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

Friday Update: Fan Friday + Studio Insider

Another Friday is upon us, and you know what that means – another Friday Update of course! And what an update – there is literally a parsec’s worth of new stuff (sorry, I’ve always wanted to use the word parsec improperly.)

This week, we’re treated to a brand new edition of the Studio Insider, where Senior Concept Artist Ryan Dening gives us some insight on the process for creating the starships we’ll all be piloting around the galaxy:

The first stage for all the player ships was a document from the design team that contained the gameplay goals for the ships and listed all the rooms and access points that each needed.

Also part of the Studio Insider is the Community Q&A (which BioWare has now also opened up on their Facebook page.) This time around, Blaine Christine handles the duties:

Q: Can you miss acquiring a companion without realizing it during the game? (asked by DarthPrecious)

A: Generally speaking, these opportunities are all pretty obvious to the player, as they occur along the main path of your Class Quests. We do, however, reserve the right to put some goodies out there for the particularly ambitious player to find.

Click to read the full Q&A.

Last but not least is a great new Fan Friday complete with all of the extras that entails: concept art, polls, Trandoshan smilies, avatars and more!

A big announcement that came out of the Fan Friday was the presence of Star Wars: The Old Republic at PAX East in Boston, this coming March!

Here are today’s polls:

What Fan Site is your favorite to regularly visit?

What’s your favorite part of being in a guild?

Head on over to SWTOR.com and check out the full Fan Friday!

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Posted by Lethality | 25 Comments

PAX: Blaine Christine and Daniel Erickson Audio Q&A

Well, day 1 of PAX 2010 has come to an end! But we don’t want to let it go out too quietly… so we’re pleased to present our Audio Q&A with Blaine Christine and Daniel Erickson! Blaine and Daniel were nice enough to take some time out of what can only be described as total mayhem at the LucasArts booth and try to answer some questions for the Ask A Jedi readers, and fans of TOR everywhere.

The audio editing may be a little rough in places, but I think it’s fairly clear and listenable. It is in 2 parts due to YouTube’s 15 minute time limit. You can also find a text transcription below!

This is but a mere appetizer for tomorrow, where we’ll be treated to a special presentation by BioWare and LucasArts that promises to reveal some all-new information about Star Wars: The Old Republic!

Enjoy!

Ask A Jedi: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, and what you do on the project?

Blaine Christine: Sure, I’m a Senior Producer at BioWare based out of Austin, and my primary duty is Live Producer, which basically means I am helping to make sure the game is ready for launch. So I’m in charge of testing efforts, basically anything customer-facing goes through me.

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Posted by Lethality | 9 Comments

PAX: Presentation Video & Screens

Finally!  Below you’ll find Part 2 of our HD recording of yesterday’s TOR panel at PAX. We decided to do Part 2 first because it contains all of the good stuff – all of the new reveals and videos!

We’ll be posting the other parts as well, including the multi-player combat demo (helmed by Sado from DH, TOROCast, and TORSyndicate!) and the Q&A session at the end.

UPDATE: Part 3 is up including the Revan complex as well is the PvP(vE?)!
UPDATE: Part 4 is up, which includes the Daniel Erickson Q&A!

TOR @ PAX – Part 2

TOR @ PAX – Part 3

TOR @ PAX – Part 4

As a side note, check out these awesome HD screenshots from community member Aneon as well! Click Here.

p.s. Apologies for any camera shakiness!

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Posted by Lethality | 5 Comments

PAX: Saturday Event Update!

We all just streamed out of the theater after watching the guys from BioWare and LucasArts (and a couple of the TOR community members) show us some new stuff about The Old Republic!

Some highlights that were shown:

• Jedi gameplay on Tython
• The forging of the Jedi’s first light saber on Tython
• PvP Warzone on Alderaan*
• Revan
• HK-47!

(*Note: PvP video included no actual PvP)

We have a video recording of the entire session, which we’ll be uploading soon. But in the mean time, check out the new trailer posted on the Star Wars: The Old Republic official web site – it is just a taste of what we saw during the presentation today!

The Jedi Civil War left many unanswered questions. In the difficult days following the showdown between Darth Revan and Darth Malak, the Jedi Order struggled to survive, leaving little time for investigations. Redeemed as a Jedi, Revan traveled into deep space in search of a mysterious evil. We now know that the source of this evil was the reconstituted Sith Empire, but that solves only a portion of the mystery…

You can view the trailer here.

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