Well folks this is it. The greatest battle in the geek universe has just begun. Bioware vs Blizzard, Warcraft vs Star Wars, light saber vs the Arcanite Reaper (yeah – old school all the way). Bioware threw a glove straight into Blizzard’s face by releasing the long awaited, almost 20 minute long, in game footage videos from Star Wars: The Old Republic. And all this in the wake of Blizzards big announcement at Blizzcon – the next WoW expansion – Cataclysm. Obviously both games will be targeting the same release date and it will be a head to head clash that will probably have a lot of consequences for both sides. If Bioware builds a good game and releases a finished product (and not a buggy mess they are prone to sometimes) it will produce a big dent in WoW expansion numbers. From the looks of the video footage – they are on the right path. This is very exciting because Blizzard will be forced to release the “best they can make” expansion and content, which is a great thing for us gamers. The collateral damage will of course be the gamers’ lives and free time. The wife is looking at me with discontent already and the damn things just got announced.

The videos introduce

• the conversation interface (everyone that played Mass Effect knows this interface – voice acting is superb!)
• Bounty hunter class and its style of fighting
• Smuggler class and usage of cover system in battles
• exclusive sith warrior combat and light saber action (drool)
• flashpoint (a story driven event that provides multiple choices and resolves in different ways based on those choices
• multiplayer dialog system (when in group, different players have a chance to make decisions during a multiple choice dialog)
• FORCE CHOKE (mega drool)
• What can be better than one light saber – well of course, two light sabers

This is it. The first Star Trek game that is a MMO and is done right and in true Star Wars spirit.
Enjoy the videos after the break.