Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
There was a beta of The Old Republic this weekend, and apparently it swayed at least one non-fan. Pherephassa of MMO Crunch admits right up front to not being much of a Star Wars fan, but the game impressed her anyway, particularly the story, a hopeful sign.
Fusible reports that Lucasfilm is registering domain names around the title Star Wars: Identities. An animated film? The live-action series? Possible, but I suspect some sort of game is the most likely target. (I’ve seen some rumblings lately that LucasArts is looking for folks with experience in flight sims and first-person shooters.)
A new trailer, ‘Signs of War’, for The Old Republic MMO was debuted at New York Comic Con. Darth Hater liveblogged two panels for The Old Republic: the official TOR panel and MMORPG.com’s Q & A session. Also announced was a bumping up of the European release date to coincide with the North American launch – December 20. In related news, the game may have cost about $300 million to develop, or more than double the cost of Revenge of the Sith.
Also at New York Comic Con, Her Universe founder and Star Wars: The Clone Wars voice actor Ashley Eckstein talked about female video gamers, her own favorite games, and hints at getting some video game licenses for the Her Universe lineup.
The interactive Harry Potter website Pottermore, announced in June, has finished enrolling its last beta testers.
I somehow lucked out on hitting the site when one of the Magical Quill qualifying rounds opened. This method involved having the hopeful answer a trivia question and then head to another webpage to find the magical quill. Click on it in time and you’re in! Continue reading “Review: Pottermore needs more… servers”
Gaming fans’ long wait will be over in December: The MMO will launch on December 20 in the U.S./Canada, and December 22 in “European Launch Territories,” whatever that means.
A subscription will cost between $14.99 and $12.99 per month, which I hear is pretty average for an MMO.
Remember the message board kerfuffle in ’09 about gay and lesbian relationships in The Old Republic MMO? Well, it looks like they will be an option – eventually – in The Old Republic after all. Here’s the official statement:
Due to the design constraints of a fully voiced MMO of this scale and size, many choices had to be made as to the launch and post-launch feature set. Same gender romances with companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a post-launch feature. Because The Old Republic is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more companion characters who will have additional romance options.
Given Bioware’s track record, this isn’t a huge surprise, but it’s good to know it is a consideration.
Both the Kinect Star Wars game and the limited edition Kinect Star Wars themed XBox 360 bundle won’t be launched for the 2011 holiday season, Microsoft announced. OXM suggests that the delay is for the best, allowing more time for game development to fix lag-related issues that would leave your Jedi defenseless. No new release date for the Artoo-Detoo skinned game console or the standalone game has been announced.
As the Star Wars Galaxies MMO heads towards shutdown, Sony Online Entertainment has announced that the fate of the galaxy will be settled by the players, reports 1up.com. Player actions will determine whether the Empire or the Rebel Alliance will emerge victorious in the Galactic Civil War with celebrations for the winners and a chance for “going out with a bang” for the losers. Launched in 2003, Galaxies will be shutting down on December 15.
At Penny Arcade Expo this past weekend, a group of Calrissian aficionados held a protest against the lack of Lando in the Star Wars: The Old Republic online game. Members of The Lando Society chanted “Never forget!” and donned mustaches and capes to draw attention to their cause: to ensure that everyone’s favorite baron-administrator (or a distant relative, which is more likely for a game taking place 3,500 years prior to Lando’s time) appear in the upcoming Bioware MMO title.
Want to support their drive to have the galaxy’s smoothest businessman (or his ancestor) included in the game? The Lando Society’s got a petition. Although, judging from this video of the society encountering a TOR developer, Bioware has its own in-house Lando fans, with Lando Calrissian’s moustache and outfit in mind for the game, due to release this holiday season. At least we now know who bought all the excess Lando ‘staches from Celebration V.
After announcing last week that Fantasy Flight Games had obtained the licensing rights for Star Wars-themed RPG, card and miniatures games, it seemed pretty natural for them to be demoing their upcoming titles at Gencon this past weekend. Beasts Of War interviewed Fantasy Flight Games on the two upcoming titles demoed the gaming convention: X-Wing, the miniatures game, and Star Wars: The Card Game. io9 enjoyed their chance to try out a demo version of the starfighter combat minis.
Buzz on Board Game Geek for the card game seems to be positive, especially from the fans of FFG’s other cooperative Living Card Games. But a few CCG gaming friends tried it out and weren’t as positive – was it a poor demo experience (not being told that it was cooperative and not competitive)? Several players remarked on the game having some bad artwork. Hopefully the look and feel will get more polished as they finish it up for its 2012 release. But as a co-op game with all players being the Rebels against the Empire, players seeking to play on the Dark Side of the Force will be left unhappy.
TheHopelessGamer has some pictures of both Star Wars: The Card Game, and X-Wing.
Fantasy Flight Games has picked up the dormant license to produce Star Wars roleplaying, card, and miniature games.
The license was previously held by by Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast, which let it go in 2010. Star Wars roleplaying and card games originated under West End Games and Decipher, respectively, but from what I’ve heard over the years, WOTC’s versions suffered when compared to the much-beloved originals.
Fantasy Flight is launching their Star Wars line with a miniature game, X-Wing, and Star Wars: The Card Game.