This mentions the rumor but somewhere else it's confirmed I guess.
Didn't play Kotor so have no idea how this would be.
Portfolio.com just published a short excerpt of its interview with EA boss John Riccitiello who tells the site that it's "got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development" including "the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare." One doesn't need to connect too many dots to arrive at the conclusion that BioWare is returning to the Star Wars universe with a Knights of the Old Republic MMO.
Of course, this product has been rumored for ... well, for a long time. Separately confirming a BioWare / LucasArts collaboration and a BioWare MMO project lead to certain obvious conclusions and countless other rumors and leaks seemed to do everything but confirm (and some denied) the project's existence. Though it would appear Riccitiello wasn't quite ready to put a name on that project – it's Portfolio.com connecting those dots – by referencing that this is the game that "people are dying for us to talk to them about" he clearly seems to be pointing to KOTOR.
[Update: We've just spoken with N. Evan Van Zelfden, the writer of the report, who told us that when asked specifically if this game was "KOTOR Online", Riccitiello responded unequivocally, "Yes." So, there you have it – sounds like we can take off our skeptical glasses.]
When they first announced that The Old Republic would be fully-voiced during E3 2009, those of us involved in the more massively-multiplayer side of gaming collectively gasped. The average MMO title has players interacting with hundreds of different characters over the course of the game. Providing real voices for each of those characters as well as the player characters themselves is a monumental task.
Here are some other tidbits about the VO on The Old Republic:
* The voice-over is being recorded in 5 different cities (so far); Los Angeles , London, New York, San Francisco, and Toronto
* By the time the project is finished, we will have worked with hundreds of actors - many on multiple occasions.
* The entire game ‘script’ contains approximately 40+ novels worth of content.
* One of the biggest challenges of the production: consistency in pronunciation across the whole project! You would be amazed at how many ways there are to say “Thul” or “Holo” Projector. An audio pronunciation guide
I remember reading in an interview for some fansite that they haven't finished refining the character models yet. Specifically, they purposely made the hands/weapons a little too large so they could better see any defects in combat animations.
Personally, I'll take lower poly toons with silky-smooth animation over high poly ones that look like marionettes when they run.
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