We’ve talked about Michael Pachter here before (many times) and one thing we know about the Pach man is that he does not hold back. He’s passionate about the video game industry and for several years now, GameTrailers has played host to Pach Attack, a weekly, 7-minute Q&A segment featuring games industry analyst Michael Pachter as he answers related questions submitted by viewers. But what he said in this week’s episode, hosted on Saturday, might strike a chord with some gamers. He talks about the closure of Pandemic and the departure of BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk and says: “”I think that we’ve seen a lot of nasty stuff lately,” he said. “I think that the whining about the ending of Mass Effect 3 really very much could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for the doctors. I mean, if you look back at the BioWare…
SWTOR
Ask Mr. Robot Character Profile and Combat Logs are updated for 1.4!
If you’ve been waiting on an update from Ask Mr. Robot, it’s here now. Ask Mr. Robot Character Profile and Combat Logs are updated for 1.4! So now you can insure that you are getting the right gear for your toon and taking your gear in the proper direction. Newly updated for 1.4 so you can stay up to date on your characters, use their character build, browse the armory or even use the SWTOR skill calculator to plan your character or see that you are making the right choices in your character. Ask Mr. Robot is a fantastic tool to have in your SWTOR toolbox. Their team works very hard to stay up to date and give you what you need, when you need it. Mr. Robot’s Star Wars: The Old Republic Tools: Character Builder Build your SWTOR character! Includes gear, companions, skills, crew skills, guild, server, and more….
SWTOR’s Complex Challenge: From Gamasutra
“BioWare’s Damion Schubert is a systems designer, not a writer. Yet he ended up dealing with those elements anyway, as the first designer with MMO experience on a team of traditional BioWare writers. His job was to tell them what elements of an MMO need to be considered in the story design process.” This is from an intro to a story from Gamasutra about SWTOR and the challenges they have had to face with the game. They talk about the complex challenge that SWTOR faced- BioWare story in an MMO world. One thing that I love so much about Gamasutra is the quality in which they can make a point. Some will say that SWTOR failed, although there are still many hardcore fans who stand by the game. There are others who believe it failed on a subscription model but is going to do just fine as f2p. But when…
SWTOR Political and Moral Survey by the National Science Foundation
Have you ever wondered where politics come into play in SWTOR? Most Star Wars fans are aware of political and moral undertones in the series which then transcend into all versions and variations of the original story- SWTOR included. But here is a very interesting survey by the National Science Foundation that will shed some more light onto the issues of politics and morals in SWTOR. From New World Notes: Click here if you play Star Wars: The Old Republic to take a short and fascinating (in my biased* opinion) survey on the MMO’s political and moral choices, and how they relate (if at all) to your real life values. It’s for a report funded by a US government grant from the National Science Foundation which seeks to explore ways in which MMOs “provide experiences of meaningful accomplishment and how this engagement may portend the social use of digital technology for mass persuasion and…
Alexander Freed Leaves BioWare
And now another BioWare staff member bites the dust… Alexander Freed (my favorite BioWare writer) as officially announced on his Twitter (yes, he’s on Twitter now) feed that he is leaving BioWare and joining me in the ranks of freelance writers. It’s kind of a bittersweet announcement, really. While I love freelancing and I encourage other writers to do the same and explore the freedom of being able to work on different projects at once, try new things and do what you want, instead of what you are contracted to do. So as a friend, I’m really happy for Alex. He’s incredibly talented and I believe he’s going to love the opportunities that come his way now that he is not on BioWare’s payroll anymore. Big news! As of today, I’m departing BioWare to go freelance. It’s been a wonderful six years, but time to move on. More next tweet….
Leaked Details of New SWTOR Content: World Boss, Daily Area, Space Missions, Pets, Mounts
With the number of subs on the decline, it’s not unusual at all to see a game company allow some leaks in order to get more people interested or back in the game. There is some new and upcoming content to SWTOR, a great deal of which includes new minipets and space missions. We cannot be sure, however, just when this new content is coming. It could be in the next game update or in several game updates, spread out over a period of time. Just because the game is showing files for some of this content does not mean that all of it will be coming out at one time. There is a thread on the community forums that has compiled all of the known upcoming content in one area to make it easier to see all that is coming. Here’s a snippet from that thread: NEW DAILY AREA:…
Be a Gamer Wife; Not a Gamer Widow
A common problem amongst many who game (especially MMORPGs) is “wife agro” or that the spouse/girlfriend of the gamer doesn’t like them playing or how much time they spend gaming. As a wife and gamer myself, I was lucky enough to be married to a person who has also loved gaming since childhood but a common problem we see with friends and family (and co-guildies) is that when only one is a gamer, the other often feels left out. They actually have support groups for this sort of thing; “WoW widows” for those who feel they have lost their husbands to World of Warcraft and even SWTOR has some hate threads on the Internet from disgruntled women who feel they have lost their men to the game. But one blog post I stumbled across was a little different. This wife talks about how she worked through the struggles with her…
Companions 101: Kaliyo Djannis, featuring Alex Freed
Every secret agent needs a femme fatale, right? Well, the Imperial Agent gets Kaliyo- an interesting and compelling companion in many ways. For the first installment of their new Companions 101 blog, BioWare gives us more insight into this companion, her background and what she’s all about. Please Note: This blog contains spoilers for the Imperial Agent class story. Lead Writer, Alexander Freed (a really awesome guy, by the way), drops in to share some more info about Kaliyo and why she leaves her life on Hutta and joins Imperial intelligence: “When Kaliyo first joins up with the Imperial Agent, she sees two possibilities. Either the Agent is a mark–someone whose coattails she can ride, someone who’s going to diligently follow orders while Kaliyo plays him (or her) for every credit he’s worth–or the Agent really is as clever, confident and manipulative as he lets on. In the former case, the Agent is…
Confirmed – Daniel Erickson leaving BioWare
A few weeks ago we wrote the story that Daniel Erickson was “Actively looking for new opportunities” . Today Mr. Erickson confirms this rumor via twitter as he has started his new twitter account for job hunting and design thoughts. Back in early September, we saw via Erickson’s LinkedIn profile that he was looking for new opportunities. We speculated about what this might mean but warned against jumping to conclusions and thinking this meant he was leaving BioWare. However, with so many BioWare Austin staff members making their exits, it wouldn’t be a big surprise. Well, now we stumbled across this Tweet and this new Twitter account from Daniel Erickson and it’s clear that he has officially left BioWare and is on the job hunt. So he has known for at very least, the month of September that he was leaving or was already gone. So now that we do know it…
Wife Makes Husband Cool SWTOR Phone Cover
Do you want to show your love of SWTOR outside the game? There are many options for flair these days, including great SWTOR t-shirts and accessories. But one woman make a very unique SWTOR phone cover for her husband and he took to the Internet to show it off. It’s basically a vinyl sticker which means it is also removable and you could make (or purchase) different designs and switch them out when you need something new. She used an electronic craft cutting machine. Then she copied an image of the symbol into the software and traced it, then cut it out of vinyl. It only takes a few minutes and then you’re ready to apply to the phone. So what do you think of it? Pretty cool design and simple idea? Would you try one yourself or would you use one if you could buy it?
SWTOR Game Update 1.4 is Coming!
The time is almost here. Everyone has been waiting and waiting for SWTOR game update 1.4. Now the time is nearly here. The servers are going to be down for around six hours but the good news is there will be something great coming after those hours have passed. This means 1.4 is finally coming and with such a big update, it’s going to take a few hours to get the content loaded and ready to go. And of course, expect that you will see some bugs and problems from the first day or so that the new content is up. But let’s see more than BioWare has to say about it and the downtime. BioWare has this update to offer tonight: Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for six hours on Wednesday, September 26th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM…
Corellian Defender with Satele Shan, Qyzen Fess, & C2-N2
How would you like to see this as a new Lego product? It’s the Corellian Defender with Satele Shan, Qyzen Fess, & C2-N2 and this guy has a project up for funding. If they get $10k in support, it could get produced by Lego. So far there are over 500 supporters and nearly 20,000 views. If you like the project, help out by donating and/or by sharing the page for more SWTOR and Lego fans to see it. Here is some info about the Lego set from the project description: This is the Jedi vessel from the game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Satele is a character from The Old Republic. Based on her use of the Double-bladed lightsabre her class is likely Jedi Consular. She already exists as a Lego Minifig. C2-N2 is a support droid that resides on the Corellian Defender. Qyzen Fess is a Trandoshan and is…
SWTOR Livestream Q&A Transcript and Video
Are you looking to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes at SWTOR and what is coming up with the new Game Update 1.4 then you need to check out the SWTOR Livestream Q&A with Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez, Senior Producer Blaine Christine and Senior Designer George took place on September 21 – 4 to 4:30 PM CST. If you missed it, there is now a video and a transcript up to help you catch up. There’s no mention of dual-spec, something a lot of people have been asking a lot about but they do cover a great deal of information about operations, 1.4, free to play, PvP and much more. You can see the video yourself here: If you would rather read than see the video, Dulfy has a full transcript available as well. Here’s part of it. To see the transcript in full, visit Dulfy’s site….
Interviews from the SWTORspere
With Game Update 1.4 on the way, we are seeing more information coming out about the new features, free to play model and other changes happening within SWTOR and the community. One of the highlights of this information is the great interviews that usually come out from BioWare staff. This is our chance to learn more about what’s really going on and sometimes, to get the very questions we want asked, asked. We have a nice roundup this week of interviews with Gabe Amantangelo, Joveth Gonzalez and Lead System Designer, Damion Schubert. Chris and Anexxia interview SWTOR Community Manager Joveth Gonzalez and get the scoop on what his first few months on the job have been like, find out what his team has in store for us over the next couple of months as we lead up to the launch of the free-to-play option and more. You can listen to…
All the SWTOR Classes in Legos
What’s better than Legos? How about all of the SWTOR classes in Lego? User dfsniper uploaded these great pictures of the SWTOR classes in Legos. There are four images in all to give you a better look and if you want to see them large and up close, head over to the original posting here. I’ve always been a Lego fan and so are all of my kids. My sons have huge full sets of Halo Mega Blocks, Star Wars Legos and more. What we do not have a lot of yet are the SWTOR Legos but I’m looking into fixing that very soon. While the kids get a lot of fun out of playing with them, they also make great collector’s pieces for adult collectors. Do you think the Lego versions look anything like the real versions? Do you consider these toys or collector’s pieces? And here they are from…
The BioWare Doctors Leave BioWare- What Does this Really Mean?
We brought you the news this week that the doctors, co-founders Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk are actually leaving BioWare. The company has brought us some of the greatest names in video games and losing the doctors will definitely be a blow to BioWare. Analysts that GamesIndustry International spoke with appeared to have mixed feelings on how this will affect the company. “Yes, it’s a blow to EA,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told GamesIndustry. “The company hasn’t created many hugely successful new IPs outside of what we’ve seen from BioWare and DICE, with Dead Space probably the sole exception. These two were instrumental in creating Mass Effect, Dragon Age and SWTOR, and I think that talent like theirs is hard to find.”” Colin Sebastian of RW Baird agrees that it’s tough for EA to deal with the loss of the BioWare founders but adds, “It’s clearly a loss to…
Quality of Life Improvements in Game Update 1.4
With Game Update 1.4 on the way, many people have questions about how the game will change. BioWare has released some more information about specific changes coming in 1.4, this time, talking about things that will improve the quality of life in the game. On top of the major features the staff does to give the fans a fun gaming experience, they also try to work in the smaller features that really make a player want to stay with the game. These small improvements can greatly improve the quality of life for the players, which of course, makes players want to stay with the game (and refer it to friends). Here’s some of what the SWTOR blog had to say about these quality of life improvements coming soon: On top of the major features that we work on and deliver to the fans, we also try to work in smaller…
Irish BioWare Support Center for SWTOR Converting to General EA Use
The BioWare facility that was just built last year in Galway, Ireland to be a support center for SWTOR is now expanding and will become the home to EA’s European customer service needs. Basically this means that it will be general EA use and not strictly SWTOR support. They will offer support from this facility to all of EA’s major titles. They have dropped the BioWare Ireland name and will be hiring more than 300 new employees over the course of the next few months. The Irish Government looks at this as a good opportunity for job growth and is supportive of the expansion and what video games can do for their economy and job force.
Bioware Hiring Temp Testers for SWTOR F2P Model
If you live in or around Austin like me then you probably already know that there are often opportunities for testing with BioWare. Well, here is a fun opportunity for SWTOR fans. They are seeking temporary usability testers for the free to play model of SWTOR. You can see the original call here and apply if interested. Career Opportunities: Usability Testers (10832) The BioWare Label is a division of EA which crafts high quality multiplatform role-playing, MMO, social, play-for-free and strategy games, focused on emotionally engaging, rich stories with unforgettable characters and vast worlds to discover. Since 1995, BioWare has created some of the world’s most critically acclaimed titles and franchises, including Baldur’s Gate™, Neverwinter Nights™, Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™, Jade Empire™, Mass Effect™ and Dragon Age™. BioWare currently operates in eight locations across the world, including Edmonton (Alberta, Canada), Montreal (Quebec, Canada), Austin (Texas), Fairfax (Virginia),…
Bioware Executive Producer Jeff Hickman on SWTOR’s upcoming move to F2P
The team over at Zam spoke to BioWare’s Executive Producer for Live Services about introducing a free-to-play option, future updates and the impact of Hero Engine. In this interview, they talk about the upcoming f2p model for the game as well as how they will be attracting new players to the game with a premium experience. They talk new updates, additional content brought to the game and more. It’s a good read while we await these changes. Here’s a snippet: I started off by asking about where the idea for SWTOR’s free-to-play option came from, and what influenced the team in deciding to offer it alongside the existing subscription. Hickman explained that, while they’ve been aware of what other MMOs were doing, it was player feedback that encouraged them to choose this route. “We knew that there were other models out there, and they’ve been successful, and it’s kind of been…
BioWare’s Doctors Announce Retirement from Gaming
BioWare founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzkya both announced their retirement via posts online Tuesday afternoon. Known as the “doctors”, they founded the company in 1995 after receiving their medical degrees at the University of Alberta. They are also credited as executive producers for Baldur’s Gate series, Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Shattered Steel, Jade Empire, and the Neverwinter Nights series. They are well known and well loved in the gaming community, especially among BioWare fans but it looks like SWTOR would be their last project. The official BioWare blog posts: Today, BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have announced they are retiring from BioWare. Both have written blogs to discuss their retirement – click HERE for Ray’s and click HERE for Greg’s. Please join us in wishing them all the best in the future. Also, Aaryn Flynn, General Manager of BioWare Edmonton & Montreal shares his thoughts about Ray and Greg and what is coming up for…
High Population Server Tech Testing
Test Center News for SWTOR has some interesting information up today. This comes right after we were talking about PTS testing and who gets in. Basically, they will be opening a new public test realm server in order to test for high population. So this means a lot of people will be invited in. Here are the details from SWTOR: The first step in this process is opening up a new, temporary Public Test Server for testing. In order for us to successfully test this new tech, we need your help. To facilitate your participation we have copied all characters from our East Coast servers to this temporary Public Test Server. If you have any characters on an East Coast server, you can now log in to this special Public Test Server, find your copied characters, and begin testing this important feature today, September 13th. So how do you do…
Select Guilds Allowed Transfer to PTS for 1.4
1.4 is coming soon to SWTOR and players are excited to see it for themselves. Some are so excited, that they are hoping to get into the public test servers to check it out for themselves. The only problem? It seems some guilds are getting in while others are left waiting and wondering. A user on the forums asked, “Can BW please advise if anyone is getting character copies to the PTS?” Joveth Gonzalez, Online Community Manager for SWTOR offers this as an answer: Before PTS went live, we were in contact with a few of the guilds that have helped us test content in the past to see if they would be willing to test out our new content. Because our resources for character copying are very limited, we decided that it was best for us to work closely with these guilds than not have any high-end testing at…
Interview of Gabe Amatangelo
SWTOR Life visited Gamescom this year and also had the great opportunity to interview Principal Lead PvP Designer Gabe Amatangelo about SWTOR. We have seen other interviews with Gabe but it’s always great to see what else he will say and do. Here some info from SWTOR-Life about the interview and then check out the video below to see it all for yourself: “”The first booth I visited at Gamescom this year was Star Wars: The Old Republic booth. I was curious as to what will I find there. What I found were people playing the new warzone Ancient Hypergates and, to my surprise, Principal Lead PvP Designer Gabe Amatangelo himself chilling and waiting for the press to come. I spent more than half my time in SWTOR playing PvP on the maps this man designed so I opened with: “You ruined my life by wasting sooooo much of my…