The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has recently announced the winners of its 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards and not surprisingly, Skyrim took home big prizes. But SWTOR was also recognized as it took home “Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay” and we tend to agree with this assessment. According to Gamasutra: The AIAS is a not-for-profit organization that celebrates creativity in video games worldwide. The IAA ceremony took place last night as part of the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit. Skyrim won a total of five awards, including Game of the Year, while both PlayStation 3 hit Uncharted 3 and Valve’s first-person puzzler Portal 2 took home three awards each. You can see the full list of winners on the Gamasutra site. So what do you think? Did SWTOR deserve the recognition? There were some big names in the running this year and I am happy to see SWTOR bring at…
Incoming changes to ‘global cooldown’ UI
There has been a lot of talk recently about SWTOR global cooldown UI, the interface changes that were made as part of patch 1.1.2 as well as what players would like to see in the UI. Many players also had opinions and complaints about the look of the ‘global cooldown’ animations. So BioWare staff listened to these concerns and took them seriously. Now they have announced on the official SWTOR blog thatthere will be some incoming changes to the global cooldown UI. This announcement explains: OurUI team took this feedback to heart and worked up a solution which gives everyplayer a lot more choices in how cooldown animations are displayed. If you’rehappy with the way the game currently looks, you can ignore these changes – butwe think some of these preferences will be welcomed by many players. Currently,these new preferences are scheduled to be added to the game in patch…
Jedi Knight Collection on Steam for $4.99!
Every so often, usually on weekends, Steam gives us an awesome sale on some of the games we love the most. I’ve picked up so many great games for $5 or less on Steam over the years. It’s a fantastic way to build your video game collection. This weekend for one day only, the Jedi Knight Collection will be only $4.99 on Steam. This is an amazing steal for everything you get! If you miss this sale, don’t worry because you can still get the package deal for only $19.99 which saves you more than $12 on all of these great games. The Jedi Knight Collection on Steam includes: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith Star Wars: Dark Forces
Intergalactic Intel: Ilum
I stared at a lagging computer screen. I was averaging maybe 3 frames per second. I had been in operation groups before, but never this big or laggy. “So what are you doing?” My brother said as I stared at the screen hoping to make a difference in the ongoing battle. “Me personally?” I stared into the abyss of red names and lightning. “Every so often I run up, force pull someone into our group and then force speed away.” “But aren’t you a tank?” “Tanks still die when 30 people jump them.” Welcome back to another installment of Intergalactic Intel! This week we’re talking about that nasty old Ilum! For those of you who don’t know, Ilum is the “final planet” currently in SWTOR for all classes. While we’re not going to focus on the dailies or the story quest, we’re going to focus on the real elephant in…
SWTOR Mixtape “Cold Republic Episode I: The Empire Likes Rap” Released
Big SWTOR news out today- The world’s first SWTOR mixtape “Cold Republic Episode I: The Empire Likes Rap” has been released! Richie Branson proves to us all that rap music and Star Wars go together like no one ever could have imagined. He announced today the release of his mixtape, titled: ‘The Cold Republic: Episode 1 – The Empire Likes Rap‘ – the first ever SWTOR mixtape. You can download it for free here. On his website, he explains the origin of the album: Sometimes the business of music can be so stressful, so it’s good to be able to take breaks and have fun with my creativity. Since the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, I’ve been glued to my computer levelling and kicking ass in huttball with my sith assassin “Branson” (check me out on the Ven Zallow RP-PVP server). When I heard the main theme music,…
Republic has Better Color Crystals than Empire
There have been several accusations of bias on the part of BioWare in SWTOR. Some were said in jest but others seem to have some real backing to them. Could there be a legitimate case of favoritism towards one side? While BioWare insists that this is not the case and that they created the game with balance to both sides, here is some evidence that Republic has better color crystals than the Empire for lightsabers. This is actually the case for several weapons, especially if they have the same name for both sides. Here we can see that Empire players get the Q48 crystal but Republic side gets the Q56 crystal. There are other instances of this in the game. What gives, BioWare? Do you feel like the Republic has better color crystals in the game? What about just better gear/weapons overall? Are there any other cases where you think…
SWTOR Lightsabers and Icons with Matching Hilt
One of the big appeals to playing a Star Wars game is the lightsabers. No matter what age you are or what kind of gamer you are, lightsabers are still pretty good. The good thing about SWTOR is that they have taken the time and energy to give us a good variety of lightsabers within the game. We have written about this before and if you’ve played a character all the way up to 50 (or even close to that), you’ve probably already seen that there are tons of lightsabers you will come across yourself as you play. Not every character can use every lightsaber. Some are light or darkside specific. Some are class-specific and some are only available to one side or the other (faction) but there is a real appeal to these different weapons, their colors and even the careful attention that went into the different hilt designs….
Five Planets The Old Republic Needs
Have you ever thought about what SWTOR needs to add in future content? It’s a legitimate question since the game could go on for years and years. BioWare has already announced they are working on content we the players won’t see for years down the road. It’s no surprise then that we will see the addition of more new planets. They would have to implement new planets in order to keep the content fresh and continue adding more content to the game. So what new planets should we see in the TOR universe in the future? IGN actually has some great ideas on this very question. This is why they offer up a piece on Five Planets the Old Republic Needs and include their planetary picks of Felucia, Geonosis, Kashyyyk, Csilla, and Bothawui. Read more to find out about each of these five planets and why they make a great…
Is EA CFO Eric Brown Jumping the TORtanic?
Electronic Arts chief financial officer Eric Brown has resigned from his position at the company, Gamasutra reports. He’s only been with the company for under three years but Friday, February 17th will be his last day. The following Tuesday he will start his new role as both the CFO and COO of communications company Polycom. Current chief accounting officer and senior vice president Kenneth Barker will serve as CFO for EA until they find a new official replacement. Some are saying that Brown is leaving the sinking ship they have dubbed the “TORtanic” before it is too late but is this departure really evidence that something is wrong at the company? It’s important to look at all the facts when making such an accusation. First, Brown has a history of coming and going- with EA as well as with other companies. He first joined EA in 1998 but left for…
New Star Wars Battlefront Game Rumors Surface
Speculation of a third Star Wars Battlefront game has been ongoing. Rumors circulated that Spark Unlimited was developing Battlefront 3 at the same time as it was rumored to be working on a Resident Evil title. Yet, all gamers had to go on were a couple of tweets suggesting the company “couldn’t say either way” what it was working on. That’s all changed in the last couple of days thanks to fresh evidence hinting that Spark Unlimited is indeed working on the game in the form of a job application posted on its website (see below). The developers are looking for someone to work on a “3rd Person Action/Adventure sequel in a high-profile science fiction franchise” who has a “strong sense of story and narrative techniques as they pertain to the gaming medium.” Sounds a bit like Star Wars, doesn’t it? Other evidence comes in the form of two LinkedIn…
Sith Inquisitor Assassin Build For PVE/Leveling – Level By Level With Rotations
We haven’t been posting any SWTOR builds for a while, but here is a new one from. from swtorsavior.com. This time we take a look at a Sith Inquisitor Assassin Build For PVE/Leveling. The build is a good mix of damage and survivorbility as well. so check it out below. As always I I will recommend you to get the guide to get the full advantage of all swtorsavior.com amazing features. It is available right here.
Developer Forum Poll: BioWare Wants You to Answer
BioWare staff is regularly asking us what we think about certain changes and developments in the game. This is one way they keep things updated in SWTOR and give the gamers what they want as often as possible- which, in turn, keeps the subscriptions coming in. So now they have a community poll up in the forums asking: What do you think about the new changes made to global cooldown UI in 1.1.2? Joveth Gonzalez | Associate Online Community Manager says: Hi folks, We recently implemented a change to the global cooldown UI with Patch 1.1.2 and we realize that it has been a hot topic here in the Forums. In an effort to prioritize any new changes to the UI, we wanted to poll the community on their opinion of the current global cooldown UI. Please vote in the poll above! As a reminder, please only vote with the…
SWTOR Not Hurting WoW as Much as Some May Think
We just heard from EA’s quarterly earnings call that sales of SWTOR are doing great and that they have 1.7 million active users as of February 1st. This news puts something of a muzzle on the nay-sayers who were accusing SWTOR of being a flop. However, we still return to the comparison of SWTOR vs. WoW and this begs the question: Just how much is Blizzard’s cash cow WoW hurting from the success of SWTOR? A report on Venture Beat says it might not be as much as we think. They tell us that traffic reports from leading independent community websites for both of these online games show that SWTOR has actually affected WoW very little at this time. When EA reported a strong number of 1.7 million active SWTOR users on February 1st, it left many industry observers wondering how much this gain had hurt World of Warcraft. The…
TOR TV: Deflection like a boss
We know that Jedi can deflect blaster shots with their lightsabers, and have even seen Vader deflect Han’s shots with his hands. I think its obvious that using your hands would require greater command of the Force, but which method do you think is more effective? Han only shot at Vader twice, and then Vader used the Force to grab the blaster. If someone shot at a Jedi many times, do you think it would be harder to accurately block the shots with your hands? I was thinking that your hands don’t cover as much space as a lightsaber, so it may be harder to block many shots. Also, it could be more difficult to move your bare hands quickly enough to deflect shots than to simply move your lightsaber. Below video make lightsaber deflection look easy at least. Check it out: Interested in SWTOR Movies? We have new movies…
Review: Hands-On With StarWars the Old Republic (SWTOR): Part 2
My pal, Jason, was in the beta program of SWTOR (same as myself) and shortly after launch, we brought you his review of the game so far. It was a great review but based mostly on early impressions and of course, on the beta. So he has now written a Part 2 Hands-On review to give us all more insight into the game and his opinions of it. His part two covers things he missed or was unable to cover in the first review for a variety of reasons (didn’t exist in the game yet, didn’t have enough exposure to it pre-launch, etc.) In this part two, Jason covers: Single play Storyline Space combat Crafting Equipment modification Crew and crew skills Decision making So the new hands-on review goes into each of these points in more detail. On the topic of storyline he says: Having a storyline in an MMO…
The Guild Sphere: Venom
Today we had the chance to speak with Gwabin from the republic guild Venom. Venom plays on the US server “Gauntlet of Kressh”. The guild is currently recruiting all casual players looking for a fun social environment. Check out the interview below: Where did your guilds name come from? Venom came from the Marvel comics character by the same name. Also we wanted a simple but bold name to stand out on our server. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentance description of your guild? We are a relaxed social guild for all players who want to have a good time while playing and enjoy each others company while helping each other achieve goals in the game. How did your guild come about?. My Brother (Gonzolus), Cousin (Clloud), and I (Ekaj) decided to form a guild where we could have a good time playing the game. We had a guild…
Patch 1.1.2 Causes More Ilum Bugs – Emergency patch today!
Just when you thought PvP on Ilum was fixed, BioWare came in and borked it again! Patch 1.1.2 is reported to have caused even more bugs in Ilum. The biggest issue: kills on Ilum are not counting towards daily and weekly quests. According to reports in the official SWTOR forums, this problem occurred after Star Wars: The Old Republic patch 1.1.2 went live yesterday. After some time of no response to the players, Associate Online Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez came in for an update, saying this: “The dev team has been investigating the cause of this issue and they’re closer to figuring out a solution. As mentioned before, we’ll keep you updated with any new developments. Thanks again for your patience on this.” Blah, blah, blah… sounds like the same old thing that really means, “Oops, we broke it. We don’t know how to fix it but we’re working on…
SWTOR PvP Endgame “A mess” Says One Gamer
Endgame content in an MMO is important. What do you do when you reach max level? It’s this content that really hooks the player and keeps him (or her) in the game. Good endgame content is needed to maintain subscribers past their initial experience. For some gamers, PvP is where it’s at and BioWare claims to offer that in SWTOR. However, there are some players who are just not satisfied with what BioWare has offered us in game yet. Some of these gamers are frustrated with the PvP, especially in Ilum- the end game PvP area for level 50s. One gamer posts on MMOsite.com how they are not pleased with the endgame PvP or Ilum in SWTOR. Pelagato presents these reasons why SWTOR PvP endgame is a mess: Population Imbalance Performance Problems PvP gear Only 3 warzones and Ilum BIOCHEM!!!! Pelagato has a video to further prove this point: So…
Video: Same Sex Relationships in Star Wars: The Old Republic
We are late once again with a news, but better late then never right?Conan O’Brien had some words to say about SWTOR offering same-sex relationships within the game. As you probably already know, there has been some controversy surrounding this decision by BioWare and there are many who are opposed to the decision. Conan reports “exclusive” footage of the game and you can see these same sex relationships for yourself. If you’re familiar with Conan, you know it’s time to get ready for the lolz. “Exclusive footage from “Star Wars: The Old Republic”, the first Star Wars game to allow same-sex relationships.”
EA Claims SWTOR Did Better than WoW in First Month
In the quarterly earnings call for Electronic Arts, they announced they had 1.7 million active subscribers to SWTOR. These are some pretty huge numbers but just what do they mean? These figures count the number of players who have subscribed to the game past the first month free trial you get with purchase. This means that Star Wars: The Old Republic has gained more followers in the first month than Blizzard Entertainment’s immensely popular World Of Warcraft (WoW) did during the same period. (via Hexus) Of course, these are just early figures and in the SWTOR vs WoW arena, Blizzard has a 7-year head start. The true test of MMORPG brilliance will come when we see where SWTOR is in the long run. Where will they be after 6 months? What about a year from release? What about 7 years? The true test of success lies in whether or not…
SWTOR Paid Subscriptions are Up
This news comes late, but according to the EA quarter earnings call last week, subscriptions to SWTOR are up- way up! Industry analysts say SWTOR is seeing some good numbers. They are reporting 1.3 million paid subscribers. If you remember another recent report, however, these numbers are just slightly off of what BioWare reported- 1.7 million. Either way, the numbers are fairly close and it means a positive thing for SWTOR and also for EA. The company has many investors hanging on to every update hoping the company will continue to succeed. A great deal of the success of the company rides on the success of this one game so you can bet that investors are seeking every bit of info they can get on it. So far, so good for BioWare and EA because the subscription numbers are high and it’s still a very new game. We can expect…
STAR WARS: DAWN OF THE JEDI #0
Following yesterdays story on Tales of the Jedi, I wanted to give you a heads up on a new comic from Dark Horse comics. Set 34,000 years before the Star Wars movies, Dawn of the Jedi is a story that begins early in the universe and helps set the stage for the Star Wars world as we see it today and also in SWTOR. #0 starts us off as a preview issue of the comic series from Dark Horse. Released on February 1, 2012, this episode is less of a story and more of a guidebook to the upcoming series. “It began with the mysterious pyramid ships–the Tho Yor–scattered to the eight corners of the galaxy, and ended with the establishment of an Order that would change the universe forever. Here’s your first look at the Star Wars of 25,000 years ago–before there were lightsabers, when the ties to the Force were new,…
SWTOR Lightsaber Hilts: Find Your Favorite
What is one of the coolest things about playing a Star Wars game? Well, getting your own lightsaber, of course! The good news for SWTOR fans is that there are many different types and styles of lightsabers in the game, with different colors, stylized hilts and some that even make different noises when you wield them. Here’s an interesting render of the many lightsaber hilts in the game, allowing you to compare the different styles and help you if you’re a collector. The different styles consist of the color crystal, emitter matrix, hilt, power crystal and the focus lens and they produce different color lights and sounds. The standard lightsaber has a straight hilt and slots called “item modifications”. You can modify your lightsaber by using different mods in these slots to make them unique. There are a variety of ways to get lightsabers in SWTOR. You can obtain lightsabers…
From BioWare: New Community Blogs- Weekly Q&A + Dev Tracker Summaries
Are you looking for more news and updates about SWTOR from the official website? You’re in luck because BioWare has just announced two new community blogs to help keep us all informed and updated. Community News of the official site explains: “We’re very happy to announce that we are adding two new weekly blogs to hopefully give you more insight into development and keep you up to date on developer comments you may have missed.” This will be two new community blogs to help keep you updated on happenings with SWTOR. This is just one more way that BioWare is working on their customer service and things that they can do to keep us updated on happenings in the game. They have also told us repeatedly that they want to hear our feedback- but keep it constructive. They want to hear what we think about the game, changes and other…
