What does the future hold for Bioware? They have made a name for themselves in the world of RPGs with titles like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Star Wars. What might the future hold for them and the genre? The game environments are changing dramatically and companies that want to keep up will need to be able to move with the progression. Can BioWare continue their trend of successful RPGs? In speaking to Sarcastic Gamer during the Eurogamer 2011 Expo, BioWare boss Ray Muzyka said they intend to “broaden the genre.” These days, there are different approaches to take and more options available. “The vision for us is a broadening of the genre. We see a lot of other genres incorporating features of RPGs and in turn RPGs are incorporating features of other genres. There are more action elements, there’s different ways to tell a story, there’s different ways to…
Not Everyone Loves SWTOR
Not everyone who has tried SWTOR loves it. In fact, some people just don’t like it at all. Others point out some positives but their overall impressions are well… not that impressed. The latter would be the case of Lewis B. of Tap Repeatedly, who basically calls it a WoW clone. What do you think? Is he on to something or just full of crap? Lewis posts his impressions on the Tap Repeatedly site on Wednesday and while he had a couple of positives to add, he seemed mostly disappointed with the game. Let’s start by explaining that he played it at the Eurogamer Expo demo and his playtime was limited. He explains: The first was that the booth was surprisingly small, with Alienware laptops setup in two circles just in front of the over 18’s area. Queues were predictably long and so the demo time was quite limited (around fifteen minutes)….
Character Creation videos
Beta Footage have uploaded a few Character Creation videos showing Rattataki, Chiss and Mirialan An interesting view if your a groing to play one of these species, but also an interesting watch if you have been following the development of the game graphics. Chiss Random Character Creation: Mirialan Jedi Consular Creation: Rattataki Random Character Creation:
Daniel Erickson interview with a French fan site
The French guild Chimaera uploaded a video with Daniel Erickson from his French community visit last week. Here’s the recap for you: Daniel Erickson walked onto the stage with two Storm Troopers (fun!) to talk about Star Wars the Old Republic. He started by listing off many achievements they have reached with this game including one of the Guinness Book of World Records for “Biggest Voiceover Production” in entertainment history. With accomplishments like that, there’s no wonder why so many fans are amped up for this game’s release in December. The release date for Europe is December 22, 2011. Erickson was quoted as saying “The biggest story RPG in history”, which gives me a lot of hope for the depth of the lore that we will find when we boot up our computers and run Star Wars: The Old Republic for the first time, and hopefully every time thereafter. In…
All SWTOR beta invites have gone out
Stephen Reid tweeted this announcement today, “All invites for SWTOR Beta Testing Weekend 2 have now been sent.” He added that further info could be found on the official forums. The announcement has brought about mixed emotions. There are many who are disappointed as they didn’t get an invite to beta testing and this news seems to mean that they will not get their chance- at least not now. While we are counting down the weeks until the game’s official release, many people are hoping to get to play that week of beta. With Weekend 2 invites out, many people are flocking to the boards hoping to find new information released by weekend 1 players. It’s currently unclear whether or not there will be future weekends of beta play testing available or how many more, if any, players will get to experience the game before December. Reid previously announced that…
Facebook Image of The Week #32
It’s Wednesday again and time for new screenshot on the official BioWare Facebook page. This time BioWare chooses to recycle an older screenshot ( or at least the settings) that has been around for a while. Stille a nice screenshot. A lone Jedi Knight does battle against a disciple of the dark side. Remember this image??
More beta testing weekends upcoming
If you haven’t had a chance to beta test SWTOR yet, you will be happy about the news posted on the official SWTOR website today. There are more beta weekends coming for October. The news post explains: “Beta Testing Weekends for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ began earlier this month and during our first weekend, we invited more players into testing than we’ve ever invited before in a single weekend! Now we’re getting ready for another Beta Testing Weekend, starting on October 7th and finishing on October 10th. With increased invite numbers from the first weekend, even more of you will get to play The Old Republic.” It also says not to worry if you still don’t get in this batch because more testing opportunities will be coming before the launch of the game. So there are still a couple of months left to have an opportunity for game testing…
Bioware sent out their Official apology email
The great Bioware email snafu of last week had some SWTORnerds raging that they were tricked and teased- being made to believe they gotinto a game testing/beta when it was really just a goof-up in the email office. So what can BioWare do to make the wrong right? Well, say “sorry”of course. Which they have done, in the form of an official email. The apology email read: “OnSeptember 29th, you received two emails regarding the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Game Testing Program.These emails were sent to you by mistake. This was due to an internal error andnot the result of hacking or malware. Please be assured that no personalinformation was compromised. We are sorry for any confusion this may havecaused. Please note that receipt of these e-mails does not affect your chancesto be invited to test the game at a later date. Between now and launch, we will be conducting…
Stand Up To Cancer’s Star Wars Parody
It might have been around for a while now, but this video from Stand Up To Cancer is both funny and very worth, thanks to its championing of a massively important cause, in the shape of cancer awareness, so it’s still worthy of note now. Featuring the cause’s Celebrity Ambassadors – Aziz Ansari, Zach Galifianakis, Bill Hader, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Jaime King, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg and Emma Stone – along with Star Wars actor, and all round shouty bad-ass Samuel L. Jackson – the video recreates classic Star Wars scenes with a comic spin. My personal favourite moment is Bill Hader’s impression of a Taun Taun. Chillingly realistic… Stand Up To Cancer’s mission statement reads as follows, and needless to say, it is a cause that deserves attention, and as much investment as everyone can spare: Stand Up To Cancer is a new initiative created to accelerate groundbreaking…
French and German SWTOR Testing Is Now in Action
It is now official- the remaining launch locations for SWTOR are now getting in on the game testing action. As of today, the official SWTOR_FR and SWTOR_DE twitter accounts, a batch of invitations have been sent out to those users who have applied for the beta. This means if you live in these zones and applied to be considered for the beta testing phases of SWTOR, you might have gotten or will be getting your beta invite soon. According to Lars Malcharek, further invitations to EU game testing will be sent out to German and French speaking players only. He also said, “In the coming weeks we will invite more players to the testing.” This is great news for the people who are waiting and hoping to get an invite. This news also means that SWTOR is yet another step closer to finally reaching launch. While they have already said…
BioWare Founders say “We make the decisions, not EA”
Many fans are critical of BioWare when it comes to certain inadequacies that blame on Electronic Arts. But the founders have a stern message for those doubters- they are still calling the shots on the games they make. “I always chuckle because we are EA, we’re BioWare — we’re both, and we still have huge autonomy in terms of what we do,” co-founder Greg Zeschuk recently told Eurogamer. BioWare founders say they make the decisions, not parent company, EA. They appear passionate about the fact that they still have a direct hand in the games that they are creating. There are some things that have changed, however. “Way, way back, years ago, we didn’t even consider those [commercial elements], we just made stuff,” Zeschuk explains. Point well taken. Back then, the commercial elements also did not matter so much. Video games were not such big business. The market was smaller…
NY Comic Con: Star Wars Guests & Events
A few weeks ago we reported that BioWare will have two Panels At NYCC’11. Now – Thanks to theforce.net the full program of this years big event in the big apple has been revealed. Star Wars Guests Mark Hamill – do you really need an explanation? Ashley Eckstein – Ashoka Tano voice on TCW Peter Mayhew – OT and PT Chewbacca Katie Cook – SW artist Spencer Brinkerhoff – SW artist More artist, comic and entertainment guests can be viewed here and many are also noted in the event schedule below. Star Wars Events and Panels Star Wars: The Blueprints by J.W. Rinzler Date: Friday, October 14 10:45 am – 11:45 am Location: 1A03 Description: New York Times best-selling author and Lucasfilm Executive Editor J.W. Rinzler (author of The Making of Star Wars) discusses his latest book–about the unsung heroes of the Star Wars movies: the production designers, set dressers,…
A Light in the Darkness Completed
Great news Star Wars fans: The Star Wars fan film we told you about last year is now completed and available for your viewing online. This is an excellent film that I enjoyed very much. I don’t want to give away spoilers but you really need to see the full thing for yourself. I’m not the only one who was impressed. Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge 2011 – A Light in the Darkness (Part One) won two awards from Atom.com in 2011 for “Best Fan Fiction” and “Audience Choice.” Renovation Film Festival – Best Fan Film 2011 This film was created for the love of filmmaking and also for the love of Star Wars. It was a volunteer effort by cast and crew and is an excellent high quality, low budget film that faced many challenges to create but came out on top. It’s well worth your time to see…
First look at the SWTOR Collector’s Edition Store
Edit: This is just in from a beta tester Aparently the elevators take you to the VIP section: We aren’t allowed up the elevator at the moment. When you step on the elevator it boots you off immediately saying that you need a VIP card to access the elevator. No one has actually been able to go up inside of the VIP area that I’m aware of. I’m a CE owner and beta tester and I’m not allowed up there. The area around the elevators is NOT the VIP area, that is just a general social hub/cantina area in the middle of the new space station hub. Anyone is allowed in that area, just not up the elevators to the penthouse room. This video was mailed to us last night. It shows the area that will be available for people who ordered the Special edition or the collectors edition of SWTOR….
Video: Totalbiscuit – Level 14 Jedi Sentinel PVP – Huttball
At the Eurogamer Expo 2011, TotalBiscuit was able to play a game of Huttball using the Jedi Sentinel class, a heavy melee damage dealer. As always “The Angry Brit” has some awesome commentary good for a laugh. The video is filmed at 25fps, 1080i resolution, so it’s really decent footage. TotalBiscuit has commented a few times about the game, here is one of the most interesting points: There is a scaling issue, far as I can tell, due to how PvP works. At lower levels, you have too much health and not enough damage. Bioware is aware of it and they’re tweaking it, but it’s particularly frustrating with melee classes. If I’m chopping you up with a lightsabre, you should probably die. With the Trooper I can stand at range mowing fools down with area of effect sprays, grenades and such, plus I can take a beating up close and do massive…
Intergalactic Intel: Choosing a Role
What should I play? Jedi ConsularGrowing up I never knew what I wanted to be. And as a twenty-two-year-old college senior I kind of have an idea. Choosing your role in a community is very difficult. You want to be able to support yourself and live happily while still being a good person. The same thing can be said about any game with a class system. Do you want to be the guy who charges in head first? Or do you want to be the one executing enemies? Or maybe you’re better off on the side lines supporting your allies? In MMO’s we have always run the classes by something known as the Holy Trinity; tanks, healers, and DPS. Tanks: people whose goal are to take damage and keep enemies off of their allies. Healers: people who support and make sure that their allies stay alive throughout the encounter. DPS…
Darth Vader Is a Yes Man
Ever noticed how many times Darth Vader says No? Obviously it’s one more time than it used to be, thanks to George Lucas’ broken brain that inspires him to make precisely the opposite creative decisions that everyone wants him to, but even without that edited in addition, it’s a lot. Hardly the most cheerful of fellows, thanks probably to uniform chaffing, Vader has infamously made a name for himself with a fairly closed mind: it’s the Dark Side or nothing for this particular Sith. But now, thanks to the editing skills of the inimitable OneMinuteGalactica (who we love around these parts), Darth has decided to change his ways, and follow in the footsteps of British writer Danny Wallace, and rubber-faced acting talent Jim Carey by saying Yes a lot more. Okay so it’s hugely silly, but I couldn’t help but smile at it.
EA Gives Office Tour of New BioWare Facility in Ireland
Earlier this week wetold you about the new BioWare facility in Galway, Ireland. There has been anew addition to the story with an office tour of the facility. So if you’rewondering just what the new facility looks like, here’s your chance to find out. In the roughly 2 ½ minutevideo, we get a tourof the new facility. The tour begins with the hallway which features somereally awesome artwork like the Imperial Agent ship. The “art wall” serves asan inspirational schematic because right across the hall is where they hold their2-week training courses to anyone new who joins the team in Galway. There is an awesome “relaxing”game room for the creative, innovative and hard-working BioWare team. Can I geta pool table in my office please? Then we see the SWTORglobal customer contact center. Call this the customer service center battlestation. Working in a call center wouldn’t be so bad if this…
The Old Republic Preview from PCGamer
“The Old Republic is a monster. I can’t wait to play more.” That pretty much sums up the 1880+ word preview experience from PCGamer.com. These previews are the best things for those who have not been able to play the game for themselves yet. It gives us all a deeper look into SWTOR, what it is about, what others think about it and what we have to look forward to. Even when you think you’ve heard it all, along comes a new preview or review with info or perspective you didn’t know before. This is a great review because it does more than just recap the things we already know (although it does a little bit of that, too). It also tells us what makes this game different or unique from others on the market. When you’re looking to invest in a game like SWTOR, especially one with a monthly…
Don’t be Banned from Game Testing- Know the Rules of Beta
As more people are getting into game testing now and game testing is open to European players as well, we will hear about more people in game testing. While it is a violation to screen capture or talk about certain aspects of the game, there will probably be friends who talk and share certain pieces of info. But you better be careful about what you share and how. If you get in, you may find yourself so excited, you want to shout it to the rooftops. Be aware, however, that while you can tell the world you are game testing, you cannot tell them about what you are doing in testing or reveal things about the game itself. The SWTOR beta/game testing is the most strict I have ever even heard of and I have beta’d TONS of games over the years. You can’t use Vent, you must be 18…
Friday Update: Galaxy Map
This weeks update brings us a new updates to the SWTOR Holonet — Galaxy Maps. Now you have the chance to explore the five regions of known space in a standard or 3d view. There you can find information on all notable planets as well as a video for each. Here are the 17 planets and six starships you can learn about in the new Galaxy Map: Coreward Worlds: Alderaan, Corellia, Coruscant, Ord Mantell, Balmorra, Tython Seat of the Empire: Dromund Kaas, Korriban, Taris Hutt Space: Hutta, Nar Shaddaa, Quesh, Voss Distant Outer Rim: Belsavis, Hoth, Tatooine Unknown Regions: Illum Starships: XS Freighter, Defender, BT-7 Thunderclap, X70-B Phantom, D5-Mantis, FURY Official Devtracker Post: The Star Wars™ galaxy is massive and you will be able to visit numerous worlds during your travels in the The Old Republic™. To give you an early taste of what the experience will be, we’ve added…
SWTOR Game Tester Experience Email
“This is not the email you are looking for. Move along…” Feel like you were just a victim of Jedi mind tricks? If you got the very confusing email asking you if you enjoyed your tester experience in SWTOR and if you would like to fill out a survey to share your opinions- don’t panic! First, you are not alone. Second, you are not invited to the beta with this email. Sorry to burst your bubble… When the email came in to me last night, my cell phone, Facebook and email blew up with friends asking me if I got it, too and if I knew what it was about. (When did I become the authority on such matters?) So I headed straight over to Twitter and asked Stephen Reid (that’s his job, right?) but he was in flight coming home to Austin so it took a little while for…
Star Wars: Revan Novel Spoilers- an Unofficial Review
We found an interesting write-up about the Revan novel that contains spoilers of the storyline for SWTOR and the novel. In a post on Spacebattles.com, user “Sparris” posts, “After getting and reading an uncorrected proof of this story, pretty sure most people will think it sucks.” He goes on to give about 600 words or so of a summary of the novel that portrays it in a less-than-interesting light. However, we also have to keep in mind that this is one person’s opinion and a rough summary at that and we don’t actually see any more than a pic of the alleged cover of the proof of the novel. SPOILERS INCOMING: The poster says: There are three main characters throughout: Revan, the Exile (now named Meetra Surik,) and a Sith Lord in the Emperor’s service named Darth Scourge. Ok, fair enough. What’s next? Revan’s story is pretty simple. His dreams…
Blizzard Revealing Project Titan Next Month? – Gloves are off!
Update: In a comment to IGN, a Blizzard representative stated that its ‘unannounced MMO’ will not be talked about at this year’s BlizzCon The rumor mill is out and it looks like the long awaited “casual MMO” from Blizzard code named Titan may be revealed next month at BlizzCon 2011. Pressures from the release date announcement of SWTOR and the delay of Diablo 3 may have led Blizzard to push up the release of news about their new secret project. At least one analyst believes the news might be coming sooner than we thought. “If they are holding any juicy details, it’s going to be announced at BlizzCon,” M2 Research senior analyst Billy Pidgeon said. “”The big news is probably going to be a Diablo 3 date and a possible new announcement about one or more new properties.”” Previous reports have revealed rumors about this potential project. They tell us…