SDCC 2011 Update: More Badges Available Soon And Why You Don't Need One

Today brought a couple bits of news regarding the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con next month, where Star Wars: The Old Republic will be making a grand showing!

First, BioWare Senior Community Coordinator David Bass confirmed on the official forums that TOR will in fact be playable not only on the show floor, but also outside of the show at the nearby Hilton Gaslamp hotel. Yes, this means that you do NOT need a badge for Comic-Con to play SW:TOR!

Yesterday, BioWare made an announcement that we have a space at the Hilton Gaslamp hotel across the street from Comic-Con where fans can get their hands on Mass Effect 3 and the newest Dragon Age II DLC. Well, surprisingly enough, The Old Republic is planning on being there as well! Anyone (yes, even you!) can come to the Hilton and wait in line to play any of the BioWare games.

So if you’re anywhere near San Diego, and all you want to do is get some hands-on time with TOR (which I highly recommend) now you’ve got your chance!

[UPDATE]: David Bass has added a bit more information for the Hilton Event:

I’ve been getting a bunch of questions along the lines of “What night is the Hilton event?” To be clear, BioWare Base (as we’ve been calling it) will be open every day of Comic-Con at the Hilton, it’s not a “one-night party.” We’re still potentially planning special events for a night or two (and you may want to follow the BioWare Social Network thread as well for updates), but in general, you can come by the Hilton any day from July 21-24 to say hi and/or get in line to play the game. More details soon!

But, if you’d like to double your chances to play, or simply see the pop-culture spectacle that is SDCC, they’ve announced that they will have approximatly 15 additional 4-day badges available for sale soon:

The deadline for refunded badges was June 20, 2011. We will announce via our website, Facebook, Twitter and RSS feed when those refunded badges will go on sale. This is a soft opening so the announcement will be made on the day registration opens with about one hour prior notice.

At this time we expect to have 1,500 4-day badges available for purchase.

Now, these are likely to sell out very quickly. If you’re interested, be sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter and even their RSS feed so you’re among the first to hear the announcement when the go on sale. Good luck and godspeed!