“This is no Jedi mind trick. The most heavily anticipated MMO to date will launch on 12.20.2011.” It’s official! The release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic has now been released. You may have gotten the email but if you didn’t, the news is spreading quickly all over the Internet and gaming communities. Stephen Reid hinted at it yesterday on Twitter, for those who caught it. When the Fan Republic asked, “Will Bioware be “Refining” the RD window as promised at CC?” Reid answered with, “I think we’ll go straight to a date.” We’re digging on that for sure! If you have already pre-ordered the game, you will probably also see the change on your preorder status already. You may have received the email stating that the status of your order has changed. If not, it’s coming soon. The new release date is 12/20/11 – that’s just in time…
Learn More about SWTOR Companion Characters
Exciting news from the Developer Blog today- it’s time to learn more about companion characters. As we get closer and closer to the eventual launch of SWTOR, we learn more and more about different aspects of the game. Today’s update is all about the companion characters, something that many players have been asking questions about. This thorough blog post tells you just about everything you need to know about companion characters. Each character class unlocks unique companions throughout their storyline; companions that fight alongside players in battle against AI and other players in Open World PvP, aid in crafting and non-combat missions through Crew Skills, and provide commentary on environments and engage in conversations. The update goes on to tell us more about what we can expect from our companion characters. It’s the first of two blogs devoted to the topic and it’s pretty thorough covering info such as customization,…
Friday Update? Companion Update video
This Friday update is not yet up, but yesterday Gamespot posted Developer Dispatch Video featuring the Bioware team going into some more detail on the companion system. Some of the details include changing a companions combat behaviour, tweaking appearance, and unlocking new story lines and companion quests through gaining their affection.
SWTOR will Have Two Panels At NYCC’11
Star Wars: The Old Republic is big news. Even if you’re not a Star Wars fan, a Bioware fan or anyone looking forward to the game’s release, chances are high that you have at least heard about it. If you want to learn more about SWTOR, the upcoming New York Comic Con might be the place to do it. SWTOR is popular enough that there will be two separate panels devoted to it at NYCC 2011. One is a main panel which can be seen here and the other is a Q&A panel with MMORPG.com which can be seen here but there is not currently a lot of info on what will be at these panels. Both will happen on Friday- main pane at 2:30pm and Q&A at 6:30pm. That’s about all the info we have so far but we will keep our eyes and ears open for any new…
Investing In EA Could Be a Great Choice Right Now
There is good news for those who hold stock in EA and also for anyone considering investing in the company now. Many experts believe the benefits outweigh the risks to investing in Electronic Arts with big titles like SWTOR on the way. Seeking Alpha reports: Electronic Arts (ERTS) is on the verge of releasing potentially one of the best selling games of the year and possibly the decade. While there is no official release date set, Electronic Arts through its BioWare division has stated during their Q1 2012 Conference Call that it’s targeting the 2011 holiday season to release its upcoming massively multiplayer online role playing game [MMORPG] Star Wars: The Old Republic. You don’t even have to like video games to realize that this is a big move and that the stakes and the payouts could be high for getting in with the company now. The reasons this article…
Eurogamer Expo Opening Video, Screenshots and More
If you’re getting excited about the Eurogamer Expo, you arenot alone. More and more info is starting to be released as the weekend gets underway, including the opening video. BioWare’s Stephen Reid (@Rockjaw) hastweeted several Star Wars: The Old Republic-relatedpictures from day one of the Eurogamer Expo, which are some of the first picsto come out from the event. In typical Reid fashion, they are a lot of fun. Fan T-Shirt; not official BioWare shirt SWTOR Stand Playing Huttball Official Huttball score- with bonus hair (thanks Stephen!) Queue sign Razer mouse Rae and Darth Other side of the stand Stay with us for more upcoming updates on important and fun news from the Eurotour!
The Guild Sphere: The Greek Lords
Normally I think of beautiful sunny islands when someone mentions Greece. Other people will properly think about the huge economic crises the country is going through. But today we will be talking SWTOR, as the Greek sith guild “The Greek Lords” took the time to answer our questions. Where did your guilds name come from? From our country and and because we are on the empire side Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild? Our guild is a interested on PvP , Operations , flashpoints on questing and helping each other on crafting so we can get usfull items a lot quicker. Plus when we get about 88 members we will make a schedule on how we will help each other on craftin by meanig that each member will use on of hes companions for online on crafting and helping the guild . We ar developing and our guild web (for more…
Another Star Wars change you didn’t hear about
I thought this was real for longer than I should be willing to admit. If it weren’t for the fast food he was slurping down I would’ve believed it for nearly the entire thing (This is what we’ve come to expect, Lucas! ) But I do think we need another round of prequels that focus on Porkins. There’s a number of books full of short stories about the guys you see in Star Wars for just an instant. The story of the pig-guards in Jaba’s lair, the story of the Jawa who is burning the feet of the droid as R2D2 rolls past, the story of the pilot of Jaba’s boat at the Sarlac pit, all the guys you see for 2 seconds in the bar (including the band), etc etc. All quite really amusing – we need one for Porkins!
Facebook Image of The Week #30
Wednesday is almost over, but before you go to bed, check out this weeks new Star Wars: The Old Republic Facebook image Facebook image: A Jedi Padawan fights off a Guid near the Kaleth Ruins on Tython.
Guild Alignment Begins- SWTOR News
In other news today, BioWare announced that official Guild Alignment begins on their news page. The important bits: “With Phase 2: Alignment, we are introducing new features which allow guilds to set their allegiance with other guilds in The Old Republic. Now a guild leader, along with members who have the proper permissions, can select up to three guilds as either Allies or Adversaries, depending on their faction affiliation. Qualifying guilds that are marked as Allies and Adversaries of other guilds will have the highest chance of being placed in the game together, allowing these guilds to coexist on the same server. Another feature being implemented with Phase 2 is the ability for guild leaders and members with the proper permissions to invite friends to join their guild via email. You can start recruiting new members today!” So there you have it. If you’re a guild owner like me,…
EA at Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference: SWTOR to Release in March Quarter?
Or is it? I love to keep up withwhat is happening at EA and with gaming in general. Since Eric Brown,CFO of Electronic Arts, is at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference, Iwanted to listenin to the call to see if any important infomraiton was disclosed about EA,BioWare and of course, Star Wars: The Old Republic, a huge source of thefinances of EA right now. If investor financial calls are not your thing, you’velucked out because I took a listen and I will pass on the important bits toyou. The conference happened at 1:10P PT / 4:10P ET and containeda lot of the usual boring bits. I entertained myself messing around on Twitter a bit and waiting forgood parts. One of the most interesting questions was in regards toSWTOR: Q:Can you give any updates on how pre-orders and awareness level are trackingagainst your milestones and what are some of the factors…
May the schwartz be with you: Star Wars – Royale with cheese
Earlier today I came across DavidWilm. This guy is downright amazing. He has made quite a few movies already, but here are his latest In this cut scene from Return of the Jedi, pilots Vincent Vega and Jules get their chat on during the battle over endor. Fart jokes always make me laugh.
Bioware’s Charles Boyd Shares Intel About The Story Of The Trooper
It’s a great day for interviews because the folks over at Republic Trooper also have an interesting piece with BioWare’s Charles Boyd that gives us some real insight and intel on the Trooper. Charles is the lead writer at Bioware Austin for the Trooper class in Star Wars: The Old Republic so he is the go-to guy for anything Trooper related. He has real info on the story arc, inspirations, romance arcs, and even some origin information about a certain Trooper you may know from the TOR cinematics! This is really cool because Republic Trooper was able to sit down and ask some one-on-one questions for the rest of us. Example questions: Republic Trooper: Are there any particular sources that you drew inspiration from for the Trooper Storyline? RT: When compared with the other class storylines how high is the surprise factor throughout the Trooper story arc? RT: Are you…
TORWars Interview: SWTOR’s Damion Schubert Reveals New Game Details
Our buddies over at TORWars have an excellent exclusive interview with SWTOR Principal Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert that includes some great new game details. This is an exclusive chat with Schubert that you will not find anywhere else online and it has some pretty juicy details along with the usual “we can’t talk about that” answers. Here are some examples of what they ask: What system are you most looking forward to watching a million players get their hands on and why? What game system has been the most challenging to get just right? Did any system come together more easily than you expected? Could we get some more information/clarification on the way the individualized loot bags work in Flashpoints and Operations? Any update on the Twi’leks as armor-wearing classes? We heard about issues with lekku and helmets. Is creative lekku tucking being implemented? What’s the verdict? Have any…
Empire to outnumber Republic 2-to-1 on PVP Servers?
Where’s the balance? The game isn’t even released yet and already people arecrying about imbalance. Is there a legitimate basis to this claim? A post on the official SWTORforums seems to think so. The poster, Aneu,brings up some stats and facts about the game so far in beta stage and hisconcerns for the current state of play. He pulls some stats from another threadon the forums that show a trend in number which favors the Empire to theRepublic. He then brings uphis concerns: “Thisis very worrying indeed. My main focus on this post is the pvp balance withregards to OWPvP and server balance. How is it possible to make balancedservers with these types of numbers? You have almost double the amount ofguilds going Empire, what will happen? Will Bioware make servers where thereare just Empire since there is an overflow of Empire guilds/members or will theRepublic be put up against…
SOE Says SWTOR Can Hit 2 Million Subscribers
As we grow closer and closer to the date that SWTOR will release, we hear more talk about subscribers, player base and just how many people we can expect to be playing the game. BioWare expect it to be so big that that are putting restrictions on the initial sale and release of the game. Now an industry expert says we might see 2 million subscribers. John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment believes that BioWare might see some big numbers with SWTOR. “It’s fair to say that subscriptions are likely going to be a strong component of revenue for the foreseeable future, although I don’t believe they will be remotely as dominant over time,” Smedley wrote in an exclusive opinion piece for GamesIndustry.biz. This is actually impressive news in the online video gaming industry where more and more games are going free-to-play, particularly over at Sony. Just today, SOE…
Star Wars: The Old Republic – ESRB-Ratings Reveal
When it comes to SWTOR, we’re much like the rest of you, waiting for any news or spoilers to help us out when it comes to learning more about the game. The latest teaser comes from a somewhat unlikely source- the ESRB itself. ESRB says, “Some sequences depict brief instances of blood and gore. To complete one quest, players must dip a skull in a pool of blood: in another mission, players deliver a severed head to a specific location and place it on a pike.” So what about sexual content? The ESRB says this: “Players can freely explore many areas in the game, including clubs that depict scantily clad female dancers with exposed cleavage; some sequences include dialogue with sexual innuendo (e.g., “An hour. I think I’m insulted. We’ll need the whole night,” “I’ll be sure to make conjugal visits,” and “Come, dear, let’s forgo the nuptials and proceed…
The Guild Sphere: Republic Defenders
To day we feature the republic guild “Republic Defenders” that focus on PVP and Role playing. Where did your guilds name come from? We created that name when we were around 10 years old for other Star Wars games. When we found out about The Old Republic, we decided to continue using a simple name which ended up being The Republic Defenders. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild? We are a Galactic Republic guild focusing on mainly PvP and RP and have no age or class limit. We currently have around 115 members and are one of the oldest guilds in SWTOR. We don’t ask much of our members besides acting mature and being respectful to other players no matter the faction or class. How did your guild come about? Well, the main three leaders, Von, Alek, and Xanto, were always huge fans of Star…
Steam Sale: Star Wars Collection 50% Off, Darksiders 75% Off
I love Steam sales. It’s one of my favorite things about using the Steam service (I’ve been a member since ’05). In addition to being able to keep copies of all of my games in one place, it’s really awesome when they do sales on games. You can get many older releases for a fraction of the cost with digital download on Steam. If you love Star Wars games then you are in luck this weekend because Steam is slashing their prices for this weekend only. The Star Wars Collection, a bundle of 13 SW games, is now $49.99 instead of the usual $99.99. My husband had this collection already and I had been wanting to get it for myself for some time. In this package, you get just about every Star Wars game available on Steam, all in one package and for a reduced price. That’ll hold you over…
How Stuff Works: Comlink
A comlink is a small, hand-held personal communications transceiver. It consists of a receiver, a transmitter, and a small power source. Comlinks vary in size and configuration from hand-held cylindrical models to flat wrist-mounted units, to units incorporated into armored helmets. The comlink used by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn has a port built into its base for transmitting data gathered by other devices, such as a sampler used to examine midi-chlorian levels. A typical comlink has a range of 50 kilometers, though this range can be extended by tapping into expanded satellite communication networks. Some comlinks come equipped with encryption routines to prevent the interception of sensitive transmissions. In urban areas dense with electromagnetic activity, comlink range is greatly affected and usually supplemented by networks that help distribute the transmission to the intended recipient. Military and vehicle-mounted comlinks have greater range due to greater power sources. Starships come equipped with…
Intergalactic Intel: The Player Holocron
The Holocron of Players If I were to give you a short and simple synopsis of Star Wars I would tell you that it’s a science fiction story taking place in space. The two factions warring are the rebellion and the empire. Both groups are led by wizards wielding laser swords. While the statement above is a very rough experience of Star Wars, it is true. When I think of the Rebel Alliance I don’t think of tons of troops fighting for a galaxy The Empire doesn’t have any control over, but Luke, C3-PO, Leia and the other main characters. I feel the same exact way when I MMO’s. I don’t see a guild or a faction but the friends I play with. Everyone needs their own group to make their adventure. So this week I’ll be talking about different types of players you will encounter. Some you will want…
Species of Starwars: Tusken Raider
Tusken Raiders are a reclusive, xenophobic people, resentful of the centuries-long history of encroachment upon their homeworld of Tatooine by aliens. Like the Jawas, whom they hold in disdain and are often violent toward, they have a tradition of keeping their faces covered, such that no one really knows just what a Tusken Raider truly looks like under all those bandages, and those face masks made of scavenged scrap. Tusken Raiders, also known as Sandpeople, acquired their name by their first siege on Fort Tusken during the Old Republic era. Their language is throaty and raspy, and their voices made all the more terrible by the hand-crafted face masks they wear to shield them from the blasts of wind-borne sand, and to retain precious moisture, which is in scant supply in the desert. Their clashes have been many with the inhabitants of Tatooine, though they are not particularly brave…
There’s Something Not Quite Right About These Star Wars Action Figures
Back in 1977, Kenner Products made one of the most inspired rights acquisitions in the history of movie merchandise, taking advantage of Mego Corporations astounding decision to pass up on the rights to Star Wars, and releasing a line of action figures that are still worth their weight in gold to collectors. Mint, boxed Kenner figures fetch astonishing amounts of money if they’re of the rarer variety, and it has been said that the most avid of collectors would happily kill their grannies for the chance to pick up the Japanese variant Chewie with the originally intended cross-bow weapon (instead of the cheaper blaster that was included in Western editions). Something tells me they didn’t approve these Star Wars figures of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru though… Brilliant.
Friday Update: Studio Insider – Combat Animation
Today’s Friday updates features a Studio Insider on combat animation and details too Bioware’s plans for the Eurogamer Expo next week. In the Studio Inside, Principal Lead Animator Mark How, goes through the process of creating combat animations, from the idea stage to a finished product. The Studio insider also features Q and A were a number of community questions is being answered. The most interesting news we get here is that Dual Speccing is something BioWare wan’t to add soon after the launch of the game. Q: Since it has been clearly stated that there will not be dual specs for characters in the game, can you explain your philosophy behind the skill trees and how you are taking into account players that want to be able to play PvP and PvE content on the same character? – illumineart A: Dual Speccing is something we want to add soon after…