Droids, bots, and artificial intelligence — coming soon to rule the world. Right now, robots can clean the house, walk the dog, and identify lifesigns in the rubble of an earthquake. Soon, droids will replace astronauts on dangerous spacewalks and may even act as flying astromech droids to people living in space. How soon will it be before your mother has an unmanned drone to figure out what you’re doing all day? Forget about Big Brother — can the school principal use probe droids to patrol the hallways? Hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2.
Star Wars Rarities: Star Tours
In an effort to update their image, the Disney Theme Parks, with permission from George Lucas, produced the world’s first motion simulator ride, Star Tours, which has been often copied, but never topped. As opposed to a ride that goes somewhere or follows a track, Star Tours is a small theater that is bounced and jostled around in synch with a P.O.V. special effects film made by ILM where the craft flies through maintenance bays, meteors, and the famous death star trench. The effect is far more believable than it sounds. The story is that guests are a commercial spaceport, boarding a flight to the moons of Endor, the que goes past several robots, including R2-D2 and C3-P0, repairing one of the shuttles. The Shuttle is piloted by a first-time pilot robot, Rex who is physically there in front of the screen/window. The ship takes off to a rocky start,…
May the schwartz be with you: C3PO RAP
While going through some old VHS tapes I found at my parents house, I came across this little gem. It’s an old compilation of behind-the-scens, media info, and hype about the Star Tours attraction. The video is from around 1987 and as that, it isn’t perfect. It has some Tracking issues at times, and the audio has some static too it. But, its still very watchable. Haha, some of the content was a little painful to watch. C3PO rapping is hilarious, and really shows the era of the footage, and the fact that Anthony Daniels will do anything in that golden costume. I think if Lucas told him “OK Tony, in this scene C3PO needs to pleasure the other droids….” … he would do it. Also, each time I see Lucas in an interview ( this time without his beard!! ) its so transparent the little Star Wars cloud he is on
Timeline 10: The Fall of Exar Kun
The tenth Timeline update, revealed by BioWare today, looks at the history of Exar Kun, his fall to the dark side and how he was defeated. Not long ago we had our own “Know your lore” update about Exar Kun and yesterday we wrote about his apprentice Ulic Qel-Droma Here’s the official Bioweare update, and below you will find the timeline video: The stories of Exar Kun’s fall to the dark side and his campaign of destruction against the Republic have been told as warnings to Jedi Padawans for generations. After witnessing the return of the Sith Empire, Master Gnost-Dural has realized a new relevance to Exar Kun’s role in history. BTC 347 – Decades before the outbreak of the Mandalorian Wars, a promising Jedi named Exar Kun began exploring the secrets of the Force. Despite the warnings of his Masters, Kun didn’t hesitate to experiment with the dark powers…
How Stuff Works: Holocrons
A holocron was a crystal lattice (often cubical and sized to be held in one hand) in which the Jedi, as well as the Sith, of old stored phenomenal quantities of data, as well as the holocron’s gatekeeper. The Sith also had their own form of holocron technology, and they seem to predate the Jedi in using the technology by three thousand years. Description Sith holocrons usually took the form of a pyramid, and the existence of the first Sith holocron predates that of a Jedi holocron by at least three thousand years. The technology to create the pyramidal holocrons common to the Sith was something gifted to the ancient Sith king Adas by Rakata warriors trying to gain his trust. He accepted their technology and made a holocron, but he saw through their ploy and rebelled against them. It can only be assumed that the Jedi also learned the…
Know your Lore: Ulic Qel-Droma
About 4,000 years before the coming of Darth Vader, two other Jedi Knights embraced the dark side, eventually challenging and almost decimating the ranks of the Jedi Order they once loyally served. One, Exar Kun, turned to the dark side in quest for knowledge long forbidden by the Order. The other, Ulic Qel-Droma, sought to destroy the dark side sect of Satal and Aleema Keto from the inside, only to be turned to evil himself by the dark side poison. Ulic was a native of Alderaan and his mother was a powerful and respected Jedi , but she refused to teach Ulic and his brother Cay Qel-Droma for she felt she lacked the necessary emotional distance to be an effective instructor. Denied that path for the early part of his life, Ulic instead concentrated on other areas of study. As a young man, Ulic was pure of heart and purpose….
SWTOR – The $ 300 million Failure?
fear leads to anger. anger leads to hate. hate leads to suffering A soon to be former employee of EA Bioware/Mythic has written a very lengthy post on why he/she believes Warhammer Online has failed. I don’t really care much about the Warhammer stuff, as I left that game soon after it was released. But for us the most relevant bits are where the poster talks about Star Wars: The Old Republic. And, according to the poster, it isn’t pretty: And Bioware? Don’t make me laugh. They’ve spent more money making the Old Republic than James Cameron spent on Avatar. Shit you not. More than $ 300 million! Can you believe that? And you know what they’re most proud of? This is the kicker. They are most proud of the sound. No seriously. Something like a 20Gig installation, and most of it is voiceover work. That’s the best they have….
A Conversation with Damion Schubert
The guys over at Darth Hater had the opportunity to speak with Damion Schubert, the Principle Lead Systems Designer of Star Wars: The Old Republic, at this years GDC Online. The interview is an interesting read, were Schubert discusses topics that include character creation, animations, the design of planets, class stories, and the “Legacy System”. “””One of the questions we ask of our focus groups and in our player surveys when we give them is ‘Does this pace feel correct? Does this feel like a grind to you?’ I am actually incredibly gratified to find that most people give an answer of ‘this is about right’ with ‘little too fast’ and we get like a five-five which is actually good because players feel a little like they are cheating, and that is kind of where we want to be, and hopefully that feeling will extend throughout the experience of the…
Star Wars Rarities: From Star Wars to Jedi – Making of a Saga
FROM STAR WARS TO JEDI: THE MAKING OF A SAGA is exactly what the title implies, a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process that brought us the original trilogy of Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Many fascinating facts are revealed. Did you know that Jaba the Hut cost over $100,000 to make and most likely is the biggest puppet in movie history? Two men were required to be inside the puppet to operate Jaba. Did you know that the Ewoks were modelled after Chewbaca, but Lucas went to the opposite extremes in their appearances? Instead of very tall, he made them very short. Instead of long fur, he gave them short hair. Further insight into the story of the saga is revealed, and never-before-seen out-takes of actors are shown. Mark Hamill (“Luke”) narrates. This video is 65 minutes in length, and it will be of…
GDC Online Presentation: Slave to the Grind.
Principal Lead Systems Designer for SWTOR – Damion Schubert – has posted his full slide presentation from this years GDC Online on his blog. The presentation is mostly about Gamedesign, but if this is your thing, you will enjoy his PowerPoint presentation wich can be found here. Ask a Jedi covered the whole convent – check it out here.
Preview of the upcoming TV spots for Star Wars:The Force Unleashed II
Here’s a look at a new commercial, hitting online Monday and TV later next week, that suggests another fateful Star Wars meeting between master and learner, in this case Darth Vader and his former apprentice Starkiller. If the video below won’t show, here is a direct link
Planets of Star Wars the old republic: Ilum
Ilum was the ice planet home to many of the Adegan crystals used in the construction of Jedi lightsabers. The caverns containing the crystals were long ago turned into a Jedi temple. Unlike the crystals of other planets, the crystals of Ilum could only produce green and blue lightsaber crystals. History Ilum was first discovered in 22,800 BBY when a Jedi, navigating hyperspace in the Force, felt a strong pull deep from the Unknown Regions. Following the sensation, the scout had found a world rich in Force-strong crystals. The mystique of the discovery added it to the ceremony of lightsaber construction. Establishing a Temple over the Crystal Caves, Ilum became a place of great importance, as sacred as Ossus and Tython. The temple served as a shelter and place of ritual for the Jedi who traveled here. To ensure the security of the planet and the crystals, the planet had…
Video Review: The Force Unleashed
A few days ago we posted Lord Iurus amazing review of Sean Williams new book: The Force Unleashed. “The Lord” has now put together a video Review of the same book. A excellent view, I recommend you to check out – if you plan to read the book or play the game. Edit: “The Lord” informs us that he’s only the editor of the review; it was written and posted by Sith Jammies. You can check out Jammies website Here. Lord Iurus of NJOE.com, maintains an ongoing look back at the Expanded Universe, “A Long Time Ago”, as well as providing Spoiler Free reviews a week before most major Star Wars releases, in addition to the other reviews found at his blog.
What to do on a space date
1950’s space virgins need to know this stuff. I’m going to try to do one Nerdy Instructional Film a month with different movies. Coming in November: office safety.
Ilum: Dark Plans for Power?
Today’s official update is a planet reveal. And a surprising one (to me anyway) at that. After Hoth already having been revealed I’m surprised to see another ice planet. But regardless, BioWare revealed that they have included the ice planet<span< a=””> class=”Apple-style-span” style=”color: #cccccc; font-family: ‘Trebuchet MS’, Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;”> Ilum in the game. Here is the official news: </span<> With the final outcome of the war between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic still undecided, the icy planet Ilum sits squarely in the cross-hairs. The crystals that grow here in abundance are the source of incredible power and possibility. Jedi and Sith alike have long sought them for their Lightsabers, but the ramifications may go much deeper. Recently the Empire launched a major assault against the Jedi on Ilum, destroyed the Order’s sanctuaries, and initiated an ambitious operation of unknown intent. With its forces already spread thin, the Republic…
Daniel Erickson on Quest Content
On the official forums Daniel Erickson made a rather sizable post detailing the kind of quest content that you’ll encounter in Star Wars: The Old Republic. This ranges from your class quests to world quests and beyond. Here’s the entire post: This one can get confusing as there is a great deal of content in the game, all geared for slightly different experiences. So let’s get to it, yes? –There is no repeated content across factions. Easy enough. –Every Class has a completely unique storyline with their own companion characters and quests that takes them from the very first level through the very last and leads them naturally into the end game content. We call these Class Quests. Now the questions and ideas that can be harder to get your head around if you haven’t yet been one of the few lucky ones to actually play the game. –“Is all your…
Sexy Star Wars Halloween costumes
Explore the universe while staying warm with this five-piece sexy costume that includes a cropped top, lace-up mini skirt, hood with attached sleeves, leg warmers and over the shoulder satchel. Gun not included.
GDC Online updates
As this October’s GDC Online — formerly called GDC Austin — prepares for first content announcements, the Texas-based show has added Playfish and Electric Bat execs to BioWare, Nexon, SOE, and Zenimax notables on its Advisory Board. As this is an industry conference for folks who make games, the focus is not actually on playing them, such as at PAX or GamesCom. As such, we don’t expect any SW:TOR related news to come out here. Still a few interesting news has hit the internet. ZAM.com snagged an interview with BioWare’s Gordon Walton and ZeniMax Online Studios’ Matt Firor while at GDC Online in Austin, TX. In this two-part interview Walton and Firor discuss online gaming trends. Read part one here and part two here. ZAM: Gordon, BioWare has so much coming out, but the major game on most players’ radars is Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Can you give us…
The official gameplay trailer for The Force Unleashed 2
The official gameplay trailer for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 has been released exclusively through Yahoo and looks pretty good. The quality of the video on the other hand is sub-par for some reason. An exclusive release of a video should be of good quality, and I hope no company makes this mistake again. Hopefully we will have a better one soon. The official facebook page also revealed that there will be a Demo on the PSN next Tuesday, Oct. 12th, while the full game will be released on Oct. 26th.
Star Wars trilogy in Two Minutes (as a paper animation)
Jeremy Messsersmith wrote a song about Star Wars and created an accompanying music video animated with paper versions of all the familiar characters. As a creative person, I understand that it’s hard to let go sometimes. God help me if I ever get to the point where I have the time and money to keep re-recording new versions of old songs instead of writing new ones! Unfortunately, George Lucas (in a fate worse than Darth Vader’s) is in the horrible place of having had all of his dreams come true. Now he has total creative control of whatever he wants to do, hence Star Wars in 3D. Anyway, I’ve got a song called Tatooine with a new music video directed by Eric Power over at ericpowerup.net. We are both OT (that’s original trilogy) fanboys so I made a lo-fi song and he made a very 2D music video. You can…
Sean Dahlberg joins UTV True Games
Former BioWare Community Manager Sean Dahlberg announced on his blog that he has taken a position as Senior Designer at UTV True Games. In the future he will be working on a new MMO called Faxion. In his blog, Sean talks about his decision to go back into the developer side of games and what he likes about the company’s vision for Faxion and its emphasis on micro-communities. Break time is over! I requested a few weeks off before starting at my new job and I have to admit, it was nice to have a vacation. I think it’s the first one I’ve had in years that was stress and work free! But, as anyone who knows me can attest to, I can only have so much free time before I start needing to get back into the game. So I’ve made the jump back into the development-side as a…
The Ultimate Star Wars Party!
Yoda Oreos and Blue Milk! Princess Leia cupcakes! Han Solo in Carbonite Jell-O! Double-sided lightsaber hot dogs and bacon-wrapped pretzel lightsabers! This may be the coolest (and tastiest) kids’ Star Wars party we’ve seen yet! StarWars.com chats with Jenn from JustJennRecipes.com about her awesome Star Wars party and how you can throw one of your own!Why did you decide to throw such an awesome Star Wars party?Right now is a funny point in my kids lives, they are really into The Clone Wars and just starting to put two and two together about who Anakin really is in the older movies — “Numbers 4, 5, and 6″ as my youngest son calls them. I’ve been a fan for a long time, so now I feel like we are all on the same page, liking the same things — it’s great! What part of the party got the biggest reaction? People…
Species of Starwars: Wookies
The Wookiees, whose name for themselves translated to the People of the Trees, were a species of hairy bipedal humanoids that were inhabitants of the planet Kashyyyk. Biology and appearance The Wookiees’ natural habitat was the dense forests of the planet Kashyyyk (though one source does contend that they were immigrants to this planet). Kashyyyk was covered with massive wroshyr trees, in which the Wookiees constructed their homes and cities. Reportedly, Wookiees were descended from tree-climbing mammals. They had the ability to easily learn most languages. However, Wookiees lacked the vocal structure to speak anything other than their own languages. Adult Wookiees were tall, in excess of two meters in height, and were covered with a uniform, mid-length coat of thick hair in various shades of brown. Although albino Wookiees were rare, they were not unheard of. However, such a birth was generally held to be a bad omen, as…
Review: The Force Unleashed II by Sean Williams
The following review was written by Lord Iurus of NJOE.com, where he maintains an ongoing look back at the Expanded Universe, “A Long Time Ago”, as well as providing Spoiler Free reviews a week before most major Star Wars releases, in addition to the other reviews found at his blog. The original review was posted here. “A Jedi can sometimes sense visions of the future.” “Have you ever done this before?” “I’ve never been a Jedi before.” I’m sitting here in an underground bunker on Malastare. The Hutts are ticked off. Not my fault they left a copy of The Force Unleashed II lying around where I could find it. Seriously. That’s just poor planning. Never mind how they got it; I’m sure Jabba had a few precogs on his payroll. Or, maybe he didn’t. Maybe Durg- no, no. Okay, well, maybe the copy I stole is a fraud. Or, maybe they…