As many of you know, Star Wars: Battlefront was confirmed to be showcased at Star Wars Celebration on between April 16th and 19th of this year by EA and DICE. Fans don’t have very much information at all about Star Wars: Battlefront but let’s go over some aspects the game needs to have to really wow the crowd. The Star Wars: Battlefront legacy is notorious for being a first person shooter style game and nothing else. Many longtime players will remember that both “Battlefield” games did offer players a choice between first and third person shooters. Many fans enjoy the option of this style of gameplay, so we think creators definitely need to include this in the game. Fans of Star Wars: Battlefront typically love the multiplayer gameplay but we think creators need to focus on a more expansive story line as well. There have been a few rumors that suggests a…
SWTOR Double XP this Weekend March 27-30
BioWare is launching a surprise double XP weekend right now until march 30.: FROM STORY MISSIONS TO PVP WARZONES, ADVANCE AT DOUBLE THE SPEED! Get Double XP from March 27 – 30 during the following times: • STARTS: Friday, March 27, 2015 11AM PDT / 6PM GMT • ENDS: Monday, March 30, 2015 12AM PDT / 7AM GMT Enjoy Double XP this weekend! Achieve even faster gains with XP Boosts, available in the Cartel market. Level 60 players can also earn double Legacy XP – jump in now!
SWTOR Stays on Pace for Most Played PC Games in February 2015
Raptr’s newest most played list for PC games is out and we see SWTOR still holding strong in the Top 20 at position 15. February’s Most Played PC Games list looked pretty similar to January’s but with one big addition: Blizzard’s MOBA contender Heroes of the Storm! The top 5 games has remained pretty much the same over the past few months but something else that has remained consistent is SWTOR on the list. We’ve seen some other games move around here and there due to different factors. Battlefield 4 gained four spots in February, which is likely because of people preparing for the release of Hardline. Hearthstone lost 3 places and Dragon Age Inquisition lost a whopping 10 spaces on the list. ouch! Final Fantasy XIV and Guild Wars 2 both moved up two ranks. The free login weekend at the end of the month probably helped Final Fantasy move…
SWTOR Outfit Designer Restrictions
Tait Watson posted an update on the offocial forums regarding Outfit Designer restrictions. BioWaer is still mproving the Outfit Designer and will add in some of the requested features after 3.2 Outfit designer still obeys class/armor restrictions | 03.25.2015, 04:02 PM Hey everyone, We think having the Outfit Designer ignore armor weight restrictions is a great idea! We are actively exploring changing this now, and I’ll let you know as soon as I know anything else. I’ve also seen the mention of weapons and Companions being included in the Outfit Designer. Even though it may not seem like it, adding an Outfit Designer tab for Companions would effectively be creating a new system. Due to this we won’t be implementing one for 3.2, but will look into the option for a future release. Similarly, adding the ability to stamp weapons would require a lot of changes to the backend of…
New member of the Austin Community team: Nick Avola
Meet the newest member of the Bioware Austin Community team Nick Avola. He’s Holding a Thermal Detonator! Hey all! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself as the newest member of the Bioware Austin Community team. My name is Nick Avola, and I have the daunting (yet exciting) task of playing third fiddle on a team directly involved in all areas of our games from player feedback, to design considerations, to promotions, to communications, you name it. Much of my time will be spent scouring the forums, blogisphere, and social media platforms to track community sentiment on a day-to-day basis. Ill be consolidating your comments and concerns into detailed reports, which will be disseminated regularly amongst the Community, Development, Leadership, and other key teams here at BioWare Austin. The sooner your feedback reaches the eyes and ears of senior staffers, the more accurately and effectively we can respond…
Star Wars: Battlefront Just a Month Away
Star Wars fans only have about a month to wait for the unveiling of Star Wars: Battlefront, quite possibly the most hotly anticipated Star Wars gaming title ever. While they will not be able to get their hands on the game just yet (the title is set for a December 2015 release), they will probably be able to feast their thirsty eyes on some in-game action and the hype-machine will be fed some new crumbs of information/details to keep its gears turning. Officially announced at last year’s E3, Star Wars: Battlefront has already offered a precious few glimpses into the virtual world that EA is hoping will lure scores and scores of players to the title, and everyone was quite impressed with what they saw. Starting April 16 though, at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, CA, fans are likely to see a different beast, with close to a year’s…
Changes to the Cartel Market — Tuesday March 24 -31 2015
Here are the weekly cartel market items on sale for the week of Feb 24 – Mar 04 2015. New Items Price Helpful links HYPERCRATE: MASTER’S SHADOW PACKS 5400 MASTER’S SHADOW PACK 250 Price Change Old Price New Price Percent Change Normal Price Helpful links 30-DAY STARFIGHTER PASS 360 720 +100% 720 VX-9 REDEEMER 1080 1800 +66% 1800 VX-9 MAILOC 1080 1800 +66% 1800 G-X1 ONSLAUGHT 1080 1800 +66% 1800 G-X1 FIREHAULER 1080 1800 +66% 1800 TZ-24 ENFORCER 1080 1800 +66% 1800 TZ-24 GLADIATOR 1080 1800 +66% 1800 LEGACY UNLOCK: RATTATAKI 600 300 –50% 450 LEGACY UNLOCK: MIRIALAN 600 300 –50% 450 CELEBRATION MISHAP 400 200 –50% 300 KICK BALL 400 200 –50% 300 UNDERWORLD ESSENTIALS BUNDLE 700 280 –60% 490 IMPERIAL ESSENTIALS BUNDLE 500 225 –55% 428 REPUBLIC ESSENTIALS BUNDLE 500 225 –55% 428
SWTOR Basics – How to Install PTS and Copy Your Character
Installing PTS is usually a very simple tutorial, but it would take you hours. Depending on your internet connection and the BW servers’ condition, it will take you between a couple hours to many, many hours. The live game is ~25GB, the Game with PTS is ~52GB. If you have the game already installed, you can add PTS on top of it. At this moment it is not possible (possible, but not easy or recommended) to install PTS on a separate Drive or Partition. To install and access PTS, follow these steps (or check the video linked below): 1. Download the game client from swtor.com and install it 2. Log in to the client and install the Live game 3. From the button in the bottom left corner open the settings window and make PTS available 4. Wait for the client to download and install PTS 5. Every time when you open…
Star Wars 1313 isn’t dead yet
A large-scale 3rd person style action game named Star Wars 1313 became cancelled after Disney took over Lucasfilm, however this games remains could be fuel for The Force Awakens. Currently, there are three Star Wars games in the works for PC and console gaming systems and the three development companies are Visceral Games, DICE, and BioWare. They all belong to the EA Games Company. BioWare delivered us the RPG game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic during 2003 and DICE is scheduled to release Star Wars: Battlefront close to the end of 2015. Visceral and EA recently gave an announcement that Amy Hennig would be responsible for the story line for the new Star Wars game. She will also be working with Todd Stashwik and they both are known for their work on Uncharted 4. When comparing Uncharted 4 and the trailer for Star Wars 1313 you can see…
Darth Vader Stress Toy from ThinkGeek.com
Sometimes you just need to squeeze the head of a Vader when you’re feeling stressed, right? Well, ThinkGeek wants to help you out with this. We think Vader knows a thing or two about being stressed out as well. This is another cool product we got to review from ThinkGeek and while I got it some time back. I like to actually use products for awhile before just posting reviews and saying, “Yea, it’s great.” So I had to check it out for a bit. The head is squishy enough and sized well for my hand (I have small hands so some are too large). The unique shape also made is easier for me to hold. It was not too hard (like some stress balls I have used) and not so soft that it felt it wasn’t useful. It also didn’t tear apart after just a week or two, something…
New Star Wars comic is set to fill the gap between Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Return of the Jedi.
A new comic book series by Marvel is going to make Star Wars fans very happy. This fall Star Wars: Journey to the Force Awakens – Shattered Empire is set to release to fill the gap between Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Return of the Jedi. The news came not long ago on StarWars.com, however, there are not many more details for fans to read right now. The first image has been released and it was illustrated by Phil Noto. The image shows festive heroes in the Rebel Alliance during the Ewok celebration that closed off the original trilogy. We don’t know when more information will be released on Shattered Empire but you do need to know that the Star Wars Celebration is less than a month away. StarWars.com is calling Shattered Empire Marvel’s very first entry into Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Could this mean that…
SWTOR 3.2: Rise of the Emperor – Outfit Designer Overview
In this video Vulkk takes a first look and an overview of the new tool coming to SWTOR with Game Update 3.2 – The Outfit Designer. There are still a couple of bugs and one of two features appear to be broken or not working as intended. It offers upto 16 Outfit slots, which can be unlocked with Credits or Cartel coins. Prices are likely to change for the Live version of this update. Modifying any part of an outfit will cost credits too. The few restrictions in relations to what items we may slot are as follows: If our class uses light armour, we can slot light armour items or adaptive ones, but not medium and heavy. If our class is can wear Medium armour, such items will also be available to be sloted into the designer tool for outfits. Heavy armour classes can outfit any and all armours. Legacy…
SWTOR 3.2: Rise of the Emperor – First Preview
The Developer Stream on Twitch has just ended and Vulkk has narrowed down and sifted out the more important information about the upcoming Game Update 3.2. It bears the epic name “Rise of the Emperor” and will include a new planet (Ziost), a new In-Game tool (Outfit Designer), new quality of life improvements, class changes and more great Bioware story. In the video you will find new screenshots, more detailed information about the Outfit Designer, the rewards for players in the next few months, Biowars’s plans for future Dev Streams, Cantina Tour Events, what SWTOR is planing for Star Wars Celebration and let’s not forget that PTS is live and Update 3.2 is available for testing!
Game Update 3.2: Rise of the Emperor PTS Patch Notes
The public test servers have been updated. Here are the PTS patch notes for Game Update 3.2: Rise of the Emperor. All content and features on the Public Test Server are not final and are subject to change: Game Update 3.2: Rise of the Emperor Unleashed from hiding on Yavin 4, the former Sith Emperor has struck the Imperial world of Ziost. Using his immense power in the dark side of the Force, he has dominated the minds of the planet’s martial forces–as well as an elite cadre of militaristic Jedi–and has set them against the populace, engaging in a bloody slaughter. Lana Beniko of Sith Intelligence and SIS Agent Theron Shan are attempting to reach out to their Imperial and Republic allies, respectively, with details on the quickly escalating crisis in the heart of the Empire. Highlights New Planet: Ziost! The Imperial planet Ziost is the focal point of an escalating…
‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ Composer Is Alexandre Desplat, Not John Williams
Currently, production is prepping for the very first Star Wars spin-off film, Rogue One. We are slowly learning what creative talent will be part of the team and the information we have tells who the Star Wars Rogue one composer is. Surprisingly, it’s not Star Wars composer John Williams, so who is it? Alexandre Desplat, Academy Award-winning composer, will be the composer for Star Wars Rogue One. He recently won is very first Oscar for The Grand Budapest Hotel and he was also nominated for his brilliant work on The Imitation Game. Some other films he has been a part of are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Kings Speech, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Argo, The Queen and Zero Dark Thirty. John Williams will not be composing for the spin-offs for Star Wars as his workload is already large. Not many people even expected him to compose…
History of the Old Republic
Here is some really interesting original content from TJWright and we want to share with you. They are some super amazing images based on the History of the Old Republic and created for the new upcoming book. Here he explains the project: Starting out 2015 with a bang by getting a gig doing Star Wars stuff for an upcoming book that will attempt to make sense of the Star Wars: Legends stuff that is no longer considered ‘canon’ by LucasFilm. Now if you want to see more of the images for yourself, just check out the link and website. As for the upcoming book the images will be used in, not a lot is known just yet. It will be based around the Legends story and will not be new canon, at least not completely. There could be a some new content or ideas tossed in but mostly it should…
Battlefront to Debut at Star Wars Celebration
The celebration for Star Wars this year is sure to be awesome because almost every big name featured in Star Wars will be there. A few in attendance will be Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and J.J. Abrams. EA Just confirmed that details and footage for Star Wars: Battlefront will debut during the Star Wars convention in Anaheim, California. The dates are set for April 16-19 and we are hoping to see some type of large announcement at the convention. It could relate to a certain video game by EA that features Star Wars and is set for release later this year! Obviously, we are talking about EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront. An incredible amount of people are anticipating this game but we still have not seen any gameplay footage, and it’s quite frustrating. However, we are crossing our fingers that this will all change after the Star Wars convention in April. It…
SWTOR Season 4 Ranked PvP Rewards
BioWare just announced the complete SWTOR season 4 ranked PvP rewards. Season 4 will end on April 28, 2015. The culmination of Season 4 is fast approaching so batten down the hatches! The end of Season 4 will come with Game Update 3.2 and your rating, when the servers come down for the update, will determine which tier you are in and what rewards you receive. The higher your tier the more booty you will plunder! Just like in previous seasons, the Highest Earned rating that determines the tier you are in – not Current – so no need to feel like you are risking Rating by going after the next tier up! To see your Highest Earned Rating, check the Warzone Rating and Stats page in the Warzone Queue GUI. Please note that the Rating displayed on the Leaderboards are the Current Ratings, not Highest Earned. Once Season 4 has…
R2-D2 Measuring Cups from ThinkGeek.com Review
Of all the products we got from the very generous ThinkGeek to review, this one is the one I was most excited about. Before I even knew we were going to get it to review, my friend had shared it on my Facebook wall and I knew I wanted to get it. She knows I’m a Star Wars fan and often tags me in all things Star Wars themed. I don’t mind, of course. But this one stood out to me more than others and I’m not even that big of a cook, really. In fact, if you’re not big on kitchen duty, this might even inspire you to spend some more time in there mixing and measuring things up. My thoughts? It looks really cool and I will probably display it more than I use it. However, if you do plan to use it, it works great. Just don’t…
Changes to the Cartel Market — Tuesday March 17 -24 2015
Here are the weekly cartel market items on sale for the week of Feb 24 – Mar 04 2015. Items No Longer Available Helpful links SOLUS SECANT Price Change Old Price New Price Percent Change Normal Price Helpful links WEEKLY PASS: OPERATIONS 180 240 +33% 240 WEEKLY PASS: WARZONES 180 240 +33% 240 APPEARANCE MODIFICATION STATION 55 110 +100% 110 APPEARANCE OPTIONS: HUMAN HAIRSTYLES 1 120 240 +100% 240 CYBER ASSAULT CANNON 360 600 +66% 600 UNLOCK: ADDITIONAL LEGACY STRONGHOLD STORAGE BAY 450 750 +66% 750 GALACTIC TRADE NETWORK (WALL) 90 120 +33% 120 30-DAY STARFIGHTER PASS 720 360 –50% 540 VX-9 REDEEMER 1800 1080 –40% 1440 VX-9 MAILOC 1800 1080 –40% 1440 G-X1 ONSLAUGHT 1800 1080 –40% 1440 G-X1 FIREHAULER 1800 1080 –40% 1440 TZ-24 ENFORCER 1800 1080 –40% 1440 TZ-24 GLADIATOR 1800 1080 –40% 1440 swtorcartel.com has changed since the last cartel market update: Rolled out new UI…
SWTOR Developer Livestream on March 20 on Patch 3.2
The SWTOR developers over at BioWare will be holding a livestream on March 20 to discuss the upcoming Patch 3.2 and Ziost. SWTOR Developer Live Stream – March 20th | 03.17.2015, 03:01 PM Hey folks! I wanted to give you the details of our next live stream: When: Friday, March 20th from 3PM-4PM CDT Where: www.twitch.tv/swtor Who: Bruce Maclean, Michael Backus, and myself What: We are going to to talk about the story coming to Ziost and what is coming in Game Update 3.2. (no spoilers!) I hope to see you there! -eric
What’s Happening to the Women of BioWare Austin?
In the past month, we have seen an exodus of SWTOR staff from Bioware Austin, much like one we saw a couple years back. Of these were Courtney Woods from the community team and Hillary “Pokket” Nicole, the Community Coordinator. While specifics were not released, we are given the impression their contracts just ended and Bioware was not interested in renewing them. As a female gamer and someone who has worked within the industry for a number of years, it’s great to see other females taking a leadership role so I am sad to see them go. That said, it has many asking the question “Are there any females left out there at Bioware Austin?” and of course, there are. It would seem that SWTOR is getting rid of their community team once again (remember when this happened last time?) and the fact that Courtney and Hillary are female was…
Dromund Kaas Imperial Citadel on Minecraft
Here’s a gamer who has combined two of my favorite things: Star Wars/SWTOR and Minecraft. Here you will see that Jedimonkey38 built the Dromund Kaas Citadel in Minecraft. See for yourself here: How awesome is that? I have seen some pretty amazing Minecraft builds over the years. My kids are also really into Minecraft and spend hours watching videos and reading about it. My son even bought a Minecraft manual from the school book fair. So as you can see, we’re a family who is not new to the blocky world. That said, I really love to see when people go outside the typical and create something new or unique. Whenever someone combines one game or story world with another, they’re probably going to get some smiles from me as well, as is the case with this. Here you will find a Speeder Transport, Mandalorian Enlave Entrance, Sith Sanctum Entrance,…
‘Star Wars Battlefront 3’ Release Date Schedule Right On Track As EA DICE Promises ‘Great Variety’ Of Multiplayer Gameplay
EA DICE game designer, Niklas Fergraeus, is telling fans that a wide range of variety will be incorporated into multiplayer gameplay maps for Star Wars: Battlefront. The game has been reported to be on track with development. “We have actually made the decision to specifically tailor certain maps to certain game modes, and what we get from that is not only incredibly varied scales, but also gameplay that will allow players to live out some of their most memorable ‘Star Wars’ battle fantasies,” he mentioned during a recent interview with IGN. However, with the talent we have here at DICE, the Frostbite technology at our fingertips, and the fantastic working relationship we have with Lucas, I believe we will deliver a Star Wars experience that excites fans around the world and gives them the chance to play out battles in some of the most iconic locales in the series history….