A long awaited question was finally answered; will Darth and Lord be player-achievable titles and if so how rare will they be? Yes. And fairly rare from what we can tell. Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic answered the anticipated question on the official SW:TOR forums just a few days ago. The post reads: Hey Folks, Darth and Lord are ranks in the Old Republic time period and while they represent an increasingly smaller percentage of overall Sith, they are clearly not at as rare as only having one or two running around in the galaxy. There are already numerous Darths (Baras, Malgus) we’ve seen who are not on the Dark Council. It will likely not come as a surprise to most people that the titles of Darth and Lord are story-based rewards (one does not become a Darth by grinding frog-dogs) as are Master, etc….
SWTOR Fan Site Summit
They say everything’s bigger in Texas and there has yet to be a SW:TOR event as awesome as the upcoming, first-ever Fan Site Summit hosted by Bio-Ware. Early week, BioWare twittered from the official SW:TOR account with the following: “In one week, reps from #SWTOR fan sites will be in Austin, TX for the first Fan Site Summit. Official Twitter tag is #SWTOUR!” This is exciting news for Star Wars: The Old Republic fans everywhere! The first Fan Site Summit is scheduled for next weekend, from April 23-26. (Who’s skipping Easter for paddle boat rides with David Bass?) As several SWTOR fan sites are reporting their participation already, we know there will be a great deal of information coming out just after the event and we want to be the first to bring it to you right here on the site so stay tuned. We can’t wait to hear and…
Total Film’s Epic Vintage Star Wars Images
Flicking through this month’s Total Film magazine (and being wowed by their preview of X-Men: First Class in the process), I came across their website links page and a link to something tantalisingly called Vintage Star Wars Images. My interest naturelly piqued, I logged on as soon as I got home and what I found was some of the greatest manipulated images to feature a Star Wars flavour ever to hit the web. Seriously, they are a bloody gorgeous things. Now, I’m not going to steal their thunder by posting all 14 here, but I thought I’d share three of my favourites (as well as the preview image to the left there), and then direct you all over to the Total Film website to enjoy the others. That is some bloody clever Photshopping right there. Follow me on Twitter: @SiTheMovieGuy
Possible new SWTOR Warzone- The Voidstar!
A German magazine recently revealed a possible new warzone called The Voidstar, as mentioned in a SWTOR post on the official forums. The article says, “Warzones, these are the PvP Battlegrounds translated in The Old Republic. So far, only one was known and that the civil war on Alderaan (more on page 18), but now Bioware still the PvP battlefield “The Voidstar” announced that will offer a Conquest mode. More will follow as we lead designer told PvP month, Gabe. (Google Translate).” Hmm… does anyone reading speak German? Perhaps you can give us a better translation. It was then covered on the official forums in a post by Elboc and opened up for discussion. The information found on a SWTOR forum post cannot all be verified as fact so before you read, be aware that much of this is speculation. There might also be some translation issues since the post…
Know your Lore: Cay Qel-Droma
Cay Qel-Droma was a Jedi Knight during the Great Sith War. Born to a great warrior family on Alderaan, Cay and his brother, fellow Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma, were instructed by Master Arca Jeth at his training compound on Arkania. Cay’s first mission came in 4,000 BBY, when, along with his brother and fellow trainee Tott Doneeta, he was sent to Onderon to put down an uprising of the savage Beast Riders. The Jedi succeeded; however, Cay’s career in combat was just beginning. He fought in the Great Sith War not long after, a galaxy-spanning conflict that started when the Krath attacked Onderon, home to the dark side-using Naddists. During the war, Ulic turned to the dark side, becoming a Sith, and second-in-command under Exar Kun. In 3,996 BBY Cay was forced to duel his brother on Ossus. Ulic killed Cay; however, this act stunned Ulic enough that he abandoned the…
Star Wars/Rebecca Black Parody “Primeday”
You have to admire when inter-net creatives like those behind the TeddieFilms YouTube channel apply their obviously considerable talents to parodying one of the worst songs ever to come out of a human mouth, especially when the result has the kind of impressive production values visible in the video below. And add to that the fact that they have turned their attentions to melding Rebecca Black’s horrendous, ear-bleed-inducing “pop song” with the Star Wars universe, and you have yourself a recipe for much mirth. I’d even suggest that the dude playing Leia has more charisma than Black does in her original version… Seriously, while the original song needs to be exterminated immediately, this spoof is actually pretty damn hilarious- and the lyrics arguably make more sense than Rebecca Black’s obviously chimp-on-a-typewriter version as well (they’re helpfully listed on the video’s Youtube page if you want to sing along). Seeing Boba…
BioWare Auctioning Off Exclusive Goods for Japan Relief
If the thought of donating to charity for Japan relief without getting something in return doesn’t really sit well with you, Bioware have you covered. BioWare is holding a charity auction, and all proceeds go to the Red Cross to aid Japan and it’s citizens in light of the recent disaster. The items being auctioned are as follows; two Dragon Age 2 custom painted PS3′s complete with signatures from the founders of BioWare Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk, two Dragon Age 2 custom painted Xbox 360s also signed by the founders and ten Mass Effect hoodies signed by the team that created Mass Effect. All of these items are exclusive to the auction, so be sure to check it out and bid on these incredible items for a worthy cause. If you’d like to help out, the auctions can be found here.
Selling Currency to a Game Not Yet Released?
Apparently you can buy SWTOR credits now, even though the game has not yet released. For gamers who partake in gold/currency-buying, this might be good news. For others, it’s an early sign of the annoying “gold-spammers” might cause in the increasingly popular game. Companies selling Star Wars: The Old Republic currency for real-world money are already on the Net and bartering their goods, months before the expected release of the game. Popular gold seller IGXE (Internet Game Exchange) recently released a press release about their placeholder pricing on SWTOR credits at £650 for 1000 credits. A simple search online will show you many other companies getting in the SWTOR action with promises of credit/gold to players. Just a few examples of the existing domains hawking non-existent credits include: starwarscredit.com, swtorforsale.com, swtorsell.com, swtorgolds.com, swtorgold.net, cheapswtorcredit.com, buyoldrepubliccredits.net, and cheap-swtor-credits.org. The closer it gets to launch time for the game, the more we…
The Ideal Guild Quiz Helps You Find the Right SWTOR Guild
The newest version of the Ideal Guild Quiz has been released and if you’re a guild leader who has not signed up yet, it’s time to get your name in the hat. There are about 32 guilds registered as of the last time I searched so those looking for a guild will be a little limited at first until more guilds sign up. However, it’s also important to note that those who are already getting into this are those who are truly serious about playing and advancing in SWTOR. So what is this quiz exactly and how does it work? If you’ve ever had to try to find a good guild in a very popular game (Think, World of Warcraft here), then you are familiar with the frustration of sifting through thousands of guilds to try to discover that perfect one for you. It is equally frustrating for a recruiting…
Making of SWTOR Book Removed from Amazon’s Listing
If you’re looking for the book, The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic, you might not be able to find it any more, at least not on Amazon. Last month the official SWTOR forums were abuzz about the book but now it seems to have disappeared. The release date for the book was listed as November 1, 2011, leaving many fans to speculate that this could be the same time the game is expected to be released. So why did The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic get pulled from Amazon’s listing? No one knows yet exactly why the book was pulled. We just know that it went down quickly after the new about its existence began to spread around the Internet amongst Star Wars fans. There are several different reasons why Amazon might pull a book that was listed but not released yet….
Friday Updates: Environmental Polish and Class Q&A
BioWare returns this week with a two-part update for Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). The first part of the update goes behind the scenes with Senior Environmental Artist Robby Lamb, who details how the game environments evolve and transform. Lamb details the creation and polish of environments in SWTOR and how he works and re-works the content to make it as epic as possible while maintaining the best game performance. The second part of the update comes in the form of a Community Q&A, which addresses a number of different questions from the community. To summarize, each class will have a number of companions from each archetype. Players can choose which of those will become their main companion and can enhance them through the use of kits. Bounty Hunters will not be able to use jetpacks outside of battle and the Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior will have no…
Do you need to read the books to understand the game?
Star Wars and BioWare are both characterized by an enormous amount of Lore and stories. So far two novels and a bunch of web comics has been released describing the characters and surroundings in the massive universe of Star Wars: The old republic. The first book that was released was Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams. The second – released a few weeks ago – is Deceived by Paul S. Kemp. At least one more novel is in the works by Drew Karpyshyn – but that is still nameless. Other then the above novels and webcommics, Darkhorse has released countless of printed comics and Del Rey lot’s of books describing famous lore characters Such as Exar Kun, Ulic Qel-Droma, Freedon Nadd and so on. Taken this into account, it’s obvious that some people get nervous that they won’t get a clue when they start up the game if they aren’t prepared. A forum poster by the name…
EA conference webcast Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Electronic Arts Inc. will release its financial results for the fourth quarter fiscal year 2011 after the close of market on Wednesday, May 4, 2011. In conjunction with this release, Electronic Arts will host a conference call to review its financial results for the fourth quarter, discuss its outlook for the future and may disclose other material developments affecting its business and/or financial performance. Listeners may access the conference call live via a dial-in number or audio webcast. Hopefully investors will ask many questions regarding Star Wars: The old republic, and if we are really lucky, we might get one step closer a release day – One can dream! The conference call will be hold Wednesday, May 4, 20112:00 pm Pacific Time (5:00 pm Eastern Time) Webcast: http://ir.ea.com Press release: Electronic Arts’ financial results release will be available after the close of market on May 4, 2011, on Electronic Arts’…
The Guild Sphere: Wrath
Earlier this week I had a chance to talk to some of the leadership of Wrath, some serious hardcore raiding Sith. Check it out below. Where did your guilds name come from? Wrath was born from a prerelease World of Warcraft guild named Reign of Elysian. Elysian meaning “Heaven”. When we decided to make the switch to Sith for Star Wars: The Old Republic, we decided we wanted something a bit Angrier, so we changed the name to Wrath of Elysian, though we always just go by Wrath for short. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild? Wrath is an endgame PvE progression guild dedicated to the server first mentality How did your guild come about? Answered this in #1, but basically we’ve been a gaming community for almost 8 years now. What kind of play style do you focus on? PvE, PvP, RP? PvE is…
SWTOR Open Beta closing in!!! … Not!
For 12 long hours I was so psyched! TorWars pointed me to a great interview GameInformer.com did with Dr. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk from Bioware. The Interview was original about Mass Effect 3, but the interviewer also had some interesting questions on the chance of an upcoming Star Wars: The old Republic Beta. On this the good doctors answered in the a more possitive way then ever: “You’ll have to watch our website and see. At this point we’re still in more of a closed beta period. We’re definitely making great progress on it. The feedback’s been great. There’s always lots to do, but it’s really really shaping up. Before too long you guys will get a little crack at it. Keep an eye out for that.” What was that? Wait a second. You said what? Did I here that right? What was that again? Before too long you…
Facebook Image Of The Week #8
BioWare have updated there SWTOR Facebook page with a new weekly Star Wars: The old republic Image. the description goes as this: High among towering mountain peaks on Alderaan, this settlement shows no obvious signs of the growing political unrest that plagues the planet. I really hope that building has some sort of anti-snow on stairs device working. Extremely hard to imagine no snow on a building that is in the highest points of a snowy mountain peak. 5000 years later… BOOOOM!
Entire Star Wars “Return of the Jedi” in MS Paint [GIF]
A long, long time ago in a galaxy quite close to here- it was this column actually- we brought you the first two original Star Wars instalments redone in GIF form on MS Paint by a genius with a lot of time and the kind of dedication that inspired the building of the Death Star. Check out A new hope here and Empire strikes back here Part of those links was a promise that the third and final instalment would follow soon, and here (albeit almost a year later) is the fruit of that promise: The creator- FoldsFive (otherwise known as part-time pixel-masher David Court) offered the following response on Digg when the A New Hope GIF found its way back into the collective Geek consciousness that calls itself the Internet: Sometimes I find myself amazed by the internet. How something I made an age ago can suddenly pick up…
The Guild Sphere: Browncoats
Today I sat down with the leader of the Browncoats, a Republic guild that has an interesting commonality binding them all together, and had a very entertaining interview with her, yes guys a female guild leader and look out, she really knows her stuff, read on for the rest of the interview. Q) Where did your guilds name come from? Firefly (TV show). Browncoats fought for the Independents against the Alliance. “Browncoat” also means you are an avid fan of Firefly / Serenity. Q) Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild? “Tell you, we get a mechanic, get her up and runnin‘ again, hire a good pilot, maybe a cook. Live like real people. Small crew, them as feel the need to be free, take jobs as they come. Ain’t never have to be under the heel of nobody ever again.” — Captain Malcolm Reynolds,…
SWTOR Fan art by Tony Vassallo
In this weeks search for SWTOR Fan art, I came across Tony Vassallo. He goes by the nick name vassdeviant on deviantart.com. Personally I love Tony Vassallo’s comic book kind of art — and apparently I’m not the only one. Tony was selected for a DC talent search portfolio review at C2E2 2010 and was lucky enough to win the coveted $5,000 DC scholarship, which has made him totally fired up to improve his skills over the coming year and hopefully land him a job right out of school. So if you in this business, keep an eye on this guy.. You can check out more his on his personal website here or his deviantart profile here, and off course see some featured art below: Bounty Hunter Mercenary Bounty Hunter Mercenary Pencil Sith Juggernaut Sith Pencils Sith Inquisitor Sith Inquisitor pencils Sith Juggernaut Marauder Pencils Sith Juggernaut pg 1 of 7 Sith…
I’m Chewbacca, And The Rebel Alliance Was My Idea
..or at least, I’m pretty sure that’s what the big hairy fella is saying in the hilarious Windows 7 video parody below anyway. The Chewbacca version is definitely the best, thanks to the glorious inclusion of the clearly clueless Storm Trooper signing a “translation” to what everyone’s favourite Wookie is actually saying. Perfect, perfect touch. The other two parodies are no less than brilliant either, as you’ll see below: Here’s the Storm Trooper… And here is the Cosmic Kraven himself, Darth Vader… Thanks to YouTube user SneakyZebra for posting these videos- and kudos for the quality.
London SWTOR Event roundup
Entryway to London Press Event Last week in London, some very lucky SWTOR fans were able to get a hands-on sneak peak at the game. The upcoming MMORPG from BioWare has fans in the UK and the US drooling for the opportunity to get their hands on it. This London event divided into two seatings of about 50 each and allowed players to go through about an hour worth of plan of the origin planet of the class of their choice. It was then followed by a quick Q&A with the developers, including Writing Director Daniel Erickson and Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid. There are now more than 70 pages worth of content on the SWTOR community boards from people who attended this glorious event. Skimming through those posts will lead you to numerous reviews, news and opinion pieces about the user experience directly from those who…
Sith Speak in a British Accent
Jono Bradley posted an audio log and transcript of the second Q&A session From the SWTOR London Hands-on Event. The session has some interesting answers in it and definitely worth a read/listen. Here’s an excerpt showing a question about accents: Question: Erm; why are all the Empire characters British? Daniel Erickson: That was actually my decision; really early on I wanted too evoke really my memory of the original trilogy and in the original trilogy – although there are a couple of exceptions.. Stephen Reid: Some really weird exceptions; Daniel Erickson: Yeah; you know Kenobi and that sort of thing but all of the officers that are evil have that great sort of upper-class British accent and one of the things we wanted to do at the beginning was – we always have to look at the fact that we know where the history goes; so we know at some…
Know your lore: Dor Gal-ram
Dor Gal-ram was a Sith Lord in the years leading up to the Great Hyperspace War, 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin. A member of the Sith species, Gal-ram was native to an area of space known as the Sith Empire. After the death of Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos, Gal-ram sided with one of the contenders for the title, Ludo Kressh. Kressh’s main rival was Naga Sadow, a progressive Sith Lord with expansionist ambitions. In 5,000 BBY, Sadow staged an attack on the Sith Empire, meant to appear like a Galactic Republic assault, and used this opportunity to declare himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith. This led to a schism between Sadow and Kressh, with Gal-ram siding with Kressh. Sadow then staged another raid, this time leaving evidence that he was actually complicit; upon seeing this evidence, an angered Kressh ordered Gal-ram and a…
Star Wars: Building “Empire” by Jamie Benning
A fan documentary like no other on the planet, Jambe Davdar brings us “Building Empire” via YouTube in one huge, insightful project that is more than worth the time it takes to watch them. The result of eight months of hard work, author Jambe Davdar ( or Jamie Benning which is his real name) brings us a collection of all the material from “Star Wars : The Empire Strikes Back” in one epic fan documentary that beats the documentary included in the Bluray boxed set by a longshot. Davda’s labor of love gives us Star Wars fans an extensive look at the making of Episode V with deleted scenes and more background story than you’ve ever heard before. The documentary contains rare alternate takes, production audio, on-screen facts, cast and crew commentary, re-created scenes, storyboards and behind the scenes footage that you will not believe. As you watch, on the top or…