And the Bioware Exodus Begins

First Andy Left as well as a handful of other Mythics now todays news:

Gordon Walton stepped down as General Manager at BioWare Austin

It seems many of the Bioware folk are not happy with the companies new direction. What this means for War / STKOTR? Who knows but if Bioware doesnt manage to turn a corner soon we may be in for yet another disappointing year.

Oh, wow. I wonder what's going on over there? Maybe they'll get even better people in their place, but if not, SWTOR could suffer and be set back even further.

This is a sign that EA wants to release SWTOR around the same time as Rift but that's a really bad idea because this game has a lot of strength in it and some employees are not pleased to hear what the release date is going to be especially when there are tons of AAA titles being released around this time to name a few Crysis 2, Shogun 2, Duke Nukem Forever and Rift which are all very popular games coming from a strong series(Not including Rift) and big following(Including Rift). So we see what happens and how it plays out but this could cripple the companies reputation if the release goes badly.

EA.. the finger of death.

I truly doubt it will release in March. There were many rumors floating around about it be delayed for up to a year. A Dev came on the forums and was explicit in stating that if "you don't here it in an official announcement it isn't true." He also stated that their official announcement was "Spring 2011" which would give them until the end of May. I've seen nothing different since then - but haven't been to their forums lately.

Two things: Thing 1, I like Gordon Walton. At the 1st ever UO player's convention in 98 or 99, he told me to STFU in front of 300 people. And he was right, I was sniping at him from the floor and he fired back with the power of the podium. Thing 2, there is no way in Hell SW:TOR can come out in March of this year. EA has told their investors that it will NOT produce revenue in Fiscal 2011 which ends at 31 March. For more info, here is an interesting read: http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/08/hyperspace-beacon-from-a-certain-point-of-view/ IMO, as an industry tea leaf reader, May or June of this year is a good time for them to release if the product is ready. If not ready, then October is another good time. June for the kids on school break and October for the pre-Christmas gift shopping. @ Morigana, technically, it's Spring in the Northern Hemisphere from Late March to Late June, However, where I live here in Sweden we also consider that spring is ALL of March, April & May, so by that reckoning, May SHOULD be the ideal month.

OMG Mac, that was you?! I was also there, and that's what I remember best about Gordon Walton. Some person would stand up and ask, "Can we have (some really stupid or frightfully imbalanced idea)?", and Gordon would just say, "No." Seriously, I will never forget that. I do see BioWare losing him as a very bad sign. But then again, Gordon also headed the ill-fated SimsOnline. Maybe he's just like the guy who played Lord Recluse who came in to NCSoft to get City of Villains together and then left the company. Maybe Gordon's job is simply being a lightning rod at the beginning of a project. (I'm trying to remain hopeful for SW:TOR, even though I don't plan on it being my main game.)

@ Ariel "OMG Mac, that was you?! I was also there, and that's what I remember best about Gordon Walton. Some person would stand up and ask, "Can we have (some really stupid or frightfully imbalanced idea)?", and Gordon would just say, "No." Seriously, I will never forget that. I do see BioWare losing him as a very bad sign." Yep that was me, I was asking for Phat Lewet, IIRC. BTW, I was wearing my full Clan Morrison dress tartan to that meeting. I even had my pic in PC Gamer! I took my sword too, but had to check it at the door to the convention center. To fly my sword to Austin, I had to sign a form stating that it was an "unloaded weapon". Only in America, right? So I tried to tell the guard in Austin that it was unloaded but he wasn't buying into that. :) He asked, "Is that a real sword?" I said, well, it's not REAL sharp... He took it from me, but didn't spot the sgian-dubh (black dagger) in my sock! So, I was armed and dangerous and COULD have PK'd Gordon but I let him live.

Hold on... you went to the convention center with a sword. A sword as in, broadsword, or a claymore? Just to have an idea if the original pic i had of the WTF look at security`s face was accurate enough :)

@Celebtyr As a teenager I went to comic conventions in costume. Dark Phoenix and Snowbird were the most popular. Usually I won the contests, hence the career later in modeling, theater and fashion design. :D And don't act so surprised. I know that Brazilians are far more crazy than Americans. :P

It was a viking one hand sword. I like the CONCEPT of claymores, but they are too big to travel with. My ancesters were vikings that settled in Scotland, so I felt entitled to wear a viking sword with my clan kilt. It looked like the River Witham shown here with a silver viking pommel. http://www.sword-buyers-guide.com/river-witham.html

Hey Mac don't feel bad, I'm mexican irish so I usually carry a sharpened potato peeler with me. ;) If I'm in my traditional bus boy get-up i can sneak my "ancestral shiv" past security. If not, well let's just say through extensive yoga and deep breathing techniques it ends up in the "holster". Totally joking, bored at work.