'Star Wars: The Old Republic' speaks for itself

It's something that players of modern single-player video games like "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" and "Batman: Arkham City" might take for granted, but an effect that die-hard fans of sprawling online role-playing games such as "World of Warcraft" and "Aion" will surely appreciate: The characters in "Star Wars: The Old Republic" can actually speak.

With more than 320 actors portraying more than 4,000 characters with 260,000 lines of dialogue, BioWare's "The Old Republic" is poised to feature more voice acting than any other massively multiplayer online game in the galaxy when it launches Tuesday, and that's not even counting the thousands of beeps and boops sputtered by droids predating R2-D2.

BioWare, the Electronic Arts Inc. developer behind the "Mass Effect" and "Dragon Age" single-player franchises, has become synonymous with conversational gameplay that allows players to chat with other characters in the hope of unlocking missions, learning more about the plot, demonstrating morality and even forming virtual bonds — romantic or otherwise.

The developer is taking that virtual chatter online with "Old Republic," which is set thousands of years before Luke Skywalker battled Darth Vader in a galaxy far, far away. Unlike most other persistent multiplayer games, "Old Republic" is relying more on voices than written words to push its narrative forward with an unprecedented amount of spoken dialogue.

The highly anticipated "Old Republic" has already drawn comparisons to "World of Warcraft," the behemoth online fantasy game from Blizzard Entertainment that boasts more than 10 million subscribers but little voice work. ("Star Wars Galaxies," a "Star Wars" online game from Sony Online Entertainment, ended last week after eight years in operation.)

At the start of "Old Republic," players pledge allegiance to either the Republic or Empire and pick from eight character types: a bounty hunter like Boba Fett, a smuggler like Han Solo, a Jedi consular like Yoda, a Sith inquisitor like Darth Maul, a Jedi knight like Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Sith warrior like Darth Vader, an Imperial agent like Grand Moff Tarkin or a trooper.

The possibility of 16 different, highly customizable protagonists — eight men, eight women — hyper-speeding through a virtual universe populated with thousands of talkative characters, as well as millions of other players online, presented "The Old Republic" developers at BioWare in Austin, Texas, and LucasArts in San Francisco with several new challenges.

"When you're doing a game like 'The Old Republic,' the acting is like cubism," said LucasArts voice director Will Beckman. "You have to see these characters from every angle and be able to pull it apart and put it back together. It's definitely a challenge for our voice actors. It's a unique type of acting that takes a tremendous amount of imagination."

Unlike an animated film, the nonlinear nature of "The Old Republic" requires the voice actors to record several different versions of dialogue, depending on whether players are moving along the light or dark sides of the Force, and because the game is ongoing, the developers are creating updates that will feature new content, including voiceovers.

"We tried to prepare the talent that this isn't a normal voiceover gig," said LucasArts voice producer Orion Kellogg. "Normally, actors come into the studio once or twice to record their audio. We've got 16 player characters alone doing tons of dialogue. They know they're coming back. I think they like it because they've been able to grow into their role."

Besides the English, German or French spoken in the game, "Old Republic" features 21 alien languages. While the sounds of species like the furry Wookiees came directly from LucasArts archives, Beckman said he crafted several new alien languages, finding inspiration from existing and dead real-world languages, as well as audio effects.

Visually, when players are gabbing away, a glowing conversation cartoon bubble appears over their avatar's head. When they team up with fellow Republic or Empire devotees and engage in conversations, each player elects a response, but what's actually uttered is randomly selected, and players who win the chance to speak earn extra points.

"It is a big game, and it's going to feel like that when players are installing it," said BioWare audio producer Sandee Valle. "More importantly, it's going to feel like that when you get out there and start exploring the world. Hopefully, we're going to be adding to the game regularly with new content and voice work for many, many years to come."

Aion - Free2Play-Umstellung im Februar 2012

Das Online-Rollenspiel Aion stellt sein Bezahlmodell im Februar 2012 auf ein Free2Play-Modell um. Au?erdem wird in Zukunft Gameforge die Verantwortung der europ?ischen Server übernehmen. Der Grund für den Wechsel des Betreibers und die Umstellung auf F2P sei, dass die Spielerzahlen in den letzten Monaten stark zurückgegangen sind.

In einem Q&A erkl?rt der Entwickler au?erdem die speziellen Boni für weiterhin bezahlende Spieler. Diese bekommen zukünftig eine Gold-Mitgliedschaft mit der alle Features des Spiels uneingeschr?nkt genutzt werden k?nnen. Darüber hinaus sollen alle Premium-Mitglieder Boni wie erh?hten Erfahrungspunkte-Gewinn, kürzere Wartezeiten bei Instanzen und h?here Belohnungen erhalten. Der neue Betreiber Gameforge verspricht dennoch, dass alle Ver?nderungen durch neue Mitglieder-Modelle nicht das Balancing des Spiels ver?ndern.

Alle Spieler, die sich vor der Umstellung des Bezahlmodells jemals einen Account erstellt, und diesem Spielzeit hinzugefügt haben, erhalten au?erdem einen ?Veteranen?-Status. Dadurch erhalten Rückkehrer einige Boni wie unlimitierten Handel und die freie Nutzung s?mtlicher Chat-Kan?le.

Der Vorstandsvorsitzende von Gameforge Alexander R?sner freut sich über die Kooperation mit dem Entwickler und sagt: ?Mit Aion haben wir ein Flaggschiff für unseren MMO-Sektor in unser Portfolio aufgenommen, das unser aktuelles Lineup perfekt erg?nzt. Wir haben mit NCsoft hart daran gearbeitet, ein faires Free-to-Play-Modell zu entwickeln, das neue Spieler ebenso anspricht wie die bestehende Community. Natürlich werden wir auch in Zukunft neue Inhalte entwickeln und diese in enger Zusammenarbeit mit den Spielern erweitern?.

The Old Republic - Mehr als zwei Millionen Anmeldungen für den Beta-Test

Am vergangenen Wochenende fand die letzte Phase des Beta-Tests von dem Online-Rollenspiel Star Wars: The Old Republic statt. Für den Publisher Electronic Arts ist dies allem Anschein nach ein guter Grund, um Bilanz zu ziehen.

Eric Brown, der Chief Financial Officer von Electronic Arts, gab jetzt im Rahmen einer Konferenz einige interessante Statistiken rund um den Beta-Test bekannt. Demnach haben sich mehr als zwei Millionen Freiwillige für den Test angemeldet. Am langen Thanksgiving-Wochenende (24. bis 27. November 2011) loggten sich mehr als 725.000 Menschen auf die Beta-Server ein, von denen im Durchschnitt jeder zw?lf Stunden innerhalb des besagten Zeitraums spielten. Die maximale Anzahl an gleichzeitig spielenden Testern lag laut Brown bei zirka 250.000.

Die Vorzeichen für Star Wars: The Old Republic kurz vor dem Release am 20. Dezember 2011 stehen somit gut. Sollten die Verkaufszahlen ein ?hnlich hohes Niveau erreichen wie die Anzahl der Beta-Anmeldungen, dürften Electronic Arts und BioWare sicherlich zufrieden sein.

Nurse held over off baby’s finger

FIVE-day-old Janna Nampijja will start her life without half of her ring finger after a nurse chopped it off at Kampala Hospital on Monday.

Nampijja’s finger was cut off as a nurse was removing the plasters strapped around her hand to keep the infusion cannula in place. The infusion cannula is used to carry intravenous fluids into the body of patients receiving medication through the blood system.

Nampijja, weighing 2.4kg, was prematurely born at 36 weeks by elective caesarean section. Doctors had scheduled to discharge her after three days.

“Unfortunately after removing the feeding tube successfully, the nurse found the removal of the strapping securing the infusion cannula difficult. She decided to cut the dressing with a pair of scissors but accidentally cut off about 1/3 of the left ring finger,” a letter to the parents from Dr. Jack Luyombya, the hospital ‘s director, indicated.

The hospital asked the parents to clear the bill. After they had paid up, they then asked speak to the mother of the baby alone, to whom they broke the news and apologised.

“My wife telephoned me saying that the doctors said the baby’s finger was cut off. I immediately contacted a doctor friend seeking professional advice on whether the finger could be reattached,” Uthuman Katongole, the father of the baby, said yesterday. “However I was informed that it was too late because of the time lag after the incident,” he added.

The 40-year-old nurse, Esther Ayikoru, detained at Kira Road Police Station, said it was an accident because the baby’s finger was wrapped.