Video Games

There is a new trailer released today from Bio-Ware for their upcoming game Star Wars: The Old Republic, a massive MMO set to premiere on New Years Eve in 2011. It provides a very quick history in typical trailer format of how the characters got to this point. The video does a fair job of showing the battle sequences in addition to the peaceful scenarios with some very stunning scenery to back it all up. There is also looks at many of the character classes that will be available too.

We haven’t really seen any humor in the game thus far until now. One of the robot fighters in the video says as “Set prejudice to maximum” before firing. This is an old military term, to destroy with extreme prejudice.

We think this is probably the best trailer out thus far in selling the game to the public. You can view it below.

Guilds are a staple of the MMO world and Bio-Ware wants to make sure that they are no exception. But instead of waiting for the game release for players to get their guilds going, they’ve opened up Guild Headquarters in three phases before the 12/31/2011 release of the game. The first phase is to join an already existing guild that you think you would be compatible with, or you can begin your own guild with its own members, that you can recruit. The choice is yours. The second phase will allow guilds to align with eachother to build alliances and finally in the third phase, the guilds that have what it takes will be put into the roster area where other players can join as they enter the game. Players will be free to withdraw from a guild or join a new one at any time, but can only belong to one at a time for each character they control. This means that they can have multiple characters belonging to multiple guilds, but...

If any of you watched Caprica, there was a virtual world in the game called New Cap City and in it the rule was that if you died in the game world, you were permanently banned. While MMO’s have yet to go that far, the new Salem MMO gets pretty close with its permadeath scenario. If you get killed, you do not get resurrected, but have to begin all over again. This draconian method may sit well with experienced players who know how to avoid getting killed, but not so much for the newbies, who everyone knows are easy bait in the MMO’s for some rude fun by the experienced.

Ever since MMO’s were invented, there was always those that got the upper hand at the start and then play by hassling and fragging other players weaker than themselves. While battles will certainly be a big part of the Old Republic, they want to give newbies a fair shot, a chance to take a risk, as winning over someone more experienced can be a satisfying experience. Going back to start is...

2010 brought some lackluster news for Star Wars gamer fans. Force Unleashed II did not live up to its potential and Kinect Star Wars got pushed back to 2011. But there is a lot of hope in the galaxy that the future will shine like a well lit lightsaber and make up for the past with the release of several great titles we’ve been waiting for. Here we will look at this year’s announced games so far.

Star Wars has always had a relationship with Lego from the physical blocks and models found in their toy sets to games and software where Lego characters live in the virtual world of George Lucas. And now TT Games is working on putting the finishing touches on Lego Star Wars III, their latest adventure. This time, the action will focus on the Clone Wars taking various elements from not only the film Attack of the Clones, but also the animated series that has been running with great success on the Cartoon Network. The game features a new engine with updated...

Bioware, who created Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, will be releasing a full MMO called Star Wars: The Old Republic. Rumored to have cost over 100 million so far, the game is set to be released in Spring 2011. It will feature fully realized interactive worlds that takes place 3500 years before Episode IV when the Sith and the Jedi are at odds, even despite a peace treaty, in which battles are still raging on, threatening the ability to end the war.

Upon entering the world, the player will choose their character class and have the ability to change the look and race of their avatar based on the class they have chosen. Classes include Jedi Knights, Sith Warriors, Jedi Consulars, Smugglers, Troopers, Sarlacc Enforcers, Bounty Hunters, Imperial Agents, and Sith Inquisitors. The one you select will put you initially on the light side or dark side, but your fate isn’t locked in at the start. The decisions you make throughout the game will also determine...

The Force Unleashed II continues the story of Starkiller, despite the fact that he was killed in the first game. Darth Vader, upset that his apprentice did not finish the job of helping him to take over the universe, decides to clone him and leave him on a distant world. With very little memory of his former life, he must fight back against the Dark Lord and find his past love Juno Eclipse (who was a pilot in the first game).

The new adventure is an onslaught of action with wave after wave of enemies that Starkiller has to destroy. There is more variety in this one, giving you many more enemies to take down with your force powers, but the constant fighting will leave some players bored with little in between. This makes the game considerably shorter than the first one, almost to the point of being too short for experienced players.
In 1986, Disney was very interested in a ride where they could use a military simulator, often used for pilot training, to create an attraction in which visitors would literally ride through scenes from a film. Initially, the movie was to be Black Hole and it would follow the journey of the Cygnus through the vortex. While it sounded exciting on paper, the cost and the fact that the film had limited popularity made it very impractical. But Imagineering didn’t forget about the idea.