E3 '11: Der kommer ingen release date, eller pre-order detajler

Stephen Reid said:

'Choose' was always going to be shown at the E3 press conference. Unfortunately for us, we had a timing issue which put it live on Origin.com before the conference started.

'Return' we saved for our fans worldwide, debuting it on The Old Republic website at the same time the press conference started. If you haven't watched it yet, see it here. 'Return' is also the intro cinematic to The Old Republic - you'll see it when you start the game.

There will be no release date announced during E3 2011, and no pre-order details either. Our release date window has not changed. We are still aiming to release Star Wars: The Old Republic in the second half of 2011.

While I know many of you believed a release date announcement was going to happen - which is understandable - as I've said before, an announcement of that size will effectively be 'pre-announced', and we will not 'bait and switch' you. We aren't going to lay a trail of subtle clues that lead to a release date announcement. We'll be obvious. We're just not there yet.

E3's not over yet, though. This week we'll be allowing the world's media and fan sites to get hands-on with The Old Republic at the EA booth, and they'll be reporting back on their experiences on Tatooine as well as seeing gameplay on Alderaan. Last but not least, they'll get a glimpse at Operation: Eternity Vault, some of the high-end content in The Old Republic.

We're bringing much of this to you on The Old Republic web site this week, so keep checking back - although I will pre-warn you, our Alderaan coverage will be slightly delayed (look for it in a few weeks).

I know many of you are disappointed. I know you want a release date - believe me, all of us know that. It is coming, I promise, and you'll hear about it before it arrives - not through subtle clues, but through obvious signs.