star-wars-the-old-republic posts

SWTOR's Sin City has been announced: Nar Shaddaa [updated]

by Larry Everett Jul 30th 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Lore, New titles, Star Wars: The Old Republic

What happens in Nar Shaddaa stays in Nar Shaddaa. How many unique locations can you fit in one one game? Well, according to the developers at BioWare, one more. Star Wars: The Old Republic is now up to 14 planets with the addition of this center for the criminal underworld: Nar Shaddaa. This city planet is the evil twin to Coruscant in that it is completely covered in city sprawl. Obi Wan called Mos Eisley a wretched hive of scum and villainy -- which is true -- but when compared to Nar Shaddaa, it is saintly.

Besides being the apex destitute, this is neutral ground for the current war; the Republic and Empire are equally hated. The only war that matters on Nar Shaddaa is the one between the two mob-like corporate giants. On this moon of Hutta, the Hutt Cartel finds its greatest -- and possibly its only -- rival in all the galaxy: the Exchange. Where will you fit in this futuristic turf war? Maybe your place is on the side that pays the most credits. But whichever side you choose, neither can be trusted, so trust only in yourself.

It's not just business as usual on Nar Shaddaa. When planning your Star Wars vacation, be sure to stop by the literal world of entertainment.

[Update: Follow the after the break to see a short video of the city-world]

Tags: BioWare, coruscant, EA, ea-bioware, Electronic-Arts, hutt-cartel, hutta, hutts, LucasArts, nar-shaddaa, planet, planets, Star-Wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, the-Exchange, tor, what-happens-in-nar-shaddaa-stays-in-nar-shaddaa

Hyperspace Beacon: The bald and the blue

by Larry Everett Jul 26th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Lore, New titles, Opinion, Races, Roleplaying, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon

The Hyperspace Beacon is a weekly guide and discussion by Larry Everett about the yet-to-be-released game Star Wars: The Old Republic.

As some of you may be aware, I love the whole idea of roleplaying and storytelling in an MMO setting. Also -- which should be more than evident -- I am a huge fan of the Star Wars franchise. As a roleplayer, I always like the idea of being able to do whatever I want in an MMO -- truly creating my own story. I like it when a developer gives me the blocks, and I stack them the way I want to. I build my castle the way I envision it. So you can imagine when I heard there were class restrictions on races in Star Wars: The Old Republic, I said (and I quote), "LOLOMGWTGDairyQueen-LOLOMGBBtheQ!™" I thought it was a really, really bad idea. How was I going to make my pink, cybernetic, Nightsister Wookiee? Then I realized that particular Wookiee would totally be unimmersing, which is exactly what I despise about a good chunk of MMOs.

So after dealing with my temporary bout with insanity, I realized immersion was more important than my desire to play with blocks, but I still wanted to make these characters the best they could be. Now it was time to find out as much as I could about the species I will be able to play. Follow me after the break to see what I found.

™ LOLOMGWTGDairyQueen-LOLOMGBBtheQ! is the trademarked (not really) catch phrase of Morte of the Oxhorn Brand Machimina

Tags: aayla-secura, Aidus, Asajj-Ventress, Bib-fortuna, BioWare, bounty-hunter, chiss, clone-wars, Count-dooku, Csilla, Darth-krayt, EA, ea-bioware, Electronic-Arts, featured, Galactic-Empire, high-human-culture, human-high-culture, Jabba-the-hutt, lekku, LucasArts, mission-vao, oola, orn-free-taa, pink-cybernetic-nightsister-wookiee, Rattataki, ryloth, sevrance-tann, smuggler, Star-Wars, star-wars-legacy, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, the-old-republic, Thrawn, Timothy-Zahn, tor, twi-lek

SDCC 2010: A SWTOR Managing Editor who doesn't solve problems by killing all the kittens

by Larry Everett Jul 26th 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Interviews, New titles, Comics, Massively Event Coverage, Star Wars: The Old Republic

We all know that know that story is the fourth pillar for The Old Republic. We also know BioWare has the reputation for having some of the most compelling stories in the gaming industry. In fact, story is written into its mission statement: "BioWare's vision is to deliver the best story-driven games in the world." So it is no surprise at all that when the team came to Comic-Con this past weekend, it consisted of mostly writers.

Massively's Dan O'Halloran nabbed the Managing Editor on SWTOR, Alexander Freed, for a conversation. Freed has scribed much of the story and dialogue for this epic MMO, as well as been the writer for the exciting adventures of Teneb Kel in The Blood of the Empire webcomic.

Continue on after the break to catch Alexander Freed's insight into what the different types of quests will be available in SWTOR, what compelling choices players have to make, and what it takes to write for a project of this magnitude.

Tags: alexander-freed, BioWare, blood-of-the-empire, EA, ea-bioware, eden-studios, Electronic-Arts, featured, guardians-of-order, imperial-agent, interview, john-ostrander, killing-kittens, lucas-arts, sdcc-2010, sith, Star-Wars, star-wars-legacy, star-wars-the-old-republic, story, story-telling, storytelling, swtor, the-old-republic, TOR, webcomic, white-wolf, writer, writing

SOE and Blur release DCUO story trailer

by Jef Reahard Jul 24th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Trailers, Video, New titles, News items, DC Universe Online

Sony Online Entertainment has just released a lengthy story trailer for its forthcoming DC Universe Online superhero MMORPG. Debuting early Saturday morning on GameTrailers, the massive video clocks in at over six minutes in length and features nearly all of the DC Comics notables, including Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Wonder Woman, the Joker, and others.

The hyper-violent cinematic is the latest creation of Blur Studio, also known for its Star Wars: The Old Republic teaser work. The cinematic sets up DCUO's overarching story, in which the heroes team up with Lex Luthor to stop Brainiac and his latest threat to humanity.

You can view the trailer, appropriately named "Who Do You Trust," after the cut or at GameTrailers.

Tags: batman, blur, brainiac, cgi, cinematic, dc-comics, dc-universe, dc-universe-online, dcuo, flash, green-lantern, joker, soe, Sony-Online-Entertainment, star-wars-the-old-republic, superman, swtor, the-old-republic, trailer, video, who-do-you-trust, wonder-woman

Space combat has been confirmed for SWTOR! [Updated]

by Larry Everett Jul 23rd 2010 at 5:15PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, New titles, Rumors, Star Wars: The Old Republic

While at Comic-Con, the fan site Mos Eisley Radio tweeted a rumor that there will be space combat in SWTOR. Space combat has been strongly suspected since the announcement of player ships at E3, but there was nothing to confirm our suspicions. According to the folks at Mos Eisley Radio, James Ohlen said that each ship will be customizable, and, of course, that the player will be able to use this ship in space combat.

Not moments later, this rumor was completely confirmed by SWTOR's community manager, Sean Dahlberg, on the official forum. He confesses in his announcement, "While we didn't quite make the numbers [of Facebook and Twitter followers], we definitely saw how excited the community is about this and how everyone came together. After all of that, there's no way we could hold back with our special reveal at Comic-Con!" So it seems the devs did not punish the fans for not reaching the social media goal after all. He reveals that further details will be available in the October edition of PC Gamer.

[Thank you, Mos Eisley Radio, for keeping your ears open!]

[Editor's Note: Brooks from Mos Eisley Radio just mailed us to say that all of his information is coming from Darth Hater's liveblog, so props to Darth Hater, and thanks for letting us know, Brooks! ~Sera]

Tags: BioWare, breaking, comic-con, comic-con-2010, EA, ea-bioware, Electronic-Arts, james-ohlen, LucasArts, Mos-Eisley-Radio, OMG-pew-pew-in-space, PC-gamer, sean-dahlberg, space-combat, space-ship, space-ships, Star-Wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, tor

Cats invade Star Wars: The Old Republic in this week's Fan Friday

by Larry Everett Jul 23rd 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fan art, New titles, Wallpapers, Star Wars: The Old Republic

The community of Star Wars: The Old Republic did not quite make the Twitter and Facebook goals, so the developers decided to punish us by announcing another species that we will not be able to play. (Just kidding, it wasn't punishment.) In addition to spotlighting fan art and video, this week's Fan Friday column mentions Cathar as being another species players of SWTOR will bump into on their travels across the galaxy. The feline species from the planet bearing the same name was first mentioned by name in Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith, but gamers are probably more familiar with it from the other BioWare game, Knights of the Old Republic. Although the devs did not say where or how the players will run into this highly anticipated species, fans are hoping for a Cathar companion character.

As mentioned above, the social media goal was not reached. Even so, the community team did give the fans some gifts. The Fan Site Kit has been updated with more digital goodies. New avatars, screenshots, and biographical images can now grace your SWTOR fan site. Not to mention, the team has included six new desktop wallpaper images straight from the exciting "Hope" trailer.

Be sure to check out all of this and the amazing new fan art on the official SWTOR site.

Tags: BioWare, CatGirl, catgirls, Cathar, dark-lords-of-the-Sith, desktop-wallpaper, EA, ea-bioware, Electronic-Arts, facebook, fan-friday, fan-site, fan-site-kit, fan-sites, Knights-of-the-Old-Republic, KOTOR, LucasArts, Star-Wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, Tales-of-the-Jedi, the-old-republic, tor, trailer, twitter, wallpaper

The Daily Grind: Want realism with that?

by Jef Reahard Jul 22nd 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Economy, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Recently, a buddy and I were discussing the merits of MMORPG realism while waiting in the ironically named fast food drive-thru line. I'm all about the "realistic" social and economic possibilities inherent in old-school Ultima Online, while he digs the accessibility and pick-up-and-play nature of more recent titles such as World of Warcraft and, presumably, The Old Republic. About the only thing we could agree on is that there's room for both in the massive genre.

Realism is highly subjective. For example, a fantasy title full of wizard fire, dragons, and goblins (Ultima Online) is, in my mind, more realistic than a non-combat sandbox based on "real life" like A Tale in the Desert.

What say you, Massively readers? Would you like some realism with your MMORPGs, and if so, what exactly do you mean by that?

Tags: a-tale-in-the-desert, atitd, opinion, realism, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, tdg, the-daily-grind, tor, ultima, Ultima-Online, UO, World-of-Warcraft, wow

Hyperspace Beacon: We hope this never makes it into SWTOR, but, knowing our luck, it probably will

by Larry Everett Jul 19th 2010 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Lore, New titles, Opinion, Humor, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon

The Hyperspace Beacon is a weekly guide and discussion by Larry Everett about the yet-to-be-released game Star Wars: The Old Republic.

In a world where speculation runs rampant, it seems everyone has his own ideas of what is going to be in Star Wars: The Old Republic. From swoop races to appearance tabs, we have heard them all, but, to be quite frank, it is very unlikely that most of these speculated items will ever make it into the final release of this highly anticipated game. Also, some of the ideas are so far removed from anything that would make sense in the game, that I have a hard time wrapping my wee-little brain around them. I won't name any here because I still want people to read the column, but if your friend's head twitches when you tell him your wicked-cool idea, then it probably will not make it in the game.

In this week's column, I want to go the other direction. Sometimes producers, writers, and game designers will pitch ideas that cause uncontrollable ticks for the listeners, but, for some unknown reason, the design launches anyway. Every once in a while, I would like to turn our attention to some of these kooky concepts in series I like to call: We hope this never makes it into SWTOR, but, knowing our luck, it probably will -- or WHTNMIISWTORBKOLIPW, for short.

Click "Read more" to read about the first couple of things I am praying do not find their way into the game.

Tags: appearance-tab, awdrystra-pina, BioWare, Bioware-MMO, chris-field, Dathomir, Death-troopers, EA, ea-bioware, Electronic-Arts, ewok, Ewok-festival-of-love, ewoks, featured, george-lucas, Gorax, gundark, humor, life-day, LucasArts, monty-python, Return-of-the-jedi, sean-dahlberg, speculation, Star-Wars, star-wars-galaxies, star-wars-the-old-republic, SWG, swoop-races, SWTOR, the-old-republic, TOR, trooper-class, Vandar, WHTNMIISWTORBKOLIPW, wookiee-life-day

Music, audio, webcomics and more: It is super-reveal Friday for SWTOR's fans

by Larry Everett Jul 16th 2010 at 1:30PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, Events, real-world, Lore, New titles, Previews, Star Wars: The Old Republic

With Comic*Con less than a week away, BioWare is passionately preparing for the stellar event. And to tease us into wanting more, the development team threw us a gigantic Fan Friday for Star Wars: The Old Republic. What secrets were revealed in the newest issue of the Blood of the Empire? What can be divulged in a Developer's Blog about audio? How do we discover this secret the SWTOR Community Manager wants to tell us? And music in an MMO? Is that important? The Developer's Dispatch wants to show us.

All of these and other important questions will be answered if you click the little "Read more" button below.

Tags: audio, BioWare, blood-of-the-empire, developer-blog, developer-dispatch, EA, ea-bioware, Electronic-Arts, exal-kressh, facebook, forums, Jesse-Harlin, LucasArts, Maggot, music, orion-kellogg, sean-dahlberg, secrets, Star-Wars, star-wars-mmo, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, teneb-kel, the-old-republic, twitter, webcomic

BioWare "aggressively" exploring new MMO development

by Rubi Bayer Jul 14th 2010 at 3:30PM

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items

BioWare's ongoing success in the games industry is something that can't be argued, but the company is anxious to keep things moving forward.

BioWare co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk spoke at the Develop Conference this morning, and had some very interesting things to say about what the minds behind BioWare have been up to. They explored some options that didn't work so well, and some other options that they were very pleased with: "We learned the hard way. The learning there was you have to iterate. The team went back and made some more games that we never released that were way better. Large scale MMOs. Small scale MMOs. We're going to continue to do triple-A console, but we're also going to be exploring pretty aggressively."

The fact that BioWare has created both large and small scale MMOs that were "way better," combined with the company's plans to continue exploring beyond the range of consoles raises the possibility of great things to come for MMO fans. From the sound of things, BioWare plans to remain one for the MMO community to keep an eye on well past the launch of SWTOR.

Tags: bioware, develop-conference, greg-zeschuk, large-scale-mmo, small-scale-mmo, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor

Hyperspace Beacon: Loyal to their cause

by Larry Everett Jul 12th 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Lore, New titles, Opinion, Star Wars Galaxies, Roleplaying, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon

The Hyperspace Beacon is a weekly guide and discussion by Larry Everett about the yet-to-be-released game Star Wars: The Old Republic.

As some of you may know, I love roleplaying in MMOs. Most of the MMOs I've played have had RPG tagged at the end. Even though it's not required to roleplay to enjoy an MMORPG, immersion is compounded when you do, therefore fun is compounded, too. In the Star Wars universe, I could not help but wrap myself in lore when I played a soldier or agent of the Galactic Empire. From line and formation to order and procedure -- all of this was in service to His Majesty, the Emperor. Of all the characters I made over my seven years of Star Wars Galaxies, my Imperial characters were the most purpose-driven.

When Bioware announced the trooper class for Star Wars: The Old Republic, many players asked who would want to play a clone. There's no personality there, no motivation or character development, right? I disagree very strongly. In fact, I will go so far as to say I believe there is only one binding factor between soldier types: loyalty. Even then there are different types of loyalties and different motivations behind an individual character's loyalties.

Step past the break and watch as I contrast the loyalty of famous factions of existing Star Wars soldiers and compare them to the trooper and agent classes of SWTOR.

Tags: agent, agent-class, BioWare, bioware-swtor, boba-fett, Carida, clone, clone-trooper, clone-wars, compnor, EA, Electronic-Arts, Empire, featured, george-lucas, Human, Imperial, imperial-intelligence, imperial-security-bureau, inquisitor, inquisitorius, Isard, isb, Jango-fett, Kamino, loyalty, LucasArts, roleplay, roleplayer, RolePlaying, Star-Wars, star-wars-galaxies, star-wars-the-old-republic, Stormtrooper, stormtroopers, swtor, tor, trooper, trooper-class

Bioware's Erickson: TOR is your dream game

by Jef Reahard Jul 10th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Bioware developer and lead storyteller Daniel Erickson has the writer's gift of gab and consequently has dropped some juicy quotes regarding The Old Republic (and MMORPGs in general) over the last few months. Today he continues the tradition in a portion of a new interview conducted by CVG. Erickson doesn't shy away from calling the forthcoming Star Wars MMO the best thing since sliced bantha bread, and he also has a few choice words for folks who aren't exactly thrilled with the RPG-maker's story, story, and more story mantra.

"If you are a hardcore, traditional Bioware fan - a Mass Effect or especially Dragon [Age] fan - this is the dream game. It is an RPG forever. It is an RPG that at the speed and pace that I play RPGs as a gamer, five or ten hours a week, I could never finish this game," Erickson says. He doesn't stop there though. "If the idea of story and context really turns you off, if what you want is [just the] complete Disneyland experience, where you run on the rides and repeat the stuff, this probably isn't your favorite MMO," he says.

Check out the original post at CVG. And if you're lucky enough to be attending the San Diego Comic Con later this month, you can even check out Bioware's SWTOR offerings in person; they are set to include a panel on multiplayer story, among others.

Tags: bioware, Bioware-MMO, daniel-erickson, lore, sdcc, sdcc-2010, star-wars-the-old-republic, story, swtor, tor

The official, official SWTOR game testing announcement

by Larry Everett Jul 9th 2010 at 3:30PM

Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, New titles, Star Wars: The Old Republic

You've heard the rumors, you've seen the forum posts, but now it's official. Star Wars: The Old Republic has started game testing. SWTOR's Community Manager Sean Dahlberg made the announcement for this week's Fan Friday feature. Dahlberg expressed the developer's purpose in game testing in a post made on the official SWTOR forums: "Being able to have the community help us test The Old Republic is very important and valuable to the development process. The Game Testing Program allows community members to give us quality feedback so we can make adjustments and have a highly effective service and entertaining experience when we do launch."

The announcement briefly explains that testing phases will be conducted, in small focused groups from North America, then later expanding to other areas. Sorry, Aussies and Euros, you will have to wait. If you are selected, an email will come to the address you entered in your swtor.com profile. Although we have not heard it from an official source, we have been told by others who are currently testing that just because you were chosen to be a part of one testing group does not mean you will be a part of the next testing group. So jump on that email as soon as you get it.

If for some silly reason you have yet to sign up for testing, hop over to swtor.com now and do it right away!

[Minor Update: Bioware is calling these sessions Game Testing not beta testing. We have updated the article to reflect that.]

Tags: beta, beta-testing, BioWare, closed-beta, EA, Electronic-Arts, LucasArts, sean-dahlberg, Star-Wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, swtor-beta, swtor-fan-friday, testing, why-am-I-not-in-beta

Star Wars: The Old Republic impresses fans with combat AI

by Larry Everett Jul 8th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, PvE, Hands-on, Star Wars: The Old Republic

The staff at Bioware gave many players the chance to run through Star Wars: The Old Republic while the game was still in its Alpha stage. Even Massively detailed our hands-on session as with the smuggler class, although at E3 all classes, save for Jedi classes, were available for people to try out. Darth Hater's staff was lucky enough to play each class and gave an in-depth review of quest functions, grouping, dialogue, AI, and combat.

Although Darth Hater's reporters say that most of the functions are quite impressive, they seemed most astounded by the versatility and awareness of the artificial intelligence of mobs. Sado, a reporter for Darth Hater, comments about the aggro system in the article, "[NPCs] watched you, but as long as you passed by and did not get too close to them or their buddies there was no issue. On the other hand, the roaming Separatist sentry droids would aggro from quite the distance and give chase." Presumably, if you do actually cross the attack threshold, there are a variety of reactions depending on the type of mob. Sado continues a bit later in the article, "The [NPC] Separatist's actions varied once engaged in battle. It seemed as if it often depended on what cover was around them at the time to get behind. If there was no cover and I was near them, one of them would often run away to go get more of their friends." In contrast he says the creature mobs have a larger attack radius and do not take cover.

Much more was discussed in the full article which is available on DarthHater.com, but where do you stand? Does the relative power of the artificial intelligence system influence your choice in MMOs?

Tags: aggro, artificial-intelligence, BioWare, cover-system, darth-hater, EA, Electronic-Arts, hands-on, sado, Star-Wars, star-wars-mmo, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, swtor-hands-on

Hyperspace Beacon: Blaster at my side

by Larry Everett Jul 5th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Lore, New titles, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon

The Hyperspace Beacon is a weekly guide and discussion by ~~Larry Everett~~ Han Solo about the yet-to-be-released game Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Hey, kids, the name's Han Solo. I've been asked to step in here because I know a thing or two about smuggling. I know many of you are lookin' to jump into this line of work, and I'm going to tell you right now: it ain't gonna be easy. You gotta live by your guts, kids. You hav'ta be smooth, and you can't let crazy green Rodians get under your skin. In fact, if a Rodian does come lookin' for you, I suggest you shoot him first. It'll save you some trouble in the long run, but don't forget to pay for the mess.

Maybe I should start with some of the greatest smugglers out there. That should help detour you from the insanity of this profession. Although none of 'em is as good as I am, Lando Calrissian, Dash Rendar, and even an old smuggler named Hylo Visz made their marks on history. Their lives were wrought with risky maneuvers, near-misses, and some damned good luck. So I guess if you think you've got what it takes, keep reading -- I'll meet you after the break.

[Thank you to Lois van Baarle for letting us use her artwork for the main banner. You can see more of her work at Loish.net.]

Tags: bespin, BioWare, boba-fett, Chewbacca, cloud-city, dash-rendar, EA, han-solo, hoth, Hydian-way, hylo-visz, lando-calrissian, lore, lucas-arts, LucasArts, mandalorian, millenium-falcon, nerf-herder, outrider, role-play, role-playing, roleplay, RolePlaying, sabacc, smuggle, smuggled, smuggler, smugglers, smugglers-rule, smuggling, Star-Wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, story, storytelling, swtor

Massively Features

Events Calendar

Name	Date
GenCon Indy	Aug 5-8, 2010
SOE Fan Faire	Aug 5-8, 2010
Xsyon Prelude Launch	Aug 15, 2010
GamesCom Expo	Aug 18-22, 2010
Earthrise Launch	Q3 2010
Dragon*Con	Sep 3-6, 2010
PAX Prime	Sep 3-5, 2010
Final Fantasy XIV Launch	Sep 30, 2010
GDC Online	Oct 5-8, 2010
LEGO Universe Launch	Oct 26, 2010
DCUO Launch	Nov 2, 2010

Massively Staff

Name	Title
Shawn Schuster	Editor-in-Chief
Seraphina Brennan	Senior Editor
Brianna Royce	West Coast Editor
Dan O'Halloran	Features Coordinator
Brendan Drain	Contributing Editor
Eliot Lefebvre	Contributing Editor
Jef Reahard	Contributing Editor
Justin Olivetti	Contributing Editor
Krystalle Voecks	Contributing Editor
Rubi Bayer	Contributing Editor
Tateru Nino	Contributing Editor
Beau Hindman	Columnist
Edward Marshall	Columnist
Greg Waller	Columnist
Jeremy Stratton	Columnist
Larry Everett	Columnist
MJ Guthrie	Columnist
Patrick Mackey	Columnist
Ryan Greene	Columnist
Lisa Poisso	Columnist