The above picture was one of the early pictures released by Bioware. The picture is of Ithorian witch became a playable race in Star Wars Galaxies in the “jump to lightspeed” expansion. Ithorians were a mammalian herbivorous sentient species from the planet Ithor. They were commonly called “Hammerheads” by less sensitive beings because of their long, curving neck and T-shaped head. They found this nickname offensive. Biology and appearance Ithorians had two mouths and four throats, allowing them to speak in stereo. Female Ithorians had two humps on the back of their head, while males had only one. They had glossy, usually brown flesh. They stood roughly between 1.8 to 2.3 meters (5ft 10in. to 7ft 6in.) from eyestalk to toe. Their reflexes and coordination were somewhat slower than that of average humanoids. In addition to allowing them to speak their unique stereophonic language, the Ithorians’ four throats also had the…
Author: Soeren Kamper
Know your Lore: Calo Nord
Calo Nord, a Human male, was an infamous bounty hunter who lived during the Jedi Civil War, a galaxy-spanning conflict initiated by the Sith Lords Darth Revan and Darth Malak. Nord was sold into slavery by his mother and father at a young age. On his sixteenth birthday, he killed his slave masters and tracked down his parents, murdering them as well. A bounty was placed on Nord, but he eliminated every mercenary that pursued him. Once the attempts on his life ended, Nord murdered those who had placed the bounty and became a bounty hunter by trade, taking assignments from any party that paid. Nord occasionally worked for the Exchange criminal syndicate boss Davik Kang but had been also contracted by the Galactic Republic for operations in the Core. During the final year of the Jedi Civil War, Nord was on the planet Taris for business with Kang while…
May the schwartz be with you: Aard Wars: Attack of the clay
This little video was mailed to me this morning. While it kind of break some happy childhood memories, couldn’t stop laughing. Wallace and Gromit will never bee the same again 🙂
Blood of the Empire
And here I thought that the combat video was awesome enough to carry this Friday on its own. But it seems that next to the video documentary on combat we get not one, not two, but three more updates this Friday. Of course none of them are quite as awesome as the video, but still. First there is the news that Threat of Peace has gone to print: Great news for comic book collectors! BioWare, LucasArts, and Dark Horse Comics are gearing up for the release of a three issue comic series of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Threat of Peace™. Each issue features 27 vibrant full-color story pages, and will be priced at $2.99. Experience the passions and convictions driven by a handful of Star Wars™ heroes and villains as they reignite a legendary war between dark and light in this comic series originally published entirely online. The story…
Dev Diary: Combat in STAR WARS: The Old Republic
We usually get our dose of Star Wars: The Old Republic news on Friday, but GameTrailers recently managed to get their hands on an exclusive developer diary featuring BioWare and LucasArt developers detailing combat in the game. What’s even better, there’s more in-game combat video. Ever wonder why anyone would want to play anything but a Sith or Jedi? Find out from the team creating the classes themselves. [UPDATE] And the official news is live: Whether you dream of beating the odds with just your luck and a blaster, or imagine restoring order to the galaxy with Force powers and a Lightsaber, you’ll have your chance in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. We’ve talked a lot about how The Old Republic is innovating on storytelling in MMOs, and now we want to share with you how combat in The Old Republic will deliver a new level of excitement for fans….
While we wait for The Old Republic: KOTOR the Movie part 1
Sooo you haven’t played the best game ever made, And you still want to play Star Wars: The old republic. Ohh well.. Over the next few weeks you get the chance to understand the full back story as we show you the games cut together as a movie. Sorry about the popups. It’s not our site, but the nice people hosting the movie having their way. Guess it’s a small price for watching a two hour long movie for free. Hopefully we will have part 2 up by the weekend. Enjoy! Update: From the comments section: Kevsmets said… I actually am the creator of this movie… Episode 2 is finished as well… we have a whole forum community if you want to check it out, plus a youtube page and even a streaming channel called KOTOR TV! Forums: http://z11.invisionfree.com/KOTOR_Movies/ Youtube home: http://www.youtube.com/user/kevinsocal2k6 KOTOR TV: http://www.livestream.com/kotortv Download linkDVD Torrent Creators youtubeForum link Star…
How stuff works: Pazaak
Pazaak, an ancient game dating back to Old Republic times, was a popular card game in which the goal was to reach 20 without going over, or at least come closer to it than the opponent. The player with the nearest sum to the number 20 won the round, and the player who won three rounds won the match. If in one round the scores of the two players were equal, the round was not counted at all. Gameplay There are three different decks in pazaak: the main (or “table”) deck, composed of cards numbered 1-10 (the total cards in this deck is unbound, though it tended to have four of each number). There was also one side deck for each player in the game. These decks would be assembled by the players themselves and had to have exactly ten cards.At the beginning of the game, each player would randomly…
Timeline 7: Peace for the Republic? – Developer comments
Since the Friday update there have been a couple of developer posts on the official forums related to the subject. First is one by Rob Chestney, who comments on KotOR2 in relation to SWTOR: Hey Folks, always nice to see the healthy debate sparked by the Timeline pieces. I love Star Wars history and particularly anything relating to KotOR. Even though KotOR 2 was developed by another developer, lots of folks at BioWare played and enjoyed it, including myself. If you look closely within the game, you will find several references to events or characters from KotOR 2, and we absolutely treat it as canon. I will also say that there have been discussions about the final fate of the Exile, who was indeed a woman according to the canon. When outlining the Timeline series, though, we skipped over the events of KotOR2 for a few reasons: (SPOILER ALERT if…
Know your lore: Brianna (The Last Handmaiden)
Brianna, also known as “The Last Handmaiden,” or simply “Handmaiden,” was a half-Echani fighter, and illegitimate daughter to the famous Echani General Yusanis and Jedi Master Arren Kae, who both fought in the Mandalorian Wars. She later served along with her five half-sisters as a handmaiden to Jedi Master Atris in the period following the Jedi Civil War. During her service to Atris at the Jedi Academy on Telos IV, Brianna met the Jedi Exile, and was subsequently tasked with accompanying her on her mission to seek out the Jedi Masters who survived the First Jedi Purge. As the Exile’s companion, Brianna helped battle against numerous adversaries, including the resurgent Sith. During the journey, Brianna trained the Exile in Echani techniques and eventually received Jedi training from the Exile in return, becoming one of first new members of the Jedi Order after the Purge. In accepting such training, however, she…
Peace for the Republic?
It’s Friday again and that means it’s time for our weekly fix of Star Wars: The Old Republic content. This week, Master Gnost-Dural voiced by Lance (The Man) Henriksen returns with another HoloNet chronicle video telling of peace, betrayal, and Sith Infiltrators in the Jedi Order. BTC 103 – More than a century before the Sacking of Coruscant, two Jedi scholars embarked on a journey which became one of most inexplicable mysteries of its time. Young Jedi Knight Eison Gynt joined his Master in a mission to investigate the Ancient Sith Temple of Yavin 4. On Yavin, the pair was attacked by the native Massassi and driven into the Tomb of Naga Sadow where a powerful force of darkness emerged. Gynt’s Master returned to Coruscant wounded and half-insane, remorseful that young Eison Gynt had been killed in the chaos. Years later, however, Gynt returned from Yavin on his own and…
Couldn’t finish A New Hope because of your ADD? Never fear! A 4-minute teaser for Star Wars: Uncut is here!
Put on your best Star Wars costume and get ready for a spectacular remake, as PIX becomes the first festival in the world to show ‘Star Wars Uncut. Since August 2009, thousands of Star Wars fans have united in the project Star Wars Uncut in order to recreate George Lucas’s classic ‘Star Wars’ from 1977, which laid the solid foundation for the Star Wars universe. The film has been divided into 473 scenes lasting 15 seconds each, which the fans have re-shot themselves, after which all 15-second clips have been combined to form one big remake of the film. The clips range from home-made remakes via stop motion to professional 3D animation, and the result is a highly innovative reinterpretation, with John Williams’s original score mixed in. We are talking about a true bombardment of creativity, which is sure to take all Star Wars fans by surprise. The film is…
May the schwartz be with you: Star Wars-Inspired Vintage Travel Posters
Thanks to io9, we just discovered artist Justin van Genderen’s minimalist takes on planets and places of the original Star Wars Galaxy. While the vintage graphic design trend is nothing new, and in fact, Zazzle created a series of Star Wars WPA-inspired travel posters last spring, it’s also something that we never tire of. Our inner Stars Wars geek wishes that van Genderen had included Coruscant and Naboo in his series, but he had over 450 fictional planets to choose from. We’ll forgive him this time.
Species of Starwars: Kel Dor
In one of the first screen shots ever published by Bioware, we se a bad ass looking “Kel Dor” This time in Species of Starwars we will take a closer look on this amazing species. The Kel Dors, sometimes referred to as Kel Dorians, were a species hailing from the technological planet Dorin. They required masks to protect them when in oxygen-rich atmospheres. They were also known for the unique Force-using traditions of the Baran Do Sages. One famous Kel Dor was the Jedi Master Plo Koon, who was a member of a famous Kel Dor Jedi family. Sha Koon, a Jedi Knight, was Plo Koon’s niece. Biology and appearance The Kel Dors were a tall race, typically of the same height and weight as Humans. Their skin ranged in color from peach to a crimson red. Most had dark, black eyes, although some were born with silver irises, a…
How stuff works: Hyperspace
The blue tunnel of hyperspace travel. Hyperspace is the alternate state of existence used by starships to achieve faster-than-light travel. It was a phenomenon not completely understood by scientists; it was alternately described as a parallel universe, an extra dimension of space, an alternate mode of physical existence, or simply the universe as viewed traveling faster than the speed of light. To hyperspace was also a verb in Basic, as in phrases like “You are required to hyperspace back to the fleet when you complete the mission.” Technical background Normally, baryonic matter obeys physical principles of relativity: they increase exponentially in mass as they approach the speed of light, requiring more and more energy to approach it, and thus always remain below this threshold. Tachyonic matter, on the other hand, existed solely above the speed of light, and could not pass below said threshold. Hyperdrive technology allowed sentients to break…
Know your lore: Visas Marr
Visas Marr is a fascinating and tragic character from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. From her beginnings as a Sith apprentice under Darth Nihilus to her eventual redemption and alliance with the Jedi Exile, Visas embodies the struggle between darkness and light in the Star Wars universe. Let’s take a deeper dive into her complex story! Chapter 1: Visas Marr’s Dark Origins – The Apprentice of Darth Nihilus Visas Marr’s early life was pretty much one big tragedy with a side of “how could this get worse?” As a Miraluka, she was born on Katarr, a peaceful planet where her people, though physically blind, “saw” through the Force. Everything was all Force harmony and tranquility until Darth Nihilus decided to crash the party. And by “crash,” I mean he devoured the entire planet’s life force. Imagine having a nightmare where everything you know and love is obliterated—yeah,…
May the schwartz be with you: Antique Star Wars Plates
Next time you have your in-laws over for dinner, impress them with these antique Star Wars plates. (via The Daily What)
Secret Mists of Voss
Today BioWare unveils another planet for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and I think that it’s probably the most intriguing planet to date: Voss. If you’ve never heard that name then it’s because it’s a wholly new planet . Here’s the official news: We’re thrilled to announce not only the next planet to be featured in Star Wars: The Old Republic™ but also a planet never-before-seen in the Star Wars™ mythos: Voss. An alien species resides on the mysterious world of Voss and is said to have an incredible aptitude for the Force. These Voss Mystics – rumored to be enigmatic healers as well as seers – struggle to protect their utopian society from annihilation. Discover the secrets of Voss as you are forced time and again to choose between maintaining the appearance of neutrality so important to your leaders or striking against your enemies while you have the chance….
Playable Species of SW:TOR – Humans
We know as which classes we will fight, but we only know very little about possible species. While some might still grief over the 2011 release, we went ahead and collected information on BioWare’s future MMO. Screenshots, artworks and videos showed several species, which we will have to face in the game. We made it our business to categorize these enemies for you. First off is humans. Humans were the galaxy’s most numerous and politically dominant sentient species with millions of major and minor colonies galaxywide. Believed to have originated on the galactic capital of Coruscant, they could be found anywhere, engaged in many different pursuits: spacers, mercenaries, smugglers, merchants, soldiers, assassins, farmers, crime lords, laborers, slaves, slavers, and many others, including Jedi. Since Humans were the most common sentient species, they were often considered to be a standard or average to which the biology, psychology, and culture of other…
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
While we wait for The Old Republic: Attack of the Clones Review
Remember the epic, 70-minute video review of Star Wars: Episode I? Well, at long last the followup review of Episode II is out, and it’s everything you hoped it would be and more.
Juhani: The Cathar Jedi from Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR)
Juhani is one of the most fascinating characters in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), bringing depth, complexity, and a whole lot of emotional baggage to the table. From her struggles with the dark side to her journey of redemption, Juhani’s story gives players plenty to talk about. So, let’s dive into her lore and uncover what makes this Cathar Jedi stand out! Chapter 1: Juhani’s Rough Start – From Taris to Tragedy Juhani’s early life was like one long episode of the galaxy’s worst reality show. Born into the Cathar species, she had the misfortune of living during the Mandalorian Wars, where her people were nearly wiped out. Imagine it: the Mandalorians sweeping in, lights blazing, and you’re just trying to make it through your space-day. To say it was rough would be like calling a Wookiee a little hairy—it doesn’t quite capture the gravity of the…
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…
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.
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…
