It is the day before SWTOR launch and it is time to get rid of that scruffy look! Several months ago it became a thing to grow a beard until Star Wars The Old Republic launches. Greg Zeschuk, one of Bioware founders, started growing one, Daniel Erickson had one and we are sure many other working in the game felt it appropriate to grow one. A lot of fans also joined in on the fun (like people from yumfelt.com and torhangout) and stopped shaving until the wait was finally over and the game was out. Guess what – we wouldn’t be Living The Old Republic if we didn’t do a launch beard as well. With a lot of sacrifice and spouse aggro I grew one of my own. This was the first time in my life I had a beard this big. It went really well along with the development of www.swtor-spy.com as well. I decided to shave it the first day of Early Access. It felt appropriate to lose the beard the moment the first people are able to create permanent characters on SWTOR servers. This was a very fun thing for me and I wanted to share this with all the SWTOR fans out there. So, without further ado, SWTOR Launch Beard video – SWTOR Life style:
It is three days before launch and it feels like Christmas. This Friday was the last that we’ll see a regular updated from swtor.com. Bioware took up an amazing responsibility of producing something newsworthy every Friday for about two years now and this is about to change because launch is upon us. To send off the Friday update into its well deserved retirement we were shown the Sith Inquisitor armor progression video (one of my favorite classes) that you can watch below:
The Friday update is gone as such but there is a new feature available on the official site. It is the Community Blog section where developetrs and members of the Bioware team will share their important thoughts and articles with the community at large. The first post on the blog announced launch events to be held in Austin, New York, London and Paris. The event in Austin will be held in Best Buy South Austin and James Ohlen and Rich Vogel will be attending. I am guessing the guys want to be close to HQ if they need to react quickly:). The New York event will feature Bioware’s good doctors Ray and Greg. I wonder if Dr. Greg will share his beard at the event? There is additional information to be found at a special web page located here.
In the meantime the official forums are down and the trolls are lurking the internet in search of new victims. The forums should be back fresh and clean come launch day so don;t despair it is only THREE DAYS AWAY!
Just to make myself perfectly clear. Personally I consider the launch to be when first customers will be able to create their first persistent characters. Early access is exactly that. On the 13th those that pre-ordered early will create characters that will last as long as the game is live. This is the beginning for me despite the “official” launch date is the 20th. I intend to celebrate the 13th by shaving my #launchbeard and hopefully creating my first character. We’ll have videos of that as proof .
Request of the week via twitter: @Astrates sent: @dawnsrose Games as art?
What is art? (From Wikipedia): Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often with symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, photography, sculpture, and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics, whereas disciplines such as anthropology, sociology and psychology analyze its relationship with humans and generations.[1]
So, by that definition I think games can truly be art, and even more so in this day and age where players seem to be craving more and more of an escape from the real world. A game will include almost every part of the modes of expression.
Future Imperial Agents, your prayers have been heard. Bioware finally released the Character Progression video for this class. We can see different skills and armor for different Advanced classes the Agent can pick (Operative or Sniper). There are some blades being pushed into people’s chest. Some orbital bombardment devastation is present. Resurrection of companions was not left out either and at the very end – I will just say “BOOM, headshot” and all you Counter Strike veterans will know. One thing about this video that really “rocked my world” was the music. It is so epic it instantly reminded me of the most epic scenes form the movie Matrix. Enjoy the video below.
Here we go with the trailers again. Just when you think they’ve shown everything they have to show in video form, sans live streaming all 50 levels of the game, Bioware starts another amazing series of trailers. New trailers, including today’s, are focusing on showcasing a single class from each side of the conflict, urging future players to “Choose their side”. Reminiscent of the epic fight between Jango Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi the first trailer pits a Jedi Knight versus a Bounty Hunter class. The trailer consists of commentaries by writers and game designers that designed these classes and we get some great in-game footage of the two fighting it out. Jedi Knight with his “up in your face” combat style and Bounty Hunter trying to keep his distance at all costs makes up for one great trailer full of action. No matter how much make up you apply to it or no matter how many great CGI cinematic you throw out, the in-game stuff is always the best part of any trailer for me. Every time I am reminded why I am a fan of the game, because all in0game footage looks exactly as I imagined it should look. Enjoy the first Choose Your Side trailer and tell me – who wins the fight – Knight or Hunter?
It seems that this trailer is actually the PAX East 2011 trailer. The only difference is the inclusion of the release date at the end of the trailer. The updated trailer was uploaded to Youtube at the time this article was posted and that got me confused as if it is a trailer following up the release date announcement. I knew that the trailer looked familiar, but I did not do my research before posting this article due to all the excitement about the release date announcement. I apologize to everyone for any inconvenience caused.
Along with the announcement of the Release date (which is Dec. 20. 2011.) there is a new SWTOR trailer available proudly displaying the release date at the end. it is combined of footage we’ve mostly seen in other trailers, nevertheless it is exciting. Enjoy Fate of the Galaxy trailer below.
Tonight via the @SWTOR account on twitter I was made aware that Bioware is advertising a sneak peek at the Friday update, a Developer Dispatch having to do with companions.
It is a great one in my opinion, over seven minutes of some of the developers talking about companions and the mechanics revolving around them. Such people as James Ohlen, Daniel Erickson, Georg Zhoeller, and more make this one of my favorite dev dispatches to date.
It is an interview done by Gamespot, very well done and full of information indeed. It talks about customization options, companions with levels and the ability to level them, and many more goodies. If you haven’t seen it yet I highly recommend going to see it or you could just wait till tomorrow……..
The guys at tgnSWTOR on YouTube have made this awesome guide to starships in SWTOR. It is definitely worth a view as it is a great piece of work. Stop on by their channel and give them some love and tell them thanks for all their awesome work.
We’ve heard that it was demoed the first day of GamesCom 2011. Now we get to see the demo video by ourselves in glorious HD. The pit is the latest PvP warzone we are hearing about and it is the place where Huttball matches are being held. Hutball is a vicious sport played where two sides try to pass the ball across the opponents goal line. All moves are allowed including force lightning, stabbing and cheating. See for yourselves in this fun little video showcase of the Pit. I wonder if this is the PvP arena Daniel Erickson told us about in an interview at E3. He mentioned that it is so much fun punting your opponents into fire.
There are also two pieces of news you should all check out. First is a Q&A with Bioware’s good doctors Ray and Greg. They talk about beta weekends and raids and you can check it all out at Ask A Jedi.
There was apparently an impromptu Q&A session held on Twitter with Stephen Reid and Gabe Amatangelo straght from Germany. You can check out the full transcript at Tor Wars
The long awaited Jedi Consular class trailer has finally been made available. The bulky look they gave the Consular in the trailer is really just the way I would like my character to look. I was never a particularly big fan of the Consular (played healer in all other MMOS and I am sick of it, thank you very much), but the visual representation they gave in the video is just awesome. To make the update even better Bioware also released a recap video of SWTOR’s presence at San Diego Comic Con. To see all the new media for the Jedi Consular and learn more about the Shadow and the Sage advanced classes visit the Consular Class page on the official site. You can also find out more about the Consular’s trusted Trandoshan companion, Qyzen Fess. Or you can just watch the trailers bellow.
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