Mark Your Calendars

Well the date has been set, The Old Republic will be released in North America on December 20th and in Europe on the 22nd. Of course if you have pre-ordered the game, you would get in a few days early. But this of course is exciting news if you have been following the game and starting to lose hope.

Oh Captain, My Captain

Today being update Friday, I was in for a nice treat. The Smuggler progression video was released, showing off his usual tricks. Including a hilarious Indiana Jones/Harrison Ford reference.

Dirty Gunslinger

With Gamescom winding down, one fan managed to capture an entire round of Huttball in front of a large audience. At 12:20 watch in wonder as the Gunslinger works some magic.

Blue 42!... Set!... Huttball!

Gamescom in Germany is out in full force and the guys at BioWare revealed a new Warzone for The Old Republic. This one being Huttball, basically rugby with death.  Teams grab the ball at the center of the field and try to bring it over the opposing team's endline. Of course while this is happening not only will the teams be trying to kill eachother, the field is set with many traps.

This post is provided by Czerka Corporation. Czerka, brilliant solutions for a brighter tomorrow.

Eternity Vault

Gamescom 2011 in Cologne, Germany began today with press conferences from all the major video game distributors. Of course EA was involved which meant that The Old Republic got some love. Today they had the first live demo of an operation. The developers this time played on the Imperial side as they tried to break through into the Eternity Vault. They also show off the German voice-over for the German attendees.

Where The Hell Am I? #3: Ord Mantell

After a long hiatus since the last 'Where The Hell Am I?', I'm back to explore our favourite galaxy, far, far away. This time we explore the starter planet for the Trooper and Smuggler classes in The Old Republic, Ord Mantell.

Earth-like features of Ord Mantell

This Earth looking planet resides in the Mid Rim within the Blue Jewel System. This is how it got its nickname, The Heart of the Blue Jewel since it orbits the bright blue star called the Blue Jewel. The planet became famous and somewhat of a tourist attraction because of its thick pink cometary cloud which could be seen from space and along with other natural wonders. The main native species called the Mantellian Savrips were largely ignored. The planet's surface was dominated by many mountain chains and volcanic islands. The continent of Worlport was home to many cities and famous for its casinos which garnered about a billion tourists annually.

The streets of Worlport

Discovered by the Corellians, it began as a Rebublic outpost in 12,000 BBY but as time went on better hyperspace routes were created and Ord Mantell's importance diminished which made it a free port for many cargo ships. When the Old Republic era began, most of the Republic forces were gone which lead to large amounts of crime on the planet but after the Treaty of Coruscant the corrupt local government stayed loyal to the Republic. Some Separatist citizens were not happy which started a samll civil war on the planet, which will be the setting for The Old Repulic game.

A Republic military base on Ord Mantell

Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi also had some history on this planet as partners. They solved an investigation of a missing cargo ship which led them to Ord Mantell where they found the crime lord Taxer Sundown. During the Clone Wars, the planet was used for storage, fleet and barracks facilities. In the Empire era Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca found Imperial outposts on the planet even though the planet claimed to be free of Imperial interests.

A dusty spaceport in Ord Mantell, including the Millenium Falcon

Eventually Ord Mantell was accepted in the New Republic but was also the center of Separatist interests for years to come. For all the Republic players who visit Ord Mantell I hope to see you in game.

The Jedi Have Arrived

It took them a while but the staff at BioWare finally released a Jedi Consular class video. And WOW. It really looks amazing and with the music it really plays with your emotions. But enough chatter, watch it.

They also released a second video of the highlights from Comic-Con. If you check 2:12 you can see the boys from EpicMealTime playing. SMART!

Red Tails

LucasFilm is set to release a new movie in 2012. Does this mean another Star Wars movie? Another Indy flick? No, it will actually be the first non-Star Wars or Indiana Jones film produced by LucasFilm since 1994's Radioland Murders. No, this movie is moving on to the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first group of African American combat pilots to serve in the U.S. military, starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, and Bryan Cranston. The WWII drama will hit theaters January 20, 2012.

R2-Xbox

If you have not seen it yet, the Xbox 360 is getting a Star Wars makeover. Announced at Comic-Con, the Xbox itself will be in an R2-D2 skin while the controller will have a C-3P0 casing. It will also come with the Kinect but in white. The reason for the makeover is for it to coincide with the release of Star Wars Kinect. When the disc tray opens you will be greeted by the familiar R2-D2 "bleep boop" sound which is pretty cool. The whole package comes to $449.

The Esseles

The Esseles, a Republic transport that carries some of the most high-profiled members of the Galactic Senate across the galaxy, has come under siege from the opportunistic Grand Moff Kilran. This is the setting for the first Republic Flashpoint you can experience in The Old Republic. You get your chance at around level 9. This walkthrough is only a portion of the entire flashpoint so expect more when you play.

Han and Chewie

Harrison Ford was on Jimmy Kimmel recently to promote his new movie Cowboys & Aliens but as he is in the green room he welcomes an uninvited guest.

Seems Han and Chewie haven't been on good terms since defeating the Empire.

Join The Fight

Comic-Con 2011 began yesterday and Star Wars: The Old Republic held its panel. It showed off some reveals like voice actors, companions and mounts but most importantly they unveiled the pre-orders to the public. Along with those reveals they premiered a new in-game trailer called Join The Fight.

Pre-Order NOW!!!

Some really big news coming from the SW:ToR website today. Pre-orders are now available from official distributors and of course EA's Origin online store. The Standard Edition comes at $60, Digital Deluxe Edition is $80 and the Collector's Edition will be $150. What comes in each edition has been mentioned in the leaks earlier this week in my previous post. Also with each pre-order comes an early start to the game and a colour stone that could change the lightsaber and blaster bolt colour. As of now the Collector's Edition is sold out on Origin and Amazon.

You can check it out for yourself here: http://www.swtor.com/preorder

Leaks... Leaks Everywhere

As I am currently in pain from removing my wisdom teeth while I'm writing this, it seems that pre-order information on The Old Republic will be spilt during this week at Comic-Con. Box art images have leaked onto the Internet with a little bit of pre-order info. Polish website Empik Media released the box art and it actually looks wonderful. It seems to be legitimate as it is very well done and follows the usual Star Wars template. It is a bit of a mix between the original Knights of the Old Republic cover and the movie posters. See for yourself.

Spanish website Xtralife released an image of the collector's edition information although it is not confirmed but this also looks a legitimate image. I let you see for yourself what the collector's edition will include...

In case it's too small to read, I have provided a typed out version:

LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION INCLUDES:

* Exclusive Gentle Giant Darth Malgus statue

* Star Wars: The Old Republic game discs in collectible metal case
* The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural annotated by Satele Shan
* Old Republic galaxy map
* Custom Security Authentication Key (i.e. Authenticator)
* Exclusive Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic CD
* High-Quality Collector's Edition Box

INCLUDES 7 ADDITIONAL DIGITAL ITEMS:
* Flare Gun: Fire flares into the air
* Training Droid: Hovers at your side for combat assistance
* HoloDancer: Project your own holographic dancer
* HoloCam: Keep visual records of in-game adventures
* STAP: Sleek and unique in-game vehicle
* Exclusive Mouse Droid: Spun-ky droid to join your adventures
* Exclusive Collector's Edition Store: Unique in-game vendor with a dynamic assortment of items

According to the picture, the game will be on 4 Discs, which I can only assume are DVDs - given the size of the game.

A Great Beginning

Last Friday The Old Republic website released a developer blog on how they created the intro cinematic cut scenes for each character class. They specified on how much they wanted to imitate the original Star Wars title scroll down to the exact font, speed, spacing and margins. They had used the Empire Strikes Back scroll as their model. The developers showed what was to be expected by releasing a portion of the Sith Warrior Class Introduction:

They also included a sort of making of video for the smuggler class introduction:

Episode I: The A Cappella

Some clever guys came up with the idea to turn the lightsaber fight between Darth Maul, Qui Gon Jinn and Obi Wan into an a cappella. With their own voices they replaced the score, sound effects and dialogue to make an entertaining video.

Fleet Commander

If you want to feel like Admiral Ackbar during the films then I have found the perfect game for you. A Star Wars concept game called Fleet Commander is a touch-screen game on a 20 foot multi-touch display. It  designed by computer science grad student Arthur Nishimoto and developed at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois in Chicago. But of course you want to see it, so watch the video and don't worry it's not a trap.

Galaxies Fall To The Old Republic

As most would suspect, the reason for Star Wars Galaxies closure was due to The Old Republic. Over Entertainment held its SOE Fan Faire in Las Vegas. SOE's President John Smedley indicated that Galaxies was closing because of the upcoming release of BioWare's MMO.

" ‘It was time to turn it off. We have a contractual relationship that’s ending in 2012, The Old Republic launching, a bunch of other business things with LucasArts,’ Smedley said. ‘And then you look at the odds of a pretty large portion of the audience moving to TOR, which looks like a terrific game. I think that’s going to be really well-received by the population.’ "

Who knows, maybe eventually TOR will shut down MMO giant World of Warcraft.

The Padawan Menace

Cartoon Network has (sort of) unveiled the new Lego Star Wars special called The Padawan Menace. It will air at 7pm EST on July 22nd. Initial reports were saying that it would be released in fall but an updated press release indicated the it would debut sooner. It is planned to be a half an hour special and would be repeated throughout the weekend.

Call Of Duty: Galactic Warfare

If you are waiting on the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic and you have a copy of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare lying around, well, you're in luck. A modding group called BlackMonkeys have been creating their own mod to the franchise for the better part of two years. The mod consists of modern warfare in a Star Wars skin. The mod comes with seven different maps straight out of Star Wars: Mos Eisley, Bespin, Bestine, Not a Cave, Jundland, Junland Dusk, and Anchorhead. It will also include the many characters, armor and weapons from the Star Wars Universe. It looks like it could Battlefront 3, although I'm not sure if there are any lightsabers.

Green Peace Denied

So a few days ago I posted the Green Peace-Volkswagen-Darth Vader spoof ad. Although it seems to be blocked by LucasFilms following copyright complaints. The ad was used to attack Volkswagen and their now famous commercial for their environmental credentials. Volkswagen did get the O.K. to use Darth Vader and the "Imperial March" in their ad while Green Peace did not.

Choose

Also, yesterday on The Old Republic's YouTube channel, they released the "Choose" cinematic trailer. This trailer was shown during EA's E3 press conference. It shows both sides of the war leading up to the events of The Old Republic while including footage from the three cinematic trailers.

The Great Hunter

It's update Friday on the Star Wars: The Old Republic website. This week they're dealing out a new trailer of the progression of the bounty hunter class. The class has tons of armor and a lot of explsives and guns, so if you wish to tear up a certain place, bounty hunter would be perfect for you. Also, if you had a major Boba Fett fantasy, that could work too.

GreenPeace Strikes Back

I'm sure you remember the Volkswagen commercial with the miniature Darth Vader. Well GreenPeace at the moment is not too pleased with Volkswagen after they opposed European emmision laws. So they decided to make their own Star Wars parody ad by depicting Volkswagen as the Empire.

Star Wars E-Books

It was announced yesterday that today many of the Star Wars novels will make their way to electronic form. The publisher Random House along with LucasArts made the announcement listing over 150 books to choose. The books can be purchased from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. LucasArts created an ad which can be viewed here.

Goodbye, SWG...

In response to my last post, this woman made a video of her reaction to Star Wars Galaxies shutting down. She becomes very emotional about what she loved about the game and how much she played the game. Although, she goes on the offensive by not only attacking Sony Online Entertainment and LucasArts but also Star Wars: The Old Republic and Bioware, as if it was their fault. So enjoy, cry but most likely laugh.

R.I.P. Galaxies

As Star Wars: The Old Republic is anticipating its own release the original Star Wars MMO, Galaxies, is finally nearing its end. Star Wars Galaxies was released in 2003 and today still has a devoted following. But today Sony announced that servers will shut down on December 15th. Sony released this statement:

"The shutdown of SWG is a very difficult decision, but SOE and LucasArts have mutually agreed that the end of 2011 is the appropriate time to end the game," the companies said in a statement. "We are extremely grateful to all of the SWG fans. We have had the rare opportunity to host one of the most dedicated and passionate online gaming communities, and we truly appreciate the support we've received from each and every one of you over the course of the past eight years."

The King of Alderaan

In today's Friday Update The Old Republic website released a new video of a Republic conclusion to the World Arc on Alderaan. Republic forces must collaborate to bring down King Ulgo of Alderaan for the planet to support the Republic. To do so, they must infiltrate the Royal Castle, take down the large number of trained guards and eventually kill King Ulgo. The video shows all four Republic classes including the Twi'lek Smuggler who gives a nice knee to the groin of a poor guard.

Many Bothans Died To Bring Us This Information

LucasFilms and Epic Ink, a publisher of rare, special edition books, is set to release a collection of original blueprints from the Star Wars movies. This collection will feature over 200 original production design blueprints from all six films. This is the first time the blueprints would be released from the LucasFilms Archives with over 500 photos included. It will feature all of the most iconic sets in Star Wars like the Millenium Falcon, the Death Star, the Cantina, the forests of Endor and even the blueprints of R2-D2 and X-Wing fighters and many, many more. But don't expect it to come without a price, they go on sale in November for the price of $500. You can pre-order it now at http://www.theblueprintsbook.com. Too bad those poor Bothans didn't have this deal.

Turning to the Dark Side

If you ever felt like the Jedi Order was not for you, this video will show you how to go from a Jedi hero to a Dark Side Devil. In just 3 easy steps you can join the fellowship of the Sith. And remember: Everyone is out to get you.

My Most Anticipated Planets in TOR

After showing that top 10 video yesterday I was sort of inspired to make my own top 10 TOR related video. So I thought I would make it on the topic that I enjoy the most, planets and exploration. So I quickly put together a video of my most anticipated planets in which to play on. I used planet videos from the Holonet and edited with good ol' Windows Movie Maker. So this is my actual creation and I hope you enjoy.

Top 10 Reasons to get excited for The Old Republic

A user that goes by the handle "domslife" put together a great and informative top 10 list of reasons why he's interested in playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. It sheds light on the size of the planets, companions, crew skills and other subjects in the game.

#Winning

Today The Old Republic website showed off how well received they were during this years E3. TOR was one of the most popular games that was presented at E3 and it will be its last showing there. It won numerous awards from websites and publications. The awards ranged from best PC game, best MMO and best trailer. Electric Playground even named it best of E3. Congratulations to the TOR team and I look forward to the release of the game this year.

The Old Republic receives its gold stars and ribbons

Another TV Show?

George Lucas doesn't wasnt to stop releasing Star Wars TV shows. Firstly, an animated special is in the works but based on the LEGO Star Wars video game series. The LEGO video game series is popular for its childish and humorous gameplay. It is slated for a Fall 2011 release. But apparantly another animated series is being produced called Star Wars: Detours. It has been said that the new animated series would "complement 'The Clone Wars', taking 'Star Wars' in a completely new and fun direction." This may be the rumoured Seth Green produced Star Wars Robot Chicken-esque, comedy show that has been thrown around. But one thing's for sure, that there is no end of Star Wars in sight.

3-D No More?

So the 3-D re-releases may not actually all be released. Producer Rick McCallum said that only one movie, The Phantom Menace, may get the 3-D treatment. It depends on how successful the movies are and if they can't get the money, they can't make the 3-D. It bothers me though since they're releasing The Phantom Menace first since most people would want to see the original trilogy more, but I do understand that they want to do it in chronological order.

Live Action TV Show On Hold For 3-4 Years

More news is coming out on the live-action Star Wars TV show. George Lucas said that filming would most likely take place in the Czech Republic but the bad news is that were going to have to wait about 3-4 years for the show to come out. The reason is because they want the technology that they have in mind to become cheaper since this is TV and not the movie screen. This is exactly why he waited those many years to create the Star Wars prequels. The time period in which this will be set will be between episodes 3 and 4. Lucas says that it wont focus on the main characters of the movies. He also has 50 hours of third-draft scripts ready to go, so hopefully by the time he starts shooting, the stories will be in depth and very entertaining. More info can be found here.

Where The Hell Am I? #2: Christophsis

To get away from all this E3 craziness we travel back to the Outer Rim Territories of the Galaxy. Deep in the Savareen Sector sits a blue-green planet named Christophsis.

The beautiful view of Christophsis from space

The planet gets its colour from the massive hexagonal crystals that cover its surface. These crystals are important to the planet as they also can be used as lightsaber crystals. Also, using these crystals to build cities with the aid of the crystals for support. The crystal spires were ideal to make buildings out of and some of these cities were able to be seen from space. A few number of asteroid belts surround the Christoph system making the early history of the planet dangerous for a number of asteroid tragedies. But as time went on technology was developed to control the dangerous meteors. The asteroid belts also made for great mining facilities to boost the Christophsis economy.

The crystals on the surface are visually spectacular

During the Clone Wars the capital city of Christophsis was Chalcydonia and another big city was Crystal City. Crystal City was the setting for a major battle between the Republic and the Separatists in the Clone Wars.

The buildings of Christophsis were made of the natural crystals

Other than a few mining events, Christophsis' history was not too exciting until the Clone Wars had begun. Christophsis was a main setting for the Clone Wars movies and appeared in a few more episodes throughout the series. The Separatists wanted Christophsis to join their cause and ordered them to submit to the Separatist Rule and sent many battle droids to help. The Christophsians asked the Jedi to come to their aid while some of the population had to defend for themselves.

A few Christophsians try to hold off Separatist battle droids

The Jedi arrived including Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker and after a few days, they faught off the Separatist Army. But the retreat did not last long as the Separatists kept pressing but eventually the planet was liberated with the help of Anakin's new padawan Ahsoka Tano. It was a costly victory, but a victory nonetheless for the Republic.

That's All Folks!

E3 is finally over and all of the big electronic companies have shown what to expect for gaming in the next year. We had a new Nintendo console called the WiiU and a new portable Playstation system named PSVita. Games like Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim wowed audiences over the past week generating anticipation for their releases. But my most aniticipated game, The Old Republic, had a variety of information releases including an amazing cinematic trailer, some gameplay on Tatooine and Alderaan (some of the most iconic planets of the Star Wars Galaxy) and the introduction of their take on raids called Operations. Today the TOR website released on video on many features that would be expected to find when playing. I have never been more excited to play a video game in my entire life.

Tatooine Artifacts

The E3 videos just keep on coming and the latest one released on the SW:ToR website is a beauty. It is a walkthrough of part of an Imperial quest on Tatooine. The game was shown through a Sith Sorceror's perspective (relatable to Darth Sidious). The background of the quest is to find artifacts that the Czerka Corporation had left on Tatooine hundreds of years before, and if you played the original KoTOR then you would be familiar with Czerka. But players need to first track down another Sith to get to the artifact. It really shows how well written this game is since this is just a simple quest and yet very interesting. It also shows off some companion, mount and party options available.

The Other Star Wars Game

Star Wars: The Old Republic is not the only Lucas Arts game to be shown at this years E3. Star Wars Kinect shows off the abilities of the Kinect by being able to use motions to imitate a lightsaber swing or control spaceships or pod racers.

E3 Continues

So the secretive Old Republic developers have released some information on end-game content. They released a little information on raids or as they call them, Operations. In the one Operation that they revealed is an ancient prison on Belsavis that could be a greater threat to both the Empire and the Republic than the war. The Operation is called The Eternity Vault and they released a trailer along with it.

Gameplay Footage!

Tons of information has been spilled today during E3. Nintendo had its press conference this morning and unveiled the WiiU. The developers at Bioware had a live stream going with a little play through on Tatooine and some Q&A. Most importantly we learned that the Bounty Hunter has a Jawa companion named Blizz. Ooootiiiniii! Now a lot of gameplay footage of The Old Republic has made it's way to youtube and it is looking better than ever. This first video is of a Sith Marauder taking down some sand people on Tatooine.

The following video is from GameSpot who interviewed Daniel Erickson who is the lead writer on the game and he shows new footage of the beautiful Alderaan.

I'll definately find more footage and news on The Old Republic as E3 goes on so check back here later on.

Return

E3 begins tomorrow but major press conferences are in full force with Microsoft, Sony, EA and Ubisoft presenting some demos and trailers today. Star Wars: The Old Republic presented a mash-up of all the cinematic trailers released called "Choose" but on the actual SW:ToR website they released a new full length cinematic trailer, which in my opinion is the best of the three. It depicts a younger Satele Shan and Darth Malgus as the Sith Empire has returned to reclaim their ancient home of Korriban. It also has my favourite class, the always bad-ass Smuggler.

It's Friday! Friday!

The Old Republic website released more information today on update Friday. The first bit of information was the preview to E3, and it looks were going to get another cinematic trailer. They will have their whole presentation to the press this Monday which you can stream on ea.com. Next up was the new Old Republic comic by author Alexander Freed called The Lost Suns. This series will feature Theron Shan, a Republic spy who infiltrates the Sith Empire. He is also the son of Satele Shan, the Jedi Grand Master, who is seen in the Hope cinematic trailer. Alexander Freed is a senior writer on The Old Republic and was responsible for the other Old Republic comic, Blood of the Empire. And lastly, the Advanced Classes page was refurbished and it includes more information including all the skill trees for each of the Advanced Classes. All the stories can be found here.

Behind the Prequels

If the Star Wars prequels did not seem the same to you as the original trilogy, I come with answers. Apparantly the real George Lucas was kidnapped for 20 years as an imposter took his name. The real Lucas escapes, and he's back, with a vengeance. Viewer Beware: Jar Jar Binks with a lightsaber.

LEGO Sandcrawler

Look at what the pesky Jawas have now created. One of the best Star Wars LEGO pieces I have seen, a functional Sandcrawler. It took the creator, Marshal Banana, nine months to build using 10,000 LEGO blocks. In the video it doesn't look that big but it's actually a meter long. Most impressive indeed.

The Prohibited Lightsaber Duel

What has high school become if you can't have lightsaber duels to the death in the cafeteria? Apparantly two senior boys got suspended for doing just that, well sorta, at Westfield High School in Westfield Massachussetts. Two boys were taking part in a fake lightsaber duel with toys during their lunch break and each recieved 10-day suspensions and missing their graduation activities, pretty harsh right? I don't know if it's because it's a dangerous activity or because they had terrible choreography. But rage not, the suspension has been lifted due to many protests from other classmates including a Facebook page, which is the appropriate thing to do these days. I can see their graduation now... the two boys walking down the center aisle of giant hall between all their fellow classmates... recieving their diplomas from Princess Leia... as Chewbacca howls in jubilation...with John Williams conducting the ceremony... wait... nevermind. See the whole story here.

Save The Lars Homestead

Deep in the deserts of Tunisia rests a piece of Star Wars history. Some scenes from A New Hope were filmed there including one of the most memorable scenes, "The Binary Sunset". The set for the scene is still mostly intact, especially the Lars Moisture Farm Homestead. But over the 30 plus years the igloo like building has recieved some damage so a few Star Wars fans have decided to take initiative and make a charity to restore the iconic building. Their aim is to raise $10,000 and they are not far off, so if you are interested more information can be found here.

Jedi A-Holes

So Freddie Wong is a pretty big deal on YouTube. He does some of the best special effects you will see on the site from user-generated content. Now he's finally made a Star Wars video... but it's not what you think it would be.

Where The Hell Am I? #1: Taris

I'm going to begin a new series on this blog called "Where the Hell Am I?". It will be used to explore the many planets, moons, stars, asteroids, space stations, etc. within the Star Wars Galaxy. The range and the amount of planets really intrigue me and it is one of my favourite aspects of the Star Wars Univerise. Makes sense since I am a geography and environmental science major.

Deep in the Outer Rim territories resides the most memorable planet from the Knights of the Old Republic game, Taris.

The vast cityscape covers all of Taris

Originally it was called the "Coruscant of the Outer Rim" due to the planet being entirely covered by one giant metropolitan city. But, like usual, in large cities you will find a great range in social classes in the population. Poverty became apparent therefore leading to restrictions on the lower class population. Only the higher classes were allowed to live in the Upper Levels of Taris. 

The beautiful Upper Levels of Taris

The residents in the Lower Levels had to become used to the crime and poorer living conditions. Cantinas and swoop bike races became rampant as did overpopulation. Aliens other than humans were prevalent since they were also excluded from the Upper Levels. Although these residents were not the worst off on the planet. Just above the sewer systems was the Undercity.

The disease infested Undercity

The Undercity was made of outcasts who were families that were banished for crimes or other reasons. These people never have seen natural light due to the monstrous size of the buildings. Disease was also prevalent especially the Rakgoul Disease. This turned people into semi-humanoid beasts, basically like a hyper form of rabies. During the Jedi Civil War, Darth Malak ordered to have the entire planet destroyed, which accounted for a countless amount of casualties.

Darth Malak's powerful attack

300 years later the planet is a wasteland, with plant life beginning to grow around the surrounding ruins of the many buildings. The Rakgouls have multiplied making the planet very hostile. But the Republic is set on re-colonizing the planet. Small outposts are setup and this will be the setting for The Old Republic.

A planet re-building

This is the planet I am most excited to play within the The Old Republic. I'm very excited to see how the planet had turned out and should make for a great exploratory experience.

tl;dr Taris is pretty cool and interesting.

I Have A Bad Feeling About This...

With the new Star Tours ride and spectacle at Disney World things could not get worse... I really have nothing left to say.

Super Troopers

In today's friday SW:ToR update, the developers released a Trooper Character progression video and I must say that it looks bad-ass. Even the music got me really excited. My first class choice won't be trooper but this video may have changed things. A well-rounded ranged tank would be really fun to play. But I'm sure you would like to judge for yourself, here's the video. Enjoy.

12 More Days

E3 is just around the corner, and I can't be more excited. There are many things to look forward to this year like the second PSP and Wii but what I'm most excited for is The Old Republic. I expect a lot of new information, possibly an open beta, pre-order information and most importantly a release date. MSNBC put together a 20 video playlist of TOR videos that got me very excited. Watch it here.

Live Action TV Show!?.... Not Yet

George Lucas sat down with G4's Attack of the Show to talk about the Star Wars Live Action series and the 3-D re-re-releases of the Star Wars saga. He talks of the Live Action series filming had begun but was put on hold due to production costs. Apparently he is waiting for production to become cheaper since "one must work with about 1/10th of the budget one gets for film". Oh and he also mentioned that the 3-D Star Wars movies will not suck. Hmm....

HAPPY STAR WARS DAY! :)

Exactly 34 years ago a little film was released to the public by the name of "Star Wars". The reaction to it was unexpected and unprecedented. The movie became the most successful of all time at that point. Star Wars has spawned a phenomenon that makes it still very relevant to this day. Star Wars is incorporated in every type of media, be it television, books, comics, games, etc. New generations are continually introduced to the Star Wars Universe by those type of means. Many of the younger children today may watch the prequel trilogy or the Clone Wars TV show. The popularity of this franchise is not even close to diminishing and will continue to be adored for many generations to come. Also since May 25th was the release date of Star Wars, conveniently it is also Geek Pride Day. So be proud and celebrate your geek-ness since you have many rights and responsibilities to uphold:

Rights:

1. The right to be even geekier.
2. The right to not leave your house.
3. The right to not like football or any other sport.
4. The right to associate with other nerds.
5. The right to have few friends (or none at all).
6. The right to have as many geeky friends as you want.
7. The right to be out of style.
8. The right to show off your geekiness.
9. The right to take over the world.

Responsibilities:

1. Be a geek, no matter what.
2. Try to be nerdier than anyone else.
3. If there is a discussion about something geeky, you must give your opinion.
4. To save and protect all geeky material.
5. Do everything you can to show off geeky stuff as a "museum of geekiness."
6. Don't be a generalized geek. You must specialize in something.
7. Attend every nerdy movie on opening night and buy every geeky book before anyone else.
8. Wait in line on every opening night. If you can go in costume or at least with a related T-shirt, all the better.
9. Don’t waste your time on anything not related to geekdom.
10. Try to take over the world!

The Littlest Darth

Does everyone remember the little Vader that appeared in the Volkswagen Superbowl commercial? Of course you have. Well young 6 year old Max Page is at it again. He recently unveilled the new Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga in full mini Darth Vader uniform. He used "the Force" to open a large wall to show the insides of the VW plant to members of the press. He was sort of a celebrity there as well since many people lined up to take pictures with the young sith. And in case you have not seen the Volkswagen commercial, here you go...

The REAL Jedi Academy

Looking to send your force sensitive children to Jedi training? Well you're in luck. The Bucks County Free Library in Northampton has set up their own Jedi Academy. 45 young Jedi hopefuls attended the Academy where they were taught skills, games and recieved rewards. They encountered enemies like Jawas, Tusken Raiders, Boba Fett, a Stormtrooper and of course the big guy, Darth Vader. Kind of rough on the younglings, isn't it? More info here.

Star Tours

The Disney World theme park ride "Star Tours" has been revamped finally after 22 years and opens today to the public. The ride is narrarated by Anthony Daniels (C-3PO). The ride is a simulation that takes the guests to different planets and even the Death Star. The ride's time period is set between the third and fourth episodes. Line ups started at 3am this morning with Anthony Daniels himself greeting guests and signing autographs.

Luke and Anakin's Bionic Hand

Within the Star Wars films, you see many hand amputations, 13 in fact. Luke's was the most memorable while Anakin had his hand cut off many times. Now we are getting closer to this type of technology. After being electricuted at work (force lightning?) Patrick lost the use of his left hand. He swapped his hand for a prototype bionic hand and here are the results:

But can he use a lightsaber?

RRRRAAAAARRARRAAARR

Happy Birthday today to Peter Mayhew who played Chewbacca in the Star Wars films. He turns 67 today. I don't know what the wookie birthday traditions are but I would love to have this:

Oh Ronaldinho

My other love just happens to be football (soccer). Apparantly the Brazilian international's fan site was defaced recently with Ronaldinho's photographs being replaced by images of Osama Bin Laden and our beloved (not really) Jar Jar Binks. I can see the resemblance in the teeth, don't know about Jar Jar's football skills. More infor here: http://news.techworld.com/security/3280409/ronaldinho-website-defaced-with-star-wars-images/?olo=rss

The Old Republic

Bioware will be releasing a Star Wars themed MMO later this year (possibly early 2012) named The Old Republic and I could not be more excited. I've been anticipating this game for years now and following any trickling of news that is released everyday. I've been in love with the Knights of the Old Republic games for some time now and it was amazing to hear that an MMO would be developed on this series. Bioware have almost never gone wrong when developing games so I have a lot of faith in them. I will keep updating this blog with my impressions and thoughts of the game continually as I recieve information.

A New Hope

Welcome! My name is Marcin and I have created this blog for any interesting news, videos, games and articles that relate to the Star Wars Universe. Many of my posts will be specifically aimed at Bioware's MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic as I will update this blog with new information towards the release of the game and continuing onwards after release. I'm excited about this blog and hope to receive feedback from all readers.