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We were invited to a first look at Shadow of Revan, the new expansion for Star Wars: the Old Republic. In it, players tackle the galaxy-threatening Revan in the third installment of his centuries-spanning story. The event focused primarily on the game’s story and future content rather than the nuts and bolts of any new game systems.

Star Wars: the Old Republic 3.0 has been formally announced, and it's proof that BioWare Austin is very fond of the letters S and R and the word 'shadow'. Shadow of Revan promises to bring even more story to the almost three-year-old MMO, as players get to hopefully sink their teeth into what is the end cap of the video game trilogy focusing on an era in galactic history where he was pretty much the central lore figure.

We've all been trained long enough by the folks at BioWare Austin to remember that they'll tell us when they tell us and there isn't much we can do to hurry the process up. So I'm going to be constructive and cover some of the basics of how Galactic Strongholds has finally given crafters something relatively meaningful to do since the advent of the massive glut of orange moddable gear.

The Rakata Prime Flashpoint teased at the PAX Prime Cantina Tour Stop does indeed complete the trilogy of Flashpoints that lead directly into the as-yet-unrevealed next expansion for Star Wars: the Old Republic. This past Tuesday, Community Manager Eric Musco and Lead Writer Charles Boyd took to the game's official Twitch channel to run through the Flashpoint and revealed who the big bad of that expansion might very well be.

This past week, Turbine invited us to preview Update 23 for Dungeons and Dragons Online, an MMO that launched in early 2006. During the event, we were shown the return of a high-end villain from raids long past and new mechanics that would greatly enhance gameplay for a number of players.

In the latest news roundup for Star Wars: the Old Republic, we have some information on upcoming content, but never enough to satiate ardent fans of the game, and there have also been some insights into the game's past construction. It still leaves so many questions and we're more than happy to speculate as necessary.

At SOE Live, the original EverQuest got its share of the spotlight, and it was clear that despite Landmark and EverQuest Next being the new hotness, the elder game in the franchise still has legs and a future in front of it. We sat down with EverQuest Producer Thom Terrazas to discuss their plans for the game and what that immediate future might be.

The notion of leaving the industry for something even better or more fulfilling can scarcely be imagined by most of us, but it does happen. Rick Heaton, aka Sapience, recently left his position as Community Manager for Lord of the Rings Online to join the Extra Life gaming charity as their first Community Manager. He was at SOE Live last weekend as part of Extra Life's efforts to raise awareness for their work.

Landmark is a game that was born of a need for Sony Online Entertainment to begin work on EverQuest Next and still be able to involve their players. With it, SOE hoped to achieve a bedrock of community that would bridge both games and allow them to give players unprecedented access to the development process. At SOE Live, Dave Georgeson, Director of Development for Landmark and EverQuest Next, spoke at great length as to what was in store for SOE's building game.

One might think, given that Sony Online Entertainment is actively building EverQuest Next in the form of Landmark, that the two elder EQ games would be going on cruise control as SOE shifts assets to focus on the new shinies. This statement could not be any further than the truth.

When you build your corporate game development reputation on high-end storytelling, there shouldn't be much surprise when your fanbase expects the same level of quality out of any subsequent release. BioWare is synonymous with some of the richest stories in all of PC gaming, and with an intellectual property like Star Wars to play with, our expectations are understandably high.

It's not unusual for a game studio to gather their crew to initiate some buzz for their latest release. This summer, BioWare's been revving up the Galactic Strongholds hype freighter more and more as we approach the August launch of Early Access for subscribers, and they've all but confirmed that Manaan will be the focus of the later expansion this year whose title has yet to be revealed.

Ever since February, we knew about Galactic Strongholds as 'SWTOR Does Housing', but we really hadn't seen many details on how it will work, what it will entail, or perhaps most importantly, how much it will cost. BioWare Austin recently announced their plans to do a weekly livestream on http://twitch.tv/swtor on Thursdays to go over the features of the new expansion between now and when it soft launches in August.

So, it's been two over two and a half years since Star Wars: the Old Republic launched, and even now, players are asking, 'Dude, where's my endgame?' While BioWare no doubt has better metrics than any of us as to why a number of players rushed to level cap when the game first launched and then wandered off, a common thread to the conversations was that the game launched with no real endgame in place.

As was promised a couple of months ago, Star Wars: the Old Republic's Game Update 2.8 launched on June 10th. It wasn't without difficulty, as a number of players experienced severe troubles logging in, getting stuck in a Flashpoint, transitioning to other areas, using the group finder, or logging in and seeing an empty server list. The worst of the issues were resolved within twenty-four hours, but maintenance is posted for Friday to hopefully alleviate the rest.