After a successful release in North America and Europe, BioWare announced that TOR will be officially launching in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore on March 1, 2012. Fans in those regions will be able to play the critically-acclaimed massively multiplayer online game on regional servers, enjoying the story-driven experience that has captivated gamers worldwide. Players in these countries who currently have or have had an active Star Wars: The Old Republic account prior to February 28, 2012 will have the opportunity to request a free character transfer for a limited time to an Asia Pacific server after the launch on March 1, 2012. All players who qualify for a character transfer will be notified in early March with more details.

“Our biggest priority for The Old Republic has always been to deliver a high quality product and high quality service and we are pleased with our results in North America and Europe,” said Dr. Greg Zeschuk, General Manager of the BioWare Label’s MMO Business Unit and Co-Founder of BioWare. “We appreciate that our fans in these countries have been patient and we are excited to deliver this same great customer experience to players this March.”

Tags: Bioware, Digital Deluxe Edition, Dr. Greg Zeschuk, EA, Electronic Arts, launch, launch date, LucasArts, Pre-Order, Star Wars: The Old Republic, SWTOR, TOR

The day has arrived! BioWare is excited to announce that Star Wars: The Old Republic is officially on store shelves and available to everyone! This is an exciting day for everyone at BioWare and LucasArts, and to celebrate the launch of the game BioWare wants to show you all a short video. This documentary chronicles the development of the game, with members of the Star Wars: The Old Republic development team talking about the experience creating epic stories that allow players to live out their very own Star Wars fantasies in a galaxy populated with thousands of other players.

Tags: Bioware, December 20th, EA, Early Game Access, Electronic Arts, game footage, game trailer, launch, LucasArts, Star Wars: The Old Republic, SWTOR, TOR, trailer, video, Your Saga Begins

Always in Motion is The Future is our column that deals with general news and information regarding The Old Republic based facts and finally spiced with the unique perspective of Republic Trooper.

I’m in pain and I can only blame myself. I was late to the preorder party and didn’t redeem my code until months had passed. My brother-in-arms and fellow Republic Trooper writer, Dave, warned me. He extolled the virtues of SWTOR over and over but it fell on deaf ears. It wasn’t until roughly mid-August when my hardened heart started to thaw and I began to research the game in earnest which eventually led to my far-too-late preorder of the game.

Tags: beta, Bioware, City of Heroes, December 20th, EA, Early Game Access, Electronic Arts, launch, LucasArts, MMOs, Republic Trooper, Rift, Star Wars: The Old Republic, SWTOR, TOR, Vicky Ivicek, World of Warcraft, WoW

Every Trooper may be elite, but no battles would ever be won without the support of the squad. Letters From The Troops is our column where members of the RT squad chime in one topic at a time and ask our readers what they think about the issue!

Throughout the past few months I have listened to eager TOR fans talking less about what features the game has at this point and more about the features they want. At times it takes a turn towards complaining, moving away from the hope that the feature will be added later to a questioning rhetoric on why BioWare hasn’t provided it for launch. I, personally, find such lack of faith disturbing.

Tags: Bioware, developers, EA, Electronic Arts, launch, LFG, Looking For Group, LucasArts, MMOs, player housing, space combat, Star Wars: The Old Republic, starship, SWTOR, TOR

It certainly feels like Christmas over here because today BioWare announced that if you have pre-ordered the game you can start downloading the game client…today! How do you do this you ask? Head on over to www.swtor.com, log into your account, click on the “my account” link, then click on “Pre-order”. You will be taken to a page where you can start downloading the game client!

Tags: Bioware, EA, Early Game Access, Electronic Arts, launch, launch date, LucasArts, Pre-Order, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Stephen Reid, SWTOR, TOR