Star Wars Galaxies - Release Date Announced

DCookie writes "It's official! The highly-anticipated PC MMORPG, Star Wars Galaxies, is set to hit the shelves on June 26th. The NDA for the Beta will most likely be lifted in the next few days as well, so be prepared for more info about the game soon!" The press release also has info on the subscription plans, which range from $12.00 to $14.99 monthly, depending on how many months you buy at once - the game will retail for $49.95 and include one free month's play.

Comments

Game without a purpose

[stefanlasiewski]

Hmm, last article was Robots without a Cause (products without a real purpose), and this article is about a game without a real purpose, that after spending $15 a month and wasting countless hours playing the game, you still feel unfufilled.

Hey, there's nothing wrong with playing games now and then, but I'm sure that plenty of game addicts (myself included) can talk about what a life sucker these games can be.

Re:I hope its not the Sims

[raygundan]

Because the fun in the Sims was being a control freak, and doing whatever you wanted with your Sims. In the online game, you can't really do that-- everybody else does what they want. And you have to work (do really boring repetitive tasks) to get money.

Sims: Make fake people do what you want.

Sims Online: The worst repetitive parts of an RPG, minus the plotline, plus all the fun of lamers yelling at eachother in a poorly-designed chatroom with no scrollback. And no control over anybody else, since they're all real too.

In short, it simply can't be the same game online.
You have to wonder why nobody pointed this out.

Does anyone realize just how AWFUL this will be?

[DarkFencer]

Does anyone realize just how AWFUL this will be? Take Verant's atrocious customer service record, add in tons of StarWars fanboys, and add the highest monthly fee around for a MMORPG (Everquest Legends excluded) and you get the train wreck that will be Star Wars Galaxies!

I'll be avoiding this like the plague thank you very much, though I will keep up on it to watch the train wreck develop. This could be a worse launch then Anarchy Online!

Re:Don't buy! not for the first few months anyways

[FroMan]

ha ha. you have no idea how funny that sounds...

Intended effect accomplished: I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV...

Nah, I haven't been following the SWG stuff at all. My wife and I played EQ for about a year and half fairly regularly and quit around January. We really liked the game, even when we left. We found that in the high end game we needed to dedicate more than 8+ hours at a time to really get anyting done though. Alas, a flaw in the genre of game I think.

Verrant seemed to only cater to the high end game though it seemed like (which makes sense economically as high end folks usually had multiple acounts and were usually the most dedicated). The didn't seem to care about mid level at all though. Very few quests were targeted for that range. Low level was just as bad until they added a couple new low level quests later on though (newbie armour).

I guess I am skeptical that Verrent (SOE, whoever they are now) just simpley wouldn't make a game about combat. They only seemed to care about *Phat Lutz!* when we played. Maybe they truly make a decent tradeskilling adventuring roleplaying game, but I doubt it once the uber type folks make it into the game.

As far as the game possibley tanking right out the gate? Sure, it possible. Either way, I don't think my wife and I will play this one. MMORPGs just seem like they take too much time once you get past a certain point. Its nice to take a couple hours and play a game, but when you are over like 4-6 hours to do anything, that is simpley too long. Too many other things in life to take care of.

One that does sound appealing though on the surface is WoW. But I haven't heard anything about it other than some initial paraphenilia in the game rags. But I typically enjoy blizzard games.

Why the retail price?

[afabbro]

I really hate the MMORG model: $XX at the retail store + monthly fee. Why can't they just let people download the game (or buy it for $10)? $50 is a lot to gamble on a game you might not like after a month.

Yeah, I know - it's to squeeze more money out of Joe Consumer. But I still hate it. I suppose with any game you're taking the risk that you won't like it or will get tired of it quickly.

I think of Diablo II - great game that's fun even without the online experience. And they don't charge for that. So if a game company is going to sell a game that has *only* an online experience, why charge for the $50 shiny box?

I'll pass.