Star Wars: The Old Republic E3 Preview and Interview

Following their return from E3, the editors at AusGamers have cranked out both a preview and video interview for BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic. An excerpt from the preview:
Chief among these touted features is BioWare's idea of a more tangible story element that actually offers direct story arc trade-offs based on in-game decisions - an element that hasn't really been fully explored or exploited in the MMO space. There's also the voice-over stuff, where, for the first time ever in a MMO of this scale, full voice support for characters and story have been implemented, obviously equalling 100s of hours of speech (and a huge cast of voice talent).

But beyond concepts of emotionally charging the player, there are also key MMO staples here that not only tether the sheer model of this title as a contender for your hard-earned subscription dollars, but also keep things familiar and moving forward. PVP, item-management, player progression (XP-related), skill-trees, farming, crafting, trading and grinding are all present, and then some - in fact, with all of the staple elements playing nice alongside the progressive elements, it's arguable Star Wars: The Old Republic is the most ambitious massively multiplayer online role playing game ever conceived.