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'Baldur's Gate' designer James Ohlen leaves BioWare after 22 years
James Ohlen might not be a household name, but if you love video games, you might have played some of the titles he helped create. He became a full-time designer to work on the original Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II back in the '90s, and he has since worked as lead designer and creative director for various projects, including Star Wars: The Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic. Now, the industry veteran has announced that he's leaving BioWare after 22 years of working for the company. In fact, he's taking a break from video games altogether to embark on "something smaller and more personal" -- a publishing company focused on creating Dungeons & Dragons adventures, in particular.
BioWare loses another storyteller as Cameron Harris steps down
Senior Editor Cameron Harris will leave BioWare -- and the video game industry as a whole -- in April, she announced in a series of tweets on Friday. At BioWare, Harris had a hand in crafting the narratives of Dragon Age: Inquisition, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect: Andromeda, which is due in 2017. She entered the video game industry in 2007 as a technical editor at Microsoft, and over the years she's also worked with Nintendo and ArenaNet, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Razer gives away custom Star Wars-themed Blade, may turn friends Imperial Guard red with envy
Razer has been big on Star Wars gaming gear, but never quite like this. Enter a free contest and there's a chance to win a completely unique Star Wars: The Old Republic version of Razer's Blade gaming laptop. The winner sees the system's normally black shell replaced with a matte, laser-etched aluminum gray and the green backlighting dropped in favor of a subtler yellow matched to the MMORPG logo. Anyone who brings out this portable at a bring-your-own-computer gaming party is inevitably going to be the center of attention, although we have a feeling some would almost prefer the second-place bundle of peripherals -- at an estimated worth of $15,000, the Star Wars Blade might be too precious to carry for all but the most well-heeled of fans.
The Guild Counsel: New game, new guild, cold feet - now what?
There's an eerie similarity between gamers and guilds when it comes to game launches. The day a game goes live, there's often a huge rush of players, elbowing each other as they gobble up content. But as quickly as they arrive, some players decide that this isn't the game for them, and they move on. The same is true for many new guilds. If you consider the size of the Star Wars: The Old Republic pre-launch guild database, for example, there were over 78,000 guilds signed up to deploy, but the total number of guilds still active today is undoubtedly only a fraction of that. In some cases, guilds that signed up probably never got off the ground, but in other cases, it's possible that the guild soured on the game. Now, it's one thing if you're just one individual who gets cold feet, but it's much more complicated when you're the guild leader and you've got a roster full of members tagging alongside you. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll consider what you should do you do when you've made a guild in a new game and then realize the game just isn't your cup of tea.
The Guild Counsel: Star Wars guilds need more love!
A few weeks back, I wrote about the impressive pre-launch guild system in Star Wars: The Old Republic, pointing out that not only is it wildly popular but that it indicates that BioWare recognizes the validity of guilds. So it surprised me when I began to slowly notice the absence of various guild features and tools that I've grown accustomed to seeing in other games, tools that are almost a necessity in this day and age. In fact, at one point, I had to ask myself if there was any benefit at all to being in a guild other than having guild chat and a cool tag. I'm certainly haven't lost hope yet because after all, it's only a few weeks into the game, and features like the guild capital ship have already been mentioned as being on the way. But this week, I'm playing amateur developer and adding my list of guild-friendly features that are must-haves for SWTOR (and for all MMOs, actually!).
BioWare agrees Mac version of Star Wars: The Old Republic is important
Star Wars: The Old Republic is the new hotness in massively multiplayer games, and I'm really enjoying playing a smuggler on my PC. But unlike Blizzard, which makes World of Warcraft and has had a long policy of releasing both PC and Mac versions on the same disc, BioWare (who makes SW:TOR, as the kids call it) hasn't released a Mac version of its new video game. But there is hope. The two doctors who run BioWare tell our friends over at Massively/Joystiq that having a Mac version of the game at some point is indeed important. "We know there's a big Mac audience of BioWare fans ... we know that's an important and large audience. And we want to serve that audience," says Dr. Ray Muzyka. Unfortunately, he's not ready to serve that audience quite yet. You can play the game on a Windows-equipped partition, of course, but even though BioWare admits that's not the best way to do it, there are no official plans yet for a Mac port. That's too bad. Not only is SW:TOR a great game, but we've heard in the past that Mac audiences aren't just important for sales, they're also good for promotion. Mac users tend to be more influential (not to mention vocal) online, so if you can get Mac users playing and liking your game, you often can see a boost in overall player interest as well. Hopefully BioWare will get this game out for the Mac very soon, and (like World of Warcraft) in a form that makes some good evangelists out of Mac users.
The Guild Counsel: Does SWTOR need a better LFG tool?
Often, this column has focused on guilds and communities in MMOs, both the good and the bad. With the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic, it's interesting to look at the ways in which a community is slowly gelling on each server. Already there are players I'm bumping into more and more often, and while I tend to huddle around guildies most of the time, I find that I enjoy things much more when I'm surrounded by a good community of players. There's already been a lively discussion among SWTOR fans about whether the current LFG tool is good enough or something more is needed. Do we need something more "meaty" to help do the job of grouping for us or not? Read on for some pros and cons, and weigh in on whether more is needed to help bring the community closer.
The Guild Counsel: Guild life in SWTOR
If you thought the future looked cloudy for guilds in MMOs, Star Wars: The Old Republic's launch stomped out any doubts. The pre-launch list of guilds was so enormous that it rivaled the total player populations of other MMOs. But there are some interesting aspects to guild life in SWTOR, and this week in The Guild Counsel, we'll take a closer look at them. If you're interested in some first impressions from a guild perspective, or if you're wondering how to make a guild now that the game has launched, read on for a look at guild life in SWTOR.
