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Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (SWG) is a Star Wars themed MMORPG for the PC, developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts Entertainment. It was released on June 26, 2003. With several hundred thousand subscribers, it is one of the most popular MMORPGs in the United States.
With a Star Wars license and veteran designer Raph Koster at the helm, expectations among gamers ran high during the development of SWG. Many industry professionals expected that these forces would push the subscription numbers past the one million mark, a feat accomplished only thus far in Asia by MMORPGs such as Lineage. As development wore on, the release date was pushed back, features were cut, and Sony removed mention of the planned Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions. Yet initial game reviews lamented bugs and broken features that plagued the game. [1] (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/468222.asp?q=star%20war%20galaxies)
After release, the developers continued working on the features cut during the delay. In November 2003, two of those most anticipated features, creature mounts and player-created cities, were enabled. Also, on November 7, 2003 it was announced that the first player had unlocked a Force-sensitive character slot needed to become a Jedi.
In the game, players choose among a variety of professions, from bounty hunter to musician. Through the use of a "skill point" system, players can only master a certain amount of professions. Professions are designed to be interdependent, where, for example, a commando can kill things quickly but might need a doctor's aid, should a combat medic enter the scene. In addition, the Galactic Civil War aspect of fighting for the Rebels or Galactic Empire is meant to be SWG's "end-game".
Of course, SWG receives a monthly shot in the arm in terms of real-world money, with players paying $14.99 USD per month for the privilege of playing the game. There are other price plans as well, including a 3 month plan ($13.99 USD per month), 6 month plan ($12.99 USD per month), and the yearly plan ($11.99 USD per month).
Jump to Lightspeed
SOE released the first expansion Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed on October 27, 2004. The expansion allows players to explore and battle in ten new sectors of outerspace, in more than twenty types of starships from the era between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, including familiar X-wings, TIE Fighters, and YT-1300s (same type as the Millennium Falcon), as well as new and never before seen ships created by the SWG developers. It adds real-time space shooter elements to the game, which makes an interesting combination with the MMORPG. Jump to Lightspeed also added many space missions, four space-specific professions, and two new playable species.
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