More KOTOR III Possibilty News! (KOTOR MMO Confirmed?)

[Blix]

That's too bad, I'd really like to see a third installment come into development. Wishful thinking I guess...

[Del_Boy]

Just a thought, maybe there's a chance that LA are waiting for the TSLRP to be released, "letting them finish the second story" ?

[The Source]

Originally Posted by Del_Boy

Just a thought, maybe there's a chance that LA are waiting for the TSLRP to be released, "letting them finish the second story" ?

I do not understand. Why would a game publishing company wait for fans to finish a mod? What is the logic behind that idea?

[Del_Boy]

Purely for the "grace" or "respect".

[The Source]

Originally Posted by Del_Boy

Purely for the "grace" or "respect".

I still do not get this logic. If I can make a sequal to obtain a profit, I say to hell with waiting for a fan based mod. Waiting for a fan group to complete a damaged sequal is illogical. Respect?!? I still do not get this logic. Why would a publisher respect a fan based mod? What!?

There could be a modding problem in another sense. Maybe they are holding back on production, so they can find ways to prevent fan modding. Who knows? If you have been following the current LA games, they require great amounts of work to mod.

Another possible reason why "KorOR 3" has not been anounced is that its not in production. Maybe the story state of "KotOR II" is so damaged that it prevents continuality to occur. Who knows?

Or, they have plans on changing the purpose behind the 'cut content', so it can appear in the third game. As a result of brainstorming, they are taking their time in creating a convincable story. Who knows?

[Del_Boy]

Originally Posted by The Source

I still do not get this logic. If I can make a sequal to obtain a profit, I say to hell with waiting for a fan based mod. Waiting for a fan group to complete a damaged sequal is illogical. Respect?!? I still do not get this logic. Why would a publisher respect a fan based mod? What!?

There could be a modding problem in another sense. Maybe they are holding back on production, so they can find ways to prevent fan modding. Who knows? If you have been following the current LA games, they require great amounts of work to mod.

Another possible reason why "KorOR 3" has not been anounced is that its not in production. Maybe the story state of "KotOR II" is so damaged that it prevents continuality to occur. Who knows?

Or, they have plans on changing the purpose behind the 'cut content', so it can appear in the third game. As a result of brainstorming, they are taking their time in creating a convincable story. Who knows?

Ahhem! like i said just a thought.

[The Source]

Its all subjective. I personally didn't like the story arch of "KotOR II". Who really knows what is holding up the process for another "KotOR". When ever -or- If they ever decide to make a "KotOR III", LA will have advertising everywhere. I don't think we will get news from an external source.

[Sharen Thrawn]

Personally, I wouldn't expect any K3 announcement (or even development process being started) until at least copule of months after The Force Unleashed is released. LA acts like it's their most important game ever and surely wouldn't want to distract public's attention from it.

[Gurges-Ahter]

Wasn't it one of the original ideas for The Force Unleashed to be KotOR III? I remember reading that somewhere. Seeing as how hyped up TFU is, I agree with Sharen Thrawn that any KIII news at all will be postponed until after TFUs release in September.

[The Source]

Originally Posted by Sharen Thrawn

Personally, I wouldn't expect any K3 announcement (or even development process being started) until at least copule of months after The Force Unleashed is released. LA acts like it's their most important game ever and surely wouldn't want to distract public's attention from it.

That could be a possibility. Sometimes game companies come up with a revolutionary idea, which they believe will change how people play games. I agree with this possibility.

Originally Posted by goldberry

They'll wait until after the TSLRP is released; before people start going on about how it's a fan mod, it's RESTORED CONTENT. It's not non-canon, it's completely canon to the storyline, and will make their lives a heck of a lot easier upon the third game's release.

Lol... Wow! Uh...

They are ONLY a fan based modding team. Anything they restore on their own is not considered official canon. George Lucas and Lucas Arts ONLY have the rights to make something canon. Unless Lucas Arts comes out and says, "Why yes, they are an official group. What they are doing is considered official canon.", their work is only fan-fiction. Period.

[Sharen Thrawn]

Originally Posted by The Source

That could be a possibility. Sometimes game companies come up with a revolutionary idea, which they believe will change how people play games. I agree with this possibility.

I don't think it's about anything revolutionary. Sure, the combination of Havok, Euphoria and DMM could bring sth new to the gaming, but it won't be anything really major.
IMO it's all about exploring (read: milking till it's dry) the time period between Epidose 3 and 4. Don't forget there's a TV series placed in this specific time frame coming in 2009/2010. TFU is a part of a big multimedia campaign that involves books, comics and TFU. All of this will create a great "base" for a previously mentioned TV series. It's prolly directly connected with George Lucas and his current little obsession with the time between Eps 3 & 4.

[Sharen Thrawn]

Obsidian recently hired Matthew Rorie as their official PR Manager. Matthew already registered on Obsidian's official forums and promised to answer some questions about Obsidian and their projects. Of course I asked him immediately about Kotor 3 and here's the answer I got:

All I can say is that any other projects aside from Alpha Protocol and Aliens are probably in the "years away" category at this point. Sorry! My lips are sealed.

http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=49618

So, should we be happy or not? I don't want to get my hopes up, but at the same time I can't get rid of the feeling that his answer means "K3 development has been started, though it's years away from the release". Well, for me even a confirmation that K3 is being produced would be enough, considering that for the last couple of years we didn't get even that. What do you think?

[Char Ell]

Mr. Rorie's statement could mean that. Of course it very well may not mean that either. That is the problem with vague answers though. You can't really be sure what they mean.

[The Source]

Originally Posted by Sharen Thrawn

Obsidian recently hired Matthew Rorie as their official PR Manager. Matthew already registered on Obsidian's official forums and promised to answer some questions about Obsidian and their projects. Of course I asked him immediately about Kotor 3 and here's the answer I got:


http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=49618

So, should we be happy or not? I don't want to get my hopes up, but at the same time I can't get rid of the feeling that his answer means "K3 development has been started, though it's years away from the release". Well, for me even a confirmation that K3 is being produced would be enough, considering that for the last couple of years we didn't get even that. What do you think?

I have never heard of a gaming company hiring a person for public relations. I don't know if it is custome for game companies to hire such a person. Who knows? When it comes to the comment made, I think it is very politcal in nature. Let me quickly explain: If Obsidian came out and said, "At the current moment, we do not have anything planned for "KotOR III". People may loss intrest in the company. Instead of answering the question dead on, the comment is made to create a sense of speculation that will keep you going to their site and such.

With that being said, I would just ignore the new guy's comments. He has nothing valuable to say in which relates to LucasArts themselves. If you want to know more about the "KotOR" series, I would wait and see what LucasArts has to say about the issue. LucasArts is the sole owner and only company in which is essential to everything Star Wars. When it comes to anything Star Wars, Obsidian is not important to the overall existance of the "KotOR" series.

Since they did hire a public relations person, I would say ignore Obsidian and wait for LucasArts. Public relations people are employed to keep people intrested in a company's product. If you ignore him enough, he will just go away.

[Gurges-Ahter]

That's a good point that I did not consider - this is an Obsidian PR person, not Lucas Arts. That being said, I'm sure there are legal issues associated with renewing and/or developing a contractual agreement or joint venture between the companies. Since the Obsidian rep is not saying anything, I'm sure he's restricted by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) or possibly a Proprietary Information Agreement (PIA) that prohibits him from doing so. I work as a Contract Negotiator for a defense company so I know about these things.

Since he can't say anything, that means there is some type of protective agreement in place, but it doesn't mean that any work is actually being done. We put these agreements in place all the time for anticipated possible future sales, which sometimes do and sometimes do not actually lead to future business.

[Non-false Jedi]

I'm starting to get to a point where I almost kind of wish they would just flat out admit it and tell us that they have no plans to continue the story so we can all stop futiley looking for it at every turn after that.

[adamqd]

Agreed, I would love nothing more than a K3, but I dont think a current gen game would stylistically be able to complete the trilogy. I personally think LA have left it too long, and the candle has burned out for them regarding KotOR

[Char Ell]

Originally Posted by The Source

I have never heard of a gaming company hiring a person for public relations.

Uh, this a common practice in the gaming industry as well as other segments of the entertainment business sector. For example, BioWare has Matt Atwood as their manager for public relations/marketing.

[The Source]

Originally Posted by adamqd

Agreed, I would love nothing more than a K3, but I dont think a current gen game would stylistically be able to complete the trilogy. I personally think LA have left it too long, and the candle has burned out for them regarding KotOR

I would not give up on the series yet. When games like KotOR take a hiatus, the publishers will allways find ways to reignite the fans. I cannot imagine them going back to the story started in KotOR II, but we will never really know until LucasArts makes a statement.

Originally Posted by Char Ell

Uh, this a common practice in the gaming industry as well as other segments of the entertainment business sector. For example, BioWare has Matt Atwood as their manager for public relations/marketing.

I wasn't sure if game companies actually had public relations officers. Form my experiences with other types of buisnesses, (newspapers, magazines, and government contractors), I understand how they structure a company. I guess it all comes down to live and learn.

[Blix]

"Years away" doesn't have to mean "never", or "forever". It could be two to three years at most, possibly four if they need to start a new development team from scratch.

[JediMasterJambi]

Sharrak has the idea. ^-^
After waiting 10 years for blizzard to announce a sequel to one of (If not) the best RTS games of all time, I feel I could hold on for a few more waiting for a KotOR 3. Its not like it won't happen. Just won't happen as soon as we'd all like. Besides it sounds like Lucas, EA, and Bioware all have a lot of things cooking as it is. We can always hope one of them is our much anticipated KoTOR dream stew.

[Gurges-Ahter]

We should also keep in mind that LA, when deciding on the next big project to pursue, considered KotOR 3 before deciding on The Force Unleashed. KotOR fans would have probably preferred K3, but at least we know that they are still thinking about it even if it hasn't been their top priority. To me that means I still have hope it will be completed.

[The Source]

Originally Posted by Darth_Sharrak

"Years away" doesn't have to mean "never", or "forever". It could be two to three years at most, possibly four if they need to start a new development team from scratch.

If you want to buy into a public relations officer's word, your statement would be very true. The only issue is that he used words, which are ment to keep speculation alive. In order to keep people intrested in Obsidian, they are using speculation as a tool for advertising. As you may allready know, Obsidian was not given any go ahead to produce "KotOR III". If we were told that "Obsidian is not working on KotOR III", people who like the KotOR series would be looking elsewhere.

Until you hear word from LucasArts themselves, you will only be following someone who is manipulating reality. That is his job.

[selty]

No matter what I read, I can't help but think LA is making us fans speculate and build anticipation as they laugh at our ignorance.

Wishfull thinking, perhaps.

I really think they after Kotor 1 & 2, they wanted to take time to make the third installment really worthwhile.
I have a hunch I can't shake off, it's been too long for the third game.

[TKA-001]

My guess is that they're not going to start on K3 until after this TFU thing blows over (at the earliest).

[Scatter]

Originally Posted by The Source

When it comes to the comment made, I think it is very politcal in nature. Let me quickly explain: If Obsidian came out and said, "At the current moment, we do not have anything planned for "KotOR III". People may loss intrest in the company. Instead of answering the question dead on, the comment is made to create a sense of speculation that will keep you going to their site and such.

that is such a ridiculous and far reaching conclusion to leap to that it almost defies belief. That's pushing the flame-baiting--keep it civil. --Jae

for more logical conclusion would be that this PR dude's words in fact make it quite likely that OE have been slated to (or have begun even) working on KotOR III. the reason for this conclusion is quite simple - he stressed a couple of times that he can't talk about it. do you really think LA make developers sign ND's about games they are not working on?

if OE weren't at the very least in discussion about KotOR then i'd bet my bollocks the answer would've been more akin to what was flying around their forums 12 months ago - "we'd really like to, but it's not in the pipeline at the moment" (or words to that effect).

p.s. don't want to get anyone's hopes up, as this obviously a fair degree of speculation on my part, but sometimes, what isn't said is just as important as what is imo...

[Ztalker]

Ehm...the Source is actually pretty right here.

There are several IP's around here that, if your company is involved with it, will instantly boost your name. And with it, your shares and worth of the company.

As long as Obsidian is at least vaguely 'connected' with Kotor 3, all speculations will name their company. And there are many K3 rumors. And if the name 'Obsidian' is named in all those articles and rumors, there are many people who see the company name and associate it with 'good stuff' (Kotor) and buy their other games as well.

[Scatter]

that completely ignores the fact that twelve months ago that is exactly what they were saying. no kotor news, nothing to see here, these aren't the droids you're looking for, move along.

and i'm not even going to get into the dubiousness of a company's viability/marketability being inextricably linked to a game they produced over five years ago - because your argument is just seven different shades of wrong...

[darth kav]

[QUOTE=jesusfreaks_90]2.Metal Gear Solid 4
MGS4 still hasn't been confirmed that it not coming out on xbox360 when ask on it they didn't reply i think that it will come out as did MGS2 not so sure about MGS3 any way back to the disscution next month lucas art have something big to annouce could this be KOTOR3?

[Ztalker]

I think MGS4 will be a Playstation only. It would be the first real system seller for Sony.That's why I am amazed with all the buzz around Killzone 2. The first one was...okay...but in no terms a genious game.

Anyways, at topic.

I'm amazed none of the consoles has tried to chain Kotor to be a system seller. Microsoft got a nice deal with Mass Effect allright, but still...if you'd change it to a Star Wars game, a whole other group of possible buyers would be interested.

[darth_traya]

While reading an interview from BioWare's Ray Muzyka yesterday at ign (http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/874/874472p1.html) I found this interesting quote.

"BioWare is a big company at this point with over 500 people now split across BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Austin and segmented into seven teams, according to Muzyka. The studio's unannounced titles include an MMO and a project tied with Lucasarts."

What I found most interesting that the MMO and Lucasarts project were separated. So I'm hoping that it is Kotor 3, I don't really see Bioware working on any other Lucas Arts project. While this confirms nothing, it is a spark of hope in the darkness.

[Shato Khan]

finaly some semi-demi offical stuff and from bioware two

[Char Ell]

Originally Posted by darth_traya

What I found most interesting that the MMO and Lucasarts project were separated. So I'm hoping that it is Kotor 3, I don't really see Bioware working on any other Lucas Arts project. While this confirms nothing, it is a spark of hope in the darkness.

Hmmm... Looks like the 2008 February 15 statement from BioWare's community coordinator needs to be posted again in this thread.

Originally Posted by Chris Priestly

I can say there is no KotOR3 from BioWare since there is no KotOR3 from BioWare. I can't comment on the MMO because there is going to be an MMO, I just can't talk about what it might or might not be.

Source: BioWare's BioBoards

Sorry to step on your hopes but I've never been one who felt it was healthy to shy away from the truth.

[Del_Boy]

Well then, what that tells me is that the mmo is indeed a kotor game, firstly read the link ^ again and read between the lines it will sink in.
He's basically saying
"no, there is no kotor 3 in development, but we are working on an mmo"
hint, hint, if the mmo wasnt anything to do with kotor why mention it in the same sentence ? its like he wants us to know but isn't allowed to tell us.

[JCarter426]

He probably mentioned them in the same sentence since the question was no doubt "Is BioWare working on a KotOR III or a KotOR MMO?".

[Revan 411]

Originally Posted by JCarter426

He probably mentioned them in the same sentence since the question was no doubt "Is BioWare working on a KotOR III or a KotOR MMO?".

How come people still thinks that kotor is a MMO when bioware said that the MMO is a different project?

[JCarter426]

I guess they assume that since no one at BioWare can talk about it (and therefore can't deny that it's a KotOR MMO), some assume that it has to be that. However, they have stated, more than once, that the MMO is not the LA/Bio project.

It's highly unlikely that LA and BioWare are working on two separate projects, so there's no way it's a KotOR MMO.

[Char Ell]

Originally Posted by Del_Boy

Well then, what that tells me is that the mmo is indeed a kotor game, firstly read the link ^ again and read between the lines it will sink in.
He's basically saying
"no, there is no kotor 3 in development, but we are working on an mmo"
hint, hint, if the mmo wasnt anything to do with kotor why mention it in the same sentence ? its like he wants us to know but isn't allowed to tell us.

If you're willing to spin Mr. Priestly's statement in whatever way fits your whim then there isn't much I can do about that.
If you want to understand the full context of the quote though then I recommend you read the thread I linked to up until Mr. Priestly's statement. It seems fairly plain to me that he is again confirming that BioWare is not making KotOR 3. I'm not sure how one can logically draw a conclusion that because BioWare is not making KotOR 3 then they must be making a KotOR MMORPG.

[Jae Onasi]

I mass-pruned about 4 pages of posts that were unrelated to Kotor 3. Discussions about whether TSL was a good game or had a good story belong in the TSL threads/forum. Arguments about whether Xbox or PS2/3 are better aren't relevant to this topic so those posts got deleted. Old rumors that were proven false I went ahead and deleted so they don't get rehashed as if they were true. Posts like 'great news!' and other 1 or 2 word posts were likewise deleted since they don't really contribute to the discussion.

Please help keep this thread on topic and relevant. Thanks!

[RyuuKage]

aside from their first two games, Bioware's list of projects is nothing but RPGs and an MMO (which is a form of RPG). Are they breaking away from the RPG formula for this LA/Bio project, using another LucasArts IP for it, or simply placing a new SW RPG somewhere else in the timeline? frankly the utmost secrecy about this mystery project is suspicious in it's own right, and is highly unusual; a new IP would need time to become popular and gain interest, so an early announcement is a plus; a highly anticipated IP however, would cause undue pressure if the announcement were made too early (as happened with KotOR II).