I like all things dark. Dark and stuff full of tension. I love it when I get an adrenaline kick watching a movie or a picture. Maby that’s also why I love Star Wars so much. So In todays column I would like to put the spotlight on StandAlone-Complex. This guys has it all. Darkness. Tension and incredible detail. Check out his deviantart profile here for some truly impressive work. Inevitable Death Ambush Twilek Sith Sar’Qeush Akla
Angry Star Birds: Episode II: Imperial Pigs
Here, as promised is Part 2 of the Angry Star Birds line-up (brought to you via the excellent Bite.ca), this time dedicated to the Dark Side of the Force, otherwise known as the Imperial Pigs. It is incredibly difficult to resist the charms of these mashed-up characters, or to admire the brains behind their creation. My personal favourite is the Boarba Fett variation, and I have to say I’m more than a little tempted to take up Bite.ca’s offer to purchase it on a T-shirt from RedBubble. Feast your eyes on these…
Angry Star Birds: Episode I: Angry Rebels
Considering the level of unprecedented success that Rovio Mobile’s iPhone App “Angry Birds” has had since flying into Apple App Stores in December 2009, it was only a matter of time before the art transcended the medium it was released to. Forget the 100,000,000 plus downloads and the lucrative related merchandise lines; the moment Angry Birds really became mainstream was earlier this month when Bite.ca created their own Star Wars/Angry Birds mash-up. Because everyone knows that success is only judged by proximity to the Star Wars universe. Anyway, without further ado, below is the first half of Bite.ca’s Angry Star Birds mash-up line-up (split in two because it originally came in two installments, and because doing it all in one go might devalue some of the images, and to do so would be criminal).
Unofficial Q&A with Damion Schubert
Many of us assumed the thread would go unanswered but much to our surprised, Damion Schubert decided to answer in full, thorough details what a typical day is like for him. In case you missed the thread, here are some highlights of the impromptu “interview”: So I was wondering, at this stage in development, what’s a typical day in the life at Bioware Studios? “The answer to this question is going to vary wildly and dramatically based on who you ask, so I’ll answer only for me – keep in mind that my role and position is pretty unique in the team, as I both manage a team of systems designers who do itemization, maps, crew skills and other features, as well as act as a primary liaison from design to several programming teams (yes, that’s plural). So for me, my day is usually a combination of: Meetings, and lots of…
One million subscribers are attainable for SWTOR says analyst
What do you think? Will SW:TOR make one million subscribers or are they counting their chickens before they hatch? Personally, I think the 1 mill mark is very attainable but the real question is whether or not they will hold that many subscribers over time. How many MMOs have launched with high expectations and then fallen flat on their faces? (Think Warhammer and Age of Conan) I’m not expecting SW:TOR to join this list of overhyped MMOs but maybe I’m just holding high hopes as a big fan. We’ll have to wait until Fall to know for certain. While there is no definitive release date of the game, it is announced that it will be complete and ready for launch later this year. (We hope!) At the Electronic Arts fourth-quarter shareholders’ conference earlier this year, CEO John Riccitiello stated this about his soon-to-be-released MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic: “At…
The Guild Sphere – Prime Defense
This week I sat down with some of the leadership from Prime Defense, a PvE focused Republic guild with close ties to their guildies. Hope you enjoy the Interview. Where did your guilds name come from? Our guild name consists of two words. Prime as in top quality, best or perfection and defense as in defenders of the galaxy. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild? Prime Defense is an active and tight knit community filled with members from around the world. We strive to provide a relaxed environment where members can hang out and get to know each other while still retaining a serious attitude in game while running PVE instances or participating in tactics based PVP. How did your guild come about? Our guild was born from another community that went under the name The Royal Echani. During the summer of 09, the…
The Best Star Wars Twitterers: Empire Edition
Billions of people now use Twitter – sadly, most of them just to massage their own egos and pointlessly try and collect as many followers as possible without using their influence for any good or even for entertainment value, but look hard enough and there are some ripe choices in amongst there. And it seems that the Star Wars universe is as well represented in the land of tweets as the real world is, with an impressive array of characters from every time-period of the many-faceted franchise. A lot of those characters are humorous versions of those we see on screen, and it is my aim to introduce you lot to the cream of the crop of these fictional but very real Twitterers. So, to start with – Series One if you like – are a handful of malignant foes, either fully paid-up members of the Empire or at…
SWTOR Forums “Off Topic” Section Gone Forever
On April 22 the “Off Topic” forum was closed at Star Wars: The Old Republic. While some might not consider this breaking news, there are others who beg to differ. Some forum regulars are in a huff over the takedown of their Off Topic forums; even going so far as to threaten to unsubscribe. The official notice of the closure of the forum states: Hello Everyone! As of today, it is no longer possible to create posts in the Off-Topic forum. We know some of you may want to preserve old discussions or posts, so the forum will be viewable until 4/22. After this date, the Off-Topic forum will no longer be available.Post all discussion about this topic in this thread. Please remember to follow the rules when posting about this subject! Thank you! As you might imagine, it didn’t take long before posts of complaints over the decision…
SW:TOR User Interface
As we sit and anticipate the release of SW:TOR, there are many things we are pondering as gamers. One big question in the minds of many is what the user interface (UI) will be like. To me, this is really important. It’s how you interact with the game and it can really make or break a game if it gets screwed up. So far from early impressions of the UI, does it look good? Do you think it flows well? Will there be addons? SWTOR community forums had this to say about early released information on the UI: The first look at an early Companion UI seen (Check out the image, not the videos) – Bioware The UI we are currently seeing is not the final product, there are big changes coming – AskAJedi Some settings seen while at PAX: Enable Color Blind Mode, Map fade while moving, map flashes…
Drew Karpyshyn’s New Novel Revealed
If you love Star Wars lore, then you are going to be really excited about the news that Drew Karpyshyn’s new novel has been revealed. The new book titled, Raven will expand beyond the core game and into novels and comics of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Del Rey Books has already published two novels in the Old Republic timeline, Fatal Alliance and Deceived, and they announced last year that there would be a third Old Republic novel. Drew Karpyshyn, Principal Writer at BioWare would be the author of this book. Fans may know him from the Darth Bane series of Star Wars™ novels. In an exclusive Q&A, Karpyshyn shares some information about the book. This part will be rather interesting to those who are anxiously awaiting the release of SW:TOR MMO: Q: In what ways will readers who have read Revan benefit when playing Star Wars: The…
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Iconoscope
I love nerdy dedication – it is after all what makes the world go round. And Wayne Dorrington has taken the biscuit with his genius Iconoscope version of The Empire Strikes Back, the scale of which you can see below. Bear in mind that this is only the first half of the Iconoscope, thanks to Dorrington’s assertion that it needed to be lengthy in order to fit in the entire plot of the second of the original trilogy: …You realise how much more complex and in-depth the story was compared to first movie. The narrative is split into several sub-stories and keeps jumping between them – plus, in the first move there were virtually no costume changes for the main characters – but in this one, each had several, all of which are iconic. Anyway, here’s the second half as well… Oh you bloody clever person, you.
Know your Lore: Arca Jeth
Arca Jeth was an Arkanian male who was a Jedi Master and Watchman of the Onderon system during the time of the Old Republic. He was known to have been one of the wisest Jedi of the Old Republic era, and trained Barrison Draay, Haazen, Ulic Qel-Droma, his brother Cay Qel-Droma, and the Twi’lek Tott Doneeta in the ways of the Force. He was also one of the first known Jedi to use the ability of battle meditation. In 4,050 BBY Master Jeth was part of a Jedi/Republic task force which was sent to the Hapes Cluster to eliminate the threat of the Lorell Raiders, who had been preying on Republic shipping lanes for decades. Following the defeat of the Lorell Raiders, Jeth took part in the Hyabb-Twith Campaign and helped drive the Nelori Marauders from the Hyabb-Twith Corridor. He served the Galactic Republic on Coruscant during the Great Droid…
Strong Stuff’s Retro Star Wars Poster
I’ve said it before that the culture of fan-made alternate movie posters is one of my favourite developments of the internet era, and when someone like Tom Whalen turns his hand to a particular personal favourite movie my joy is untold. The very clever designer/illustrator who calls himself Strong Stuff on Tumblr, has been producing incredible Star Wars art for the past year or so, and has very recently released another, which you can see below… Whalen has tagged the image as the base card for topps’ upcoming “Star Wars: Galaxy 6” card set, a series which has also inspired some exceptional designs by Russell Walks (one of which is below). This card series now seriously has me excited.
Paid to Play SWTOR?
Would you love to get paid to play SWTOR? Who wouldn’t, right? Steven Reid, the Senior Community Manager from BioWare tweeted some news you’re gonna get excited about. If you live in or near Austin, Texas (me, me!) and have an interest in working in QA at BioWare on Star Wars: The Old Republic, here’s some news you’ll definitely be interested in. Make plans to head on over to Austin Books this upcoming Saturday and you may just get your chance. In fact, it may be the big break you’ve been waiting for to get into the gaming industry and what better video game to do it with than SWTOR? This Saturday is a very special day for gamers wanting to make their presence known within the gaming industry because Austin Books tweeted some information all gamers will be interested in. They will be holding a special Star Wars Day…
Old Republic Action Figures Incoming?
A new rumor is floating around and creating a lot of talk amongst Star War fans. RebelScum, from the “Star Wars action figure site”, has passed on a rumor that he’s heard recently concerning new action figures for Star War fans to collect. Rumor has it that a new Hasbro video game pack containing five action figures is on the way to being a reality. It’s believed this action figure set will be taken from either “The Force Unleashed II” or “The Old Republic”. You can refer to Hasbro confirms The Old Republic action figures, to read where this issue has been discussed before, in which Hasbro’s Derryl DePriest confirmed plans to create action figures from one of these two video games in the near future. It looks as if now these plans may be taking shape. The question on everyone’s mind is which characters will be selected? Could it…
The Guild Sphere: Jensäarai
This week I sat down with the leadership of Jensäarai, a group of hardcore PvPer’s with a strong core of Raider’s/PvEer’s, one of if not the longest running guilds on the Star Wars: The old Republic forums. I hope you all enjoy reading the interview as much as I did doing it. Where did your guilds name come from? We were looking for something original that hadn’t been seen on the Star Wars: The old Republic forums and searched the Sith language and found the word Jensaarai, meaning hidden followers of truth. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild? We are a laid back group that likes to joke around and have fun, but when it’s time to get serious then we bring the pain. In gaming terms we are an end game PvPvE, Raiding Guild. How did your guild come about? The majority…
Star Wars The Old Republic Release Date
Well, it’s official- at least for now… The May 2011 issue of PC Gamer states the release date of SW:TOR will be “Autumn 2011”. While not an exact date, it’s a pretty narrowed down timeframe and well, that’s good enough for me. The cover of this upcoming issue promises to reveal a lot about the much-anticipated MMO from Bioware and EA, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Of course we all know that things could change as the game goes on in production. There are always potential holdups and delays, which is why they are holding back on giving us a definite date for release. But Autumn timeframe being officially announce in PCGamer as well as the hands-on event at London recently shows us that they are pretty darn close to being ready for a release. There’s still no official word on if or when there will be a beta but…
StarWars.com forums closing down
It’s official that the StarWars.com forums will be closing down. At the end of this month, they will become read-only so it’s time to save, copy or print anything that you deem important information because come Friday, June 3rd, it will disappear from cyberspace forever! An official announcement by Pabawan reads as follows: At StarWars.com, we are always evaluating the various features of the website in order to provide the best experience to our users. As we review new community-based interactive features for the future, we have decided that the Official Message Boards at forums.starwars.com will no longer be part of the site. April 2011 will be the last month of active message boards on StarWars.com. On Friday, April 29 the forums will be locked into a read-only mode, so that users can look through older posts and copy any they may wish to keep for posterity. On Friday, June…
G4TV ‘What We Know’ Video
For some reason this one slipped under the radar. Luckily the boys ( and girl ) over at TorWars catched it. Thursday episode of G4TV’s video gaming show X-Play featured a Star Wars: The Old Republic ‘What We Know’ episode. For those who may have missed it like us, you can check out the video below.
Facebook Image Of The Week #9
It’s wednesday again and time for a new Facebook Image update for Star Wars: The old republic. THis week we get a glimpse of the a dark temple on the Sith Planet Dromund Kaas The Dark Temple is forbidden ground on Dromund Kaas. Rumors circulate constantly among the Sith of what might be inside, hidden by the Emperor himself Remember to check out the rest of BioWares Facebook updates here.
Greedo Didn’t Shoot First! A Petition to George Lucas
Who shot first? Three simple words, and yet they mean so much more. The issue of whether Greedo or Han shot first is one of the most contentious in the Star Wars universe, and has come to represent for some the fractured and frictional relationship between Star Wars purists (i.e. those who wholly invest in the original versions of the original trilogy as the be-all-and-end-all of the franchise) against the new-bloods. In some ways it is also indicative of the love/hate relationship fans have with George Lucas, and an analogy for the two perceived versions of the director (old and new). And one thing is for sure- none of the die hard fans who debate the issue endlessly are going to be quietened on the matter any time soon. And now Paperclip Films have released a video petition via YouTube addressed to Mr Lucas, in a bid to have him…
The Guild Sphere: Imperial Army
This week I sat down with the guys from the Imperial Army, a role playing guild that focuses on all aspects of the game. Q: Where did your guilds name come from? A: When the guild was created it had the goal of representing the Army of the Empire. So it was named after that Army. Q: Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentencedescription of your guild? A: A mature close knit group of dedicated playerswho share the same passion for creating their own piece of the Star Wars universe. Military themed RP guild that partakes in all styles of play. Q: How did your guild come about? A: A group of players decided it would be fun to RP Stormtroopers, and the men and women of the Galactic Empire Military Q: What kind of play style do you focus on? PvE,PvP, RP A: The Imperial army was created…
What is BioWare’s Mysterious New Project “Zulu”?
BioWare is working on a new secret project that might now be slightly less secret, at least according to some reports that say an entry on Microsoft’s PartnerNet service has leaked details about the game. “BioWare presents an adventure beyond your wildest imaginings – fantasy role playing action adventure in space!” The mysterious title reportedly appears on debug Xbox Live with an image and the above description. BioWare fans are all abuzz about what this new “project Zulu” might be. It appears to be episodic and does not appear to have multiplayer or co-op modes. The first episode is referred to as “Episode One: Too Many Cooks: Spoil the Broth” and there is a teaser to the second episode as well- “Episode 2: Another fun adventure to download and play.” Various sources are reporting that a new BioWare title, ‘Project Zulu’ has appeared on the development version of Xbox Live…
SWTOR Art by NitWhit
It took me awhile to appreciate the work of NitWhit. First I thought the style was way to cartoonish in a turnoff kind of way. If you got small kids like me, your your properly getting tired of kids cartoons in the morning to. But a few days ago I changed my mind. Looking through deviantart.com I kept pushing the back button and going through her art again and again. There is something about this art style that I really appreciate. It’s definitely not cartoonish as I first thought. Maby you can describe it for me. Check it out below, and remember to stop by her deviantart.com profile and say hallo. Little Red Button Fall of Coruscant Darth Drador Relic Unknown You’re Next Flying Twilek Kirali Comic Experiment Zelkin Infinium Kirali Lady of Lightning