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Star Wars: The Old Republic At GAMEfest Birmingham

Don’t look now, but if you happen to live in or near Birmingham, England or maybe even anywhere in Europe, you’ve got an opportunity play Star Wars: The Old Republic this weekend!

In the most ninja-esque of updates, BioWare added GAMEfest to the Events page on SWTOR.com:

BioWare and LucasArts are excited to be bringing Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ to GAMEfest in Birmingham, England! GAMEfest is an event put on by video game retailer GAME that is held from September 16th to September 18th and is open exclusively to individuals who have the GAME Rewards card. Those lucky enough to make it to the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham will be able to get some hands-on time with The Old Republic.

GAMEfest Hours:

Friday, September 16th: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM GMT
Saturday, September 17th: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM GMT
Sunday, September 18th: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM GMT

European Community Manager Chris Collins offered a bit more detail in a post on the official forums this morning:

Entry to the event itself requires a ‘GAME Reward Card’ prior to ordering tickets and currently only Friday tickets are left. So if you haven’t got yours yet, you might want to order them soon. Full details of the event itself can be found here: http://events.game.co.uk/

Head on over to the GAMEfest site to learn more, but we suggest if there’s any way you can make it to Birmingham for some hands-on time, we highly recommend it!

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Posted by Lethality | 5 Comments

SDCC 2011 Update: Flashpoint Hands-On Schedule – RSVP

As mentioned last Sunday, BioWare has been working overtime to secure some extra playtime for TOR fans who may be in San Diego, but do not have a badge to get into the convention. Better yet, this special play time will allow players to play either of the first Flashpoints in the game – The Esseles (Republic) or The Black Talon (Empire)!

Today, Senior Community Coordinator David Bass gave some details on the schedule, and more importantly, the procedure on how to RSVP and get your name on the list for this great opportunity:

Two sessions will be held each night, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (July 21-23), one at 7PM, and one at 8PM. Each session will accommodate several groups of players for each Flashpoint. If you’re going to be in San Diego next week, and you wish to RSVP for a chance to play, please follow the directions below exactly and in their entirety.

Photo ID will be required for entry. Please note that incomplete RSVP emails WILL NOT be considered for invites. We cannot guarantee your first choice of play time or Flashpoint.

1. Gather the following information:
– Full name (as shown on your ID)
– Preferred Night: Thursday, Friday, or Saturday
– Preferred Time: 7PM or 8PM- Preferred Flashpoint: Esseles (Republic) or Black Talon (Empire)

2. Email all of the above info to events@swtor.com with the subject line: “RSVP for Flashpoint Gameplay at Comic-Con” by 10AM CST on Wednesday, July 13th.

Please note that anyone who wishes to play must send their own RSVP, and invites are non-transferable. Feel free to ask any questions you have below, but do NOT RSVP in this thread!

Important! You must send your RSVP email by 10am CST July 13th. That’s TOMORROW!

So, if you’re going to be in San Diego, this is something you definitely want to be a part of! Head over to the thread for complete info.

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Posted by Lethality | 2 Comments

Ask A Jedi At PAX East!

The hour is nigh!

The crew here at Ask A Jedi are all busy packing our bags, getting ready for the trek to Boston for PAX East today:

• Plane tickets? Check.
• High-Definition audio/video equipment? Check.
• Adrenals for carry-on luggage, each less than 3 ounces of course? Check.

Myself (Lethality), our resident Jedi expert and forum pundit Professor Walsh, as well as the knowledgeable LordPaladin will all be donning our Ask A Jedi t-shirts and hitting the show floor.

What can you, the AAJ reader expect, you ask?

For starters, we have a whole slew of interviews with BioWare developers lined up, and we plan on asking the tough questions (well, as tough as a bunch of gamers can get without getting kicked out!) With the big Guild System reveal Wednesday, there should be no shortage of new information! Is there something you want us to ask for you? Let us know in the comments section below.

We also plan on getting as much in-game information and HD video footage as possible. As long as the God of wireless tech allows us, we’ll even be editing and uploading right from the show floor.

Plus, we’ll be talking to all kinds of fans, from all over the world, who all had a chance to play The Old Republic… we’ll hear their impressions and opinions about the game just moments after they’ve played it!

And that’s just at the show… there’s even more fun to be had after hours!

On Friday, we’ll be at the SWTOR Community Cantina, which is promising to be a great time for TOR fans! Many fan sites will be there, as well as many TOR pre-launch guilds. There wasn’t an actual intergalactic cantina available, so an Irish bar in Boston is the next best thing. If you’re headed to PAX East, this is a must-do event. Click here for info!

Then on Saturday, we’re headed over to the official BioWare Community Meet and Greet at the Westin Waterfront Hotel. If for any reason you can’t make it to the Friday night meet-up, this is another great chance to get to mix and mingle with the TOR community, and of course share a few beverages with your favorite developers & community managers!

We’ll be there from the moment the show opens until the moment it closes, and we’re only there to see one game. We hope you know which one. If you don’t already, it might be a good idea to follow us on Twitter, as that will likely prove to be a source of up-to-the minute info as well!

So stay tuned to Ask A Jedi all weekend long – you never know who or what might show up! :)

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Posted by Lethality | 4 Comments

TOR at PAX East!

One of the bigger tidbits of news coming out of today’s Friday Update is notice that Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ will be making an appearance at the PAX East game convention in Boston, from March 11-13, 2011.

The original PAX, held each summer in Seattle, is highly regarded each year as one of the best conventions for gamers… Here, it’s all about the fans with plenty of hands-on time!

BioWare Senior Community Manager Stephen Reid as opened up a thread on the official forums dedicated to the discussion of PAX East. BioWare is anxious to know what you want to see from The Old Republic at PAX East:

With that in mind, what we’re happy to hear ideas on are things like:

• What sort of activities we might have on our booth, eg demo suggestions, guests you’d like to see…
• What sort of activities we might have off our booth – including whether, for example, you’d like a community meet ‘n’ greet

This is quite likely the last public showing of the TOR before its much anticipated Spring 2011release, so who knows what BioWare and LucasArts have in store for us at PAX East!

Ask A Jedi will of course be there for PAX East, as we were for PAX Prime, bringing you all the latest news and exclusive interviews!

This is the second year for PAX East, and if you have a chance to attend, I highly recommend it. And now that TOR will be there, what more reason do you need?

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Posted by Lethality | 3 Comments

Countdown to GDC Online!

Although convention season is officially over, there is one more conference this year that fans of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ may want to keep an eye on: GDC Online.

GDC Online (formerly labeled Austin GDC) kicks off Monday, October 5th, and is one of several GDC-branded conferences held around the world for those involved in the game industry. This one, held in Austin, has always had an “online” skew to it, so they finally recognized that with an official name change this year.

While it’s not a consumer show, several key BioWare staffers will be presenting at the conference, which gives us hope that we may learn some new insight about TOR, even if it’s not stated directly.

The 4 sessions in which BioWare will be represented are:

How Online Gaming Has Adopted The Grind – Thursday October 7, 11:00AM
Damion Schubert, Principle Lead Systems Designer, BioWare Austin

‘The grind’ isn’t just whacking rats in men-in-tights fantasy MMOs anymore. Like a plague, it has escaped that genre, and now infects other genres, ranging from Web and Facebook games all the way to triple-A XBox titles. This talk will explore the grind, why so many designers turn to it like a crutch, and in what situations grindy gameplay may actually improve your game.

Lessons Learned Creating Team Cultures – Thursday October 7, 11:00AM
Gordon Walton, Co-Studio Director, BioWare Austin

Every team has its own unique culture, and culture will have a material effect on the results your team produces. Environment and context combined with how you acculturate incoming people will affect how your team culture evolves. This roundtable is for sharing experiences in creating and shaping team cultures.

Strategies For Running An MMO From Launch And Beyond – Friday October 8, 9:30AM
Rich Vogel, Co-Studio Director, BioWare Austin (panel w/others)

Launching MMOs is hard enough, much less keeping them viable after their first year. Acquisition and retention are the two most important levers that are used to keep an online game alive and viable. This panel will discuss strategies that help move these two levers. On the panel are people who have been running MMOs for more than five years. What are their secrets to successfully running and maintaining these MMOs for so long?

You Studied Game Design, Now What? – Friday October 8, 1:30PM
Kyle Garner, World Designer, BioWare Austin (panel w/others)

A program of game design-related studies is only one piece of the puzzle when developing a career in games. A panel of design professors and professionals from Guildhall, Richland College, BioWare and Madison Media Institute will discuss what students need to know during and following their education to enter the game industry.

Seeing as how this conference is in Austin, BioWare’s own backyard, we’re holding out hope that maybe they’re planning something special. I don’t think there will be any big reveals necessarily, but a little something to give a nod to their peers in the industry.

In any case, Ask A Jedi will be there covering all 4 days of the event, bringing you every word of the presenters, so we can all pine over them and decide if anything juicy was revealed! Also… we’re hope to get a few special surprises lined up as well… more info to come ;)

If you’ve never been there, Austin is a fun town with great food and a great live music scene. And by the grace of the music gods, this year GDC coincides with Austin City Limits. Needless to say, parties will be attended. If you’re going, let us know where you’ll be hanging out!

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