swtor posts

Mandalorians smack down the Jedi in SWTOR's new timeline update

by Kyle Horner Jul 3rd 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Lore, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

One of the most common questions asked regarding Star Wars: The Old Republic and the easily accessible Jedi is, "Who's going to take on an army of Jedi?" We've long since had the answer tucked away here at Massively, but now BioWare has been kind enough to illustrate it for us in their latest timeline update, which features the fearsome Mandalorians.

The nomadic Mandalorians are strikingly unique and much like the Jedi and Sith in that sense they're not an actual species; yet war is their singular goal in life. Their mantra is that strength is not merely good, it is great, it brings honor through battle. Thus, it's no surprise that Mandalorians are generally opposed to the Jedi and get along better with the power hungry Sith. At this point, the Republic Trooper's coutnerpart is pretty obvious. That powerful Jedi army doesn't seem so intimidating against legions of Sith, Bounty Hunters and bred-for-war Mandies, now does it?

We highly recommend you check out the timeline video. It's not only informative, but quite entertaining if you've got even the slightest amount of interest in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Tags: bioware, ea, electronic-arts, jedi, lore, lucasarts, mandalorian, mandalorians, mandies, republic, sith, sith-empire, star-wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, timeline

The Daily Grind: What are your summer plans?

by Brooke Pilley Jun 29th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: The Daily Grind, Humor

The summer solstice occurred just over a week ago and it seems like Mother Nature finally stopped slacking and caught up with the season. This has led to a number of us talking about sweltering heatwaves and chaotic storms around the Massively office lately. They seem to be having a positive effect, which rings especially true for this northerner who is usually forced to wear a toque for over half the year.

It also got us wondering: What are your summer plans? Do they involve beaches, books, or barbecues? What about baseball, birdwatching, and beer? (PS. Never mix those last two - trust me.) There sure are a lot of summer-y things that start with the letter B. Biking, bocce, baking on a backyard blanket... Okay, that was a stretch.

One activity that doesn't start with a B is playing MMOs. What MMOs do you have on tap this summer? Will you pillage Land of the Dead in Warhammer Online? Participate in the Aion beta events? Tickle yourself pink in Free Realms? Obsess over every Star Wars: The Old Republic tidbit? Turn enemies into space junk (and then salvage that space junk) in EVE Online? Enquiring minds want to know!

Tags: aion, eve-online, free-realms, summer, swtor, war, warhammer-online

SWTOR's Comic-Con agenda

by William Dobson Jun 28th 2009 at 6:30PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, real-world, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Those attending Comic-Con 2009 will have a chance to get up close and personal with some of the developers of the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the team has now filled in the details of their visit:

Their panel will be called "Behind the Scenes: The making of Star Wars: The Old Republic", taking place in room 7AB on Friday the 24th of July, from 1:00PM to 2:00PM. This will feature the most SWTOR devs of the show.
Signed "Threat of Peace" comics will be given away from Thursday through Saturday at the Lucasfilm booth (booth #2913) and Dark Horse Comics (booth 2615).
The "Deceived" cinematic trailer will be shown at the Lucasfilm booth (booth #2913) on Saturday and Sunday, at 11am, 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm.
The Star Wars Spectacular special event, hosted by Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira from G4, will happen on Friday the 24th of July at 5:15PM to 6:15PM in Hall H. The show is about everything Star Wars, so it won't be entirely SWTOR, but it will definitely be included.

Comic-Con International goes from the 23rd of July through to the 26th. Although the show is currently sold out (and no passes will be sold at the door), you can find more information about the event at the official website.

Source

Tags: bioware, comic-con-2009, comic-con-international, dark-horse-comics, deceived, kevin-pereira, lucasfilm, olivia-munn, star-wars, star-wars-spectacular, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, threat-of-peace

Star Wars: The Old Republic video compiles all in-game footage to date

by James Egan Jun 25th 2009 at 7:00PM

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

It's probably not much an exaggeration to say that Star Wars: The Old Republic is one of the most hotly anticipated MMOs slated for release in the not-too-distant future. (At least if our traffic related to The Old Republic is any indication.) While the E3 2009 trailer was absolutely stunning the real question is, what will the actual game look like? An impressive trailer means very little if a game doesn't meet expectations.

We've seen bits and pieces of SWTOR gameplay over the past few months, but the guys over at Wandering Goblin came across a compilation of pretty much all of the released in-game footage to date. A fan named "xxHIMxx" compiled it all, and is definitely worth a look for anyone interested in the game, showing off some of the scenery and combat mechanics to be found in Star Wars: The Old Republic. We've got a video embed for you after the jump:

Source

Tags: sci-fi, star-wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, the-old-republic, video, videos, wandering-goblin, youtube

More reactions to BioWAAAGH!

by Brooke Pilley Jun 25th 2009 at 12:30PM

Filed under: MMO industry, Warhammer Online, Opinion

We've been keeping our eyes on various blogs and forums discussing yesterday's big news that Mythic and BioWare are being restructured under EA's new MMO/RPG gaming division and that Mark Jacobs is no longer working for EA. Here's a summary of what we've found so far.

Many people are under the false impression that Mythic and BioWare have merged. One of Mythic's developers made this clarification: "We're still Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Studio, as we have been. I've posted this elsewhere, but we're not 'merging.' We are still a completely separate entity within EA, just as Bioware is, simply now grouped under the same MMO/RPG grouping and reporting to one person, collectively."

Tags: biowaaagh, bioware, blizzard, brad-mcquaid, featured, jeff-hickman, joystiqfeatures, keen, mark-jacobs, mythic-entertainment, richard-garriott, rob-denton, swtor, warhammer-online, world-of-warcraft

Behind the scenes with "that SWTOR cinematic trailer"

by William Dobson Jun 24th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Sure, the Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer from E3 may have been lacking in the gameplay department, but that didn't stop it absolutely rocking the socks off anyone that saw it. The people that made that possible are from Blur Studio, specialists in CG animation for games, films, and commercials. The IGN video above features an interview with Derron Ross, an animation supervisor for the company. He explains that although you might not realize it in the final products, a ton of the highest quality game videos are from Blur -- as an example, one of the early Warhammer Online trailers that a lot of you will have seen is from them. Ross goes on to describe what it takes to create something with such dangerously high levels of awesomeness.

If this little behind-the-scenes look at the SWTOR trailer has you craving more CG goodness, Blur's website has links to a ton of their other works for your viewing pleasure.

Tags: behind-the-scenes, blur, blur-studio, cg, cg-animation, cinematics, making-of, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, trailer, videos

SWTOR's Threat of Peace concludes its first chapter

by Kyle Horner Jun 20th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Lore, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

This weekend begets the final chapter for Star Wars: The Old Republic's ongoing Threat of Peace free online webcomic. If you haven't seen many -- or any -- now would be the perfect time to read through the entire series, as the story should feel much more cohesive without being cut off every four pages.

We'd just like to mention that it would be very cool if the Sith Empire droid Espee continues to make regular appearances in forthcoming issues. We love Espee, almost solely because he's a quirky and strangely well meaning Sith Empire droid.

With the end of chapter one, we're curious to see whether future chapters continue with the same schedule and page count. It's also possible that the comic's creator seats could rotate, much like traditional comic books. Nothing has been announced or clairified yet, of course, so this is pure pie-in-the-sky pondering on our part. Still, it'd be nice if BioWare kept things fresh and experimented a little to find out what works best.

Source

Tags: bioware, droid, ea, electronic-arts, lucas-arts, star-wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, threat-of-peace

2009 online game revenue could reach $11b

by Kyle Horner Jun 16th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, News items

Analysts really do like to live up to their job titles, because Colin Sebastian went all out at this year's E3 event. But his biggest prediction? This year online games will rake in $11 billion dollars in revenue, out of a global $44 billion in the videogame market. That's a whole heaping ton of cash, and a sizable chunk of the pie, too.

With Free Realms hitting three million players in only two months, it's safe to say that online games are indeed becoming a force to be reckoned. We're kind of in amazement when considering the potential numbers of Star Wars: The Old Republic's first few months after launch.

The next few years are certainly going to be interesting for online games. Hopefully by the end of it all, we'll still be able to walk outside without immediately hissing and burning alive from the sunlight.

Tags: bioware, colin-sebastian, ea, electronic-arts, gamasutra, lucas-arts, soe, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor

The Digital Continuum: Reign of the shooters

by Kyle Horner Jun 15th 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Crime, MMOFPS

This year, a bleating signal is ringing out from all corners of the MMO industry. It calls to our attention a new order on the horizon: the order of shooter MMOs.

Can it be coincidence that everywhere you look at this year's E3, most of the exciting upcoming MMOs are shooters in one way or another? I'm looking forward to Final Fantasy XIV as much as the next fan, but there's only one or two traditional looking concepts that have my interest.

Moving through my mental list of must-play MMOs reveals a very obvious pattern. Jumpgate Evolution, All Points Bulletin, CrimeCraft and even aspects of Star Wars: The Old Republic are looking shooter-like. I mean, come on, cover mechanics for the Smuggler class? Now you're just teasing me into a squelching geek heat, BioWare.

Tags: all-points-bulletin, apb, bioware, crimecraft, featured, ffxiv, final-fantasy-xiv, fps, frogster, jge, jumpgate-evolution, mag, netdevil, realtime-worlds, shooter, square-enix, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, the-digital-continuum

Star Wars: The Old Republic has hundreds of voice actors

by Kyle Horner Jun 9th 2009 at 4:00PM

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

Giant Bomb has been pumping out some great videos from E3 2009, but we of course took immediate notice of this interview with two Star Wars: The Old Republic developers from BioWare. Most of the conversation revolves around information we already know, until one of the devs reveals, "we have literally thousands of roles which are voiced in our game, which are done by many, many hundreds of voice actors." We knew there was going to be a lot of people, but, okay we didn't expect that many!

Hundreds.

Much of the Massively crew agreed that Star Wars: The Old Republic's classes would be limited to four or five on each side, due to the fully-voiced announcement. Now we're thinking differently with thousands of roles filled by many hundreds of voice actors. Suddenly, six or seven per side doesn't seem like a far away fever dream.

If you'd like to see how it ends when you ask a BioWare dev about SWTOR's release date, check out the full video after the break.

Source

Tags: bioware, brad-shoemaker, e3-2009, ea, electronic-arts, giant-bomb, lucas-arts, star-wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, voice-acting

The MMO launch subscriber bubble

by Brendan Drain Jun 9th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Betas, Age of Conan, EVE Online, Business models, Culture, Launches, MMO industry, New titles, Warhammer Online, Academic, Education, Virtual worlds, Star Wars: The Old Republic

It feels like a new MMO is being released every month these days and the market for persistent online games is certainly expanding. At the head of this market is a set of games commonly referred to "triple A" titles. These are popular games from big name studios or games using popular intellectual properties. New games that are considered "triple A" have a unique ability to build unparalleled levels of anticipation and hype around themselves prior to release. In order to draw in as many players as possible, an obscene amount of cash is often spent on advertising to hype these games up for release. But is this appropriate and cost-effective or does it show a fundamental misunderstanding of of the MMO market?

In this article, we look at what can go wrong with over-hyped MMO launches and what happens when the subscriber bubble bursts.

Tags: age of conan, age-of-conan, AgeOfConan, beta, bubble, business, dofus, eve, eve-online, featured, joystiqfeatures, launch, runescape, subscriber, swtor, tibia, warhammer online, warhammer-online, WarhammerOnline, world of warcraft, world-of-warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft

The Digital Continuum: SWTOR turns up the heat

by Kyle Horner Jun 9th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: New titles, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Star Wars: The Old Republic

E3 2009 has come and gone, with it came new information on Star Wars: The Old Republic -- and fresh concerns. To call BioWare ambitious would be an understatement of vast proportions. Every NPC receiving full voice acting ratcheted up my curiosity as much as it did my eyebrows. We may need a new word to describe the depths of this game's ambition.

As if the voice acting news wasn't enough, BioWare revealed a cinematic trailer that reminded me how powerful this property can truly be, in the right hands. The excitement was so immediately potent that it caused some people to cry "over-hyped!" in the few short minutes between the trailer's beginning and ending.

I think it's time to asses the current situation, and maybe ponder a few things about Star Wars and BioWare.

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, bioware, bounty-hunter, e3-2009, ea, electronic-arts, featured, funcom, hype, jedi, lucas-arts, mythic, sith, smuggler, star-wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, tobold, trooper, war, warhammer-online

The Digital Continuum: SWTOR turns up the heat, part 2

by Kyle Horner Jun 9th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: New titles, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Tags: baldurs-gate, bioware, dragon-age, ea, electronic-arts, lucas-arts, mass-effect, star-wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, the-digital-continuum

E3 2009: A complete roundup of Massively's coverage

by James Egan Jun 8th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Jumpgate Evolution, MMO industry, New titles, The Agency, All Points Bulletin, Global Agenda, Free Realms, Massively Interviews, Massively Hands-on, Massively Event Coverage, Champions Online, Home, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragonica Online, Heroes of Telara, Final Fantasy XIV

Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 proved to be a significant event for the gaming industry once again, with a fair amount of news and announcements related to MMOs. Massively was there on the ground for E3 this year and we've been putting up breaking announcements, interviews, and hands-on previews throughout.

Given how much info came out of E3 on Massively, here's a roundup of our coverage, day-by-day. Be sure to check out the rest after the jump as there's plenty more content, plus you'll find E3 galleries for these games as you click through. To cap it all off, we've also put together an E3 2009 wrapup video for you at the end of this post. Read on to see where the MMO industry is headed in the next year and beyond!

Day One

Star Wars: The Old Republic world's first fully-voiced MMO

Final Fantasy XIV announced

Jumpgate Evolution releases E3 trailer

EA to publish All Points Bulletin in 2010

PlayStation Home hits 6.5 million accounts

Trion World Network unveils Heroes of Telara

Massively's day 1 video from the E3 floor

Tags: all-points-bulletin, champions-online, dragonica-online, dungeon-fighter-online, e3-2009, final-fantasy-xiv, free-realms, global-agenda, heroes-of-telara, home, jade-dynasty, jumpgate-evolution, massively-event-coverage, massively-hands-on, massively-interviews, mmo-industry, mythos, new-titles, perfect-world, perfect-world-age-of-spirits, perfect-world-international, rohan-blood-feud, roundup, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, the-agency, torchlight

Threat of Peace issue 8 could be dropping hints

by Kyle Horner Jun 7th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Lore, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic's free online comic, Threat of Peace, has reached issue number eight and finally introduced one of those lovable droids. It's safe to say that so far throughout this storyline, many of the prominent characters and their prospective races featured in this comic have the potential to be in-game racial options. Humans, Twi'leks and Wookiees have all been popular thus far, and now it looks like droids may in fact be a possibility. It's positively delightful!

Of course, races that have seen the limelight in Threat of Peace aren't the only signs of things to come. Bounty Hunters and Troopers both received notable attention. Whether or not this sets any kind of reasonable precedent is something we'll leave up to you, however.

Source

Tags: bioware, bounty-hunter, droid, droids, ea, electronic-arts, human, lucas-arts, star-wars, star-wars-the-old-republic, swtor, threat-of-peace, trooper, twilek, wookiee

Massively Features

Featured Games

Events Calendar

Name	Date
Fallen Earth Launch	Q2 2009
Global Agenda Closed Beta	July 2009
CrimeCraft Launch	Aug 25 2009
Champions Online Launch	Sep 1 2009
Cities XL EU Launch	Sep 3 2009
Aion Launch	Sep 22 2009
Earth Eternal Open Beta	Q3 2009