Dustil Onasi was a member of the Onasi family, and son of the war veteran Carth Onasi who served the Galactic Republic Navy during the Mandalorian Wars, Jedi Civil War and aftermath at the Battle of Telos IV. Dustil was born on Telos IV and raised mostly by his mother due to his father being of the soldiery. During the bombardment and destruction of Telos IV’s surface during the Jedi Civil War, his mother was killed and Dustil was assumed dead, but in fact he survived and gained dislike for the Galactic Republic and his father for their inability to save Telos IV. He, as a Force-sensitive, trained in the Dreshdae colony of Korriban at the Sith Academy to become a Dark Jedi. However, he was discovered by his father and Revan and convinced to return to the light. He also convinced several of his friends to turn from the…
Will SWTOR players be separated by language?
Language is important in an MMO where players depend on communication with others to make the game fun and enjoyable. But with a large game like SWTOR that gathers a varied fan base of multi-cultural fans, it’s no surprise that language would become an issue. Some are calling SWTOR racist and to say the issue is of importance would be an understatement. The available languages and in what manner they will be available is important to gamers, particularly those of the English, French and German languages. Players are very concerned that they will have to be grouped together in one large multi-language server where everyone speaks in their native tongue. Stephen Reid explains that there are not concrete plans as of yet on how the servers will be set up but like most other MMOs there will be servers dedicated to players who speak one common language. “While we can’t…
Chinese Prisoners Forced to Farm Gold in Online Games
“There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn’t see any of the money. The computers were never turned off.” Says a prisoner at the Jixi labor camp, Liu Dali who shares his story of being imprisoned and forced to work hard labor by day and farm for in-game currency by night. Chinese gold farmers have become something of a joke in online gaming. Anyone who spends time collecting in-game currency is commonly referred to as a “gold farmer”. While many gamers have mixed feelings about the subject, most will admit they don’t actually know where the gold comes from. Most gamers don’t understand how many of these companies get their gold and make a profit. Some gold-selling companies have been known to steal or hack accounts and use these characters…
Trooper Class Progression Video Released
BioWare has unleashed a new Star Wars: The Old Republic class progression video, and this one focuses on the Trooper. Watch it below to see some of the armor, weapons and abilities you’ll have at your disposal if you decide to go with this tank class. Will you choose the path of the Vanguard or the Commando?
Synopsis Revealed For Upcoming Revan Novel
While we can’t even see a cover yet, Random House has released the synopsis for the upcoming Revan novel. This is exciting news for fans of Revan, Drew Karpyshyn and Star Wars The old republic. Drew is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two, and Star Wars: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil, as well as several other science fiction and fantasy novels. He also wrote Mass Effect: Revelation and Mass Effect: Ascension. The new book synopsis reads: There’s something out there:a juggernaut of evil bearing down to crush the Republic—unless one lone Jedi, shunned and reviled, can stop it. Revan: hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior. A Jedi who left Coruscant to defeat Mandalorians—and returned a disciple of the dark side, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the…
How Stuff Works: Sith fighter
The Sith fighter was a tentatively named starfighter of ambiguous origin that formed the bulk of Darth Revan and Darth Malak’s space forces during the Jedi Civil War. Little has been gleaned about these fighters specifications. They appeared to carry a prototype twin ion drive system, seen only in this design. Its design appears to be a hybrid of various technologies, matching no specific world. Its specifications gave the fighter maneuverability to the point of instability, meaning much of the central chassis was given to managing the reactor core for optimal performance. When docked, not in use, or traveling through hyperspace, the Sith fighter had the ability to fold its wings and power down its weapon systems. In combat, these were unfolded, and the laser cannons brought to bear, a concept later seen in the S-foils. This allowed it a broad attack arc, while its small profile made it difficult…
Galactic Noms!
I love food. I love Star Wars. Couldn’t they somehow mesh both of those worlds together in one awesome, and slightly copyright-infringing moment of genius? Well, yes, they already have. The awesome picture below begs two questions: why is there not a whole fleet of these vans operating worldwide, and what went so drastically wrong in Han Solo’s life that he now finds himself flipping grilled cheese for a living? Or is this some sort of variant origin story in which the erstwhile Galactic chancer rose to being one of the most respected pilots in the known universe after casting off his working-class background. Sort of like Rocky, only with more cheese and more full-frontal wookie action…
Facebook Image of The Week #14
BioWare has released a new screenshot of SWTOR. This time BioWare takes us back to Taris. Here is the picture description: “A Ferrazid Hound prowls the undergrowth on Taris, trundling tirelessly after the scent of prey.”
TOR Guild Statistics- Which Faction Will Rule?
As guilds gear up and get ready for the anticipated release of SWTOR, we notice some interesting statistics. While it’s all early info, there are some patterns taking place in the guild stats. “mlgoss” posted these observations which have us thinking, which faction will rule TOR? Here are some stats of guilds will 100+ members (based on those registered thus far): PvP guilds – 12 Empire, 4 Republic PvE guilds – 4 Empire, 13 Republic RP guilds – 4 Empire, 4 Republic And here are the member counts: 110,887 members total 49,468 Republic members 61,419 Empire members So it looks like the Empire is dominating right now. While all of the numbers are very preliminary and do not account for many people who have not signed up/joined a guild yet, they can serve to give us an idea of what the game makeup might be like. If you’re a guild…
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…
Georg talks about Smugglers and Cover
Are you hanging desperately onto every new word about SWTOR and stalking the forums for yellow posts to give you a little more insight into how rocking the game’s gonna be? Ok, maybe you’re not quite as pathetic as me but the good news is, I get to pass the interesting details on to you so you can go on and… I don’t know… have a life! Speaking of interesting details, Georg “Observer” Zoeller, Principal Lead Combat Designer for SWTOR posted recently about Smugglers and cover on the forums. According to Georg, “All Smugglers have access to cover, but depending on Advanced Class and Skill set, cover plays a less or more important role for your gameplay.” He goes on to explain the differences with a Gunslinger and a Scoundrel. For example, “A Gunslinger with lots of points in the Sniper tree will have made cover a…
Gabe Amatangelo on SWTOR’s PVP matchmaking system
The PVP system in SWTOR has been very hush, hush until lately when the hands-on reports started coming out. Gabe Amatangelo sheds a little more light on how exactly the global PVP system is going to work. Many other MMOs have tried to conquer the PVP system by allowing massive combat to take place cross server or realm. SWTOR doesn’t seem to want to take on this idea. Their thinking pattern behind having server-based PVP systems is to create cohesion between players of the same faction and rivalries from the opposing faction. When PVP is done cross-server it doesn’t make it as personal as having someone from your own server take you on. This will breed not only a better storyline for those who really enjoy it but it will take away from the anonymous feel of killing someone you’ll probably never see again. Now the biggest problem with doing…
The Guild Sphere: The Order of the Sith Lords
This week I sat down with some awesome people from The Order of the Sith Lords, a RPPvE guild that looks to be a lot of fun, hope you all enjoy. Where did your guilds name come from? Well Vandin and I as huge SW fans took the name from Bane’s Sith legacy. A lot of people started to make fun of when we first started but hey, we are still here haha. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild? Our guild mainly wants to focus on the PVE aspect of the game, we have a lot of members with a past when it comes to raiding. On the other hand we are also HUGE nerds and we will be doing a lot of RP events with other guilds. How did your guild come about? Vandin and I had been following SWTOR…
IMDB Lists SWTOR Voice Talent (Look Who’s Talking)
Thanks to The Movie Internet Database (aka IMDB) – the greatest source of film industry information available to hacks like me – we now have some idea of exactly who is lined up to play the voices in Star Wars: The old Republic Employing all of my powers of deduction and film knowledge, I’ve picked out Joseph Gatt as the most recognisable face on the list, since I’ve just seen him blued up and frozen as a Frost Giant in Kenneth Branagh’s spectacular Thor adaptation. But there are some more recognisable talents here, even if you don’t know the names or the faces: names like Jennifer Hale, who is a demi-God of the voice-work universe, and who has also already worked on a number of Star Wars videogame properties including Knights of the Old Republic. Michelle Bonilla does the voices of Huttese Alien / Nautolan Alien / Ortolan Alien /…
Georg Zoeller Clears Up SWTOR Combat Confusions
With everyone talking about SWTOR and few of us actually able to try out the game for ourselves, there have been some questions, confusions and misconceptions about certain aspects of combat. Principal Lead Combat Designer, Greg Zoeller addresses some of these on the official SWTOR forums. One issue was enemy behavior. Are those mobs just going to stand around waiting for us to kill them? Actually, they’re not! Zoeller says, “Enemies will definitely not just stand around waiting to be attacked, even though, in the end, that’s kind of their purpose in an MMO (they are enemies, after all).” He goes on to give some specific examples of what we can expect from enemy behavior: · They engage in a variety of activities when not in combat, which include patrols and overwatch over areas where that makes sense. · When traversing through hostile territory, it is usually a good idea…
Play Star Wars Tie Fighter in Chrome
Nothing quite beats free stuff, unless its free stuff that his an undeniably nostalgic taste to it, and which thus has the power to transport recipients back to a simpler, more magical time before Jar Jar and before everyone suspected that Mr Lucas might be in it for more than just the pleasure of creating art. And now, we have some exciting news on that front, thanks to some very clever people who have announced that you can now play Star Wars Tie Fighter – the iconic DOS game from 1994 – using only the power of Chrome. If you’re a Chrome user, you might already know of Native Client (NaCl), but if not it’s a new open-source development that allows developers “to build web applications that seamlessly execute native compiled code inside the browser”. And as I say, it looks like the technology is already being put to good…
Know your lore: Warb Null
Warb Null was a dark side apprentice and King Ommin’s armored commander of the Naddist forces during the First Battle of Onderon in the Freedon Nadd Uprising. Originally named Shas Dovos, Null was formerly an aspiring young student of metalwork, though when a sinister Sith spirit tricked him into constructing a tainted suit of armor, he became a mindless servant of the dark side. The spirit resided in the very pages of an ancient Sith book discovered by Dovos in the wilds of his native planet Onderon, and eventually the spirit fused Dovos to the dark armor and renamed him Warb Null. Null became the leader of the Naddists who raided the city of Iziz during the Freedon Nadd Uprising. They defeated the Onderonian forces, as well as a team of Jedi sent by the Galactic Republic, and successfully recaptured the sarcophagi of Ommin’s late wife Amanoa, and the former…
Faction Lore: The Hutt Cartel
The Hutt Cartel were a powerful crime syndicate- a business alliance of Hutts. It had a personal military of both an army and Starfleet and waged war with the Zann Consortium until the Battle of Hypori. History The Hutts have a rich history. During the time of the Great Galactic War, the Hutt Cartel grew displeased with the Sith Emperor because he left them out of his plans and intrigues. But the Republic was unsuccessful in getting the Hutts’ support against the Empire so the Cartel remained neutral in war, like many others who made up the criminal underworld. The Cartel had control of the Kaer Orbital Platform a few decades before the Clone Wars after they forced the InterGalactic Banking Clan off the Platform. They later abandoned it, finding it useless. Clone Wars During the Clone Wars, Boorka the Hutt held considerable power. He co-operated with Sev’rance Tann during…
What’s Your Protection against SWTOR Spoilers?
There’s nothing worse than someone ruining the ending to the movie you’re all hopped up to go see. Well, maybe one thing… someone spoiling the plot to a video game you’re super excited to play. Have you ever had a buddy beat a game before you and he just can’t keep his mouth shut about it even though you’re only an hour into the storyline? So with a game as popular as SWTOR, what’s going to happen when people start playing and gamers start talking? What’s going to happen when someone shares the next storyboard when you haven’t gotten that far along? Some players don’t care; especially in an MMORPG where some play for the experience and the multi-player aspects more than the storyline. But some players do care about the storyline and some want to be able to reveal the game on their own terms and at their own…
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…
The Worst Couple in the Universe
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know how much we love Lars Von Trier OneMinuteGalactica. Back in December last year, we did a short interview with the guy, and we have been following his productions ever since. At this years Cannes film festival Last week we got to see OMG’s latest movie: “Melancholia antichrist” “The Worst Couple in the Universe“. At the following press conference he was good enough to answer questions about his view on Adolf Hitler about the movie and upcoming projects. Check it out below the movie How did you get the idea for this film? Well..This one is going to be my last Nerdy Instructional Film, and I wanted to end the series with another Star Wars video, to sort of make bookends. Because I had started the instructional films with a dating video starring Luke and Leia, I figured it would…
MMORPG stock market
Do you play the MMORPG stock market? Whether you play the market in the real world, or find real-world pleasures from virtual scenarios that allow you to escape from the day-to-day grind that is life, there is something to be said about the value of the MMORPG industry. More people are playing MMOs today than ever before. There is also a larger demographic- young and old, men and women, families, friends and couples are all playing together. There are also more types of MMORPGs than one could ever imagine. Your average fan could spend a lifetime trying them all out and still not get them all. From subscription based to free-to-play, action-adventure to science fiction, there are more MMORPGs to keep you happy than one could ever find the time to play. For some people, investing in a new MMO is a bit like playing the stock market. Will…
Drew Karpyshyn Discusses “Revan”
One of the most anticipated novels for SWTOR fans this year must be the Revan by Drew Karpyshyn. The books will be out later this year and should give some answers to what happened to one of the all time biggest force users. If you are like me must have been wondering what has happen to the guys, but also how strong his force powers actually is. In Drew Karpyshyn latest blog posts he addresses this issue. Apparently a book about me playing video games – being the ultimate pownzor – won’t work in books. Karpyshyn states that video games and novels works in different ways and “are meant to convey different experiences and the two representations of the character simply cannot be laid on top of each other.” – witch is kind off dull really, and might be the main reason why I play way more videos games then read books. To…
Gamasutra interviews the BioWare Doctors
Gamasutra has just released yet another excellent interview with the founding fathers of BioWare Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk. This time the doctors describes why they believe why Star Wars: The old republic stands out from other MMORPGs, in addition to talks about Dragon Age and Mass Effect. It’s a rather lengthy Q&A spreading over four pages, but well worth the read for BioWare and SWTOR fans. There are a lot of experienced people that have worked on MMOs in the past working on The Old Republic, but it’s just hard to imagine how incredibly difficult it could be for a company that hasn’t released an MMO yet to support an MMO. I think players trust the design choices that BioWare is going to make, and innovations in that area, but the support for a game like that — a game as a service — how are you guys approaching…