BioWare’s classic Star Wars trailers are being re-released in 4K

Star Wars The Old Republic is 10 years old this year, and as part of the birthday celebrations, BioWare decided to do something I can’t remember ever seeing before; They’re releasing the game’s old trailers in elegant resolution for a less civilized age.

The first to receive the 4K treatment is Cheated, which was first shown in June 2009, well before the game was actually released, and at that time a lot of people were saying, “Holy shit, this looks awesome”.

The trailer was made by Blur Studio who are still around doing amazing video game related stuff but who were at the forefront of 2009 turning the humble video game trailer into the expensive, cinematic masterpieces / monstrosities we know today. In fact, their approach was so new and so well received by fans that I interviewed them about the transformation in 2010 and if you are overwhelmed by these numbers just imagine what they look like ten years later:

On average, I’d say a normal 3-minute trailer lasts around three months and employs between 40 and 50 people. The DC Universe Online movie that we just finished spanned about six months and was touched by a total of 71 artists, from layout artists, concept designers to lighters and a team of FX folks.

While the decision to republish old trailers in 4K may sound like a silly thing to a large studio like BioWare, since they are essentially just out of date marketing items, it’s important to remember how big and important those clips were back then.

Published between Lucas’ prequel trilogy and Disney’s own failed sequels, the BioWare and Blur trailer series that were put together – there’s another excellent one in the interview – were treated almost like separate pieces by at the time war of stars Canon, vignettes that you could enjoy even if you weren’t interested in the game itself, and if you had to ask fans about some of the most memorable video game trailers of all time, you would probably find at least one of them The old republic Clips that make up the list.

The re-release in 4K might not change the world, but it does give us a chance to revisit some of the classics war of stars Clips and make them look better than ever.