Posted by Zlatto | 2 Comments

Off-TORpic: Star Wars: Underworld Live Action Series

Off-TORpic is our occasional peek outside the world of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Sometimes it’ll be Star Wars. Sometimes it’ll be games. Sometimes, something else all together. But all the time it will be Off-TORpic.

If you are as much of a Star Wars junkie as the average member of the AAJ Army, then you might have heard rumblings of a possible Star Wars live action series that George Lucas & friends hope to put together. IGN recently did a video interview with famed producer Rick McCallum where he talks about how many scripts are written (over 50), the timeless quality of them, and searching for the right economic model to make them.

But most interestingly, he may have let slip what the title of the series might be. Star Wars: Underworld. Hmm, I think I like the sound of that.

Of course, I had to ask McCallum about the status of that show today. The would-be series already has 50 scripts written, just sitting on the shelf waiting for an economically sound way to actually be produced. We talked about the challenges of making that happen, and along the way McCallum mentioned the “working title” for the show as well…

The show takes place between Episode III: Revenge of The Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope, the time period during which Luke Skywalker is growing up. Though McCallum was quick to point out the series is not about the famed Jedi-to-be. We’ve embedded the video interview below for your convenience, but head over to IGN for more content about the Star Wars live action show.

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Posted by Lethality | 2 Comments

Star Wars Celebration: Day One

Well, today was the first day of Star Wars Celebration V here in Orlando, and what a day it was…  Even though I live here, the humidity was oppressive and it was what seemed like a 2 mile walk from the parking lot to the main convention hall. But nothing could put a damper on the mood for the day!

Today wasn’t a big day for TOR-related information. There was a Dark Horse comics panel, where among other things they discussed Threat of Peace and Blood of the Empire. Also, Issue #2 of Threat of Peace was released (see cover below.) We’ll have more on that, including our discussion with Dark Horse later in the week.

Tomorrow however is a big day, as the first panel, The Art and Writing of Star Wars: The Old Republic is up at 2:00pm and the developer meet & greet takes place from 5:00pm at the Hoth Ice Bar (which is very cool, no pun intended :)

The show floor was very lively, and there was no shortage of the opportunity to purchase virtually anything you could think of with the Star Wars name on it. There was also the expected assortment of costumed guests, ranging from Sith to Jedi and everything in between. I gotta give props to some of these people – the work they put into the costumes make them indistinguishable from a movie prop.

Below are a few random photos from the day, but of course stop back tomorrow for coverage of the panel at 2:00pm. We’ll be doing live Twitter updates here, and will try to also do live blog updates if the connectivity allows.

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Posted by Lethality | 0 Comments

[UPDATED] Star Wars Celebration Starts Tomorrow!

UPDATE: Sean Dahlberg, Community Manager for Star Wars: The Old Republic just posted the official update on what’s happenin’ with TOR @ Celebration… here’s a tidbit:

Also, to relax from all the craziness, we’re putting together a community event to celebrate our love of Star Wars with you. Meet The Old Republic developers Friday, August 13th and Saturday, August 14th from 5PM to 7PM at the Hoth Bar inside the convention center!

Read the entire post here.

That’s right, the hour is finally upon us! The greatest concentration of all-things Star Wars in the entire galaxy begins tomorrow here in Orlando, Florida!

Although BioWare has confirmed a presence for TOR, there has been no official announcement as to the specifics. We were able to learn through the official Star Wars Celebration schedule that there is a panel on Friday entitled “The Art and Writing of Star Wars: The Old Republic:

Drew Karpyshyn (Principal Writer, BioWare), Hall Hood (Senior Writer, BioWare), Arnie Jorgensen (Lead Concept Artist, BioWare) and Clint Young (Senior Concept Artist (Environments), BioWare) discuss what goes into creating the art and story in Star Wars: The Old Republic, the upcoming story-driven massively-multiplayer online role-playing game in development by BioWare and LucasArts. As an added bonus, Clint and Arnie will be creating an entirely original piece of concept art live during the panel, giving attendees a rare and exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the creative process. Don’t miss your chance to speak first-hand with the developers!

There is an encore presentation of that same panel on Saturday. You can count on Ask A Jedi to be present for both sessions, bringing you all the latest – we’re hoping for a special reveal though the concept art. It’s just hope at this point… :) And of course, we may just have a few surprises up our sleeves as well…

If you’ll be there, we’d love to meet you! Drop us a line here, or watch this space for news on where we’ll be. We also previously published a guide to the highlights of the convetion, which you can read here.

However, if you’re not going, be absolutely sure to stay tuned here – and follow us in Twitter and Facebook – for the absolute latest coverage from the show floor!

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Posted by Lethality | 0 Comments

The Old Republic at Star Wars Celebration!

It was with great delight I read community manager Sean Dahlberg’s tweet this afternoon than announced a presence at the upcoming Star Wars Celebration V convention next month in Orlando:

Actually, we will be there! We’re not quite ready to share what exactly TOR will be doing at #SWCV but we will soon #swtor

Why is this particularly exciting? Well, for one it’s the official Lucsafilm sponsored convention, and absolute ground-zero for all things Star Wars! But also because we are based in Orlando and are just minutes away from the convention center where the event is being held.

We’ve already prepared a quick-start guide for you, to help get up to speed on the happenings at the convention.

Be sure to drop us a line if you will be coming into town for the convention, we’d love to meet our readers!

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Posted by Lethality | 0 Comments

Star Wars Celebration V

Ask A Jedi’s own Katherinne takes a look at the upcoming Star Wars Celebration V convention in Orlando, Florida, happening this August. It promises to be absolutely ground zero for all-things Star Wars.

While we certainly hope that Star Wars: The Old Republic will have a presence, at the time of this writing, nothing has been confirmed. So, even though it’s not exclusively related to our favorite upcoming MMORPG, we thought some of our readers might enjoy a quick-start guide as to what to expect!

As a side note, Ask A Jedi is based in Orlando, Florida – so we’ll be there, and we’d love to meet you! Drop us a line if you’ll be in town!

What: The official Lucasfilm Ltd Star Wars convention Celebration V
When:  August 12 – 15 2010
Where:  Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, US

Star Wars Celebration is an official convention organized by Lucasfilm Ltd. to celebrate the fantastic universe created by George Lucas nearly 35 years ago. The first one was held in Denver, Colorado in 1999 to celebrate the release of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Since then, there have been 5 more (3 in the US, and 2 internationally) and this one promises to be the biggest and best so far!

The headline announcement for Celebration V is the attendance of the maker himself, George Lucas! He will be appearing on stage for a live interview/Q&A session with The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart. If you have a question for George (or Jon,) you can submit them here. Now’s the time to ask him when Episode 7 is coming out.

Other guests include the good guys:  Carrie Fisher,  Anthony Daniels,  Peter Mayhew and the bad guys:  Jeremy Bulloch,  Ray Park and the ones caught in the middle: Jake Lloyd and Daniel Logan along with many many more!  There will be special autograph sessions throughout the whole show in the special autograph hall.

Disney is hosting a special evening enetitled  “Last Tour of Endor” on August 14 to commemorate their closing Star Tours for a big overhaul (they’re ditching the Death Star Attack Run and gaining a Pod Race – but don’t get me started).  Starting at 8pm, after the close of the convention, this awesome event will last until 1am and will include themed party zones, Star Wars shows, Death Star Disco and those awesome Disney fireworks orchestrated to Star Wars music.  This takes place at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park and Tickets are $75. This includes round trip transportation to and from the convention center. I’m looking forward to it for sure!

Other events at the convention will be a R2-D2 Builders Display,  Costume Contests (rules are here), a One Man Star Wars show, Collector’s Panels and of course the  Exhibition Hall. Exhibitors will include such well known names as  Nasa, Scholastic, Dark Horse Comics, Hallmark, HASBRO and LEGO. A full list can be found here.

Just in case you want to get married (or something,) there will be a Commitment Chapel and if you like to make movies, there is a Fan Movie challenge but you’ll have to be able to travel back in time because the deadline was June 24th.

To leave your mark for posterity, you’ll be able to submit your own Star Wars experience with My Star Wars Story. During the convention, you’re invited to take 15 minutes and tell your story, sing your song, or otherwise share what Star Wars has meant to you in a video diary.  But it’s a first come, first serve line be sure to sign up early!

Also as you may know, this year was the 30th anniversary of everyone’s favorite Star Wars episode – The Empire Strikes Back. There are some special events surrounding this, and we’ll add more as they are announced.  Here is what we have so far:

Echo Base Diorama – Frank D’Iorio, once an Industrial Light & Magic Visual Effects Artist, will return to once again lead us all in building a diorama of Hoth’s Echo Base Station. He will set it all up and then fans will be able to come in and build (for free) a portion of the scene. The best part is that you get to take your portion home!  HASBRO is donating a quantity of action figures and vehicles, but in order to assure that there are enough for everyone, a special “figure fund” has been created.  Fans can bring their own action figures or can mail them to the address listed.

If you’re traveling to get to Star Wars Celebration this year, a special hotel search page has been set up, and there will be a convenient shuttle services available. For other things to do while in Orlando, check out the Orlando 101 page.

Tickets are available here.  Adult prices run from $48 / $54 per day to $128 for admission to all four days of the convetion. Tickets are also available at the door while they last.

Don’t know about you but we can’t wait, and hope to see everyone there! And be sure to bookmark this page to keep up-to-date.

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