In some sad news today, BioWare has announced that a recent restructuring of their Austin-based studio has left an undisclosed number of workers without a job, while the luckier ones have been able to secure other EA projects.

BioWare founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka have today confirmed the rumours of layoffs, which are being speculated as a cause from the recent drop in subscription numbers following Bioware's venture into MMO space with their title Star Wars: The Old Republic. Earlier this month reports from EA's fourth quarter meeting for 2011 had subscription numbers at 1.3 million, a loss of 400,000 from previous quarter.

Hey folks, since you’re reading this you may likely have heard that we’ve done some restructuring here on the SWTOR team. Sadly, we are bidding farewell to some talented, passionate and exceptionally hard-working people who helped make SWTOR a reality. Impacting people’s lives this way is always very hard, but we’re ensuring the affected people are treated with dignity, fairness and respect.

Hopefully those that have lost their jobs are able to secure positions elsewhere, as we know it is quite harsh in the games industry with several home grown studios that have closed down in the previous years.

Bioware has today revealed (via IGN) their patch 1.3 details, titled "Allies", for Star Wars: The Old Republic. The update will bring a range of features including a same-server group finder, more customisable gear and the very sought after server transfers.

While no release date has been set yet, it seems the feature list is quite extensive though players looking forward to more flashpoints will have to wait until the next update. What players can expect to see will be more legacy options, new adaptive gear for customisation, same-server looking for group tool to further help in completing instances and free server transfers. We sadly won't be seeing any new space combat missions, however Bioware has stated that "we do have significant plans for space additions that are well underway, both something smaller for a future Game Update, as well as some very large, long term plans that we can't wait to talk about."

You can check out the developer diary below from IGN which shows just some of the features in action, or you can head over to IGN's article which questions lead game designer Daniel Erickson on all the juicy details of update 1.3.

EA has today revealed their latest financial report showing Star Wars: The Old Republic has dropped from last year's reports of 1.7 million active subscriptions to 1.3 million, a loss of 400,000 members.

EA has officially stated that the decrease in numbers is due to a cycling of "casual and trial players", or better known as the "Honeymoon" period of new MMOs. While not all bad news, the financial report did also bring a small hint at the next patch, titled "Allies". There is no word yet as to what will be in the patch, but likely something that can entice those numbers to come back.

In other EA news, the Q4 report revealed a staggering 6.8 million players still engaged in Battlefield 3's explosive warfare, with new content becoming available this May and June. EA's Play4Free brands are also generating roughly US$2 million each week, a staggering amount that just goes to show how profitable free-to-play brands are.

The full Q4FY12 report is available here.

With the latest Game Update 1.2: Legacy to arrive on Star Wars grounds, Bioware has been listening to player feedback and granted a wider range of subscribers the recent free 30 days game time only available to gamers with level 50 characters.

We appreciate the feedback and are pleased to announce that we are expanding our Legacy Promotion, also awarding 30 days of play time at no charge to players that have reached Legacy Level 6 (who may not have a 50th level character).

We just released the innovative Legacy System as part of Game Update 1.2, and felt that looking at Legacy point progression across all of your characters was a great way to reward our most avid players. This means that any of the experience you earn with any of your characters brings you closer to the goal of Legacy Level 6. The choice of how to get to Legacy Level 6 is yours.

In addition to the new requirements for the free 30 days game time, Bioware has also extended the deadline for a level 50 character or Legacy Level 6 to April 22nd, 5pm GMT (April 23rd, 3AM AEST for Australians).

You can check out the full requirements for the extra 30 days over on the official post or drop in on this forum thread to hook up with the AusGamers SWTOR community. Drop us a line in the comments on your thoughts so far of Game Update 1.2: Legacy.

It seems EA and Bioware have sneaked through that the latest Game Update 1.2 is expected to hit Australian shores tomorrow (thanks Hogfather), adding a range of new features and content. Among some of the bigger features will be a new Flashpoint, Legacy System and UI Customisation.

Game Update 1.2 for Star Wars: The Old Republic, 'Legacy', brings a wide range of new content to the game. This includes a new Flashpoint on the planet of Ord Mantell, a new Warzone and Operation set on the planet of Denova, and a number of new systems as well. You can look forward to Guild Banks, a Combat Log, User Interface customization and the next evolution of the Legacy system!

The update is set to take place from 3:01PM AEST and will last up until 11PM AEST, however things may change if they run into problems. Currently no word has been said on whether the long-awaited server transfers will be available after the update, but if news comes about, make sure to keep an eye on AusGamers.

You can head over to the official patch notes to check out all the juicy details that Game Update 1.2 is bringing or drop in on this forum thread to hook up with the AusGamers SWTOR community.

We've seen a lot of subscription MMOs transition to a free to play model over the past year or so, but it doesn't look like that's a fate destined for Star Wars: The Old Republic any time soon. EA and BioWare are however looking to get more new faces through the door, so following the success of last week's "Weekend Free Pass Trial" initiative, they're having another one.

It's more of a demo than the kind of free weekends we usually see with the likes of Steam Games, but in the absence of any other manner of demo for SWTOR at this time, it's the closest you can get to try before you buy. The official site has the details:

Like with the first Weekend Pass Free Trial, players will be able to experience the opening chapter of each of the eight character classes in the game. You will have the opportunity to explore each class’s Origin World, and may even have the chance to visit their faction’s Capital World. In addition, Weekend Pass Free Trial players will have the chance to face off against other players in PvP Warzones, or join with their friends to play through an early faction-specific Flashpoint.

The Weekend Pass Free Trial opens Thursday, March 22nd at 12:01AM CDT / 5:01AM GMT and ends on Monday, March 26th at 2:00AM CDT / 7:00AM GMT. To learn more, visit www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com/weekendpass and come back on March 22th to create your account, download the game, and begin your free trial! Some in-game restrictions apply. Visit the Weekend Pass Free Trial FAQ for more details.

For Australians, those times translate to 4:01PM, Thursday, March 22nd 2012 Sydney time (AEDT) to 6:00PM, Monday, March 26th 2012 AEDT.

EA, Bioware and Lucas Arts have just announced the latest patch for Star Wars: The Old Republic, titled Patch 1.2 - Legacy. Going live in April 2012, Legacy will introduce new high level group content and community-requested features including PvP Warzone Rankings and Guild Banks, along with enhancements to the game’s innovative Legacy system.

Game Update 1.2 presents the next evolution of the Legacy system. Players can now link their different characters together into a single family tree, giving them the power to unlock and share special Legacy-only abilities.

Players can further customize new characters by unlocking different species from any class in their family tree. The Legacy system also provides fun new convenience items for player ships, including an on-board mailbox and Galactic Trade Network terminal. Companion Character affection and moral alignment will also benefit from Legacy bonuses, giving players even more control over their crew mates.

Along with Legacy changes, BioWare announced Star Wars: The Old Republic’s “Friends Trial” program, allowing subscribers to invite as many as three of their friends for a seven-day free game trial. Among these large changes is also UI customisation, a much sought after feature from current subscribers, giving players a more personal way of sorting their UI. Also in patch 1.2 there will be three new pieces of content, a Flashpoint, a Warzone and a Operation, each with their own backstory.

As well as the news of Patch 1.2, Bioware is also conducting a Star Wars The Old Republic Guild Summit (thanks Beanith), the first of it's kind. Guild representatives will participate in roundtable feedback discussions with developers, and will get a preview of some upcoming game features.

This event will provide an opportunity for attendees to voice their feedback directly to the teams responsible for the design of Star Wars: The Old Republic, hear the team's thoughts and reasons behind design decisions, and discuss the current direction of the game.

You can check out the full list of upcoming features over here in the press release, as well as the trailer below detailing all that's to come in Patch 1.2. To watch the Star Wars Guild Summit, head over to the live feed here, or follow @swtor on Twitter for live coverage, but be quick, it's nearly over!

Bioware, the creators of the latest Stars Wars MMO have posted up some news today detailing what kind of economic changes players can expect in the upcoming 1.1.5 patch. This new patch will be adding a variety of fixes and changes, and is currently available to test on the Public Test Server.

Weekly patch 1.1.5 (which is now on the Public Test Server) implements a number of changes in preparation of the upcoming Game Update, including the much requested removal of Light Side / Dark Side requirements on color crystals.

As it is expected when large scale changes are made to an economic system, enterprising players often find interesting opportunities to benefit from their knowledge about the changes beforehand (for example by studying test server patch notes).

It seems the biggest changes are the ability to re-sell your speeders (in-game mounts), as well as a reduction in the cost of training for the ability to use speeders in the Tier I and Tier II category (though a "tax" increase on Tier III models has been made). Sadly production of the ‘Sovereign’, ‘Prince’, 'Baron' and 'Commander' speeder lines has been halted indefinitely.

As well as vehicle costs changing, it seems Bioware is also adding new colour crystals to the game, which can be used to change your weapons colour to your choice. Confirmed are two colours, a purple and white crystal, however it seems the white crystal will be of a rarer quality.

You can check out the full patch notes for 1.1.5 over here, or the full notes on the economic changes here.

The long anticipated Oceanic servers for Bioware's first and very popular MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic are about to launch, according to a post over at the official forums.

Here's our official launch timing. All servers will be online simultaneously at approx 5:01AM CST (Austin time), but with timezones straddling a date:

New Zealand: 12:01am NZDT (March 1st)
Australia: 10:01pm EDT (February 29th)
Singapore: 7:01pm SGT (February 29th)
Hong Kong: 7:01pm HKT (February 29th)

We'll be launching with three initial servers dedicated to these territories. As previously mentioned, these servers are physically located in Australia:

Dalborra (PvE)
Master Dar'Nala (PvP)
Gav Daragon (RP PvE)

If demand requires we open additional servers, we have the hardware ready to go. Our Live Production team will be carefully monitoring server population and potential queues to ensure the best possible experience for players.

This is quite a exciting event, as this will be the first big name MMO to actually have servers physically in Australia, unlike Blizzard's World of Warcraft Oceanic servers which are still located in America. If things go successfully, this will hopefully prove a viable option for future MMO developers.

For more information, Bioware will be conducting a Frequently Asked Question session tomorrow, which you will find over here.

Promoted/Edited Item

AusGamers was given the opportunity to chat with BioWare's Grant McDaniel, Senior Development Director of Live Services, for Star Wars: The Old Republic in relation to details surrounding the new MMO's Aussie launch plans.

Today we obviously learnt the game would play off Asia-Pacific servers actually located on Australian soil (this was only previously hinted at), and that it was locked in for a March 1 release date here, in NZ, Singapore and Hong Kong, but we also discover in our interview with Grant that the team are listening to complaints about Customer Support, the need for new content, the lack of UI customisation and more, and that they're actively trying to broach all concerns with positive news and answers.

Click here for the interview.