Star Wars: The Old Republic launches today in the U.S. and Europe

One of the most anticipated games of the year is launching today as Star Wars: The Old Republic is now available for the PC in North America and Europe. Fans of the series have been looking forward to this day since the title was originally announced by BioWare and LucasArts over three years ago.

The Old Republic is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based in the Star Wars universe. Rumored to have a development cost of over $135 million, it could be one of the most expensive games ever made. Those who pre-ordered the title online were granted early access in waves based on pre-order date.

The game is set in the Star Wars universe 300 years after the events in Knights of the Old Republic and over 3,500 years before the plots from the films. Players can choose to side with the Galactic Republic or the Sith Empire, each with different classes of characters to choose from. There are eight different classes; four per faction, with the classes of one faction mirroring those of the other, just with different names. Each class also has two different advanced classes to select from as you advance your character through the game.

Furthermore, each class has their own starship and will be accompanied by up to seven companions based on the storyline: five default companions and two secret companions available through other measures. These companions can perform various tasks for the player including crafting, gathering and mission-related acts.

Subscription pricing has been set at $14.99 per month, $41.97 for three months or $77.94 for six months. This places it in the same price-point as WoW, Rift and Eve.

Apple preparing to launch 15-inch MacBook Air in Q1 2012

Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Air models in the first quarter of 2012. The Air will be available in 11.6-inch, 13.3-inch and 15-inch panel sizes to compete directly with PC-based ultrabooks, according to information gathered byDigiTimes from upstream supply sources.

Sources also indicate that upstream players have already started early production runs of the new MacBook Air models and that the 15-inch Air will directly compete with ultrabooks. Apple will likely begin to drop prices on existing Air notebooks in their retail stores and online leading up to the refresh to move existing inventory.

Third party retailers like Best Buy have already slashed prices on the Air lineup. The 11.6-inch model with 64GB of storage is selling for $939.99, a $60 savings off the regular price. The 13.3-inch unit with double the storage capacity is $65 cheaper than normal. Prices could drop even lower as Q1 2012 approaches.

It’s unclear what other changes Apple has in store for the MacBook Air refresh. The company updated the Air lineup during the summer by adding Thunderbolt connectivity, Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors and backlit keyboards on all models.

The timing seems just about right as we could see as many as 50 ultrabooks on display at CES in January. Intel CEO Paul Otellini is set to give a keynote speech and officially launch the 22nm Ivy Bridge platform likely to be found in the majority of aforementioned ultrabooks. If we had to guess, the Air lineup will also get the Ivy Bridge treatment.

BlackBerry launch event in Indonesia turns violent

A scheduled smartphone launch event in Indonesia has turned ugly and resulted in coordinators canceling the event early. Thousands of people showed up to get their hands on the latest BlackBerry mobile phone but when rumors began to spread that the device was sold out, chaos took over.

Research in Motion chose Indonesia as the first country to receive the BlackBerry Bellagio, otherwise known as the BlackBerry Bold 9790. BlackBerry handsets are still wildly popular in Indonesia and as such, organizers set up a special event at the Pacific Place mall in Jakarta to celebrate the event. RIM offered a 50 percent discount to the first 1000 people to purchase the phone which prompted a line to form a day before the event.

Those eligible for the discount were initially given a red wristband but as the crowd swelled, organizers announced that everyone on hand would get a phone. It wasn’t long before rumors spread that the phone had sold out and people lost their patience.

One thing led to another and potential buyers stormed security barriers to try and get their hands on the new phone. The Jakarta Globe is reporting that as many as 90 people had to be treated for injuries ranging from broken or fractured bones to unconsciousness.

Around 200 police officers and security guards were dispatched to control the chaos and as a result, the event was canceled prematurely to ensure everyone’s safety.

Verizon doubles 4G LTE data cap ahead of Droid Razr launch

Verizon has launched promotion that will substantially boost the bandwidth cap imposed on its 4G customers. Starting today (November 8 for the calendar-impaired), the carrier is doubling its allowable consumption of wireless traffic without charging extra. Subscribers who pay $30 for 2GB of bandwidth will receive 4GB per month, $50 will get you 10GB instead of 5GB and folks that cough up $80 will be afforded 20GB instead of 10GB.

There doesn't seem to be any catches, though existing 4G customers will have to specifically request the increase whereas new customers will receive the higher limits outright. It's unlikely that this promotion will last forever. In other words, you'll only have a limited opportunity to request the higher caps. However, once applied, the change will last for the lifetime of your account according to a Verizon representative speaking withRootzWiki.

It's by no coincidence that Verizon's latest 4G marketing efforts kick off only three days before it's expected to launch the hotly-anticipated Motorola Droid Razr. Based on early reviews and hands-on impressions, the handset is poised to be among the finest to date. It boasts a 7.1mm, 4.48oz body crafted from stainless steel and Kevlar, a 4.3-inch display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, an 8MP camera, as well as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, microSD, USB and HDMI connectivity.

The Droid Razr officially launches this Friday, November 11, but it's been available for preorder since late last month. Pricing is set at $299 with a two-year contract. Shortly after the Razr's arrival, Verzion will add the HTC Rezound and Samsung Galaxy Nexus to its 4G LTE offerings. The lineup currently includes the Motorola Droid Bionic, Samsung Stratosphere and Droid Charge, LG Revolution, Pantech Breakout, and HTC Thunderbolt. Oursmartphone guide was recently updated if you're looking for a more conclusive rundown of today's most popular handsets.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti to launch on March 15

The upcoming NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti, based on the new GF116 chipset is expected to launch on March 15. Although the GF116 is a mainstream chipset, NVIDIA has chosen to name its new card the GTX 550 Ti, and not the GTS 550. Performance is estimated to be up to 35% faster than the current AMD Radeon HD 5770, which also means the new card will tread into the GeForce GTX 460 family's territory. More juicy details inside.

It is interesting to note that NVIDIA's upcoming card will be called the GeForce GTX 550 Ti, and not the GTS 550 even though it will be based on a new mainstream GF116 chipset. Like its bigger siblings, the GF110 and GF114, the GF116 will undergo a similar transistor-level rework for better performance-per-watt.

By carrying a 'GTX' tag, we should expect the new card's performance to be considerably faster than its GF106-based predecessor. According to leaked material, the new GeForce GTX 550 Ti will be (up to) about 35% faster than the AMD Radeon HD 5770 in DirectX 11, and about 20% faster in DirectX 10; it becomes apparent that the GeForce GTX 550 Ti will perform nearly as fast as the GeForce GTX 460 family.

Like the GF106, the GF116 will come with one 64-bit memory controller (out of three) disabled to form a 128-bit memory bus. The PCB will have a total of 12 pads, but only eight will be populated to provide 1024MB of GDDR5 memory.

Physically, the GeForce GTX 550 Ti retains a similar printed circuit board (PCB) design to the GeForce GTS 450. The reference board is expected to have a 3-phase voltage regulation module (VRM) for the core and a single-phase for the memory.

There will be two dual-link DVI-I ports and one mini HDMI port for display output.

The thermal design power (TDP) for the GeForce GTX 550 Ti is no more than 110W. As the TDP rating remains virtually the same as the GeForce GTS 450's 106W, the new card will retain the same sunflower cooler as the latter.

Currently, the GeForce GTX 550 Ti is expected to launch March 15, 2011. Pricing is not available yet, but we estimate it to be around the US$200 mark.