WIRED Staff
Culture

Slideshow: Quiet Birth for Star Wars World

George Lucas' company and Sony launch one of the biggest games of the year today: Star Wars Galaxies. But don't be surprised if you haven't heard. Lucas and Sony like it this way. By Suneel Ratan.
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Hundreds of concept drawings like this one were created for the project, which took three years of development.Courtesy of LucasArts

See related story: Quiet Birth for Star Wars World

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The game is built on a scalable engine so the companies can be patient for the game and gamers to develop the worlds and to work out the bugs in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

Courtesy of LucasArts
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Upon firing up the game, players set up an initial character from one of eight races, including Wookiee (pictured), establish that character's facial characteristics and choose a profession from marksman, brawler, entertainer or medic.

Courtesy of LucasArts
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LucasArt and Sony Online Entertainment launched Star Wars Galaxies -- regarded as one the biggest titles of the year in the video-game industry.

Courtesy of LucasArts
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Players can decide whether to align themselves with the evil Empire, heroic Rebellion or remain neutral. A limited number of players can even become Jedis.

Courtesy of LucasArts
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The software demands a serious gaming machine with at least a 1-GHz processor, 256 MB RAM and an Nvidia GeForce1 or equivalent video card.

Courtesy of LucasArts