each class will be able to get a total of 5 companions through out the game. Each companion will be able to do different types of damage or play different roles in a group. Each companion will also give different bonuses to your crew skills.
Star Wars is an expansive universe. You' will be playing the game, you will be fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Here we make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind Star Wars: the old republic
With more people playing SWTOR beta and game testing now, we are seeing more info coming out about it. While these players are still bound to the NDA, it is to be expected that some general knowledge will come out about the game.
If you will be playing SWTOR with a group of friends, it makes sense to form up your own guild so you can all play together and take advantage of any guild perks and benefits right from the start. Here is how to
Datacrons are part of the codex system in Star Wars The Old Republic. They are placed throughout the worlds for the players to find, usually in hard to reach places. As a reward for this exploration ingenuity, if a player successfully reachs and interacts with certain datacrons, one of the player's character stats will be increased -- permanently. Here is the complete list of Datacrons, rrdered by codex entry #
A lot of people are wondering, what is the level cap to the SWTOR?
Before people believed that the level cap could be between 36 to 71 in Star Wars: The old republic but, stated by Damion Schubert the level cap is indeed level 50. Who knows if that will be the case when the game is actually is released.
I guess it will leave much for expansions and it will be easier to reach that level, I'm guessing and I will play through a lot more character.
And here is Gabe talking about multiple level 50 PvP:
I’ve never had much time for Benny Hinn and most of the TBN crowd, and their distortions of the word of God. And perhaps this video is a little tasteless, but man, it’s really funny. This brother can really wield a light saber.
For some reason Benny Hinn is more convincing as a Sith lord then a new age preacher.
A miracle of modern medical technology, the bacta tank is a mainstay in both Imperial and Republic medical wards. The containment cylinder fills with rejuvenating bacta fluid that is capable of healing even the most grievous wounds. The translucent red fluid nurtures the growth of a bacterial medium that seeks out traumatized tissue and promotes regeneration and growth to rapidly heal wounds with minimal or no scarring. Medical droids closely monitor the patient, who is suspended in the fluid.
Bacta could be administered through disposable bacta patches, injection, or by submersion in a bacta tank. Bacta was also used in portable lotion form. The method of administration depended on the severity of the wounds. Bacta must be applied in a solution of clear synthetic fluid which mimics the body's own vital fluids.
Bacta had a smell that was described as 'sickly-sweet'; immersion in a bacta tank could leave one with the taste and smell of bacta for weeks afterwards, and even bacta patches left such residue (although presumably less strong and shorter lasting).
In terms of in-universe chronology, the earliest mention of bacta occurred in the Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith audio drama. It was also mentioned (later in galactic history) in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 3: Commencement, Part 3. However, the author, John Jackson Miller, admits that this may be a continuity error, and proposed a possible retcon, asserting that Marn Hierogryph was referring to some other thing coincidentally named bacta in the comic. The issue was resolved with a reference in The Essential Atlas to bacta's discovery about a century before the Tales of the Jedi series.
Kolto tanks were the predecessor to bacta tanks, and of course were later replaced in favor of bacta, which explains the similarity in appearance between the two.
KOTOR Kolto tanks
History
Bacta was invented by the Vratix on the planet Thyferra around the year 4000 BBY. The Vratix were willing to share the technology, but the substance could only be made on their homeworld where the needed resources were abundant. Struggles on Thyferra were often caused by disputes over control of bacta, often between the two main producers of bacta, the Zaltin Corporation and the Xucphra Corporation, or over the bacta the planet produced. Before its obsolescence, kolto was used along with bacta for medical treatments. Bacta later outsold kolto and eventually replaced it altogether.
Yes. That's Darth Maul
Potency
Bacta was often produced in various strengths and potencies based on many different factors. A batch's quality depended upon how the various ingredients were blended together, the site where the ingredients were produced, and the Vratix vrachen that oversaw the blending. As Thyferra was the source of almost all of the bacta in the galaxy while it was produced under the Imperial-backed monopoly of Xucphra and Zaltin, it was also the source of the strongest bacta. Such high-quality product was generally not exported; if it was, it was sold at incredibly high prices. Export-quality bacta was, typically, nowhere near as effective, meaning that more grievous injuries required longer exposure in order to be properly treated and healed.
The guys over at RedRancor has put together an awesome Trooper gameplay compilation video. All material has been around in the Star Wars: The old republic community for a while but it's always nice to watch some trooper action.
I finally have the Fourth installation of the Gameplay Compilation
series completed. This time, I've chosen to display the Trooper in
action, with selected gameplay footage from all officially released
video thus far in pre-beta.
Tulak Hord was a Dark Lord of the Sith that ruled sometime during the early Sith Empire, after the use of lightsabers became prevalent. Hord wore a claustrophobic black mask, making him a fear-inspiring sight.
There is some disagreement as to when precisely Tulak Hord lived. Kreia seems to imply he was an ancient Dark Lord from the first Sith Empire, yet she also calls him a lightsaber master, and it is widely believed by fans that the Sith did not use such weapons until they re-established contact with the Jedi and the Republic after the Great Hyperspace War.
It is unknown how Hord died, but his power was so considerable that a burial chamber was built in his honor in the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban. In later years, both Revan and the Jedi Exile visited his tomb, though the entrance was blocked and the tomb looted by the time the Exile arrived.
It was said of Hord that he was the greatest of the ancient lightsaber masters of the Sith. He was said to have been buried with a holocron containing his teachings on lightsaber dueling.
Inside the burial chamber, Revan discovered three lightsaber crystals: a violet crystal, a firkrann crystal, and a bondar crystal. These crystals may have been used by Tulak Hord in his lightsaber.
Jorak Uln went into hiding inside the tomb after he was deposed by Uthar Wynn as the Headmaster of the Sith Academy on Korriban. When Revan ventured into the tomb during his quest to find the Star Forge, he was captured by the former headmaster. There Revan and his companions joined forces with Mekel and defeated Jorak.
Even though Funcom Games Inc. has produced many award-winning video games, top-level executive Miguel Caron said the company has had trouble translating those accolades into dollars.
"We're really known for the quality of our games," said Caron, the CEO of Funcom Canada, from the company's studio on Ste. Catherine St. W., at the corner of Bishop St. "Commercially, we haven't seen the correlation of that quality."
Caron said while its 2008 massively multiplayer online game Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures received many accolades, including a Grammy Award for its music, the company was disappointed with how it performed compared with the leader in the world of MMO.
"We thought it could have taken a chunk out of World of Warcraft," Caron said.
World of Warcraft has grossed nearly $2 billion in revenue, compared with Conan, which has brought in less than one-10th that number.
That's why Funcom Games Canada Inc. has partnered with Electronic Arts Inc. to co-publish its next massively multiplayer game, The Secret World.
Due out in the next few months, The Secret World is a AAA game produced on a large budget over four years in Funcom's Montreal studio.
"They're the best partner we can have to market this game," Caron said of Electronic Arts. "EA knows a lot more about marketing than we do, and they're a lot better at it than we are. This way, we can just focus on creating the best possible game."
Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, EA is investing hundreds of millions into promotion and distribution, and will earn a percentage of total sales.
The Montreal studio is the Oslo-based Funcom's largest, and is its fastest-growing. The studio was founded less than two years ago with just 20 people, and has grown to 138. Caron said the company plans to add several more employees by the summer.
The Complete, official version of Ryan vs. Brandon 2 is done. I must say it's entertaining. This was an awesome way to spend a few minutes before seeing the clone wars tonight.
The video has great production value; the swordplay was very creative and the FXs seemed professional to my untrained eyes. The actors/fighters were pretty good and their performance was, IMO superior to many fights we've seen in the prequels notably.
Only downside I can notice is that, like with the SW sextology, most of the strikes do not target the opponent but are simply made so that they can be acrobatically parried. There's not efficiency to it. It's one of the most annoying things about the prequels (that Anakin vs. Obiwan swinging contest gif that was on reddit a couple of weeks ago illustrates this perfectly).
If the prequels were to be remade I wish the swordplay would be more deadly and technical. In that regard, this video was great in terms of elbow strikes and kicking.
The interview has been broken up into two Q&A Sessions were Mr. Bass answers questions about him self and the community in the first part, and answers more concrete gaming related questions in part two.
Here is a snip:
TORWars:
Will we see content rolled out in regular patches as well as in boxed expansions?
David Bass:
We will absolutely roll out patches on a regular basis post-launch. It’s extremely important that we get feedback from players from the first moment they get their hands on the game, as that will help drive future patches once we release.
BioWare has never been shy about adding elaborate stories to their games and Star Wars: The Old Republic may be their most ambitious attempt to date. GameSpot recently got the chance to speak with World Designer Jesse Sky about the game's Flashpoint gameplay. The interview features a look at the fortress mission on Taral V, which a full group of four players can play through in about 90 minutes. Along the way, players can discover things that may change the way that their adventure plays out.
In the below video we’re introduced to the flashpoint Taral V, a Republic-based adventure in which you will be infiltrating an Empire facility to steal a specialized computer:
Jesse summarize the contents of Taral V like this:
The emperor is holding a powerful Jedi captive in his personal prison–a massive space station at the heart of the Maelstrom Nebula. Only a Gree computer is capable of navigating the treacherous cosmic storms that surround the prison. Fortunately, the Republic has learned that the Empire guards just such a device on the remote jungle world of Taral V.
Further down in the Q&A, Jesse comments on the flashpoint:
Taral V can be played in roughly 90 minutes, which is about the average length for a Flashpoint. A completionist play-through would probably take more than two hours. If you have any stealthy friends, you might find them particularly useful on this mission.
[Update: The official SWTOR website has added a new section for Flashpoints including four other instances besides Taral V. We also updated the video so it does not have the three minutes of nothing at the end.]
Our friend OneMinuteGalactica is at it again. This time he has gone and farted up Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. If you enjoy this you are juvenile and immature. If you hate this you are pompous and need to loosen up a little bit.
As rude and as crude as fart videos are…. who doesnt love the superb matching of the faces with the sounds of disgusting bubble farts?
The death penalty of various MMORPGs is a topic of interest to many people - I've seen a number of thought provoking posts, and what is a more cheerful topic than death of your virtual avatar.
Yesterday Damien Schubert made a great post about this issue on the official Star Wars: the old republic forums.
In summary, the death penalty of a game is a powerful tool which strongly influences how much risk the players are willing to take. Theoretically you could make a game with permadeath, where when your character dies, you need to roll a new one. Obviously in such a game you would see people not even daring to attack to bunny without a group. Given how many fights you do in a MMORPG, even a 1 in 1000 chance to die would be far too dangerous. In games with corpse runs and lots of xp loss, people will play safe, and avoid getting too many monsters between them and their bind point, which makes dungeon design difficult. At the modern level of death penalty people are willing to be "heroic", as failure isn't too harshly punished. But you can't possibly make the death penalty much lighter than now, because then people would just play foolhardy and not care about dying at all, which then becomes silly.
Damien Schuberts post:
I see a lot of posts saying things like 'death should have sting', or 'players should feel death'. We agree! However that being said, miscalibrating your death penalties can very insidiously destroy your game from the inside out.
We don't want people to ignore the cost of death, but at the same time, we also don't want players to avoid taking chances. We want them to take risks. We want them to try wacky new strategies, and exotic new builds. We want them to wonder if maybe they can solo that boss creature. In the name of creating a sense of fear and risk, overly harsh death penalties can inadvertently make people stop taking them.
To wit: too harsh death penalties can create grinding. If death sucks too much, players will stop taking on higher level creatures or even equal level creatures, and instead only take on creatures that are lower level than them - even though those creatures carry far less reward, the fact that they offer far less risk, might make them seem safer and more efficient to the player. Of course, now the player is fighting boring, ultimately non-threatening enemies, and is being bored to death.
Harsh death penalties can disincentivize grouping. I'm sure we've all been in some pretty bad groups in our MMO playing. How likely are you to group with a healer or tank that you don't know if the penalty for failure is disastrous? How hard is it for new players to learn the skills they need to contribute to groups if other group members feel they can't risk taking on a new guy?
Harsh drop penalties (i.e. you lose all your stuff when you die) can result in players leaving their best epix in the bank all the time. Sure, you'll PROBABLY win fully decked out in ph4t purples, but what if you don't? And just like that, your epic purple lightsaber is something you only ever equip at the bank... just in case.
Harsh death penalties can create flavor of the month builds. If death isn't something disastrous, players will take risks and find new and exotic builds in the skill tree that continue to reinvent the game (and challenge the combat design team ). But if death is too harsh, more players will feel they have to go with a cookie-cutter template they found on a website, because it's just not worth the risk if your wacky idea is wrong.
Harsh death penalties can ultimately force designers to make the game easier. If it takes 10 minutes to respawn after a fight or the dungeon becomes inaccessible, for example, it dramatically limits the ability for players to repeat the fight and learn it. This forces designers to make the fight easier so that a reasonable percentage of the players can succeed.
Ultimately, we want players to play the freakin' game. We want them to group. We want them to deck out in their gear. We want them to experiment with builds. We want them to explore the nether regions of all the planets. We want to make really hard stuff for them. And we most assuredly want them to seek out challenges bigger than themselves.
Does that mean we want the game to be a cakewalk? No, we want there to be tough fights. We want there to be complex fights that might take multiple tries to get right. We want to put in challenges for groups of players that require good tactics, good teamwork and flawless execution to pull off. But I would seperate the idea of 'challenge' and 'punishment'. I would rather our challenges be gated by whether or not you have the skill, the gear, and the teamwork to succeed than whether or not you have the credits and/or time to wait out the forced downtime in between, you know, the fun part.
According to mcvuk.com, the long awaited release of Star Wars: The Old Republic is now schedule for September 2011, not Spring 2011. This is not confirmed by Bioware yet though, but looking at the current state of beta, I'm not surprised if it'a true.
Still I have to say that I am very sad that I can't get it now; well this does give me a bit more time to buy a new gaming computer for all the new specs my computer now can barely dish out. Still, I am very sad.
I am going to play the heck out of this game unlike WoW I will have hundreds of really powerful characters by the time BioWare releases something new and with that I won't have a life anymore, lol. This game is predicted that it will last as long as the rest of the decade. I'm happy for all of us, Yay!
Kick ass mashup of the Coasters song, “Down in Mexico”, set to The Empire Strikes Back. Dripping with coolness! The rhythm and timing to the imagery is awesome!
World of Warcraft is, without reason of doubt, one of the best successes on the market that, even though it has aged and should have been dead already (in theory only - because game rarely "live" more that 2 years).
But WoW is still the leader, the moneymaker, the game that drives so many people crazy - destroys marriages, makes people rich and so on. And it keeps going.
A hit MMO like that can be an huge thing for the investors on Wall Street. If a MMORPG has success, it can offer a certain degree of predictable revenue. For example, there's a certain degree to which World of Warcraft subscription revenues are a sure thing each quarter for Activision Blizzard. Electronic Arts and BioWare are well aware of the stats, and they're making sure their entrant in the genre is well prepared: EA is spending more money on the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic than any title in its 28-year history. But are EA's investors also willing to believe in the success of Star Wars: The old republic?
According to an article on Gamasutra, investors are not nessersarely supporting Electronic Arts in its biggest investment ever, Star Wars: The Old Republic. The article released today cites Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey as saying, "We believe many investors are betting against SWTOR achieving market success, provided the company's (Warhammer Online from Mythic) and industry's track record at releasing successful new MMOs." With the lack of succes with Warhammer Online, it's not rocket science to understand why some investors are restrained about investments in new MMORPGs.
The launch of Warhammer online was a huge success with more then 500.000 games sold the first week - which is impressive for any MMORPG - but soon after the subscription base was significantly lower.
If I were an investor, I would pretty well always bet against an MMO being successful. Statistically, I would win in the long run. A lot of gamers forget that investors aim to balance risk against rewards. Most MMO's are historically, demonstrably, extremely risky. Yet, Bioware is known and loved for it's past successes, and personaly I believe it is the only company that can compete against blizzard. So this will definitely be the " make or break" for the MMORPG genre.
Last week I wrote about the upcoming MMORPG - RIFT created by Trion Worlds. Back then I mentioned that I might be picking up a copy for their hard earned effort. Right now I have changed my mind though.
Watching the Yogcast 1 hour review of RIFT on Youtube I have to admit I lost all interest in the game. First of all the game looks too much like WoW. Not that there is anything wrong with World of Warcraft, but as Aion, Warhammer online, Age of Conan and other WoW clones found out - it just doesn't work. The guys in the Vcast liked how the game looks, but fancy graphics just doesn't cut it anymore. Actually Remove the graphics and give me a good old fashion MUD if the game play is good. The second reason I won't be playing Rift is the fantasy genre. I am just fed up with it. One more dragon and I'll puke!
Apparently I stand alone with this opinion though. At the end of the video, at about 13:52, the Yogcast guys talks about another unreleased MMO that he’s played but can’t talk about. His friend begins to hum the Star Wars theme when he explains that it’s basically not as good as Rift and that he’ll be picking up Rift instead.
I guess it all depends on who you ask. This SWTOR Beta tester seems to enjoy Star Wars: The old republic, and speaks fondly about it:
Keep in mind that Rift is closer to release then SWTOR, and there will be follow ups to the above SWTOR Review.
I'm not trying to force an opinion here, but I feel it's only fair that we give our own on this blog from time to time. Feel free to bash us in the comments if you disagree.
Adas was an ancient Sith warlord who lived circa 28,000 BBY, long before the exiled Dark Jedi of the Hundred Year Darkness conquered his species. He used his knowledge of the dark side of the Force to conquer and subjugate his homeworld, which he ruled as king.
Adas, in holocron form, first appeared in a brief vignette featured in the 1996 sourcebook, Tales of the Jedi Companion, written by George R. Strayton. His role and biography was later expanded in 2006's Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties, written by Abel G. Peña. In that article Adas is identified to have been a member of the Sith species, and to have had interactions with the Rakata introduced in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Adas's character would later further be used and expounded upon in 2007's Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force by Ryder Windham.
Korriban, Adas's world.
Biography
Due to the charcol-colored pigmentation of his skin, which was unusual for the red-skinned Sith, Adas was considered a chosen being, and was raised as such during his youth. As he grew older, he grew to be substantial in size, and displayed great intelligence, as well as skill in combat. He was also particularly adept in the use of Sith magic. He encased himself in a suit of ebon armor, and was armed with an oversized, alchemically forged battle-ax. Circa 28,000 BBY, Adas took his ax to his fellow Sith in a series of brutal conflicts, eventually uniting and consolidating the disparate nations of his homeworld.
In doing so, Adas became the undisputed ruler and King of Korriban. The general perception held by his people was that he would live forever, with a reign eternal. Over time, Adas was given the moniker of Sith'ari, meaning "Lord" or "Overlord." He was three hundred years old when Rakatan soldiers of the Infinite Empire moved against Korriban. At first, the aliens taught King Adas how to record his essence into a device called a "holocron," in an attempt to lull the Sith ruler into their confidence. Putting his newfound knowledge to use, Adas created his own holocron. Eventually though, the Rakatans were more blatant in their actions, and attempted to conquer the Sith. Adas, refusing to tolerate their actions even in his advanced age, led his people in the vehement defence of Korriban, driving back the invaders with his massive ax. However, in securing what he hoped would be a future of freedom for his people, Adas perished.
Freedon Nadd
Legacy
Circa 4,400 BBY, Freedon Nadd first discovered Adas's holocron and used it to conquer the planet Onderon. Around 4,010 BBY, his Sith holocron was uncovered by Queen Amanoa of Onderon, who learned all the stored secrets. The holocron was then passed to her apprentice Novar to teach Sith initiates. The Gatekeeper of Adas's holocron, however, had a unique personality that it could turn down the user's request or even threaten its user. King Adas's holocron eventually found its way into House Pelagia's holocron library and subsequently liberated by Sir Nevil Tritum of the Mecrosa Order during the Great Jedi Purge. Following the Battle of Endor the order gave the holocron to Lumiya.
The Jace Hall Show Episode 11 has just lounched! (watch the movie below) This time it showcases more of the Space Combat that the last episode teased us with .
Two new pieces of information is revealed in this video: 1) You can make your ship do a barrel roll by pressing the space bar. 2) It looks like space combat has a soft auto targeting feature. I guess this makes it more user friendly but whether that's good or bad you have to decide.
I also like how Jace Hall showed a flash of Star Trek online box art when they were explaining what NOT to do in a MMORPG.
Timestamps for the Bioware scenes in the below movie are as follows:
Ever wanted to create your own SWTOR Podcast. It seems to be the hot thing these days. Personally I have a hard time going through some of the 75 min long monstrosities that seems to be really popular within the SWTOR community. That's also the main reasons we don't have our own podcast here at swtorstrategies. we do however post our favorite podcast - created by torwars - on our facebook page when they come out.
However... If you want to create your own podcast, the guys over at Mos Eisley Radio ( these guys also run a cool podcast that I recommend) has put together a video overview that covers the basics of creating a podcast. A must see if you a new at creating podcast, or you are thinking about making one.
Easily the most common question we have received since posting the first episode of Mos Eisley Radio is “How do you make the podcast?” From deciding which gear is best to planning each individual show, a lot of effort has gone into crafting the final product that goes out every couple of weeks. We’ve been podcasting in some form or another since 2007, and in that time the equipment and methods have changed drastically. I can still remember rushing out to buy my first real microphone and interface, then struggling through the process of recording everyone and making the show sound like something worth listening to.
Read the full article here and check out the first installment below:
This Friday BioWare awaits us with a new poisoned planet called Quesh. The planet looks and sounds like a Hutt holiday resort, and from the description that's not entirely wrong. Well, except that none of the Hutts involved are really happy with the whole thing, but that's probably just a Hutt thing.
In a distant corner of Hutt Space, the poisonous planet Quesh orbited untouched for centuries, until the surprising discovery of rare adrenal chemicals drew the Galactic Republic to further explore this dangerous world. Unable to process the chemicals into adrenals, however, the Republic was forced to turn to the Hutts for help.
Recently, the Sith Empire learned of this secret and lucrative operation, and swiftly came to steal the prize. The battle over this toxic treasure may be one of the most brutal ground conflicts the galaxy has ever seen, but the winner will gain access to powerful adrenals and a source of extreme wealth.
Access the HoloNet to learn more about Quesh. Check out this video to visit the poisonous world, and don’t forget to visit the media section for never-before-seen screenshots, concept art, and wallpapers showcasing the planet.
This planet caught our attention in a big way, as it has not been described in any expanded universe lore before. This means BioWare invented it for their game. But that also means that BioWare can do whatever they want with it, including blowing it up. After all it's not going to break any continuity to blow up a planet that none of the other material refers to (as it didn't exist in the universe until now).
That's not to say that they will blow it up (or do anything drastic like that). But it almost seems too good an opportunity to miss and I recall one of the developers remarking something about wanting to do such. There might be other planets that BioWare invented (or for which they otherwise can get clearance), but I think that so far Quesh is the first planet we know of in The Old Republic that's created purely for the game (Voss already existed and is known to exist in the New Republic era).
Daniel Erickson has given us more story with what is going on in the worlds we have yet to explore.
With the conquered world of Coruscant in the hands of the Empire, The Emperor has issued a treaty to The Republic. This treaty is give peace to both sides but the Empire has clear advantage of power over the Republic they could win with enough time in my opinion, but I guess even evil needs to take a holiday. It couldn't be that peace is the only agenda that this treaty has to offer in my opinion.
Daniel Erickson also says that the attack on Coruscant took years to plan making me believe that this treaty is foot hold in Republic space without taking a step back.
The empire can play dirty without causing to much suspicion, but I'm not so sure that the Republic can do that and especially not without the help of the Jedi. I say this because the Jedi can't really play that way, I mean they could but not very well and then the Empire might look like the victim.
He also mentions that the upcoming book Deceived with Darth Malgus explains more about how rotten the Sith really look. And to top it all off the Emperor has never been seen by the Republic's eye and was not at the treaty signing that he asked for.
More on this so called treaty by Daniel Erickson here
Electronic Arts has been named the leading games publisher for the second year in a row.
The firm took the biggest share of the UK games market in 2010 in terms of revenue generated from games and units sold – as it did in 2009.
Data from GfK Chart-Track revealed that Activision Blizzard and Nintendo took the second and third biggest share of the market in terms of value, while Ubisoft and Nintendo were the No.2 and No.3 publishers in terms of games sold.
2010 was also a bumper year for Microsoft as Xbox 360 took the biggest console market share. It took 35.2 per cent of the market in terms of value and 28.9 per cent of total retail game sales.
On our three year trip to a galaxy far, far away I need this. With Stephen Reid revealing another healer but has kept his lip tight on which advance class it actually is. I believe they haven't gotten that far yet, which class do you think that would make a great healing class? Whichever it is I can dig it. Stephen likes to take the philosophy of not talking too much giving the excitement of game without revealing it all.
I have recently read an article that has stated an older game called RIFT created by Trion Worlds that is at least two years old has flopped in their previous trails to envelope the MMO community. But in these recent times Trion Worlds has seemed to be working on their game really well that ones that can beta test this game have really nice things to say, but can it compete with the release of the MMO that everyone and thier pets are waiting for SWTOR.
RIFT is in the genre of D&D style, a truly fantasy like world, but can we accept a game like this with so many other games in the same world, Vanguard, LOTR, and DDO. I don't know, maybe. I can say that I am intrigued in a game that rereleased itself so it can have fighting chance in our Massive Multiplayed World. I'm picking a copy, are You?
RIFT and Star Wars are extremely similar in how they handle classes, and, not surprisingly, neither method is very original. At the core level, both games have four initial classes. Those classes can then be diversified further through specializations and the distribution of points to beef up particular abilities. If you’ve played World of Warcraft or Age of Conan, you know the drill. Star Wars takes it a small step further with the addition of light and dark side points, which can offer abilities unique to your moral alignment.
Randy Gentile started his careerer as an intern in the famous Marvel Bullpen and was able to turn that into a full-time gig in the now defunct Marvel in-house lettering department. He later transitioned to Chris Eliopoulos’ Virtual Calligraphy lettering studio.
With VC he lettered damn near every Marvel book at one time or another including Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men, Punisher, and Daredevil.
After 7 years Randy decided to make a go of it on his own without the aid of “Obi-Wan” Eliopoulos. Since then he’s begun lettering for DC Comics where his work can be seen in funny books like Batman, Detective Comics, Gotham Underground, Teen Titans and Booster Gold.
Outside of his lettering work he self-publishes an autobiographical comic called NYComix, which has been featured numerous times on the popular comic book podcasts Fanboy Radio and Comic Geek Speak. In 2010 he launched NYComix Dailies a 3-Panels-a-Day sketchbook journal strip that updates every Monday-Friday. In 2011 he’ll debut the much anticipated webcomic Dime Show Comics. He has also begun work on his first full-length graphic novel titled 4 Color Love Story.
Randy has also directed a number of mini-documentaries. His latest, “Behind The Curtain: The Making of Scarlett Takes Manhattan,” screened at New York City’s Museum of Comic and Cartoon (MoCCA) Art in 2009.
When he’s not wallowing in lettering self-pity he spends his time in Brooklyn along with his lovely artist wife, Ereisa, his beautiful daughter Fiona and their three cats Finnian, Don Fanucci and Olive.
Check out his amazing work below, and stop by his website to check out more cool art.
All pieces are mixed media combining photography, brush and ink colored in Photoshop. All pieces are available as prints.
For all the guys (and girls) who will be fighting for the Empire and who wanted to visit Coruscant - we have bad news for you.
Stephen Reid just said: Coruscant will be for Republic only. So will be Dromund for the Empire.
Georg Zoeller confirmed that you will be able to respecc within your advanced class. If you can change your AC is not sure yet. It isn’t going to be able to change your class at all.
The Jace Hall Show is a video game show hosted by Jace Hall consisting of interviews with celebrities and those involved in the video game industry. The Jace Hall Show is a production of HDFILMS and is distributed by IGN Entertainment. In this episode Jace Hall took a trip down to Austine to visit Bioware. Out of that came some strange stuff, along with some new space footage at end.
Czerka Corporation, founded as Czerka Mining and Industrial, was a galaxy-spanning business. It controlled interests on Korriban, Kashyyyk, Taris, Tatooine, Telos IV, and countless other planets.
In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II—The Sith Lords, although not the primary villain, Czerka is presented as an amoral entity; not only they are allied with the Sith but frequently use underground means for their ends, such as stealing from rivals, having financial motivation for everything, using violence and slavery, hiring mercenaries, smuggling of weapons, etc. They will often ask the player some jobs which are generally "dirty." In general, Czerka are the secondary villains, and the player follows the Czerka quests if he chooses the dark side options.
However, that doesn't mean that Czerka is a representative of the Dark Side or her employees are inherently evil: the Tatooine quests are the exception, on which planet Czerka is generally looked on more sympathetically, and their quests are not necessarily of the dark side.
A Czerka corporate enforcer during the Old Republic era
History
During the time of the Jedi Civil War, Czerka, under the leadership of Pollard Seario, allied itself with the Sith; it supplied Sith armies and the Sith supplied exclusive trade rights on conquered planets. Because of this, and earlier behavior, Czerka gained a reputation as an unethical opportunist.
Not all of Czerka's enterprises at this time were successful; indeed, many became financial disasters. An example of this was its operation of a Wookiee slave-trade which, although illegal in the Republic, was made possible by legal loopholes concerning Kashyyyk's location. This lucrative market was ended when the visiting Revan helped instigate a revolt: the Wookiees then proceeded to drive the company from the planet. Czerka sought to conceal the setback through a public announcment that it was "scaling back" regional operations but was met with skepticism; the deaths of so many personnel led to questions regarding their "reassignments" which Czerka refused to answer.
Another failed Czerka enterprise at this time was the claim it laid to the planet Tatooine. Responding to enthusiastic surveys, a number of outposts, including the town of Anchorhead, were built and mining operations begun. To its subsequent dismay, Czerka become another in a long line of companies deceived by Tatooine's inferior, quickly corroding ore. Nevertheless, such an investment had been made that officials were unwilling to close it down and sale of Tatooine ore continued. Customers and investment declined of course and trouble was also had from marauding bands of natives. Revan became involved here too when the Anchorhead administrator hired him to butcher the local sand people tribes. The amnesiac Jedi, unknown to his employer, deftly avoided this by negotiating a reduction in attacks with the tribes' chieftain. Eventually, however, Czerka did depart Tatooine, abandoning their sandcrawlers and their settlements.
Other enterprises included a work colony at Dreshdae on the ancient Sith homeworld of Korriban. Czerka supplied freighters and supplies to the local Sith school in accordance with its Sith alliance.
In the years after the war, Czerka sought to ingratiate itself with the victorious but shaken Republic through entrenching in the reconstruction effort of Telos IV. The deal was this: Czerka supplied workers and investment in return for exclusive exploitation of Telosian resources, including abandon war material found on the ground. Success, it was hoped, would bring similar contracts with other reconstructions. Czerka, however, clashed with the Ithorians running the project and the Telosian branch, in alliance with the local Exchange, acquired control of several restoration zones—all of which soon were ruined. But for the intervention of the Jedi Exile, Telos might well have followed.
Some time after the next Republic defeat of the Sith, Czerka, perhaps wanting to disassociate itself from its past, changed its name to Czerka Arms.
Czerka sold their products freely during the days of the Galactic Republic, for example Czerka Outland rifles to the Kaleesh during their war with the Huk, but signed a deal with the Galactic Empire when it rose to power. However, Czerka munitions made their way to aftermarket sales from warehouses, despite the official stance of the company. One example of this was the Czerka ZX miniature flame projector used by the bounty hunter Boba Fett.
Dern, a Czerka Corporation employee during the Old Republic era
Reputation and Ethics
Czerka, at least in its earlier days, was widely known as a successful, if unscrupulous, corporation. Illegal and unethical cash-rasing activities were tolerated, sometimes encouraged, by its sectorial officers so long as credits were uninterrupted and word did not leak out. Likewise, the politics of its customers were overlooked for the sake of markets. Also as might be expected in such a corporation, rumors spread of profiteering; that Czerka officials had allowed starvation of colonists when their high prices were not met. This distaste did not, however, compromise Czerka's income.
Czerka also engaged in an illicit slave-trade. During the Jedi Civil War, Wookiees from Kashyyyk, regarded as savage brutes because of their animalistic speech and appearance, were a prime source. Violent resistance by the Wookiees reinforced this belief. Nevertheless, negotiations with the usurper Chuundar led to a mutual aid agreement in which Czerka supplied him with weapons with which to enforce his rule and he supplied it with slaves. As previously described, this agreement was ended when Revan aligned himself with Chuundar's deposed father Freyyr and encouraged revolt. Chuundar was killed and Czerka evicted.
On Telos IV, Czerka's illicit actions came to light and caused repercussions for the whole corporation. Under the effective leadership of Jana Lorso, encroachments were made into the Ithorians under Chodo Habat's reconstruction team's sphere of influence. Alliance with the Exchange and deft exploitation of Telos' own laws enabled Lorso to steadily marginalize the Ithorians. The arrival of the Jedi Exile changed this. Befriending Chodo and his herd, she gathered information which exposed Czerka activities.
