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Beta Weekend Clocks In At Over 1 Million Testing Hours

Eurogamer, in an interview with BioWare Co-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk at BAFTA this week, learned that over a million testing hours were put in by players during the weekend test:

Against that we’re testing. This weekend we had a big test – tens upon tens of thousands. One crazy number is we had over a million hours of testing over the weekend. It was a huge test, and there are even bigger ones coming. The key thing is for us to take those learnings, apply them and make the service really stable. We’re happy with the game.

Zeschuk also discusses the previously mentioned limited availability of the game:

One of the ways we can ensure the service is good is we’re not selling beyond a certain point. Like, at a certain point it’ll sell out. We will release more units based on the stability of the service, then we will turn that dial carefully. For example, through Origin we can very quickly and responsibly add more units depending on availability.

Head on over to Eurogamer for the full read!

 

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BioWare Ireland Video Tour

Just the other day, BioWare and Electronic Arts announced the opening of BioWare Ireland. This location will be the global customer service center for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and purpose-built specifically for that task.

As a nice surprise this morning, EA posted a video tour of the new facility hosted by none other that the Doctors themselves, Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka. On the tour they show the call center (which looks something like a NASA control room), the training areas where new employees are given a 2-week orientation, and the recreation area where employees can unwind and re-charge to get back to helping TOR players all around the world!

You rarely get a look inside of a facility like this, and it’s quite amazing! Head over to EA.com and check it out!

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Irrational Interviews: Dr. Ray Muzyka & Dr. Greg Zeschuk

As part of their Irrational Interviews series, Irrational Games Creative Director Ken Levine sat down for a podcast chat with BioWare Co-Founders Dr. Greg Zeschuk and Dr. Ray Muzyka.

While there isn’t a lot of TOR-specific information, the 30-minute discussion is great for those interested in the business side of making games, entrepreneurship, and how BioWare really started out.

In short, a great listen for all BioWare fans! Click on over to Irrational’s site to listen to the interview.

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Dr. Greg Zeschuk Interview With Industry Gamers

Industry Gamers has an exclusive interview with BioWare Co-Founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk.

In the candid interview, Zeschuk talks about what it takes to make an MMO, and their growing respect for Blizzard in what they’ve done with World of Warcraft. He also indirectly cites former players of the game as a great potential audience for Star Wars: The Old Republic:

Greg Zeschuk: I think there’s a whole bunch of interesting dimensions. One is obviously, there’s the continued success of WoW, but it’s also been up for a while. There’s actually a lot of people that have played it that aren’t playing it right now and they’re actually very open to MMOs and they’re a great potential audience for us.

He goes on to talk about the key of a successful MMO being customer retention, and their content plans down the road:

Greg Zeschuk: The ongoing plan for content and actually delivering new things and making people really see that we’re investing in it is very important, we’ll continue to invest in SW:TOR.

Hop on over to Industry Gamers for the full read!

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E3 2011 – Dr. Greg Zeschuk Interview – BioWare Pulse

BioWare Pulse – BioWare’s very own web-based video show – just released their second episode. In it, they spoke to BioWare Co-Founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk immediately following yesterday’s EA press conference where he presented the Choose trailer (a mashup of all 3 cinematic trailers – available to view on Origin.com).

In the interview, he touches on some of what we’ll see out of TOR here at E3, as well as his preference – Republic or Empire!  The SW:TOR section begins at about 3:45, which you can link directly to here.

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