I'm a Star Wars fan. and I'm also a huge MMO fan.  So since the announcement of Star Wars the Old Republic the MMO, I have been digging and watching everything I can to get anything I can about this game.

EA CEO John Riccitiello had a conference call and a press release to update their future fiscal prospect in 2010 yesterday (numbers, numbers, blah, blah, blah).  As you all know EA is a powerhouse this year and has tons of games heading for the shelves this year, and it's going to be hell to catch up with them all (but stay tuned because we will cover them).  John Riccitiello did give us a bit of news that had ears around the internet buzzing:

"One key driver is going to be the launch date of our major MMO. As it stands today, the game is making great progress towards a Spring 2011 launch. But given the volatility of this particular sector and the fact that we haven't yet provided a specific launch date, at least for now, we're excluding the revenue, or will be excluding the revenue, from our FY11 plans."

At this point I was standing in my office with my Lightsaber out ready to fight Sith lords because i knew they had to be talking about Star Wars The Old Republic.  It made sense, this was the only big MMO that EA and Bioware were announcing in the next year to 2 years, so needless to say I was excited.  I found it a little strange that they made mention of it since this was neither the time nor the place for an announcement of this magnitude. This morning though a forum post from Sean "Ashen Temper" Dahlberg confirming that this thought would soon become a reality, which has caught some serious media attention:

"While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. We’ve got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It’s not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can’t wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details." (source)

Remember kids this is a Target date, so depending on development this could change at any point, but with a possible testing date of this year, it means they're not far off!  So folks, are you signed up on the website to be a  game tester? Excuse me while I go find my Taun Taun sleeping bag, and may the force be with you.