The names of the new characters that appear in the first Star Wars: The Force Unleashed trailer were revealed today in a very unique way. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy shared the names with Entertainment Weekly, which posted them in a gallery. But it wasn’t just any gallery. The images from the trailer were put in the format of Topps’ iconic original Star Wars trading cards. They are: BB-8, the rolling, R2-D2-esque robot. Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), who’s seen flying in an X-Wing in the teaser. Kylo Ren (actor unknown), the mysterious hooded figure with the Stephen Colbert-approved lightsaber. Rey (Daisy Ridley), seen riding a speeder across a desert. Finn (John Boyega), the nervous-looking, helmet-less Stormtrooper, described on his card as “on the run.” Now, we don’t yet know if these are the full names for each of these characters, or if any of these names might be aliases (this is…
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Fan Film: Ruins and Reckoning
Lightsaber duels, planets in ruins, the force… this Star Wars fan film has it all! In a galaxy far far away, a descending belt-wave has threatened life on our featured planet. While Republic armies are desperately trying to aid in evacuating the planet, one misguided Jedi, a general of the Republic, will not bend the law to allow prisoners the same favored fate as those fortunate enough to escape. Our rival Jedi, who has a deep affinity with one of the prisoners has little restraint in expressing his objection against his fellow Jedi. Ruins and Reckoning is a not for profit Star Wars fan-film produced in Atlanta GA
Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader Join Star Wars: Commander
Star Wars: Commander, the recently released Star Wars strategy game, is going to receive a new update tomorrow. The update is going to include, among some yet to be fully detailed changes, support for two characters that will also be released with the update as part of a limited-time campaign – Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. They were strangely not included in the game at launch, but will come with special abilities that will bring a sound advantage to players. Star Wars: Commander has been originally released this August in soft-launch mode on the Australia App Store, becoming available in all other regions some time later. The game is a free to play strategy that doesn’t play all that differently from Clash Of Clans and other similar games, as players will have to defend their home bases by using troops and vehicles taken from the Star Wars Universe, as well as Heroes like Han…
Star Wars: Battlefront – How Does it Tie to Star Wars 7?
After fans got to see the trailer for the upcoming “Star Wars 7”, various questions have popped up regarding the future of the franchise – but one in particular has been quite prominent on most discussion boards. Many fans are wondering to what extent the events from the new film will be related to the upcoming “Star Wars: Battlefront”, and whether there will be any special reason to go see the film if one is primarily interested in playing the game. So far, it’s known for sure that the new game will be official part of the canon. This has been exciting news for fans, as it means that the “Star Wars” universe is about to be expanded significantly, on one hand with the new storyline in the seventh movie, and on the other, with the game. One of the problems that the developers from DICE are facing is that they…
Training cost is a thing of the past in SWToR
Bioware’s community manager Eric Musco, posted a very interesting thread at the official forums today relating to training costs. Musco, responding to a number of fan threads requesting the removal of training costs from the game, decided to take action and bring forward the suggestion to developers for consideration. After discussing the matter internally, they decided to remove training costs all together! So,when you login next week you won’t be required to pay any credits for your training! Eric’s complete post follows below: Hey folks, Let’s talk a bit about training costs for your characters abilities. One thing has become clear from the player feedback in not only this thread, but since launch: players do not like training costs. It is a situation where every level you will see your hard earned credits go to a holographic Hutt doctor in order to make yourself a bit stronger. We have been talking about…
Star Wars TV: A tribute to Ralph McQuarrie
Ralph McQuarrie is a name that doesn’t need any introduction to any Star Wars (SW) fans. He was the concept artist responsible for designing beloved characters of the franchise, such as Darth Vader, Chewbacca, C3-PO and R2D2. In addition, he designed a lot of Star Wars concept paintings like the arrival of R2D2 and C3PO on Tatooine. Aside from Star Wars, McQuarrie has worked on E.T, Close Encounters of the 3rd kind, Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future and Star Trek IV. To celebrate his contributions to Star Wars, the official SW website has posted an extremely interesting 40 minute tribute on Ralph McQuarrie’s that’s definitely worth of your attention.
Game Update 3.0: Shadow of Revan Early Access
The day we were waiting is finally here! “Shadow of Revan” is now available for download for anyone who purchased the expansion before November 2, 2014. The rest will have to wait until December 9 to get full access to Bioware’s latest expansion. Some highlights: All levels can now reach Level 60 New locations added – Yavin IV and Rishi Two new level 56-60 flashpoints Two new level 60 operations Dromund Kaas and Coruscant Strongholds can now be purchased for 3 credits! New class system (disciplines) Players can now send 6 Companions on Crafting Missions at level 56 (up from 5). …and much, much more! I have to admit that the list of changes is quite extensive and it does seem that Bioware took community’s feedback to heart. A lot of the features listed on their post are things that prominent members of the community have being asking for quite some time….
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – the John Boyega Storm Trooper Controversy
According to some, racism has again reared its ugly head in regards to Star Wars lore elements newly introduced by Episode 7. More precisely, what happened was that actor John Boyega was shown as a storm-trooper in The Force awakens teaser, and some of the fans and critics voiced their objections to the presence of a black storm-trooper. Boyega was quick to address the criticism through Twitter, essentially telling everyone to just “get used to it”. While this is definitely not the first (and probably not the last) time that a movie’s cast led to racial back and forth, the question remains whether Boyega’s critics can indeed be considered racist, or they’re just Star Wars canon-nazis. Star Wars fans are notoriously touchy when it comes to tampering with their storylines. The lot critical of the black storm-trooper will probably point it out that all storm troopers were the clones of…
And now something different… Wanderers – a short film by Erik Wernquist
I admit that the short movie below doesn’t have to do anything with Star Wars or The Old Republic. It does show however a future where the ability to travel from planet and planet is the norm just like Star Wars. After all, nothing tells that today’s science fiction isn’t going to be tomorrow’s reality. The short film, depicts a less sci-fi and more realistic future and uses Carl Sagan’s voice to narrate its content. If you got about four minutes to spare, it’s certainly worth a look. You can also find a shot-by-shot description of the movie under this link as well as a link to the creator’s website right here.
TOR Radio : A galaxy of podcasts
TOR Radio is back with the latest and greatest SWToR podcasts from across the community. With the imminent release of Patch 3.0 a lot of podcasts are focusing on upcoming changes and various community news. It’s certainly encouraging to see new SWToR community podcasts launching like “HOPE cast” and “Beyond the Stars” listed below. 1. Bad feeling podcast – Episode 42 (Released: Nov.24,2014) : Even though the crew of the podcast took of this week due to Thanksgiving but still managed to publish a “best of” podcast. 2. Star Wars Beyond the Stars – Episode 12 (Released: Nov.15,2014) : This week the show hit a little snag in our editing process so the show is coming out pretty late in the week. “Beyond the stars” discussed quite a few interesting things in this week’s off topic rants. 3. Corellian Run Radio – Special Episode (Released: Nov.24,2014) : Join Jason and Heather as they share their…
Did the Force Awakens trailer reveal its link with Star Wars Rebels?
Like all Star Wars fans we watched in amazement today the new teaser trailer for Star Wars the Force Awakens. The 88 second trailer offered a first glimpse on what J.J.Abrams has in store for the beloved franchise. Reading through the comments posted in various social media, it appears that the general reaction is very positive while the excitement is certainly very high. The trailer lit up twitter, reddit,facebook and many other social media the moment it was posted online. Dissecting the trailer one can find a lot of hints that were rumored to be true in the past but obviously there was no official confirmation. One that really got my attention however, was during the very first scene of the trailer. Spoilers below from Star Wars Rebels and the teaser trailer if you haven’t seen it. The trailer opens up with a view of a desert which one would assume that’s…
Cartel Market Black Friday deals are now live!
During a recent livestream Bioware’s Community manager Eric Musco, mentioned that in-game Cartel Market store will be receiving some discounted deals due to Black Friday. While originally there were rumors that these deals will change from hour to hour, it doesn’t seem to be the case with the offers listed below. Other than Eric’s mention during the official livestream, we haven’t heard anything else from Bioware so there could be more coming our way (Cyber Monday is just around the corner after all). Currently the following deals are offered through the in-game store: Hypercrate: Freelancer’s Bounty Pack – 5500 CC – 28% OFF Hypercrate: Enforcer’s Contraband Pack – 5500 – 20% OFF Hypercrate: Blockade Runner’s Cartel pack – 5500 – 25% OFF Hypercrate: Gatekeeper’s Stronghold Pack – 2520 – 50% OFF Black and Black Dye Module – 1500 CC – 25% OFF White and White Dye Module – 750 CC –…
Update (x2): Star Wars The Force Awakens trailer now available via iTunes / Youtube
We recently posted that November 28 will be the day that we get a first glimpse of the upcoming Star Wars movie via a teaser trailer. Starwars.com originally tweeted that the trailer would be available in US movie theaters, however, they also announced the following The Force is with you on #BlackFriday when #TheForceAwakens teaser hits@iTunesTrailers. — Star Wars (@starwars) November 26, 2014 So if you didn’t feel like heading to the movies or don’t live in the US, head to iTunes and get ready for tomorrow! SWToRstrategies.com will be posting updates as those become available. Update 2: The trailer is now available under this link or below via Youtube:
Happy Thanksgiving!
The staff of SWToRStrategies.com would like to offer a special Thanksgiving greeting to express to you our sincere appreciation for your continuous support and readership. We are deeply thankful and extend to you our best wishes for a happy and healthy Thanksgiving Day!
SWToR Stats: 1 million active players, 57 million characters created and that’s just the beginning!
Bioware published a very nice infographic today providing random stats about the game and to thank SWTOR fans for their support. SWToR’s anniversary is approaching fast and the Austin-based developer is definitely increasing its community presence with frequent releases about Shadow of Revan and hopefully more reflections about the three years of the game’s existence.
Patch 3.0 commendation conversion rates announced
Community manager Eric Musco posted today some additional information relating to how Patch 3.0 is going to affect commendations. In response to his post a number of different fansites have posted online commendation calculators where you can calculate how the changes are going to affect you. The changes in detail: Here goes everyone. Here is the information on the conversion rates around Basic Comms and what will happen when 3.0 launches. Just to reiterate for those unaware, here are the basic changes coming to Commendations: All PvE Commendations will become Basic Commendations in 3.0. The Commendation types “Classic” and “Planetary” are being removed from the game. The types “Elite” and “Ultimate” will remain but the current Comms you have will become Basic. Warzone and Ranked Warzone Commendations remain untouched. Here are the conversion rates for all Commendations. 2 Classic Commendations = 1 Basic Commendation 1 Basic Commendation = 1 Basic Commendation…
Meta Preview: SWToR Shadow of Revan
With the imminent release of Shadow of Revan, Bioware’s PR department is working overtime. A number of different fansites were invited to take a look at SWToR’s upcoming expansion and write their thoughts about it. In addition, EA’s “The Beat” column also devoted a complete article on the upcoming expansion, along with well-established gaming sites that published their reviews. Below you will find links to all the before-mentioned articles Electronic Arts: Dig Into SWToR Shadow of Revan Gamefront: Shadow of Revan Puts The Old Republic’s Focus Squarely on Story IGN.com : Revan is out for blood in SWToR’s new expansion MMOBomb.com : Darth Times Ahead – our SWToR: Shadow of Revan Preview MMORPG.com: Star Wars: The Old Republic Previews: Shadow of Revan – A Look at Flashpoints ShackNews: The Old Republic – Shadow of Revan preview: sins of the past Swtorista: Shadow of Revan Developer Q&A Swtorista: Shadow of Revan Press Event Coverage at EA…
Is SWToR canon or not?
One of the questions that has been asked multiple times since Disney announced the acquisition of Lucasfilm was whether SWToR should be treated as canon or not. Multiple attempts to get it answered, resulted in a number of vague replies. The most recent that we can remember was during Bioware’s Cantina tour in Seattle, where community manager Eric Musco told us that SWToR is Star Wars. Fortunately, Gamefront.com posed the same question to SWTOR Senior Producer Bruce MacLean and Executive Producer Jeff Hickmanand. The website managed to get a somewhat better answer than most of us have gotten so far. It appears that the relationship between EA and Disney’s Star Wars Story group is still in its infancy. It does sound though that Disney hasn’t made a firm decision on what SWToR/KOToR is. They certainly wouldn’t want to interrupt the amazing storytelling that Bioware has done so far while at the same time…
Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer to be released next Friday
After a couple of false reports over the weekend, StarWars.com announced today what was long rumored to be happening soon; Lucasfilm and Disney will be releasing an 88 second teaser trailer of the upcoming movie in 30 theaters across the US. The trailer will also be available to the rest of the world in December. You can view the full list of theaters below: AZ PHOENIX HARKINS TEMPE MARKETPLACE CA LOS ANGELES AMC CENTURY CITY CA LOS ANGELES Indep EL CAPITAN CA IRVINE REGAL SPECTRUM IRVINE 21 CA SAN FRANCISCO AMC METREON 16 CA SAN JOSE CINEMARK OAKRIDGE 20 CA SAN DIEGO REGAL MIRA MESA 18 CAN TORONTO CINEPLEX YOUNGE & DUNDAS CAN VANCOUVER CINEPLEX RIVERPORT CO DENVER AMC WESTMINSTER 24 DC WASH D.C AMC TYSONS CORNER 16 FL MIAMI CARMIKE PARISIAN 20 GA ATLANTA REGAL ATLANTIC STATION IL CHICAGO REGAL CITY NORTH MA BOSTON AMC BOSTON COMMONS 19 MI DETROIT…
Lego Star Wars: The New Yoda Chronicles “Clash of the Skywalkers” Preview
Disney continues the releases of new Star Wars content with a TV series titled LEGO Star Wars: The New Yoda Chronicles “Clash of the Skywalkers”. The 2 minute preview clip offers the usual dose of humor and action found in most Lego films as well as elements from the Star Wars universe. LEGO Star Wars: The New Yoda Chronicles “Clash of the Skywalkers” premieres Sunday, November 23, on Disney XD.
Rediscovering Boba Fett’s coolness in Star Wars Episode V
Boba Fett is one of the most talked about and beloved characters of the Star Wars universe. Since his appearance in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, he has fascinated fans with his persona and overall coolness factor. Youtube user “Cyborgcommando” recently discovered an additional element that adds to Boba’s mythos; an ‘easter egg” that was hiding in plain sight for many years and very few people have noticed.
Star Wars Rebels – a Hot New Cartoon to Sink Your Fangs into
Star Wars Rebels started out as a rather inconspicuous little cartoon anchored in the Star Wars universe of which few people expected much upon launch. Now 7 episodes old, the Series keeps delivering pleasant surprises week after week, and it is increasingly looking like we have something seriously entertaining on our hands in it. Its last Episode, titled “Empire Day”, introduced a concept the previous 6 episodes hadn’t dabbled in yet: that of a multi-episode storyline. While this will remind some Star Wars fans of The Clone Wars storylines, each of which unfolded over 3-4 episodes, a practice which grew quite irksome towards the end, in Rebels, this facet of storytelling will apparently not be abused. Empire Day was a wonderfully entertaining bit, not too long or short, and featuring just about enough action for one episode. The parade, no one really wanted to be at, organized to honor the…
More Episode VII Rumors/Spoilers Surface
Despite the secrecy surrounding the newest Star Wars movie currently in production, various details regarding its plot, title, character distribution and the props used in it, keep surfacing. At this pace, by the time the finished product actually hits the big screen, people will know the entire storyline and they’ll just show up to see how the director actually pulled things off. For one thing: Episode VII actually has a title now. It’s called “The Force Awakens” – a wonderfully Star Wars-y title indeed, which is a great throwback that manages to avoid being similar to past titles in the series. We kept hearing that Episode VII was going to be an extension of the original trilogy and its title really does come to confirm that. The announcement was made by Disney with surprisingly little fanfare, considering the high-profile nature of the project. In other Episode VII spoiler news: a…
10 hours of walking in New York as Princess Leia
If you’re following the news, then one of the stories that probably caught your eye is the video of a woman walking the streets of New York and getting harassed by random people. The video was well-made, got the point across and went viral pretty fast. It didn’t take long before the story was picked up by a number of different media outlets. At the same time, the before-mentioned effort also gave genesis to a number of different efforts with lighter context as compared to the original such as “10 hours of walking in NY as a Jets fan” and others. On top of that a Star Wars version recently surfaced titled “10 hours of walking in NY as Princess Leia” , showing what it’s like walking NY as Princess Leia.