"Star Wars for Xbox? Let's shoot that one down before it gets too out of hand..."

Well, now that we’ve played our April Fool’s day prank and gotten it out of the way, we have some bad news for our Xbox fans… Real news, we promise. On Monday of this week, video game news site VG247 reportedly got their hands on a release list for a British gaming retailer. On that list was an Xbox 360 version of Star Wars: The Old Republic listed as “To Be Confirmed” in 2011. And there was much rejoicing.

Unfortunately, the rumor was quashed rather quickly (like same day quick) by Bioware’s message board community manager Sean Dahlberg via the Bioware forums who stated that while they “recognize that there are other operating systems and platforms available for games today” the company was focused solely on producing and releasing a version for the Microsoft Windows Operating system and that the release list was an outright mistake in regards to SW:TOR. Sounds pretty final? Perhaps.

Dahlberg’s exact wording in regards to the software development being exclusive to the Windows operating system was “at this time”. And as Matt Peckham of PC World’s website points out, they’re not exactly ruling out the possibility of an Xbox version, they’re just saying it ain’t happening any time soon.

Sadly, MMOs just don’t seem to market well on consoles. My theory is that once a game gets beyond the need for only a controller, most console users lose interest. It’s a theory and an opinion so don’t go getting your console panties in a knot. It’s just as likely that the companies producing said MMOs simply don’t care to try and apply updates to console hard drives. Considering the sometimes limited space, the fact that many console fans don’t like the idea of patching games on a regular basis, and the simple fact that past MMOs have been poorly received for the most part, it’s a gamble I imagine many companies just don’t want to take.

So, for now, apparently, the Force remains strong only with the PC.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

[Source]

(Gamespot) – BioWare has now confirmed that Star Wars: The Old Republic will not launch until early next year. “While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars: The Old Republic,” said BioWare Austin community manager Sean Dahlberg in a forum post.

Dahlberg promised numerous updates on the game in 2010, as well as a beta-testing program. Those who wish to apply to be testers can sign up at www.swtor.com/tester.

In the meantime, to tide you over, check out the latest video in the SWTOR developers’ diary. -Poo Doo