Over on Massively, we found an excellent read on why The Old Republic must succeed, but also why it must fail. It’s a Soapbox column with some very valid points about TOR. It begins: “Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week’s writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you’re afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. So there’s a game coming out called Star Wars: The Old Republic. Maybe you’ve heard about it once or twice. It’s no secret that a lot of people are excited to see what BioWare’s long-anticipated title will do once it’s finally released. The title has had a huge amount of time and money poured into its production, extensive voice acting, countless demos and revelations and debates… all without having yet amassed a substantial playerbase. What happens…
James Arnold Taylor’s One Man Show
James Arnold Taylor is an amazing voice impersonator and voice-over actor who has a long and talented career. You can take a look at the “Talking to Myself” video he did (Obi-Wan & Beyond“.) when performing at Disney’s Star Wars Weekends 2011, to see for yourself just how talented he is. It’s amazing how he can be the voice of so many well-known characters and sound so different. If you’re not familiar with the name James Taylor, you’re sure to recognize many of the voices he portrays. Throughout his career, he was the voice of many favorite cartoon characters such as Fred Flintstone and Johnny Test but his talent stretches far beyond cartoons. He is the voice you hear on many commercials and video games and you might not even know it. He is the voice of the famous Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. One of the most well known…
PvP – Trooper gameplay
TotalBiscuit uploaded a Trooper gameplay video, showing some nice PVP action from this years Gamescom. I can be totally enthralled by anything as long as TB is commentating, whether it be sports, video games, or peanut butter jar opening. Also some very interesting points on immersion. I frequently got kind of bored when fighting in other rpg games, where you just hit attack, maybe do some skill attacks, but it’s just basically watching attack animation for a little bit. There’s so much going on in SWTOR, and you can either find cover or move to a better position, instead of just sit there and watch animations. Absolutely love this game already. While the Trooper was being played well for the most part, I still kept yelling at my TV, ‘Stop moving into melee range you moron!”
Interview with SWTOR Lead Designer Emanuel Lusinchi
Here is an interview with one of the designers we don’t here from that often. Emanuel is awesome in the interview! He straight up answers the questions pretty honestly… I’ve never heard anyone answer the way he did (“well that’s marketing” and then explaining what he means… amazing!) I thought the questions were quite good also actually. If you can’t get past the presentation of them (keep in mind it wasn’t the interviewers mother tongue and he apparently translated them on the fly)
More Star Wars Blu-Ray Content Revealed
With the September 12th UK release date creeping upon us quickly, we have some more details of what will be included as Extra material in the most anticipated blu-ray release of the past few years. We already had a vague idea of what the nine disc spectacular would include, but now Star Wars Aficionado and TheForce.Net have cleared away some of the mystery by listing some of the features in further detail, the lovely clever devils that they are. First up is the list of Extras according to TFN, which has apparently been confirmed by Lucasfilm’s Chris Argyropoulos as “accurate but incomplete.” Here goes: DISC SEVEN – PREQUEL TRILOGY Episode I Archives Fly-Through Naboo: Interviews: Naboo Overview / Liam Neeson Interview Deleted/Extended Scenes: Trash-Talking Droids / The Battle Is Over / Anakin’s Return The Collection: 360° Turnarounds / Video Commentaries Concept Art Gallery Tatooine: Interviews: Tatooine Overview / Rick McCallum…
SWTOR Weekly Video News – Gamescom, Eternity Vault, Guild Testing and More!
Awall from FTW Broadcasting has moved over to the You Tube Network called TGN. He has been pumping out some of the best SWTOR videos out there and is not going to stop (thank you sir). He has a new You Tube “Show” that you can subscribe to catch his SWTOR videos moving forward. In this week’s SWTOR Weekly News Video Awall covers: Hutball Trailer and Polls Guild Testing and Details Etnernity Vault Trailer and Gameplay Limited Copies of SWTOR
Greg Zeschuk Interview and Q&A with the Docs
Gamescom is over, but new interviews are still popping up all over the internet. Here is an interview with BioWare co founder Greg Zeschuk, and below is the Q&A session with the Docs in HD. The interview with Mr. Zeschuk also has some ingame content, all witch I believe have been showed before, but still nice.
The Guild Sphere: Warmadden
A new week has begun, and a new guild is answering our questions. This time Warmadden, a progression PvE focused Sith guild, took the time to answer some questions about them self. Enjoy! Where did your guilds name come from? Warmadden is a combination of War and Madden, or War Crazed. The name was first thought of years ago and was actually the name of one of my toons in EQ. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild? Active, active, active lol. There is literally not a time that you can make a thread on our forums and not have it replied to within a few minutes, if not seconds. We are a true community of friends, while few of us ever knew each other before Warmadden. We are a progression guild that believes that are members have lives outside of a game. How did your…
Star Wars Shirts That Will Bring You To the Dark Side
This is a Guest post by Matt Johnson. Matt lives in the Tampa area and runs an indie clothing line called Seventh.Ink Shirts and Apparel. Seventh.Ink has designs ranging from humorous to pop culture to illustrative, leaving something in there for everyone. It’s no surprise that I’m a huge Star Wars fan. Ever since I was little I have collected Star Wars memorabilia including action figures, books, cards, and artwork. Like most artistic Star Wars fans, I’ve always looked for a great way to tie art and my love of Star Wars together. This is where Seventh.Ink comes into frame. Running an indie clothing line gives me a chance to really be creative in a field that has plenty of room for new ideas. Although spoofing Star Wars shirts is not a new idea, I find that making new connections between my brand and one of the best film franchises…
Gabe Amatangelo Interview
Swtor.eu did an interview with Gabe Amatangelo at this years Gamescom. The website is normaly in french but they did this interview in English ( A French man interviewing a German guy in English – what do you know). The two main highlights of the interview is that we can expect Mechanics to prevent ganking lower levels, and Daily quests on Ilum in SWTOR. 6 dailys on a frozen daily planet. I guess we can call it cool grinding…. Mechanic to prevent ganking lower levels that they’re not ready to talk about? Hm, I’m skeptical. With Bioware’s reasoning on their death system (“It’s not fun … “”) I’m a little worried they’re listening to people whine about it not being fun getting killed by a higher levels in PvP. Warzones already level bolster (which is fine, IMO). Personally, I would never overly harass lower levels (I’m too nice). But showing…
Friday Update: Huttball Video
In yesterdays Friday Update Dallas Dickinson gave us a look at Huttball, the new warzone variety that takes place in SWTOR on a map called “The Pit”. It functions much like a game of capture the flag, the “Huttball” being placed in the middle and carried over the opposing team’s line to score points. This type of PVP is going to be really interesting if you ask me. I can imagine Entire guilds and specs will come about JUST for Huttball. “In a time of turmoil where two mighty armies ready themselves, many citizens of both the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire have begun to look for an escape from the uncertainty of impending war. For many people on Nar Shaddaa this escape can be found in the gladiatorial confines of ‘The Pit,’ where two teams compete in a violent game for the amusement of Giradda the Hutt and thousands of spectators!”” Here…
The New Guy
A young man enters a crowded LAN center. The room goes silent like an old western. He walks over to the front desk. “Three hours of HoN and one hour of World of Warcraft.” He shows his ID and debit card as he smiles at the cashier. Noise resumes in the LAN center. “Who’s the new guy?” A man from a PC in ear shot. His friend stares at him as though he had just insulted the Queen of England. – “That’s Nigel. Princemarth, Princezexu, Conflux. He’s Internet royalty!” The man who had asked the question didn’t seem impressed. “So what’s he done?” – “What’s he done?! Try cleared all of the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King content. As a kid he was an amazing PKer in Runescape, he helped create one of the best guilds in the Ragnarok Online community. Professional teams for Team Fortress 2…
PAX Will Have a “Big Reveal” Regarding Companions
We’re all excited to hear all of the SWTOR news coming out of PAX this year but MMORPG.com has given us one more reason to get excited about PAX. In an interview with Rich Vogel, we learn some great things about the game as well as some things most of us already new. Still, it was a solid interview that’s worth the time to read over. The real big news came at the very end with a reference to a “big reveal” about companions at PAX. From the article by Carolyn Koh: “Companion characters will not be able to die,” said Rich, “we try not to let players do things that will hurt themselves. Companions can, however, be hurt, be captured, and not be able to adventure with your for a while.” There was more to the Companion system that I asked about, but they were saving it for a…
Stephen Reid Clarifies Details on Operations
Stehen Reid posted in the official forums to clarify some issues and details about Operations. “To clear some of this up… First of all, loot containers. After every boss is defeated during a normal difficulty Operation, every player will receive a loot container. Inside that container each player gets a chance for loot specific to them, or commendations that can be exchanged for other loot. So to be specific (because this seems to be confused by PC Gamer) that happens after each boss is defeated in a normal difficulty Operation, and not just once at the end of the Op. (There are multiple bosses in Operation: Eternity Vault for example.) Second, Gabe was misquoted a bit on the lockout thing (it’s a bit loud here on the show floor!). There are lockouts, but they are designed to be ‘flexible’. This means, for example, if I have killed Boss 1 in…
Giant Official Gamescom Coverage Links on the SWTOR Forums
If you want to keep up with anything and everything from Gamescom, then this official list on the forums will help you do just that. All you have to do is visit the link and then scroll down to the relevant day to find the links to information and coverage fresh from Gamescom so you can stay fully updated on everything. It even features old info from Gamescom 2009 and 2010. For 2011 you will find dates, schedules, timelines and of course, links to coverage of the events each day. Some Friday highlights include: Written:Huttball Preview: Here SWTOR Preview: Here Interview with Emmanuel Lusinchi (Written in German, Video in English): Here In Depth look at Huttball: Here Video:The Doctors Interview: (Starts around 4:20) Here Cliff Notes from it: – Not shipping with a built in Chat program. – Beta Weekends in the fall. – Guild Phase 2 is coming very…
Full Alderaan PVP Match on Video
This 20+ minute video from THE-FORCE.EU features a full Alderaan PVP match, mostly from the point-of-view of gunslinger as well as some views of Eternity Vault. You will see a whole PVP Warzone playthrough on Alderaan, Trailer for Huttaball, Some Footage from the Bioware Booth and some more gameplay from the Eternity Vault.
SWTOR Will have a Limited Release, Not Just Pre Orders
The wait is over! … Or is it? If you plan on playing SWTOR you should buy ASAP because the news is out that there will be a limited release, and not just on preorders. When the news was first announced by EA that pre-orders were ready, gamers scrambled to ensure they would get one of several limited Collector’s Edition copies of the game. But now the news seems to be the same for any edition you want to buy and not just for pre-orders. Game Informer reports that there will be limited copies of all versions of the game- both digital and physical. Just how many copies will that be? Well, your guess is as good as ours because they’re keeping the number secret. The report says: “The representative said that EA has an exact number set for how many copies will be sold before the publisher turns off…
First SWTOR Guild already Blacklisted
A couple of days ago, David Bass (@doctordake) tweeted, “I’ve blacklisted our first guild. Congratulations, dumbass.” Once we got over the giggles, we wanted to see who it was. Who wouldn’t be interested in the details of the first guild blacklisted from SWTOR? The speculation about who they were and what they did was hilarious (TP’d Bass’ house, naming violations, etc) but the real reason was likely less interesting. There was almost instantly a thread about it on the forums but of course, Bass himself wasn’t going to provide details via Twitter (saying only “they know who they are”) so we had to do some digging. Seeing as how the “you jelly” submission is gone from my r/swtor front page, we guessed it was that guild and a Reddit post called “don’t be jelly” posted a screenshot of the invite email that guilds receive when they are invited to the…
SWTOR Patch Notes 8/16/2011
Yesterday a user over on Reddit posted SWTOR Patch Notes (with possible spoilers) for readers to enjoy. It’s pretty interesting and something you won’t see unless you’re in the beta (or have a friend inside) but it gives us some good little tidbits about the game. The post reads as follows: Welcome to Star Wars: The Old RepublicEvent 8/18: Space CombatOn Thursday at 7:00PM CDT, head to your personal starship and try out Space Combat! Watch for in-game Sever Admin messages during the event for further instructions. We’re looking forward to your Space Combat feedback on the Testing Forums! Notice: This server is now a PvP Server.Weekly Focus This week, we’re looking for specific feedback regarding: Companion roles and UI Space CombatPatch Notes 8/16/2011 General Several server and area stability improvements have been implemented. Classes and Combat Alacrity rating now properly decreases activation and channeling times. This is reflected on…
Old Republic Looks As Interesting As a Naboo Trade Blockade (Kotaku Opinion Piece)
Not every Star Wars fan is a SWTOR fan. Here is an interesting but fun review of SWTOR from Kotaku. It’s one person’s opinion, of course, but as we always say, the reviews of others are really helpful when forming your own opinions and whether you agree or not, there are good points to learn from it. Luke Plunkett from Kotaku is not as impressed with SWTOR as some of us and spends nearly 2,000 words explaining why. Here are some highlights: “BioWare is going out of its way to tell the world how Old Republic will revolutionise the MMO. That line was thrown out at least twice during my showing. But this game? What I saw today isn’t doing it for me. It’s telling me that it’s revolutionising the genre, but all I’m seeing is just another MMO.” Okay, fair enough. But how much does he really know about…
James Ohlen Interview
Ten Ton Hammer posts a really interesting interview with James Ohlen that’s worth the read if you have yet to see it. Reuben Waters of Ten Ton Hammer has the opportunity to sit down with Ohlen, creative director for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and ask him some questions about the game. Highlights include companions, grouping with other players, banking and money systems, PVP and chat functions and the mail system as well as whether or not you can check your mail while on your ships. There’s a lot of great info in here, some of which I don’t remember ever hearing being covered in another interview or article to date, making it well worth the time to read it over. Here’s a snippet I found interesting as I had been wondering about this myself: Ten Ton Hammer: That brings up a very good point in terms of how things…
25 mins of the Sith Warrior starting zone from Totalbiscuit
This fun video gives us Steven Reid playing a Sith Warrior in the origin world for a full, exciting 25 minutes. If you have yet to play the game for yourself, this is one of the best gameplay videos to come out so far that will really show you what it’s like to play for yourself. “Totalbiscuit is joined by Stephen Reid (@rockjaw) for an exclusive look at Star Wars The Old Republic and the Sith Warrior starting zone, ft. in-game audio feed, full voice acting and double-British action. Filmed off-screen at Gamescom 2011 with full permission from Bioware.”
The Guild Sphere: The SinFul
It’s Thursday, and time for the second guild feature of the week. This time we Finnish Sith guild “SinFul” took the time answer our questions. Where did your guilds name come from? The SinFul is trying to describe the Darkside players as being sinful beings. Also as a Finnish guild, the capital S comes from Suomi and the capital F from Finland. So we sometimes use the abbreviation TSF. Can you give me a quick 2-3 sentence description of your guild? Finnish only guild that aims to experience the whole scale of SWTOR which means both PvE and PvP end-game content. Our main principle is having fun as a guild. Because of that we will maintain the fun and positive atmosphere. That way we believe we can achieve moderate or even hardcore achievements in the game content progression. How did your guild come about? Our leaders were part of a…
Georg Zoeller Clarifies Cross-Faction Communication
Georg “Observer” Zoeller, Principal Lead Combat Designer for SWTOR pops into the forums to clarify some things about cross-faction communication. There has been a lot of talk and debate over the issue and as with all things that get over-talked online, there was some confusion. Zoeller says: “Guys, Let’s back up for a minute and clarify what’s going on here. Nothing has changed since San Diego Comic Con. As discussed at SDCC, the decision was made to separate the general chat channels by faction. However, this decision ONLY affects the planet-wide chat channels such as “General Chat.” If you’re standing next to another player (local chat), you can talk to them regardless of what faction you’re part of. The only thing we removed, as already mentioned at Comic-Con, was the ability to communicate with the opposing faction across the entirety of a planet to avoid the issues (like griefing, abuse,…