The press embargo holding back details from BioWare’s recent “Hands-On Days” in Europe and the US got lifted yesterday. This means we can expect tons of articles through out the rest of the weeks, showing new game play etc. Yesterday we had the pleasure of reading IGN’s 5 hour game experience of Star Wars: The old republic and today GamespotUK brings us a “Hands On” of the Jedi Consular and Multiplayer Flashpoints. On our quest for artifacts, we encountered an illegal colony of Twi’leks–the Star Wars universe’s tentacle-headed humanoids (the same race to which Return of the Jedi’s Bib Fortuna belonged)–who were missing their village protector, a reclusive Twi’lek wilderness expert who had apparently discovered the most ancient secrets of the Sith and nearly killed us by collapsing his remote cave home down onto our heads. We tracked him down to a hidden Sith shrine inhabited by Sith disciples and…
Author: Soeren Kamper
Five Hours with Star Wars: The Old Republic
IGN had the chance to play Star Wars: The old republic for 5 hours ( the bastards). From that came a pretty interesting article that’s worth a read: The setting for questing is Tython, the starting area for Jedi Knight and Jedi Consular players. As tends to be the case in many Star Wars games, you don’t start out with a lightsaber. The iconic Jedi kill stick must be earned. As the Knight class, my focus is combat. I have a training sword that buzzes with energy but doesn’t glow like the saber. Initially I can use a Strike skill to deal instant damage to enemies and build a focus meter. This can be followed up with a Slash attack that does more damage and consumes focus, which forms the central combat mechanic for the class. Earning experience through questing and killing opens up more skills that highlight the Knight’s…
Gamebreaker SWTOR Video Blog #20
We keep following the SWTOR Vlog on Gamebreaker.tv. This time the two guys Discuss the latest statements form Gary Gannon on EA’s 10 year plan for Star Wars: The old republic, as well as the newest Timeline Update we got in the latest friday update.
The Force Unleashed II Endor Bonus Mission is available for download
Remember those furry things from Return of the Jedi? Well now you get to kill them! After the past 2 “What if” scenario’s featured in the original Force Unleashed, LucasArts has decided to try another scenario. What if Starkiller went back to Vader? The possibilities are endless! To make it easier for our inconceivable minds, LucasArts has picked the Battle of Endor which will feature Han Solo, Chewbacca, and a lightsaber wielding Leia. The pack is released on both PSN and XBL today, alongside a character skin pack. Check out more here, and see the trailer below courtesy of Gamespot.
New Bioware community team member: David Bass
Biowares Community manager Stephen Reid announced on his twitter that David Bass is the new Senior Community Coordinator for the SW:TOR team: Today’s been busy, partly because I’ve been getting a new employee up to speed on a few things… If you run a #SWTOR fansite or head up a guild (of a reasonable size!) then you should totally follow this guy as he’s working for you! Without further ado welcome aboard to the #SWTOR crew to @doctordake – follow him, guilds and fansites! 🙂 Welcome to the community David!
BioWare Releases Mass Effect 3 Trailer
BioWare’s made no secret of the fact that they’re developing a third Mass Effect game. However, today they finally had something to show us. The trailer at the Spike VGAs started with a British sniper looking out over a ruined city. In voiceover he explains that the entire planet is under assault. The camera pans out to reveal the attackers: Reapers. We then see Shepherd watching the devastation below from orbit. Cue logo. There’s no mention of a release window in the trailer. The current guess is that the game will arrive in either late 2011 or early 2012.
How Stuff Works: The Star Wars galaxy
Among fans, the Galaxy is referred to as the Star Wars Galaxy or the Galaxy far, far away, or the GFFA for short. The Galaxy was said to contain a “type 3” civilization (in the Kardashev scale — whereas Earth is home to a “type 0.7” civilization). This scale takes into account the level of integration and civilization between peoples (albeit this integration also involves different species, rather than just racial variations of only one sentient species, as it is on a sole planet), which in essence form one single “galactic civilization”, given the political unification (despite the few separatisms) and the integration of the worlds in spite of the considerable distances (with effective means of transportation).Nothing connects the Galaxy with ours (Milky Way). However if we are to consider the crossover between Star Wars and E.T., we can infer the following: the Brodo Asogi leader, Senator Grebleips sent an expedition…
Know your Lore: Ludo Kressh
Ludo Kressh was a Sith Lord in the Sith Empire during the Great Hyperspace War. A conservative Sith Lord, Ludo planned to rule the Empire as the new Dark Lord of the Sith after Marka Ragnos‘s death. However, the unexpected arrival of the Daragons allowed Naga Sadow to engineer incidents which undermined Ludo’s support. Ludo eventually faked his own death and ambushed Sadow, only to be truly destroyed by Sadow’s fleet. According to the overview of the Sith Empire on the Star Wars: The Old Republic website”(After the Great Hyperpsace War)…the last Emperor of the Sith managed to escape the carnage and fled into Deep Space with his most trusted Dark Lords.” Considering Ludo Kressh was technically the last Dark Lord of the Sith alive before Naga Sadow (who escaped to Yavin 4, rather than deep space), it is possible that Ludo Kressh perhaps staged his own death (once again) and…
Rebirth of the Sith Empire
Bioware got a new Timeline holorecord for us this firday. This time it’s the story of a Grand Moff who played a critical role in Imperial history: In the years following the Great Hyperspace War, the Sith exiles on Dromund Kaas faced a daunting future on a harsh world. The guidance of the Emperor and the Sith Lords were critical, but Republic Intelligence has stolen historical records that indicate the resilience and determination of the early Imperial Military were no less crucial to the Empire’s reconstruction. Master Gnost-Dural has identified one Imperial Military Leader in particular whose story exemplifies the strength that runs throughout every level of Imperial Society. BTC 1251 – Following the destruction of their ancient civilization on Korriban, the Sith exiles sought to rebuild their Empire amid the jungles of Dromund Kaas. The man who eventually earned the distinction of the being the Empire’s first new Grand…
EA: Old Republic will have ten-year lifespan
Speaking at the UBS Annual Media and Communications Conference in New York, EA CFO Eric Brown confirmed that SWTOR will use the monthly subscription business model. He also predicted a ten-year lifespan for the game: “Our assumptions for break-even and profitability are not seven-digit subscribers. We think we can run and operate a very successful and profitable MMO at different levels… The key thing here is to really perfect the product. We’re shooting for an extremely high quality game experience. We view this as a ten-year opportunity.” It was also mentioned that SWTOR “…will generate revenue through monthly subscriptions” With such a highly anticipated title on their hands, it is very surprising to hear EA more or less undercut their projections. Obviously not wanting to fail under the feet of the World of Warcraft juggernaut, the publisher thought it better to keep their sales projections reasonable and instead hope the…
Possible release date 25 March 2011 ?
It has been possible to pre-order Star Wars the old republic for some time now. But it seems like the retailers is tarting to agree on the same release day now. No release date has been confirmed by Bioware yet, but searching around the net, the same date seems to pop up. Check this out: Amazon: Due for release on 25 March 2011play.com: Due for release on 25 March 2011 (EUR 41.99 ouch!)shopto.net Due for release on 25 March 2011 Again! Nothing is confirmed by Bioware, But do we see a pattern here?
First review of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived
The first reviews of Paul S. Kemp’s upcomming book Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived is starting to show up on Amazon. It’s interesting that so many people already read the book considering the considering the release have been moved to March 22, 2011. One have to wonder if it has be planted or it is a real honest review. Anyways. Anyways. Here it is: First of all, let me say that my biggest peeve with Star Wars novels is that too many authors seem content to fill their books with ridiculous plot devices, endless battle scenes, and shallow characters. I’ve had enough of superweapons – after all, we all know the good guys defeat them. Unfortunately, I thought Sean Williams’ Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance, the first in the Old Republic series, exemplifies these problems. As such, I admit I approached Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived with…
New SWTOR Video interviews from G4TV
G4TV have added two new Star wars the old republic video interview to their library. The first one is with Daniel Erickson in witch he explains the gathering, crafting, and mission components that make up crew skills. There is not much new information coming from Mr. Erickson in this interview, although he mentions some race/class combos. The Second interview is with BioWare Co-Founder Dr. Ray Muzyka. This interview is more or less the same as the one gamespot did, but have some information on Dragon age 2 also. Check em both below: Video Description: Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the largest Star Wars game ever and will feature PvP. Morgan Webb here visits with BioWare Lead Writer Daniel Erickson for a look at Gathering, Crafting, and Missions, and the Warzones these battles will take place in. Video Description: BioWare Co-Founder Dr. Ray Muzyka could have coasted along for…
Star Wars Rarities: The Muppet Show featuring Luke Skywalker
From 1980, this episode of the Muppet Show starred Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. It starts off with scheduled guest Angus the Argyle Gargoyle getting ready to go on the air. But suddenly Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, and C-3PO crash into the studio, in search of Chewbacca the Wookiee, who was kidnapped, and since nobody liked Angus, they replaced his guest spot with the stars of Star Wars. Luke isn’t really interested in hosting the show, so he calls in his ‘cousin’ Mark Hamill to help out. Mark does the necessary song-and-dance parts, until Luke Skywalker and the droids hijack the Swine Trek. After the Swine Trek makes a smooth landing, Luke and the Droids are captured by Derth Nader, and Chewbacca the Wookiee comes to the rescue. It’s amazing. When I watch this, I become a kid again. I can see my parents next to me on our old couch,…
Gamebreaker SWTOR Video Blog #19
Gamebreaker.tv and Gary Gannon released Episode 19 of The Repulic, the SWTOR Vlog on Gamebreaker. As usual the 2 guys are covering the recent updates on the holonet, like last week’s Crew Skills update, as well as the renaming of the formerly known Jedi Wizard to Jedi Sage. They also feature the Hands on Preview of the german magazine Gamestar, that made huge waves last week as they were critizising the game’s core features.
Massively’s 2010 Player’s Choice Awards – VOTE SWTOR!
A few days ago we asked you to vote for Star Wars: The old Republic in the annual Reader’s Choice award over at MMORPG:com. Today Massively have posted the list of nominees for their Player’s Choice Awards as well, and not surprisingly our all time favourite upcoming mmorpg SWTOR is nominated. As we approach the end of 2010 (yes, already), we look back at not only an interesting year for MMOs, but also an amazing decade for such a young genre. We’ve had our highs and lows since last year’s awards, including the now-hilarious choice of APB as Most Anticipated for 2010 by the Massively staff. This year we have a new survey format, new categories and new nominees. We also have a new title, changing it from Reader’s Choice to Player’s Choice, to reflect the fact that you don’t necessarily need to be a Massively reader to vote. This…
How Stuff Works: Lightsabers
The lightsaber (less formally, the laser sword) was more than just the distinctive weapon of the Jedi, it was a segment of the order’s history and its ultimate symbol for millennia. There could be no Jedi without a lightsaber and no lightsaber without a Jedi in the eyes of galactic denizens. Over the years, it came to be associated with gallantry and elegance otherwise lost in an age of blasters. Jedi traditionally constructed their own lightsaber as part of their training. To carry a lightsaber was an example of incredible skill and confidence, dexterity and attuning to the Force. Since its plasma blade was essentially weightless, the weapon produced a gyroscopic effect, and so it was very difficult to handle safely. Yet this made the weapon ideal for force-sensitive users who’s ability to predict the various energy pulsations through the force allowed him or her to compensate for them. They…
May the schwartz be with you: Slave Leia is bringing sexy back
Back in april we did a post about Slave Leia Charity Car Wash. The Post did really well on DIGG and was featured in DiggNation. It also gave us a huge amount of complaints from some of readers though. Angry nerds telling us that the Slave Leia’s costume is overexposed, Portraying Slave Leia demeans her character, Most Slave Leia models aren’t portraying Slave Leia, Slave Leia is about attention, not cosplay and bla bla bla. Well… Here at swtorstrategies, we like slave Leia. We even admit to have dirty fantasies about her. So in honor of that we bring you 25 damn hot sexy slave Leia drawing. [Edit: The US government asked us to remove 10 pictures, or we would be prosecuted for rape in Sweden] By J. Scott Campbell By Lu ? By Alexis P. Millan By Gelatomettista By J. Scott Campbell By Laurie B By Jessasketch by *jasinmartin By Scott Zmbelli By mainasha
Daniel Erickson & Gabe Amatangelo Interview by Game Revolution
Game Revolution Posted an interview with Daniel Erickson and Gabe Amatangelo the other day. The interview don’t bring anything new to the table, but it is still worth a watch – at least you get to check out this chick Alex and Mr. Erickson’s very benevolent arm resting behind her ( Hope you got her home safe buddy). Some small notes: Purple items mentioned (in regards to Treasure Hunting crits). “No crafting in PvP”. PvP is: “players fighting other players” (groundbreaking!) Philosophy to always be able to progress your character being described as “Multi-path playing” (through PvP, PvE, Space Combat etc).
Know your Lore: Atris
Atris was a female Jedi Master and Jedi historian who sat on the Jedi High Council during both the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War. She viewed the Jedi Order as a symbol of light, justice, and perfection. All this changed, however, when the Jedi Exile defied the council and participated in the Mandalorian Wars alongside Revan and Malak. Having one whom she cared about defy everything she believed in shook Atris to her very core. During the First Jedi Purge, Atris arranged a Jedi conclave on Katarr in the hope of drawing out the Sith. The plan failed, and many Jedi died. She went into seclusion, surrounding herself with those who could not feel the Force. Influenced by Sith holocrons she had been collecting, Atris gradually fell to the dark side. She was eventually confronted by the Jedi Exile, and after a heated lightsaber duel, Atris was defeated. The…
Remember to vote for Star Wars: The Old Republic!
As the end of 2010 quickly approaches, it’s time for the annual Reader’s Choice awards over at MMORPG.com. Currently they are asking for your input as to what game(s) currently in development that you are most looking forward to playing. Check out the nominees and then cast your vote for Most 2010 Awards: Most Anticipated: It’s that time of year again, as the holidays approach and our thoughts turn to snow and peace and love and what’s that other thing… right, gifts. Hey, it’s tradition and tradition is important. Speaking of tradition, it’s time to kick off the voting for the annual MMORPG.com reader’s choice awards. You know the drill, we give you a bunch of nominees in our specially selected categories and you vote and in the name of good fun, argue about your choices until a winner is declared in early 2011. This year, our categories are: Game…
Friday Update: Closer Look at Crew Skills
Game Systems Designer Patrick Malott talks about the Crew Skill system and reveals another crafting skill (though the systems page hasn’t been updated yet): Armstech. Here’s the blog: Introduction I’m Patrick Malott. I’ve worked as a Game Systems Designer on various titles over the years, but what we’re working on here at BioWare Austin is my dream project: Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. In my current role, designing and building out the Crew Skills system is one of the biggest projects I’m involved in. As a passionate multiplayer online gamer myself, I know that crafting is a critical part of the experience for many of you, and I’m dedicated to making sure you enjoy the way it works in The Old Republic. In this blog, I want to shed some light on the design decisions we’re making with Crew Skills… and I might just drop a few new specifics on the Armstech crafting…
Friday Update: Goodbye old Wizard… Hello Sage
The Jedi Wizard has officially been renamed. Here’s the official news: A few weeks ago, we asked the community to help us rename the Jedi Wizard advanced class. Thousands of votes and many posts full of lively debate later, the polls have closed, and we have a clear winner! Without further ado: The new name for the Jedi Wizard is… Jedi Sage! Thanks to everyone who participated in the voting process. Your feedback is always important to us, so please join us on the forums and let us know what you think about the game. – The Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ team For anyone who’s been following the official poll(s) (even if just looking at them once since they were posted) it shouldn’t come as a surprise that “Jedi Sage” came out the winner. Even so I’m glad that we’re rid of the “Wizard” name and will enjoy playing…
May the schwartz be with you: More Star Wars Pin-ups
Back in April we gave you the pleasure of the Empire Pin-ups. Since then we have discovered another artist : Morten Moeslund ( A Dane like me 🙂 ) who have made a serie of Star wars Pin-ups that makes me want to visit a galaxy far far away with some laser condoms… Bastila Shan Deena Shan Fem Trooper Imperia Officer Jaina Solo Jan Ors Juno Eclipse Unknown Jedi Mara Jade Mara Jade Mira from Kotorll Padmé Amidala Unknown Sith TieFighter Pilot X-Wing Pilot