We have an interesting update today on SWTOR from EA’s GamesCom Press Conference. The SWTOR segment touched on a few things we have not gotten updated on in some time, such as the player count. They also touch on some things that are coming soon in SWTOR (things we all known about already but that might serve to bring in some newer or returning players). From EA’s GamesCom Press Conference: The results have been remarkable. Every month, more than a million players are logging in, playing with their friends, and embarking on their own personal Star Warstm Saga. So basically, EA took almost two minutes out of their press conference today to mention SWTOR. You can see the video for yourself at IGN, but the highlights are: recap of the last 18 months reminder that it’s gone free to play updated content Galactic Starfighter new guild rewards new PvP warzones new Flashpoints and…
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When Game Bugs become Permanent Features
It’s happened before… a bug exists in a game and people like it so much, it becomes an intended feature. Such is not always the case with SWTOR. Remember way back when you could message someone on their main and when they logged an alt, continued messages would go to their alts? A lot of people loved the feature but others worried it never allowed you to “hide” when playing the game. Bioware later removed it, stating it was a bug but many players wished they would bring it back with a toggle feature so if you didn’t want it, it wasn’t forced on you but those who liked it could use it. Another bug discovered just a couple weeks ago that was popular was the character select screen bug. In this bug, it allowed a different view from the character select screen- one that showed the character from about…
BioWare Chooses Who You Can Romance In Their Games- Here’s How
There’s been a lot of talk about romancing in BioWare games. This is nothing new. We’ve discussed the topic in SWTOR quite often. Did you know that there’s more to these romances than just writing and art- although they play a huge role in it. BioWare is speaking out on this very topic to tell us more about how they choose who you can romance in their games. There’s an official BioWare recording that explains it all. It’s audio only so we’ll cover some of the highlights for you. The just-under 50 minute audio is from the GaymerX2 convention and delivered by the writers of Dragon Age Inquisition. In the beginning they talk about the process: how they write the friendships and flirtations, the romantic relationships and what certain romantic partners might look like. They talk about how this affects attraction and how they work with the voice actors to…
Bioware Austin is Hiring
SWTOR Community Manager Eric Musco also shared it on the SWTOR forums. Their web team is looking for a Front End Web Developer to work on SWTOR in the Austin studio. They say they are looking for someone who is passionate about SWTOR and wanting to work on some cool new things. The job listing says you’d be working on “the customer-facing web applications and the web site” for SWTOR.
Should BioWare Keep Adding Romance to their Games?
BioWare is one video game company that is familiar with stretching the limits of what is acceptable or “well known” in games. They push the envelope with their sexual content and they have often seen backlash from it. However, being one of the only game developers willing to go to these places, they also have a hardcore following from it.
BioWare Austin working on “several unannounced projects”
According to a job listing posted by BioWare Austin this week, we now know that the company is working on several new unannounced projects. This is pretty interesting news, since BioWare Austin was born to make SWTOR. Original the staff were brought together in 2006 explicitly to make that game, and since its release five years later they’ve done nothing else but run its operations, reconfigure its systems for free-to-play, and develop its expansions… Or so we thought… According the the new job listing, BioWare’s call for a Senior Software Engineer. The job listing says: BioWare Austin is home to the critically acclaimed and award winning Star Wars®: The Old Republic™ MMO. After the hugely successful addition of its Free 2 Play option and the highly praised launch of space PVP with the Galactic Starfighter expansion, the Austin team continues driving forward with SW:TOR and is also hard at work on…
The Old Republic Insider – January 2014
BioWare posted a new Insider Video, were the producers offer an inside look at exciting Galactic Starfighter updates, new Kuat Drive Yard Flashpoint missions, the next round of Cartel Market items and more coming to Star Wars: The Old Republic! It’s interesting to watch, and you are interested in learning more about Kuat Drive Yard Flashpoint, check out our update about it here. Notice Andrew Horwitz confirmed that Rakghoul Event is coming mid-january (go to 02:25 to see the event teaser).
Mass Effect 4 Next Release From Bioware?
Since the recent release of photos depicting the Mass Effect development team as a part of the annual N7 Day Celebrations, gamers haven’t stopped talking about the upcoming game. The game itself is still in the development stage and there isn’t very much definitive information about it yet, but that hasn’t stopped these photos from sparking excitement and speculation all over the internet. People are analyzing and attempting to enhance the photos in order to learn more information, pouring over the tweets that accompanied the photos for hidden clues, and are searching through any information they can find in order to create an accurate picture of what is to come. But the fact is, there’s just not a lot of confirmed information at this point. Little can be seen in the shots that were tweeted; they were shots that were meant to tease, meant to make people speculate. And they…
BioWare Austin is Hiring!
You know we like to keep you updated on BioWare news and since I live here in Austin, I’ve written a few times about when the company is hiring, or when they are taking on beta testers in the area. I’ve had the great fortune of visiting BioWare’s Austin studio and also meeting many staff members and I gotta say, they are a fun group and it looks like a great, friendly place to work. So with that in mind, we bring you the news that BioWare Austin is now hiring certain positions. If you’re interested and in the area, or willing to relocate, check it out. Eric Musco made this post: Hey everyone! I am sure I cannot be alone in being a person who wanted to work at BioWare. I was lucky enough to land a job at the company a few years ago. I wanted to pass…
News from BioWare – Mercenary and Shadow Top Three Answers
We’ve been in a bit of a slow phase when it comes to new news from Bioware about SWTOR but now we have some good stories coming from the devs as we rev up for 2.4. These are long, detailed and interesting posts to the official forums from the Bioware staff that help us know a little more about why they are doing some things that they are doing and what we can expect in the future. Here are some threads you need to check out if you have not already. STAR WARS: The Old Republic – Mercenary Top 3 Answers! Here is a snippet of this post: Overall, we feel that Mercenary/Commando DPS is in a fairly good place; however, we also feel that Mercenaries/Commandos could bring more to an operation as far as utility goes and that the classes pulling higher DPS than Mercenaries/Commandos are doing a bit…
Lucasfilm Will Start Using Video Game Engine for Post Production Video
Video game engines have come a long way over the years. They’ve come so far that movie producers are wanting to use them to completely replace post production techniques. If you’ve see any popular video game trailer, you can see why this technology could be used in movies. Many video games today have such high quality that you can see the pores in a character’s skin.
BioWare Writer Quits Due to Death Threats to Family: Exaggeration
UK website Metro wrote a controversial post yesterday titled BioWare writer quits after death threats to family. If all the facts within the article were true, it would be pretty astonishing news. Unfortunately, while true, it was more of an exaggeration with some facts withheld. But before we go into this, let me say that I believe the fact that people are so willing to accept the story at face value says a lot about the gaming industry today and the state of people on the internet. Trolls and bullies run rampant and the gaming world is no exception. It’s up to those of us who have been a part of this culture for a long time, and who truly love and care for it, to push out the bullies and trolls and show them they are not welcome on our playground.
SWTOR Community Cantina Chicago Details Emerge
IIt’s another SWTOR Community Cantina and we are finding details from the new thumb drive and exclusive info being released to those who were present. Lucky for us, the fansites and news sites who are there are releasing some exciting sneak peeks of what we can see to come soon in SWTOR. I really love that Bioware continues to hold these Community Cantinas and get the community and fans involved. TORWars has some great details from the Chicago Community Cantina and exclusive thumb drive assets. Their gal at the event, Jean, shared some pics from the thumbnail which you can see over on their site and also some info about a new Operation or Flashpoint with all the palace concepts, bad guys and it appears, a new boss. And what about a new mount? That’s something that gets players pretty excited. Well, it sounds like we’re getting one of those,…
SWKOTOR Devs Working on a New Bioware IP
Thanks to this tweet below, the rumor mill is buzzing today about what this new IP might be: Most of our core team that worked on SWKOTOR has been together throughout the Mass Effect series, and now our new IP project. #KOTOR10 — Casey Hudson (@CaseyDHudson) July 15, 2013 As the video here from Escapist Magazine shows, Bioware is working on a new IP. So of course everyone wants to guess and speculate what it’s all about. It’s not any of our old favorites or classics because it says a new IP. So what do you think they might be working on?
KOTOR is 10 Years Old- SWTOR and Bioware Celebrate
July 15th marks the 10-year anniversary for Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™ (KOTOR™). Bioware and fans across the globe are celebrating today and we want to bring you a roundup of some of the great posts, stories and interviews of the big day. The Game Agent Blog brings us 10 Years of KOTOR: An Interview with Lead Designer James Ohlen which interviews KOTOR Lead Designer James Ohlen from BioWare about his experience on KOTOR. Here is a snippet: Jon Carr: Can you introduce yourself to our readers and explain the role you had in creating Knights Of The Old Republic? James Ohlen: My name is James Ohlen. Currently I’m a VP/Studio Creative Director at EA/Bioware. I’ve worked as Game Director on Star Wars: The Old Republic as well as lead designer on Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age: Origins. I was the lead designer on Star Wars:…
Bioware has Delivered Nearly Everything from May 2012 Survey
Some of you might remember that back in May 2012, there was a rumor about a survey going around. You can actually see one of the old threads about it here on the official forums that has now been revived. The reason being that while it was called a fake, Bioware has now delivered nearly everything that was in that survey over a year ago. Let’s take a look. Possible Expansion? From Swtor Survey Star Wars: The Old Republic: Makeb Mission introduces an explosive new conflict threatening the future of the galaxy. The Hutt Empire has risen from the underworld to challenge the Republic and Sith Empire for control of the galaxy, unleashing never-before-seen droids and monstrous battle stations to serve as powerful weapons of destruction. As a player, you will be forced to take a side in this sudden uprising by The Hutt Empire. Is this a manifestation of…
Mass Effect: The Movie
Are you a Mass Effect fan? If you love the story then you’re really going to appreciate seeing it brought to life- literally. YouTube user xxTDGPainxx has done something really awesome with the Mass Effect series. This guy has taken all the Mass Effect in-game cinematics and conversations and made them into movies. How cool is that?
EA Gets Exclusive Deal to Publish All Star Wars Games From Now On
If you’re a fan who was worried about the future of Star Wars games, then you’re going to either love or hate this news that Electronic Arts has secured an exclusive deal for all Star Wars games made now and in the future.
Damion Schubert Talks about Free to Play Strategy and Respecting Players Wallets
It has been quite some time since there has been a real revolution in video game design. This is a topic I was just recently talking about with some gamer friends of mine. We are now in the midst of something new and revolutionary in the world of video games- the free to play phenomenon. Not so long ago, free to play and microtransactions were limited to the indie game sphere (and Korean MMOs). But we are seeing this game model enter mainstream gaming and honestly, most people are cool with it. The market is changing and everyone in it (gamers and developers alike) see the shift happening. Gamasutra recently reprinted an article from Game Developer magazine in which Damion Schubert talks about this topic and the changing market. Here’s a snippet: If you look at most hobbies, they allow spending to scale to level of interest. It is possible…
Reminder: Display Name Only Log In Now Live (Also Self Service Security Key)
Just a friendly reminder that Display Name Only Log In is Now Live. People are still debating if Display Name Only is more secure then email login, but they way I see it there’s now no link between your login name (Display Name) and your email address. If someone gets a hold of your swtor password, they still can’t get your email address because it’s obfuscated (shows up as m*******@gmail.com). That adds another obstacle for them to overcome to hijack your email address (the more important account imo). If someone has control of your email address, you have much bigger problems to worry about than just your swtor account. Keep in mind that their security system has always been built around the assumption that the hacker already knows your username. They’re keeping things secure by using a combination of password and security questions/key. Anyways, below is the news update from BioWare: Display Name Only Log…
James Ohlen at Game Developers Conference 2013: TOR is one of the largest micro-transaction money-makers for EA
Following our recent post about Bioware’s Creative Director James Ohlen and his speech on the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC), additional details have emerged over at Massively. Bioware’s Creative Director James Ohlen The site has posted a detailed account of Ohlen’s presentation at the event where the latter covered the challenges Bioware faced during launch, its conversion to Free to Play (F2P) and the concerns the Austin-based developer had about Guild Wars 2 and Mists of Panderia. He also went into details about what the studio went through when the game started losing subscribers and how they managed to turn it around with F2P.
How non-paying players can positively impact a game’s success
Since Star Wars The Old Republic (SWToR) changed its subscription model to Free-to-Play (F2P), a lot of opinions were raised about whether it was the right thing to do or not. Some quickly labeled SWToR as a failure that didn’t live up to the hype , while others saw this as a necesary change that helps the game’s long-term growth. Whether this change was successful or not remains to be seen, however first indications as reported by James Ohlen and the recent EA investor’s call are positive. Free-to-play might not be such a bad thing after all! A new article over at Gamasutra.com, argues that non-paying players, actually help the growth of such games. The author of the article cites three major reasons for opening up a game to freeloaders. Among other things F2P players help bring in other new players that eventually will turn into subscribers, they show their appreciation…
Game Developers Conference 2013: James Ohlen talks about SWToR’s woes during launch
Bioware’s creative director James Ohlen recently spoke at the Game Developer’s Convention about SWToR’s launch and provided a plethora of details about the game’s launch. Among other things, he mentioned that Bioware significantly underestimated how quickly players can burn through content and found itself in a difficult spot. The development team originally expected that story lines would keep gamers engaged for at least five months – an expectation that as we all know didn’t prove to be true. Bioware’s creative director James Ohlen During launch, subscribers spent an average of 40 hours per week playing SWToR, while in some cases they would reach 80-120 hours on average per week. These extended gaming sessions lead to having close to half a million players at endgame content within a month’s period since launch.
Making of Rise of the Hutt Cartel: Part 2
With the big announcement today that Rise of The Hutt Cartel digital expansion will be available on April 14, Bioware also released an interesting video providing more details on the expansion. Among other things, Bioware developers gave out additional information on the continuation of your personal story line as it relates to Karraga the Hutt and the new planet on the expansion called Makeb. The video also provides hints on villains we will face on the new planet and their impact on our game play.