Not too long after the rumors and leaks of The Old Republic Collector’s Edition, BioWare has made the news official. Right now, three editions of Star Wars: The Old Republic are available for pre-order. The standard edition is your basic copy of the game with software, game time, and pretty cover.

The Digital Deluxe Edition, which is only on Origin, comes with special in-game items. A Flare Gun, Training Droid, HoloDancer, HoloCam, and a STAP (Single Trooper Aerial Platform if you aren’t a Star Wars buff) are all included.

The biggest set is the actual Collector’s Edition of The Old Republic. The massive set contains all of the in-game items from the DDE along with The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural, a Darth Malgus statue, The Old Republic Galaxy Map, Security Authentication Key Fob, a Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic CD, the game in a metal collector’s case, an exclusive in-game Mouse Droid, and access to a Collector’s Edition in-game store which I assume is better than other stores.

Also, those who pre-order the game will get Early Access to the game. Sounds great for big Star Wars fans and gamers but what about that release date, BioWare?

It would appear that the trend of hacking  game companies is nowhere near its end as EA joins the ranks those that have suffered data breaches this year.  All effected EA accounts were sent an e-mail regarding the attack which explains that the hackers gained enrty into the EA database through an old Bioware server for Neverwinter Nights.  According to EA no credit card information was stolen but passwords, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, names, phone numbers, CD Keys, and birth dates are all at risk.  EA has since reset everyone’s EA account password and put up a faq on their support page regarding the breach.

Rumors have been popping up on the internet saying that Mass Effect 3 could be shipping with cooperative multiplayer.  So far there is speculation that it is being developed at Bioware’s Montreal studio and that it will be a separate mode that will not effect the quality of the single player campaign.  An unnamed source stated the following.

“Mainstream penetration is a major goal for Mass Effect 3 and those high up feel online co-op is the answer they’re looking for,”

There has been no official statement from either Bioware or EA at this time suggesting that these rumors are true, however; seeing as how Bioware Montreal took on a large amount of new staff last September it is hard to just dismiss them.

Personally when I think Mass Effect cooperative multiplayer is the last thing on my mind but so long as it’s fun and does not effect the quality of the single player campaign I’m totally fine with the rumors being true.

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Bioware and Lucasarts have announced a new MMO for you to be sucked into and possibly die from: Star Wars: The Old Republic. The MMO will take place in the Old Republic, 300 years after KOTOR 2 and 3500 years before the films. There will be two factions to choose from, the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, each with their own sub-classes. EA will publish the games, and a release date has not been announced.

-Chris Weng

Source: Joystiq.com

Just a reminder. You know, in case you want to buy last minute tickets to your front row seats to the biggest show on earth this announcement event.

-Chris Weng

On October 21, around 2 PM Pacific Time, Bioware and Lucasarts will announce a new game. The screen above shows the invitation to an unveiling of the game. Rampant speculation about what the actual game will be include a new MMORPG based on the Knights of the Old Republic series that was on Xbox, a sequel to Knights of the Old Republic, or a totally new IP based on the New Republic Star Wars universe. Either way, Bioware’s history of games have been pretty much solid gold (Sonic was actually pretty good!) and Lucasarts knows how to use the Star Wars franchise to their advantage (ie. The Force Unleashed), so I’m really looking forward to this announcement. Then again, so is everyone else still drooling over Leia’s slave bikini outfit.

-Chris Weng

Source: Joystiq.com, Massively