In the continuing saga of the Star Wars Galaxies shutdown that we spoke of yesterday, it seems that some players have turned to the Supreme Council, known in some circles as the US legal system, to file a class action suit against Sony Online Entertainment to block the closing. The suit mentions the tactics that the company has taken in response to the petition that was being circulated in an effort to keep the service from shutting down. They have blocked access to forums, singled out a ring leader who they threatened to sue as well as ban permanently and other practices that while designed to silence the opposition to their plan, is doing them more harm than good. The suit is not very likely to succeed due to the fine print in the EULA, which gives Sony the right to basically run their service as they see fit, but you can’t blame them for trying. Best case is that it shows the lengths that Sony is willing to go to shut up their members. The bad PR alone will be harmful even if the suit goes nowhere. The petition, BTW, currently has 2500 signatures.
There is a group of people, as we’ve mentioned before, that want to save the Lars Homestead, a place that served as the set where we met Luke in A New Hope. The site is under threat of being shut down. So people have turned to kickstarter.com to raise money to stop the destruction. A noble cause. And something a watchmaker that who goes by Thomas V is helping out in a unique way. He’s taken sand from the site, the real thing, and put it into a watch which he plans to send to people that pledge $77 or more. You can see what the watch looks like above and get more info, as well as donate to the campaign here.
Everyone knows there is a ton of Star Wars paperbacks and hardcovers out there extending the library and the Lucas Universe well beyond the movies. But up until now, finding them on your favorite electronic reader has been difficult. Lucas has now decided to release a ton of them on just about every reader service around including Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Sony’s Reader and Apple’s iOS which covers iPhones and iPads. 100 titles will debut for $7.99 each from such authors as Kevin Anderson, A.C. Crispin, Timothy Zane and more. The books, since they are electronic, will have bonus content like timelines, Star Wars history, and even selections from other books. The Ebooks Release Blog has a list of what is now available from the Lucas empire with more to come we’re sure.
Premiere Props will be auctioning off pieces of the Death Star and other trilogy props on July 30 & 31st at their headquarters in El Segundo, California. The auction will cover a whole wide range of Hollywood stuff besides Star Wars as well including Mr. Spock’s ears from Star Trek, Robert Redford’s hat from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and even life size figures of Charlton Heston and the Apes including costumes from the 1968 movie. The live auction will begin at 11am (PT) sharp with a viewing of the merchandise at 9am to 11am (PT).
That’s the quick news from around the galaxy. Thanks for reading.
