Stephen Reid, Senior Online Community Manager, made an official statement on the SWTOR forums about the previously debated issue of same gender romance arcs and relationships with companions. A lot of players or would-be players didn’t like the idea that the game only seemed to allow for male-female relationships and romantic encounters. Bioware seemingly listened to the feedback and have issued a statement on the matter. Official statement follows: “Due to the design constraints of a fully voiced MMO of this scale and size, many choices had to be made as to the launch and post-launch feature set. Same gender romances with companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a post-launch feature. Because The Old Republic is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more…
Star Wars Fan Film: Chess Wars
You have to love Star Wars fan-film-makers: even when the Blu-ray collection has been released, they’re still plugging away making their own offerings to the wider franchise. This latest impressively high-quality addition comes from youtube users RespectThePact, who have replaced one strangely helmeted figure with another, slightly smaller foe with a light-saber… It’s a great one – to the extent that there have been rumours about it being a viral ad – but that wouldn’t discount it as a good Star Wars fan-film since intent shouldn’t really devalue any work of art.
Facebook Image of The Week #29
BioWare almost had us yesterday as they updated there Facebook profile with a new Screenshot. We diden’t get the week days wrong though, but BioWare treated us to a new screenshot as they hit 400.000 fans on the page. Today is a normal Wednesday though and a new screenshot awaits us. Todays screenshot is from inside an Imperial space station: A large space station in the midst of the Imperial Fleet serves as a hub for transportation and a trading center for Imperial forces as they travel the galaxy.
400,000 Facebook Likes Bonus Screenshot
BioWare treated us with some extra goodies yesterday, as their Facebook page hit 400.000 likes. To celebrate this, they added an extra screenshot, from the planet Voss! A large crystalline formation highlights the center of the Tower of Prophecy on the newly discovered planet of Voss.
SWTOR Draws in Non-Star Wars Fans
You’ve heard the buzz about SWTOR. I’ve heard the buzz about SWTOR. Games are talking about it in other MMORPGs. They’re talking about it on the news, on Twitter and even on their lunch breaks at work. But what you might not know is that SWTOR is even drawing in the non-Star Wars fans out there. A perfect case in point is this story from RipTen, “Star Wars: The Old Republic, You Have My Attention”. It’s a fun editorial from Jensen Walker, stating why the author was not previously a Star Wars fan but is intrigued by what SWTOR has to offer. The first reason is not a surprise- BioWare. Many RPG fans are BioWare fans so it’s no surprise that BioWare will bring in a lot of players for that fact alone. But this isn’t enough on its own to have the author playing SWTOR or we would have…
A New Season of the Clone Wars Approaches
USA Today covered the news of a new season of the Clone Wars in a piece called Admiral Ackbar stars in animated ‘Star Wars’ that gives us some really good info about the upcoming episodes and what it’s all about. Star Wars fans far and wide can get excited about this news. A snippet from the USA Today report: “The military amphibian from Return of the Jedi appears in the fourth-season premiere of Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Friday night (8 p.m. ET/PT), although he’s a bit younger than he has been seen before. He’s just Captain Ackbar during the Clone Wars, which happen decades before he leads the Rebel Alliance’s assault on the second Death Star.” The USA Today report mostly focuses on Admiral Ackbar and his return to the series but they also mention Bo-Katan who Katee Sackhoff will be voicing later in the season….
Your Favorite Advanced Class- from the Beta Forums
An image was released from the beta forums that depicts a poll of advanced classes. It shows 575 voters at the time the screenshot was taken, asking gamers what advanced class they preferred playing the most. Sith Sorcerer led with 13.39% of the votes followed by BH Mercenary with just over 10%. 6.43% of the responders said that they liked all the advanced classes they played evenly. The BH Powertech got the least votes in the poll with only 2.26% and Smuggler Scoundrel was only slightly above that with 2.78% of the votes. Of course this isn’t fully accurate of everyone who has played the classes because there were just under 600 votes. We also don’t know how many votes may have come in after the screenshot was taken. It’s still interesting and brings up good conversation about the advanced classes and which ones players will like the most. Of…
Good News for European Fans: SWTOR to attend GameFest
Chris Collins, European Community Manager had some good news for European SWTOR fans on the official forums today: “This year, Game will be holding their first public GAMEFest event at the Birmingham NEC on the 16th to 18th September. Star Wars: The Old Republic will be there, allowing players the chance to get their hands on the game, from Origin Worlds, to PvP events, there’s plenty of reasons to swing by the booth and check out what we have in store. Entry to the event itself requires a ‘GAME Reward Card’ prior to ordering tickets and currently only Friday tickets are left. So if you haven’t got yours yet, you might want to order them soon. Full details of the event itself can be found here: http://events.game.co.uk/ As ever, members of the BioWare team will be on hand to talk with players, so why not head on over to the…
The Guild Sphere: Parabellum
Today I had the chance to speak with Valkir. The guild leader of the Sith Guild Parabellum. Turned out to be an interesting speak as these guys are really crazy. Check it out: Where did your guilds name come from? Our Guild name came about from a discussion with friends when we decided to setup a progressive raiding guild for SWTOR, we had the usual run of the mill silly names proposed, We Eat Baby Ewoks, I Crit My Pants, Boba Fett!, Boba Fett Where? and so on, when the discussion got serious we decided we wanted something simple but with a military twist on it. That’s when Koulmia a close friend and member of our Guild suggested Parabellum. The word Parabellum was coined by German arms maker Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken and is derived from the Latin saying ‘si vis pacem, para bellum’, meaning ‘If you want peace, prepare…
SWTOR Facebook’s Official PAX Prime pictures
The official PAX Prime 2011 pictures are up on SWTOR’s Facebook wall and we were excited to see them. I didn’t get to go but I would have loved to have been there in person. I could have crashed with my sister who lives in the area. Are you in any of the pictures? Make sure to drop us a line and let us know if you were there and see your mug in there somewhere! The pictures are a lot of fun for those of us who were not there. We see the Imperial Guard on duty, nerdy gamers doing what we do best (wish I was there playing a demo), cosplayers, observers, storm troopers, Stephen Reid, David Bass and other BioWare staff, and more. The comments on some of them are as fun as the pics yourself so if you have yet to check them out, head on…
Drew Karpyshyn Interview: Expanding Star Wars and Mass Effect Universes
Newsarama has a great interview with Drew Karpyshyn expanding STAR WARS, MASS EFFECT Universes that gives us a little more info about Drew and the behind-the-scene happenings with the stories and how things work. This nearly 2,000-word interview is very thorough and well worth the time to read it. Drew Karpyshyn has written novels of the Star Wars universe and is now also writing for the upcoming SWTOR MMORPG. He also worked as lead writer on the first Mass Effect, co-lead on the second and was writer of three novels on ME. So you can see how he would be of interest to fans of either game or series. The interview covers a lot of fun stuff like the challenges or writing inside established worlds, the differences of good and evil, and what is to come for both of these major BioWare properties. Here is a snippet from the interview:…
Ultimate Starship Guide
Are you wanting to know more about starships? You’re not alone but now you can find a great rundown of everything you need to know about starships in SWTOR in the Ultimate Starship Guide video from TGN. In this video, Ned goes through all the features of Starships in the old republic in this Ultimate guide! He starts from the beginning with an explanation on how and when your hero gets a starship. He then goes into the purposes of your starship complete with screenshots from the game showing you exactly what the voiceover is talking about. Look at it like an inside tour of various starships you can see in the game. Next, he tells us how the starships are key for travel in the game (duh) but also tells us about hangars and where to find them as well as the basics of how you travel. Then he…
SWTOR Crafting Chart
If you’re wondering about crafting in SWTOR, you are not alone. but here is a nifty crafting chart that gives us all some insight into the crafting system, skills and what they can do for you in the game. As you see on the chart, there are two basic types of crafting skills- crafting and gathering. There are four gathering skills in all. These are scavenging, archaeology, bioanalysis, and slicing (droid armor, generators, special missions). There are also mission skills which include Diplomacy, Investigation, Treasure Hunting and Underworld Trading. The mission skills correspond directly with gathering and crafting skills. Crafting skills are Armortech, Armstech, Artifice, Synthweaving, Biochem and Cybertech. Diplomacy can have an impact on your dark/light side points. Investigation gives schematics for all of the professions/crafting skills as well as materials for medium armor. All mission skills will give you gifts for your companions. The chart maps it all out…
Intergalactic Intel: Being Competitive
Why be competitive? “God will you just freaking stun him!” “Dude chill it’s just a game! Aren’t we supposed to be having fun?” I bit down on my lip so hard I was pretty sure I was going to leave a puncture wound. “Yeah it is a game, but I don’t wanna play with tards like you! So shape up and stun the bastard next time he pats by!” “Dude what’s your problem?!?!” “Problem? I’m competitive.” This was a common scene when I played World of Warcraft, still is in Heroes of Newerth. Having a sense of competitiveness supposedly makes you a better player in trade for whatever fun you may have with the game. While this isn’t fully true it can defiantly give you a new experience with MMO’s and games in general. So what is “being competitive” and why would anyone want to be competitive? Being competitive in…
Friday Update: Smuggler Progression, PAX Highlights, & Developer Blog
BioWare was late with the updates yesterday. witch means us Europeans don’t get to see it before the day after, but it was worth waiting for. This weeks update comes fully loaded with the Smuggler Progression Video, Pax Highlight, and a Developer Blog from senior writer Alexander Freed. The developer blog gives us a good look at what goes into creating relevant stories and characters for the game and comics/novels alike. There’s also a few good tips in there for anyone looking to take a shot at creating their own story in the Old Republic universe. Here is a snip: “The first thing that any potential tie-in to Star Wars™ and The Old Republic should do is answer a series of questions: What does this story contribute to mythology of The Old Republic? What does a reader get from this story that changes the way he or she experiences the…
SWTOR to Model WoW for Launch Strategy
The delay in SWTOR launch is based in part off of Blizzard’s launch of World of Warcraft. Gamasutra explains in an article with quotes from the Citi 2011 Tech Conference. SWTOR has an intended launch with a strong focus on the initial player base. They would rather limit this number and give better service to a smaller demographic than try to reach too many people at once, this diluting the experience overall for everyone. “”We’ve actually studied WoW pretty carefully,” CFO Eric Brown said at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference on Wednesday. “”We spent a lot of time studying the first twelve months or so of WoW, and just to be clear here, when they initially launched, they did not launch in dual geographies. They went North America only.”” Gamasutra covers more from Brown on the topic: “”We really want to make sure that the first group of users into…
The Guild Sphere: Immortals
This week I had the chance to speak with a fellow Scandinavian as the Guild leader of Immortals took some time to answer our questions. Check it out: Where did your guilds name come from? Well I’ve always been a fan of science fiction and ancient mythology, and the name “Immortals” is something I can connect with both parts, also to be honest, I have had the name Immortals stuck in my head since I was a little kid .. I think the name is fascinating. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild? Immortals are a laid back, social and casual guild, suited for people with families, students or other reasons they may have for not be abel to spend so much time behind the computer, but want to experience the game to the fullest. How did your guild come about? Well, here it goes. The reason behind this…
Five Stages of Star Wars Revisionism Fan Grief
I wonder how much of this is age related. ROTJ came out when I was three, so for most of my childhood we kids still loved Star Wars, but adults, having lived through the hype of the late 70s and early 80s, were pretty much sick of it. From about 1985 until 1995 there wasn’t anything Star Wars in the stores at all. Nothing. I got my Star Wars fix off of old Star Wars Marvel comics in the 25 cent bin at the local comic shop, and a couple of video games. It came on TV once a year, but mostly it was kind of a cult thing like Pulp Fiction; a good movie but that’s about it. Certainly not a major cultural force anymore. I remember being amazed when they announced the Thrawn trilogy; for a lot of us this was as close as we ever figured we’d…
TOR date set to be announced later this month or sometime in October
Battlefield 3 pre-orders hit 1.25M: During the Citi 2011 Tech Conference on Wednesday, September 7, Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown announced that Battlefield 3 pre-orders have hit around the 1.25 million mark, and are tracking ahead of previous Battlefield games. “To date we have about 1.25 million preorders on Battlefield 3, so it’s still well ahead of its predecessor title, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, in regards to preorders in the same number of weeks till launch,” he said during the conference, which was listened to by Gamasutra. “So it’s doing very well.” You can read more details in this article on VG 24/7. More exciting news from the Tech Conference: Star Wars: The Old Republic is still aiming for a Q4 release, but, as the firm mentioned earlier in the year, it is prepared for a possible slip into Q1 2012. “We have a date set internally, with a lot…
Is There a Point to SWTOR Being Fully Voiced?
One big selling point of SWTOR by BioWare is that it is fully voices and highly story-based. But is the whole “fully voiced” thing a bit overrated? Others have said it before but MMOCrunch published an interesting story on the very same topic recently. The author points out, “While it seems to be a giant step forward in terms of immersing players into the game and story-line, one quickly realizes that it’s probably going to be pointless in the long run.” Could there be some truth to this? I think the idea and the concept behind total voice acting sounds awesome but is it really going to make that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things? The MMOCrunch article goes on to say, “I know for me, unless there’s vital info in the quest description, I’m not going to read it.” Well, this isn’t the case for…
Star Wars: The Old Republic European beta testing delayed
On the official forums, European SWTOR fans have been asking and asking for info about beta testing and beta access. Finally, a long-awaited answer was given, although it might not be exactly what some were hoping for. European beta testing will be delayed. Star Wars: The Old Republic European beta testing has been delayed. Stephen Reid, Senior Online Community Manager addresses the issue in full detail with a lengthy post that is very important to EU players. His post begins: “We can understand the frustration here, but unfortunately we got stuck between a rock and a hard place with no realistic scenarios where we’d please everyone.” So you can just imagine that what he has to say is not going to be good for European players. This post also talks about issues related to voicing/languages that will be available to different regions: “Also, this is a good opportunity to talk…
Facebook Image of The Week #28
Wednesday is a great day. Not only are we have way through the working week, but BioWare also release a new Screen shot on there Facebook page. Tricked out of their land by the Hutts, many native Evocii are forced to live in run-down settlements scattered across Hutta.
Gamereactor interviews Greg Zeschuk
Gillen McAllister from Gamereactor asked Bioware Austin head – Greg Zeschuk – a few questions about Star Wars: The old republic. The interview took place at this years Gamescom but is still interesting eaven though it’s a few weeks old. Check it out below:
The Lost Suns: Episode 4 Preview
If you’ve been following The Lost Suns comic series like I have, you will be happy to know there is a new preview of The Lost Suns: Episode 4 available. This episode of The Lost Suns will be available for sale starting on September 14th. It is 32 pages long and sells for $3.50 US. This edition picks up right where episodes 2 and 3 left off and continues the story. If you’ve read the previous comics and want a little preview of what is left to come in the story, then you should check out this preview over at Newsarama, complete with the actual pages of the comic themselves so you get the whole story for yourself. Then run out and buy your own copy on Sept. 14th. If you’re following the stories, be sure to drop in and tell us what you think! Description: Captured by the evil…