Better and more flexible control schemes

Jun 25, 2010 10:51 GMT  ·  By

The PC is still the lead development platform for BioWare and it will continue to be so for a long time. The role playing games that the developer creates are better suited to the mouse-and-keyboard control scheme rather than to console pads, according to the writing director for Star Wars: The Old Republic, Daniel Erickson.

Erickson told CVG that “Every two or three years we hear the announcement of fantasy being dead, PC gaming being dead and RPGs being dead. And yet, all of the biggest games that ever come out - that set the records - are nearly always PC games, and a lot of them are fantasy games. The biggest game in the world is a fantasy, PC, RPG MMO. We all know the drawbacks of PC. We all scream at our boxes and try to make stuff work. But at the same time, the interface is made for games. The mouse/keyboard interface allows so much less restriction.”

He continued, “There was not a question when we started Old Republic - or any of our games, for that matter - [what the lead format would be]. There's a reason the lead SKU for Dragon age was PC as well. When we're developing an RPG, it's a natural place to be.” Dragon Age: Origins was much easier to control on the PC and the strategic depth that zoomed-out view added to the title was great.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is a massively multiplayer online role playing game developed by BioWare in collaboration with LucasArts exclusively for the PC. It is the developer's most ambitious project yet, promising to really bring new ideas to the genre. The title will focus on story a lot, every character being fully voiced. Furthermore, in true BioWare fashion, players will have companions and their own ship to travel the galaxy with. Star Wars: The Old Republic is set to be released sometime in the spring of 2011.