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Enjoy some comic geekery with SWTOR's Threat of Peace update
With the convention craze of the summer - E3 into San Diego ComicCon and then PAX, the news for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been crazy hot and heavy. We've heard about new classes, seen new video and gameplay, and even landed some rumors that are continuing to pique interest. Meanwhile, the co-operative webcomic between BioWare, LucasArts and Dark Horse Comics have been coming out steadily, overshadowed by their shinier brethren. As a bit of a breather, the team at BioWare have focused for the last couple of weeks exclusively on the comic - we're sure to allow the story to shine on its own. Well, that and we're told they're working on another big announcement for next week's update, which is sure to send the Star Wars: The Old Republic fan-base into another string of vociferous nerdgasms. For now, enjoy some fresh new webcomic geekery while we all wait with bated breath for yet another wave of news.
SWTOR's Threat of Peace concludes its first chapter
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.
2009 online game revenue could reach $11b
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.
Star Wars: The Old Republic has hundreds of voice actors
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.
The Digital Continuum: SWTOR turns up the heat
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.
The Digital Continuum: SWTOR turns up the heat, part 2
How can I hope for a 2010 release date with BioWare promising fully voiced acting, branching story/dialogue and all other standard MMO features? Yes, it's a lot to ask of one company, but thankfully all this work isn't falling solely onto BioWare's shoulders. Lucas Arts and Electronic Arts are both heavily involved, count on it, and much of the legwork of voice sessions -- among other things -- will definitely be handled by their people.
Threat of Peace issue 8 could be dropping hints
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.
SWTOR's Trooper development and morale abilities
BioWare's lead combat designer Damion Schubert discusses creating the Trooper class today over at the official Star Wars: The Old Republic website. It's not too difficult to understand the heart of the Trooper: he's got a huge gun and makes everything in his path explode. The difficult part of the Trooper was making it something that could go toe-to-toe with Sith both in the actual game and in players' minds. It had to be cool, exciting and a whole lot of fun to play.Of course, as Damion points out at the end of his journal, the Trooper isn't all about massive amounts of firepower. The class packs an assortment of morale-themed party buffs too, which are able to strengthen himself and the party. While this feature was assumed on our part, this is the first we've heard of morale-based class abilities. Consider us curious to find out more in the future.In case you missed its debut over the weeked, we've embedded the dev video on The Trooper after the jump.%Gallery-35033%
HoloNet centralizes Star Wars: The Old Republic information
Do you sometimes wish there was a centralized hub of information regarding BioWare's upcoming fully-voiced MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic? We wish for these and many other things from BioWare in general. Thankfully, our wishes seem to have been answered in party with the HoloNet, a one-stop shop for your official information requirements.The HoloNet is a web version of an actual in-game feature that doles out details on classes, planets, factions, and even gives a timeline of Old Republic History.Will this be the only in-game feature to cross over to the web? And how much are the two versions of the HoloNet connected, if at all? These are all very good questions, but unfortunately ones that do not currently have answers. We'll just hide those away until Star Wars: The Old Republic interviews makes become available, which will hopefully be sooner than we all expect.
SWTOR classes are getting smuggled after all
We love magazines, because they sometimes feature interviews which reveal information before it's actually released online -- it does happen! Kotaku has discovered that Edge Magazine's newest issue contains an interview with James Ohlem, director for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and within said interview he reveals the Smuggler classes' existence. Giving the scanned image featured above, we can only assume Smugglers are a Republic class -- that there's a Trooper standing next to him.According to the Ohlem, via the scanned image, "Ord Mantell is a war-torn world and it's where the Smuggler starts off, when his ship gets stolen. He's pretty angry; imagine what Han Solo would've been like if the Millennium Falcon got taken." Sounds like a good place to start for the law-bending, blaster toting class.Chances are good this will be a part of next week's E3 2009 news, so keep a lookout for more official details when that time comes. Until then, we'll be dreaming of blockades ran and witty lines read.
Two sides of Sith in Threat of Peace issue seven
This week's three page update to Star Wars: The Old Republic's free online comic, Threat of Peace, spotlights the Sith and how there's more to them than just being bad guys. It's an important message that BioWare needs to make as much as possible. It's good to see it happening early on, and hopefully future updates will do the same.It may not be much, but the short bursts of illustrated story are surely if slowly fleshing out the backstory to Star Wars: The Old Republic. We're already at issue seven, and in a couple more months who knows how much more will be revealed about the events leading up to the heated standoff between the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire. Moreover, who knows what kind of knowledge we'll gain about classes and features, especially with E3 2009 coming up right fast.
Hints of the Smuggler class in new SWTOR timeline update
Who broke the Mandalorian blockade on Coruscant? Why, it was those wily Smugglers, that's who! The Sith weren't expecting the Galactic Republic to find assistance with that particular criminal aspect, but find it they did -- and you can learn all about it through the latest Star Wars: The Old Republic timeline update.Of course, if this second update doesn't just scream, "Smuggler class!" then we're not sure you were paying close enough attention. Then again, BioWare could just be trying to throw us off the trail by making the Smugglers such an obvious component to the back story. The problem is that, either way, you really cany have Star Wars without these guys somewhere in the story. Who knows, maybe they'll be called Scoundrels instead?And of course there's the possibility that Mandalorians will be featured as an Empire class, or at least the new update seems to loosely imply as much. Either way, we should expect some kind of shady character classes to be announced sometime in the near future.
A Trooper featured in Threat of Peace issue six
BioWare seems to have planned the announcement of their newest class for Star Wars: The Old Republic at just the right time. A character -- presumably a Trooper himself by his appearance -- in the latest issue of the free online comic Threat of Peace proves that the class is quite up to the task of dealing with strong enemies in its own right. While the newest issue is a little light on story, the message is still clear: Troopers are cool, m'kay?The few-pages-every-week-or-two free online comic structure isn't an entirely new concept, but it's proven to work fairly well and seems to be doing the lore of Star Wars: The Old Republic decent justice. Now we've just got to sit tight for more of those voiced archives for the real meaty info while we get our visual fix from Threat of Peace.
Gun toting Trooper class revealed for The Old Republic
The fourth Star Wars: The Old Republic class has been revealed today, and it's the Republic Trooper. An initial pang of worry struck our minds at the name until we began perusing the official class page, then saw the image above. Oh, and let's not forget the videos depicting three glorious special attacks. Weapon butts? Sticky Grenades? High-Powered Rifle Grenades? Sold.Reading through the class description provides further clarification as to why a player would consider this career over a Jedi. These aren't just cannon fodder soldiers, but highly trained and specialized men and women not to be trifled with -- which gives us pause. Why are these people so impressive, but not named in a way that lets you know this verifiable truth?It seems as though, considering the severity of their battle prowess presented on the official website, naming this class simply "Trooper" is a bit of a misnomer. We're sure there has been plenty of internal debate over at BioWare concerning this matter, and we'd just like to take this moment to point out that the incorrect side seems to have won the argument. Still, at least the class looks quite awesome.%Gallery-35033%%Gallery-35034%
A diversity of worlds in newest The Old Republic developer video
There are already many diverse worlds in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and so it's probably fitting that this newest developer dispatch video is named just that: Diverse Worlds. Tython is the ancient forgotten home of the Jedi, full of forests and mystery. Korriban is similarly the home of the Sith, but its lands are thematically angular, painful, deadly and dry. Hutta is a literal swamp of filth and decay, while Ord Mantell is almost a paradise in some places and yet a living volcanic hell in others.And that's without getting into the story of each world and what choices can be made by the players.With four planets revealed, we've begun to wonder how many more BioWare is keeping close to their chest. It's a big galaxy out there, so we wouldn't be surprised to find that less than half of the game's worlds have been touched upon. To see Star Wars: The Old Republic's developers get all chatty about their work, check out the video in its entirety after the break.
The Old Republic shows potential for more than good versus evil
BioWare has been touting their focus on story with Star Wars: The Old Republic, and many a jaded MMO fan have scoffed and or rolled their eyes each and every time. Ord Mantell's developer diary concerning the planet's creation gives a glimmer of hope that there truly is a blurry line between the forces of the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire.Instead of making Ord Mantell an Empire controlled planet with Republic rebels attempting to overthrow it, the development team went the other direction, sort of. They made the choice of keeping the planet under Republic control, but making many of the leaders less-than-honorable types. The locale has also been malnourished by its caretakers, as the Republic is seemingly only concerned with Coruscant after the war.
Let the Wookiee win in Threat of Peace issue #5
When creating an "Awesome Star Wars Meal" make sure you remember to add in a heaping helping of Wookiees, explosions and Bounty Hunters. Do this, and you'll have a winning formula to keep your readers/watchers/players interested in whatever it is you may be planning for their entertainment future.Of course, make sure that you deliver on this stew with a main course that really packs of satisfying punch. You wouldn't want the rapid anger of a Star Wars fan to leap onto and assault your body in a fit of moist, fisty rage. Most, if not all of these cases do not end well, and require severe levels of ultimately fruitless medical attention.Nobody wants that.You can find issue five (and it's previous issues, of course) over at the official Star Wars: The Old Republic website. Enjoy.
Star Wars: The Old Republic reveals Ord Mantell as its newest planet
BioWare has revealed Ord Mantell as Star Wars: The Old Republic's newest planet via a flurry of screenshots, concept art and even a new wallpaper. It reminds us a lot of Dantooine from the original KOTOR game, but with a little more going on than a Jedi Academy and tons of grass.Don't get us wrong because we enjoyed or original stay in Dantooine, but reading the lore piece on Ord Mantell is causing a noticeable unnatural buildup of saliva. Embroiled in a ruthless civil war? Mountainous plains and volcanic islands? A corrupt government? These are all the makings of a wonderfully fun adventure for any player of either faction.We're mostly excited about the ongoing battle between the Republic loyal old government and separatists looking for independence. As the marauders, Nar Shaddaa black market tech and elite Republic forces are all likely to be converging just as we -- and you -- arrive on the planet once Star Wars: The Old Republic launches sometime in the hopefully not-too-distant future.%Gallery-35033%%Gallery-35034%%Gallery-35036%
The Old Republic's Threat of Peace issue #3 roils with opposite of peace
And so the plot moistens. We say moisten because much like a moist and delectable cake, the third issue of Star Wars: The Old Republic's Threat of Peace webcomic is filled with sweet, sweet filling -- otherwise known as lightsaber battles and political intrigue.Between these weekly free comic updates and the newly revealed (and immaculately voiced) historical timeline, we're likely to overdose on this MMO even before we get our hands on it. Speaking of which... when do you suppose that'll be BioWare? We heard PAX was a pretty great place to let people try out cool games. And you know, the people of Seattle are almost cousins to Canadians!Check out the third issue right here, and while you're enjoying that we'll continue to keep our eyes trained for any other updates for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The Old Republic's timeline as voiced by Lance Henriksen
If there's one thing a self indulging Star Wars fan knows, it's that lore is bountiful in our favorite science fiction pastime. So it comes as little surprised that a series high quality weekly webcomics just isn't enough for Star Wars: The Old Republic. BioWare has gone the distance and begun to put forth an audio timeline leading up to the current peace between the Galatic Republic and Sith Empire.The historical record will be spoken by Master Gnost-Dural, Keeper of the Jedi Archives, who is in turn voiced by actor Lance Henriksen. BioWare fans will recognize him as the voice of Mass Effect's Admiral Hackett of the Human Systems Alliance. As for how many of these we should plan for, looking at the timeline reveals several more historical points (we counted 18) that took place before this inaugural first.We'll try to feign a little surprise when "history" from the Knights of the Old Republic RPGs crops up somewhere in here, although hopefully it'll be more than a recap of those game's storylines.
