Adding to the geek status...

The new project from LucasArts and BioWare is entering another beta phase this weekend. Geeks from across the world (myself included) are logging into the hosting website for the new MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic to apply for beta-testing status for the weekend.

I'm still refusing to pay for the game itself, unless it's either much cheaper than I think it is, or it goes the way of Lord of the Rings Online and becomes free to play, excluding expansion packs. But my inner Star Wars fangirl refuses to bypass the chance to play The Old Republic for free with the excuse of looking for bugs.

Hopefully my Notebook (which won't play Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, but will play Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy) will be able to support The Old Republic. If not, I shall be rather disappointed.

Part of me is worried that this new endeavour from LucasArts is going to be another disappointing money-making scheme from George Lucas (*cough* Very much like the "upgrades" to the Blu-Ray movies. Han shot first and Ewoks don't blink, dammit!). But I'm hopeful that it will be well worth the effort into playing and beta-ing- and possibly playing, if I decide I love the game that much. I would prefer if the game was free to play like Lord of the Rings Online (or at least free until a certain level, such as World of Warcraft), but I suppose the people working behind the scenes to design the Jedi characters deserve paycheques.

As long as the graphics are better than the Jedi Knight, and the story has a better ending than Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (which, although gameplay and graphics are much better than its precurser Knights of the Old Republic, had a very lacking, abrupt ending to the storyline. Thank you, Lucas, for rushing production of that game.), and my computer will support it, I'll be happy.

Also, if Darth Revan or the Jedi Exile or the Mandalorian Wars are mentioned, I'll be ecstatic. (Hey, it's only a thousand years after the events of the KOTOR series, and still three thousand years pre-Darth Vader! It's plausible!)

If nobody hears from me this weekend, you know why.