Its not long now until Biowares massively multiplayer epic, The Old Republic goes live. Theres been a lot of talk, hype and hushed excitement surrounding the games development, not least relating to its potential WoW killerstatus, as well its record of being one of the most expensive videogames ever made. The Old Republic sees the player thrust into the Star Wars universe over three thousand years before the films took place. Choosing one of eight classes that range from Bounty Hunter to Jedi Consular, youll be roaming around a massively multiplayer universe wrapped in a fully-voiced, typically Bioware style narrative. Before the official release, however, as is the way with MMOs, Bioware are stress testing and data mining their pre-release versions with a host of beta weekends. Of course the content of a beta is not fully indicative of the released game, but its a good way of measuring the hype surrounding it and, with a collective one million hours of play on the first weekend alone, The Old Republic seems like it may be on quite a few Christmas wish lists. Bioware are set to continue their beta weekends (visit www.swtor.com to find out how you can get involved) and hype is sure to increase in the coming weeks. With a reported budget in excess of $135 million, its a big risk for both Bioware and Electronic Arts. Come December 20th, well all be able to get our hands on this long-awaited release and try it out for ourselves. Will it pay off?