According to learning guru John Seely Brown, expert World of Warcraft players make better job candidates than an MBA from Harvard. While that may sound a little bizarre, you can listen to his explanation on a youtube video below. While some employers still hang onto the old notion that job applicants who play video games are not the best candidates, perhaps because they believe they’ll spend their days playing online and are easily distracted, smart companies realize the value of the leadership skills as well as organization skills that are learned by WoW players, making them the better candidate for the job.YouTube video here. Seely Brown is just one among many who have come to the same conclusion, and he is certainly not a slacker by any means. He is currently an independent co-chair of the Deloitte Center for Edge Innovation and has degrees in physics and mathematics from Brown…
SWTOR
SWTOR withdraws from Star Wars Celebration 2 Weeks Prior
With only two more weeks to go, SWTOR has officially pulled out of the Star Wars Celebration, shocking many fans. They will, however, still be attending Gamescon which has a lot of people questioning the motives behind this decision. Players will also be able to play the new warzone at Gamescon which sounds like exciting news for those who get to go. It’s kind of hard to understand why they could not spare the staff to go to Florida but they can go to Germany. Seems like they are saying one event is higher on their priority list than the other. Maybe if they had not laid off so much of their staff (particularly those in the community department) then they would not have to back out of this event. Anyway, it’s a real bummer to the fans but it sounds like it’s officially a sure thing. This thread explains the news:…
Leveling Guide 1 through 400 for Cybertech
The patterns in this leveling guide for Cybertech are obtainable from a Cybertech Trainer only. Cybertech is one of the most versatile skills in SWTOR and it’s used to make the following: Droid parts, ship parts, mods, earpieces, grenades, mounts and armor plates. The primary gathering skill used in Cybertech is Scavenging using compounds and scavenged metals. The secondary mission skill is Underworld Trading using underworld metals. After you complete each step, you can train for the next level by visiting the Cybertech Crew Skill Trainer. Reverse engineering is an option that will allow you to use fewer materials on anything you make. However, this process produces random materials so it’s impossible to calculate a precise number for players to use. For this reasons, this leveling guide is based on the materials needed when reverse engineering for Cybertech is not used, so you’ll know exactly what you’ll need. Here are…
In Defense of SWTOR’s Subscription Launch from Gamasutra
Gamasutra writer Simon Ludgate has an interesting blog today about SWTOR’s subscription launch and his experience in the beta of the game, which was fairly short-lived. Find out why he believes BioWare did the right thing by launching with a sub model and moving to a f2p model once they were unable to hold the numbers in subscriptions. Here’s a snippet: When I played the Star Wars: The Old Republic beta, I thought to myself that the game was fun, but that I would never pay a subscription for it. It lacked the key element of MMORPGs: players playing together in a persistent, mutable world. While it had nice graphics, decent gameplay, interesting storylines, and an amusing group story participation dynamic, it had no strong foundation as a “massively” multiplayer game. At best, a one-time box purchase with private multiplayer, kinda like Borderlands; but certainly no justification for a subscription. He goes…
MMORPG Interview with Jeff Hickman and Matthew Bromberg
SWTOR is going free to play and it’s happening sooner than you think. We’re all excited about the news and here’s an interview from MMORPG.com’s William Murphy to give us more info about the game, the move to f2p and other questions you might have. It’s happening, and sooner than you might think. BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic is going F2P with a hybrid business model this fall. Players have been wondering about it, journalists have been begging for it, and it seems that all this time BioWare’s been listening and reacting. After being informed of the then embargoed announcement this morning, I had the rare opportunity to sit in on a call with BioWare’s Jeff Hickman and Matthew Bromberg (who recently took over as GM of the Austin studio. We talked about the timing, the reasons, and the way in which they believe SWTOR going F2P is just finally giving…
Twitter Post by Hall Hood (lead writer) Suggests New Event?
Do you follow your favorite game developers and staff on social media? Lots of us do and it’s one of the greatest parts of the popularity of social media. I love when I can look up someone who works on a game I enjoy and can find them on Twitter, especially if they update regularly. But one downside to this easy-access is that misinformation is sometimes spread. It’s a casualty of the platform and perhaps that 140-character limit. We saw a good example of that today. For those who follow SWTOR’s lead writer Hall Hood on Twitter, you may already know that he often teases us with snippets of things to come in the game. This morning he set Twitter afire with SWTOR fans expecting a new event after this tweet: #SWTOR SIS Intel Report: Rumors indicate Czerka research vessel “Theoretika” has been located by deep-space salvage team. Investigating. — Hall Hood…
Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk Leaving BioWare? Unconfirmed Rumors
Rumors are going around the past 24 hours after this report on GamersGlobal says that BioWare founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk have left the company or plan to do so soon. It has caused discussions on both the BioWare forums and the SWTOR forums but no one really knows for sure if this is anything more than just a rumor. GameBanshee says: A trustworthy source has been told by an employee of Bioware Austin yesterday that neither Greg Zeschuk nor Ray Muzyka have been present at a Bioware Company Meeting in Austin, Texas, just a few days ago. The employee claimed that this has not been the case before at such a meeting. The six others members of Bioware Austin’s leadership have been there. Also, Greg Zeschuk has not been seen for several weeks now, the Bioware Austin employee claims. There are supposed to be internal rumours at Bioware Austin that…
SWTOR Could Attract 50M Monthly Players with F2P Model says Pachter
We all know that SWTOR going free to play is big news. But what we don’t know yet is just how big it might be for the game itself. I personally know a lot of people who say they will play if it goes free now it is. Star Wars: The Old Republic could attract up to 50m monthly players says Wedbush! This could be very good news for the company which has been suffering a stock loss since November. Investors want to see some results and they expected a lot from this game so the new model may be just what is needed to get numbers back in the positive direction they want to see again. Michael Pachter, industry analyst for Wedbush says: “We remain incorrigibly positive on the EA story. Despite a relatively low number of packaged good releases this year, we expect EA to grow revenue and…
SWTOR Free to Play and the Anonymous BioWare Employee
Remember not so long ago when we brought you the story of the anonymous BioWare employee who left the comments about free to play on an article? He claimed he worked for BioWare and couldn’t reveal his name and said that the fans were to blame for the current state of the game. He also predicted a free to play model was on the way. While some people believed he might be right, most others assumed it was a troll- some SWTOR hater trying to spread a rumor about the game being a flop or something or other… But very shortly after – perhaps too shortly- we get the news that the game is, in fact, going free to play. So could this anonymous poster have actually been a BioWare employee? Well, it certainly looks that way but then again, how hard was it to predict the free to play…
New SWTOR Content on the Way
With the news of the new free to play coming soon to SWTOR, we also learned that there will be some new content coming to the game. While dates have not been confirmed yet, there are five new pieces of content we know is on the way in the near future. Let’s take a look at these five new pieces of content and remember we will continue to update you with more information as it comes in. New Warzone There will be a new warzone added to SWTOR called the Ancient Hypergate. It’s supposed to be on the new planet of Asation and they promise us new game mechanics… whatever that means. A new warzone is a plus for anyone who loves PvP and since there will be many benefits with a free to play model, we can expect this to affect PvP as well as the population of servers….
EA Q1 FY 2013 Earnings Call Recap
After the big news today about SWTOR going to a free to play model, Electronic Arts also held their Q1 FY 2013 Earnings Call. Live coverage of the call began at 2pm PST. Many fans and investors were hanging on for this call to see what might be mentioned about SWTOR, SWTOR subscriptions and the free to play model. You can also see the Prepared Comments and Q1 FY13 Slide Presentation as well as Q1 FY13 Earnings Release from the website. The Q1 FY13 Financial Model is available for download from the site but it’s legal mumbo-jumbo to your average person not familiar with business statistics. It shows the profit and loss margins for the company, quarterly net revenue statistics and more. It shows the breakdowns for different consoles and platforms and there is also a 12 quarter balance sheet. In the press tables they say: “We have…
SWTOR Free to Play is on its Way!
EA and BioWare announced today that it will be expanding Star Wars: The Old Republic by adding a new free-to-play option this fall. And for everyone who plays between now and then or who was previously subscribed, there will be benefits by way of Cartel Coins. Players who choose to engage in free-to-play will be able to experience a majority of the game for free, including the first 50 levels and all eight classes. BioWare did state that there will be restrictions, but those can be removed with microtransactions. SWTOR announced: Now is the time to play The Old Republic™! Over the coming months there will be more frequent Game Updates, including group content like Flashpoints, Warzones, Operations, and dynamic in-game events and more included in your subscription. They go on to show what the rewards will be, including a vote for “player’s choice” rewards. The Developer Blog explained the…
SWTOR Character Sheets
Have you ever wanted to be able to share your SWTOR characters with everyone outside of the game? Want to be able to post them on your blog, SWTOR website, guild site or elsewhere on the Internet and show off your toon? Well, now it’s possible and this is a pretty nifty tool. Here’s how it came to be Spread the SWTOR looooove! A fan (Miallen) stopped in our forums with a design idea for small embeddable character sheets. Then Scorpiux and Genshen over at Cali Killed Nox (CKN) picked up the project and used Mr. Robot’s API to make these a reality. They can be embedded on any site, including Enjin guild sites, wordpress blogs, you name it. It’s one of our favorite uses of the API, along with the SimulationCraft project that imports characters. Very cool! You can go to their site right now and check it out and then make your own. Here’s…
GDC Online debuts Smedley, SWTOR and more!
With GDC Online getting closer, we’re all looking forward to more information, updates and fun interviews. That’s exactly what they’re working on to give us. The show has added a new trio of talks, featuring Sony Online Entertainment’s John Smedley on transitioning to the free to play model, BioWare on the platform supporting Star Wars: The Old Republic, and CCP on nurturing an MMO community. Gamasutra brings us full details on these new sessions: – First, John Smedley, the president of Sony Online Entertainment, will discuss how the company transitioned its entire game lineup to the free to play model in theBusiness and Marketing track lecture, “Free-to-Play: Driving the Future of MMOs.”” Referencing games from EverQuest to Planetside 2(pictured), Smedley will share some of SOE’s insights and lessons learned to help other developers successfully adopt the free to play model. With this knowledge, attendees will walk away understanding how to grow not only their player…
Star Wars: The Old Republic is GDC Online Awards Nominee
GDC Online is on its way and the votes for nominees are in. The organizers have now announced the finalists for the 3rd annual GDC Choice Awards and Gamasutra has brought us the full story. There is a wide range of games in the nominee list this year and this also reflects the diversity in the industry and the creativity of the game developers. However, we were not at all surprised to see SWTOR on the list. Some might be surprised to see just how much the game was nominated, however. Gamasutra reports: The most-nominated titles this year include BioWare Austin’s MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, which grabbed six nominations, as well as multiple nominations for diverse titles including Omgpop/Zynga’s addictive social mobile app Draw Something, Playfish/EA’s Facebook treatment of one of gaming’s biggest franchises, The Sims Social, Blizzard Entertainment’s record-breaking PC online-integrated title Diablo III, Tiny Speck’s quirky casual MMO Glitch, and more. …
An Honest Personal Review on SWTOR Endgame
There are a lot of naysayers about SWTOR these days. In fact, since the game was in pre-launch phase, there were haters who protested and insisted the game would be a massive failure. While many are now trying to say that prophecy has come to light, not everyone believes this. In fact, there are still quite a few players who are happy with the current state of SWTOR and impressed with the game overall and in general. Reddit and the subreddit of SWTOR is not always friendly to those who love SWTOR but here is one poster who had a thorough report of Here is a snippet of the review talking about endgame content: So I finally get to the max level and am ready to finally “play the game” as I would say. First thing’s first — I need gear. A bit of online research tells me that Recruit…
Unscheduled SWTOR Maintenance July 26th
BioWare announced an unscheduled maintenance on the official forums today. Community News posted: We will be performing an unscheduled maintenance this Thursday, July 26th, 2012. After the maintenance, there will not be a new patch to download. The servers and SWTOR.com will be down for four hours on Thursday, July 26th, 2012 from 2AM CDT (12AM PDT/3AM EDT/8AM BST/9AM CEST/5PM AEST) until 6AM CDT (4AM PDT/7AM EDT/12PM BST/1PM CEST/9PM AEST). All game servers will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours, but could be extended.
Alloy Inc Pursuing Copyright on SWTOR Videos
A company by the name of Alloy Inc is claiming copyright on SWTOR videos, particularly those shared on YouTube and as such, creating a stir in the SWTOR community. Several users have posted in the forums and on Reddit about these claims of copyright ownership and there was no official word from EA/BioWare on the matter. This leads to speculation and even more speculation which has some players believing it’s all a scam and others who think the company is trying to shut down user videos of SWTOR. Why would EA do this when the players are promoting the game for them (and for free)? Well again, it leads to loads of questions but we also have to remember that if Alloy Inc is under legal contract from EA to handle marketing for sites like YouTube, then they may have reason to claim copyright on the videos since they can…
Anonymous BioWare Employee Rumor- Are Fans to Blame?
By now, you’ve probably heard about the anonymous BioWare employee rumor circulating the Internet yesterday. We saw it but I wanted to dig up some more information before bringing it to you. As a journalist, I’m not one for spreading rumors with no basis to the source. This article on Bettor.com claimed that an anonymous BioWare employee blamed the fans for the current state of SWTOR. The author, Gordon Miles says: A Bioware Austin employee has lashed out at fans regarding the state of the recently launched massively multiplayer online (MMO) Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) according to GamerTechTv. SWTOR or ‘Tortanic’ is being called one of the biggest blunders of this generation as Electronic Arts (EA) has thrown away over $500 million of development and marketing funds for the project and will now have to make it free to play because of the rapidly decreasing player count. The…
Leveling Guide 1 through 400 for Armormech
The patterns in this leveling guide for Armormech crafts are only available from an Armormech Trainer. After you complete a step, train for the next level by visiting the Armormech Crew Skill Trainer. The Smuggler, Bounty Hunter, Imperial Agent and the Trooper are the classes that can use Armormech crafts armor. The primary gathering skill used in Armormech is Scavenging using Compunds and Scavenged Metals. The secondary mission skills needed are Underworld Trading and Underworld Investigation and they allow players to collect items needed to make blue and purple gear. When choosing the secondary mission skill you’ll need to use, you have to take into consideration the class that will be using the armor you craft. Underworld Investigation is used for armor for the Imperial Agent and the Smuggler. Underworld Trading is used to make armor for the Bounty Hunter and the Trooper. Reverse engineering is an option you can…
Build of Master Satele Shan’s Lightsaber
How would you like to own Master Satele Shan’s lightsaber? To me that sounds like just about the coolest thing on the planet! I’m not the only one who thinks so because this guy made one for his wife. That kind of sets a new precedent for husband-to-wife gifts, don’t ya think? It wasn’t an easy task but boy is it awesome! If you’re not familiar with Sloth Furnace, he creates some amazing pieces of functional art/props. These lightsabers don’t just look pretty- they are exact replicas and they work with lights and sounds. On average, he says it takes him 6 months from conception to completion on one of these. He details the entire process in photo with captions of how he created this fantastic lightsaber, down to each and every detail. It’s pretty fantastic. It’s all from the minds and the hands of Bradley W. Lewis, video game developer…
SWTOR Scapper Smuggler PvP Guide- Understanding Stealth
If you’ve played a stealth character in other MMOs, expect things to be a little different in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The main difference is in the way you engage your target and in the stealth detection. At first, it may seem a little awkward and harder but once you understand the concept, you’ll probably enjoy the gameplay even more, especially if you like a real challenge. Engaging Your Target The way you engage your target is much different from what you’re probably used to. When you engage a single target and they die, you can restealth immediately as long as you have not attacked another target and no one else has attacked you. In this scenario, you’re considered “out of combat” when you send out the deadly blow. However, if you engage someone else or if anyone else engages you before the cool down period is up, you’re…
SWTOR Community Management Team Hit with Layoffs
I brought you the story of layoffs at BioWare Austin yesterday. This was the second set of layoffs for the company this year and it seemed to come as a big shock, even to those affected. What would you do if you showed up for work one day like usual and were told to pack it up and go home? In this economy, there are probably many readers who can relate. Layoffs were first confirmed by developer Ben Marshall, who wrote the following in a status update on Twitter (the update has since been deleted): “Anyone know of a web developer position open in the Austin, TX area? Second round of layoffs at BioWare Austin and my name was on the list…” We also told you just recently about Georg Zoeller’s departure from the company. BioWare has yet to a announce replacement for Vogel as executive producer. Also announced today: EA to…
New Layoffs at BioWare and Rich Vogel is Gone, Too
It seems there has now been another big rash of layoffs at BioWare Austin, which truly saddens me. These are members of our community here in Austin and hard working people just like those of us who enjoy playing the games that they help to create. A big portion of the community team was laid off: https://twitter.com/VivoEstSomnio https://twitter.com/PhoenixRed https://twitter.com/MarkDouville https://twitter.com/JustinJKruger https://twitter.com/PariahLoki https://twitter.com/_Chanell_ https://twitter.com/Dalmarus One Redditor who goes by the name ‘pandas_mom’ says her family is being affected by these layoffs: My husband was one of the ones that got laid off today. Bioware moved us in April with our 3 kids from DC, we put every penny we had down on a fixer upper house, and now this. I am scheduled for 3 major surgeries on Friday, my husband just had a slew of MRI/MRA tests Friday to look for a suspected brain tumor, and our middle son who has…