We have talked a lot about Star Wars Galaxies here. It was a huge favorite of many before SWTOR and some fans just didn’t want to let go. I can completely understand why, and this is why it’s great that we have the SWG EMU to allow you to still experience the game you knew and loved so much. So, if you have not tried Star Wars Galaxies EMU, then this video might help you know if this is something you want to try for yourself. If you’re missing the “good ole’ days” and one of the last sandbox experiences where you truly had the ability to make nearly anything you wanted, then you might want to give this a go. In this video, he tells you all about modding graphics and whatever else you need to know about SWGEMU, the styling, what’s good about the game, what kind of…
Author: Lisa Clark
The Academy Ep 10 & 11 -“Gearing and Stat Optimization in 4.0”
Gearing and stats can be a confusing concept to a new player. This is just one more great benefit to follow The Academy series from swtorista. In the latest episodes, 10 and 11, she talks to us about these specific points. These are great episodes that delve more deeply into important aspects of enjoying SWTOR. If you know someone who is new to the game, or thinking of picking up SWTOR, we highly recommend you point them in the direction of the Academy. Even if you’ve been playing for a long time, you might still appreciate these videos so go ahead and give them a watch/listen. Here’s what these two episodes are all about. Gearing up your character can be one of the most daunting tasks in the game. The first half of this episode talks about how to mod your gear, and the second half talks about stat optimization…
Star Wars Fan Film Unity of the Force
Here’s a really cool fan made film we think you will enjoy. In this story, the young hero, Lak, is tasked with finding an artifact, a special lightsaber that is said to be the most powerful in existence. He is less than enthused in the beginning, which makes him different from many young Jedis. I would expect him to be chomping at the bit to take on a mission like this but instead, his attitude was one of “Can’t someone else do it?” While this annoyed me, I also thought it was kind of refreshing to see a different angle taken. So anyway, he goes on to complete this mission to find The Artifact and there are many obstacles in his way, which is no surprise. I think you’ll find it a fun little short and the ending was a bit of a surprise to me. The ending may surprise…
Star Wars Posters by LEGO
I love LEGO and I love Star Wars. I’ve written about this before here on the site. So you can imagine how excited I get when LEGO and Star Wars come together, as they often do. Here is a really cool example of that in these Star Wars posters by LEGO. Someone has taken the time to put them together side-by-side. Despite the last one being flipped, it’s a really good way to see all of them at once like this the way the original posters were intended to be viewed. LEGO Star Wars Posters I really love the creativity that went into recreating each poster so that it looks like the originals, but with LEGO flair. The last poster doesn’t quite have the same style and I read somewhere that it was a fan creation but I can’t seem to find any solid facts confirming this. Still, I like…
TOR TV: Wrath Remembers Darth Marr – Tribute
In memory of Marr . May your Empire rise again … Here is a lovely tribute to Darth Marr from DuduFilm. If you have not seen it yet, it’s just over 2 minutes long and it’s well worth the watch. He has a history of making great films like this and this short packs a big emotional punch, especially if you were a fan of Darth Marr. See for yourself: What do you think? As others have said before, Darth Marr seemed to be what the Empire really needed. He was one of the most respected Sith. A great warrior and leader, a master and a council member. He had conviction. Many would call him the one true Emperor. It’s definitely safe to say he made his mark on the story and he has many fans. This was a most fitting tribute and it’s very well done, as all of DuDu’s…
“True Stories of BioWare Heartbreak” Will Give You the Feels
There is one thing BioWare is very well known for: their great storytelling. We’re talking about the kinds of stories that really make you feel. If you’ve ever played a BioWare game, you know just how easy it is to get emotionally invested. For some people, it’s books. For some, it’s movies or television shows. But for some of us, it’s a great video game with an emotion-filled story. This is what makes an excellent game stand out from an ordinary game. This is what defines the game for a lot of people. When you want to get lost in the story and feel like you are your character, this is the kind of feeling we’re talking about. Not all games can do that. Of course, the non-story-based games have their place too. Some gamers enjoy both. But when a game’s story reels you in and makes you feel like…
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
The official trailer for Rogue One is here and people have a lot to say about it. In addition to the excitement, there’s also a lot of confusion about it. People want to know what it is, what it will be about and when we will see it. So we’re going to open up some discussion on Rogue One today and also try to clear up any confusion you might have. So first things first, if you have not seen the trailer, here it is: Now, let’s talk for a bit about Rogue One and what we know about it so far. Let’s take a look at some facts: Rogue One is the story of how the rebels acquired plans for the original Death Start (that were later hideen in R2-D2 by Leia). It’s set in the time immediately prior to Episode IV. Rogue One is the first in a…
SWTOR’s New Direction
SWTOR is changing. Those of you who have been around with us since the early days will note that it has changed a lot. This is bound to happen in any game that sticks around for years and the longer a game is around, the more it might change. Sechari of iamsechari.com wrote about this on his blog recently. He’s a big Star Wars fan and writes about his love of Star Wars and Star Wars games, to include Star Wars Galaxies, Knights of the Old Republic and of course, SWTOR. In this post specifically, he tells of how he had to say goodbye to SWG (along with the rest of us) and how he later made his way to SWTOR and got hooked. But it’s not all fairytale romance, of course. SWTOR has had its ups and downs and in some ways it has and continues still to change…
Did SWTOR Miss an Important Opportunity?
Recently, over three weekends (26-27th February, 4-5th March, 11-12th March), Bioware organised playtesting sessions, on the PTS, for players to test the new Warzone, and the new Arena, Rishi Cove. This is typical of when they want to test new zones and other areas of the game. However, some players believe they may have missed out on a valuable opportunity when it comes to playtesting this time around. BioWare announced the times for the play sessions on the forums and also played along with players incognito, but they never did anyting else to advertise the PTS or to try to get more players to join so they could test these new areas. Xam Xam is one of these players and she explains what she sees as a missed opportunity for BioWare on her blog: The three weekends of playtesting sessions were inadequate to test the new Warzone. There were too few…
Star Wars Battlefront Devs Update Outer Rim but Quiet on Bespin DLC
So now that Outer Rim is here, the devs at Star Wars Battlefront are already teasing more new content. We know there are additional private match changes coming in the future but we’re not hearing much of anything (or anything at all) about the next upcoming DLC: Bespin. Bespin is set to release this summer sometime and Design & Trend via DICE lead designer Dennis Brännvall said a few words about upcoming content but none of them were about Bespin. Design & Trend reported on these updates from the devs recently: Since many gamers love playing “Star Wars Battlefront” with their friends, private matches are always a hot topic. In fact, we posted an article earlier this week that mentioned the possibility of two-person skirmishes and battles in the new Outer Rim DLC maps and modes. Since then, however, there have been a couple more developments to share. Namely, it appears that Brännvall’s…
Star Wars Novel with Ahsoka Tano Announced
We are getting a new Star Wars novel and this one tells us what has happened to Ahsoka Tano after she left the Jedi Order in The Clone Wars and also how s he became Fulcrum. The novel is by E.K. Johnston from Disney-Lucasfilm Press and more details will be released in the coming months but for now, it’s great news that this novel is in the works. From Disney-Lucasfilm Press: Ahsoka Tano, fan favorite character from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, will be the star of her own young adult novel from Disney Lucasfilm Press this October 11, 2016! Fans have long wondered what happened to Ahsoka after she left the Jedi Order near the end of the Clone Wars, and before she re-appeared as the mysterious Rebel operative Fulcrum in Rebels. Finally, her story will begin to be told. Following her experiences with the Jedi…
Does ‘Star Wars: Battlefront’s’ Outer Rim Bring the End Game?
Star Wars: Battelfront: Outer Rim is here and it’s time we start seeing reviews and opinions about the additional downloadable content so you can decide for yourself if you’re interested in playing it. Or maybe you’re already playing and you just want to see what others have to say about it. Well, we already know that the Outer Rim has increased the level cap to 60. What else do we know about it? Todd Kenreck, contributor to Forbes.com says it brings a much need end game. His summary: “The maps are richly detailed, the weapons fill some key gaps and the new heroes are a massive surprise. I give Star Wars: Battlefront’s Outer Rim an 8 out 10.” That’s a pretty good rating. So what are some reasons he likes the new content so much? Well, we’re hearing some of the same things from others who are playing. Extraction as a…
SWTOR World PVP: The Battle of Oricon II
If you have not had the chance to see what great world PvP really looks like, then you will want to check out the video below, uploaded by Swtorista of a world PvP event this weekend. While it’s probably not typical of average world PvP that usually is 8v8 or so, it does look like a good time, lag and all. Here’s a video from Swtorista that shows some world PvP on Oricon. [Note: Video contains large unfiltered voice chat group.] Who: PvP enthusiasts What: Open World PvP for the Scare Bear title Where: Oricon (Instance 1) When: Saturday, April 2nd @ 8pm EST This is what world pvp looks like in SWTOR, when it happens! The goal of this event was to try and kill other players for an achievement. If you skip to later in the video you can see the huge number of players, causing the game…
Daisy Ridley Rocked Her Star Wars Audition
If you’ve seen The Force Awakens you know that Daisy Ridley has an amazing breakout performance. The young star who plays one of our new heroes, Rey, brings all the passion, all the strength and all the characteristics you’d expect from a young jedi was previously unheard of and that’s exactly what Abrams wanted. They wanted to find someone who was not previously known for something else but someone who had everything they needed for this role. Daisy blew them away with her audition. Buzzfeed has the clip from the audition and more information here: “What we were looking for was someone new, ” J.J. Abrams says in the clip. “This character needed to be vulnerable and tough, sweet and terrified. And to find someone that no one knew who could do all these things took a lot of looking.” Once you see how she nails the performance, there will be no…
The Best April Fools’ Gag this Year
If you missed it the other day, you must see this trailer for Fury of Maul on Netflix. Really, if you weren’t already a Netflix lover, would this not make you subscribe immediately? ““Happy April Fools’ Day! Darth Maul makes his live-action series debut on Netflix! A mysterious, dark power is butchering those on both the light and dark side of the Force.” Directed and Shot by Sean Finnegan Seriously, this looks awesome. If you didn’t know already, it was just an April Fool’s joke from IGN and that’s really too bad because it would make a great series. Star Wars fans everywhere can cry like that poor little boy who’s dad let him watch not knowing it was prank. May we all go to our beds and bawl our eyes out because this will never come to be. Honestly, April Fool’s pranks are the worst, are they not? I…
SWTOR Still Performing Well
SWTOR is the second largest US based MMO. It was the 4th most top grossing pay-to-play MMO by revenue in February of this year. While there may be haters claiming the game has failed, or that it’s no longer relevant, the stats just don’t support this. Star Wars: The old Republic is doing well and is considered a huge success. With the release of the newest Star Wars movies, we can probably expect the game to continue to grow. Superdata research shows the top grossing games on a variety of platforms. Here we see the stats ranking SWTOR 4th in its category. Top Grossing Pay-to-play MMO Games by Revenue, February 2016 1 World of Warcraft Activision Blizzard 2 Lineage I NCSoft 3 TERA: Online En Masse Entertainment 4 Star Wars: The Old Republic Electronic Arts 5 Blade & Soul NCSoft You can tell that to the haters saying the game is…
‘Star Wars: Commander’ Adds Maz Kanata From ‘The Force Awakens’ For A Limited Time
The popular mobile strategy game Star Wars: Commander has a new series of objectives coming for a limited time only. It adds Maz Kanata from The Force Awakens to the game, according to an announcement from Disney this past week. All players at headquarters level four and up will be able to do the new tasks in the game. From Disney: “Today we are excited to unveil new objectives for Star Wars: Commander that feature the Force™-sensitive smuggler from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Maz Kanata. During these special time-limited objectives, Maz Kanata will reach out to players through the game’s InfoNet newspaper and the Planetary View, requesting help in the completion of specific tasks. All players at headquarters level four and up will be able to participate in these new activities with each planet in the galaxy featuring different sets of objectives.” Maz Kanata will appear through the InfoNet newspaper and also the…
A New Kind of SWTOR Datacron Guide
Do you love Star Wars and SWTOR lore like we do? If you’re all about the story, then you will like this new kind of SWTOR datacron guide. Vulkk of Vulkk.com has taken the time to make something pretty cool. This is like the motherload of all datacron guides. It’s a datacron guide that goes above and beyond and gives you a little something more. In his own TLDR he says, “This is my SWTOR Datacron Guide collection WITH Story voiceover of each codex entry.” That really sums it up. He found a new approach to the same content that’s been done before and presented it in a different way. It can be useful for new players as well as more seasoned vets. This would also be interesting to Star Wars fans in general, even those who might not play SWTOR. There are more than 43 videos corresponding to the datacron guide…
Star Wars Fans Want to Remake Canceled Battlefront III
We know how much some fans want to see Star Wars: Battlefront III. Some want it so bad, in fact, that they want to remake it themselves. The controversial and ill-fated shooter was in development with Free Radical before it was cancelled and many fans were upset by the news. It’s been almost a year since then but Eurogamer has some info that might indicate a reboot. “Now, fans of Free Radical’s effort at Russia-based Frontwire Studios are attempting to remake this version of Battlefront, retitled Galaxy in Turmoil. The project is live now on ModDB. The small developer is also asking via Reddit for anyone else with coding experience to get involved.” As you probably already know, a lot of the gameplay from Battlefront III (or what it would have been) has been leaked online. We are able to see a lot of info about the levels, capabilities and even…
BioWare’s Next IP Was Hiding in Plain Sight: On a T-shirt
Bioware’s Alistair McNally had an interesting tweet this week after the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Diego last week. He says he wore a t-shirt to the conference that referenced Bioware’s new IP and it appears no one even noticed. Sneaky! Also it was fun to walk around GDC2016 in a t-shirt with our new IP on it and no one batted an eyelid. — Alistair McNally (@Al_McNally) March 18, 2016 So of course, this got the Twitterverse in a tizzy as people realized their miss and some frantically searched for pictures from the event to try to see this shirt in action. There have been articles written about it, forum threads posted on it, social media dialogue and even debate over it, but still we don’t know what the new game is, or what was on his shirt. And it looks like we might be waiting awhile for…
BW Austin is Doing Animation Work for SWTOR
This fun tweet from Paul Marino, Lead Narrative Designer at BioWare Austin lets us all know they are doing some new work for the game. This lines up with the voice acting tweets we saw not too long ago as well so we can be sure some new content is in the works. What exactly they are working on is still uncertain, although many fans have speculated. Animation team & I are off out to EA Burnaby/The Capture Lab to grab some mocap for #SWTOR! Canada here we come! — Paul Marino™ (@PaulMarino) March 16, 2016 And that’s not all. Charles Boyd, lead designer of SWTOR, also had a tweet to share: @SortaRevan @nikkoliferous Not confirming anything, but we just happened to have Saresh in the booth today, actually 🙂 — Charles Boyd (@Charles_Boyd) March 16, 2016 Could it be season 2, new OPS, new combat animations? New class skill animations?…
Do or Do Not. There Is No Try
One of the most iconic quotes from Star Wars is this one from Yoda himself: “Do or Do Not. There Is No Try” Would you like to learn more about Yoda? This Yoda documentary by Jamie Benning (@jamieswb) is just what you need. The story of how Yoda was brought to life on the big screen is really interesting and a lot of fun. This is well worth the watch if you’re a fan at all. Here’s a little about the project from Jamie: “During the production of my Jabba documentary short, Slimy Piece of Worm Ridden Filth, I was put in contact with Toby Philpott’s colleague and Jabba’s right hand man. Literally, his right hand man, puppeteer Dave Barclay. Dave helped us, along with Toby (Jabba’s left arm), Mike Edmonds (tail) and John Coppinger (animatronic engineer) to reconstruct just how it was inside that filthy Hutt. And of course…
Does Episodic Content Belong in an MMORPG?
So Den of Geek asks an interesting question in a recent post on their site: Does Episodic Content Belong in an MMORPG? If you’ve played a lot of games, one thing you will know to be true is that episodic content is not a new concept. There are many games across many genres that use this. Basically it’s chapter-based content that is staggered throughout the game and while it’s been around a long time, it’s gaining in popularity today due to certain hit games like Telltale’s The Walking Dead (a favorite of mine) and Life is Strange. But Den of Geek looks at a genre of gaming that has not seen a a lot of episodic content – the MMORPG. So it definitely makes a lot of sense for certain types of games. The story-driven content will keep players coming back for more and waiting to see what happens next. But does it make sense…
Hesitating Over EA Access? Maybe It IS a Good Deal
If you’re like most of us gamers, it seems like there is a ploy around every corner to get more money from you and it can be difficult to know where and how to spend your money wisely. Believe me, I know all about this as I was addicted to Humble Bundle before they came out with their monthly subscription offer and I have been known to spend real-world cash in WoW, Steam, and various games that I play. Hey, some people go to expensive movies, concerts, or dinner dates and some people get their entertainment online. The point is, EA Access may have seemed to a lot of us like another money grab from EA but is it really? Could it be that it’s actually worth it after all, at least for some gamers? Let’s explore this idea for a bit, shall we? Connor over at MMO Fallout makes…