It seems you can’t go five steps without running into a stormtrooper at San Diego Comic-Con, and that’s fine by us. While Comic-Con has it’s share of the always-impressive fans in the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion, as well as the ever-stunning Slave Leias, we also wanted to feature our favorite Star Wars costumes that made us smile. May the Force Be With Your Cosplay. Utini! Ahsoka “Snips” Tano! Tusken Raider Darth MaulHan Solo probably wouldn’t resist THIS Boba Fett!Imperial BFF? When you need a costume quick, why not wear the Slave Leia apron?Star Wars Celebration V – Orlando Troopers Slave Leias! Obi-Wan’s expression says it all. Death Trooper! Anyone for a Rebel yell? Yoda, look out! It isn’t Comic-Con without Elvis Trooper! Jedi Aayla Secura! Zam Wesell & Jango Fett This young Jedi is ready for fun! Check out more Star Wars costumes here: Comic-Con 2010 (all photos)
Blood of the Empire #8 is online!
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Blood of the Empire concludes Arc Two of The Broken World [HERE] this week. The eight issue of the ongoing free webcomic is continuing the crazy mystery that left everyone hanging at the end of issue seven. Will Kel find his answers in time? What is Kressh’s ultimate plan? Check out the synopsis for issue eight below: Teneb Kel is confronted with a strange and frightening vision of the past, the future, and of his greatest enemy. As he lies broken in the Lenico wasteland, he must seek the truth about Exal Kressh and the Emperor’s goals within his mystical dream–or be utterly destroyed when he returns to reality. As if issue seven wasn’t confusing enough! The eighth issue continues to perplex the mind. Kel continues his “vision quest” or at least we are left thinking he’s having a vision. While in his vision he…
Haden Blackman Resigns From LucasArts
Only months after LucasArts saw its President, Darrell Rodriguez, depart the company, its Executive Producer has now also left. IGN reports that Haden Blackman, executive producer and writer for The Force Unleashed series, has resigned from his LucasArts position. IGN got confirmation from LucasArts on the news and a representative assured that the development of The Force Unleashed II will not be affected. Blackman issued a statement that included the following: “I’ve had a fantastic time working with the team at Lucasfilm and am really grateful for their ongoing support.” “While the decision to leave LucasArts did not happen overnight or come easily, I really feel that now is the best time for me to move on and explore new creative challenges and I look forward to the next phase of my career.” This news is just coming out so we’ll be sure to update as we learn more on…
Nar Shaddaa: Crowning Jewel of the Underworld
This Friday’s update brings us a new playable planet: Nar Shaddaa. To me, a surprising one, as I thought there would be no more planets left, then Corellia. Nar Shaddaa also featured in KotOR 2, so it will be an interesting planet to (re-)visit, though I must admit that I’m not entirely sure what it offers that other planets don’t already offer. With Coruscant already in the game we have a city planet and with Hutta we already have a crime capitol. But here it is: Circling the planet Hutta is its largest moon – Nar Shaddaa, the ultimate corrupt city. Dominated by underworld concerns and owned by the Hutts, this sprawling mass of skyscrapers is considered one of the most dangerous and exciting places in the galaxy, where anything can be had for the right price. Access the HoloNet to learn more about Nar Shaddaa. Check out this video…
Chewbacca riding giant squirrel, fighting Nazis
Created by DeviantArt user Gamefan84, who says all that needs to be said: “Craziest request ever: Chewie riding a giant cute squirrel chasing down Nazis. He needs long flowing fur and a giant roar.” You might stop by his DeviantArt page and tell him how great this is.
May the schwartz be with you: Comic-Con 2010: Slave Leias
It wouldn’t be San Diego Comic-Con without Slave Leias. Of course, this year at the annual Slave Leia photo op, the usual mayhem occurred. Who needs red carpet celebrities when you can see all the Slave Leias at the convention all in one spot? The lovely ladies were out in full Force this year, complete with a supermodel addition of America’s Next Top Model winner and reality TV star Adrianne Curry. (photo by Bonnie Burton) (photo by Bonnie Burton) (photo by Bonnie Burton) Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Nicole Love. Photo by Bonnie…
Making SWTOR Not Suck – Ending the MMORPG Launch Curse
Every announcement made for Star Wars: The Old Republic sends the loyal fanbase into a new swarm of debate, concern, and excitement that causes popular opinion to fluctuate faster than the stock market. It isn’t the little things though that will win it or lose it for BioWare’s latest Star Wars game, and we have learned a few important lessons from recent MMOG flops. We will make a dozen characters before settling down with a favorite one or two so if there isn’t variety in early content, compulsive altoholics will be clawing off their faces after playing through the same twenty levels every single time they start a new character. Save us the gore and plastic reconstruction bills and just give us something new to do while we are trying to make up our fickle minds. What features will BioWare have to nail in order to win player support? Ten…
Interview with Alexander Freed – Questing and choices
Massively brings an interesting interview with Managing Editor on Star Wars: The old republic, Alexander Freed. The interview is mainly about what the different types of quests will be available in SWTOR, what compelling choices players have to make, and what it takes to write for a project of this magnitude. Here us a snip: We’ve got four different kinds of quests. We’ve got our class quests, which is what we’ve really focused on when we’ve talked to the press about story. It’s traditional BioWare storytelling in an MMO space. The other three types of quests that we’ve got are all group quests. We’ve got world quests which are essentially like the side quests that you’d see in Dragon Age or Mass Effect. They can be played in a group. That is where you see our multiplayer dialogue system in action. Then we’ve got our flashpoints, which are our big,…
Family Guy ROTJ Spoof Gets A Title
The Hollywood Reporter Live Feed reports on the following Star Wars-related information coming out of the San Diego Comic-Con Family Guy Panel – December’s spoof of Return of the Jedi has been given the title “It’s a Trap!” – Due to the expense, this looks to be the last Star Wars parody from Family Guy – The creators of Family Guy are not looking to do any more full-out movie parodies, except for possibly Indiana Jones. Visit HollywoodReporter.com for more non-Star Wars related details on the upcoming Family Guy season. “It’s a Trap!” will debut on DVD and Blu-Ray on December 21, 2010. First Look At Family Guy ROTJ Spoof TV Guide provides our first look at the promo artwork for Family Guy‘s next venture into the GFFA, a spoof of Return of the Jedi. See below for some cliff notes of additional details from the TV Guide article: Guest…
Sean Williams Interview
Author Sean Williams talks about “Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance“, his other books (“The Force Unleashed, New Jedi Order: Force Heretic”)and blogging! at Comic-Con in 2010. Remember to check out our Fatal Alliance Review Update;: You can now read the first 50 pages of the book here.
The Guild – Talking with Krom
Last week I asked for people to write me about their guild experience, and it didn’t really matter if you were a leader, officer or simply a member – all we’d like to know was your experience in mmo’s. Luckily I encountered Krom, who was so friendly to share some of his thoughts and experiences through several mmo’s and over several years. He was also so kind as to answer some of my questions. What you read below is uncut. You can visit Krom’s guild here: www.crimsonnova.net And now, on to the interview! Hello. I go by the name of Krom in most of the games I’ve played. I got into guild leadership in 2001 as a third tiered officer in a Diablo 2 clan. Eventually, I became one of the tier one officers in that guild, KLS, and remained so until I left d2 for SWG at its launch….
“Beyond Solo” BioWare tells tales of Star Wars: The Old Republic’s storyline
Fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic managed to shut out a good chunk of media who had hoped to get into the Star Wars: The Old Republic panel today at San Diego Comic Con 2010 proving once again that Comic Con is definitely a fan driven event. The downside is that finding solid early media coverage is a little scarce but those of us who couldn’t attend the event will take what we can get! Gamespot has a small breakdown of what the panel covered. Questing, open worlds and, of course, storylines were the topic. Quests aren’t limited to players’ individual stories, however. The team discussed the concept of world arcs, which take place on a more inclusive scale and involve players joining up to complete a prolonged mission. The BioWare trio offered an example of the Battle of Hoth from the Empire Strikes Back film as one example…
BioWare Announces Space Combat for SWTOR
A big question among SWTOR fans has been, will the game feature in space combat? That question has been answered at this year’s San Diego Comic Con with a very big “YES!”” First, thank you to all of you who participated in our Comic-Con Reveal mission! While we didn’t quite make the numbers, we definitely saw how excited the community is about this and how everyone came together. After all of that, there’s no way we could hold back with our special reveal at Comic-Con! If you’ve been following the news coming out of the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ panel at Comic-Con International, you’ve heard the announcement that we will indeed have Space Combat as part of the TOR experience! But what does that mean? Space combat is an alternative gameplay experience to the primary game of storytelling, questing, and ground-based combat. In space combat, you fly your personal ship to…
The Old Republic Fan Friday Returns
The Star Wars: The Old Republic Fan Friday feature made its return to SWTOR.com today! Community Creations – a reminder to submit your fan-made artwork through the TOR forums for possible future Fan Friday features Fan Art – TOR community member Tang has the spotlight shown on his concept art scrapbook – Community member Vitellius created a 4 minute 3D animation video of Darth Rasp infiltrating a Republic base – One more commuity member featured; Oxyjin displays what he hopes his character will look like Developer Corner – Get to know that Cathar species Events – Upcoming events for The Old Republic include Celebration V, Germany’s GamesCon, and the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). Wallpapers – “Hope” cinematic trailer wallpapers are now available Fan Site Kit – The fan site kit has received its first update Avatars – New avatars are available with characters featured in the Galactic Timeline, including Master…
Star Wars: The Old Republic – Fatal Alliance Review
For those of you waiting for the dirt, you can finally find out what Sean Williams’s Fatal Alliance is like. Beware, spoilers follow! A smuggler, an agent and a Mandalorian walk into a bar. Wait a second, that’s not a joke; that’s a scene from Fatal Alliance! When all eight classes from Star Wars: The Old Republic find themselves in the same place, at the same time, faced with the same threat to the civilized galaxy, each class has a chance to let their class features shine. But is the story any good? Is it possible for a novel to do what it must to showcase all eight playable classes and still maintain that Star Wars vibe? I turned to leave. Darth Chratis had learned his lesson about me- he would not challenge me again. I saw a young woman, obviously another Sith, running past me with fire in her…
Star Wars: The old republic – Fatal Alliance synopsis
BioWare and LucasArts–creators of the hugely popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game–have combined their storytelling talents and cutting-edge technology for an innovative new massively multiplayer online role-playing game that allows players to create their own personal Star Wars adventure 3,500 years before the rise of Darth Vader. Now #1 New York Times bestselling author Sean Williams brings the world of the game to life in his latest novel, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance. Tassaa Bareesh, a matriarch in the Hutt crime cartel, is holding an auction that’s drawing attention from across the galaxy. Representatives of both the Republic and the Sith Empire are present, along with a Jedi Padawan sent to investigate, a disenfranchised trooper drummed out of the Republic’s elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian with a private agenda. But the Republic’s envoy is not what he seems, the Empire’s delegate is…
May the schwartz be with you: Steve Jobs Lightsaber Battle in Antennagate!
Apple founder Steve Jobs has been busy defending the iPhone 4, which has been mired in problems since before its launch. The latest scandal to crop up, dubbed “Antennagate,” is so-named because the phone’s antenna gets poor reception if the phone is held the wrong way. Check out this awesome animation from NMANews explain Antennagate, while showing an epic lightsaber battle between Steve Jobs and Microsoft’s Bill Gates. Jobs also has some rather impressive Force lightning skills. Translated: Apple’s founder Jobs helped the company reach billions in revenue – thanks to the iPod & the iPhone’s success. (lightsabre scene) Apple seems to be even bigger than Microsoft right now, and Jobs is becoming a leader in cutting edge technology. But some say, the bigger Jobs gets, the more evil he becomes. (Force field appears) When Gizmondo got a hold of the iPhone 4 model, Jobs ordered the police to search…
The Guild – Star Wars Fun
Hey everyone! Okay, last week I promised that I’d look into some more guild related stuff, but as it so happens, I’m one of those special breeds called “lazy”, and as such, I didn’t really get it done in time. So I’ll postpone it untill next week. I did, however, find time to post a few funny movies I’ve enjoyed several times, and I hope you will as well. Some of them you might already know, but I think most of these are worth more than one view! Luke getting yelled at by Vader Vader being a smartass What if Obi Wan had used force run? Vader feels blue Dramatic star wars chipmunk If you find yourself holding on to some information you’d like to spread around, or if you simply have to get something off your chest – don’t hesitate, send me that e-mail right away! All subjects concering…
More making of the Music for Star Wars: The Old Republic
GameSpot brings an extra dose of yesterdays goodies, as they go behind the scenes at Skywalker Sound. The website interviews, the 5 full-time composer who work on the music for Star Wars: The Old Republic, about the challenges and the excitement of not only writing their own pieces for the game, but also how they had to look at the music John Williams composed 30 years ago without copying his music and style. We have some really, really talented people working on this project. I think it’s going to sound spectacular. – Will Roget, Composer Check ut the full movie below, or watch it at Gamespot (Video also available in HD) Update: One sharp-eyed fan, Chronium, in the official swtor forums caught the title of the sheet music in Gamespot’s video documentary about the music of TOR. At the top it clearly says, “Corellia Intro.” Could this mean that Han Solo’s home planet will…
Star Wars: The Old Republic – This is War
SolotheHawk has made a pretty impressive mashup of the two Star Wars: The old republic trailers and 30 seconds to Mars tune This is War. Definitely worth a watch. I know I’m going to be busy playing this when it comes out Spring 2011. I know I listed the music and the programs used in the credits, but I figured I’d list them here too. Music: This is War – 30 seconds to Mars Programs: Windows Movie Maker 2.6 | Adobe After Effects (After Effects was used strictly for making the credits and wasn’t used in the actual editing of the video) This is a fan-made video and in no way do I own any of the material used in it. Nor am I affiliated with any of the owners. Star Wars: The Old Republic is owned and developed by Bioware and published by LucasArts.
Friday Update: Music & Sounds of The Old Republic
This friday update gives us an incredible Developer Dispatch about the making of music for Star Wars: The old republic. The movie also shows lot’s of new in game footage that I can imagine we will see tons of dissection of over the next few weeks. The emotional experience of Star Wars™ comes to life in new music created exclusively for The Old Republic™. From soft melodies that ring in the forest of Alderaan to the magnificent booming of a battle scene on Ord Mantell, a talented team of composers, musicians and developers came together to create a magical score for the game. Watch Developer Dispatch: Music of The Old Republic to see what goes into weaving the familiar Star Wars riffs with a new original score. And learn how music impacts the thrilling moments in video games as well as movies. You can watch the whole movie below: Sticking…
Blood of the Empire #7 is now live
A few weeks ago we reported about the German version of Blood of the Empire #7. Now the official version in English is live. In the seventh issue of Blood of the Empire™, Teneb Kel finds himself beaten and bloodied in the aftermath of the Lenico colony’s destruction. Trapped on a strange planet, he must draw upon the ancient Sith arts in order to ensure his survival–and to learn the secrets he needs to resume his vendetta against Exal Kressh. Check out the latest issue of Blood of the Empire now!
The starwars.com Forums Get A Facelift
Who better to tell you about the changes to the SW.com Forums then StarWars.com… “Fans who like to talk about everything Star Wars on our forums might noticed the brand-new redesign and features. If you haven’t been to the new Star Wars Forums, now’s a good time to start. The Forums are broken down into categories of interest such as the Movies, the Expanded Universe, Video Games, Roleplaying Games, Fan Activities and Events, and more. Collectors will enjoy our new extensive section dedicated to everything from vintage and modern toys, as well as other collectibles. Fans can chat to their hearts content about The Clone Wars in the new Star Wars on Television section. Don’t feel like talking about Star Wars? Have fun sharing comments in The Cantina section about everything from your favorite sports team to the TV shows you can’t stop raving about. Customize your forums experience with…
Bioware: thoughts on game development
BioWare is a company that’s known for its big titles, like Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Dragon Age. The one thing all these have in common is their size; in terms of length, depth, and scope, BioWare adventures and RPGs are all epic. But BioWare co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk says the company is currently working on a small-scale MMO and is looking at titles for non-console platforms. Dr. Greg Zeschuk was on stage at this year’s Develop Conference in Brighton yesterday, providing wisdom culled from over 15 years in the development trenches at the top-tier developer. Over the course of the keynote, Zeschuk warned against new developers aiming to create blockbusters, stating “Striving to do triple-A console development right now is the wrong goal for most developers.” Zeschuk also spoke of the drastic changes that come with success, noting that BioWare has had a tough…