brings us Fan Friday featuring the usual fan art, new concept art of Corellia, new forum icons, polls and a Fan Site Spotlight for AskaJedi.com.  Also included in this update is is “What did you enjoy most from our E3 coverage?” which includes awards that Star Wars: The Old Republic received at E3 and a general “recap-of-a-recap” of how E3 went.  Finally, we hear from Ian Ryan, one of the writers at BioWare for Star Wars: The Old Republic in a Developers Blog about what the writing team is doing for this final stage of the game’s development.

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Friday Update: Fan Friday, Studio Insider, and Fan...

The third week of every month is always the most depressing when it comes to Friday Updates from BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic as they are usually Fan Friday’s. This week is no exception.

Senior Community Coordinator Allison Berryman posted two new polls: Which companion character are you looking forward to meeting most? and What is your favorite area of the HoloNet?

BioWare included some new concept art for Hutta. BioWare also featured SWTOR-Life in this week’s Fan Site Spotlight as well as announcing their schedule of events for the next convention season. You can find the full listing on their Events page.

Also in this week’s Friday Update, Audio Designer Scott Morton guides us through the process of creating the perfect mix of music and sound effects to complement the combat experience, from the initial conceptualization to the final implementation. Check out the Studio Insider for more details.

Lastly, BioWare provided a new video from last month’s Fan Site Summit.

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Fan Friday & Studio Insider: Environment Poli...

Why do they call it “Fan Friday“?  Is it because it focuses on the “fans” creations or is it for the fan community?  It must be the first part because Fan Friday’s for me offer nothing in terms of gaining knowledge about Star Wars: The Old Republic.  New Avatar’s that I will never use and fan art that is sometimes at best mediocre - though there are a few diamonds in the rough.  The Studio Insider offers a glimpse into the daily lives of developers at BioWare including Senior Environment Artist, Robby Lamb who discusses Environment Polish.  The Community Q&A is the biggest joke in the world.  Honestly.  Each month they choose questions about the game that are so mundane that I am honestly shocked that a community member waste his/her time in posting the question to begin with.  Much of the questions are common sense if you’ve follow the game even for the past month much less than someone who has been following it for the past (nearly) 3-years.

Call me bitter or unappreciative, but I guess I expect more from a game that is to be released 8-months (likely 5-months as my speculated release date is September 16, 2011).