14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer BioWare has announced that the beta testing phase for its upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be kicking off again this weekend, with the number of players invited to take part in the testing increased.
The company is not saying exactly how many players will take part in the weekend testing phase, which runs from October 6 to October 10, but all those who are invited should have an e-mail message in their inbox.
Those who have not received one can also check their status by logging in to the official website of the game in order to see whether the game client for Star Wars: The Old Republic is available for download.
BioWare has also announced that it will be launching more beta test weekends in the coming months, inviting more and more players in order to test the network infrastructure for the MMO.
The official launch date for Star Wars: The Old Republic is being launched just a few days before Christmas both in North America and in Europe.
The big, ambitious MMO project has been delayed a few times and a lot of analysts expected it to be pushed back to 2012 but BioWare and Electronic Arts have respected their promise of launching during 2011.
The game will launch with a subscription business model, although some are speculating that this will be dropped after a number of months.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is the latest MMO which will be seen as a direct competitor to the World of Warcraft behemoth that was created by Blizzard.
Electronic Arts has already said that it does not need a huge number of subscribers in order for the game to break even.
The Old Republic will rely heavily on the story side of the MMO genre, with fully voiced NPCs and with a lot of choices for the players to make as they experience the game world and progress through the story.