Sep 20, 2011

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Exclusive: Interview With Actress Sno E. Blac – aka Satele Shan!

Last week we brought you news of actress Sno E. Blac and her portrayal of Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Well this time, we’ve got something even better – a short interview with Sno E. herself, plus an exclusive photo gallery!

About a year ago, Sno E. was hired to portray the image of the then-unknown Satele Shan. Part of that process was having a 3D scan of her head and face to capture the likeness and expressions we would see in the future Jedi Grand Master.

Sno E. was nice enough to take some time and answer a few of our questions, so without further adieu… Enjoy! And don’t forget to check out the gallery after the jump!

Photograph © Sno E. Black All Rights Reserved

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Aug 30, 2011

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Irrational Interviews: Dr. Ray Muzyka & Dr. Greg Zeschuk

As part of their Irrational Interviews series, Irrational Games Creative Director Ken Levine sat down for a podcast chat with BioWare Co-Founders Dr. Greg Zeschuk and Dr. Ray Muzyka.

While there isn’t a lot of TOR-specific information, the 30-minute discussion is great for those interested in the business side of making games, entrepreneurship, and how BioWare really started out.

In short, a great listen for all BioWare fans! Click on over to Irrational’s site to listen to the interview.

BioWare Co-Founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk

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Aug 19, 2011

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gamescom 2011: BioWare Pulse Interviews Cory Butler

BioWare TV keeps bringing the TOR goodness out of gamescom, this time with an interview with Live Producer Cory Butler.

Cory covers some general topics and questions, but perhaps the most interesting factoid is that same-gender romance arcs are in fact not in Star Wars: The Old Republic. We don’t believe this has been confirmed prior to this, but feel free to correct us if we’re wrong (as we know you will! ;)

Watch live streaming video from biowaretv at livestream.com

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Aug 9, 2011

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VideoGamer Interview With Daniel Erickson: The Action Bar Is The Best Way

VideoGamer.com scored a short interview with BioWare Writing Director Daniel Erickson.

In the piece, Erickson talks about pre-orders, longevity, companion deaths and even the action bar:

Daniel Erickson: We make RPGs and we use the best RPG interface we can put together. Not only did we not depart from action bar combat, the Dragon Age series adopted it right from the start for its single-player game. It turns out to be the easiest way to organize a complex series of powers. What we did bring was synchronized animations, more dynamic and movement-based combat (Force-push, explosions that send people flying, etc) and far faster fights. Which seems to be plenty marketable as a bonus.

He then goes on to answer a question regarding cross-platform MMOs, and what mobile platforms like iOS might mean:

VideoGamer: We’re beginning to see more MMOs being developed for console, and MMO-oriented apps for iOS, is cross-platform gaming the next logical step for MMOs?

Daniel Erickson: While there’s always been a push for cross-platform gaming, I don’t really see MMOs being the place that it takes off as a pure implementation. In a community where a one point difference in dps per character classes can cause major outcries, it’s hard to imagine accepting wholly different input devices. So until consoles have keyboard/mouse setups standard and enough users willing to find a way to use them in the living room, I imagine we keep the core game to one type of platform each. That said, using light console games or iOS games to enhance aspects of your MMO or explore other takes on the world is exciting.

Daniel’s comments about the iOS are intriguing, as that has been one of the hottest topics – extending the game to other platforms outside of the game, without necessarily playing it. The Crew Skills system would seem to be a great, natural extension for TOR onto iOS and hopefully we’ll see something like that sooner rather than later!

Hop on over to VideoGamer to catch the entire interview.

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Aug 3, 2011

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SDCC 2011: James Ohlen Newsarama Interview – “One More Big Thing”

There’s bound to always be a straggler article or interview that crops up after a major convention, and today we got that from Newsarama in the form of an interview with Game Director, James Ohlen that was done during San Diego Comic-Con last month.

It’s a fairly general interview that meanders over topics like release date and quality but there was at least one quote worth pulling:

Newsarama: Obviously you can’t reveal all the secrets yet, and you’ll be releasing a steady stream of information until launch. Do you feel like you’ve held anything really big back, a ‘best for last’ sort of thing?

James Ohlen: We have some pretty exciting announcements that will be coming. I don’t think there’s anything on the level of PvP, Warzones, space battles or anything like that. Well, there’s one thing that might be at that level. Depends on what you like about the game, but it’s pretty exciting. Obviously I can’t go more into that, PR will kill me.

So, there you go. I wonder what Mr. Ohlen is holding back? There’s only a few more conventions suitable for a big reveal in the release window… stay tuned!

You can read the entire piece over at Newsarama.

 

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