Mos Eisley Radio | The SWTOR Podcast

Mice of the Old Republic: If Disney Purchased EA

Brooks — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:37:32 +0000

The bulk of our Stories From The Outer Rim talk from Episode 14 was about the possibility of EA being purchased by a larger group in 2010, with Star Wars The Old Republic acting as a top selling point. While we touched on a lot of details around this topic, we felt it best to put together a definitive post from the fan’s perspective.

Are We Crazy?
The cornerstone of the discussion behind EA’s purchase stemmed from the Christmas wrap-up and prediction episode of the 4 Guys 1 Up Podcast. John Davison’s first prediction was that one of the major four game publishers would be purchased by a larger media conglomerate sometime within the next year. His best guess? EA, primarily due to a number of its properties that dovetail with a large media company, especially a group like Disney. What we neglected to mention on the show was that this theory actually has some wings.

Martin Peers of The Wall Street Journal (coverage from Kotaku) actually brought forth the idea that Disney should purchase EA back in 2008. At the time, the company had taken a huge dive in its market value, with its stock dropping about $45 dollars per share from the previous Christmas season. The WSJ article is still true today, as its stock has failed to make any real recovery. Between the ability to tie in properties and the vastly lower purchase price, Disney could stand to make a huge profit by providing EA with the financial stability it needs to bounce back.

Blending the Lines
Even if we consider the power of companies like Comcast or National Amusements (they own CBS, Paramount Pictures, and more), Disney is really the ultimate example of a company looking to pick up EA, and the pieces start to fall in place very quickly. First and foremost is the natural combination of ESPN and the Madden, Tiger Woods, and FIFA franchises. Mickey Mouse cannot go wrong with the four most recognizable sports brands under a single roof. Also, Disney could easily expand its NASCAR influenced Richard Petty Driving Experience to include the export tuner demographic that Need For Speed markets (police “chases”, time trials, etc.)

The biggest opportunity that both companies have is to reinvigorate the theme park market by integrating a video game experience into rides and attractions. While Disney has started to venture into this area already, by bringing in development powerhouses like Maxis and Mythic they stand to grow that area by leaps and bounds.

Speaking Of..
At this point we’ve covered everything that doesn’t apply to our favorite development team. When speaking strictly in terms of dollars and cents, both Warhammer Online and The Old Republic provide constant revenue streams in a market that a company like Disney has failed to tap. Sure, Disney Interactive has managed to grab some money from parents buying the most recent Lilo and Stitch or Hannah Montana title, but they’ve failed to reach out to the hardcore gamers of the world in a meaningful way.

With SWTOR set to be the only contender to ActiBlizzard, Disney would be blind to see that EA is finally on the verge of making their financial comeback. The Spring 2011 release date puts the game in a perfect storm of post-Cataclysm boredom and the pre-summer release lull. What better way to start the new fiscal year with a boom than to prey on the thousands of disenfranchised Warcraft players enticed by all the opportunities that The Old Republic provides, not only in new gameplay experiences and mechanics, but in a Star Wars setting that we all know and love.

Meddling Hands Beware…
Gamers have a long history of despising the “buyout”. There are countless stories of developers being gobbled up and dismantled by publishers (EA not excluded). So what makes our situation different?

If Disney were to approach EA with a purchase deal, we can be rest assured that folks like John Riccitiello (EA’s CEO) and Ray Muzyka (CEO at BioWare Corp and Senior Vice President and Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group) would be our biggest advocates. With both companies looking to increase their market and overall revenue, they would be foolish to meddle in the everyday details that directly affect how and what we play. There is no benefit in stirring up the employment stew, removing the people who have managed to create so much positive buzz and excitement about a property that is still over a year away. The community backlash would reach epic proportions.

Of course we do write this with some trepidation in light of the recently announced lawsuit involving Activision and two of its recently-fired heads of Infinity Ward. But thankfully (for SWTOR fans) that situation is more about the rights to a franchise than anything else. With LucasArts involved, and Disney’s previous experience with Lucas properties, the chances of something like that happening to Bioware are slim to none.

Are We Just Talking To Talk?
It’s easy to get bogged down in the details about this property or that stock value. It’s even easier to wonder if this even effects what we as gamers care about the most: the characters, the story, the mechanics, the people. But we feel that it is important to see the whole picture beyond the virtual world we so very much want to be a part of. The educated gamer who cares about the entire process is the better gamer, and we want to do our best to spark meaningful discussion not only about the latest Trooper animation (which was sick, right?), but the games industry as a whole and what it really takes to push out an amazing title like The Old Republic.

We want to know what you think! Sound off in the comments…

MER Episode 15 Pre-Poll: Revisiting Planets…With A Twist!

Brooks — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:06:26 +0000

The poll this week revisits the idea from episode 9 with a slightly different twist. With the recent annoucement of Taris and the newest developer video outlining the team’s approach to this destroyed planet, we want to know which, if any, of the planets from KOTOR you would love to see in the game.

Here’s the catch, we’re going to provide links to the Wookipedia entry for each planet to refresh your minds, and in the comments we want to hear your ideas for how Bioware can take a familiar landscape and craft a new and interesting story in it. Get creative! Have some crazy idea about a Wookie uprising on Kashyyyk? Want to rebuild pieces of the Star Forge floating around Rakata Prime? Sketch it out, and we’ll discuss your storylines on episode 15.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Brush up on each planet’s history…
-Dantooine
-Kashyyyk
-Manaan
-Rakata Prime
-Yavin System

MER Episode 14 – Crackpots of The Old Republic

Brooks — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:27:07 +0000

With Con season right around the corner, the news from Bioware has just barely been trickling out. But that’s okay! With a month break from the show, we’ve had plenty of news pile up to talk about including a new Holonet entry, a Dev Blog on the Sith Inquisitor, and the newly announced playable planet, Taris! It’s not all news either, as we launch into an epic speculation rabbit hole about the nature of the Spring 2011 release announcement. You won’t want to miss it!

Also, we want to extend a huge thanks to JThompson6577, DEDMON5811 (who left a seriously hilarious review and has been active in the forums as well), and Peterisjustok for taking the time to leave us reviews on iTunes!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
Holorecord Entry: Onslaught of the Sith Empire

Developer Blog: Composing the Sith Inquisitor
-For those of you who missed the Trooper dev blog (like us) you can find it here

Taris Added as Newest Playable Planet
-Background info from Wookiepedia
-Aurebesh translation from Holonet Project
-Originally speculated as a planet back in July by forum poster MFavila
-Lore Update from Darth Hater

Stories from the Outer Rim
What the 2011 Release Date Means for the Community and EA
-Original release target post is now over 200 pages
-Recent entitlement post with an official response from ErickAdams
-Zach’s crackpot idea of a large media company purchasing EA in the next year
-The negative effect the entitled minority can have on the greater community (The Ghostcrawler Incident)

Fansites from around the web
-Holonet Project: Dedicated to translating all of the Aurebesh found on the Holonet pages. http://www.holonetproject.net/
-Shock N Awesome: Sith Inquisitor class blog. http://shocknawesome.com/

Pre-Episode Poll
Are You Going to PAX East?
-Nope. (87%, 47 Votes)
-Yes! I’ll see you guys there. (13%, 7 Votes)

PAX East Weekend Badges Now Sold Out

Brooks — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:15:59 +0000

The PAX crew called it! Less than two weeks after alerting the community that the conference would sell out, the team has announced that they will no longer be selling the three-day weekend badge. Those who are interested in attending single days (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday), can still buy passes individually at $30 a piece. More information about the conference and badge registration can be found on the PAX East official site.

As mentioned in the pre-poll this week, we’re going! For those of you who have your passes, it would be great to meet up with you at the conference. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure out a specific time and place to get together. Be sure to check back on all the details.

Jawa Thoughts: Editorial Content on Mos Eisley Radio

Brooks — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:36:56 +0000

There was a period of time when Mos Eisley Radio was just starting out that, in addition to the podcast, we included a spattering of editorial content on the site as well. The goal was to interpret the official news from Bioware and LucasArts in a way that was both interesting and meaningful to the to the community. Unfortunately articles like the ones on the voiceover work in SWTOR, or how Bioware could implement player housing have gone by the wayside. We want to change that!

The developer team has a lot to show us about the game and its mechanics in the upcoming year (which we’re incredibly excited about), but we know they cannot release groundbreaking material every week. With that in mind, we want to bring back the editorial material on this site, hopefully leading to some great discussions, many of which will spill over into the podcast! Some of the ideas we’ve already got rolling around include looking at what features from Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 will be included in The Old Republic, how the vocal community is affecting the development process, and a few others that are still being fleshed out. Of course, we want to put out content that is interesting to all of you, so if there are any topics you would like to see us cover, be sure to leave us a message in the comments or send us an email.

We are really looking forward to bringing some new material to the site! Look for the new posts to start within the next week. Also, keep an eye out for an update on episode 14, which we plan on recording this weekend.

MER Episode 14 Pre-Poll: Are You Going to PAX East?

Brooks — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:10:32 +0000

Flights booked. Reservations made….we’re going to PAX East! And we’re incredibly excited to be able to take in all the event will offer. So we want to know, are you going too? Vote in the poll below and let us know in the comments!

If you want to order your pass, or are just curious about what the conference is going to offer, be sure to head on over to the official PAX East Site. Tickets ARE going to sell out, so be sure to get them as soon as possible if you plan on attending.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

MER Episode 13 – Dispensing Justice

Brooks — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:58:47 +0000

Hear that sound? That’s the gentle sigh of relief from a community that finally knows when to expect The Old Republic to be released. A release date, we might add, that is going to mean more features, more content, and ample time to deal with bugs PRIOR to launch. Along with the new release target, we get caught up on the rest of SWTOR news with the Imperial Agent developer blog, the new Sith planet, Dromund Kaas, and more. We also respond to one of our best polls yet (thanks to you listeners!) and yield a few questions on everything from group roles to cross-faction conversation.

Thanks again to everyone who sent us a question, participated in the poll, or has left us reviews on iTunes and other places around the web…we truly appreciate it!!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
Release Rumor Round 3: Bioware confirms Spring 2011 as the “release target”
-Confirmation on the official forums
-Original rumor from EA meeting on Darth Hater

Developer Blog – Top Secret Dossier on the Imperial Agent

Dromund Kaas added to the Holonet

Fan Friday Update features a new Developer Corner section

Pre-Episode Poll
How many hours a week do you game?
-Hardcore! (25+ hours) (38%)
-Moderate (15-25 hours) (38%)
-Casual (5-15 hours) (19%)
-Very Casual (0-5 hours) (5%)

Listener Questions
Do you think typical mmo players like having well defined group roles for their class, or do you think they will adapt well to being able to change their combat role through changing traits/talents or by summoning a companion?
-Reliant

With all the stun and sleep moves I just dont think the pvp is going to be very action packed more like everyone stun everyone. How do you guys think the pvp will work? Also do you think that all the classes should have a stun ability?
-Mitchal Whiting

- Audio Question from Slartibartfast (Axel)

MER Episode 13 Pre-Poll: Are You Hardcore?

Brooks — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:18:50 +0000

Are you hardcore? We know that each of you comes from a different gaming background, with a number of different experiences. Are you the casual player who logs a few hours a week, or a dedicated raider putting in five hours a night? Vote in the poll and let us know in the comments!

Episode 13 will come out early next week. We’ll be discsussing the newly announced “target release” of SWTOR, the Imperial Agent developer blog, Dromund Kaas, and more!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

MER Episode 12 – Jet Pack Rancors!

Brooks — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:55:26 +0000

This week we’re joined by Darth Hater’s Sleeper, as well as Deacon, who guested previously in episode 6. The four of us get caught up on all the recent TOR news, including the two new planets added to the Holonet and the new Developer Dispatch video on creating the Dark Side. We also dive into a great discussion about what news from 2009 had us most excited about the game, and what we’re looking forward to most in the next year. Give it a listen for all the details!

Again, huge thanks to both Deacon and Sleeper for joining us this week. The two of us had a blast recording this one.

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
Two new planets added to the Holonet
Alderaan – http://swtor.com/info/holonet/planets/alderaan
Tatooine – http://swtor.com/info/holonet/planets/tatooine

Developer Dispatch – Designing the Dark Side
Video – http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/developer-dispatch-5
Dissection at Darth Hater – http://darthhater.com/2009/12/30/dissected-designing-the-dark-side-video/

Stories from the Outer Rim
Year End Review
-Favorite SWTOR announcement from the past year
-What we’re looking forward to most next year
-Game and movie of the year

Pre-Episode Poll
What playable races do you want to see in TOR?
Other – See Comment (25%, 26 Votes)
Twi’lek (24%, 24 Votes)
Rodian (22%, 22 Votes)
Wookie (15%, 15 Votes)
Mon Calamari (10%, 10 Votes)
Bothan (4%, 5 Votes)

MER Episode 12 Pre-Poll: What races do you want to see in TOR?

Brooks — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:16:40 +0000

Now that we know all of the playable classes for The Old Republic, what kinds of playable species do you want to see? We chose five of the more common ones for you to choose from. If we missed your favorite species, leave us a note in the comment about which one you want to play!

We also want to remind everyone that episode 12 will come out just after Christmas. Zach and I are working on putting together a great year-end wrap up, hopefully joined by a couple of the Darth Hater guys, and maybe some other members of the community.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

*P.S. …forgive me for whispering in the audio, I was hanging out in the lobby of a hotel and couldn’t speak very loud.

MER Episode 11 – Now Begins the (Sith) Inquisition!

Brooks — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:46:01 +0000

To say the last couple of weeks has media blitz of new TOR news would be the understatement of the century. We break down both of the new classes, get some new info about companions and class trees, and look at how Bioware is going to approach the MMO “Trinity”. There’s also a brand new release rumor, and some great listener questions.

Check it out and join us in the forums for discussion!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
Final two classes revealed to be Force users
-Jedi Consular at the Holonet and Darth Hater
-Sith Inquisitor at Darth Hater
-Bioware’s choice to address “healing” as CC and damage-mitigation instead of outright “heals”

Smuggler Class Trees

Insight into Companion Characters

General Information Confirmed

Stories from the Outer Rim
Release Rumor Round 2: Could a compiling of the Threat of Peace and a new short story accompany a release of the game?
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=94823

Pre-Episode Poll
What faction will you be playing once TOR launches?
-Sith Empire (38%)
-Galactic Republic (35%)
-I plan to have characters on both sides (27%)

Listener Questions
Since the last two classes aren’t droid/pet classes, do you still think we’ll get to have customizable droid pets, or do you see them maybe offering a companion character like the dog in dragon age, which by the way I agree, that game is amazing. I hope they don’t just stick us with a single option like that. I’d like to be able to switch between my Strill and my Wampa, rather than being stuck with the same boring Kowakian monkey lizard from the beginning.
-Axe Faktor

Do you think it was possible for a Sith Warrior to “work” for the Republic? Maybe a light sith or a dark jedi like characters?
-Darth Revan 72

In developer interviews people have asked about character customization and they have barely said much other than that it wont be as intuitive as dragon age:orgins (bioware)which is understandible however there has been virtually no discussion regarding the race/ species discussion. There have been many screenshots and footage that show races such as calmari, twi’lek, and kel dor. However all of the characters that have been shown as playable have been human. I would really love to play as another race because of the Huge diversity of species in the star wars universe. If you could discuss this and dig up any information regarding this subject in the next podcast I would be really stoked!
-Jord
Post GamesCom forum post confirming non-human playable races: http://swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=63688

Audio question from Ben Racho. What races do we expect?

Audio question from Sunny Ravencourt about the “Trinity”.

MER Episode 11 Pre-Poll: What’s Your Faction?

Brooks — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:28:30 +0000

With the final two classes acknowledged by Bioware, we’re curious to know…which allegiance will you vow to defend once the game launches? Vote in the poll and leave us any comments you’d like! We’ll be discussing the results in episode 11, which should be out early next week.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

MER Episode 10 – Orbital Bombardment!

Brooks — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:14:38 +0000

Wow, the Imperial Agent!! We knew the community was buzzing about the next class for the Sith Empire, but we certainly weren’t expecting an announcement this soon. The two of us cover the ins and outs of the new class, as well as Bioware’s approach to preventing gold farmers and botters from ruining our game experience before the game is even out! We also received some great listener questions about classes and how the Austin team is going to pull off all this story business!

Again, huge shoutout to the officers over at http://iugaming.com! They put on a fantastic LAN last weekend.

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
Imperial Agent announced as the third Sith Empire class
-Picked up first by Now Gamer, then Darth Hater, then the official forum post by Sean Dahlberg
-Added to the Holonet
-Inspiration for story / combat
-Darth Hater invited to LucasArts for a demo

Writing the Jedi Knight
http://swtor.com/news/blog/20091106_001

No native support for Mac
http://darthhater.com/2009/11/05/bad-news-mac/

Stories from the Outer Rim
Gold Sellers, Power Levelers Beware….Bioware knows you’re there!!
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=1889073#edit1889073

Listener Questions
How am I supposed to pick a class!!
http://twitter.com/Silv3r_Rav3n

What do you think will the last two character classes be for ToR? More force users? Droid engineer?
-Deknar

I’ve been having trouble decided who I want to play as in TOR,Jedi or Bounty Hunter, bounty hunter is cooler but I hate being a bad guy so I was wondering if I could be a bounty hunter but make good choices in the cutscenes.
-Knight of the Light

We’ve heard it time and time again, Bioware is taking the story very serious in this MMO. Each character class is supposed to have it’s own quests with zero repetition when you roll another. This sounds really amazing on paper. But can they actually pull this thing off? Did they set the a bar a bit too high for themself?
-Llane

MER Episode 09 – Betting on Red 5

Brooks — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:03:29 +0000

Bioware finally added the Jedi to the Holonet! Zach and I break down what to expect from combat and story for one of SWTOR’s most anticipated classes. We also touch on the announcement leak, Bioware’s design direction, and answer a great pile of listener questions. Give it a listen and send us your feedback!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
-Jedi Knight added to the Holonet
Quotes in the episode from GameSpot article

Stories from the Outer Rim
-Jedi Knight leaked early (Thanks to Axe Faktor for the heads up)
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=56275
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=83590

Design thoughts – Sparked by the tapered lightsaber discussion on our forums

Poll of the week discussion
What unconfirmed planet do you want to see the most in TOR?
-Tatooine 29%
-Other 21%
-Dantooine 14%
-Mon Calimari 14%
-Telos 10%
-Kashyyyk 10%
-Bothawui 2%
-Other planets from the comments: Obroa-Skai, Ilum, Corellia, Dagobah

Listener Questions
Hey guys awesome show!! Just wanted to know how (if you were one of the developers) you would personally distinguish the jedi class from the sith class. I mean obviously the sith uses abilities exclusive to the dark side of the force and jedi from the light, and the sith is a melee /tank but what would you do to make the jedi seem and feel like a different class gameplay-wise.
-Jedi Master Brishia

Hey Mos Eisley crew i was wondering in star wars do they have eny holidays for example christmas?
-Darth Sciros
Star Wars Holidays

@moseisleyradio I’m of the mind that this is a major blow to the argument for 4 Force-using classes. Can you talk about that this ep?
-http://twitter.com/cjthrasher

@moseisleyradio Great episode. In regards to the Hunter class, Slave Trader? That class brings up certain moral issues, but could work.
-http://twitter.com/JakeRoc

@moseisleyradio What do you think about classes like Jedi and Sith being announced so late instead of being first?
-http://twitter.com/MasterAndrew15

MER Episode 09 Pre-Poll: What unconfirmed planet do you want in SWTOR?

Zach — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:06:44 +0000

So with the recent announcement of Balmorra this now gives us at least six confirmed planets in TOR. The other planets include Tython, Korriban, Coruscant, Hutta, and Ord Mantell. I have to figure we will see a few more planets announced in the coming months in addition to these. So this raises the questions, what one planet do you want to see in the game more than any other unmentioned so far? Tell us why you want that planet in the game too.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

MER Episode 08 – The Black Sun Syndicate

Brooks — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:15:41 +0000

Bioware dropped the making of Coruscant and the new planet, Balmorra, on us, and Zach points out a mention of the Black Sun Syndicate! Christian Sorrell joins us from FourStoryGamer.com to discuss the news and the possibility of creature handlers in SWTOR, as well as some listener questions about Bioware points, mounts, and more. We top off the episode with a special segment about the Star Wars franchise. Check it out and let us know what you think!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
-The Making of Coruscant
-Balmorra revealed as the newest playable planet location in SWTOR

Stories from the Outer Rim
-Is Creature Handler going to be revealed as a playable class?

Listener Questions
I Think the points system that you guys was talking about in episode 7 could be something like World Of Warcraft’s DKP system. Where you gain points for raiding and then when you gain enough of these points you could use these points to gain epics from drops in the raid. Join the dark side we have cookies.
-Darth Sciros

We all know that swtor will have many planets to explore my question is will swtor have mounts and if so maybe mounted combat? Also do you believe that the planets will be massive(like in swg) or about the size of a couple of zones in WoW.
-Mesirav Darkcrest

In the official site “Timeline” they talk a lot about geonosis being this arena planet. How likely do you think it is that we’ll see the relatively barren Geonosis in the game, and what are your thoughts on it. I saw it as being a PvP heavy Arena planet.
-Axe Faktor

One of the things I’ve been most concerned about is this: What incentive will there be for characters to group together for quests? I mean socialization and companionship are one thing, but what about furthering your story line, and what do you do when all your friends and guildmates are busy on another planet and don’t have time to come do your “Flashpoint?” And what if the people who DO have time turn out to be jerks? I posted this a while ago, on the TOR forums, and I’m interested to hear what you think.
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=25187 Thanks!
-Billy Uno

What part of TOR are you looking forward to the most?

Zach — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:09:36 +0000

Unlike any other game, MMOs generally bring a lot of options to the table that other genres don’t. They often include several playing components to the game such as RPG elements, Dungeons and Boss Battles, intense competition (PvP or Guild Firsts), and all of these centered around a social community. The thing about MMOs is we all generally want something different but also enjoy all of the other things that come with it. For example, I love dungeons and Boss fights. There is nothing more thrilling to me than defeating an extremely powerful person through teamwork and practice. While, this is one of the most important things to me when playing an MMO (and the reason I got into MMOs in the first place) there are plenty of things I would have never attempted if it weren’t part of the MMO gaming culture. PvP comes to mind.

A lot of people love PvP, and who can blame them. PvP is fast action, always on your toes, live and die by how well you can manage your abilities kind of fun. It’s really competitive because everyone wants to be that guy (or girl) on the server that everyone else fears. You walk around cities and people go, “Look it’s the Jedi killer, Dweebee” (such a menacing name I know). It’s just another branch of the MMOs tree that I have come to enjoy because it is a part of the game. Which gets me back to my original point: MMOs are truly what the name implies, Massive. We all love MMOs but all for different reasons. Tell us what you are looking forward to the most with the upcoming Star Wars MMO.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

MER Episode 07 – The NOT Beta

Brooks — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:33:55 +0000

Game Testing…Holy crap! I don’t think any of us were expecting this. And of course, we couldn’t wait another week to talk about it! We also touch on the new Sith Developer Blog, and answer a listener question about character and story customization.

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
-SWTOR Game Testing: What it is and isn’t, and what it means for you as a fan

-Game Testing announcement brings the site down for hours

-Sith Developer Blog

Stories from the Outer Rim
-Is Bioware using “points” for in-game currency?

Listener Questions
Hey Zach and Brooks first I just wanted to say great job with the podcast you guys are doing a great job. My question is that the developers are putting a lot of emphasis on story and that every class will have a unique story. I was wondering on how the player stories are going to be more personal like so if me and my buddy are both bounty hunters are we going to do the same quests and I know that we can choose different paths but if we chose the same class would we have different experiences than each other. For example if im a Kel Dor and my friend is a human if we go to the Kel Dor homeworld do you think that I may have a specific quest just for me to make my character unique? I know its a long question I was just wondering what your thoughts were and just keep up the good work.
-Mesirav Darkcrest

MER Episode 06 – Threat of the Old Republic

Brooks — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:40:21 +0000

What a slow month for news! Don’t worry though, we’ve got a doozy of an episode for you (over an hour and a half!). DeaconX of Heroes of the Old Republic was finally able to join us where we discuss his project and the Threat of Peace webcomic. We also touch on some community rumblings about PVP, microtransactions, and the closing of some Galaxies servers. All that and more!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News from the Galactic Republic
-SOE shutting down a number of Star Wars Galaxies servers

Stories from the Outer Rim
-Will Bioware be using microtransactions for SWTOR?
-Slash Dance!

KOTOR Giveaway Winners!

Listener Questions
@NpXDinO – Have you guys heard anything about flying a ship, owning a ship, or at least commanding a ship?

@Machine1k – What do you guys think about the amount of CC that might be in game? for PvP and PvE.

JD – We hear a lot from Bioware about the original kotor story being hinted or referenced upon in TOR. But what about kotor II? Do you think its worth making any inclusions or references towards the second game? Do Bioware even have the rights to use the kotor II characters?

MER Episode 05b – KOTOR Giveaway!

Brooks — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:02:38 +0000

With the slow stream of news in the past couple of weeks, we thought it best to push back episode 6 by a week. What better way to make up for the delay than by giving away two free copies of Knights of the Old Republic via Steam! Make sure to go sign up for a steam account here if you don’t already have one, and then listen to the show for details on how to enter. We’ll be announcing the winners on next week’s episode!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

Question of the week

Zach — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:00:56 +0000

Hey guys. I was thinking about Star Wars and MMOs today and came to the conclusion that it’s probably one of the few combinations that can bring two totally different types of people to the game. Now what I mean by this is Star Wars has not only drawn the interest of many long time and hardcore MMO players but also has caught the attention of many Star Wars fans that have never played an MMO. That got me thinking more and I have forgotten that there are a handful of people who are looking forward to this game that really might not understand all the ins and outs of an MMO. Because of the huge success of many games in the past decade, MMORPGs are now almost in everyday casual conversations so it’s easy to forget this game will have a lot of first time MMO players. So I guess the question I want to ask this week is have you ever played and MMO before? If so how much experience (no pun intended) do you have?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

MER Episode 05 – PAX 2009

Brooks — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:40:19 +0000

PAX 2009 served up a huge pile of new SWTOR news. Everything from Coruscant, to Trooper gameplay, to player housing, and more. Give it a listen and join the discussion!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News From the Galactic Republic
PAX – Penny Arcade Expo
-Coruscant confirmed as a playable planet (Video @ YouTube)
-Trooper class demo
-Death system
-Use of phasing system for personal stories

Stories From the Outer Rim
-Player housing
-Morality System
-Sith Infiltrator Class

Listener Questions
@sirdesmond – Do you think SWTOR will have character customization to the level of Champions Online or Star Trek Online?

@TonySama22 – The finishing moves in some vids, will those come about from talent trees or trainers, etc?

@NpXDinO – The landscape was beautiful in the demos!! How high are the land expectations after that sexyness!?!?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments and the forums!

Player Housing in SWTOR

Brooks — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:28:04 +0000

With GamesCom over, and the drool from the developer walkthrough video finally being mopped up, a number of news sites and fans have started to break down every last detail of what was mentioned during the conference. While a many frame-by-frame breakdowns of the video have sprung up, a number of folks have latched on to a particular statement made about “typical MMO features”. More specifically, amongst the vague talk about PvP, auction houses, and crafting…housing was VERY briefly mentioned.

Housing has been a topic of great discussion ever since the game had been announced. Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) players had it, Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) players had it, World of Warcraft players YEARNED for it, but how would it be implemented, if at all? It is no doubt that if the developers over at Bioware Austin are going to give players a place to hang their trophies, they’re going to look at how the other games have solved the problem of placing thousands, if not hundreds-of-thousands, of houses.

There are two basic approaches to player housing: open world and instanced, each of which can be seen in SWG and LOTRO, respectively. One would think that an open-world solution like that in SWG is simple: buy a house, find a lot, and boom your character has a place to live, right? Wrong. Between player-based cities, taxes, house-type planet limitations, utilities (yeah, you pay utilities hourly), and voting for mayor every three weeks, the system in SWG is incredibly complicated. But it’s hard to argue that this amount of detail provides a certain level of immersion that could not be captured any other way. I invite you to check out the SWG Wiki for all the gritty details.

LOTRO, on the other hand, uses an instanced neighborhood system. Similar to player cities, there are four racially styled homesteads (Men, Hobbit, Dwarven, and Elven) which appear in the open world, with 250 instanced neighborhoods per homestead. Each neighborhood has 30 homes, 4 kinship houses, 10 deluxe personal houses, and 16 standard personal houses, which can then be customized upon purchase. The result? A highly organized, pre-planned place for players or groups of players to hang their wares. (All information about LOTRO homes was found HERE)

So which of these methods will we see in SWTOR? The speculation and hopes from the player-base have been far and wide. This forum thread covers just about every possibility from open-world, to instanced, to ships acting as homes (similar to the Ebon Hawk in KOTOR). As with every other detail of the game, the developers are waiting for a finished product before confirming anything, but there’s no doubt that they are keeping a close eye on the community.

What do you think of player housing in SWTOR? Vote in the poll and give us the details the comments!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

MER Episode 04 – Basterds of the Old Republic

Brooks — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:22:51 +0000

The past two weeks have served up a heaping helping of news and rumors. We break down everything from the developer walkthrough to some interesting community creations. Details are in the notes below…give it a listen and let us know what you think!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News From the Galactic Republic
GamesCom Developer Walkthrough
- Bounty Hunter
- Smuggler
- Korriban / Sith Warrior
- Flashpoint: “Highly customized story and gameplay experience”
- Detailed breakdown at Darth Hater

SWTOR Localized to French and German
- French and German versions of the website AND game
- Includes forums, Holonet, timeline videos, etc
- Very important to building a global community

Stories From the Outer Rim
SWTOR Release Rumor
- How we’re going to treat these rumors
- French site reports reliable source says October of 2010
- Poll Results

Community Highlight
Heroes of the Old Republic
- Old-style radio drama created by community member DeaconX
- Prelude tells the story of the Deception trailer from the perspective of
- Episode I picks up with a swoop race on Ord Mantell, follows the story of young Falco Danner

Twitter Questions
@COMMUNISTROBOT – Should gear color schemes auto-adjust/change depending on your environment. i.e. snow cammo, jungle cammo, etc. /discuss

@gem1138 – My hype has definitely raised after watching the walkthrough! The kick to the nuts followed by the headshot was fantastic!

@sirdesmond – In the multiplayer dialogue cutscenes, could playing with people u dont know screw stuff up if they say something u wouldnt? (DIALOG CLIP – Daniel Erickson, Lead Writer)

SWTOR Demo Video Now On IGN

Zach — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:08:42 +0000

The Twitter world was going nuts yesterday wondering when the game play demo would be released for Star Wars: The Old Republic, and yesterday afternoon it finally happened. Over on IGN’s website you can find a four part video series that combined is over 20 minutes long. The demo is full of action-packed SWTOR combat footage, voice dialog chats, and beautiful planet landscapes in the upcoming game. Mostly what we see is nothing more than the things we already know in finally being played out. Although watching it answered a lot of questions it also raised a fresh new batch as well. We should be recording episode 4 in the next few days so stayed tuned to get our full opinions on this exciting new video.

What are your thoughts after watching these videos? Are you more excited or could you care less now?

SWTOR To Be Released Late 2010?

Brooks — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:15:37 +0000

Earlier this week a French site, Star Wars Universe (English translation here), reported that they had learned, via a reliable source within LucasArts, that SWTOR was on track to be released in October of 2010. Let’s go ahead and break this down and see, based on previous releases, how accurate this may be.

First, we’ve got to look at the MMO giant, World of Warcraft. Blizzard made it’s official announcement that the game was in the works on September 2, 2001. After much development and a rather significant open beta, WoW was released to the public on November 23, 2004…3 years after their initial press release. Another genre favorite, Guild Wars, took about two years to create its first incarnation with an announcement in April of 2003 and a release in September 2005. Keep in mind that the scale of SWTOR greatly outweighs both of these games, especially the latter.

With some kind of reference for the industry standard games, next we need to see where The Old Republic is at in its development cycle. Bioware Austin was formed in early 2006 with the sole purpose of creating SWTOR. The official announcment of the game came on October 7th, 2008. It is incredibly important to remember that at the time of this press release, the team at Bioware had a fully functioning game that employees were playing on a daily basis. If the folks over at Star Wars Universe really do have a reliable connection who believes release is October 2010, that’s a four and a half year development period. Pretty hefty, right? With the amount of content that is going into this game, and the team’s dedication and demand for perfection, I would say this rumor certainly holds some weight. In which case, I am super stoked!!

Do you think the rumor is accurate? If so, will we see a public beta as soon as Spring of next year? Vote in the poll and let us know what you think in the comments!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

MER Episode 03 – Speculathon 2009

Brooks — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:19:42 +0000

With little news coming from the SWTOR site and Comic-Con, we break down some of the finer points of group play and the concept of companion characters in an MMO setting. We also get our first chance to field some listener questions from Twitter and the site. Give it a listen and let us know what you think in the comments!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News From the Galactic Republic / Stories from the Outer Rim
Pre Comic-Con IGN Interview with Dallas Dickinson and Jake Neri
-Healing
-Raids and Group Class Members
-Companion Characters

Twitter Questions
-sirdesmond and bmartin717 were curious about group structure and whether or not tanks would be required.
-NpXDinO and Silv3r_Rav3n wanted to know about the graphics in SWTOR

P.S. Unfortunately we missed covering the new developer blog. This will definitely be discussed in the next episode!

Companion Characters in SWTOR

Brooks — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 20:16:11 +0000

The folks over at Bioware have confirmed a number of times via the official site, interviews, and panels that companion characters are going to be a part of the game and have an influence on our experience in the world of The Old Republic. But from what I can tell, we don’t really know much about how these NPCs will actually change the game. They are said to have their own story and their own path down the light or dark side.

These guys are truly hideous. Are we going to pick our companion?

Obviously, the dev team is going to draw heavily from their past experience with companion characters in games like KOTOR and Mass Effect. Those seemed to work pretty well, right? And they were integrated into the game in a way that didn’t detract from your story. Let’s just hope we don’t end up with the paper cut-outs like in Guild Wars.

Are you even remotely excited about companion characters in an MMO setting? Vote in the poll and leave us details in the comments!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Get MER on Zune Marketplace……Sort of.

Zach — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:25:43 +0000

Well I have been trying to make it so you can find MER on the Zune Marketplace but nothing has been working. I did just recently figure out though if you go to your podcast section on Zune Media Player you can click a “add a Podcast” button, which allows you to put a feed in to subscribe to our Podcast that way. Basically its just a fancy RSS reader. So if your one of a handful of people who actually uses Zunes like me then this might help you out. Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone and share us with some friends. Oh and use this address, http://moseisleyradio.com/feed/podcast/, when you want to add a podcast on Zune Player.

MER Episode 02 – Attack!!!

Brooks — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:30:35 +0000

Zach and Brooks break down the past two weeks of SWTOR news, from the voiceover work outlined in Developer Blog #10 to the UI design shown in Video Documentary #3. All that and more in this week’s episode of Mos Eisley Radio!

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

News From the Galactic Republic
Return of the Mandalorians
-Overview of the video
-Mandalorians as a “faction” and how factions would work in SWTOR

Development Blog #10 / Video Documentary #3
-Visual appearance of the SWTOR engine
-Voicing of both NPCs and your player’s character
-All aspects of the scale and level of production going in to the voice over work.
-Brooks’ post about audio from an engineer’s perspective
-SWTOR’s UI and the need for a mod community

Stories from the Outer Rim
PC Gamer UK Interview with Rich Vogel
-PVP, Raids, Economy

Discussion of the Week
Trooper and Bounty Hunter Classes
-What roles Trooper and Bounty Hunter will play within both party and solo settings
-Class abilities
-Possible ability focus based on armor (for Troopers) and weapons (for Bounty Hunters)

Podcast Directories
We’ve uploaded our feed to a few different directories to make sure that whererever you are, you can hear us! Listed below are the links to our pages on various sites.
-PodBean.com (claim-my-podcast-in-podbean{scid-bW9zZWlzbGV5cmFkaW8=-ecid})
-Podfeed.net
-Podcast Alley

MER Episode 2 Update

Zach — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:00:02 +0000

Hey everyone! I thought I would just give a quick update concerning episode two for MER. As you might have seen in our twitter post last weekend, we had originally planned to record episode 2 and post it this week. However, since the past two weeks have been relatively slow for Old Republic news, it seemed best to wait in order to deliver you a show packed with more content. Plus, recording an episode and releasing it two weeks later obviously isn’t the most ideal situation.

Since this show is about bringing fans of the Star Wars universe together, we want to hear from you! MP3 or email questions to be answered on the show would be great, but feedback on the show itself is also greatly appreciated. Email any questions or comments to moseisleyradio@gmail.com. Thanks for your patience and for the strong initial support for this future SWTOR community. We look forward to hearing from you!

Voicing Star Wars The Old Republic

Brooks — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:20:14 +0000

Last week Developer Blog #10 popped up on the official site, going into great detail about the process for the extremely daunting task of recording voice over for The Old Republic. It’s been known for some time that all NPCs and quest-related information will be listened to and not read. In fact, this is one of the core elements of Bioware Austin’s new “story” pillar of MMORPGs. While the concept alone is enough to excite the legions of Knights of Old Republic fans, there is a scale and dedication to their craft present that I’m not sure everyone fully understands.

Let’s look at some of the facts: The Old Republic is the size of at least 10 KOTORs recorded back to back and the voice-over has been recorded in 5 different cities: Los Angeles , London, New York, San Francisco, and Toronto, by hundreds of different actors. First and foremost, if anyone has taken a close look at the audio files for KOTOR, the dialog alone accounts for about 550MB of space. Multiplying that by 10, we get an astonishing 5.5GB of data just for voice. Factoring in music and environmental sounds, and without an elaborate compression scheme, it’s likely that all audio related content for The Old Republic could take upwards of 7-8GB of storage on your machine.

View of Skywalker Sound’s Akira Kurosawa dubbing stage with the Neve DFC console.

What really speaks to Bioware and LucasArt’s dedication to this game is the task of working with so many voice actors at so many locations. The act of recording that much audio alone is astonishing, but when the whole process is considered, it’s no surprise that the team went to Skywalker Sound, one of the heaviest hitters in movie and video game industry. Before even a single line is recorded, scripts are laid out, voice directors are met with, actors have practice groups, and engineers consider all the editing and processing that will need to be done. Once the first track is laid, then comes the grueling task of assuring consistency in volume, pitch, and even pronunciation, as dynamic storylines require each individual line to be played on the fly based on a player’s choices.

As a gamer and an audio engineer, I couldn’t be more excited about what this means for both The Old Republic and the gaming industry in general. With this release, the teams at Bioware and LucasArts will set the bar for video game audio, and a very high one at that.

How do you feel about all quest and NPC-related content being spoken and not read?

To Each His Own (Planet)

Brooks — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:35:41 +0000

We spoke briefly on last week’s podcast about the concept of “starting planets”. As with most MMO’s, each class or race is given a specific area from which to start. For example, the Orcs and Trolls in World of Warcraft both start their journeys in Durotar, Kalimdor. Well, it would seem that our speculation holds some weight.

In a number of interviews and reviews, Bioware employees have roughly confirmed that each planet will play specific host to one (or possibly two) classes as they enter the galaxy. So far it appears as if the Trooper and Smuggler classes will start on Ord Mantell, while the Bounty Hunter class will begin on Hutta. These are all logical choices as to how each fits in with the overall lore of Star Wars. For example, its widely known that most Bounty Hunters have a very strong business relationship with the Hutt crime lords. And in the case of Ord Mantell, given the planet’s volatile political state, it makes sense that Troopers are needed to enforce the Galactic Republic’s rule, while the Smugglers do everything in their power to undermine them and move their goods.

This leaves an open slot on Hutta, and nothing for Korriban and Tython. Obviously, the most likely choices for the latter planets are going to be Sith Lord and Jedi Master, respectively. Yet since the other classes have yet to be announced, the options for Hutta are still wide open.

What do you think of having the classes separated so far from each other? Which planet are you looking forward to adventuring the most?

MER Episode 01 – Gooooood Morning Tatooine!

Brooks — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:30:58 +0000

The time has finally come to throw preparation and caution to the wind and release the very first episode of Mos Eisley Radio! We couldn’t be more excited about bringing you the latest in The Old Republic news, as well as in-depth looks at all aspects of the vast Star Wars universe we all know and love.

	Direct Download
	iTunes Subscription
	RSS Subscription

In our premiere episode, we take a general look at the setting we will be playing in, and give an overview of what we know as far as classes and gameplay. While there aren’t a whole lot of details at this point, there’s plenty of room for deep discussion and speculation.

Don’t forget to follow the show on Twitter! There you’ll find some of the latest news about The Old Republic and what’s going on with the show.

We want to know what you think! Leave a comment, write on the forum, send us an email (moseisleyradio@gmail.com), shout like the Sand People, whatever! We’ve got a lot of in-depth looks at classes and gameplay planned, but let us know what topics you want us to discuss in coming episodes.

Games Radar’s Hands-on Preview of SWTOR

Zach — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:00:36 +0000

Like most you, we here at MER are just drooling over the thought of getting our hands on some type of playable demo of The Old Republic. At the most recent E3 there was in fact a playable demo which created a lot of buzz amongst those that had the chance to play. Games Radar recently wrote a very detailed description of their experience, including insights from Rich Vogel.

Vogel, Bioware Austin’s studio co-director, goes into detail to explain the cause-and-effect scenario that was something new to me in a MMO game. During a mission involving a captain that failed at his duties you are given the option to kill him and promote the first officer in his place, or forgive him and allow him to keep his post. Up until reading this article I had been a bit worried that the whole “Good vs Evil” gameplay was going to be nothing more than choosing to spare a life and taking, or helping, someone out and keeping recovered goods for yourself. Vogel explained that your choice on the captain’s fate actually would weigh in to how the story would progress. If you kill the captain the young inexperienced first officer makes several mistakes which makes your mission more difficult. On the flip side, if you spare the captain’s life than he was able to defeat a sizable portion of the enemy, his years of experience allow him to make tough decisions that save many lives. This excites me because for once I am making choices where my actions will have direct consequences on the outcome of a mission and the entire story as a whole.

There are a lot more details on ideas and storytelling methods BioWare is working on in the article. I encourage you all to check it out.

Check out the Games Radar TOR preview.

Chapter Two of Threat of Peace Has Begun

Brooks — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:35:12 +0000

The newest installment, and beginning of the second chapter, of The Old Republic’s webcoming Threat of Peace has been posted. The story takes readers to the embattled world of Balmorra where Republic forces are receiving word that the planet has been ceded to the Sith Empire under the terms of the Treaty of Coruscant. Even as the local commander shares his withdrawal orders with his troops, Jedi Knight Fortris Gall shrugs off his orders to rescue a squad of captured Republic soldiers.

New Addition to the Holonet Timeline

Brooks — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:10:56 +0000

A new entry has been made by Master Gnost-Dural that highlights the rise of the New Mandalore. The mysterious figure pieced together a massive army almost overnight and created a blockade of one of the Galactic Republic’s most important trade routes. Where the Jedi failed to breech the lines, intrepid smuggler’s succeeded. But the rise of the Mandalorians and their agreement with the Sith only grew stronger.

View the video here!

SWTOR’s In-Game Footage

Brooks — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:45:13 +0000

A YouTube user has so kindly compiled all of the in-game footage that has been released thus far into a single video. Included are scenes from Hutta, Korriban, and all of the other planets we know about, including fight scenes between the known classes and various indigenous species. Check out the video below. What place are you most excited to visit?

The Old Republic at Comic-Con 2009

Brooks — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:25:49 +0000

The development team over at Bioware has announced their schedule for the upcoming 2009 Comic-Con! Some of the highlights include a panel discussion about the making of The Old Republic and big-screen showings of the “Deceived” trailer. The rest of the schedule is below.

The Old Republic Panel
Friday, July 24th at 1:00-2:00PM – Room 7AB
Jake Neri (Producer, LucasArts) will speak with Hall Hood (Senior Writer, BioWare), Alexander Freed (Managing Editor, BioWare), Dallas Dickinson (Senior Content Producer, BioWare), and Jeff Dobson (Art Director, BioWare) about creating Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Limited Edition Threat of Peace™ Mini-Comic Giveaway
Thursday through Saturday, the Threat of Peace™ webcomic writer Rob Chestney, and artist Alex Sanchez will be joining the crews at Lucasfilm (Booth #2913) and Dark Horse Comics (Booth #2615) to give away copies of the Threat of Peace mini-comic. Stop by and get your own signed copy!

“Deceived” Cinematic Trailer
Showings of the award-winning “Deceived” cinematic trailer at the Lucasfilm booth on Saturday and Sunday at 11am, 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm.

The Star Wars Spectacular
July 24 from 5:15PM-6:15PM – Hall H
G4’s Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira will be delivering all the latest news from the Star Wars universe in an all-new show format. Be sure to look out for The Old Republic at this special event on Friday, July 24 from 5:15PM-6:15PM in Hall H.

Deceived Wallpaper

Brooks — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:45:03 +0000

To go along with The Old Republic’s epic trailer, the team has put up the final clip to be downloaded as a wallpaper in all number of resolutions. Grab it here: http://bit.ly/baPKI

Interview with the makers of the “Deceived” Trailer

Brooks — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:30:13 +0000

The folks over at IGN were given the chance at E3 to sit down with Blur Studio’s animation supervisor Derron Ross, and chat about the most recent The Old Republic trailer. The company, which has done work for the most recent Wolverine game, Rocky Balboa, and others, worked closely with Bioware to convey the epic scale of the world we will be entering. Check out the video below.