For many of us, Star Wars dates back to our earliest memories. It has brought us a lifetime of memories. And for many others, Disney has also created a lifetime of memories and special moments. So now that the two have combined, will we see the same result? And for how long can Disney expect to see useful benefits from the Star Wars franchise and the new movie series? Well, according to Fiscal Year 2013 the Fiscal Year 2013 Annual Financial Report And Shareholder Letter Disney will get a good 40 years out of it. That’s a decent chunk of a person’s lifetime. That’s four decades of memories. That’s a very good business outlook. The report also had a neat little tidbit about the future of Star Wars with Disney: “Intangible assets primarily consist of intellectual property based on the Star Wars franchise with an estimated useful life of approximately 40 years….
Should BioWare Keep Adding Romance to their Games?
BioWare is one video game company that is familiar with stretching the limits of what is acceptable or “well known” in games. They push the envelope with their sexual content and they have often seen backlash from it. However, being one of the only game developers willing to go to these places, they also have a hardcore following from it.
MMORPG – Interview w/ Jeff Hickman & Bruce Maclean
MMORPG.Com had the chance to interview Jeff Hickman & Bruce Maclean from BioWare, about Star Wars: The old republic. The article contains lots of new great info, and here is the most imortant information from the article put together by Thrives: *Both warzones and GSF will see updates, GSF in the form of new maps, new ship roles, and new ships, new Huttball arena (Quesh), will be a more vertical/three dimensional space to maneuver through. *Class combat team is very busy. *They offered the interview because of her previous article, the slightly negative F2P review posted here a few weeks ago. They disagreed, responses from player with no prior SWTOR experience were characterized as ‘generally super positive’, they have metrics to support this statement. Subscribers are their priority but they’re always looking for opportunities to improve the F2P experience. *Interviewer thought the tour stops weren’t a huge opportunity to ‘drop some…
SWTOR Quick Guide for Building the Sting & Flashfire and the Ocula & Skybolt Scout Ships
This SWTOR quick guide offers the basic information you need to build the Sting & Flashfire and the Ocula & Skybolt Galactic Scout Starfighter ships. We put them all together in one guide because they are all very similar to build and we’ll start with the engine maneuvers, thrusters and systems. Don’t forget to check out constantly growing list of guides for Star Wars: The old republic Engine Maneuvers There are four types of engine maneuvers to choose from. When activated, all of them require 15 seconds to recharge and they all have the ability to avoid lock-on missiles. These maneuvers will also increase your ability to avoid the enemy’s direct blaster fire up to 30 percent for 3 seconds. The Koiogran Turn is unlocked by default and all other maneuvers require 1,500 ship requisitions to unlock. The Koiogran Turn allows your ship to make a 180-degree turn vertically, even when…
Kickstarter Campaign: Sabertron: Foam sword play with wireless electronic scoring
We love bringing you fun stuff, especially great crowd funded ideas. This one originates right here in Austin where I’m from and it already has 350 backers and growing. They earned over $26,000 in the first 24 hours but they need more help to reach their goals. Learn more on their blog or visit the Kickstarter page itself. Description: Upgrade the foam sword fight with an interactive LED health meter on the handle. It’s like laser tag, but with swords! You have until February 28th to get in on the project if you want and there are some cool prizes for backers who give $25 or more such as a t-shirt to show your support, A pair (2) of Sabertron soft touch interactive swords, in your choice of color, with matching blade illumination color, A pair (2) of Sabertron soft touch interactive swords in medieval style. This is a new…
What Happened to DarthHater.com?
Darth Hater was one of the fan sites that started with us, in the early days before SWTOR even launched. They were a player favorite if you ask around nearly any of the forums and Reddit. But sadly, they didn’t stick around after being bought by Curse. I met some of their crew myself at the SWTOR Guild Summit and we’ve brought you many of their stories and updates here over the years. But now, we’re sad to tell you that Darth Hater is no more. If you go to the website, you’ll be redirected to the SWTOR Wiki. Any links to old articles or posts from Darth Hater will also redirect you. So what happened? Well, the strange part is that no one involved seems to be willing to talk about it. And we can’t find any public notices about it either. Last year there were talks of DarthHater.com…
Phoenix Community Cantina Flash-drive Contents
We know we are late with this story, due to a misunderstanding we are posting it a few days late. But here goes. BioWare had one of there infamous SWTOR Community Cantina’s this last weekend. At the event new info was released as well as alot of hints of what might be comming. Housing stevebelt asked about player housing, and while the verbal answer was of the “that’s a good idea” variety, judging by his not-so-wry smile and general body language, I’d say it’s almost a certainty they are working on player housing. In his question he made a note of how ripe for CM player housing content was, and the smiling/nodding only got bigger. Based on this, I would be completely stunned if we don’t see player housing in 2014. New Story At the Cantina they said that a new story arc would begin with the 2.7 update, and would…
Game Update 2.6: Galactic Starfighter
Today’s patchnotes are up, and this is a big one. The higlights this time are as following: Galactic Starfighter Now Available For All Players! – Galactic Starfighter is now available for Free-To-Play, Preferred, and Subscription players! Choose your ship role and help your fellow pilots in 12 vs.12 Battles. Click the Hangar icon next to your minimap to jump into the cockpit now! New Galactic Starfighter Ship Role: Bomber – The Bomber ship role has been added to Galactic Starfighter, with six new ships available for unlock/purchase! Bombers are tough support ships that drop mines and drones throughout the battlefield. Mines detonate when enemies get into proximity, inflicting damage or crippling debuffs to all nearby foes. Drones attack nearby enemies with a variety of weapons, while Repair Drones restore the hull of nearby allies. Bombers can also place Hyperspace Beacons which function as mobile respawn points for their allies. New Galactic Starfighter…
Community Update on the Future of SWTOR
If you’re wondering what’s going to happen with SWTOR in the future, we have an update from Bruce Maclean, Senior Producer today. It’s a roadmap for 2014, including everything we can except to be coming up this year.
Star Wars Galaxies Fans Teased by SOE President: Unannounced MMO
If you loved Star Wars Galaxies then you might get excited about the info released at a recent AMA on Reddit. SOE president John Smedley has teased an unannounced MMO that will appeal to fans of Star Wars Galaxies. “SWG players – our next game (not announced yet) is dedicated to you,” Semdley continued. “Once we launch it… you can come home now.” So we admit the message is pretty cryptic and we’re not even sure what it means but you better believe we’ll be keeping a look out for more information. And as soon as we know more about this unannounced MMO, we’re going to pass it on to you. So what do you think about this mysterious game that will be dedicate to Star Wars Galaxies fans? Will it be another Star Wars game ( it’s confirmed it won’t be a Star Wars game) or will it be a…
“Dark Resurrection” Team Crowd Funded $150,000
We are very happy to bring you another update from the “Dark Resurrection”“. The Italian Filmmakers became an Internet sensation in 2007 and launched volume 2 just recently, which we told you about back in December. Now they’re hoping to complete the series with their third and final installment by 2015. Now they are looking to raise $150,000 to make this next and final film happen. Hollywood Reporter gives us more info on the story: Now writer-director Angelo Licata hopes to see the final chapter of his story told. The tale takes place several centuries after the events of Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi, and centers on one dark Jedi’s obsessive quest to find a legendary temple believed to give those who open its seal unimaginable knowledge. True to Star Wars form, there are good guys standing in his way. Licita says he would like to shoot this year, with an…
Star Wars Retro games: Star Was Monopoly
Hasbro Interactive’s Star Wars Monopoly is a fully animated interactive PC version of Parker Brothers’ 1997 Monopoly board game, albeit with the 20th Anniversary “Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition” twist. Although the rules remain the same as the classic Monopoly game and the goal still is to buy up as many properties as possible and not becoming bankrupt, the setting is no longer Earthbound (as in Atlantic City) but the Star Wars galaxy from the Classic trilogy. In Star Wars Monopoly, one can either play solo against the computer’s artificial intelligence (AI), other human players (the “hot seat” option), or on the Internet through such portals as the MSN Game Zone. (Players who install this game will notice it will later show up on their MSN or Windows Messenger as an additional option.) While it’s always more fun to play against other people, the solo player game can be very…
Scheduled Maintenance: February 4th – Patch 2.6
BioWare will be taking down the servers this Tuesday February 4th to preform Scheduled Maintenance, and add patch 2.6. My Merc healer can’t wait, but my Sniper can… and my Assassin is in the corner waving his glowstick going “Hey guys, what about me!?” Grieve with me, fellow Smugglers and Agents, for on that fateful date, we shall find our premiere AoE damage ability neutered into uselessness. Here is the server droid announcement: ServerDroid Scheduled Maintenance: February 4th | 01.31.2014, 04:57 PM On February 4th, all game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher will be unavailable while we perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update 2.6 will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday, February 4th, 2014 Duration: 5 hours Time: 2AM PST (9AM GMT) – 7AM PST (2PM GMT) During maintenance, all updates and additional information will be posted on our Twitter account. Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The…
SWTOR Sith Warrior Juggernaut Leveling Build For 2.5
CJ from from swtorsavior.com send over a new leveling build. This time it’s for the Sith Warrior Juggernaut. For players who prefer to jump into a fight head first and with reckless abandon, then perhaps the Sith Warrior is the class for them. Quick, powerful and ruthless, the Sith Warrior is a flurry of lightsaber slashes and stabs, leaving a trail of bodies behind him. The Juggernaut advanced class can withstand any attack unleashed upon him. In this article, we will look into the Juggernaut advanced class and explore his various skill trees, abilities and everything in between. Here are some rotations you can use: Single Target: Sundering Assault > Obliterate > Smash > Force Crush > Force Choke > Vicious Throw > Force Scream > Ravage > Saber Throw Try and use Saber Throw or Assault if you fall below 7 rage. You can use Obliterate to activate Dominate. You can use Force…
Republic Datacron Hunt [iconographics]
Are you looking for a great visual guide to help you on your Datacron hunt? This guide for the Republic is very detailed and useful. You can save it to your computer, print it out or open it in your browser and use it to find the datacrons on the Republic side. It tells you what you get with each one and also gives you a class breakdown of stats so you can know just what you’re going for. New players and seasoned vets alike can all benefit from this useful guide. It goes all the way up to Makeb, level 55 and also covers the Republic Fleet. Check out the full sized image for yourself here: View post on imgur.com It is also added to our Datacron guide together with a imperial version of the iconographics Do you know of any useful guides and graphics just like this one? We…
Lucasfilm Look for Change Star Wars Expanded Universe with Star Wars Story Group
When it comes to Star Wars story, there are two sects: the original Star Wars Universe created by George Lucas himself. And then there is the version that others are allowed to change; the expanded universe. Lucasfilm now threatens to challenge all of this as we know it. As Bleeding Cool tells us: “George Lucas said that the Star Wars universe exists, essentially, in two versions. There’s his one, and then there’s the one everybody else can play with. In effect, this meant that anybody writing Star Wars outside of the six main movies (to date) was expected to adhere to one another’s work and create story lines that were consistent with one another. And then, whenever Lucas himself went on to create a new “core” story for the Saga, he had permission to overwrite or ignore anything from that “Expanded Universe.” But now, Lucasfilm are looking to rework the system and destroy this…
Limited Early Access To Star Wars Assault Team Mobile Device Game
Disney Interactive posted an update regarding Star Wars Assault Team – A new Mobile Device Game. The game will have a limited early release in select international on iOs and Android devices. They also revealed that the game is a “turn-based combat game for mobile devices with strategy and card-battle elements. Disney Interactive, in partnership with LucasArts, has announced limited early access to Star Wars™: Assault Team, a new turn-based combat game for mobile devices with strategy and card-battle elements. Collect classic characters from the Rebel Alliance and more to defeat enemies and players across the galaxy. Strategically deploy the team’s special tactics to battle through new graphically enhanced missions set throughout Star Wars™planets and locations from the original trilogy. Star Wars: Assault Team’s limited early access is being offered in select international markets on iOS and Android with the game rolling out globally this spring for iOS, Android and…
Cartel Market sales: week 05 2014
Here are this weeks bargains and good deals on the cartel market: Sales Ashfall Tauntaun (3,600 CC 2,400 CC 20% off) TZ-24 Enforcer (1,800 CC 1,440 CC 20% off) TZ-24 Gladiator (1,800 CC 1,440 CC 20% off) MA-25 Forward Ops Chestplate (150 CC 50 CC 66% off) Vintage Republic Military Armor Set (1,200 CC 600 CC 50% off) Stalward Protector Armor Set 1,440 CC 576 CC 60% off) 5-Pack: Major Starfigher Experience Boost (240 CC 180 CC 25% off) Hypercrates Wont be on this list unless they have more than a 10% discount. Apparently bundles also don’t change sale prices so they wont be on the list. If I there is a sale that’s not on this list please let me know and I will add it. New Items VX-9 Mailoc (1,800 CC) – Gunship for the Imperials VX-9 Redeemer (1,800 CC) – Gunship for the Republic Dogfighter’s Starfighter Pack…
SWTOR Podcasts week 5
Even before the Star Wars: The old Republic was live, DarthHater was on the air talking about the game. In time, other early podcasts started up like TorWars, TOROCast, and Corellian Run Radio. Some of these early podcasts are still updating, some have changed subject matter, and others have podfaded. Today, SWTOR has over ten active podcasts produced mostly in English but also French, Russian, Swedish, etc. We have never had our own podcast here on SWTORStrategies, but going forward, we will be posting a weekly update linking you to podcasts with new showes. Below is a list of all active podcast, and below the list you can find shows from this week. What is your favorit podcast? SWTOR-specific podcasts/vodcasts Title Twitter Subscribe Corellian Run Radio @CorellianRun iTunes, RSS Enmity Podcasting @42GamingPodcast iTunes, RSS, YouTube OotiniCast @OotiniCast iTunes, RSS The Republic @gamebreakertv iTunes SWTOR Escape Pod Cast @MaxTheGrey iTunes, RSS SWTOR Reforged @SWTORReforged iTunes, RSS TOROCast…
New Star Wars Assault Team Mobile Device Game announced
Lucasfilm just announced via the official Star Wars Twitter account, a new Star Wars video game coming to iOS, Android, and Windows 8 devices. The game will be titled ‘Star Wars: Assault team, and is due for a release sometime this spring. Prepare your mobile devices! Star Wars: Assault Team is rolling out for #iOS, @Android & #Win8 devices this spring. pic.twitter.com/UoW9yHYH5P — Star Wars (@starwars) January 28, 2014 It’s unknown who the developer of this game is, but this is the second game Lucasfilm and Disney announced since Lucasarts was shut down. The fist game was Star Wars: Attack Squadrons that was announced back in December. While EA have the rights to all Star Wars video games for console and computers Disney can develop own Star Wars games or licencing them out on other platform.
Charles Boyd tweets about new voice recording for SWTOR!
2014 looks like it’s going to be a good year for SWTOR! One piece of good news after the next. This time Charles Boyd tweets about new voice recording for the game. If you don’t know who Charles is, he is the lead writer at Bioware Austin for the Trooper class in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The tweet comes with the image above. The guy with the beard is Charles. The other guy looks like Brian Bloom voicing the male Trooper in Star Wars The Old Republic In LA again, recording awesome talent for upcoming #SWTOR updates 🙂 — Charles Boyd (@Charles_Boyd) January 27, 2014 I’d be really thrilled to hear that any of these names were in the studio with him: Brian Bloom, Nolan North, Natasha Little, Maury Sterling, Euan Morton… and 11 other names – That could mean new class story content. On the other hand, could also…
New Article – Flashpoint: Kuat Drive Yards
Senior Designer, on Star Wars: The old Republic, Jesse Sky posted a news article on Kuar Drive Yards, last night. The article describe the new flashpoint for level 15+ players that comes with game update 2.6. This will be a new type of instance that the team is calling a Tactical Flashpoint. The main thing that distinguishes Tactical Flashpoints is that they are role-neutral – in other words, they are balanced for a combination of any four classes. This means Group Finder will match the first four players it finds, which translates into drastically shorter queue times, especially for DPS classes. I’m not sure how I feel about this yet, as I fear there will be no incentives for healing and tanking and you will only perpetuate the issue of a lack ofsupport roles in the long run. Time will tell though. Check out the full article over at the…
Sony to Shut Down Free Realm, Vanguard and Clone Wars
Sony Online Entertainment announced that they be closing down four ongoing MMORPGs: Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, Free Realms, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and Wizardry Online. Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures servers will shut down on March 31, while Vanguard and Wizardry servers will stop on July 31 Lack of interest is the reason for the Free Realms, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes closures. A Sony representative told Kotaku that all three no longer have the pull they once did. The player population has been decreasing over the years, and it’s just a case of these things happening. However, Sony did not offer a reason for the shutting down of Wizardry Online, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it was for similar reasons. Wizardry isn’t exactly the most popular series around. Michele Cagle wrote in a statement: At Sony Online Entertainment, we are always evaluating our portfolio to ensure…
TOR TV: Body floating outside republic fleet
Have you ever noticed that there is a body floating outside the republic fleet? A morbid easter egg in Star Wars: The Old Republic. I saw this first time back in beta, in the same spot, but I could have SWORN it was C2-N2. Wishful thinking, I suppose. As someone who collected frozen corpses in EVE Online, I feel a desperate need to scoop that. I was always wondering why the game told me i couldn’t use my escape pod right now, that must have been the player that discovered this bug on accident while looking for the john.