Well that's one hope shattered.

It looks like Star Wars: The Old Republic will have you choosing sides when you create your character. I haven't been keeping up on details for TOR so I've been caught with wishful thinking that BioWare might let players reach their destiny through gameplay and story, but here you go: pick a class, pick a faction.

I'm not fond of the two-faction this-side-or-that system that's become the defacto norm for MMORPGs. Horde versus Alliance, Destruction versus Order (why couldn't Chaos be a third faction?), Freeps versus Creeps (okay that's mostly one faction), and now Republic versus Sith.

At the very least, I was thinking players might be able to switch sides, or have some sort of ambiguity, but that doesn't seem likely if your class choice also selects an allegiance.

Update: Looks like the usual fare, website relaunch and trailers.

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BioWare is set to announce something big for Dragon Age tomorrow. It's close to E3, so who knows, this could be just a release date coupled with a trailer and whatnot. Or perhaps they've decided to make a console version for what was originally intended as a PC-only game. Or it may be connected to Dr. Ray's comments about on-going content downloads.

Dragon Age was one of the games BioWare started developing a few years back as their original property games, like Mass Effect. I was pretty thrilled at the idea, because as much as Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and KOTOR were fantastic, they were all set in licensed universes and the guys at BioWare are more than creative enough to come up with some damn inventive stuff on their own.

Dragon Age is set in their own unique medieval fantasy world.

When a guildmate mentioned it (thanks Xystian), the idea of a Dragon Age MMORPG put a huge grin on my face.

I'm not starting any rumours, so don't get excited, I don't think that's actually going to happen. BioWare couldn't be developing Dragon Age secretly as an MMO all this time, could they? It does have a 5 year development cycle, but BioWare doesn't develop quick games anyway. It can't be, because it's expected to be party-based tactical combat, right? Well it's very unlikely, because they've also said it won't have the ability to do persistent server stuff like Neverwinter did.

Ahhh but I can dream that the BioWare MMORPG won't be a space opera, especially not Star Wars. For at least a few hours, I'm going to pretend it'll be a sword and sorcery romp.    =)

Maybe they'll consider an MMORPG sequel set in the Dragon Age world. I'm gonna start begging now.

Over 18 months ago, BioWare announced their plans to make an MMORPG. Rumours of a Star Wars MMO flew, but they didn't make any sense: Star Wars Galaxies had taken a big nose-dive and BioWare themselves have made it clear that they would like to focus on establishing a few of their own properties rather than making more licensed games. I've been fully expecting to see BioWare leverage Mass Effect into an MMO, it's perfect for them and would explain why they're keeping the MMO world under wraps, Mass Effect needs to grab a fanbase first.

But the Star Wars rumours persist, they even grow. Why?

Because BioWare is one of the few companies that gives licensed games both the royal treatment AND adds their own originality to the mix. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was almost the epitome of game licensing.

I still don't think it's going to happen.

But wait! Now LucasArts and BioWare have made a joint statement about an un-named game they're designing together. Could this be the MMO already in progress, could it be the wet dream of Jedi everywhere?

I still don't think it's going to happen.

I'd rather see a Mass Effect MMO. I like Star Wars just fine, but as much as BioWare was the best developer for the lightsaber-licensed product, I still think the movie adaption to games has been shoving a square peg through a round hole. I'd much rather see them create within a universe that they've tailor made for games.