Star Wars will be here in time to save Christmas, or possibly ruin it...

For thousands of eager gamers, the wait is almost over. Star Wars: The Old Republic has finally been given a release date. Tuesday December 20th in North America, 22nd December in Europe. This announcement comes after a brief fever of worry swept around the internet that the game was going to be pushed back to a 2012 release but thankfully, this is not the case. However, there may well be a few more absent faces at Christmas dinner though.

The pricing for the game has also been announced, and it is a fairly typical one (you didn't think the latest MMORPG wasn't going to have a subscription, did you?). It's going to be £8.99 a month, but there is a discount for buying the months in bulk; three months is £25.17, and six is £46.14. Every copy of the game comes with a month free, so you at least get a good chance to see if you like the game before you start paying out monthly.

This will be an interesting launch to watch too, as it is fairly rare for a MMORPG to launch to so many people in such a short time - World Of Warcraft had six months between its North American and European release. Despite this slightly ambitious release, Bioware are confident all is going to go well, they have been testing the game 'relentlessly' and seem assured that everything is going to go according to plan. Yet, despite this rigorous testing, the company intends to limit the number of initial sales...just to be safe. After all, no one wants Christmas ruined just because you can't save the galaxy, right?

If this wasn't enough to get you excited, check out this trailer...

See also:

Top 10 must have games for Xmas 2011

Old Republic has enough players to make a profit; even before it's released

Star Wars: The Old Republic finally available for pre-order

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