Time flies: I am now coming up on nine years of covering Star Wars: The Old Republic professionally. Of course, I was a Star Wars and Star Wars Galaxies fan way before that. Not only have things changed in the game over that many years, but the sites that covered the game have all changed, and even the crew from this site moved from one venue to another. The famous editor of the daily newspaper Le Figaro, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, once said, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” In other words, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Like many things around SWTOR, this column is going to change up a bit, but in some aspects, it’s going to remain the same or even return to its roots. When this column launched, the two Star Wars games the site covered were Star Wars Galaxies and Star Wars: The Old Republic. One had not launched yet. Since then, our overall coverage of Star Wars games hasn’t really changed much. We still cover … [Read more...] about Hyperspace Beacon: The Star Wars MMOs and communities beyond SWTOR
Billie catherine lourd star wars
Hyperspace Beacon: Memorable moments in Star Wars Galaxies, the original Star Wars MMORPG
Yesterday, the game that solidified my place in the MMO space would have turned 15 years old, and MJ, Bree, and I took a trip down memory lane by hopping into one of the Star Wars Galaxies emulators. All the memories of the adventures I had came flooding back, even though my muscle memory for the combat mechanics was gone. Since the launch of SWG in 2003, we have seen the launch of two other MMORPGs (Clone Wars Adventures and Star Wars: The Old Republic) and other multiplayer online Star Wars games, like Battlefront. If your experiences in these online games were anything like mine, you’ve made many friends that you would otherwise never had contact with and have lived through virtua; adventures you’d never dreamed of experiencing in real life. There was a time in this column’s lifespan that I would talk about all things Star-Warsy, leading up to the launch of SWTOR. And given that we just celebrated the original Star Wars MMO’s 15th anniversary, I figured I … [Read more...] about Hyperspace Beacon: Memorable moments in Star Wars Galaxies, the original Star Wars MMORPG
Hyperspace Beacon: The sorry state of roleplay in Star Wars: The Old Republic
Play SWTOR for freeSince the server merges, the Star Forge server has unofficially become the roleplay server for Star Wars: The Old Republic. And roleplaying’s fight to remain a relevant way to enjoy this MMORPG has never been tougher. Roleplayers, if nothing else, are resilient. We are still in the game and attempting to find our place in this world where there is little support for our gameplay style from the developers. Some of you might remember the late ’80s, but for those who don’t that was a period of time when the only thing keeping Star Wars alive were the RPGs. Timothy Zahn would not pen Heir to the Empire until 1991, the best video game we had was arcade-only made in ’83, and The Phantom Menace was well over a decade away. This was the period of time that the keeper-of-canon Pablo Hidalgo started his quest to become a part of the Lucasfilm family. It was the time when only two things were keeping the Star Wars alive: the Kenner toys and West End … [Read more...] about Hyperspace Beacon: The sorry state of roleplay in Star Wars: The Old Republic
Star Wars: The Old Republic Gives Away In-Game Goodies For Star Wars Day
th is Star Wars Day and Star Wars: The Old Republic is giving away unique in-game items to celebrate the “holiday”. Players who login by May 7th will qualify for their very own M4-Y7 Astromech Droid. “A deeply loyal and rugged Droid, the M4-Y7 Astromech Droid is known for its steadfast and stoic reliability. No matter how far your adventures take you across the galaxy, the M4-Y7 is your “DBFF” (Droid Best Friend Forever)! Your new Astromech Droid can be claimed beginning May 9, 2018 at 11:59PM PDT (May 10, 2018 at 6:58PM GMT) through your in-game mail.” Sign up for Premium Player privileges by May 31st and take home a brand new TF-4 Rampage Speeder. Technically, you won’t get it until June 8th but a new ride is a new ride. And finally, all players will get Double XP, Double Command XP, and Double Starfighter Requisitions from May 3rd through May 11th. Hopefully, these will be enough to jumpstart your Star Wars adventures. May the Fourth be with … [Read more...] about Star Wars: The Old Republic Gives Away In-Game Goodies For Star Wars Day
Read Lately – Star Wars: The Old Republic – Deceived
We first met him in a Star Wars: The Old Republic game trailer — the mysterious masked Sith that brought down the Jedi Temple during the sacking of Coruscant. Darth Malgus, dark lord of the Sith, was the one who led this brutal assault and cut down countless Jedi on their own sacred ground. Now he is one of the main characters in Deceived, the second book in the SWTOR series by Paul S. Kemp, which tells the story of the attack as well as the calamitous events which came afterward. On the surface, Deceived might just be another novel based on a video game, but after reading it, I admit the quality of the storytelling took me by surprise. Even as Star Wars novels go, I have to say it is better than most. Granted, it is still your standard Star Wars fare — you have your archtypal tale about a Jedi and her comrade pitted against a Sith Warrior and the dark side and such. But still, it was refreshing to read a game book for once and get the sense that the author is actually more … [Read more...] about Read Lately – Star Wars: The Old Republic – Deceived