GDC Online officially kicked of yesterday in Austin but today was the first day at the industry conference where Bioware developers were scheduled for sessions. One session that was especially interesting was “Taking Your Game Everywhere”. This panel featured BioWare’s Erik Olsen, Curse’s Donovan Duncan, ZAM’s Cody Bye and Red 5′s Mark Kern and was led by former BioWare Austin Co-Studio Manager and current Playdom exec Gordon Walton. This session addressed the idea that gamers want to be able to take their online games with them, outside of the game itself. Make sense, right? I mean it’s like a handheld but where you can still check in to your online game. It combines the appeal of games and apps for our smartphones, iPads and other mobile devices. This popular trend is something that game studios will want to get in on. Gamasutra has a summary of the panel which gives…
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Try out SWTOR at New York Comic Con
We previously wrote about all the Star Wars events and guest attending to this years New York Comic Con, but yesterday BioWare posted an official update regarding Star Wars: The Old Republic presence there. Players who come by the booth will have the opportunity to try out both the Alderaan and Huttball Warzones. New York Comic-Con attendees will also have the chance to play through some of the Origin Worlds content on the showfloor. In addition, three separate panels will be held to give fans and medium more detailed information. Those who come by the booth will have the opportunity to experience both the Alderaan and Huttball Warzones. New York Comic-Con attendees will also have the chance to play through some of our Origin Worlds content on the showfloor. If your not able to attend the the official avent, BioWare will be holding a Meet and greed on Wednesday, October 12th 2011: The BioWare team…
NY Comic Con: Star Wars Guests & Events
A few weeks ago we reported that BioWare will have two Panels At NYCC’11. Now – Thanks to theforce.net the full program of this years big event in the big apple has been revealed. Star Wars Guests Mark Hamill – do you really need an explanation? Ashley Eckstein – Ashoka Tano voice on TCW Peter Mayhew – OT and PT Chewbacca Katie Cook – SW artist Spencer Brinkerhoff – SW artist More artist, comic and entertainment guests can be viewed here and many are also noted in the event schedule below. Star Wars Events and Panels Star Wars: The Blueprints by J.W. Rinzler Date: Friday, October 14 10:45 am – 11:45 am Location: 1A03 Description: New York Times best-selling author and Lucasfilm Executive Editor J.W. Rinzler (author of The Making of Star Wars) discusses his latest book–about the unsung heroes of the Star Wars movies: the production designers, set dressers,…
Video: Totalbiscuit – Level 14 Jedi Sentinel PVP – Huttball
At the Eurogamer Expo 2011, TotalBiscuit was able to play a game of Huttball using the Jedi Sentinel class, a heavy melee damage dealer. As always “The Angry Brit” has some awesome commentary good for a laugh. The video is filmed at 25fps, 1080i resolution, so it’s really decent footage. TotalBiscuit has commented a few times about the game, here is one of the most interesting points: There is a scaling issue, far as I can tell, due to how PvP works. At lower levels, you have too much health and not enough damage. Bioware is aware of it and they’re tweaking it, but it’s particularly frustrating with melee classes. If I’m chopping you up with a lightsabre, you should probably die. With the Trooper I can stand at range mowing fools down with area of effect sprays, grenades and such, plus I can take a beating up close and do massive…
Eurogamer Expo Gains Attention thanks to SWTOR
Eurogamer Expo’s time has come, says Patrick Garratt and it is in part due to BioWare’s The Old Republic announcement yesterday. VG247 is a media partner of Eurogamer Expo, and is partially owned by Eurogamer Network. They had an interesting write-up on the Erogamer Expo and what SWTOR has done for it in recent days. Sometimes all it takes is one popular topic to put an event on the map. This is especially true when it comes to entertainment and media. In the video game world, people, including media, are often drawn to what they know. They won’t always go out of their way to visit or report on expos, conventions or events until they are made “big business”. Sometimes an event just needs that one thing to come along to put them on the map. And that’s exactly what SWTOR did for the Eurogamer Expo. As Patrick explains in…
SWTOR will Have Two Panels At NYCC’11
Star Wars: The Old Republic is big news. Even if you’re not a Star Wars fan, a Bioware fan or anyone looking forward to the game’s release, chances are high that you have at least heard about it. If you want to learn more about SWTOR, the upcoming New York Comic Con might be the place to do it. SWTOR is popular enough that there will be two separate panels devoted to it at NYCC 2011. One is a main panel which can be seen here and the other is a Q&A panel with MMORPG.com which can be seen here but there is not currently a lot of info on what will be at these panels. Both will happen on Friday- main pane at 2:30pm and Q&A at 6:30pm. That’s about all the info we have so far but we will keep our eyes and ears open for any new…
Friday Update: Studio Insider – Combat Animation
Today’s Friday updates features a Studio Insider on combat animation and details too Bioware’s plans for the Eurogamer Expo next week. In the Studio Inside, Principal Lead Animator Mark How, goes through the process of creating combat animations, from the idea stage to a finished product. The Studio insider also features Q and A were a number of community questions is being answered. The most interesting news we get here is that Dual Speccing is something BioWare wan’t to add soon after the launch of the game. Q: Since it has been clearly stated that there will not be dual specs for characters in the game, can you explain your philosophy behind the skill trees and how you are taking into account players that want to be able to play PvP and PvE content on the same character? – illumineart A: Dual Speccing is something we want to add soon after…
Good News for European Fans: SWTOR to attend GameFest
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…
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…