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Joystiq Giveaway: SteelSeries Stratus XL iOS controller times 2
So you're playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on your iPhone and you're thinking, "Man, it sure would be a lot easier to slice this Dark Jedi directly in their stupid cowled faces if I was using a controller." Than you're playing BioShock on your iPad and you're all, "Stupid Big Daddy wouldn't have drilled a giant hole in my abdomen if I were using a controller." The thought comes again and again while you play Limbo, XCOM, and myriad other games. Don't worry about it! Joystiq has your back. We're giving away two, that's dos, SteelSeries Stratus XL iOS controllers. These babies work with any iOS device with a Lightning connector and running iOS 7 or higher. Here's how to get the prizes: Just use the Rafflecopter widget below between January 23 and January 30. Winners will be selected at random and contacted via email (so make double sure you use an email we can actually contact you at!) Full rules and details after the break. SteelSeries Stratus XL iOS controller times 2 [Images: SteelSeries]
GOG.com adds six Star Wars games, including KOTOR 2
GOG.com added a second helping of Lucasfilm games to its classic PC gaming catalog today, giving players the opportunity to download six Star Wars games on its platform, DRM-free. Three of the games are available digitally for the first time according to GOG.com: Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter ($10), Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance ($10) and Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Saga (Seen above, $6). The other three Star Wars games now available on GOG.com will be 20 percent off for the next three days: Star Wars Battlefront 2 ($8), Star Wars: Dark Forces ($4.79) and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords ($8). Six other LucasArts games were introduced in late October, including The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Those two games, in addition to Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, are also 20 percent off until Friday, January 30 at 8:59 a.m. ET (5:59 a.m. PT). [Image: Lucasfilm]
KOTOR finds the Androids you've been looking for
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare's beloved RPG, is now available on Android devices. To mark the occasion, developer Aspyr Media has slashed the usual $10 price in half (with a lightsaber, presumably). You can snag it from Google Play right now, so long as your device is up to snuff, of course.
Star Wars Expanded Universe (including games) no longer canon
Many bothans died to bring us this information: The Star Wars Expanded Universe - or EU for short - is getting cut from Star Wars canon like hands get cut from the Skywalker family. In a news post on the official Star Wars site, Lucasfilm announced that only the six Star Wars films and the Clone Wars television show will be considered canon. In other words, as far as Luke, Leia, Han and the gang are concerned, there were no knights of the Old Republic, nor was the Force ever unleashed. The Star Wars universe was previously structured under a multi-tier hierarchy system, where some events were considered more canon than others. For example, The Clone Wars' explanation for the origins of the Rebel Alliance were more true than The Force Unleashed's. How does that make sense you ask? We dunno. Cosmic bacteria or something, probably. In any case, according to Lucasfilm, "all aspects of Star Wars storytelling moving forward will be connected." So from here on out, what you see is what the Star Wars universe gets. While that might be distressing for fans of things like Knights of the Old Republic or the Jedi Knight games, Lucasfilm is still keeping the EU around - in a sense. Stories from the EU will be printed under the Legends banner, and the teams creating new content are still drawing inspiration from the EU. Elements first created for Star Wars tabletop roleplaying games will be seen in the upcoming Star Wars Rebels TV show, for example. So who knows, maybe Kyle Katarn - a character who made his debut appearance in a Star Wars video game - might still show up, albeit in a way that fits with Lucasfilm's new creative direction. [Image: Disney/Lucasfilm]
Knights of the Old Republic falls to $5 on iOS
Like Darth Maul moments after angering Liam Neeson, the price attached to the iOS version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has been sliced in half. Originally $10, the surprisingly faithful remake of the classic BioWare roleplaying game will now set you back $5. The only caveat being that you must have an iPad 2 (or a later model) and at least 2.5GB of free storage space. Neither Apple nor publisher EA has offered a reason for the app's discount.
Knights of the Old Republic 3 was in pre-production at Obsidian
Another installment in the ever-popular Knights of the Old Republic series was in pre-production at Obsidian, creative director Chris Avellone told Eurogamer. Avellone said KOTOR 3 would have featured the character Revan more than KOTOR 2, from which the character was largely absent. "I always liked the idea that Revan, as smart and powerful as your player-character was, was actually even more of a brilliant strategist than became apparent in the first game," Avellone said of Revan's role in the first game. "The entire second game is littered with clues as to 'why didn't Revan destroy the infrastructure here? What was he trying to make sure was still intact? What did he/she see that no one else saw?'" The third game would have players tracking down Revan as a character deemed "The Exile." Allevone said, "it felt like we were pitching and pitching [to LucasArts] and it just wasn't going anywhere, and at some point people just drew a line and said 'it's just not going to happen,' which made us kind of sad, but, OK, if that's the business, that's the business." Obsidian's pitch to Disney in February 2013 for a new Star Wars game was different than KOTOR 3, according to Eurogamer. Obviously, this was before EA obtained the exclusive rights to develop and publish Star Wars games in May 2013.
New Bioware universe coming from Mass Effect and KOTOR creators
That new fictional universe in production over at BioWare Edmonton has some pedigree behind it, namely the folks responsible for critically acclaimed Xbox classic Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. "Most of our core team that worked on SWKOTOR has been together throughout the Mass Effect series, and now our new IP project," Mass Effect producer Casey Hudson tweeted earlier this week. Hudson initially announced the project during a PAX East panel last March, but beyond the fact that it exists and is being worked on by an RPG-centric team, nothing else is known about the new property.
BioWare talks KOTOR tenth anniversary, influence on SWTOR
If you haven't felt old yet this week, here's your punch in the gut: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare's beloved RPG, turns 10 today. The studio is celebrating KOTOR's birthday in a number of small ways, one of which being a loving blog post from studio creative director James Ohlen that talks about how KOTOR influenced the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic. According to Ohlen, BioWare put a premium on bringing several core components of KOTOR into SWTOR. He mentions epic narratives set in the Old Republic era, cinematic storytelling, being a Jedi, owning a starship, traveling to different worlds, an internal conflict between good and evil, and hanging out with companion characters that actually matter. Here's a clip from the post: All of these were key elements that we knew we wanted included from the very start of development. The good news is that all of these elements are featured prominently in SWTOR. These features also make SWTOR unique amongst MMORPGs, and helped forge what has become one of the strongest game communities in the history of online RPGs. Players of SWTOR can join in the celebration of KOTOR's birthday by purchasing the Revan's Heir title from the Cartel Market for 10 Cartel Coins. The title will be available only until 3 a.m. EDT, July 16th. So, tonight. Additionally, you can read through some of the memories offered by people who worked on KOTOR and score yourself a handful of wallpapers on this official BioWare post.
More iOS App Store anniversary goodies: Angry Birds Star Wars, Dead Space, KOTOR and more
Apple's celebration of the iOS App Store's five year anniversary continues with more free/discounted games with which to smudge up that capacitive touchscreen. In addition to the stuff that was made free yesterday, Chopper, Peggle, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Flight Control and Angry Birds Star Wars are now available at no cost. Moreover, the iPad version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has been discounted to $5, though its mysterious monetary adjustment may not be directly related to Apple's festivities. As a result, there's no telling how long that particular discount will last. Jump past the break for all the applicable iTunes links.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic arrives on the iPad, and the Force is with it
This is Portabliss, a column about downloadable games that can be played on the go. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic is the kind of game that's almost too big to be playing on the iPad. It's easily 30 hours long, with extensive attribute, skill, and combat systems, and it has some of the best storytelling BioWare's ever done, all set in the epic pre-film Star Wars universe. This is a monster of a classic game, and like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Baldur's Gate before it, it seems like cheating to play this game on Apple's touchscreen tablet, like you're somehow breaking the laws of mobile gaming physics, if such a school even exists. And yet, it works. Aspyr Media is the company responsible here. It's been porting games to the Mac for a long time, and with Knights of the Old Republic has decided to start bringing what it calls "catalog Mac experiences" to iOS. Presumably, the rights were snagged from BioWare and LucasArts, and now there's a very well-made $9.99 port of one of the best Star Wars games ever assembled, running on the iPad.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic coming to iPad [Update]
Classic BioWare RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is coming to iPad, as revealed by a review that came seemingly out of nowhere on IGN. The site mentions the pause-and-play combat works great, while character movement is clunky. No price or release date is mentioned. We're awaiting more details from our bothan spy team, but we're afraid they've been lost. Our second option is details from publisher Electronic Arts. Update: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which weighs in a 1.98 GB, costs $9.99 through the App Store. Update 2: It's official – check out the press release for Knights of the Old Republic on iPad below.
Celebrate the day before Cinco de Mayo with Steam's Star Wars Collection sale
It's May 4, which means we're only one day away from Cinco de Mayo. What other reason would there be for Steam to put a collection of Star Wars games on sale? May the fourth day of this month be remembered as the day you could buy 14 games for $50 on Steam, a 50 percent discount on a bundle that includes a list of games seen after the break.
Steam Holiday Sale day 14: Dark Souls, Tomb Raider, Knights of the Old Republic
You probably haven't spent enough money today. Yes, even though you got a late start and snatched up the games of yesterday's Steam sale today, there are still 36 hours of wallet plundering left. Today is no different and you are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. Just give in already.Day 14 of the Steam sale offers the Tomb Raider franchise for $15, The Painkiller games for 50 - 75 percent off (including the complete pack for $20), Magicka for $2.50, the Sniper Elite franchise pack for $13.75, Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition for $20 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 for 75 percent off, at just $2.50 a pop.Feel the financial burn.
How Morrowind and KOTOR defined modern RPGs
This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity. In the early 2000s, two Western role-playing games grabbed the genre and shoved it into new and surprisingly popular directions. Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002) and BioWare's Knights Of The Old Republic (2003) modernized RPGs' technology, expanded the audience, and created the two most popular models for the genre moving forward.Before these two games were released, the term Computer Role-Playing Game (CRPG) was commonly used to describe the games in this column. Ultima, Wizardry, Fallout, Baldur's Gate, these all came out on computers (at least initially), with DOS/Windows becoming the computer platform of choice as the decade progressed. But Morrowind and KOTOR were designed and released for the Xbox – and they succeeded there. The realm of console RPGs was opened to very different styles of game from the Final Fantasies which had dominated. This successful move opened entirely new modes of money-making, allowing BioWare and Bethesda to become some of the biggest developers in gaming overall.
Mac Game of the Week: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Odds are that you may have played Knights of the Old Republic once before, but even if so, you may want to pick it up and go through it again anyway. These days, it's a classic, but back when we first heard Bioware (the company behind legendary RPGs like Baldur's Gate) was going to try and make its mark on the Star Wars universe, gamers weren't sure what to expect. What they got when the game released in 2003, however, was a brilliant take on George Lucas' universe, a fascinating tale of the light and dark sides of the Force, and a tactical yet action-packed tour through the history of the world of lightsabers. Knights of the Old Republic cemented Bioware's reputation as a legendary RPG company, and not only did it push them on to make great titles like the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, but it spawned a universe of its own, including the Obsidian-developed sequel and eventually The Old Republic MMORPG. And yet, despite its age (almost ten years now!), Knights of the Old Republic still tells a great yarn of a story, with some brilliant dialogue, tough decisions to make, and plenty of lightsaber and blaster fighting. Plus, right now the game is only $4.99 on the Mac App Store, and at that price, the title is a must-have. You may have played through this once already, either on the original Xbox or the PC, but KotOR is a classic, and it's a great game addition to any Mac as well.
Stiq Flicks: Knights of the Old Republic I and II and Cloak & Dagger
Stiq Flicks – from film and video game industry freelance writer Kevin Kelly – examines video games and attempts to pair them with matching films. It's like wine and cheese, but with more aliens. We're entering the doldrums in the yearly video game release schedule, when the waters have calmed and the wind has stopped blowing. It's all in preparation for the busy holiday gaming season that appears to have spilled over into August, with games like Sleeping Dogs, Darksiders 2, Guild Wars 2, and more brightening the end of summer.With that in mind, we're taking a look at something a little different this week. In case you never experienced the goodness of a Star Wars game done well, the Knights of the Old Republic I and II PC Bundle Pack is out now, providing two classic games in one $19.99 package. Sure, they aren't new, but both games provide a classic experience that still holds up today.Since the light game season inspired us to go retro for the game, let's dip into the archives for the accompanying movie. Our movie pairing to accompany this retro release might not hold up as well as a KOTOR title, but it's a classic nonetheless. Video game movies are nothing new, and over the course we'll hit on some of the best from years past (including Joysticks, a personal favorite that is a terrible blend of Porky's and video games) but what we've chosen to accompany this double-pack is the 1984 classic film Cloak & Dagger.
Steam Summer Sale, Day 5: Metro 2033, RAGE, Assassin's Creed: Revelations and more
If you made it this far into the Steam Summer Sale, plan on not buying that pizza you wanted for dinner tonight. Day five of the platform's annual deal-stravaganza features sales on Age of Empires III for $9.99, Metro 2033 for $4.99, RAGE for $9.99, and Assassin's Creed: Revelations for $13.59. Those four games add up to the cost of four large, one-topping pizzas alone.Today's sale includes both Dear Esther and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for a reasonable price of $2.49 each, around the cost of one of those personal pan pizzas. Let's be honest, those don't fill anyone up anyway.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Collection spotted for PC, launching July 17 [Update]
It appears an as-yet-unannounced Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Collection will launch on July 17, according to a GameStop listing. We called a store representative and confirmed that a KOTOR collection is in their system, and is listed as a PC-exclusive title for $20.The first game in the series (developed by BioWare) was released to critical acclaim in July 2003 for Xbox, and later for PC. KOTOR came to Mac via Steam just a few months ago. Obsidian developed the game's sequel, which launched on Xbox in December 2004.We've reached out to LucasArts for more details on the collection.Update: The game is listed on Amazon as Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic I and II PC Bundle Pack, and is available for preorder. We are still confirming details with LucasArts.Thanks for keeping those eagle eyes sharp![Thanks, Josh!]
Knights of the Old Republic, Jedi Knight 2 now on Mac via Steam
May the fourteenth be with you: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast are each available on Mac and are 25 percent off on Steam today, in celebration of "May the 10 days after May the fourth be with you" day or something. Each title costs $7.50 with the sale, which ends May 21 at 10 a.m. PST.Both games first dropped in 2003 but they hold up pretty well nine years on, especially at less than $10 -- at least they've aged better than we imagine The Old Republic will have by 2020.
Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer requests your silence, meatbags
Wondering when you'd get a chance to see that meatbag-hating droid HK-47 make his return? This latest Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer delivers just that. Also, it seems KotOR's Darth Revan will make an appearance in the game. Hope he'll be happy to see us!
