BioWare and LucasArts–creators of the hugely popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game–have combined their storytelling talents and cutting-edge technology for an innovative new massively multiplayer online role-playing game that allows players to create their own personal Star Wars adventure 3,500 years before the rise of Darth Vader. Now #1 New York Times bestselling author Sean Williams brings the world of the game to life in his latest novel, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance. Tassaa Bareesh, a matriarch in the Hutt crime cartel, is holding an auction that’s drawing attention from across the galaxy. Representatives of both the Republic and the Sith Empire are present, along with a Jedi Padawan sent to investigate, a disenfranchised trooper drummed out of the Republic’s elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian with a private agenda. But the Republic’s envoy is not what he seems, the Empire’s delegate is…
Author: Soeren Kamper
May the schwartz be with you: Steve Jobs Lightsaber Battle in Antennagate!
Apple founder Steve Jobs has been busy defending the iPhone 4, which has been mired in problems since before its launch. The latest scandal to crop up, dubbed “Antennagate,” is so-named because the phone’s antenna gets poor reception if the phone is held the wrong way. Check out this awesome animation from NMANews explain Antennagate, while showing an epic lightsaber battle between Steve Jobs and Microsoft’s Bill Gates. Jobs also has some rather impressive Force lightning skills. Translated: Apple’s founder Jobs helped the company reach billions in revenue – thanks to the iPod & the iPhone’s success. (lightsabre scene) Apple seems to be even bigger than Microsoft right now, and Jobs is becoming a leader in cutting edge technology. But some say, the bigger Jobs gets, the more evil he becomes. (Force field appears) When Gizmondo got a hold of the iPhone 4 model, Jobs ordered the police to search…
The Guild – Star Wars Fun
Hey everyone! Okay, last week I promised that I’d look into some more guild related stuff, but as it so happens, I’m one of those special breeds called “lazy”, and as such, I didn’t really get it done in time. So I’ll postpone it untill next week. I did, however, find time to post a few funny movies I’ve enjoyed several times, and I hope you will as well. Some of them you might already know, but I think most of these are worth more than one view! Luke getting yelled at by Vader Vader being a smartass What if Obi Wan had used force run? Vader feels blue Dramatic star wars chipmunk If you find yourself holding on to some information you’d like to spread around, or if you simply have to get something off your chest – don’t hesitate, send me that e-mail right away! All subjects concering…
More making of the Music for Star Wars: The Old Republic
GameSpot brings an extra dose of yesterdays goodies, as they go behind the scenes at Skywalker Sound. The website interviews, the 5 full-time composer who work on the music for Star Wars: The Old Republic, about the challenges and the excitement of not only writing their own pieces for the game, but also how they had to look at the music John Williams composed 30 years ago without copying his music and style. We have some really, really talented people working on this project. I think it’s going to sound spectacular. – Will Roget, Composer Check ut the full movie below, or watch it at Gamespot (Video also available in HD) Update: One sharp-eyed fan, Chronium, in the official swtor forums caught the title of the sheet music in Gamespot’s video documentary about the music of TOR. At the top it clearly says, “Corellia Intro.” Could this mean that Han Solo’s home planet will…
Star Wars: The Old Republic – This is War
SolotheHawk has made a pretty impressive mashup of the two Star Wars: The old republic trailers and 30 seconds to Mars tune This is War. Definitely worth a watch. I know I’m going to be busy playing this when it comes out Spring 2011. I know I listed the music and the programs used in the credits, but I figured I’d list them here too. Music: This is War – 30 seconds to Mars Programs: Windows Movie Maker 2.6 | Adobe After Effects (After Effects was used strictly for making the credits and wasn’t used in the actual editing of the video) This is a fan-made video and in no way do I own any of the material used in it. Nor am I affiliated with any of the owners. Star Wars: The Old Republic is owned and developed by Bioware and published by LucasArts.
Friday Update: Music & Sounds of The Old Republic
This friday update gives us an incredible Developer Dispatch about the making of music for Star Wars: The old republic. The movie also shows lot’s of new in game footage that I can imagine we will see tons of dissection of over the next few weeks. The emotional experience of Star Wars™ comes to life in new music created exclusively for The Old Republic™. From soft melodies that ring in the forest of Alderaan to the magnificent booming of a battle scene on Ord Mantell, a talented team of composers, musicians and developers came together to create a magical score for the game. Watch Developer Dispatch: Music of The Old Republic to see what goes into weaving the familiar Star Wars riffs with a new original score. And learn how music impacts the thrilling moments in video games as well as movies. You can watch the whole movie below: Sticking…
Blood of the Empire #7 is now live
A few weeks ago we reported about the German version of Blood of the Empire #7. Now the official version in English is live. In the seventh issue of Blood of the Empire™, Teneb Kel finds himself beaten and bloodied in the aftermath of the Lenico colony’s destruction. Trapped on a strange planet, he must draw upon the ancient Sith arts in order to ensure his survival–and to learn the secrets he needs to resume his vendetta against Exal Kressh. Check out the latest issue of Blood of the Empire now!
The starwars.com Forums Get A Facelift
Who better to tell you about the changes to the SW.com Forums then StarWars.com… “Fans who like to talk about everything Star Wars on our forums might noticed the brand-new redesign and features. If you haven’t been to the new Star Wars Forums, now’s a good time to start. The Forums are broken down into categories of interest such as the Movies, the Expanded Universe, Video Games, Roleplaying Games, Fan Activities and Events, and more. Collectors will enjoy our new extensive section dedicated to everything from vintage and modern toys, as well as other collectibles. Fans can chat to their hearts content about The Clone Wars in the new Star Wars on Television section. Don’t feel like talking about Star Wars? Have fun sharing comments in The Cantina section about everything from your favorite sports team to the TV shows you can’t stop raving about. Customize your forums experience with…
Bioware: thoughts on game development
BioWare is a company that’s known for its big titles, like Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age. The one thing all these have in common is their size; in terms of length, depth, and scope, BioWare adventures and RPGs are all epic. But BioWare co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk says the company is currently working on a small-scale MMO and is looking at titles for non-console platforms. Dr. Greg Zeschuk was on stage at this year’s Develop Conference in Brighton yesterday, providing wisdom culled from over 15 years in the development trenches at the top-tier developer. Over the course of the keynote, Zeschuk warned against new developers aiming to create blockbusters, stating “Striving to do triple-A console development right now is the wrong goal for most developers.” Zeschuk also spoke of the drastic changes that come with success, noting that BioWare has had a tough…
Special Reveal at Comic-Con.. If you hack your friends Facebook account.
Sean Dahlberg posted an announcement on the official Star Wars: The old republic forums: If we can help Bioware get 200.000 followers on Facebook and 30.000 followers on Twitter, we get cookies. Comic-Con International is almost upon us! You already know about the “Beyond Solo” panel being held on Friday, but we have something extra we want to announce during it. You’re going to work for this one, though. If we get at least 200,000 “Likes” on our Facebook page and 30,000 Followers on our Twitter page by Friday, July 23rd, 2010, we will bring you this cool reveal! So there you have it. Get your friends, family, inmates, drug dealers, parole officers and random people you meet on the street to join the Star Wars: The old republic Facebook page and twitter account. And while you are at it. Get them join ours also 🙂
What if Luke Skywalker missed?
Luke snatches defeat from the jaws of victory in this re-edit of “A New Hope” After boasting to the more experienced pilots of Red Squadron, he arrives late for the attack, disobeys orders and ignores Obi-Wan’s repeated pleas to use the force. Han Solo is not impressed with Luke and must now deal with a vengeful Darth Vader and all Red Five can do is watch from above as the veteran Red Leader calmly demonstrates the correct way to fire a proton torpedo down a thermal exhaust port. Mark Dury mixed dialogue from the original trilogy with the Death Star scene in A New Hope, turning Luke into a worthless moron who can do nothing but watch as someone else picks up his slack.
Kemp’s The Old Republic: Deceived in schedule shuffle
Sue Rostoni updated her schedule blog today, and most of 2011 is affected. A lot of the moves are only by a month or so, however, and perhaps the biggest news here is that Timothy Zahn’s Allegiance sequel finally has an official title: Hand of Judgment. It’s also moved up a month to July. The most pressing move is Paul S. Kemp’s The Old Republic: Deceived, which drops from December to March – to be closer to the release of the MMO. Joe Schreiber’s Red Harvest moved into the vacant late-December spot. Also drastically pushed back were Alex Irvine’s Nomi Sunrider novel (from May to December 2011) and Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion (to March 2012.) As for the rest, check clubjade’s book schedule.
Revenge of the Robot Chicken: Star Wars
Great news for fans of Star Wars parody: Robot Chicken’s third Star Wars episode will premiere December 12, with pretty-boy Zac Efron voicing Anakin. They’re trying something new this time: From the SW.com announcement: Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken returns to that galaxy far, far away for a brand-new Star Wars-themed special premiering December 12 at 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). This third installment in the Robot Chicken: Star Wars trilogy follows the two previous specials, which resulted in multiple Emmy nominations and numerous Annie Awards for both specials, the writers, Ahmed Best for voice actor and Seth Green for directing. Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III, to be directed by Chris McKay, marries the satirical sensibilities of Green and Matthew Senreich’s (Stoopid Monkey Productions) Emmy-winning Robot Chicken with characters of the Star Wars universe. The specials and the Robot Chicken series, the highest-rated original program on Adult Swim, are created in conjunction…
TOROcast Exclusive with Deborah Shin and Rob Cowles
They guys over at TOROcast have put up an excellent interview with Deborah Shin, Marketing Manager for BioWare, and Rob Cowles, Marketing Manager for Lucas Arts. I wasn’t aware that this was interesting people until I found out they work closely with Darth Dahlberg on what, were and when new info is being released on Star Wars: The old republic. While at E3 2010 Brandon and I had the chance to sit down and talk with Deborah Shin, Marketing Manager for BioWare, and Rob Cowles, Marketing Manager for Lucas Arts. The first thought through your mind is most likely, “why in gods name would I want to watch an interview with the Marketing Managers for a video game?” Well, the answer to that question is this, Deb and Rob work closely with Sean Dahlberg in picking out what and when something will be released about TOR. The three of them…
May the schwartz be with you: Entire Star Wars “The Empire Strikes Back” in MS Paint [GIF]
Earlier this month, we posted Entire Star Wars “A New Hope” in MS Paint. After a hefty debate on DIGG, it came to our attention that the creator of this little jewel was a guy name foldsfive. Foldsfive, with the civil name David Court ultimately joined the discussion on DIGG and shared that there were more treasures to be found around on the internet. Sometimes I find myself amazed by the internet. How something I made an age ago can suddenly pick up interest again. It was something I made for fun (as an experiment to see whether I could do it, more than anything) for a site (www.b3ta.com) that wouldn’t post anything bigger than 250k. I did it all from memory, so the stuff about my incorrect lightsabre colours couldn’t interest me less. (and jesus wept, people accuse ME of not having a life for making it). At the end of the day doing that stuff donkeys…
SWTOR audiovisual REMIX
Tukor From the Akelarre Guild has put together a pretty awesome Star Wars: The old republic video. It’s basically all the official video footage mixed with last years decived trailer and this years hope trailer plus a new soundtrack. Great watch that I recommend you to check out:
Soccer Wars!
Welcome back to ”The Guild”! This week I’ll be paying attention to some ideas, well one idea mainly, brought to my attention by Danny Jarzebowski, a reader who contacted me. (Okay I admit it, what you are about to read is something I completely stole from DJ!) Now I know that when you read about the idea, it might seem a bit, well, insane at first, but actually it might be doable and that with success. This is basically what I talked with DJ about. (remarks in () are by the oppressor Peter) “Hey I got an intresting idea! I’d love to play soccer in SWToR, you know like battlegrounds and stuff like that but you get skills like Sprint or Pass and play with your character in game!” “I think a lot of people would enjoy that, I sure would!” At first I thought- Dude, we’re still playing the…
Daniel Erickson: “Star Wars: The old Republic is your dream game”
ComputerAndVideoGames.com posted an interview with lead designer and story writer Daniel Erickson. In it Daniel claims that Star Wars: The Old Republic is “the dream game” for BioWare fans and for MMO fans: “”If you are a hardcore, traditional Bioware fan – a Mass Effect or especially Dragon [Age] fan – this is the dream game. It is an RPG forever. It is an RPG that at the speed and pace that I play RPGs as a gamer, five or ten hours a week, I could never finish this game,” Erickson says. He doesn’t stop there though. “If the idea of story and context really turns you off, if what you want is [just the] complete Disneyland experience, where you run on the rides and repeat the stuff, this probably isn’t your favorite MMO,”. Check out the original post at CVG. And if you’re lucky enough to be attending the…
Consequences for leaking Information about Star Wars: The old republic
Sean Dahlberg explained to us on the community forum, what should be done, if you encounter any leaked information about Star Wars: The Old Republic. either on the official forum or any other website. He continues to point out the consequences for revealing information that has not yet been released officially by Bioware. These consequences range from a simple request to delete your post to being suspended from any Star Wars: The Old Republic ‘service’ indefintely. Below, we have listed Sean Dahlberg’s official responses. Consequences “”Being able to have the community help us test The Old Republic is very important and valuable to the development process. The Game Testing Program allows community members to give us quality feedback so we can make adjustments and have a highly effective service and entertaining experience when we do launch. Since we have some time until the game is complete, some of the information testers have…
May the schwartz be with you: Yoda records for TomTom GPS
“You’re gonna kill people if you give directions like that,” the frustrated sound engineer tries to tell Yoda as the Jedi master continues to grammatically invert directions in this latest adpromoting TomTom’s new Star Wars-themed voice series. Frankly, we’re almost excited enough to go buy a TomTom GPS unit JUST to get this voice pack.
The official first testing phase for SWTOR begins
The long awaited testing phase of Star Wars: The Old Republic has officially begun. The announcement was made today in the game’s Friday release and testers that have been selected will gain access to the new Star Wars universe. From LucasArts: “Game Testing for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ is underway! Those selected to test will gain access to the game and be able to provide valuable feedback to help tune particular areas of gameplay and begin the process of balancing and tweaking content. Game Testing is an on-going process being rolled out in several phases. These phases began with smaller, more focused tests with community members from North America, and later will expand to other territories. Users selected for the test program will be notified via email with more information on accessing the Game Testing Portal. Those not chosen yet may be selected in the next wave! For those…
Corellian Run Potcast #1
The girls over at Corellian Run Radio had their first podcast up yesterday. It’s a pretty interesting listen that I recommender you all to check out. Our first podcast is done and submitted for your perusal! It’s been a long haul from the first glorious days of let’s-do-a-show innocence to the in-the-trenches reality of forgetting to push the button when you record. It was great fun putting it together – we hope you enjoy it too. Check it out here
The Old Republic #1 “Threat of Peace” printed edition on sale this week
This week marks the release of the printed edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic #1 “Threat of Peace.” This series was originally printed online at the official Star Wars: The Old Republic website last year. Writer Rob Chestney and artist Alex Sanchez help set the stage for the new MMO video game world set 3,650 years before A New Hope. Look for two distinct covers on this issue. Benjamin Carré has the jaunty Jedi version, while Attik Studios produces a Sith styled one. This is the first of three issues.
Rob Chestney Signing in Austin, TX
theforce.net is reporting that Rob Chestney will be signing in Austin, TX. this Thursday at 5-7 pm Rob Chestney is an employee of Bioware and one of the game developers of the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic massively multiplayer online game. He also is the writer of the Star Wars: The Old Republic – Threat of Peace webcomic, which will tie into the videogame. He also wrote The Old Republic: Smuggler’s Vanguard, a short story published exclusively on StarWars.com which tells a story about an adventure of the Mirialan smuggler, Hylo Visz. Star Wars: The Old Republic Rob Chestney Signing Thursday 5 – 7pm Austin Books & Comics is thrilled to be joined by writer Rob Chestney for the debut of Star Wars: The Old Republic #1! This new series sets the stage for the hotly-anticipated massive multiplayer online game, and publisher Dark Horse went to the game’s developer…