Stage 2 Guild Alignment Begins !

Back in March we initiated our Pre-Launch Guild Program, where members of the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ community could search for already established guilds or register one of their very own through the Guild Headquarters page. We are thrilled to announce that we have begun the second phase of our Pre-Launch Guild Program!

With Phase 2: Alignment, we are introducing new features which allow guilds to set their allegiance with other guilds in The Old Republic. Now a guild leader, along with members who have the proper permissions, can select up to three guilds as either Allies or Adversaries, depending on their faction affiliation. Qualifying guilds that are marked as Allies and Adversaries of other guilds will have the highest chance of being placed in the game together, allowing these guilds to coexist on the same server.

Another feature being implemented with Phase 2 is the ability for guild leaders and members with the proper permissions to invite friends to join their guild via email. You can start recruiting new members today!

To learn more about guilds in The Old Republic, check out the Guilds Game System page for details, and to search for or join a guild, visit the Guild HQ now! Also be sure to visit the Guilds FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions.

To join our guild or set your guild as Allies or an Adversary you can find Squad here or Visit our official guild site here

Gaming Face: G33K & G4M3R GIRLS Video Extended

Gaming Face: G33K & G4M3R GIRLS Video Extended: With the success of The Guild: Do You Wanna Date My Avatar it was only a matter of time before we got more quality geek toons! This will be added to my mp3 collection! check out Team Unicorn's latest song "G33K & G4M3R GIRLS"

Read on 

G33K & G4M3R GIRLS Video Extended

With the success of The Guild: Do You Wanna Date My Avatar it was only a matter of time before we got more quality geek toons! This will be added to my mp3 collection! check out Team Unicorn's latest song "G33K & G4M3R GIRLS"



Featuring the four members of Team Unicorn (Michele Boyd, Clare Grant, Milynn Sarley and Rileah Vanderbilt) and featuring cameos by geek icons Seth Green, Katee Sackhoff and the amazing Stan Lee! Directed by David Yarvo

Download the song on iTunes!:

Lyrics:
Greetings friends….
Don’t you want to meet a nice girl?

(First verse)
I, know a place
Where the gamer scores are so extreme (bloop boop boop!)
Dune, D & D,
Where Rand al’Thor still reigns supreme
Questin’, in Hyrule
Dominating Final Fantasy (Seven) (yeah yeah, siete)
Those boys
Losin’ sleep
Tryin’ ta keep up with our leet speak (what up, n00bs?) (n00b sauce)

Drinking With Jedi, Talking About Combat Styles

After watching the combat video last week it got me thinking about sword fighting styles ingame. I was lucky enough to get to spend some time with the real Jedi from Episodes 2 and 3.

Left to right Adam Gill (friend), Kyle Rowling (Joclad Danva, General Grievous Actor not Voice and Count Dooku body and stunt double ), the sexy Sandi Finlay (Sly Moore), Matt Sloan (PLO KOON), Michael Byrne (Darth Sidious stunt double) and me John Gatt ( Jedi Wannabe).

Will we get a full set of styles to chose from like one hand and two hand dual sabers and duel blades? Will our specials reflect our weapon of choice?

Over a lot of beers Kyle made me appreciate the importance of stage fighting. The techniques are not just about blocking and swinging. You need fineness in the moves and I was reminded of it as I watched Episode 3 last week.

Kyle helped choreograph the final fight between Ben and Anakin and helped to come up with an amazing ending to the fight, but George wanted to keep the final blow simple. In one way, when I see that final blow where Anakin loses an arm and 2 legs I'm like WTF? Show me how he did that, and in another way I appreciative that it's quick and doesn't take away from the drama of Anakin's defection.

In all my gaming years I have seen a lot of sweet moves in games and some of the Jedi styles in SWG were some of the best (pre NGE as for some crazy reason a lot got removed). What I've seen so far from SWTOR is looking good and I hope BioWare have put as much time into special moves as they have in to things like voices.

An interview with Kyle here and an interview with Matt here.

Star Wars: The Old Republic official Rating T for Teen

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Platform: Windows PC

Rating: Teen

Content descriptors: Blood and Gore, Mild Language, Sexual Themes, Violence

Rating summary: In this massively multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing game, based on the Star Wars universe, players engage in a fictional conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Players can choose from classic Star Wars roles (e.g., Jedi Knight, Bounty Hunter, Trooper) and complete quests to determine their path down the light or dark side of the Force. Players use light sabers, laser blasters, and telekinetic powers to battle a variety of human-like enemies and fantastical creatures (e.g., aliens, cyborgs); battles frequently depict characters getting shot with lasers, slashed with light sabers, or shocked with lightning bolts. During the course of the game, players are presented with interactive cutscenes in which their choices play a vital role in the outcome of their story (e.g., using electrical attacks on restrained characters to collect information; killing someone instead of letting him go). Some sequences depict brief instances of blood and gore: to complete one quest, players must dip a skull in a pool of blood; in another mission, players deliver a severed head to a specific location and place it on a pike. Players can freely explore many areas in the game, including clubs that depict scantily clad female dancers with exposed cleavage; some sequences include dialogue with sexual innuendo (e.g., "An hour. I think I'm insulted. We'll need the whole night," "I'll be sure to make conjugal visits," and "Come, dear, let's forgo the nuptials and proceed to the honeymoon."). The words "damn" and "hell" can be heard in dialogue throughout the game.

Online Notice:
Includes online features that may expose players to unrated user-generated content (Windows PC)

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/synopsis.jsp?Certificate=31564

WoW Patch 4.3 Raid Preview: Dragon Soul

Official News on patch 4.3 and Dragon Soul

World of Warcraft patch 4.3 will offer players the opportunity to take the fight to Wyrmrest Temple and beyond, assisting Thrall and the Dragon Aspects as they seek to bring an end to the Black Dragonflight once and for all. 10- and 25-person raids will get to take on Deathwing himself, with three levels of difficulty to consider and epic gear to claim.

Forged by Deathwing during the War of the Ancients, the Dragon Soul harnessed the power of the other dragonflights, until it was ultimately destroyed. After recovering a version of the artifact from the Caverns of Time, Thrall and the allied dragonflights now rally at Wyrmrest Temple in a desperate bid to use its might to defeat Deathwing.

Created by the titans as a sanctuary for all Dragonkind, the crumbling Wyrmrest Temple is now the final hope for the forces allied against the black dragon Neltharion, once the Earth-Warder and protector of Azeroth, now Deathwing the Destroyer. It is here that the remaining aspects -- Alexstrasza, Ysera, Nozdormu, Kalecgos, and Thrall -- have gathered to empower the Dragon Soul -- Azeroth's last chance to stop the great behemoth. As they begin to charge the Dragon Soul with energy, Deathwing and his entire army assault Wyrmrest Temple. Players must thwart the attacking forces long enough for Thrall to charge the Dragon Soul.

Before you face Deathwing the Destroyer, you must prevail against six mighty bosses.

The most powerful elemental still under Deathwing's sway, Morchok -- once a passive guardian -- is now convinced that his only respite will come with Azeroth's demise. Morchok rages against the foundation of Wyrmrest Temple, Azeroth's last beacon of hope in the Hour of Twilight.

Countless ages ago, Warlord Zon'ozz and his soldiers waged endless war against the forces of C'Thun and Yogg-Saron. Millennia have passed, but the warlord still serves the chaotic might of the Old God N'Zoth. Deathwing has now unleashed this legendary faceless one to crush the defenders of Wyrmrest Temple.

Read on!

Use the Force for good!

My kids, my wife and I have have spent some quality time over the last week watching the new Star Wars Blu-ray set. Even though people where having hissy-fits about some of the changes, it's been a popular release. If you have not got a copy yet you need to!

Lucasfilm has done a lot for charity in the past and are at it again, this time by using the Force to fight Cancer!

To kick things off, SU2C celebrity ambassadors Aziz Ansari, Zach Galifianakis, Bill Hader, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Jaime King, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg and Emma Stone – along with Star Wars alum Samuel L. Jackson – have come together to raise awareness for cancer research in a Star Wars inspired all-star video tribute.

In celebration of the September launch of Star Wars TM: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray, Lucasfilm is collaborating with Stand Up To Cancer to Use The Force For Good.

1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes. Stand Up To Cancer’s mission is to deliver new treatments to patients faster, and save lives now.

Help “blast cancer” by sporting the new Stand Up To Cancer line of Star Wars t-shirts. The exclusive t-shirts are available now and can be purchased through to the end of the year. Purchase yours today!

SWTOR Face: Same Sex Romances in SWTOR

SWTOR Face Your News Now!: Same Sex Romances in SWTOR: 

No idea how I missed this last week ... it's a whopper! First let's look at this post on STWOR.com forums by StephenReid: Official statement follows: Due to the design constraints of a fully voiced MMO of this scale and size, many choices had to be made as to the launch and post-launch feature set. Same gender romances with companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a post-launch feature. Because The Old Republic is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more companion characters who will have additional romance options. Read on

Same Sex Romances in SWTOR

No idea how I missed this last week ... it's a whopper! First let's look at this post on STWOR.com forums by StephenReid:
Official statement follows: Due to the design constraints of a fully voiced MMO of this scale and size, many choices had to be made as to the launch and post-launch feature set. Same gender romances with companion characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a post-launch feature. Because The Old Republic is an MMO, the game will live on through content expansions which allow us to include content and features that could not be included at launch, including the addition of more companion characters who will have additional romance options.

So let's recap, there will be same sex romance allowed in STWOR, but not when it's first released, it will come out in an expansion. This raises a whole lot of questions, like what role will romance (same sex or opposite sex) play in the game? SWTOR is being released rated T for teens, but will this change with an upcoming expansion?

People got so mad about the decision to not include same gender romances until post-launch that BioWare had to delete/lock the first 300 posts. Now it's not just bi-sexual and gay people that are pissed off, it's anti-gay people and some parents and the religious conservatives who are getting mad that the content will ever be allowed in the game.

But on the flip side, what if there was no inter-species romance? Would people get as upset? I know a lot of guys in real life that have gone nuts when they see girls dressed up as Twi'Lek's for example. So are we all that desperate that we must have Twi'Lek romance in the release and not patched at a later date?!  

BioWare have gone to great lengths to include romance in RPG games in the past and I even stumbled into a gay love scene in Dragon Age II  that kinda threw me because it was so unexpected!

In case you haven't played Dragon Age II and are not familiar with what I am talking about, let me explain. In Dragon Age II, to unlock certain abilities with your companions, you need to establish relations with them. You do this in the form of conversations. You have choices in what you say to them when you talk about choices and personal issues. Choices you make during quests effect the way your companions feel about your character. The more the companion likes your character and its choices, the more abilities are unlocked, making your companions more effective during gameplay.

During my gameplay in Dragon Age II I was attempting to build up my male warrior's relationship with Anders, who is a male companion character. Anders was my main healer and I thought he was a pretty cool dude. But in my attempts to build up a rapport between the two, Anders took it the wrong way and before I knew it there was a lengthy kissing scene between the two (male) characters. In Dragon Age II the same end result can happen between opposite sex characters as well. In another scenario, my character was talking to a male elf in a brothel while I was following a quest line and before I knew it, they were in bed together ... not what I had intended. My two female companions were very upset!

Surely there should me more control over whether your character pursues a hetero or a gay relationship? In Dragon Age II, which is a BioWare game, the plot line leading to a romance encounter was a bit unpredictable. What would Chewie do if Han took his big hugs the wrong way?

Would he rip his head off ? If Han went for the grab?

Is this same sex romance option not in SWTOR on release due to time constraints or is LucasArts blocking it? Are BioWare just holding off until the game is out and has 5 million players before telling George sorry ... we are putting it in, you can't stop us now! 

But my final question is, will this be an epic Star Wars adventure or a cliche romance novel?

and will my smuggler have that same sex appeal as Han solo?

Mike How, Studio Insider: Combat Animation

Having pretty trees and landscapes is just part of making a game look good. The Star Wars Galaxies game looked good but this was let down by the way your character moved. I felt SWG looked  better than WoW but WoW had far superior animation. To give you more of an idea on how you will move and fight in SWTOR, Mark How gave us this update ... from SWTOR.com:

Introduction


With each Studio Insider, members of the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ development team take you behind the scenes to give you an inside look at the work that goes in to making the game. This week, Principal Lead Animator Mark How discusses the work that goes in to creating the animations for combat in Star Wars: The Old Republic.


Combat Animation in The Old Republic


Hi. My name is Mark How and I am the Principal Lead Animator at BioWare Austin. Many ideas have been dreamt up since the inception of this extraordinary game and the animation team has been hard at work since the very beginning. While we see each project as a challenge, we have a lot of fun imagining all sorts of unique, action-packed scenarios that can play out in The Old Republic. Of course, the main purpose of animation is to produce characters that adhere to the basic laws of physics, but good animation also ties into many other facets of game design. Today, I’ll tell you about our experiences and techniques that go in to our creating the animations that compliment the exciting and visceral combat in The Old Republic!



We start out like any other game that has big ideas for combat: at first we thought about the classic battle between Jedi and Sith. When you picture these powerful Force users meeting, you think of how they Force Leap into battle! You think of their Lightsabers clashing, and how they use the Force to push and pull each other around the battlefield. We wanted to be able to replicate this sense of action and exhilaration in the way we capture the combat animations. We wanted to show Force Lightning exploding from your fingertips and have your character show their raw mastery of the Force by hurling large objects at your enemies. We also had many ideas about ranged combat; about ducking behind cover and blasting your way through a pack of enemy troops. Knowing that many of you who will play the game are going to be playing as non-Force users, we wanted to capture that feeling as well.


Lightsaber Clashing


One of the most iconic images in the Star Wars™ universe is the Lightsaber. Making the Lightsaber come to life in The Old Republic requires a collection of all the correct elements falling into place at the same time through visual effects, sound design and animation. Our challenge was to make the iconic Lightsaber battles from the movies come to life within the design confines of an MMO. We worked closely with the combat programmers and designers to ensure that the combat visuals do not detract from the gameplay experience. A key aspect we learned early in development was that players do not enjoy having character control taken away from them because of an action or animation. Similarly, we realized that any action a player takes in the game needs to be visually represented in a way that is consistent with the player’s expectations. Combining these two things, it was particularly challenging to develop animations that allowed for visually appealing combat while still allowing the players complete control over their characters.

Here is a progression clip of just a few of the animations in our game, from the initial design to its implementation in-game.

Once we knew what our rules were for combat, the programmers and animators were able to create a Lightsaber clashing system that could predict the volleys of weapons fire and other attacks being thrown at the player from all directions, and have the player dynamically react to ‘block’ these attacks. Not only that, but we were able to keep this system active while players were deflecting directed attacks, engaged in melee combat or even running. Players may not even realize all the factors that are coming into play to visually represent the combat experience, but we believe it’s critical for making the player really feel fully engaged in the fight. Without these dynamics, the players would wind up locked in certain animations when they go to engage in a “Stock strike” or “Project,” and then the combat would really be failing to capture the feel of Star Wars; it would give the player the impression that they are watching the action rather than taking part in it for themselves.


We’ve iterated on the mechanics for a long time, and I think the Lightsaber combat system that the programmers and animators ultimately devised has really gone beyond expectations. Even in a battle scene with multiple players and multiple targets, each Lightsaber wielder can be seen attacking opponents with varied tactics while deflecting, parrying or dodging the attacks of the other enemies. It gives the whole experience a really dynamic, visceral feel, making the player feel like they’re taking part in an intense battle where their character has the heroic qualities expected of a Star Wars icon.
Combat Cover


“How could Han Solo possibly compete directly with Darth Vader?”


This was one of the situations our designers found themselves thinking about when balancing the character classes. Though armed with many brilliant blaster attacks, tactical abilities and cheap tricks, one of the most challenging tasks for the entire team was in designing a cover system that was useful to the player while keeping them feeling like they were part of the action. Some might argue that you don’t even need a cover system in an MMO, but the benefits provided to the classes and the overall visual dynamic of the combat system is incredible. This all comes back to the expectation that the player has. If you were a Smuggler in the Star Wars universe and there was a crate available for you to roll behind to deflect enemy fire, wouldn't you want to do that? Of course you would. The cover element has provided a tactical way for the Smuggler and Imperial Agent classes to be competitive against their Force wielding and gadget-toting opponents. Deciding we were going to create a cover system was one thing; creating it was something else. It took many hours of research, play-acting and experimentation to nail down the animations for ducking into, rolling into, or just dodging into cover. As you can imagine, with the variety of places where these characters can take cover in the game, that created an additional layer of complexity which had to be addressed. In the end however, cover looks, feels and functions like the real thing, and we think it bring an entirely new dynamic to ranged combat in the MMO genre.

Once it was established that melee-based player characters wouldn’t be locked into doing certain animations, we wanted to make sure that ranged classes worked the same way. The unique challenge with the ranged classes was that we wanted them to always keep their blasters pointed at their target until they were damaged, downed, or until the player chose to manually change targets. This needed to be true while standing still as well as when the player was moving. In an MMO, players don’t usually stand still and fight mobs of static NPCs. Consider PVP: as smart as NPC AI can be, it cannot compare to the intelligence, skill and intuitive reactions of a real human player. This means that when two human players duel each other, they can adeptly circle one another and jump to get in and out of range. They can’t be stuck in long, static animations when they attack. We had to work closely with the programmers to devise an aiming system that could account for numerous gameplay possibilities. I think what we achieved allows players to play the way they want and does not lock them into a combat system that only obeys a limited set of rules. As pretty as it could look, who wants to play a game where you run and then have to stop each time you want to fire your blaster? "Not I," says the Smuggler.


For The Old Republic, we are committed to giving you a great combat experience through aesthetic movement, strong character and great design. These elements come together thanks to the efforts of many different departments that are all working hard and working together to reach a common goal. Our combat has unique concepts that set it apart from other MMOs and help deliver another BioWare-quality Star Wars™ experience that we hope fans will find incredibly enjoyable and will want to continue as they progress in their stories and create new experiences of their own.

We'll see you online!