Last month we wrote about an upcoming book about the making of Star Wars: The old republic. The book was announced on Amazon, and will be relised in November this year. Get it here Recently the cover of the book has been reviled, and it looks like this: Here are the details: Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Chronicle Books (November 1, 2011) SRP: $ 40.00 Language: English ISBN-10: 0811875008
Friday update: SWTOR Dev Blog – Advanced Classes Update
Following last week’s April Fool’s joke, it looks like BioWare decided to make today’s dev blog entry on the Star Wars: The Old Republic site an in-depth and interesting read. Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller has given players an update on the game’s Advanced Classes, and he covers everything from skill trees to improvements that have been implemented through game testing. Players will choose their advanced class at level 10, and each base class offers two advanced class choices (i.e., the Smuggler will need to select either the Gunslinger or Scoundrel as her advanced class). Each advanced class provides two exclusive skill trees and shares a third tree with the other (non-selected) advanced class. Zoeller also covers how the team makes these important class-changing decisions. He shows off a couple of images from their metrics system that feature death details and character movement on Ord Mantell. Of course, the…
SWTOR: The Past and the Present
RedRancor have created yet another movie you definitely should check out. This time he takes a journey from 2008 to today through all of the work that BioWare has done on Star Wars: The Old Republic. The movie is 30 min long, and features some of the classic Star Wars music from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This video delves through all of the imagery released by BioWare for their upcoming MMO. If you didn’t catch his last video about healing in SWTOR Check that one out to:
God Says Minecraft, RIFT & SWTOR Are Turning Your Children Gay
Well not God exactly, more Bryan Blake, ChristWire Network Host and “Radio Guru”, who has some, let’s say interesting, views on the effect that certain video games, including SWTOR are having on the impressionable young minds of gamers all over the world. Blake seems to have particular problems with the over-use of phallic idols (i.e. great big willies masquerading as things like light sabres and Creepers), which he claims have been hidden in video games by some mass homosexual conspiracy with an agenda to “poison” gamers. I’m sorry Mr Blake, but let’s break this down for a minute: I personally think that it is the person who insists that everything shaped a bit phallus-like penile who has the pre-occupation with penises. So, I’m going to revert to the age-old, scientifcally sound theory that It Takes One To Know One. Here’s a sample quote of what the faith-wielding, jargon-spouting Idiot Savant…
The Guild Sphere: The Knight’s Who Say Ni
This week I sat down with Jono from “The Knight’s Who Say Ni”, for a quick question and answer session about The guild and their expectations for Star Wars The Old Republic. Check it out after the jump: Q. Where did your guilds name come from? A. The guilds name is from “Monty Python”, anyone who doesn’t know what that is should go and look it up. It’s very funny. Q. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild? A. The Knights Who Say Ni has been around for a 4 years now; KWSNi is a multi-game guild which includes plenty of experienced gamers. We’re on a mission to recruit new members and play The Old Republic with style. Q. How did your guild come about? A. The current iteration of the guild was formed in LOTRO at release by 2 members from DAOC’s KWSNi, so…
Script Changes That Could Have Saved The Star Wars Prequels
Those purveyors of finest Geek humour at Dorkly have published a hilarious list of seven script changes that could have made the Star Wars prequels trilogy. And I have to say I agree with pretty much all of them, especially the Darth Maul line below: I’ve always thought a spin-off or prequel dedicated to Maul’s story would be the best approach to extending the franchise again. But then, sometimes, it becomes clear that logic and intellectual progression aren’t always the driving forces behind the Star Wars universe. Anyway, here are the images in question… Head over to Dorkly for the other four suggested changes. Remember to follow me on Twitter @SiTheMovieGuy for further ramblings on everything geek related (or head over to ObsessedWithFilm.com to read my movie based writings).
Facebook Image Of The Week #7
It’s wednesday, and BioWare have posted another Facebook Image on there official Facebook page. This description of the image goes as following: The experimental high-tech systems on the X-70B Phantom require frequent maintenance and diagnostics.
Another look at the character selection screen and London Hands-on Event Impressions
Even though no news sites are allowed to posts images or write reviews about the UK Press Event a few pictures has already shown up. This one was posted by Stephen Reid, who buys his contact lenses online, via Twitter just before guests showed up: I expect many interesting reviews, pictures and movies to show up the comming weeks, until then, we have to settle for the hands on that was posted on the official forums Many of you are aware of the UK Community Event we’re holding at Gamerbase, where community members get some hands-on time with the game. If you got to play, we want to hear your impressions! If you’re one of the lucky folks who attended the event, let us know how it went for you and share your impressions with your fellow community members. I know everyone is eager to hear your stories, and the whole…
Cracked.com Shows Why ‘Star Wars’ Is Secretly Terrifying for Women
Had to share this one from the geniuses at Cracked.com who have consistently been making me spit coffee out of my nose since I started avidly reading the site some time back. Look out for further adventures in movie philosophising from the After Hours team, as they tackle life’s most important questions: including Which Ninja Turtle Are You? A question I have lost a good few nights worth of sleep to, I have to admit. Turns out I’m April O’Neill. Sometimes the mystery is better than the truth… Anyway, who’d have thought George Lucas was a big ole sexist?
Played Dragon Age II? Get Mass Effect 2 Free
You loved Dragon Age II to the tune of 1 million unit sales in under two weeks, and now BioWare wants to love you back–by handing out free downloadable copies of sci-fi roleplaying epic Mass Effect 2. The PC version, that is. “””As a special thank you for helping with the game’s early success, BioWare would like to present you with a download code for 2010’s Game of the Year, Mass Effect 2 on PC,” it said on a page dubbed “The BioWare Sequel Celebration.””” The company also revealed Dragon Age II was faster off the mark than its predecessor, Dragon Age: Origins–no slow-starter itself. If you want to grab your copy of Mass Effect 2, you have until April 30th at 11:59pm PDT. And the offer’s not just for existing Dragon Age II owners: All you need to snag a code is a copy in hand before that end-of-month…
The Guild Sphere Returns
I am very proud to announce the return of the guild sphere, a weekly column featuring some of the more prominent guilds for Star Wars: The old Republic. With so many new guilds popping up on the forums I felt it would be good to showcase some of the guilds for those that haven’t found their perfect guild yet, or are looking for some guilds to ally with. Some guidelines though, please be sure your guild is at least 4 months old, no Vapor guilds please. Please be sure to include a link to your guilds website if you have one and/or your guilds page on the SW TOR forums, as well as your guilds current thread. Please send info to ralley752@gmail.com with Guild Sphere in the subject line. A little about myself, started getting serious into gaming shortly after joining the military, since then competed and won a few…
SWTOR PAX East 2011 Highlight Video
BioWare just published a short video showing some of the highlights from this years Pax East. The video provides footage of fans rushing to the SWTOR booth, as well as fans standing in line and talking about what they experienced. We also get to see clips of Daniel Erickson and Stephen Reid at the Space Combat Demonstration. The video definitely captures the excitement of being at PAX East. Check it out below:
Awesome Street Art “I Am Your Father”
I love Street Art (even if Banksy’s gone a bit too bonkers for my liking recently), and find the culture of making art readily accessible to everyone by their position in full view on street walls, and other ingenious urban canvases. Trawling through the net yesterday, I discovered this little beauty, which probably owes a lot to Banksy’s style (given the humorous tone and stencil work), but which in itself is pure brilliance… Don’t know about you lot, but I think it’d make a great poster addition to my already way too dorky movie room at home. From Norwegian street artist Dolk
How Stuff Works: Valley of the Dark Lords
The Valley of the Dark Lords, also known as Valley of the Sith Lords was a valley and burial ground of Korriban’s Sith Lords. The Sith Great Temple was located in the valley. A number of different layouts and appearances have been given to the valley in various publications. This is, in the case of video games, mostly due to memory restraints and practicality. For instance, its appearance in Knights of the Old Republic lends itself to being easily traversed and places less demand on hardware than a full scale valley. In Darth Bane: Path of Destruction it was found that the road from the Academy to the Tombs was actually quite long and the area that the actual Valley was barren and harsh, hard to travel through for even the Sith Lords. In Jedi Academy, on the other hand, the valley is designed similar to the appearance of the…
Mos Eisley Radio host Joins The SWTOR Team
Brooks Guthrie, co host on the popular Mos Eisley Radio podcast, has been hired as audio editor at BioWare Austin, to work on up and coming SWTOR videos. Brooks will be working with Brandon Miletta, who were formerly host on the TOROcast podcast. Mos Eisley Radio was the 1st site to be featured in SWTOR’s Fan Site Spotlight, and has grown big audience over the time. In their most recent podcast the guys made it clear that Mos Eisley Radio and Open Bounty will continue as a podcasts with a new unannounced host. All the best to wishes to Brooks Guthrie getting a dream job on the SWTOR Team.
SWTOR Art by Darth Destructor
Following up on our exploration of amazing SWTOR art, we came acrosses Darth Destructor; Or Mateusz wich is his real name. Mateusz is a 18 year old guy from the Polish town Golub-Dobrzyń near Toruń. Check out his awesome work below, and remember to drop by his Devaiantart profile for more cool work Sith Emperor “”The Emperor survived the ancient Sith Empire’s defeat during the Great Hyperspace War, and fled into the Unknown Regions with his most trusted Sith Lords. Here, he began rebuilding the Empire, vowing to return and defeat the Republic.Using dark rituals, the Emperor prolonged his life and his undisputed rule.In the time after the Mandalorian Wars eminent Jedi Knights Revan and Malak traveled into the unknown regions in search of the Star Forge which lead them into contact with the Sith Emperor. He supposedly corrupted them and gave them a mission to return to the Republic and serve…
Know your Legends: Horak-mul
Horak-mul was a Sith Lord who sided with Ludo Kressh after the death of Marka Ragnos. The prosethic he used as replacement for his right eye was a Sith artifact. Biography Horak-mul was a Sith Lord in the years leading up to the Great Hyperspace War, and was native to a region in the galaxy known as Sith Space. In 5,000 BBY, longtime Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos died after a century of iron-handed rule; two Sith Lords, Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh stepped in to try and fill the power vacuum. Horak-mul supported Kressh, the more conservative Sith Lord, over Sadow, an ambitious Lord who wanted to expand the Sith Empire’s boundaries. During the Funeral of Marka Ragnos, a ship coming from the Galactic Republic, the Starbreaker 12, landed in the Valley of the Dark Lords, and its crew, two Humans, Gav and Jori Daragon, were detained….
I Find Your Lack of Zoom Lollies Disturbing
What did Darth Vader do during down-time with the Empire? How did he pay the hefty overheads for the Death Star? Thanks to the lovely, talented folks at Think Geek, we now have some idea… Multiple awards should be given out for the acting. Seriously, that little dude in the green tee is like the next Dustin Hoffman. But, why did these fellas choose the (admittedly delicious looking) Light Sabre pops when they could have had one of these babies…
Never Seen Star Wars?!?!
Some people just don’t know what they’re missing… Thanks to Live For Film for directing my eyes to this one. Follow me on Twitter: @sithemovieguy
Deceived Author Paul S. Kemp Facebook Chat
A few days back Del Rey hosted a Facebook chat with Deceived Author Paul S. Kemp ( view the transcript here ). Kemp is the author of the recently released Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived novel witch debuted in the lucky thirteen spot on the New York Times bestseller list witch is quite an achievement. The book is set in set in The Old Republic timeline and tells the tale of the notorious Darth Malgus. No major news was announced in the chat, but it did give fans a chance to ask away about things related to Deceived and the chat was unfortunately cut short by FB technical problems. Here is a run down: Is Deceived‘s Zeerid Korr an ancestor of Jaden Korr? Kemp pleads the fifth — but hints to check out Riptide. Meanwhile, Zeerid’s family life pulls from Kemp’s own thoughts as a father of young children…
Facebook Image Of The Week #6
BioWare have updated their Facebook page with another image of the week. This time BioWare teses us with a screenshot of Belsavis. The verdant beauty of Belsavis’ volcanic craters can almost make one forget the galactic horrors imprisoned on the planet.
EA Working On ‘Revolutionary’ Unannounced MMO
While EA’s Bioware is hard at work preparing Star Wars: The Old Republic, Electronic Arts might announce new MMORPG plans in near future. According to a job listing on industry website Gamasutra, Electronic Arts’ Redwood Shores suite of studios is working on an unannounced massively multiplayer online game, making me guess that a upcoming game will be Command & Conquer-based. Information regarding the position is a bit unclear at the moment. The Gamasutra Posting refers to an MMO Web Architect position, but the EA Jobs link at the bottom of the page redirects to you a Java Engineer position related something to their The Sims Universe. No further details about the project itself were given.
Evan Mather’s Kung Fu Kenobi’s Big Adventure
Here’s something we already knew: Evan Mather makes great short films and animations under his Hand Crafted Films name (his Three Reasons series is brilliant), and now we also know that he can turn his talents to the Star Wars universe and make something equally good. Below is Mather’s “Kung Fu Kenobi’s Big Adventure”, linked from his Youtube for your consideration. It’s a touch on the wierd side, but then aren’t we all? My favourite bit is the Pulp Fiction riff. But then, I get excited whenever I hear that monologue (even if it did launch Samuel L Jackson’s career in a largely shouty new direction for a while). Why not make your own film like this? You will need: Some star wars action figures (sacrilegiously unmint and out of the box) A selection of movie audio clips An eye for gratuitous crotch-violence shots Lots and lots of LSD
Is This The Most Mental Star Wars Comic Tie-In Ever Created?
Thank God for the internet. In the olden days, thousands of prospective artists probably sneaked under the radar, never to share their delights with the world for the lack of a mass-reaching forum, and the world missed the opportunity for further enrichment. Now that’s all changed, and even the most ridiculously untalented of broadband owner can air their scrawls and ravings for the world to see. And among that lot, we invariably find geniuses who might quite possibly also be completely bonkers. Writer Jeremy Hammond and artist Andrew Dubongco fall into that last category, and we know this thanks to their bat-shit crazy comic “Fear and Loathing in Mos Eisley”, which combines too of my great movie loves under one lunatic banner. And fear not, for it features penis-spiders. I’ll leave it to the duo themselves to describe the overall manifesto for the comic, but I’m certainly intrigued to say…