14 DAY TRIAL // Sony is announcing that its old MMO, Star Wars Galaxy, might be getting some new blood via an update that is set to introduce a series of game quests where players need to face a horde of Stormtrooper zombies. The move is designed to promote an upcoming Star Wars-themed book, called Death Troopers, that is set to arrive in October.
Death Troopers tells the story of a prison barge aptly called Purge, which manages to stop in the middle of space, somewhere far away from any known places. Happily, a Star Destroyer is somewhere nearby. Things start getting weird when the vessel is discovered to be abandoned.
A boarding party goes to get some needed parts, but it comes back battered and carrying a horrible disease. In a short time, the prisoners need to fight against an uprising of zombies. It's not clear whether the outbreak will be stopped on the prison barge or whether the Star-Wars universe will continue to witness a zombie invasion in other novels and other media.
In Star Wars Galaxies, zombies will offer a challenge because most of the normal weapons will prove ineffective most of the time. Players will also need to work together to fight back the menace.
It's a good move for a MMO that has been facing tough times lately. Sony has already announced that it plans to consolidate servers again, in order to prop up the number of players. The title was initially well received, but Sony has done a number of uninspired changes since then. BioWare and LucasArts are also working on a new Star Wars-themed MMO, which is called The Old Republic and that might attract another wide section of the public of Galaxies. There are also some rumors that Sony is also planning another Star Wars casual MMO.