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.