That’s right boys and girls STAR WARS is finally coming to the Blu-ray player in your Galaxy. Over the past 6 years since Blu-ray has entered the market one of the most commonly asked questions has been, “When will Star Wars be released on Blu-ray?” Well the answer was finally given at Star Wars Celebration V taking place in Orlando Florida this week. We will be able to view the saga in all it’s HD glory in the Fall of 2011 most likely around November. Expect a 6 movie box set that will include the Special Edition version of the films and what is sure to be hours and hours of extra features.

There is no mention of 3D but I’d expect not as the 3DTV install market will still be quite small at the time of the movies Blu-ray release. Install base is one of the things that has held back the Blu-Ray release for so long. LucasFilm got burned in the past by releasing the films too early in the life cycle of VHS and DVD, later releases preformed very well but the choice was made that it would be better to wait for HDTV and a HD disk format could stand on it’s own feet.

Buy the time the Star Wars Saga hits the shelves (once again) it is projected that there will be nearly 100 million Blu-ray devices in homes world wide.

Source NYT

Perfect World Co. has just announced their latest addition to the highly popular martial arts MMO; Jade Dynasty.  This upcoming expansion is titled Jade Dynasty: Vengeance and will release on August 25th, 2010 in North America, and in Europe with French and German versions of the game.  A slew of new features will arrive with this massive update such as two new races, a territory wars system, and new daily events.

The project manager behind Jade Dynasty; Andrew Brown, says:

“Jade Dynasty has been an international success and with Vengeance, we’ll be offering French and German versions for the first time to our European audience.  New and existing players can look forward to new features and content in the upcoming expansion that will help progress the ongoing story between humans and the immortals.”

Players will be forced to side with either the Humans or the Immortals in order to restore balance to either faction.  Players will also be granted the new opportunity to play as the Celan or Rayan parties in order to succeed in battle.  Both of these new playable classes reside under the Athan’s faction, each with their own play style and abilities.

For those that are bold enough, a new territory control system has been added, so that player factions may battle it out in epic warfare.  Player factions will be able to control their own territories after fighting to take and defend it.

As well as these massive updates, a new party system, daily quests, and a unique auction house will be added.  Players will now be able to chat with warriors across all the realms in order to make partying easier.  Once you have formed your group, try out some of the new daily events and quests for some great rewards and loot.  Finally the new auction house will allow players to reap the benefits of bidding on high-level items and one-use unique loot.  Players will be rewarded with items for having the lowest unique auction bid.

For more information on the upcoming content update, click here.

T3 Entertainment and Hanbitsoft inc have banded together to create the free to play fantasy MMO Aika.  This game has gotten a ton of response in Korea and has received numerous awards at last year’s Korean Game Awards.  Aika Global will be launching in the near future, but for now T3 and Hanbitsoft are starting up the Aika Closed Beta Key Giveaway for the game.

If you and a friend would love to take part in this epic online adventure, then click here for your chance to be selected for the beta.  Once you receive your beta invitational e-mail (if you get one), you will also be awarded with an extra beta key to invite one of your closest buddies.  So what are you waiting for? Grab your keys while it’s still possible.  Only a couple thousand are being handed out!

In SWTOR’s Deceived trailer, there was an odd shot of the Jedi leader giving a signal to an astromech droid. Per usual, the writers at BioWare do not put anything into their trailers without a specific reason. This past Friday, that little droid was revealed to be a companion for the Jedi knight class, named T7-O1 (tee seven – oh one). This little bot calls back to both T3-M4 of Knights of the Old Republic and, of course, R2-D2 of the Star Wars movies. In fact, his attitude is very similar to R2-D2’s. According to the companion page on SWTOR’s official site, he considers his owners to be more like partners and less like masters.

T7-O1 was activated over two centuries before the Treaty of Coruscant and has yet to be memory-wiped in that whole time. He remembers every organic he has ever worked with, from the petty smugglers, to Senator Oodora of Manaan, to Captain Nico Okarr, and to Jedi Master Ven Zallow, whom we witnessed being killed by Darth Malgus in the previously mentioned trailer. For your Jedi knight character, you can expect this droid to be an invaluable source of information. His surveillance, cartography, and data-slicing skills are unmatched.

BioWare has not revealed where your Jedi knight will meet T7-O1, just like every other companion mentioned for this game, but rest assured, he’s waiting for you somewhere in that galaxy far, far away.

SWTOR finds a companion for the Jedi knight originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In last week’s EVE Evolved, I looked at a few of EVE Online’s most famous outlaws. In the game’s open-ended sandbox, players are free to turn to a life of crime. Around every corner, you’ll find another thief making off with someone’s loot, or a pirate waiting for an unsuspecting victim to pass by. Worse still are the many scam artists and market manipulators you’ll find in trade hubs like Jita, making a dishonest living at the expense of other players. But it’s not all doom and gloom, and not all players are the dark, nefarious types EVE is famous for.

For every low-life scammer trying to steal your hard-earned ISK, there are helpful individuals working to counteract scamming. For every war-mongering pirate preying on new players, there are hundreds of people willing to teach new players to defend themselves and stay safe. Despite all the talk of EVE’s anti-social element, you’ll also find a rich and diverse community, built around forums, chat channels and dozens of blogs. Programmers even spend their free time to provide the community with free tools to aid play. These are all people I would call heroes of EVE, either because they work to prevent the wrong-doings of outlaws, or because they selflessly enrich the EVE community.

In this opinion piece, I look at a few of the people and groups I consider to be true heroes of EVE. Who are your heroes?

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Heroes of EVE

EVE Evolved: Heroes of EVE originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gloamwood Firerift Pyromancer

Trion Worlds revealed new details on the Pyromancer class for the upcoming MMORPG, Rift: Planes of Telara.  The Pyromancer is a specialist in fire, using it for destruction.  From incinerating blasts to walls of fire, the Pyromancer has a fearsome arsenal.  However, quick-footed foes who can charge in and deal melee damage prove to be a weakness of the Pyromancer.  Keeping enemies at bay is the key to successfully playing the Pyromancer.

From the official lore:

“Stay here. Those tricks the Elves taught you won’t frighten the Storm Legion,” Phynnious Rothmann’s brother said, laughing.

Imbecile, Phynnious thought, watching his fellow tribesmen ride to battle. My tricks frightened even my teachers!

Sickly son of a Mathosian chieftan, Phynnious Rothmann was sent to study magic with the Elves — less to bring the arcane arts to his people than to stay out from under stomping, booted feet. But the Elves sent him home early: not because his research into fire magic nearly burned their sacred grove to the ground, but because the urgency of human youth made them uncomfortable.

Rothmann trudged over to the edge of the cliff to watch as slowly, the valor of the united tribesmen overcame the mindless discipline of Crucia’s Storm Legion. Suddenly, an electric blast erupted in the middle of the battlefield. Whether thanks to lightning or terror, the hair on the back of Phynnious’s neck stood up and he whispered, “Stormtouched.”

Crucia herself, dragon of storms, had possessed the Legion’s commander. Phynnious knew she could bring to bear superhuman tactics and storm magic that would eradicate every northman in that valley. He knew this even as he rode to the battlefield, quick as a midsummer fire through dry scrub. Leaping off his horse, Phynneous turned into a streak of flame flashed toward the front line just as the Mathosians quavered on the edge of disaster.

Standing on the front line, Rothmann conjured exploding fissures of magma, completing in mere seconds an incantation that took his Elf tutors minutes. White-hot flame lanced from his fingers, sending charred chunks of Legionaries flying in all directions. The Storm Legion’s rally became a rout.

An arrow slammed into Rothmann’s shoulder, jarring him into a state of sharp focus. The possessed Storm Legion leader advanced, aiming his second arrow at the mage’s heart. Phynnious screamed at his assailant, exhaling waves of flame that burned the bow away. The general drew his sword and charged through the flames. Two steps from Phynnious he stopped, a statue of solid ash.

Phynnious’s laughter blew the ash away on the northern breeze, joined by with the roar of his clansmen as they ran down the fleeing Storm Legion, even as a voice hissed from the sky: “I will kill you, little mage.”

Years later, as Phynnious fixed the keystone to Crucia’s prison, he taunted, “Remember what you promised me?” and laughed again, breathy and crackling like a bonfire.

Rift: Planes of Telara is currently targetted for a 2011 release.  For more information, check out the official site.

If you are a fan of Domo, you’ll be happy to know you can have your very own Domo pet in SOEs free-to-play MMORPG, Free Realms.  In addition to the pet, there will be other Domo-centric merchandise available to buy, including backpacks and hats.

SOE has also extended their Lifetime Membership promotion.  It expires tomorrow, but for anyone interested, it’s only $29.99 for a limetime membership, well worth it, since the premium content adds quite a bit to the game.

A couple weeks ago, we heard from the Perpetuum Beta Blog about a new game mechanic known as Intrusion. Centering around PvP and Corporation competition, Intrusion will provide players with a way to gain control of other corporations’ outposts.

In the world of Perpetuum Online, outposts are hubs for commerce and social activity. Unaffiliated players may stop by to buy and sell, or simply to take a break from adventuring. More importantly, Corporations can profit from the existence of these outposts by gaining control over it’s operations. This is where Intrusion comes in. As in real life, Outposts require maintenance from time to time, and become vulnerable during this period. It is at this time that other corporations may strike and attempt to steal control for themselves.

During maintenance, Service Access Points (SAPs) can be manipulated and hacked to break in tot he outpost. At the moment, there are four types of access points.

• Destruction (destroy the access point)
• Specimen Processing (bring certain items to the point)
• Active hacking (use hacking modules for brute-force entry)
• Passive hacking (defend the access point for a set time)

By the end of the maintenance period, if a Corporation is in simultaneous control of all the points, they gain control of the outpost. The corporation may then take a share from any transaction made by any player at the hub. There are some specific rules to keeping control of and profiting from the outpost, so if your curiosity is piqued, take a look at the full blog entry here.

The big showstoppers at Sony Online Entertainment’s Fan Faire this year were the presentations on the EverQuest franchise and DC Universe Online, without a doubt. But to neglect Star Wars Galaxies is unfair to the game’s long history, as well as to the fact that the game had quite a presentation at the celebrated event. In a recent producer’s note, Teesquared shared several photos from the event as well as the notes from the Galactic Gathering panel, outlining everything planned for the game in the not-too-distant future.

While the photos are nice for fans who missed it, the notes are the meaty part of the announcement, discussing everything from the next major content update to future event plans. The Witches of Dathomir is the next planned major content push, with repeatable content and a number of new clothing options for players. Big plans are also on the horizon for the Galactic Civil War, including invasions in space with capital ships and integration for player-created cities. It looks to be an interesting ride for the future of Star Wars Galaxies, so players are advised to take a look at the full notes for a hint of what’s coming.

Star Wars Galaxies puts up producer’s notes from Fan Faire originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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