Speeder bikes and swoop bikes are small, fast transports that use repulsorlift engines, usually carrying one or two passengers. Speeder bikes emphasized speed and maneuverability over conventional speeders and were popular with thrill-seeking teenagers and military scouts. A typical speeder bike had a maximum altitude of 10 meters (32 feet) and could thus maneuver deftly over very rough terrain. Some companies manufactured extras like sidecars for speeder bikes. The lightweight bikes can usually attain speeds in excess of 500 kilometers per hour. A quartet of small directional steering vanes on twin outriggings afford the speeder its maneuverability. The Imperial biker scouts from Return of the Jedi used two shoulder-level handgrips to control elevation and direction; a pair of rocker-pivoted pedals controls acceleration. Located just fore of the speeder’s saddle is a panel of toggle switches and knobs that control communications and other vital systems. Slung beneath the speeder’s frame is a…
Author: Soeren Kamper
Friday Update: Living the Life of a Live Producer
This weeks friday update gives us another developer blog. This time it’s Live Producer for Star Wars: The Old Republic, Blaine Christine that shares some insight about his job. Blaine Christine has worked for BioWare for three and a half years and mainly take care of beta testing stuff right now. I imagine he is the last man who have a look at things before new patches hits the test realms etc. Thorugh out this weeks blog, Blaine Christine quotes a few beta testers with their exstreamly positive (obviously) opinions on the game. Here is the probably most interesting quotes from game testers: “The questing experience in TOR was amazing! The voiceovers and cinematics actually make me wonder how I ever survived the ‘grind’ without them.” “As one of those people who didn’t really care about story in an MMO, after playing TOR I can’t imagine playing another MMO unless…
SWTOR – A Fun look at Run/Walk Animations
Logun has made yet another SWTOR fan video. This time he takes look at the Run/Walk animations in Star Wars: The old republic that have been heavily criticised since the first ingame videos hit the world. Because I had a lot of people requesting this here is a fun look at the Run / Walk animations in SWTOR. Although the early footage from Pax 2009 had some wonky Run/Walk animations I really didn’t see that much to be critical about in the more recent videos. I guess its true about first impressions being hard to shake. Check out his YouTube channel here and make sure you subscribe. You can watch his latest video bellow:
Daniel Erickson on Marriage in SWTOR
Daniel Erickson has posted a rather lengthy comment about Marriage in Star Wars: The Old republic. Basically he confirms it’s possible to be married in SWTOR, which is kind of a dilemma as the Jedi order has sticked rules about this. “Easy to give the official answer. But first let’s make sure we’re all on the same page. Cultures change over time. They move one way then another, values shift, influxes of new peoples or discoveries change what is considered normal, etc. So if we’re strictly talking about TOR then arguments based on things that happened thousands of years earlier or later aren’t really applicable except to compare and contrast. Our views on modern marriage are not those of ancient Rome, and I doubt in 3,000 years they will be the same. So let’s talk about where Jedi and Sith during the time period of The Old Republic. For the…
Facebook Image of the Week: Zabrak Inquisitor
BioWare have posted a new Facebook Image of the Week. The story of the image is: “”The sound of this Zabrak Inquisitor’s lightsaber will be among the last an unsuspecting enemy patrol hears.”” Enjoy:
Giant LEGO Star Wars Layout of the Battle of Hoth – presented at LEGO World 2011 (Copenhagen).
This Lego Layout has broken the boundaries of all Star Wars LEGO Layouts. Approximately 1.500.000 bricks and more than a thousand man hours have gone into this creation, Featuring 5 AT-ATs – 2 of them walking. Moving speederbikes and Snowspeeders, detailed interior of the Rebels Hoth Base and much more. It was build by Bo Jensen and was displayed in the fan section of this years LEGO World in Copenhagen – Denmark Here is a few pictures from the layout at Lego world: Here are some pictures of the Battle of Endore Layout also presented at this years Lego World:
SW:TOR Graphics Evolution & Comparison
A few weeks ago, we posted the SWTOR Combat Animations Compilation created by logun24x7. It was a great video showing the graphic development in the beta stages of Star Wars: The old republic the last few years. SWTOR, has some unique challenges to overcome in the character graphics department, not only do they need to look good from a standard MMO third person perspective, they also need to stand up for the close-up cinematic cut scenes. Not a lot of MMO’s have had to face this challenge. Now Logun have posted a new video on his youtube channel, Showing SWTOR’s graphic evolution from 2009 to 2011 with a comparison of other MMO’s and a look at their graphic approach. Hopefully this video will keep the trolls quite for a while. More comparison screenshots: PAX 2009 Vs. PAX 2010 World of Warcraft Vs. SWTOR Age of Conan Vs. SWTOR Aion…
Know your Lore: Zez-Kai Ell
Zez-Kai Ell was a male Human Jedi Master and member of the Jedi High Council during the Mandalorian Wars. He wielded a violet double-bladed lightsaber and fought with double-bladed variants of Ataru, Shien, Niman, and Juyo. He had also mastered the advanced Force forms. He was also close friends with fellow Jedi Master and Council member Kavar. Zez-Kai Ell was more thoughtful and introspective than many of his fellow Masters, and was quick to point out that the Council’s inaction led to Revan’s fall—even going as far to say that blame was not solely on the Jedi who left to fight, but on the Council as well. After the Jedi Civil War, he no longer considered himself a Jedi, claiming to have left the Order in disgust with both the Jedi Order and himself. Indeed, when the Exile met him, he appeared to have fallen into a brooding depression, displaying…
BioWare’s new Senior Community Coordinator says Hello
BioWare’s new Senior Community Coordinator Allison Berryman has officially introduced herself on the Star Wars: The Old Republic forums. Allison Berryman has six years of industry experience from Gearbox, and call herself an “all-around gamer” and a big fan of Knights of the Old Republic. You can Read Berryman’s introduction below: “Hello Everyone! I’m Allison Berryman, a Senior Community Coordinator here at BioWare Austin. You’ll see me around a bit from now on, so I’d like to introduce myself to you all. Let me start off by saying that I am beyond thrilled to be working with this community. As a huge fan of both BioWare and Star Wars, working on The Old Republic team is a dream come true. Many of my fondest gaming memories come from BioWare games, particularly Knights of the Old Republic, and to be working here is a great honor. I’ve been working in the…
Gordon Walton’s Farewell Address
As we reported a few days ago, Gordon Walton is departing Bioware, to take on an executive producer role at Disney-owned social game studio Playdom. Yesterday Walton provided the community with a few words of his own outlining his reasons for departing BioWare and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Below you can read Mr. Waltons farewell post from the official forums “Thanks to all the well-wishers and even the haters. A few things I thought I’d mention. 1) SWTOR will be an awesome game! 2) Working at BioWare was my best experience in my 33 years in the games industry so far! It’s not a good company, it’s a GREAT company. 3) I wasn’t working at SOE when the NGE came out, and frankly I was adamantly against doing it. 4) I don’t hate the SWTOR space game or JtL, really! (Read the transcript of the talk or listen…
Sith Temple Art, Podcast Spotlight and Fan Q&A
Today’s update to the Star Wars: The Old Republic site is a package deal that contains new Studio Insider and Fan Friday segments. Both of the articles are packed with content and are worth a look for SW:TOR fans. As always, the Fan Friday segment contains fan art, concept art and forum avatars. In addition, this issue contains the first installment of the new Fan Site Spotlight series. The team talks with the hosts of Mos Eisley Radio to learn more about the podcast. BioWare also announced that it will be hosting a Community Meet and Greet at PAX East on March 12. In this week’s Studio Insider segment, Concept Artist Diego Almaza explains how he created the concept for the Sith Temple (seen above). Rich Vogel, Executive Producer of The Old Republic and Vice President of Production at BioWare Austin, also answers six questions from the…
The BioWare Method
At Last weeks DICE Summit, the BioWare Co-Founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka gave a presentation to attendees entitled “The BioWare Method.” In this the doctors explained how it has been a long road to get to where BioWare is today, and share some of the knowledge they have learned through out the years in business. The most important lesson in releasing a successful game is recruiting and maintaining a strong team, and BioWare’s co-founders, Dr. Greg Zeschuk and Dr. Ray Muzyka, explain how it’s done. They alsoencourage long-term and forward thinking, always play games to continue learning, and maintain a positive team culture. One of the biggest components of keeping together a strong team is communication and honesty. Dr. Zeschuk and Dr. Muzyka admitted that Mass Effect 1 DLC didn’t go quite as well as expected, so going forward the Dragon Age and Mass Effect teams worked together to…
Bioware developer pops the question in Minecraft
Although we are a few days past Valentine’s Day, here is a noteworthy wedding proposal that is sure to warm the hearts of female video game geeks everywhere. A Bioware developer decided to pop the “big question” to his sweetie who is also a Bioware developer. For him, though, getting down on one knee and whipping out a ring in a box was simply too cliche’ to be employed. So what is a game developer to do in this situation? Well, the answer is to propose marriage to his girlfriend in a video game of course. So using his Minecraft building skills, he decided to build a castle along with some special terrain to ask for her hand in marriage. And as you will see in the following video, it was all worth it.
Facebook Image of the Week: The volcanic mountain ranges of Ord Mantell
This week, BioWare reached 250,000 “likes” on there Star Wars: The Old Republic fan site. In response to this, the BioWare team released a new Concept Art image of Ord Mantel. As far as I can see that makes it the second largest fan page for any MMORPG on Facebook, only toped by World of Warcraft with 342,919 likes. Due to this accomplishment, a new image will be released weekly via Facebook. In “250,000 Likes!“, BioWare said: This week, we reached 250,000 likes! Were honored to have so many enthusiastic fans, and to celebrate we will begin releasing a brand new Star Wars: The Old Republic image every week just for you. Thank you all for your support, and enjoy the very first Facebook Image of the Week!
BioWare’s Gordon Walton Leaves To Join Playdom Austin
Yesterday EA lost three heads from major studios Playfish and Bioware. BioWare Austin vice president Gordon Walton has left to take on an executive producer role at Disney-owned social game studio Playdom, while two founding members of Playfish, the social game developer EA bought in 2009, are also set to leave the company. EA said in a statement that it’s “business as usual”: “”It is business as usual at all BioWare studios, where we remain committed to creating, delivering and evolving the most emotionally engaging games in the world,” concluded the statement. Electronic Arts is the parent company of BioWare, which also develops the Mass Effect and Dragon Age role-playing franchises. Mobsters and Sorority Life creator Playdom, recently acquired by Disney for a handsome $763 million, is among the top developers of social games on Facebook. A 33-year industry veteran, Walton joins the ranks of many respected stalwarts, like Playdom’s…
EA: Star Wars: The Old Republic “going right at” World of Warcraft
In a presentation at an investment conference Tuesday afternoon, EA chief executive John Riccitiello noted some of the company’s up-coming releases for the year that he expects will boost the company’s share in two key areas of the video game market–first-person shooters and massive multi-player online, or MMO, games. EA has high hopes for Star Wars: The old republic expecting the game to come out sometime late in the calendar year 2011. Riccitiello compared the Star Wars: The old republic to “World of Warcraft,” the most successful MMO game in the market that is produced by Activision’s Blizzard unit. He praised “Warcraft” as one of the “greatest entertainment properties ever built,” but believes the “Star Wars” universe could topple it. “We want to take share,” he said of the MMO category. He added that SWTOR is being built on an improved technology platform that is going to look better than…
SWTOR fan art by Patrick Lamber
When ever BioWare send out a “fan Friday” update, we get to see talented artist showcasing the ( mostly ) amazing work they have posted on the official forums. Not all artist post there work on the forums, and it has been quite a while since BioWare’s last fan Friday. So we thought it was time to check out the art community. This time we will take a look at the work made by Patrick Lambert. We rally love his 3D drawings, and the small stories he writes to each picture. Remember to check out Patrick Lambert’s deviantart profile or his personal website for more amazing drawings, were he is creating every class of SW:TOR. Apprentice no longer: “Nooo!! *cough* Don’t do this! You aren’t ready yet, apprentice!” “I am your apprentice no longer. On this day, I am Darth Kali. This temple shall now be your tomb.” Sith Witch: An overzealous…
Revan almost appeared in last week’s episode of The Clone Wars
In a video commentary, on the Official Star Wars website, supervising director Dave Filoni explains how Darth Revan was supposed to appear in the episode of Clone Wars that was aired last week: “Ghosts of Morits”: We designed them. They are in The Clone Wars style. We modeled them in The Clone Wars style, and we shot the scene in the episode. The scene exists. But it never made it into animation, it only existed in layout. I was very apprehensive of this scene, as cool as it was, because the implication of it. Which is that, these Sith Lords could separate themselves from the Force, and somehow talk to the Son. George watches it, and he loved it, it was great. But eventually, I got a call from George. And he said, you know, I’ve been really thinking about this, and we should really take that scene out, with…
Know your Legends: Gav and Jori Daragon
In the latest Friday update BioWare interweaves the known lore of this first war between the Sith and the Republic and relates it to the events of Star Wars: The old Republic. We have already talked about Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh in earlier Know your lore articles. But two new names we haven’t talked about yet came up. The two hyperspace explorers Gav and Jori Daragon. So here we go. The characters of Gav and Jori Daragon was conceived and written by Kevin J. Anderson for the Tales of the Jedi comic book series and first appeared in Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith, Anderson’s second solo story arc following the conclusion of Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith. For the first five issues of The Golden Age of the Sith series, he was sketched by penciller Dario Carrasco, Jr., and black-and-white…
HeroEngine Owner Idea Fabrik Founds New US Dev Studio
Last year HeroEngine (which is being used to build Star Wars: The Old Republic) was bought from Simutronics by Idea Fabrik in Germany. Last week the Germans announced the creation of a new game development studio in Northern Virginia: Second Star Interactive. Headed by game industry veteran Darrin Hyrup, Second Star Interactive features a core team with decades of experience at major studios throughout the game industry, including Electronic Arts, Mythic, Bethesda Softworks and Sony Online Entertainment. “Developing our own games is a critical part of our efforts to expand and enhance our technology because it keeps us close to the HeroEngine user experience,” said Neil Harris, President of the U.S. operations and COO of Idea Fabrik. “Darrin and the Second Star team bring a wealth of experience and practical contributions to the table that will help us grow both as a technology provider and as a company.” Second Star…
The Volkswagen Vader commercial: The extended ‘Force’ footage
The Little Vader Volkswagen commercial already established its Sith dominance over all other Super Bowl commercials. But its awesomeness may have gotten even greater thanks to these outtakes. Little Vader’s masterful attempt to use the Force on an elliptical machine, as well as a dog, is something to behold. Ps. The Volkswagen polo is a nice car to! Please send one!
BioWare founders on why corporate humility matters
A few month ago we posted the story of BioWare. Now doing the DICE Summit in Las Vegas this week, the Founders of BioWare; Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk was honored in the gaming’s Hall of Fame for their contributions to the game industry over the past two decades. Venturebeat had a chance to sit down and speak about what the guys believe is the key behind BioWare’s massive success and to talk about their up comming games including Star Wars: The Old Republic. According to the doctors, their key to success comes from the corporate humility that is one of the foundations in their company philosophy. Muzyka and Zeschuk have a lot of old-fashioned values. They run their company as a meritocracy. They keep their promises. They communicate with a clear measure. They focus on quality. They are persistent in the face of adversity. In the interview below they…
Lego And Star Wars – You Can’t Go Wrong
Everyone knows that Lego is fairly damn awesome, and the Star Wars franchise is a huge influential part of “geek” culture. So when you mash these 2 things together you’re bound to get something amazing out of it. That’s exactly the thinking behind the Lego Star Wars series from LucasArts, and they have a new one lined up that’s about to drop. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will see players to control many familiar characters within the Star Wars universe, with the game set during the animated Clone Wars series and also scenes from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Below is a trailer we’ve been sent which shows off a small piece of what people can expect. Released on 25 March for all formats, including the 3DS, the game is based on the (and ever improving) animated series. The latest trailer is just out and…
The Great Hyperspace War
Over the millennia, the Galactic Republic has faced no greater threat to its existence than the brutal invasion instigated by Sith Lord Naga Sadow. It was a time in history when the original Sith Empire had reached the height of its power, and the Republic was poorly prepared for a conflict of such magnitude. Master Gnost-Dural looks back at the Great Hyperspace War and identifies the controversial decision that drove the Sith into exile and set the stage for the Empire’s campaign of vengeance against the Republic. BTC 1347 – When two hyperspace explorers stumbled onto the remote world of Korriban, they never could have guessed the chain of events they were setting into motion. Over the previous centuries, the Sith Empire had grown in size and strength, and Korriban was the very heart of its dominion. The reigning Sith Lord, Marka Ragnos, had just died, sparking a brutal power…
