A recent picture of Han Solo’s DL-44 heavy blaster pistol was posted by the official EA Star Wars Twitter account and the comment “Keep it on the DL… 44,” was posted along with it. The heavy blaster pistol is seen wielded by Solo in the Star Wars movies and it seems like it will be featured in Star Wars: Battlefront. Solo also used it in Battlefront 2 but it seemed to not be as effective against the Sith character roster. The only confirmed characters for Star Wars: Battlefront so far are Boba Fett and Darth Vader. However, DICE developers have told fans that they will be revealing more characters in the next few months. It seems possible that there will be more heroes at this year’s E3 event in June and it could possibly even feature Han Solo himself. The Design Director of Star Wars: Battlefront, Niklas Fegraeus, confirmed during…
Author: Tiffany Wynne
Interview with BioWare’s Manager of Analytics – Stats and Game Design Decisions
Every now and then we get the privilege of hearing from representatives of BioWare quote player engagement stats in order to back up their game design. However, we have never been lucky enough to delve into the deep insight concerning their usage. If you have been curious or just flat out frustrated, Alex Tremblay from BioWare has all the answers you need in a recent interview. Olib: Can you tell us a little about yourself? Alex: Hi, my name is Alex Tremblay. I’m the Manager of Analytics here at BioWare Austin. I’ve been working on SWTOR since well before the launch of the game. This is the first time I’ve been asked to talk about the game and I have to say, I’m excited. Through data, I feel very, very connected to both our game and players, but rarely do I get to directly interact.
Maybe it should not be called Star Wars: Battlefront?
EA and DICE seem intent on breaking my heart. First there’s the announcement that their upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront title won’t feature any prequel content. Understandable. Then there was the neglecting of a single player campaign, Galactic Conquest Mode, space battles, and drivable AT-AT walkers: basically unforgivable. But I still held out hope. “This is a Star Wars Battlefront title, I have to believe…” Recently, DICE announced that the new game title will be replacing the class system of the older Star Wars games that have unlockable weapons and gear. We want you to ask yourself a question, what parts of this new Star Wars game makes you think it’s a Battlefront title? The title of the game, that’s it. Besides the fact that you will be shooting things in the Star Wars setting and landscape, this game does not have any features that made fans fall in love with…
Sims 4 Patch Adds More Star Wars Costumes
After The Sims 4 was released in September of last year, it was criticized for having little content, which includes toddlers, swimming pools, and family trees. After a few updates quite a bit has been added to the game, making it the game it was hoped to be. The latest patch fixes bugs, and adds new features, including several new Star Wars costumes to celebrate Star Wars Day. The new Star Wars costumes that have been added to the game are Boba Fett, Aayla Secura, and Darth Maul. You will find these new costumes under “Styled Looks” in Create a Sim.
How DICE used Photogrammetry to Capture Every Last Detail for Star Wars Battlefront
After DICE visited the Lucasfilm Cultural Arts Museum and some of the original filming location for Star Wars, the studio artists had many pieces of inspiration for Star Wars: Battlefront. The crew had one mission and that was to return to the places where the Star Wars franchise all began. During their time they captured the basis for hi-res 3D models for the game and this was anything from huge redwood trees to Stormtrooper helmets. The major component during this process is called photogrammetry. “Photogrammetry is essentially the technique of processing still images to produce a high resolution 3D mesh,” explains Andrew Hamilton, Lead Environment Artist. “There are a number approaches to this, but they all involve taking photos of a subject in real-life and running it through photogrammetry software.” The software is given the images and then makes referenced points that are all based on the angles of the…
BioWare celebrates its 20th anniversary
BioWare celebrated its 20th birthday on Friday. Many fans were thanked via Twitter but I think we should be thanking them for making some of the best RPG’s in history. Can you believe it’s already been twenty years since BioWare began? Time definitely does fly by and we are looking forward to more of their amazing talents in the Star Wars gaming realm. What are some of your favorite BioWare games and memories from playing them?
STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT LEAKED INFO. CLOSED ALPHA, NEW 40-PLAYER GAME MODE & AI CONTROLLED AT-AT
I got in contact with an insider who got to play EA’s upcoming game Star Wars: Battlefront, and we got some nice or not so nice info from his play session. I couldn’t get a screenshot or an unreleased asset from the game to back this leak, so take it however you want. Keep in mind that things might drastically change nearing release as these pieces of info are coming from a really early build of the game. It was said that a closed alpha test was done directly after the game’s second reveal at the Star Wars Celebration. This close alpha test was only done for a few EA employees and it ran for a week. This makes one believe that there will be a public alpha test held in Q3 2015 if they did decide to have one, and also a public beta test about a month before…
Star Wars: Battlefront does not have classes or squads
The new Star Wars: Battlefront game will be leaving out a few typical features that you find in most multiplayer shooter games. It will not have any squads or classes. During a recent interviews that was published in OXM and was reported by Gamesradar, the design director Niklas Fegraeus states that players will be able to choose the equipment they would like to use instead of only given a few choices. New gear is guarded by XP, but you will be able to share what you unlock with your Partner. What this enables is two friends always purchasing different unlocks in order to put together their resources. Also, a higher-level player could give a new player access to their top-choice weapons in order to help the partnership. Partners will be replacing Squads, giving you only one person to help you along the way. Star Wars: Battlefront just might be a…
Star Wars: Battlefront Gameplay Debuts at E3, New Multiplayer Mode Revealed
For those of you that feel like you have ants in your pants for more information about Star Wars: Battlefront, we have some great news. June 15th is the official date that developer DICE will be releasing the very first gameplay footage to the public. It will be done through publisher Electronic Arts’ briefing that will be happening at E3 in Los Angeles. The designer for Star Wars: Battlefront, Niklas Fegraeus, announced this news on the games website and he also teased about DICE having “great plans for E3” overall. During the Star Wars Celebration in April, DICE showed a demo for Star Wars: Battlefront in a private area. E3 will be showing the gameplay footage to the open public as long as there are no leaks before then. The only thing that has been shown to the public is a CG trailer. While this trailer did impress us, there…
Star Wars Battlefront Won’t “Feel Like or Play Like” Battlefield, Discusses Space Combat
Some Star Wars fans have been concerned that Star Wars: Battlefront will be no more than Battlefield with a Star Wars theme. According to DICE producer Jesper Nielsen, this is not the case at all. Mr. Nielsen goes by “TheBikingViking” on Reddit. Nielsen responded to Star Wars fans on Reddit about the concerns over similarities between games. He stated that they may share some similarities, but they will stand out alone from each other well. Nielsen addressed a concern from a gamer who felt he was “robbed” by purchasing Battlefield Hardline. “I simply don’t get the Battlefield re-skin comment; from what we’ve shown, in what way does it look like Battlefield? Are you seeing tanks, lots of destruction, etc? This will not feel like or play like Battlefield. That’s never been our intention. Its fine you’re disappointed. Ok, so from what you’ve heard and seen, the game is not what…
Star Wars Battlefront will let players play as a female Storm Trooper
According to DICE’s general manager, Patrick Bach, Star Wars: Battlefront will have the option for the player to play as a female Stormtooper. “Male or female characters are separate from customization,” Bach said. The design team wanted to stay true to what the fans would want to be able to customize. “You can’t do it in crazy ways. You can’t have a pink Darth Vader,” he said. “You want the Stormtroopers to look like Stormtroopers,” Bach added. When you look back to the time of the Palapatine’s ruling there were females included as Stormtroopers, and this choice falls in line with the established canon. “Our customization is tilted toward what makes sense,” Bach told us. Seeing that Stormtroopers, no matter what sex, where the same uniform, we could have seen female Stormtroopers in games before without realizing it. Star Wars: Battlefront is giving gamers the choice from the beginning and…
Why Star Wars Battlefront Snubbed The Prequel Trilogy
DICE decided to let fans know why Star Wars: Battlefront will not include the prequel trilogy of movies. Jesper Nielson, Star Wars: Battlefront’s producer, spoke up on Reddit and told fans why the game doesn’t include the prequels or Clone Wars. “Sometimes you have to make choices, and those choices may be hard. We are the ones making the game and have to making hard choices sometimes. One of them was to focus solely on the Original Trilogy. The reasoning I’d rather have someone like Figge comment on” The reason for this may have something to do with DICE being on a strict time constraint. Star Wars: Battlefront really needs to be released this year because of all the hype surrounding the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. If the game became delayed to 2016, sales wouldn’t be as great. Mr. Nielson decided to also talk about the Star…
The amazing ‘Star Wars Galaxies’ Jedi mode that never was
Raph Koster, creative director for the 2003 MMO Star Wars Galaxies game began his discussion on the problems that the design team were up against was this: “Well, my opinion is Jedi are evil.” Many fans decided to give up on the game back then because a third major patch added a Jedi as a character. The problem is that Jedi’s are too powerful and rare to be successfully added in. Before the game ever launched, the design team went over many ways to make a Jedi playable in the game and Koster said that there was one solution, “the crazy idea I still wish we had done.” Inspired by Diablo’s Hardcore mode, the system was “that affectively gave a different way to play the game. A method that kept Jedi rare, powerful, and yet allowed everyone a shot,” Koster stated. However, this solution was not a solution after all….
Alexander Freed confirmed as writer for Comming ‘Star Wars: Battlefront’ Tie-in Book
We all know by now that Star Wars: Battlefront will not have space battles, more than five planets, a single-player campaign, or even setting from the prequel trilogy, but it does have something that no other games in the series has: a tie-in novel. After Disney took over Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise, they decided to remove the “Expanded Universe.” This includes every novel, comic book, TV show, and other non-film Star Wars material that was made over the years. This media will be published still, but it shows up as part of the “Legends” line. Lucasfilm is started from scratch and building up the Star Wars franchise with a fresh start. As of now, the new Star Wars canon includes a few comic books by Marvel and a line of books from Del Ray books. Two books have been published and half a dozen are still waiting to…
Star Wars Battlefront Devs “Feels Nothing Like Battlefield”; Space Battles Still Under Discussion
Star Wars: Battlefront is still the main topic for Star Wars fans and producer Jesper Nielsen is continuing to speak with the Reddit community about the upcoming game. The first comment is about why the prequel trilogy and the Clone wars were left out of this game. “Sometimes you have to make choices, and those choices may be hard. We are the ones making the game and have to make hard choices sometimes. One of them was to focus solely on the Original Trilogy. The reasoning I’d rather have someone like Figge comment on.” He continued saying that Battlefront does not compare to Battlefield in any way. “I can absolutely guarantee you that it feels nothing like Battlefield. That would be like saying Halo or COD feels like Battlefield. Or the original Battlefront games.” He also mentioned that the Battle of Jakku DLC will not have any solo player missions….
All Nippon Airways unveils Star Wars themed jetliner
Great news Star Wars fans! The Huffington Post reported that this coming fall, All Nippon Airways will be transforming one of their new Boeing 787s with an awesome R2-D2 deign to honor the new movie release in December. If you visit the All Nippon website you will notice that it’s currently dedicated to the new project that is underway. The website says that this is the beginning of their “Star Wars” project, which is a five year long project that is trying to connect Japan to global markets. The plane will have a large Star Wars logo on the side and R2-D2 stripes as well. The plane has only been confirmed for use on international routes, so far. Hopefully we will hear news telling us that the flight attendants will wield light sabers and maybe dress up as some of our favorite characters!
Star Wars Battlefront: AT-AT’s Are Confirmed To Be On Rails, DICE Explains Reason Behind The Decision
One of the most controversial additions to Star Wars: Battlefront has finally been addressed by DICE producer with the Reddit username “DICE_TheBikingViking.” He has finally confirmed that the AT-AT’s in Star Wars: Battlefront will be on rails. A recent conversation happened with a fan on Reddit and the producer. The fan asked: “With all due respect, are you seriously saying that level of foliage is going to be running on our PS4’s in 2015? Ignoring everything else.” This was his reply: “I don’t like making hard guarantees. The game hasn’t shipped yet. We’re not done with it. But this is how it looks right now – on PS4 as well, yes. I do want to make a very specific comment. While some people have called bullshots, others have said this is not that different from e.g. BF4 and not that impressive, etc. Which is an interesting mix. What impresses me…
Forbes discourages pre-ordering Battlefront
As well all are aware of by now, Star Wars: Battlefront is already available for pre-order and as much excitement as this game has given us, we think you should have some hesitations about pre-ordering it. One of two scenarios are a possibility when receiving an item that you are totally psyched about that you pre-ordered: you are completely satisfied with the product or after all that excitement, it’s not as great as you thought it would be. The problem is that most of the time we are disappointed with pre-ordered games instead of being satisfied. Most every game that is available for pre-order gives you an incentive in the DLC form. However, the DLC’s are usually totally and completely not worth the pre-order price. We know that EA has a horrible reputation with brand new game releases, for instance, there were major issues with Battlefield 4 during its launch….
Star Wars Battlefront “focusing on planetary battles,” not space combat
In the new Star Wars: Battlefront you will be able to fly in an X-Wing or TIE Fighter, but don’t even think about space battles or leaving the atmosphere. “Are we going to see space battles?” I asked DICE producer Craig Mcleod. His answer was a bit more politic than “no,” but didn’t leave much room for ambiguity. “We’re focusing on epic planetary battles for this game,” he said. Mcleod stated that Battlefront’s maps will be on four different planets; these are Hoth, Endor, Tatooine, and Sullust. Now, you will be seeing dogfights above these planets and in the trailer that was released by EA you can see a Star Destroyer hanging out in the background. Does this mean that just maybe there will be one level set on a Star Destroyer? Mcleod only gave me a vague answer when I asked. “It’s very important for us to create a…
DICE dev says Star Wars Battlefront won’t have Battlelog support
Jesper Nielsenon, DICE assistant producer, has stated on NeoGAF that the Battlelog online service, that allows stat tracking for Battlefield titled games, will not be supporting Star Wars: Battlefront. That article is based on the fact that the Uprise website mentions that Uprise is working on Star Wars Battlefront. While Uprise has been doing Battlelog, does that automatically mean that we will do Battlelog for Star Wars Battlefront? No, it won’t. That can only be an assumption, and I can tell you, no, there won’t be Battlelog for Star Wars Battlefront. Is this a good or bad thing in your opinion? Leave your thoughts!
Potential Star Wars: Battlefront Collectors editions box art leaked
A few images that show two different potential collector’s editions for the new Star Wars: Battlefront game has been leaked. These new images do look legit and many are hoping so because they look really impressive. The Bounty Hunter Edition, for Xbox One, shows an art book and a Boba Fett-esque bounty hunter helmet, all with instructions on how to construct it. The helmet will probably not be wearable but it would be a cool conversation piece. The PS4 edition is the Stormtrooper Edition and it consists of the same things except the helmet is different, a stormtrooper’s helmet. Both editions will be available on both platforms, but this is how they have been separated. Do you think these images seem legit? Let us know in the comments!
Amazon reveals Star Wars Battlefront Deluxe Edition, DLC pre-order bonus and other details
You can now pre-order Star Wars: Battlefront on Amazon. The standard edition will be available but there will also be a Deluxe Edition, which gives the player access to the DL-44 blaster, which is the gun used by Han Solo, Ion Grenade, and the Ion Torpedo weapons; all this with exclusive access to the Ion Shock and Victory emotes. Anyone who does decide to preorder the game will gain exclusive access to the Battle of Jakku, which is a map that will be featured in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie. This battle will take place in a desert-like planet that sits in the Outer Rim. On December 1st, a special DLC will be available for free to anyone who preorders the game. The other players will not have access until the 8th of December to download the DLC. The official release date for Star Wars: Battlefront is November…
Star Wars Battlefront Playable First on Xbox One Through EA Access
Star Wars: Battlefront, which is due for release in late 2015, will be accessible on Xbox One before any other consoles, according to a Microsoft executive. The leader at Microsoft’s games marketing division, Aaron Greenberg, stated to a fan via Twitter that the game will only be playable on the Xbox One before it goes to PlayStation 4 and PC. The reason for this is not explained by Mr. Greenberg, but the most assuming reason is that it will be available for EA Access Members a few days earlier. Currently, EA Access is $5 a month and it gives its members admission to its key releases. Any of the gameplay and saved data will automatically be rolled over once the game is available for everyone. EA tried to give EA Access to PlayStation 4 players as well, but Sony did not accept the membership program. There are also free games…
Star Wars Celebration Anaheim: Regarding the Canon.
Here are some points that were discussed on the new canon in the Star Wars universe. These points were discussed at the Star Wars Celebration that happened in Anaheim, California. To read the entire post make sure to click through to the original source. One cohesive saga across all media is being told going forward with the new setting. A goal of the Lucasfilm Story Group is to make sure that no real conflicts in storytelling take place in regards to continuity errors. The concept of the LSG was Kathleen Kennedy’s idea, and it helps with the flood of the rapidly-increasing amount of canonical content being made. The old EU (Legends) was completely liquidated to avoid playing favorites; it was described as being a tough call, though completely necessary. Legends are used as source material for filling in some details (such as the physical size and mass of the Death…