Darth Hater brings us an awesome video from GamesCom 2011. Here’s a full 13-minute video that you won’t find anywhere else and gives us great tidbits of info from Eternity Vault. This is information you won’t get unless you were there for yourself. Big thanks to Darth Hater for giving us something awesome just like this. The Eternity Vault is an eight or sixteen player mission on an ice planet “where an enemy older than both the Republic and the Empire has been contained.” Day Zero (press only) presentation of Eternity Vault at GamesCom 2011:
SWTOR Wins ‘Best Online Game”
Europe’s Gamescom conference has revealed the winners of its best in show awards and SWTOR has won the coveted “Best Online Game” recognition. EA received several awards actually: Best Online Game honors for Star Wars The Old Republic Best Console Game for FIFA 12 Best Browser Game award for The Sims Social (a new award) As you can see, it was a good day for SWTOR and EA. A complete list of the winners is as follows: * Best of Gamescom: Battlefield 3 (Electronic Arts) * Best Hardware or Hardware Accessories: PlayStation Vita (Sony Computer Entertainment) * Best Console Game: FIFA 12 (Electronic Arts) * Best Mobile Game: Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Sony Computer Entertainment) * Best Online Game: Star Wars: The Old Republic (Electronic Arts) * Best PC Game: Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment) * Best Browser Game: The Sims Social (Electronic Arts) * Best Family Game: Sesame Street: Once Upon…
Facebook Image of The Week #25
I still have close to no internet, but here is the weekly Facebook screenshot from BioWare: The Dark Temple on Dromund Kaas holds ancient and powerful secrets that Sith Lords have sought to unlock for centuries.
Brand New Star Wars Clone Wars Season 4 Trailer
LucasArts and Cartoon Network have released a new extended trailer for the forthcoming fourth season of The Clone Wars, and it looks to be another good, story-heavy addition to the franchise. The season is set to begin with an hour premiere, consisting of two episodes – “Water War” and “Gungan Attack” – which form two parts of a three ep story-arc (completed by the next week’s show). Within that arc we’ll be treated to a hugely impressive underwater battle scene (which I’ve seen and was blown away by) and the first appearance of fan favourite character, Captain Ackbar. Overall, the fourth season promises to ramp up the action, introducing new characters and a grander scale and retaining the high-octane thrills that the canon-building property has shown since day one. Here’s the trailer in full: Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 4 starts Friday 16th September in the US.
Mass Effect 3 Release Date
March 9, 2012 is a date that RPG gamers are foaming at the mouth for. BioWare is doing all that they can to make the wait even more difficult as they released a brand new movie and screenshots of Mass Effect 3. This game has got to be one of the most anticipated games of the coming year and simply looks incredible. BioWare knows exactly what they are doing in whetting our appetite with this little featurettes, don’t they? The game will be available on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 and will come in regular and a special edition. The special edition was revealed as well and will be called the Mass Effect 3 N7 Collector’s Edition. The N7 will have exclusive content in the game. It also will include a limited edition Dark Horse Comic, art book and soundtrack. Finally, they will also include an N7 patch and lithograph…
Does BioWare Booth at GamesCom Pics Hint at Huge Surprise?
The excitement level is at a fever pitch in Germany as BioWare gets set to show off SWTOR booth that would rival even the biggest MMO universe. (Okay, maybe not that large but it is really big this year!) The pics that have come out thus far are absolutely breathtaking and absolutely stink of a huge reveal. It would not surprise me in the least if BioWare came out with something a bit unexpected. Could BioWare be setting us up for a huge surprise twist or preview? Stephen Reid tweeted these pics revealing the immense size and scope of the SWTOR booth at GamesCom this year. It certainly looks to me like they have something bigger in mind than a typical booth. Either way, this booth looks like it will be the star of the GamesCom show. This is especially true of the MMO crowd. We all know that in…
GamesCon 2011 EA Updates
The Electronic Arts press conference this morning at GamesCom 2011 brought some exciting news in the world of gaming. Many were anxiously awaiting this press conference from Cologne, Germany to see what was new and when to expect it. Here is a blow-by-blow of the news conference highlights: First, they announced a brand new FIFA Street title for the sports gamers that is expected early in 2012. Next up they announced Need for Speed, The Run. This sounds like a fun title for racing fans that also like a bit of danger. The demo showed an avalanche falling on the road as the racers tried escaping. Next, BioWare takes the stage to drop a huge bomb. Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes will be released in the fall, and players can sign up for the beta testing now by going to their website. The game is head to head, but this…
BioWare Meet and Greet
Exciting news is coming out about the GamesCom this year over in Europe. The Bioware developers are planning on having a “meet and greet” to allow people to get to know them a bit better. This is likely to be on the must-do list for all GamesCom attendees this year. What is even more important to consider is that the event may be RSVP only, though this has not been confirmed. Something as cool as meeting the guys responsible for developing Bioware is sure to be a hit. Bottom line, you need to pay attention to Twitter and our website for more details as they come available so you know what to do to secure your spot. It is almost certain to be a hot ticket at such a huge event. On Twitter, Stephen Reid (Rockjaw) said that the event would be on Friday night but gave no further details….
Gamescon 2011: BioWare announces Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes
Here is the first of many fun updates from Gamescon 2011. BioWare has a great announcement for Warhammer fans… The Warhammer universe just got a huge boost in fun as BioWare announced Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes. This new free-to-play online game will be one of the most exciting things in the world of gaming for the fall season. Wrath of Heroes sounds like it should be a ton of fun and almost certainly will be a hit. Being free to play makes it all the better. BioWare is making quite the splash at GamesCom for 2011, and this latest announcement is a big example of why. Wrath of Heroes is being touted as a PvP combat type game that will be played within the Warhammer Universe. It is supposed to be highly competitive while at the same time extremely engaging. Plenty of heroes will be available to fit any…
The Guild Testing Program Details
First of all I would like apologize for the lack of updates on our website the last couple of days. Currently I’m with my family on vacation in an area of Denmark were internet haven’t been invented yet. At the same time Lisa is on holiday with her family, so she is also having a hard time finding time to write. I found a place 75 km from our holiday home were internet can be found though, so I will be driving there each day to keep you updated! Here is a quick one before we start posting Gamescom stuff: If you want to join the SWTOR Guild Testing Program, make sure your guild has at least 10 registered members. Guilds are then selected at random to participate. Currently European guilds are not eligible as the EU Guild Testing program has not yet begun, but will soon. For more information about the SWTOR Guild Testing Program,…
The Guild Sphere: Sentinels of the Light
European PVE guild Sentinels of the Light took some time to answer our questions this week Where did your guilds name come from? The name was originally created by myself and Myphos long before SWTOR was announced. The name was based on our love of the Sentinel class in KotOR. A guild was created on World of Warcraft for our little cohort of friends to play, mingle and socialise while tackling a few of the end game features. We eventually decided to make an addition of “of the Light” to reflect our Lightside loyalty (or good in the case of WoW). This name then followed through with the knowledge of a future Star Wars MMO. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild? A European based, casual guild that is all about fun, maturity and taking our time, while still aiming to tackle the end-game content…
Collectors Rejoice! South Pacific Island Set To Release Star Wars Coins
Even the Queen loves Star Wars. Well, sort of anyway – because The Telegraph are reporting that she is set to share space on a set of coins with the cast of the franchise. According to the British newspaper, characters including Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Yoda and a cast of other heroes and villains from a galaxy far, far away, will feature alongside our own beloved Queen on a set of 40 coins issued by the South Pacific island state of Niue. The remote Polynesian state – population 1,400 people – normally uses New Zealand currency, but they’re bound to be the envy of the Star Wars loving world when the coins are eventually released. The coin sets are aimed at collectors and investors around the world in a bid to boost Niue’s comparatively grim economy – if only every other government was that logical and proactive! The price for…
Community Highlight – Dimbo, Mandalorian Girl, Tormonger, and Warmadden
FTW Broadcasting featured some great sites in the SWTOR community in their Community Highlight segment. They start with Dimbo The Trooper a SWTOR Fan-fiction writer and self named “TORWhore” who is the author of the weekly Dimbo’s Radar. If you aren’t already familiar with Bootleg Radio, Dimbo guest stars on one of the their podcasts, Keyboard Heroes. One of the most active SWTOR Fan-fiction writers Mandalorian girl also gets featured. There seems to be a writing theme in this video because Awall announces a writing contest that is being launch by Tormonger.com and Warmadden. Grab your pens (or keyboards) and check out their sites for me details if you want to participate. For those of you out there that like to play MMOs by the numbers Tormonger has a TheoryCraft 101 video that breaks down the numbers behind SWTOR in an easy to understand way. The part of this video…
Ridiculously Awesome Star Wars Sushi
Sushi art is something I have enormous respect for. Mostly because I envy anyone who can spend so long working on food without eating it (I know, I have a problem), and thanks to the great team over at Obvious Winner I can share exactly why I admire the high-end skills so much. Japanese sushi chef, Okitsugu Kado – an avid Star Wars fan (who calls himself a Jedi) – has been busy with his carving tools producing some frankly startingly Star Wars sushi art, some of which you can see below. The pieces take hours to make, and unsurprisingly aren’t available to consumption (though they do look delicious), instead taking their place on display, presumably until they start to smell. Here are the picks of the bunch… And here is a video of the man at work. Incredible stuff.
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…
How the Launch of SWTOR Could affect WoW
Should WoW be concerned that the launch of SWTOR is rapidly approaching? According to Tenton Hammer, World of Warcraft has lost 300,000 players during their last quarter and the number of subscribers fell the quarter before that as well. Some may speculate that WoW is on the way out and SWTOR is on the way in but that’s unlikely. However, World of Warcraft may be in for some major changes to help keep players interested. Some of the players that have recently left WoW will more than likely begin playing The Old Republic when it’s released. However, for the gaming industry, having a variety of titles is what makes it thrive and no “one title” can rule MMOs. This has a lot to do with the fact that each MMO has its own “cult” or fan base that keeps it alive. WoW has its loyal fans that will never stray…
The Force is with EA: Analyst Predicts Over 3 Million SWTOR Units sold
Yes… 3 MILLION! $ERTS stock has risen due to SWTOR pre-orders. EA is doubling projected sales from 1.5 million copies to 3 million copies. This is big news for EA, BioWare and anyone who is a fan of SWTOR or has an invested interest in the game. An article today on Forbes, an analyst discusses the rising predictions in sales and the potential success of SWTOR, which may be larger than anyone anticipated. ERTS this morning is up 24 cents, or 1.4%, to $17.86. Cowen analyst Doug Creutz says: “Since ‘Star Wars‘ became available for pre-orders three weeks ago, it has tracked very strongly on the Amazon.com top-selling video games list,” he writes in a research note. “We believe it is trending as well or better than two of the top-selling PC titles last year, Blizzard’s ‘Starcraft 2‘ and ‘World of Warcraft: Cataclysm‘, both of which went on to sell…
Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody Teaser
Generally speaking, the idea of a teaser trailer for a porn film quite frankly occurs to me as something like putting wheels on an ice-cream. Entirely unnecessary. Because all you need to push in order to sell delicious filth to me is the fact that there’s boobs in it. There, simple, Sold! But with Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody those rules are there to be bent, because even without the Q&A, that film is an event in itself. Made by Axel Braun, who has some serious geek credentials behind him by the look of this teaser and what we’ve heard so far on the project, it is an affectionate porn parody like nothing that has come before. Pun completely intended. So here it is, a month before release – the official teaser trailer… Rember also to check out the interview we did with Grand Moff Tarkin aka Eli Cross
Star Wars n00bs Be Warned: There Be Pirates!
A story broke last week at the New York Times concerning a fiendish plot by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to raise badly needed cash, by unleashing young hackers on South Korea’s immensely popular online gaming sites, and it got me thinking about the potential perils facing SWTOR new-comers. Since MMORPGs became big business, it was somewhat inevitable that Virtual Crime would become part and parcel of the communities. Unfortunately it is likely that that rogue element will also find its way into the SWTOR gaming world as soon as the game gets a release (in 2030 probably), with rackets set up to bully players into paying protection or illegally trading commodities. They are a fetid boil on the backside of MMORPGs and they must be stopped, or at least resisted with all of our power. The most likely crime SWTOR will face is farming, and thanks to innovations suggested…
The Guild Sphere: Compendium
It’s Thursday and therefor time to put a spotlight on the second guild this week. This time Compendium – A republic guild focusing on both PVP and PVE took the time to answer our question. Enjoy the read: Where did your guild’s name come from? I love unique and uncommon words that sound really catchy. The word Compendium has several meanings, but the meaning I like to think of is “an inventory or gathering” – in this case a gathering of quality gamers that are share common interests and goals for The Old Republic. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild? Compendium is a tight-knit, family style guild and we’re looking to have a small-medium sized group of core members during our existence in The Old Republic. We offer both PvE and PvP activities but do not support role-playing. We offer a great social environment through several…
Star Wars Fan Movie Spirit of Fandom Award Winner: The Tentacle Trap
I can’t resist sharing these Star Wars Fan Movie Awards winners, so I won’t. This latest addition to the winner’s gallery is that which walked away with the Spirit of Fandom Award, and was made by Caribbean-based filmmaker James Austen. The Tentacle Trap tells the tale of a small band of Clone pirates who are captured by a foe far worse than Darth Vader while on a treasure-hunting trip to a leafy planet. Anyway, here it is… Austen spoke to the Official Star Wars blog about the specific difficulties presented by working with stop-motion and Lego: Remembering not to be a clumsy oaf was the biggest challenge to overcome! Halfway through a scene I’d often knock the camera or the set and have to start all over again. I lost hours making that mistake. And surprised with the software that is now available, and the help, advice and resources online….
Facebook Image of The Week #24
BioWare has once again updated the official Facebook page with a new screenshot of Star Wars: the old republic. This time we get to see a screenshot of the planet Voss. The planet Voss is steeped in war between its native species, the Voss and Gormak. Somone also leaked some sweet sweet beta gameplay of the Imperial agent.
Not Getting Beta with SWTOR Pre-order
I have heard complaints of people pre-ordering SWTOR and then not getting the beta time they were promised or gamers confused about when they will get their beta access after pre-ordering the game. Part of the reason for this confusion can be tracked down to salespeople at the game stores, specifically in the U.S. My sister works at Gamestop and she purchased a pre-order for her boyfriend because she was told there was beta time when you ordered. Then her manager at GameStop told her that you get a week of beta access but you don’t get to choose your week and they will tell you when you get your access. A search online in the forums said other people were told the same thing, several by Gamestop employees and managers. But this isn’t the truth about the SWTOR pre-order. If you’ve been promised beta play time by a salesperson…