Author: Soeren Kamper

Feudal Japanese Star Wars Art

Artist Steve Bialik represents legendary Star Wars characters as samurai from traditional Japanese art. Darth Vader and Jabba The Hutt are a lot less scary when they are illustrated as a bald dude in a mask and a giant bullfrog. Obi-Wan Kenobi Yoda Han Solo & Chewbacca the Oni Boba Fett Darth Vader Emperor Palpatine Jabba the Hutt

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Know your lore: Juhani

Juhani was a Cathar female who was a Jedi. She was a survivor of the Genocide of Cathar, spending her childhood on Taris during the Mandalorian Wars as a refugee. Sold into slavery after the death of her parents, Juhani was freed by Revan, who inspired her to join the Jedi Order. She was accepted for Jedi training at the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine and apprenticed to Jedi Master Quatra. Near the close of the Jedi Civil War, Juhani briefly fell to the dark side of the Force, but was redeemed by Revan, whom she then sought to aid in turn by offering support in his quest to find the Star Forge. In aiding Revan, she played a role in the defeat of Darth Malak and the Sith, and was awarded the Cross of Glory. Early life In the early days of the Mandalorian aggression that would culminate in the…

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Lead Systems Designer Talks About the Third Element of Creating MMORPGs

SW:TOR Lead Designer talks about the third element of MMORPGs. This week’s update from Star Wars: The Old Republic is an article from Principal Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert, who talks about designing systems for MMORPGs. Community is one of the major elements that is needed to make a successful MMORPG, one that Schubert refers to as the whole ball of wax. To me, as an MMO designer, community is the whole ball of wax. Let’s face it, if you wanted to play just a ‘game’, you’d be off playing a single player roleplaying game. If you wanted a ‘world’, maybe you’d play a life-simulation game. But community – well, that’s the whole ‘massively multiplayer’ part of MMO. When you look at it this way, ‘community’ is at least as important as ‘game’ or ‘world’ in this debate. While they have added the opportunity for players to solo their way…

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Star Wars Pin-Ups

Feng Zhu is an illustrator who work for movie design and cover art, and actually he worked on the designs of the Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith for Lucasfilm As you can see he did some pretty cool Posters for calling young male around the galaxy to Join the empire.

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Sarlacc Enforcer, Devourer of Injustice

It’s april fools day, and Bioware has a great one for us – Sarlacc Enforcer, Devourer of Injustice Think you’ve seen all the playable classes in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™? Think again! We’ve saved the best for last! Now you can realize your fantasy of playing as a Sarlacc Enforcer in Star Wars: The Old Republic! For thousands of years, the brave souls who answer to the name Sarlacc have been the ultimate authority on final judgment in the galaxy. A perfect combination of ruthless efficiency and calculated precision, the Sarlacc Enforcers make sure the galaxy’s trash doesn’t have a chance to pile up. Access the latest HoloNet entry now to see a full profile of the deadly Sarlacc Enforcer, including combat footage of the Sarlaccs in action! From the holonet I can read that this is my type of class 😉 Patient, Calculating, & Elusive The galaxy is…

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BioWare’s Countdown Clock Reveals the BioWare Bazaar

About a week ago, BioWare launched a new countdown clock on their site that has had gamers watching it patiently to see what exactly it means. The countdown is officially over as of 12:00pm EST today and the big secret revealed by the countdown is the new BioWare Bazaar, a series of week-long mock online auctions that will begin on April 6th, 2010. In order to bid on the more than 400 items ranging from custom Alienware laptops to BioWare apparel, and much more, fans will need to collect tokens through various challenges to acquire tokens for bidding. The first auction is scheduled to begin at Tuesday, April 6th at 9:00am PST. New items will be made available every 15 minutes from there. The auction series will end at 4:00pm PST on Saturday, April 10th, 2010. What are you waiting for? Click here to learn more.

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SW:TOR Community Manager Responds to XBox 360 Rumor

Yesterday a rumor surfaced that Star Wars: The Old Republic (SW:TOR) could possibly be heading to the XBox 360 according to a new internal Xbox 360 release list acquired by VG247. The list details scheduled for release next year, but the most curious entry is near the bottom of the document that states SW:TOR on the Xbox 360 list marked with TBC-2011 release. However, it looks like for the moment the rumor is just that, despite the information in the document. SW:TOR Community Manager Sean “Ashen Temper” Dahlberg responded to the discussion on the official SW:TOR forums, emphasizing that SW:TOR is being developed for the PC with Windows as an operating system at this time. I know many of you have heard this before but I’ll go ahead and reiterate it for those of you who may be new: Star Wars: The Old Republic is currently being developed for the…

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Sign up for our newsletter!

Hey its Clayton here.. I just want to say that just a few days ago we set up a newsletter just for YOU. Here’s what you’ll get: -The latest and best Swtor news and updates -A bunch of cool stuff including a free swtor eBook/handbook that Soren and I are putting together -Subscriber-only content and much more… So just put your first name and your email address in the signup form on the right and send us feedback on anything that you would like to tell us about! Thanks again (P.S, our Facebook page is almost at 5,000 fans thanks to all of you!) -Clayton

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Know your lore: T3-M4

T3-M4 (also called Teethree for short) was a T3-series utility droid built as a master slicer for crime lord Davik Kang. His life of crime was short-lived, however, after Taris was bombarded by the Sith and Davik was killed. He then accompanied Revan on his search for the Star Forge. Sometime after defeating Darth Malak, Revan left for the Unknown Regions, leaving T3-M4 with the Ebon Hawk. The droid then used the ship to rescue the Jedi Exile from Darth Sion, and aided her in her quest to stop the Sith Triumvirate. Biography Travels with Revan T3-M4 was a late-prototype model of the T3-series utility droid, built on Taris by Janice Nall for the local crime lord Davik Kang in 3,956 BBY. The droid was top-of-the-range for its time, and featured exceptional code-breaking and computer slicing skills, in addition to being able to mount armor and weapon upgrades. T3-M4’s original…

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While we wait for The Old Republic: Immolation

Set during the Great Jedi Civil War, a Sith apprentice is on the run from the Brotherhood, after failing his most important test. A young Jedi Sentinel is drawn by the Force to seek out the failed Sith apprentice, and tracks him to the snowy world Ziost. Can he reach the him before he is destoyed by the Sith trackers? Download the HQ version of this film at: immolationmovie.com or kuatengineer.webs.com This film takes place during the ero of Knights of the Old Republic… During the apex of Sith power during the great Jedi Civil War, just before infighting tore the Sith Order apart, a young recruit was apprenticed to lead a life with the Brotherhood that he had not fully embraced. Failing his last and most important trial, the Brotherhood deemed him unfit to be Sith and hunted him to a snowy training world inside Sith Space to exterminate…

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HoloNet offers new character biographies

SW:TOR HoloNet offers new character biographies. . Have you ever wondered who some of those characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Deceived trailer or the Threat of Peace comics are? With the latest release from BioWare you can find out. The HoloNet has been updated with new biographies for several characters that will be expanded over time. For now, you can get a look at some of the biographical profiles of Grand Moff Kilran, Nem’Ro The Hutt, and Grand Master Satele Shan. Curious about some of the characters you’ve seen in Threat of Peace™, the Developer Walkthrough, or the “Deceived” cinematic trailer? Now you can find out all about them! We are thrilled to introduce a new expansion to our HoloNet archives: Biographies! Now you can view profiles of several of the galaxy’s most notable figures. Each entry highlights someone you may meet, travel with, or fight alongside or…

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Smuggler’s Vanguard

The first update today is the release of a short story by Robert Chestney named “Smuggler’s Vanguard”, giving a closer look at one of the characters from the Timeline. Here’s the official news: Get a closer look at one of the most popular characters from the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Timeline series. Hylo Visz, the daring Mirialan pilot who broke the Mandalorian Blockade, is the protagonist in a new short story published on StarWars.com. Written by BioWare’s Robert Chestney, ‘Smuggler’s Vanguard’ tells a story from Hylo’s past, when she was contracting on a high profile job for the Hutt crime cartel. Caught between two of the Hutts’ most brutish goons and a suspicious Corellian corporation, Hylo is forced to rely on her instincts and her luck to squirm out of a difficult situation and find a way to profit against the odds. Check out ‘Smuggler’s Vanguard’ on StarWars.com now!

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This is not the Game Tester Login page that you are looking for…

Sean Dahlberg posted on the forum in regards to the “hidden launch website“, confirming that it is indeed a game tester login page: You have indeed found the login portal for Game Testing. That said, this is not a new page and we are not ready to make any additional announcements about our Game Testing Program. When we are ready, we will make sure The Old Republic Community is the first to know! If you haven’t signed up yet to be a tester or wish to learn more, access our Game Testing Portal. And a little later he posted some more answers: A couple of quick answers: Yes, it is indeed called the Game Testing Program and not anything else. As when we originally announced sign-ups, Game testing for Star Wars: The Old Republic will be rolled out in several phases over an extended period of time. These test phases…

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Launch site for SWTOR?

I read a story this morning and it looks like some members of the swtor forum have found a “launch site” for SWTOR! The link can be found below.. You have to login with your account information and when you login there will be a message in red that says “No game servers are currently available for play.” This is obviously going to be the site where the beta will be played 🙂 This is super exciting to all of us who have been waiting for the beta and for the launch of next year.. This site proves to us that they are making more and more progress with the game… They’re setting up the servers and getting everything ready for a nearing beta launch and we will possibly hear an official launch date very soon 🙂 So what do YOU think that this could mean? Leave your comments below!…

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Daniel Erickson shares more insight on the Sith

Mondays story about Star Wars: The Old Republic writer Daniel Erickson’s explanation of how someone writes for the Sith Empire sparked a huge amount of discussion on the official forums. There was so much discussion in fact, that Daniel Erickson took to the official forums to further explain his reasoning and thought process behind writing from the Empire’s point of view. Of the conversation occurring across the official forums, Erickson had to say, “An interesting thread. I always like to see what responses the philosophical discussions provoke. Hopefully people noticed that there were no quotes from me saying the Sith were good — even the interviewer ended on it being an excuse to unleash ones hate.“” After that intro, Erickson goes on to deftly explain the complexities behind writing for ostensibly the “evil side” in a manner that makes them more than dastardly villains with cape and cane. It’s a…

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May the schwartz be with you: Darth Vader Feels Blue

Have you ever wondered what Anakin Skywalker had underneath that Darth Vader mask of his? Well, this video will reveal all the wonders of that unanswered question… This is a touching moment between father and son as Darth Vader demonstrates a talent to Luke that didn’t come from the force. Vader has some blues in him and plays his built in harmonica beautifully. Watch as Darth Va­der busts in­to a blu­es jam right in the mid­dle of a dra­ma­tic sce­ne..

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Genocide and Jedi: why the Sith may be right in Old Republic

arstechnic has a great interview with Daniel Erickson about who the real bad guys are in Star Wars: “The one thing you’re never going to hear is ‘make the bad guys less interesting.’” I’m sitting in an out-of-the-way room of Lucasarts with Daniel Erickson, who keeps swinging back to one topic: why the people we’ve come to hate in the Star Wars universe act as they do. He’s given this some thought; as the lead writer on Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming Star Wars MMO, it’s his job to help tell both sides of the story. In our time together we discuss the extended universe, he makes the case for Grand Admiral Thrawn, and explains how the Jedi attempted genocide… and why the Sith may just be right. While we’re on the topic of the extended universe, he brings up the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn. “Thrawn is…

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Know your lore: Jolee Bindo

Jolee Bindo was a Human Jedi who participated in the Rimward missions, fought in the Great Sith War against Exar Kun, and went into self-imposed exile on Kashyyyk soon afterwards. Near the close of the Jedi Civil War, he joined Revan against Darth Malak and was awarded the Cross of Glory for his part in the triumph of the Galactic Republic over the Sith Empire. Biography   Life as a Padawan During his days as a Jedi Padawan, Jolee was considered brash and reckless, often defying the will of the Jedi Council in order to do what he felt was right, as exemplified by his actions during the blockade of the Ukatis system. Cut off from the rest of the galaxy by its own king, the Ukatis system was unable to receive food and supplies, and no help from the Senate was forthcoming. Jolee decided to help the people himself….

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Is SWTOR worth 2 million users

Yesterday IndustryGamers reported that, according to one analyst, EA are looking to get 2 million subscribers when Star Wars: The Old Republic releases next year. Many have since speculated that EA needed this amount of subscribers for the game to break eave. In a genre where only one game has ever exceeded two million subscribers at $15 per month, that’s a very high standard to put yourself up against. Then again, we are talking about Star Wars, beloved by geeks the world over. We’re also talking about BioWare, who have blown many gamers away with the awesomeness of Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins. Over at massively they discuss this matter in further details. A a really good read I recommend to check out: Two million is possible worldwide, right? The other issue that I’m hanging on is the fact that 2 million subscribers is a far fetch for…

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GDC 2010 Wrap up

With GDC last week, even though Star Wars: The Old Republic had no specific presence, there were a number of interviews and details popping up all over the web. In particular from the off-site event that LucasArts held where the press got some hands-on time with a Trooper. Over on the official forums Sean Dahlberg made a post listing a lot of them (some of which I already reported on before): While there were no panels this year specifically related to The Old Republic during Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2010, there are a few panels that consisted of BioWare developers. There was also an off-site event specifically for The Old Republic that various press and fan sites were invited to. None of this information will show up till early next week so keep your eyes peeled for that. We will be updating the list in this post as more articles…

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EA are looking to get 2 million subscribers for SW:TOR

IndustryGamers reports that, according to one analyst, EA are looking to get 2 million subscribers when Star Wars: The Old Republic releases next year: Between major successes like Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2, BioWare has quickly become one of the most important studios throughout all of Electronic Arts since the publisher acquired the RPG specialists. EA has already indicated that the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO is the “largest ever development project, period, in the history of the company,” and it’s quite clear that expectations for this title are huge. Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia recently came away from a meeting with EA and reported that although “earnings are somewhat depressed due to ongoing expenses of the Star Wars MMO, management has high hopes for this and believes 2M+ subs is possible.” He added that a little over 1 million subscribers is needed to reach the break-even…

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