stormtroopers
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Stormtrooper bot with facial recognition guards against intruders
We know what Star Wars fans will be wishing for this Christmas -- aside from Sphero's R2-D2 and BB-9E toys. Ubtech, the company behind the dancing Lynx robot, is releasing a Stormtrooper bot. Although it can't teach you yoga, you can use voice commands to instruct it to ward off intruders (hopefully not with an actual blaster). Its facial recognition tech also allows it to store up to three faces in its memory bank. That way, it can shout at any uninvited guests that keep barging into your room. And, its accompanying mobile app packs an augmented reality game that lets you fight off the Resistance and launch First Order attacks. The robot is available for pre-order from Ubtech right now, and will ship in November. It will set you back $300.
Adorable new 'Star Wars' droid proves it's not CGI
When the first trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released, the internet lost its collective mind. Not only were people up in arms over the fact that a stormtrooper could be *gasp* black, but also nobody could believe that this incredible rolling droid, dubbed the BB-8, was actually real. It must be CGI, right? Well, during today's Star Wars Celebration convention in Anaheim, California, the BB-8 made its first real-life debut by rolling onstage to riotous applause from the crowd. Check out the video below to see the BB-8 and the venerable R2-D2 engage in a beeping, tweeting chirp battle.
The Perfect Ten: Excuses for ditching a dungeon run (from least to most insane)
I never knew I suffered from narcolepsy before I started playing MMOs, but it only took a few late-night dungeon-runs before I started to experience extremely rapid transitions between being an active member of my team and snoring somewhere in the vicinity of the WASD keys. I'm not saying that all dungeons are boring or anything, but rather that when you start one, you've kind of committed to seeing it through (unless you're the jerk who always teams up with me through the LFG tool). Unfortunately, that means you're locked into an unknowable span of time during which narcolepsy, hunger, and brilliant flashes of insight about how to cure Chronic Giggling Syndrome (CGS) can strike. What can you do? Usually, nothing other than to suffer through the slow plodding of your four other ball-and-chains and start burning small sacrifices to your deity of choice in hopes that this run will end soon. Or you can pull out an excuse and get out of Dodge. I'm not saying you should use these every night -- you will build up a very negative reputation, quickly, if you do so -- but sometimes you just need an escape hatch so you can go sleep, eat or call the CGS laboratories in Albuquerque. That's what I'm here to help you with today by providing 10 tested excuses to ditching that disastrous dungeon run and getting on with your life.
Star Wars Galaxies developer webcast today shares the present and future of the game
Calling all Star Wars Galaxies adventurers -- the SOE community team is planning to pour its heart out with the fans in a developer webcast later today! If you want to get the inside scoop on the Ewok Festival of Love and the Bonus Everything Weekend, then you will definitely want to catch this chat. The webcast will take place today, February 17th, at 4:00 p.m. PST on Stickam, according to a Facebook announcement. The devs will be talking about the current in-game events as well as dropping "a few hints about what's coming up next." The Ewok Festival of Love is a month-long (February 10th through March 10th) event in which the cute and cuddly inhabitants of the forest moon of Endor celebrate good feelings, good food and their obsession with flight. By participating in the events, players can earn several special rewards including housing items, pets, and decorative wings. Because nothing strikes fear in Stormtroopers like Jedi with itsy-bitsy wings!
Hyperspace Beacon: Loyal to their cause
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.
Luke Skywalker's lightsaber heading into space
According to recent news out of NASA, the next time the Discovery crew take their ship into orbit, the "force" will be with them -- because they're taking Luke Skywalker's lightsaber along for the ride. That's right, for the film's 30th anniversary, the original lightsaber prop from the first Star Wars film is taking a ride into actual space... but that's not all. Apparently, Chewbacca will be on hand to pass the saber to officials from the Houston Space Center, and then together with Jango and Boba Fett, he will help push a plane back on the tarmac (for reasons unknown to us). But wait, there's more. When the Discovery lands in Houston returns after its space travels, the crew will be greeted by a group of Stormtroopers and other "Star Wars notables," including the much-loved R2-D2, who will then deliver the lightsaber to a waiting line of Hummers. Afterwards, there will be a party at the Mos Eisley Cantina, where Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes will play a set of their greatest hits.[Via Slashdot]
No dressing up allowed in PS3's Home
In an effort to keep Home "accessible to everyone," Peter Edwards told Bit-tech.net that there would be limitations on costumes for your avatar. "The idea is to keep it as accessible, mainstream and friendly as possible," says Edwards, the executive producer for Home. "If everyone's walking around dressed as orcs or stormtroopers or whatever, then you lose that welcoming, accessible element that means Mum, Dad and your sister might get involved as well." Really? The largest MMO in the world may not have stormtroopers, but they certainly have orcs and other strangely dressed characters and yet, they don't seem to have any problem pulling in over 8 million subscribers. Maybe it's not a fair comparison to Home, but it's a bit of a stretch to think that costumes on avatars would assuredly prevent Home's accessibility for all audiences. If the game was extremely buggy or just plain "not fun," well that would be more of a root cause against its widespread accessibility. At any rate, what do you think? Would Home be more or less accessible with fully customizable avatars?
