For the full story check out IGN HERE!
Showing posts with label SWTOR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SWTOR. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
VIDEO GAMES: Worth the Wait
If you don't know by now how much I absolutely adore Star Wars: The Old Republic then you've been living under a rock for the past month. Or you don't visit this site daily which you should definitely see a doctor about. Well it turns out I'm not the only one smitten with this galaxy far, far away as 1.7 million people have subscribed to the new MMO. They also reported that over 2 million copies of the game have been sold which means the ratio of those who purchased the game and those who are keeping their subscription up is extremely strong. It's encouraging because this means that Bioware can start to make money on a project that took roughly $200 million to create and when they make money they can spend money. When they spend money, we get expansions and improvements to the game which results in a better universe for everyone. Funny how that works!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
VIDEO GAMES: Enjoying SWTOR?
You better freakin' be! Because the thing cost $200 million to make! An article on Gameinformer states that in addition to 8 years of work, over $200 million went into developing the hit MMO based in the Star Wars universe. I'm almost level 40 and the sheer amount of content I've already experienced playing only one of the 8 possible classes in the game makes it no surprise to me that the game was so expensive. The range of voice acting is incredible and the world that Bioware has created is one of the most intriguing that I've ever played in. I'm hoping to get to 50 within the next couple of weeks so I can check out the endgame content as it currently stands. Are you playing? Continuing a subscription? Uninterested? Sound off in the comments!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
VIDEO GAMES: The future of SWTOR looks bright.
Well the first game patch of Star Wars: The Old Republic went live yesterday and aside from a few minor hiccups it sounds like everything went pretty smoothly. I'm not 50 yet so I didn't get to try out any of the new content but it certainly looks promising. Hot on the heels of yesterday's release, Bioware has wasted no time in revealing more of what they have planned for the future. Today, via their official website, they released a video that highlights some of the other plans they have for the near future of the game. This includes a Legacy talent tree, Guild Banks, changes to PvP and more. I'm still enjoying SWTOR immensely and I'm excited that it looks like more and more content will be coming quicker than we can handle it.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
VIDEO GAMES: Wait of the Rakghouls
So the first content patch for Star Wars: The Old Republic which was supposed to hit the game last night has been delayed. According to the official community page of SWTOR recent feedback from those playing on the test servers has revealed a few kinks that they want to work out before implementing the patch. I have to commend SWTOR for this move. Obviously this will upset those few players who have completed all the existing content at this point, but it's nice to see that they're more concerned with releasing content that actually works as opposed to just doing whatever they can to "expand" the game. Rise of the Rakghouls will add an additional flashpoint and operation as well as some other things to help keep those players who have finished all the content busy. I think it's still impressive that the game has only been out for a month and they're in the ballpark of releasing content. Although no official date was stated for the new release, it sounds like they're shooting for it to happen within the next couple days.
UPDATE: Well about 2 minutes after I posted this it turns out they've actually announced the maintenance will now take place this evening! So it turns out we'll only have to wait 1 extra day! Thanks to Rex Luther for the heads up. Here's the new article :)
UPDATE: Well about 2 minutes after I posted this it turns out they've actually announced the maintenance will now take place this evening! So it turns out we'll only have to wait 1 extra day! Thanks to Rex Luther for the heads up. Here's the new article :)
Friday, December 30, 2011
VIDEO GAMES: Well that was quick!
If you're anything like me or the millions of other Star Wars nerds out there, you've been getting lost in the world of Star Wars: The Old Republic over the last week or so. Well I'm still only at level 25 and am taking my sweet time leveling up to 50. The amount of content is more than enough to keep me satisfied for months and months but Bioware is already talking about releasing their first content patch next month! That's right, according to their official SWTOR website, Bioware announced that they are shooting to release the patch in January and it will feature a new flashpoint as well as an expanded operation. It sounds like the new flashpoint will send players on a journey to stop a plague from spreading that could be seriously bad news for everyone in the galaxy. They also said the expanded operation will take the current Karagga palace scenario and "more than triple it in size" with three new boss monsters. I'm on vacation up in Oregon until the third so unfortunately I'm on a hiatus from SWTOR but rest assured, I'm hitting it hard for the rest of January once I get home.
Check out the last boss they're throwing into the expanded operation. Yea, that's gunna be fun!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
NN REVIEW: Star Wars: The Old Republic (First Impressions)
Do you remember the first time you ever watched a Star Wars movie? I do. I was about 6 or 7 years old and I watched A New Hope with my parents in our living room. They gave me a toy Millennium Falcon to play with before the movie started and I was flying it around backwards because I thought the big blue part was the front. Then the movie began and I remember being completely awestruck from beginning to end. Never before had I so badly wanted to live in a fantasy world. The idea of flying my own ship, traveling from planet to planet, wielding a lightsaber or blaster and saving the galaxy became something that would forever be one of my dearest fantasies. Well, with Star Wars: The Old Republic, Bioware has fashioned an experience that honors the things that make Star Wars great and offers the most in depth, realistic Star Wars experience we have ever seen.
I stepped out of my space cruiser and ventured onto the remote, swampish planet of Hutta. Rarecandy, a cyborg bounty hunter who somewhat resembled Anakin had been born and I was ready to wreak havoc on anyone who got in my way of attaining credits. The main storyline quickly unfolded before me as I fought to gain the sponsorship of the local Hutt for something called The Great Hunt. A tournament where a bounty hunter could earn eternal glory and riches by being both the hunter and the hunted. Immediately the revelation that SWTOR is completely voice acted sank in and the gravity of that statement took hold. I have played WoW for about six years and the idea that a game even close to that size could feature voice acting not just for the main story line, but for each and every side quest is something that I still cannot fathom. Also, it's not cheaply done! Sometimes in Skyrim the voice acting would be somewhat cheesy or clearly the same voice as another character, but the range of behaviors, voices and emotions from the people in SWTOR is almost too much to comprehend.
One of my first quests sent me to fetch a woman's son from her husband who had kidnapped the boy. All this loving mother wanted was for her son to be shipped off to the Sith academy so he could be trained in the dark side of the force. She had credits to offer, so I asked no questions. Upon tracking down the husband and son I discovered that the father had in fact been to the Sith academy as a youth and was lucky enough to escape. In an attempt to free his son from the torture and probable death that the academy entailed, he begged me to allow them to escape the planet and lie to his wife that I had convinced him to send his son to the academy. As his lifeless body fell to the ground, I told his son to run home to mommy where he would be shipped off to become a Sith. Then I felt something that very few games, much less an MMO have ever caused me to feel...confliction and remorse. But it was too late for Rarecandy, I decided at that moment I would do whatever earned me the most credits and whatever sent me down the dark side. Now my character is level 25 and as he delves deeper into the darkness, his face begins to show signs of shadows and black veins creeping in from beneath. I am becoming evil to the core.
Upon completing the first planet I had reached level 10 and I chose between being a Mercenary who could focus on either dealing damage or healing or being a Powertech who focused on dealing damage or tanking. I chose the side of Mercenary and was presented with three talent trees to choose from while leveling up. The system is straight forward and easy to understand so it's simple to build your character to play the way you desire. There are 4 classes to choose from (Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior, Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor, Trooper/Bounty Hunter or Smuggler/Imperial Agent) and each class offers two, more specific designations to choose from at level 10 which results in basically 8 different classes to play. Obviously the Sith and Jedi are the most popular but there are still a respectable amount of Bounty Hunters, Smugglers, Imperial Agents and such running around. Each class offers a unique type of gameplay and everyone should have no trouble finding a class and specification that fits their play style.
Then there are the planets. Each a respectable size offering a good amount of quests and people to interact with and each with a unique, intriguing environment to truly make you feel like you're on a different planet. You can use your own private ship (which acts as a place to rest, do space missions and even store items) to travel from destination to destination and this is one of the things that makes it feel the most like you are in the world of Star Wars. When you choose a planet to visit you access your ship's holographic map to select a new destination. Upon making your selection, you look out of the cockpit window as you turn away from the planet you are leaving and blast into hyperspace towards the next location. As you come out of your blue tunnel of awesomeness, the next planet materializes in front of you and it really feels like you've experienced what travel in the world of Star Wars would be like. It's the little things like this that Bioware didn't need to put in the game but they make you stop and marvel at the depth and realization that this world offers.
This is starting to get pretty long so I'll wrap it up. Like I said earlier I'm only level 25 so I have a long way to go before I've even experienced a majority of what the game has to offer. Leveling does take a while and it seems like getting to level 50 will eventually take some patience and we may tire of listening to dialogue for each and every quest. I've yet to try the PvP but from what I've heard it's pretty fun but still lacking in player participation from the Republic side at times. Some of the servers are full and at times you may experience a wait time before you can log on but expect this to go away as more servers are created and current servers' maximum capacities are raised.
I can't stress enough to you how great SWTOR truly is. It's the Star Wars game that we have wanted for so long and it finally feels like we may have a lasting environment that we can be swept into for years. The implications of how the game can be expanded are encouraging and the fact that a majority of player complaints are all issues that can be easily fixed in the future is something I think Bioware should be extremely proud of. So if you haven't already, get out there and start your adventure in one of the greatest video games we've had in a long, long time.
I stepped out of my space cruiser and ventured onto the remote, swampish planet of Hutta. Rarecandy, a cyborg bounty hunter who somewhat resembled Anakin had been born and I was ready to wreak havoc on anyone who got in my way of attaining credits. The main storyline quickly unfolded before me as I fought to gain the sponsorship of the local Hutt for something called The Great Hunt. A tournament where a bounty hunter could earn eternal glory and riches by being both the hunter and the hunted. Immediately the revelation that SWTOR is completely voice acted sank in and the gravity of that statement took hold. I have played WoW for about six years and the idea that a game even close to that size could feature voice acting not just for the main story line, but for each and every side quest is something that I still cannot fathom. Also, it's not cheaply done! Sometimes in Skyrim the voice acting would be somewhat cheesy or clearly the same voice as another character, but the range of behaviors, voices and emotions from the people in SWTOR is almost too much to comprehend.
One of my first quests sent me to fetch a woman's son from her husband who had kidnapped the boy. All this loving mother wanted was for her son to be shipped off to the Sith academy so he could be trained in the dark side of the force. She had credits to offer, so I asked no questions. Upon tracking down the husband and son I discovered that the father had in fact been to the Sith academy as a youth and was lucky enough to escape. In an attempt to free his son from the torture and probable death that the academy entailed, he begged me to allow them to escape the planet and lie to his wife that I had convinced him to send his son to the academy. As his lifeless body fell to the ground, I told his son to run home to mommy where he would be shipped off to become a Sith. Then I felt something that very few games, much less an MMO have ever caused me to feel...confliction and remorse. But it was too late for Rarecandy, I decided at that moment I would do whatever earned me the most credits and whatever sent me down the dark side. Now my character is level 25 and as he delves deeper into the darkness, his face begins to show signs of shadows and black veins creeping in from beneath. I am becoming evil to the core.
Upon completing the first planet I had reached level 10 and I chose between being a Mercenary who could focus on either dealing damage or healing or being a Powertech who focused on dealing damage or tanking. I chose the side of Mercenary and was presented with three talent trees to choose from while leveling up. The system is straight forward and easy to understand so it's simple to build your character to play the way you desire. There are 4 classes to choose from (Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior, Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor, Trooper/Bounty Hunter or Smuggler/Imperial Agent) and each class offers two, more specific designations to choose from at level 10 which results in basically 8 different classes to play. Obviously the Sith and Jedi are the most popular but there are still a respectable amount of Bounty Hunters, Smugglers, Imperial Agents and such running around. Each class offers a unique type of gameplay and everyone should have no trouble finding a class and specification that fits their play style.
Then there are the planets. Each a respectable size offering a good amount of quests and people to interact with and each with a unique, intriguing environment to truly make you feel like you're on a different planet. You can use your own private ship (which acts as a place to rest, do space missions and even store items) to travel from destination to destination and this is one of the things that makes it feel the most like you are in the world of Star Wars. When you choose a planet to visit you access your ship's holographic map to select a new destination. Upon making your selection, you look out of the cockpit window as you turn away from the planet you are leaving and blast into hyperspace towards the next location. As you come out of your blue tunnel of awesomeness, the next planet materializes in front of you and it really feels like you've experienced what travel in the world of Star Wars would be like. It's the little things like this that Bioware didn't need to put in the game but they make you stop and marvel at the depth and realization that this world offers.
This is starting to get pretty long so I'll wrap it up. Like I said earlier I'm only level 25 so I have a long way to go before I've even experienced a majority of what the game has to offer. Leveling does take a while and it seems like getting to level 50 will eventually take some patience and we may tire of listening to dialogue for each and every quest. I've yet to try the PvP but from what I've heard it's pretty fun but still lacking in player participation from the Republic side at times. Some of the servers are full and at times you may experience a wait time before you can log on but expect this to go away as more servers are created and current servers' maximum capacities are raised.
I can't stress enough to you how great SWTOR truly is. It's the Star Wars game that we have wanted for so long and it finally feels like we may have a lasting environment that we can be swept into for years. The implications of how the game can be expanded are encouraging and the fact that a majority of player complaints are all issues that can be easily fixed in the future is something I think Bioware should be extremely proud of. So if you haven't already, get out there and start your adventure in one of the greatest video games we've had in a long, long time.
MY EARLY SCORE: 9.5/10
VIDEO GAMES: Believe the hype!
Star Wars: The Old Republic is incredible. It is the closest I have ever felt to actually being in the Star Wars universe and its emphasis on story makes it all the more enjoyable than a traditional level grind in most MMO's. Clearly I'm not the only person who has become obsessed with SWTOR as the games official website just released some pretty mind-boggling stats from the first week of gameplay.
- Over 60 million in game hours have been played! That's the equivalent of watching all six Star Wars movies over 4 million times.
- Over 850,000 Sith Warriors and over 810,000 Jedi Knights created! Now the important thing to remember is that is only Warriors and Knights, there are still six other classes in the game that people have been creating!!!
- Over 260 million quests completed.
- Over 44 million PvP battles.
- Over 9 million space combat missions completed.
- Over 3 BILLION npc's killed!
These numbers are absolutely incredible for a first week, even for an MMO designed to attract as many players as possible. I think the greatest thing about this hype for SWTOR is that it's not oversold. Within the next couple of days I'll write up my "Early Review" of the game and, spoiler alert, I can't get enough of it! So if you haven't already, come join us in a galaxy far, far away!
- Over 60 million in game hours have been played! That's the equivalent of watching all six Star Wars movies over 4 million times.
- Over 850,000 Sith Warriors and over 810,000 Jedi Knights created! Now the important thing to remember is that is only Warriors and Knights, there are still six other classes in the game that people have been creating!!!
- Over 260 million quests completed.
- Over 44 million PvP battles.
- Over 9 million space combat missions completed.
- Over 3 BILLION npc's killed!
These numbers are absolutely incredible for a first week, even for an MMO designed to attract as many players as possible. I think the greatest thing about this hype for SWTOR is that it's not oversold. Within the next couple of days I'll write up my "Early Review" of the game and, spoiler alert, I can't get enough of it! So if you haven't already, come join us in a galaxy far, far away!
Saturday, December 24, 2011
VIDEO GAMES: Star Wars fans are the best.
Why? Because when an awesome new Star Wars game like Star Wars: The Old Republic comes out, we go freaking nuts and do things like flash mobs in the center of New York City. Odds are you've already seen this video of the lightsaber flash mob that took place the other day but it's still pretty awesome. I wish I would have been there to take part because it surely would have been awesome! So watch this video and go play SWTOR if you haven't been because it's truly amazing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)