SWTOR is a game that has sprung some controversial ideas over the years. It is a game that many called a failure but that actually has succeeded in many ways. For many reasons, there are things that other MMOs can learn from SWTOR and the game history so far. Other MMOs can learn from both the successes and the failures of SWTOR. In some ways, this game has paved the path for those that will come after, just like games before opened doors for SWTOR to be what it is today. So let’s take a look at some of the ideas that other MMOs can take from SWTOR. One very big point is the voice acting. The type of voice acting SWTOR had was unique. Never before has it been done in this way in a video game. All the live voice acting adds a different element and level of…
EA Opens new Star Wars Website
Leland Chee (Manager of the Holocron over at Lucasfilm Story Group), posted an interesting tweet Yesterday. Unknown to most people, Electronic arts, have now started a website for all thing related to upcoming Star Wars video games in development by EA. Over a year ago, EA and our partners at Lucasfilm and Disney reached a multi-year, multi-title exclusive licensing agreement for the creation of new Star Warsgames aimed at core gamers across consoles, PC, mobile and tablets. Today, we’re excited to be launching a new Web Site for EA’s Star Wars games. StarWars.ea.com is a singular destination for Star Wars fans to learn more about the exciting new games in development at EA. Right now, you can find new videos and the latest on Star Wars™ Battlefront™ from DICE, and Star War™: The Old Republic™ from BioWare. This will be pretty interesting to follow for now on. You can check…
SWTOR Game Update 2.8: Spoils of War Consolidated Bugs List
With a new game update comes new bugs. Here a Consolidated Bugs List of all the know bugs in the game right now. If you have found any that is not on this list, remember to report it to BioWare, either ingame or on the official forums. Post #1 TaitWatson Oversight: NM DF bosses still have same HP | 06.11.2014, 12:26 PM QUOTE Death_By_Smiley The Nightmare Buff removed the increased damage. It however did not remove the extra HP. Frankly, I’d almost prefer it would stay this way. However, this is, by definition, and oversight, as the nightmare buff was supposed to affect HP. I’ll send this along to the team to see what’s going on. Thanks! Post #2 TaitWatson Ajunta Pall‘s Mask clipping | 06.11.2014, 12:25 PM QUOTE PavSalco At least in the preview my beard goes through Ajunta’s mask that does not hide it at all. Can any person that equipped…
Can the Dark Side of the Force be Used for the Greater Good?
Star Wars lore and The Force is something that has been written, discussed, debated and analyzed since the first film’s debut. One topic of the Star Wars story that has been questioned and debated over the years is that of the Force and Light and Dark side. In this video, we can explore the question “Can the Dark Side of the Force be used for the greater good?” Some will argue that the Dark Side itself is inherently evil and that simply by choosing to act on the Dark, you cannot do good, and that you will become evil. The same is said of the Light Side and good. But if we really break down the story, we see that even the Light Side sometimes questions their goodness or makes choices that could be considered “evil”. Maybe it is not really as black and white as we’d like to think….
Star Wars: Battlefront, DICE Increasingly Looking Like Match Made in Heaven
For a layman, the Star Wars: Battlefront trailer presented at the 2014 E3 may have been disappointing. After all, it contained precious little in-game footage and much more of the “people dramatically entering an office” sort of thing, as one reviewer so keenly pointed out. For a true fan however, the trailer told much more than a straight hour of in-game state-of-the-art graphics frenzy would have, and it really did say what every fan out there wanted to hear: that the folks at DICE were treating this project with utmost respect and that they were aiming to make a game that they, as Star Wars fans, always wanted to play. The trailer also showcased the lengths the team went to in order to create as authentic a Star Wars experience as possible, immersing themselves into the annals of the Star Wars universe in ways only true fans would ever be…
Developer Update: Spoils of War
Game update 2.8 Spoils of War is now live, and with it, BioWare posted 3 developer updates and a developer blog. in These designer Chris Schmidt, PvP Designer Alex Modny, Lead Flashpoints and Operation Designer George Smith and Associate Producer Andrew Horwitz ( many new names here? ), outlines what to expect with the new update. You can read them all in there original form over at the official Star Wars: The old Republic website here and here, or you can read it all below as we have shamelessly copy pasted it all for you viewing pleasure. Developer Update: Spoils of War 06.09.2014 With Game Update 2.8: Spoils of War right around the corner, the developers wanted to give you some more details about some of this update’s major features. We hope you are as excited as we are to reap rewards through Story Mode Operations, Galactic Starfighter, Warzones, and…
How to Beat the System in the Upcoming Event
On June 10th, Star Wars: The Old Republic launches Update 2.8: Spoils of War, and the casino event called the Festival of Splendor along with most of the patch already resides on the public test server. The new event is based on gambling/casino which is not for everyone, of course. If you like casino games and trying your hand at your luck vs. the house, you might not want to do this trick at all. But if you want a way to beat the system, then check this out. Hyperspace Beacon has found a way to beat the system in this new event. This might be something worth looking into. Here they have an overview on games and prizes: The Smuggler’s Luck slot machines cost the least. Each token is 1,000 credits and there is a higher chance to win something. According to SWTOR_miner on Reddit, every time you play you only have…
Star Wars Battlefront: Official E3 2014 Trailer
Star Wars: Battlefront reveal out of the way early with the announcement that more game info will be available in Spring 2015. That’s around six months ahead of Star Wars: Episode VII‘s theatrical debut, so 2015 should definitely scratch your Star Wars itch with a bunch of new books, movies, and games. The publisher used their 2014 E3 Press Conference to show off a quick behind-the-scenes video (DICE went poking around in the LucasArts archives to get the look of their game just right) Check it out below: Star Wars™ Battlefront™ is the ultimate Star Wars battle experience, brought to life by the creators of Battlefield. Fight in epic Star Wars battles on iconic planets and rise through the ranks playing as the heroic Rebellion or the evil galactic Empire.
Patch Notes – 6/10/2014 – Game Update 2.8: Spoils Of War
Tomorrow will see the light of Game Update 2.8: Spoils Of War. The new game update comes with tons of updates and a new gambling event on Nar Shaddaa. Check out the full patch notes below: Game Update 2.8: Spoils Of War Soovada (“Spoils of War” in Huttese) is an annual celebration of total extravagance in Hutt culture, originally celebrated in the summer season of Varl after successful military campaigns. Rival clans compete to prove their superior wealth, attempting to sponsor the most parties, pit fights, bounties, gambling, and every other public display of fortune and excess imaginable. Popularized among outside cultures during visits to Nar Shaddaa, this exuberant holiday is now celebrated on hundreds of worlds across the galaxy, where it’s simply known by its Huttese name; any connection to ancient wartime looting is largely ignored. Highlights New Event: Spoils of War! Players can earn double Ranked Warzone Commendations, Warzone Commendations,…
Steampunk Darth Vader, Yoda and Leia in New Star Wars Art
I love Steampunk and I love Star Wars. Now I have found something that brings the best of both worlds together. This was shared to me by a good friend who knows what a fan I am of both and I knew I had to share it with the rest of you. If you are a fan of Star Wars, then you will probably like this but if you are also a steampunk fan, then you’ll love it even more. Head over here and check it out for yourself and you will see just what we’re talking about. If you love Star Wars and if you love fan art and conception art, then you will greatly appreciate this entire gallery. These Star Wars paintings are the work of Bjorn Hurri, a Swedish born concept artist currently living and working in London. Let’s take a look at some more images from the…
Gree Event Returns – 7/22 – 7/29
While I’m glad to finally see when it will return, I’m a bit disheartened to learn it’ll be just a week. Got a good friend that wants the armor and is a new player so he’s not gonna get it until the 2nd (or 3rd) week played. He’s cool with it and accepted it but I’m a tad sad… for him. But he’ll survive. 😉 Anyways… been waiting for this for months, can finally finish maxing out rep and get all the legacy weapons. Also kind of a PSA, because I didn’t hear myself, but legacy shotguns and vibroknives are available at the Gree vendor now. I thought they were still missing. Here is the official news from Tait Watson: Emeraldon Tomb of Freedon Nadd 2 points 28 minutes ago (2|0) Come on, BioWare! Give us more information! When is the Gree event? 🙁 July 22nd – July 29th, starting…
Rumor on the Future of SWTOR
What could happen in the future of SWTOR? That’s probably a question that all fans could speculate on and the truth is, most of us never would have guessed SWTOR would end up where it is now from those early beginnings and pre-launch info. It’s no surprise then that fans like to speculate on what the future might hold for our game and how it could change in coming months or even years. The truth is, we don’t actually know for sure. One poster on Reddit claims to have inside knowledge about the future of Star Wars: The Old Republic but as always, take this info with a grain of salt. We have no proof that this is real insider info and even if it was, companies often change the plan when sensitive info is leaked. What we do know is that it’s fun to speculate so here we go!…
Scheduled Maintenance: June 10th, 2014 – Patch 2.8.0
On June 10th, all game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher will be unavailable while BioWare perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update 2.8: Spoils of War will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday June 10th Duration: 6 hours Time: 2AM PST (9AM GMT) – 8AM PST (3PM GMT) Spoils of War comes with tons of new features including DREAD PALACE NIGHTMARE MODE, Two new Starfighters and a new ingame event. This new event is all about gambling, so it’s time to have fun with the new slot machines!
Star Wars: Episode VII Spoilers
So we’re all super excited for Star Wars: Episode VII and of course, we are looking for all the info we can find on what to expect from the upcoming movies. So it’s no surprise when spoilers come out here and there but we also know how tightly they like to keep any Star Wars news on the lockdown. So it was a little bit of a shock when TMZ released some leaked photos from the set and behind the scenes of Star Wars: Episode VII. Of course, we cannot be 100% all these photos are legit but TMZ does have a pretty good reliability record with this sort of thing. So here are some of the first batch of images that were released. Then the next day, we also saw these leaked spoiler photos. The Internet was pretty much in an uproar about them and what they could mean. So after…
Worst Star Wars Gaming Experiences
We’ve talked about the best Star Wars games here lately but let’s take some time to look at some of the worst. Here are some Star Wars games that were considered flops: Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing – Arcane-style karting game but it wasn’t what fans were looking for Star Wars Kinect – A good idea gone horribly wrong? Star Wars: Force Commander – Star Wars RTS, what can go wrong? This one just wasn’t developed enough before release Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi – Remains at the top of nearly every list of “Worst Star Wars games ever Star Wars Demolition- Star Wars skinned “Twisted Metal” knockoff that didn’t quite work out Do you have any you’d add to the list? It’s important when talking about our worst Star Wars gaming experiences that we remember that without the worst, we would not have the best. It takes failures,…
DICE’s Star Wars: Battlefront – Something for the Fans to Really Look Forward to
Star Wars gamers and fans of the movies/universe are certainly living in exciting times these days. While they do not currently have much available to them gaming-wise, they certainly have great things to look forward to and to be excited about. There’s a lot on the horizon for fans of the cult classic, and even though it is now certain 2014 won’t bring them the fulfillment and joy only a well-put together Star Wars game of movie can deliver, 2015 looks promising, at least according to EA’s Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen, who said at the annual shareholders’ meeting of the company that Star Wars: Battlefront would indeed be released during the second or third quarter of 2015. The stormy history of the title and the speculation sparked by the game’s introduction at E3 in June, 2013 (trough a ~30-second intro), don’t exactly paint a clear or even relevant picture…
Fantastic Four filmmaker Josh Trank confirmed to direct his own Star Wars spin-off movie
Josh Trank will direct one of the planned standalone Star Wars films, it has been announced. Lucasfilm announced that the 30-year-old filmmaker will be at the helm of one of the two announced Star Wars spin-offs being made outside of the third trilogy. Josh said: “The magic of the Star Wars Universe defined my entire childhood. The opportunity to expand on that experience for future generations is the most incredible dream of all time.” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy added: “We’re thrilled to welcome Josh into the family. He is such an incredible talent and has a great imagination and sense of innovation. That makes him perfectly suited to Star Wars, and for this new slate of movies that reach beyond the core characters and storylines of Episodes I through IX.” An earlier announced spin-off is to be led by Godzilla director Gareth Edwards. Movie bosses announced last year that they…
The History of Star Wars Games
If you are a gamer fan and a Star Wars fan then there is a good chance you have seen and heard many things about the history of Star Wars games. You’ve probably played quite a few of these games for yourself. Perhaps you even have a hard time deciding which of these new Star Wars games you should try and which ones are just not worth your time. You won’t be the first person to wonder this since there are so many new titles being tossed around today. But we talk of Star Wars games, we have to take a look back at the history of this franchise and the games that have sprung from it and for that, we go back to 1982. Gamespot really gives us a good breakdown of the history of Star Wars games in this first part of a 2-part feature on the subject. Here…
Custom LEGO SWTOR Blackbolt
You know how we love bringing you cool Star Wars and SWTOR related stuff. And if you’ve followed my posts here over the past few years, you also know that I am a big LEGO fan. So we are very happy to bring you this cool story of a custom LEGO SWTOR Blackbolt. The builder/creator had this to say about it on Reddit: “A couple firsts for me here: first reddit post, first lego set I bought since childhood (Fury Interceptor), and first custom lego build. The ship and its landing platform are entirely built from the Fury set and there were many leftover pieces.” I wonder how long it took to build this? The images in the gallery below give a good guideline of the process of how it was done. I love to see creative projects like this where people take their LEGO sets and make something original…
Coruscant Skyrise Apartment Video
BioWare posted a new video that makes us imagine living in the heart of the Republic capital in our own SWTOR Coruscant Skyrise Apartment! These are all features that I want and am actually looking forward to, though I’d have actually been fine with some of this functionality having simply been made available within the class ships. The strongholds themselves look kind of like fluff, but I’m willing to keep an open mind about it, and I’m not really a power gamer, anyway, so I don’t mind some fluff from time to time. For those not able to view the video or wanted to examine it deeper, below the video are some highlights Dulfy picked out.
EA Should Use These Star Wars Games as Inspiration
We all know that EA is a big leader in Star Wars video games. With the new canon, we know that they can also do pretty much anything they want in terms of story and put a Star Wars spin on it. But is this really the best way to do it? Are we steering too far away from what made us all fans in the first place- the original story and movies? What if new Star Wars games complemented the new movies coming out? cinelinx tells us what they think EA should use as inspiration for future Star Wars games: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Star Wars Starfighter for the PS2 Star Wars Republic Commando Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (no complaints from us on this one) They go on in their article to explain why they think these games are the best representation…
New Companion Dialogue being recorded for SWTOR
Voice actors Timothy Omundson (the voice of Aric Jorgan) and Catherine Taber (the voice of Vette), Tweeted about doing new voice work on Star Wars The old Republic yesterday. Timothy Omundson is apparently not only doing work on Aric Jorgan, but also on a new character as well. It’s still unknown if it’s for the upcoming expansion strongholds, a minor gameupdate or a future expansion. Check out Timothy Omundson tweet below, and Catherine Taber’s Instagram picture below: Time to record more @SWTOR. Busted out some Aric Jorgan and a new character, worthy of The Beard. pic.twitter.com/FfIhXd0wic — Timothy Omundson (@Omundson) 2. juni 2014
The Empire Strikes Back Voted Greatest Film of All Time
The Empire Strikes Back has topped a poll of the greatest movies of all time. I can’t say that we are really all that surprised at this news. Despite the beef that some people have with the movie, it is still a classic. It’s a part of pop culture and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone today who doesn’t at least know of the movie. The movie, which came out in 1980, beat over 301 other titles in Empire magazine. Yahoo! UK News brings us more on the story: Creator George Lucas said it was a “privilege” to be voted top. Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather came second in the survey involving 250,000 film fans. “The fans like The Empire Strikes Back the best, partly because it is so dark. “It’s an overall story and as it happens in the second act, things get dark. “I never really planned it…
Disney Cancels Star Wars: Attack Squadrons
And another Star Wars game bites the dust. If you were planning to suit up for your X-wing, you might be disappointed at this news. Unfortunately, Disney has cancelled Star Wars: Attack Squadrons and fans everyone are left wondering why. Disney Interactive has halted development and testing on its new PC-only, combat sim game, Star Wars: Attack Squadrons. They have this to say: We want to thank all of the fans who participated in the closed beta of Star Wars: Attack Squadrons,” Disney Interactive posted this week on its Facebook page and official site. “After much consideration, we have decided to cease development so that we can focus on other Star Wars game experiences. We truly appreciate the time you spent engaging in the beta.” We first heard about the game in Dec of 2013 and while it has seemed like slow going, it was supposed to feature ships that users could mod,…