Great news Star Wars fans: The Star Wars fan film we told you about last year is now completed and available for your viewing online. This is an excellent film that I enjoyed very much. I don’t want to give away spoilers but you really need to see the full thing for yourself. I’m not the only one who was impressed. Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge 2011 – A Light in the Darkness (Part One) won two awards from Atom.com in 2011 for “Best Fan Fiction” and “Audience Choice.” Renovation Film Festival – Best Fan Film 2011 This film was created for the love of filmmaking and also for the love of Star Wars. It was a volunteer effort by cast and crew and is an excellent high quality, low budget film that faced many challenges to create but came out on top. It’s well worth your time to see…
Author: Lisa Clark
EA Gives Office Tour of New BioWare Facility in Ireland
Earlier this week wetold you about the new BioWare facility in Galway, Ireland. There has been anew addition to the story with an office tour of the facility. So if you’rewondering just what the new facility looks like, here’s your chance to find out. In the roughly 2 ½ minutevideo, we get a tourof the new facility. The tour begins with the hallway which features somereally awesome artwork like the Imperial Agent ship. The “art wall” serves asan inspirational schematic because right across the hall is where they hold their2-week training courses to anyone new who joins the team in Galway. There is an awesome “relaxing”game room for the creative, innovative and hard-working BioWare team. Can I geta pool table in my office please? Then we see the SWTORglobal customer contact center. Call this the customer service center battlestation. Working in a call center wouldn’t be so bad if this…
The Old Republic Preview from PCGamer
“The Old Republic is a monster. I can’t wait to play more.” That pretty much sums up the 1880+ word preview experience from PCGamer.com. These previews are the best things for those who have not been able to play the game for themselves yet. It gives us all a deeper look into SWTOR, what it is about, what others think about it and what we have to look forward to. Even when you think you’ve heard it all, along comes a new preview or review with info or perspective you didn’t know before. This is a great review because it does more than just recap the things we already know (although it does a little bit of that, too). It also tells us what makes this game different or unique from others on the market. When you’re looking to invest in a game like SWTOR, especially one with a monthly…
Don’t be Banned from Game Testing- Know the Rules of Beta
As more people are getting into game testing now and game testing is open to European players as well, we will hear about more people in game testing. While it is a violation to screen capture or talk about certain aspects of the game, there will probably be friends who talk and share certain pieces of info. But you better be careful about what you share and how. If you get in, you may find yourself so excited, you want to shout it to the rooftops. Be aware, however, that while you can tell the world you are game testing, you cannot tell them about what you are doing in testing or reveal things about the game itself. The SWTOR beta/game testing is the most strict I have ever even heard of and I have beta’d TONS of games over the years. You can’t use Vent, you must be 18…
SWTOR Game Tester Experience Email
“This is not the email you are looking for. Move along…” Feel like you were just a victim of Jedi mind tricks? If you got the very confusing email asking you if you enjoyed your tester experience in SWTOR and if you would like to fill out a survey to share your opinions- don’t panic! First, you are not alone. Second, you are not invited to the beta with this email. Sorry to burst your bubble… When the email came in to me last night, my cell phone, Facebook and email blew up with friends asking me if I got it, too and if I knew what it was about. (When did I become the authority on such matters?) So I headed straight over to Twitter and asked Stephen Reid (that’s his job, right?) but he was in flight coming home to Austin so it took a little while for…
Star Wars: Revan Novel Spoilers- an Unofficial Review
We found an interesting write-up about the Revan novel that contains spoilers of the storyline for SWTOR and the novel. In a post on Spacebattles.com, user “Sparris” posts, “After getting and reading an uncorrected proof of this story, pretty sure most people will think it sucks.” He goes on to give about 600 words or so of a summary of the novel that portrays it in a less-than-interesting light. However, we also have to keep in mind that this is one person’s opinion and a rough summary at that and we don’t actually see any more than a pic of the alleged cover of the proof of the novel. SPOILERS INCOMING: The poster says: There are three main characters throughout: Revan, the Exile (now named Meetra Surik,) and a Sith Lord in the Emperor’s service named Darth Scourge. Ok, fair enough. What’s next? Revan’s story is pretty simple. His dreams…
Blizzard Revealing Project Titan Next Month? – Gloves are off!
Update: In a comment to IGN, a Blizzard representative stated that its ‘unannounced MMO’ will not be talked about at this year’s BlizzCon The rumor mill is out and it looks like the long awaited “casual MMO” from Blizzard code named Titan may be revealed next month at BlizzCon 2011. Pressures from the release date announcement of SWTOR and the delay of Diablo 3 may have led Blizzard to push up the release of news about their new secret project. At least one analyst believes the news might be coming sooner than we thought. “If they are holding any juicy details, it’s going to be announced at BlizzCon,” M2 Research senior analyst Billy Pidgeon said. “”The big news is probably going to be a Diablo 3 date and a possible new announcement about one or more new properties.”” Previous reports have revealed rumors about this potential project. They tell us…
EU Beta has Begun!
It’s official- Europe now has beta testing for SWTOR! And it’s about time, right? In a post on the official SWTOR forums, Chris Collins The New Guy, European Community Manager announced: “Today, we’re excited to announce that we are sending out a batch of invites! In particular, this initial batch marks the start of a series of invites to our larger European player base, who get the chance to join the Star Wars: The Old Republic Game Testing program and provide feedback during the months up until launch. In other exciting news, we’ll be making further announcements in the coming days and weeks, as we update you on Game Testing on the European service. On top of that, we’ll also be announcing details around the upcoming Beta Testing Weekends! With the launch drawing ever-closer, we’re more excited than ever to receive your feedback on the game to help make the…
Hands-on Preview: Star Wars: The Old Republic
In this article, Leo Stiles of Joe.ie tell us about his hands-on preview of SWTOR. Now that more and more players are getting access to the game, we are hearing a lot of different reviews and previews but it never hurts to get another opinion on the game. From the moment Leo chose his class as a Bounty Hunter, he got treated to a wonderful cut scene displaying some graphics he can only describe as “remarkable”. If the cartoon style graphics have you on the fence then you should really see them in action as everything flows perfectly together. According to Leo, the questing is so well done you won’t feel like your simply “gathering” materials or “counting kills” because they are minor parts to the larger story. Fulfilling the quests in the game are so in depth to the story line that they are entertaining and not a level…
Star Wars: The Old Republic Sales Predicted To Hit 3 Million In Year 1
Now that we know a release date for SWTOR, we see more and more people talking about just how popular this game will be. Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz predicts that the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic will sell 3 million units in its first year. The numbers expected in the first year are at an incredible million with the following year bringing in about million. These numbers are astounding as before the release date the projected sales were considerably lower. The new numbers are based off of the projected pricing plan for the game. Star Wars: the Old Republic will be released in the US on Dec 20, 2011 and in the UK on Dec 22, 2011. The announcement of the release date brought many unseen Star Wars fans rushing to the stores to quickly preorder their copy of the game. This is what increased the number…
Star Wars: The Old Republic Will Feature Achievements at Launch
Many MMOs that we have come to love feature achievements andStar Wars: The Old Republic will notbe any different. However, the type of achievements will be a little differentfrom what you may be used to, at least at first. These are not your typical WoW-typeachievements. At this time, Daniel Erickson, the lead writer of Biowarestated that “achievements” would appear in SWTOR when it launches. However, theones that appear with the launch will be detailed achievements for doing heroicthings such as fighting the bosses on each planet. Just what kind of achievements are we going to see on ship? Erickson explains to DarthHaterat Eurogamer Expo: They’renot going to be the achievements, the crazy achievements that you have to placeeverywhere, that are like, “Hey if you drink 6 beers and fart in acantina,” those are not going the achievements to go in. Version 1 of theachievement system which go in, which is…
Stephen Reid Clarifies Misunderstanding of Shack News Article
With the news of an official release date for SWTOR out there, one huge milestone is now passed. Now we have many new questions erupting as players want to know exactly when they are going to get their own chance to play. A misunderstanding had many players worrying they would not get to play due to possible staggered releases. User Darhan posts in the official forums: It seems that not only are they preparing for stable servers by keeping pre-order numbers limited, but even for those of us who have pre-ordered: our access to the game may not be granted as fast as we had hoped. In the article, they discuss slowly granting access to the game over an undisclosed period of time to the point that some folks may barely recieve any early access to the game, if any at all. Of course, this is all for the sake…