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…
event
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…
Group Q&A Sessions with Developers Recaps
The embargo has been lifted from the Austin Fan Site Summit and people are talking! The Q&A session with developers is one of the most interesting pieces of revealed content so far. If you wanted to know more about SWTOR, then this is a don’t miss. The question and answer sessions covered a range of topics relevant to the developer answering questions at the time. Blaine Christine & Daniel Erickson are always fun to listen to and get you really excited about the game. Damion Schubert answers some other important questions but brings possible disappointment regarding some guild features. As part of a guild that is registered for SW:TOR I agree with others who were a little bummed that a guild leveling system (a-la WoW and LOTRO) doesn’t seem to be a top priority and instead is on the “board of cool things we’d like to…
First Embargo on the SWTOR Fan Site Summit Drops
This week could mean big news for SWTOR fans all over the globe as the first embargo on the SWTOR fan site summit drops this week. This means those site representatives who attended will be able to start posting information about what they experienced at the summit. Since there was a wide variety of people who attended, it should make for a good variety of opinions and viewpoints on the content from the summit and help all of us gain better insight into what we expect from the game. As we all anxiously await the release of SWTOR, any news is good news at this point and fans will scramble for even the tiniest bit of new information about the game. So what can we expect from the first embargo dropping? It sounds like we will see information on the content that was played at the event, which will include…
Will SW:TOR Release Be Announced at E3?
Stephen Reid, Senior Online Community Manager for SW:TOR answers a forum question regarding more release date debate. GamewizX was trying to locate a quote from Reid regarding the release date announcement and a possibility of a connection to E3. Who would then pop into the thread to clear up the confusion? Why, none other than Stephen Reid himself: “Or I could just say it for you right here. I seem to recall I was trying to address the idea that the ‘only’ time a release date would be announced would be at a major show (this was pre-PAX). I have no idea where this idea started, but it’s not a definitive suggestion. It’s just a possibility. That said, if we chose to announce a release date at any show, E3 would be a good choice, as it’s probably the most high-profile games industry show on the calendar. (It’s not the…
SWTOR Fan Site Summit
They say everything’s bigger in Texas and there has yet to be a SW:TOR event as awesome as the upcoming, first-ever Fan Site Summit hosted by Bio-Ware. Early week, BioWare twittered from the official SW:TOR account with the following: “In one week, reps from #SWTOR fan sites will be in Austin, TX for the first Fan Site Summit. Official Twitter tag is #SWTOUR!” This is exciting news for Star Wars: The Old Republic fans everywhere! The first Fan Site Summit is scheduled for next weekend, from April 23-26. (Who’s skipping Easter for paddle boat rides with David Bass?) As several SWTOR fan sites are reporting their participation already, we know there will be a great deal of information coming out just after the event and we want to be the first to bring it to you right here on the site so stay tuned. We can’t wait to hear and…
London SWTOR Event roundup
Entryway to London Press Event Last week in London, some very lucky SWTOR fans were able to get a hands-on sneak peak at the game. The upcoming MMORPG from BioWare has fans in the UK and the US drooling for the opportunity to get their hands on it. This London event divided into two seatings of about 50 each and allowed players to go through about an hour worth of plan of the origin planet of the class of their choice. It was then followed by a quick Q&A with the developers, including Writing Director Daniel Erickson and Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid. There are now more than 70 pages worth of content on the SWTOR community boards from people who attended this glorious event. Skimming through those posts will lead you to numerous reviews, news and opinion pieces about the user experience directly from those who…
Sith Speak in a British Accent
Jono Bradley posted an audio log and transcript of the second Q&A session From the SWTOR London Hands-on Event. The session has some interesting answers in it and definitely worth a read/listen. Here’s an excerpt showing a question about accents: Question: Erm; why are all the Empire characters British? Daniel Erickson: That was actually my decision; really early on I wanted too evoke really my memory of the original trilogy and in the original trilogy – although there are a couple of exceptions.. Stephen Reid: Some really weird exceptions; Daniel Erickson: Yeah; you know Kenobi and that sort of thing but all of the officers that are evil have that great sort of upper-class British accent and one of the things we wanted to do at the beginning was – we always have to look at the fact that we know where the history goes; so we know at some…
Another look at the character selection screen and London Hands-on Event Impressions
Even though no news sites are allowed to posts images or write reviews about the UK Press Event a few pictures has already shown up. This one was posted by Stephen Reid, who buys his contact lenses online, via Twitter just before guests showed up: I expect many interesting reviews, pictures and movies to show up the comming weeks, until then, we have to settle for the hands on that was posted on the official forums Many of you are aware of the UK Community Event we’re holding at Gamerbase, where community members get some hands-on time with the game. If you got to play, we want to hear your impressions! If you’re one of the lucky folks who attended the event, let us know how it went for you and share your impressions with your fellow community members. I know everyone is eager to hear your stories, and the whole…
SWTOR PAX East 2011 Highlight Video
BioWare just published a short video showing some of the highlights from this years Pax East. The video provides footage of fans rushing to the SWTOR booth, as well as fans standing in line and talking about what they experienced. We also get to see clips of Daniel Erickson and Stephen Reid at the Space Combat Demonstration. The video definitely captures the excitement of being at PAX East. Check it out below:
SWTOR UK Community Event – April 5th
Last night BioWare’s community manage Stephen Reid Tweeted about a special announcement coming Tuesday for UK fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic, the entire community has since been discussing what it might be. Now we know. BioWare will have a special “one-night-only” party in London, on April 5, 2011 were fans will be able to play the game. The event will be held at gamerbase, inside HMV at the Trocadero – here is a map of the location. This is a great opportunity for UK gamers to get their hands-on the SWTOR, but hurry, BioWare states that the capacity is extremely limited, and based on reservations/invitations. REad the full forum post below and find out how you can be included: Hello to all my fellow countrymen in the UK… We have a late-breaking, limited quantity, super exclusive community event for you to potentially attend. Read on for more information,…
Pax East 2011: BioWare Developer Meet And Greet
TorSyndicate posted a few movies from the Developer Meet And Greet at years Pax East. People were attendance had a chance to ask the devs questions about SWTOR. It seemed like all the guest had a good time, and the camera man was good at getting footage of some of the larger upcoming guilds like “Eternal Vigilance”, “Saints of the old republic”, Requiem etc as well as bloggers from the SWTOR fansite sphere. Check it out below:
BioWare panel appearances at PaxEast
BioWare Senior Community Coordinator Stephen Read posted an update regarding Bioware staff appearances at PaxEast earlier today. In this he stresses that there will be no panels or events dedicated to Star Wars: The Old Republic at PAX East, but several BioWare employees will be taking part in some more broad panels: Hello from Boston! With PAX East 2011 just a day away – well, give or take about eight hours, given my late post – I’m very pleased to tell you about a few guest appearances BioWare staff members will be making on various panels over the weekend. Please note, these are not official panels for Star Wars: The Old Republic. They are panels on various subjects that we were asked to provide speakers for. If you attend any of these panels, there is no guarantee that The Old Republic will even be spoken of… well alright, it’s pretty…
Damion Schubert On Designing For Loners
Jef Reahard from Massively have made a very detailed writeup of Damion Schubert‘s recent talk at GDC 2011, entitled “The Loner: Why Some People Play MMOs Alone:” One of the seeming paradoxes of MMO design is that there is a large contingent of players who would prefer to play these games alone. Gamers who want to play this way are often derided by other players and sometimes even designers for their playstyle, but it isn’t as odd or exotic as it seems. This talk discusses the rationale for this playstyle, the necessity to cater to this playstyle from a business point of view, and the design intricacies of providing solo play without invalidating the ‘massive’ parts of your game design. Jef Reahard has made a great rundown of Damion Schubert’s points in his speach, and extracts some interesting quotes from the talk as well: Schubert states that MMOs feature “hardcore…
Friday update: Bounty Hunter PAX East Plans
Not everyone will find the life of a Jedi or Sith appealing in Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). Some will find the rugged lifestyle of a Bounty Hunter more to their liking. After all, one of the favorite characters in the Star Wars lineup is Boba Fett. How can you not have a class fashioned after one of the Star Wars galaxy’s most infamous Bounty Hunters? While Boba Fett is thousands of years from birth in SWTOR, his profession is well intact and BioWare revealed a new look at the SWTOR Bounty Hunter at GDC 2011. The latest reveal offers a look at Mako, a companion that can join young Bounty Hunters on their adventures and a notorious slicer, the Rattataki race, a violent species well-suited for bounty hunting and the D-5 Mantis Patrol Craft ship, built for a true Bounty Hunter. Lastly, a brand new Bounty Hunter class…
First Person Experience
Writer Nick Kolan from IGN received some solid gaming time playing Star Wars: The Old Republic during the recent “Jedi Immersion Day. His first experience was playing the Sith Inquisitor class at last years E3 but wasn’t given the time that is needed for such an involving game, but luckily he was able to play a second time as the Jedi Consular the exact opposite of the previous class with much more time. He experience an array of Force attacks that the Jedi is equipped with as well as he noticed that the Force Points regenerate with out the need of Mana potions. As a fellow gamer he barked upon some kill and gather quests that for him didn’t seem to bother him at all which in other games are known to be quite the chore. “My experience with the Consular was ultimately far more positive than my brief time…
Machinima Realm goes to the Jedi Immersion Event
I belive we are starting to see the end of the Jedi Immersion Event reviews, but I don’t wan’t to cheat you for Machinimas “Realm” were Hundar and Grit try out TOR’s Jedi classes:
Ten Ton Hammers latest impressions after a story-driven six hours with the Jedi Knight
Ten Ton Hammer donned their Padawan robes for their first feature length, hands-on, ten level preview of the Jedi homeworld, Tython. They tell us about one of the game’s most anticipated classes, the Jedi Knight, whether SWTOR’s story-driven approach is fun or frivolous, offer you a first-ever hands-on glimpse of how multiplayer works, and give you the low-down on the first round of SWTOR morality missions like this one: “And just like that, I stumble into my toughest morality mission yet. It’s not because my job is to break up the happy Jedi couple – Jedis lead a hard knock life – but because Moracen offers me a sweet crystal for the lightsaber I hope to build soon. In return I’d simply go off and tell the Master that everything was nice and passion-free again. Grimacing (in real life), I stuck to my guns, imagining I’d just turned down one…
TOROCast: Jedi Immersion Event
TOROCast as promised has published a wealth of information from the Star Wars: The old republic Jedi Immersion Event. The guys got an Interview with Daniel Erickson that you can check out below, and a great job collecting player stats and NPC info: Nothing is more important to any MMO players efficiency than their stats and understanding how they affect your character. Min/maxxers especially care about stats since it is through stat optimization that we can set ourselves apart. Below you will find a complete breakdown of everything we learned from our playtime. Each level, main and primary go up by 4, secondary goes up by 1. It is possible that their is a rotation we can see this by looking at the increase in primary stats. So they go up by 4, then they go up by 4, then they go up by 3, and rotate like that. Unfortunately…