Chris Collins, European Community Manager had some good news for European SWTOR fans on the official forums today: “This year, Game will be holding their first public GAMEFest event at the Birmingham NEC on the 16th to 18th September. Star Wars: The Old Republic will be there, allowing players the chance to get their hands on the game, from Origin Worlds, to PvP events, there’s plenty of reasons to swing by the booth and check out what we have in store. Entry to the event itself requires a ‘GAME Reward Card’ prior to ordering tickets and currently only Friday tickets are left. So if you haven’t got yours yet, you might want to order them soon. Full details of the event itself can be found here: http://events.game.co.uk/ As ever, members of the BioWare team will be on hand to talk with players, so why not head on over to the…
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SWTOR Fan Friday and Gamescom Plans
It’s Friday witch means it’s the last work day of the week ( for most of us) and time for BioWare to update us on Star Wars: the old republic. Ihave to admit that this Friday is a kind of slow one, as one of today’s updates is simply an announcement outlining the team’s Gamescom plans. Attendees will get hands-on play time on each of the Origin Worlds, and lucky players will get to try out the Alderaan player-vs-player Warzone as we wrote about ealier today. The festivities taking place include an EA press conference on Tuesday, August 16 at 10am EDT. As an added bonus to those members of the The Old Republic community, we will be housing a special area within the stand where you can play Warzone PvP. This area is designed to allow members of the community to play Warzone matches in a slightly more relaxed…
SWTOR Room Invites are Out for GamesCom PvP
All applicants who requested to play “Alderaan Civil War PvP Warzone at GamesCom” need to take notice. On August 10, 2011, invites were sent out to all the lucky gamers who were accepted for this big event. However, some of the invites contained errors that need to be corrected concerning the day in which you are to participate. A “system error” is responsible for the mix up and some of the invitations were emailed out with the wrong slot time. These invited certain gamers to play in the event taking place on Thursday but they had been assigned to the session taking place on Friday. It’s important to get this mix up taken care of so everyone will show up at the right time. SWTOR issued this message “If you received an invite to take part in the event on Thursday, but you requested to play on Friday, please check…
PAX Schedule Released
So many good things are happening in gaming this year. It seems like we just saw the end of Comic Con and we are still sifting through all of the info that came out of it. Now the PAX schedule has been released by Penny Arcade. This is great news for SWTOR fans, too because BioWare will be there with a TOR panel. Here is the schedule and info: Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Force is Strong with This One Main Theatre – Sunday 2:00pm – 3:00pm The master storytellers at BioWare and LucasArts have worked together to create an immersive experience with Star Wars: The Old Republic. The Old Republic team will be in full force at PAX this year, with a new presentation showcasing the development and progress of this genre changing story-driven MMO! Expect new reveals, exclusive gameplay footage, and a Q&A with attendees. Join us!…
New Trailer: ‘Join The Fight’
BioWare has used this Friday update to release a new Trailer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. The video was also shown at yesterdays official SWTOR Comic-Con panel discussion. The trailer is made up of only in-game footage and looks really nice. We are excited to present Join the Fight, an all-new in-game trailer for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ that premiered at San Diego Comic-Con 2011. The uneasy peace established by the Treaty of Coruscant is broken and both the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire build their armies. As both sides prepare for open war, a new generation of heroes must rise up to meet the challenges of a volatile age, declaring their allegiances and fighting for what they believe in.
RE-Live TV from BioWare Base at Comic-Con
Yesterday BioWare had a live Q&A with Stephen Reid, James Ohlen, Dallas Dickinson and Rich Vogel. unfortunately I was sleeping like a baby while it was on, but WeekendJedi and SoMuchMass has made sure the full Q&A is now on Youtube. Here are the highlights ( Thanks to Ask a Jedi): Collector’s Edition store is actually an exclusive location that only CE owners have access to! Items from this store however will not give people an advantage in power, though weapons and armor will be available Color Stone is gold in addition to adding effects Sharding may be used on launch day, only if absolutely necessary (the practice of creating multiple copies of the same area) Advanced Class change is in the game. 1st swap is cheap. After that it gets expensive Companion AI – off-limits for talking about! James Ohlen is in trouble. Companion customization is flexible, but you can’t…
Drew Karpyshyn has revealed his appearances planned for Comic-Con
Drew Karpyshyn posted an update on his site about his planned appearances at Comic Con this upcoming week. His update came a little late because he was waiting to be able to fully explain his Comic Con schedule, which he posts as follows: Friday July 22 2pm-3pm – I’m part of a writer’s panel at the BioWare Base 4pm-5pm – I’ll be signing books, games, posters, etc at the BioWare Base (and we may have a few free copies of some of my novels to hand out) Saturday July 23 12pm-1pm – I’ll be signing books at the Random House booth (again, hoping to have some free copies to give away) 2pm-3pm – I’m part of a writer’s panel at the BioWare Base 4pm-5pm – Another signing at the BioWare Base 7:30pm-10pm – Community Meet and Greet at the BioWare Base Drew adds that he will be…
Drew Karpyshyn Signing and a Free Revan Mask: SDCC 2011
There’s some more good news coming in from the people at Star Wars Books. If you were already pumped up about San Diego Comic-Con, then you will be happy to hear that Drew Karpyshyn will be there for book signings at the Del Ray Booth as well as at the BioWare Base at the Hilton. I really wish I still lived in San Diego so I could attend. How cool would it be to add this to my collection with my signed comic from Alexander Freed? If you’re going to be at Comic-Con, here’s the info: Drew Karpyshyn, popular author of the STAR WARS: DARTH BANE trilogy of novels, the upcoming novel STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC: REVAN, and the novels based on Bioware’s hit video game MASS EFFECT will be signing books and REVAN masks. Free Revan masks and paperback copies of STAR WARS: DARTH BANE: PATH OF DESTRUCTION…
Special Comic-Con SWTOR Playtime [UPDATE]
If you’re going to Comic-Con or just live near the area, this could be your chance to try SWTOR for yourself. This could be your chance to play the first #SWTOR Imperial/Republic Flashpoints even if you don’t have any tickets. David Bass posted on the official SWTOR forums today with details about the opportunity. They will have extended play sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at the Hilton for a select group of players. The announcement says “We’ve got a limited number of sessions each night to allow for selected fans to play through the first hour of either the Esseles or Black Talon flashpoints.” How cool is that? Bass explained how it will work: On Tuesday, July 12th, we’ll make a post on the forums with instructions for how to RSVP. You’ll have exactly 24 hours from that post-time to follow the instructions and email us if you’d…
Georg Zoeller to speak about SWTOR at GDC
BioWare’s Georg Zoeller will speak at the Game Developers Conference 2011 about SWTOR. His 60-minute lecture is advertised for a still-determined day and time at GDC but you can bet that TOR fans are excited to hear what he has to say and we’ll be sure to bring you all the juicy info as soon as we have it as well. GDC website says “The talk will show a selection of interesting 2D and 3D visualizations, discuss lessons learned and provide information on how to get started with the topic on your own project.” And: Idea Takeaway: Attendees will learn how BioWare leverages spatial analysis on user generated playtest data to contextualize and better understand user feedback and behavior and how this can be used to rapidly iterate and improve game content. Intended Audience: Attendees should be familiar with the topic of metrics and telemetry in online games. Familiarity with…
SWTOR at Comic Con
“It is your destiny to join us!” Comic Con full schedules (first day) are up and people are excited! All the action begins on Thursday, July 21st and there is a SWTOR panel on offer at the event. On the 21st inside the convention at 3:30 pm, Bioware developers will be available to talk about the game (possibly answer questions) and to “debut new gameplay footage.” They’re promising us some surprises and exclusive reveals. Don’t get your hopes up on a release date yet but we are excited to see what new things they are going to reveal at Comic Con. You can bet we’re going to keep you covered here on all (if any) of the breaking SWTOR news to come out of Comic Con. If you’re attending, drop us a line and let us know your favorite parts! And if you’re a big Star Wars fan, there is…
BioWare to Have Public TOR Demo at Comic Con
As if you needed one more reason to check out Comic Con in San Diego this year, BioWare has announced they will be setting up a TOR demo. David Bass, Senior Community Coordinator announced on the official TOR forums that they will be making an appearance at Comic Con. However, the best news is that you don’t even have to have a Comic Con badge to have a chance at trying the game. “Yesterday, BioWare made an announcement that we have a space at the Hilton Gaslamp hotel across the street from Comic-Con where fans can get their hands on Mass Effect 3 and the newest Dragon Age II DLC. Well, surprisingly enough, The Old Republic is planning on being there as well! Anyone (yes, even you!) can come to the Hilton and wait in line to play any of the BioWare games. Those of you who have Comic-Con badges,…
BioWare brings Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age II DLC to San Diego Comic Con
On BioWare Social, Chris Priestly announces that Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age II DLC will come to San Diego Comic Con. “BioWare is once again returning to the San Diego Comic Con and this year, we are bringing Mass Effect 3 and a never before seen, Dragon Age II DLC with us. Comic Con begins Thursday July 21 and runs through Sunday July 24 and we will have all sorts of awesome BioWare coolness at our base in the Hilton Gaslamp hotel. This will be the first opportunity for fans to play Mass Effect 3 as well as the next Dragon Age II DLC. In addition, we will be hosting the first annual BioWare Costume Contest on Friday, July 22 for the best BioWare inspired costumes. We’ll be giving away awesome convention swag, opportunities to meet members of the BioWare staff, and we’ll have a special designated area…
Star Wars: The Lost Suns signing by Alexander Freed
501st Stormtroopers, R2-D2 and Alexander Freed signing SWTOR: The Lost Suns comic! This week I wrote about the Star Wars: The Old Republic- The Lost Suns author signing event but yesterday I was lucky enough to be able to attend and it was every bit as awesome as I expected. As a video game writer myself, I was super pumped to meet Bioware Senior Writer Alexander Freed. We talked about SWTOR (sorry guys, nothing new that we didn’t already know. :/) They weren’t going to let him divulge any spoilers, even if he wanted to. We talked about gaming in general and how exciting it is to be behind the scenes of a game’s development, especially a game as big as SW:TOR. Alexander was everything I expected- a really, chill guy, creative and a huge Star Wars fan. While we were chatting, my husband disarmed a Stormtrooper and my daughter…
Star Wars: The Old Republic- The Lost Suns Author Signing Event
If you’re going to be in or around the Austin area on Saturday, June 18th, you must stop by and check this out. I plan to be there and if I make it, I’ll pop back in here with some photos and a recap of the event. Austin Books & Comics 5002 N. Lamar Blvd. Austin, TX Saturday, June 18 · 4:00pm – 6:00pmYou can have the first issue in the new Star Wars: The Old Republic comic series, The Lost Suns, signed by the author himself, Alexander Freed. How awesome is that? This will be more than an ordinary comic book signing though. There will be an appearance from the 501st Legion Storntroopers from the Star Garrison as well as the fully automated R2-D2, courtesy of roboteer Jamie McShan! The Lost Suns is the third limited series based on the SWTOR MMORPG. It’s different from the prior two installments…
E3 Atmosphere Footage
Stephen Reid posted a few pics from the EA Booth on his twitter profile yesterday. Non of the pictures showed off that much of what attendance could expect. But it’s obvius that EA is marketing the game as one of the main products this year. Here they are: Luckily the guys over at TorWars.com did a short film about the booth which you can watch below: Jeff from TorWars also got the chance to interview a few hot chicks fans about their expectations of the game and to quote the left blond ooouuuhhh – or something like that: Finaly the guys at swtor-life.com did a short video showing the atmosphere at the EA Booth. Edit: TorWars just uploaded this one also. I don’t think any explanation is necessary:
E3: BioWare Teases their Star Wars TOR Booth on Spike
During GameTrailers TV on Spike, BioWare teased their booth at E3 2011, which fans everywhere are anxiously awaiting. The booth had a giant poster that advertises The Old Republic, which some have seen before at other events. There is also a line queuing area. But that’s all the info you get… It’s no secret that BioWare is being extra secretive about SWTOR and for great reason. Still for some players, the cat-and-mouse game is getting annoying. Some are ready for a release date already and still others just want any little tidbit they can get on the game. While many suspect there will be an official release date at E3, there is no real evidence to suggest this. Some believe there will not be a release date when there has not been info about end game content released yet. From reading the yellow posts on the forums, I’m not so…
Tickets Now Available: Star Wars Celebration VI in Orlando, August 23-26, 2012
If you’re gearing up for the Star Wars Celebration VI in Orlando, then you will be happy to know that tickets are on sale now. After the very successful event last year of the Empire-themed Star Wars Celebration V, they are throwing an even bigger party this year and now is your chance to get tickets. Star Wars Celebration VI is setting down August 23-26, 2012 back at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida! Official Celebration hotels have rates starting at $65 per night, making it more affordable for fans on any budget to make the trip. You can be among some of the first to get your tickets and secure your spot at this must-see event. A Celebration news release states: “We thank you for all your support and passion. It’s the fans who have sustained the Saga for all these years, and…
Community Meet & Greet at E3 Now Planned
If you live in Los Angeles or plan to be in the area at the time, the Community Meet and Greet for E3 is now officially planned. You can follow details from the Facebook page and read more about it on the forums. This public event is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8 · 8:00pm – 11:00pm at: Figueroa Hotel (Veranda Bar) 939 South Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA This will be an informal get-together for fans that are not able to get into E3 or that want a more up-close-and-personal meeting option. David Bass explains on the forums: “It’s a much less structured event than PAX East. We’ll be hanging out at the bar, chatting with those of you who are able to show up. Community Meet & Greets are very much for our most devoted fans, and while I’m sure plenty of them will be at E3, there…
Spike TV to Air EA Coverage
In a press release, Spike TV announces that they will air an exclusive broadcast of EA’s 2011 E3 showcase event in an exclusive “Game Changers: EA 2011 Preview”. This one-hour special will premiere on Monday, June 6 at 3:30PM ET/ 12:30PM PT on SPIKE TV. Spike TV is the number one network for video game programming and today announced the exciting news that they would be teaming up with Electronic Arts for this exclusive, live commercial-free broadcast of the 2011 showcase event at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). E3 is the gaming industry’s leading trade show and it’s not open to the public. But now you can see everything that happens at E3 from your TV set at the comfort of your own home. Broadcasting from the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, Gamechangers: EA 2011 Preview, so be sure to book it on your calendar and be ready to catch…
Fan Friday and 2011 Event Appearances
It’s Friday once again and that means that it’s time for another BioWare update for Star Wars: The Old Republic. This week brings a trio of updates starting with a new video from the recent Fan Site Summit held at BioWare’s Austin, TX studio in April. The video reflects on the event and what attendees thought of their hands on time with SWTOR. It’s nice to see BioWare developing a nice, cozy, friendly relationship with the people that will be objectively reviewing their product. Part two of this week’s update is a new Fan Friday feature, which highlights some of the SWTOR fan art from the community and a new Fan Site Spotlight featuring SWTOR Life with a brief Q&A with Serge “Mikto” Stanarevic about the site. The Fan Friday update also confirmed the 2011 events that BioWare and LucasArts will be showing off SWTOR at. Fans can look forward…
SW:TOR Meet and Greet in Los Angeles during E3
David Bass, Senior Community Coordinator posts on the official forums about the “meet and greet” for SWTOR fans in LA: Hi everyone, Since E3 isn’t open to the public, we’re considering holding a meet and greet in Los Angeles during the expo so that fans who are in the LA area can meet up with us one night and chat with the developers. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t be able to have the game playable at this meet and greet, but you’d get a chance to chat with those of us who’ll be at the show, and hear about some of the cool things that are happening inside E3. We’d like to get a better idea of the size of group we’re looking at for an event like this, though. If you’d be interested in coming downtown one night between June 6-9 to meet up with the SW:TOR team, let us know…
SWTOUR PvP Impressions
The SWTOUR PvP news broke yesterday and there are so many great, exciting stories that it’s hard to know where to begin. Here’s a recap of the top breaking stories that came out today about the PvP experience from SWTOUR. Mos Eisley Radio New article posted by Evan Lewis on the site. He discusses his PvP experience while at SWTOUR. Evan says himself, “As I have stated many times over, I am NOT a PvP kinda guy. At least, I wasn’t.” His write-up gives a good comparison of PvP in World of Warcraft and SW:TOR. He goes on to say: “Now, while I can’t comment on the world-PvP aspects of Star Wars: The Old Republic, I can certainly say that the organized PvP portions, the Warzones, are such an improvement over what has been featured in previous games that I am now a PvP fan.” MMORPG.com Star Wars: The Old…
SWTOUR Roundup part 1 –
Now that the embargo is lifted on the Austin Fan Site Summit, people are talking and fans are anxiously awaiting all of the exciting news to come of the event. There is so much information out already that it can be difficult to make sense of it all. Unless you have hours to pour over it all (like me) then here are some recaps of the top, must-see info in our very own SWTOUR Roundup: Audio: Blaine Christine and Daniel Erickson via youtube, via darthhater.com Right from the start, this audio covers one question we all have which is what they are doing to prepare for the expected huge launch of the game and to prevent servers from crashing/experiencing downtime during this much-anticipated launch. Next they speak about Datachrons and the reward involved as well as other concepts of the Datahrons and the mini games and space content that will…