tech:

taffy

Early Game Access for ‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’ Begins Today

BioWare, a label of Electronic Arts, is entering the final hours before the launch of Early Game Access for Star Wars: The Old Republic. The MMORPG goes live on December 20, 2011 in North America and Europe, but customers that pre-ordered the title will begin entering the game starting today, December 13, 2011 at 6:00 AM CST.

Millions of players have already experienced the game during pre-launch Beta tests, and players have already formed more than 78,000 guilds, says BioWare.

Set thousands of years before the classic films, Star Wars: The Old Republic is a story-driven, massively multiplayer online game challenging players with epic quests, featuring dynamic combat across the classic worlds in the Star Wars galaxy. Players will be asked to join forces with either the Galactic Republic or Sith Empire and choose one of eight iconic Star Wars characters: Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Smuggler, Trooper, Bounty Hunter, Imperial Agent, Sith Inquisitor or Sith Warrior. Each character class has two different sub-classes with their own skill tree, and each primary class will enjoy their own unique storylines, all of which are fully voiced and feature a musical score.

Included with the purchase of every copy of Star Wars: The Old Republic is 30 days of access to the game, after which players can continue to play through subscribing.

Just in

Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rolling out to everyone — The Verge

Microsoft is starting to enable ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11 for all users, writes Tom Warren. 

Biden signs TikTok ‘ban’ bill into law, starting the clock for ByteDance to divest it — The Verge

President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package that includes a bill that would ban TikTok if China-based parent company ByteDance fails to divest the app within a year, writes Lauren Feiner.

IBM to acquire HashiCorp for $6.4B

IBM and HashiCorp have entered into an agreement for IBM to acquire HashiCorp, a provider of infrastructure and security management products, for $6.4 billion.

Oracle is moving its world headquarters to Nashville to be closer to health-care industry — CNBC

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison said Tuesday that the company is moving its world headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee, to be closer to a major health-care epicenter, writes Ashley Capoot.