Category Archives: Star Wars Games

FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES PREVIEW: AUGUST 2015

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Via Starwars.com:

The summer days may be getting hotter, but Fantasy Flight Games is staying cool with the release of several expansion packs for X-Wing Miniatures and Star Wars Imperial Assault. Check out a special preview below, including images and descriptions!

X-Wing: Wave VII

SLAM into the middle of your enemy’s starfighters. Pummel your foes with plasma torpedoes and ion bombs. Eliminate everyone who would come between you and your bounty! The explosive seventh wave of X-Wing starship expansions introduces new starships to each of the game’s three factions, including two for the Scum and Villainy faction and one each for the Rebels and Imperials.

Hound’s Tooth Expansion Pack
Kihraxz Fighter Expansion Pack
K-wing Expansion Pack
TIE Punisher Expansion Pack
X-Wing: Hound’s Tooth Expansion Pack – $39.95

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Star Wars Battlefront HD Wallpapers

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Via Gamespot.com:

Looking for a new wallpaper for your PC? You’re in luck, as Electronic Arts has released a handful of high-resolution wallpapers for Star Wars Battlefront to hold you over until the game launches in November.

Head to the EA Star Wars Imgur page to download the wallpapers in full HD.

There’s quite a few available, including the one you see embedded here in this post and more that show off iconic characters, settings, and vehicles.

Earlier this week during EA’s Gamescom briefing, we got a first look at Battlefront’s 10v10 dogfighting mode, Squadron Fighter. DICE has also explained why Battlefront won’t have a traditional single-player campaign.

Battlefront launches on November 17 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Star Wars Battlefront’s Dogfighting Mode Teased

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Via Gamespot.com:

Star Wars Battlefront fans won’t have to wait long for more information about the game’s multiplayer. Today, EA released a short teaser of Battlefront’s Fighter Squadron mode, and announced that it is getting an official reveal later this week.

The teaser video is short, but it shows a couple of tantalizing glimpses of Tie Fighter and X-Wing dogfighting. The few seconds of gameplay show off a confrontation between fighter squadrons, and in the background a huge battle between Empire and Rebel forces takes place.

EA will be releasing more footage of Fighter Squadron this week, possibly during its Gamescom conference on Wednesday at 12:30 AM PDT/8:30 AM in Germany.

Fighter Squadron is one of several multiplayer modes that Battlefront will feature. The others include Walker Assault, Supremacy, Blast, Drop Zone, and Cargo. There will also be a co-op mode called Survival. Recently, EA discussed Blast, which is a 10 vs. 10 deathmatch mode.

Star Wars Battlefront launches on November 17 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Recently, Battlefront developer DICE discussed the difficulties of taking over the Battlefront franchise. You can also read our interview with the studio’s general manager, Patrick Bach, here.

The Gamescom conference is happening this week, and EA is sure to have more news and videos to show off at its press conference on Wednesday. Keep an eye on GameSpot for more about Battlefront all this week.

Star Wars Battlefront Seeing Strong Preorders

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Via Gamespresso.com:
In a recent call Peter Moore, the Electronic Arts COO, said that the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront game is having “extremely strong-preorders”. Numbers for the preorders were not specified.

Moore also said that, the upcoming public event, Gamescom, which is open to the public and draws crowds in the hundreds of thousands, will be a pivotal moment for the game. Star Wars Battlefront is expected to be a big seller for EA and the company believes that the game will be able to sell between 9 and 10 million by the end of the first quarter of 2016.

Star Wars Battlefront is to launch November 17th, 2015 on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and on PC. Customers who preorder the game will receive a free expansion named The Battle of Jakku. The expansion is based off of J. J. Abrams’ new Star Wars movie, which is set to come out at the end of this year.

Blast Mode: Team Deathmatch

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Via Starwars.ea.com:

When you’re hungry for a classic, challenging game mode within the Star Wars™ universe, there is one obvious choice: Blast.

Star Wars™ Battlefront’s™ Team Deathmatch mode, Blast, pits the Rebel and Imperial factions against each other with intense 10 versus 10 battles. If your team reaches 100 kills, or are ahead when the 10-minute round is over, you’ve won. Immediate, addictive, and exciting until the very last kill; that is our ambition with Blast.

Blast offers a lot of variety both in terms of gameplay and the unpredictable nature of the opposing team.  Actual levels within the mode also happen to hold great variation as well.

Our Lead Level Designer Dennis Brännvall tells us about breathtaking sights within the mode that Star Wars fans will come across: 

“One battle you’ll be fighting within interior levels on Endor or Sullust. In the next battle, you might find yourselves among Tatooine’s dusty canyons, or inside the undeniably cool Ice Caves on Hoth. My favorite is the verticality of Tatooine, fighting by the Sandcrawler.”

To keep the action dense in this close-quarters mode, the Blast maps are not as vast as in other game modes. You should know that they are all specifically designed for the specific game mode in mind; in other words, these aren’t just smaller versions of maps used elsewhere. Brännvall notes that this variation is crucial and something that can be noticed in other ways too:

“Say you’ve just played Walker Assault mode on Hoth and then switched to Blast, still on Hoth. Thanks to variations in lighting and time of day, you’ll definitely see a difference.”

As in other Star Wars Battlefront game modes, the key to success is choosing a hand with a weapon layout that suits you and the battle conditions. Also, you’ll find weapon pickups strewn across the map, and since there are no vehicles or Heroes & Villains joining the fight, the strategic value of these pickups is quite high.

“Whether you pick up a Droid™ scanning for nearby enemies or a turret that’ll control a zone for you, the pickups can really turn the tide of a Blast match,” says Brännvall. “They are not around every corner though, so keep your eyes peeled.”

If you’re a fan of deadly matches between two teams, or if you want to enjoy the core of the game’s multiplayer mode, jump into Blast when Star Wars Battlefront releases across the galaxy November 17th.

Gamestop Exclusive Star Wars Battlefront Poster Revealed

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Via Gamezone.com:

We already know that pre-ordering Star Wars Battlefront will grant you Early Access to the Battle of Jakku, two additional maps set on the all-new planet of Jakku (first shown in the latest Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer) that let you play out the pivotal moment when the New Republic confronted key Imperial holdouts on the remote desert planet in the Outer Rim. However, if you pre-order you’re also going to get a sweet double-sided poster.

Revealed this week, the poster features a stormtrooper front-and-center on volcanic planet of Sullust, which was briefly mentioned in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, but never actually shown. In Star Wars Battlefront, Sullust will serve as one of the initial map locations, alongside Endor, Hoth, Tatooine and eventually Jakku.

Although GameStop claims it is a double-sided poster, only one of the sides has been revealed. I’m going to assume the other side will be more rebel focused.

Star Wars Battlefront: Disney Has been ‘Very Supportive’

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Via Gameranx.com:
EA’s Patrick Soderlund has said Disney has been “very supportive” of the publisher’s work on Star Wars Battlefront in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

The development team at DICE has visited the Star Wars archives on numerous occasions and discussed matters with both Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound to ensure the look and feel of the game is as authentic as possible.

Soderlund admitted that recreating the Star Wars universe in this way has been “difficult” but it’s also “super cool”.

Discussing EA’s relationship with Lucasfilm owner Disney, Soderlund commented, “Disney has been very supportive. Everyone said ‘big licenses are hard to work with, the licensors.’ There’s been a lot of guidelines and rules that you need to follow, but they’ve been very simple, and they’ve always felt right to follow them. We’ve never had a big, ‘what are you guys thinking, putting Jabba the Hutt here? That makes no sense.’

“So yes, there’s obviously a lot of work that goes into making sure that it’s approved and everything, but it’s never been a big issue for us, which is pretty cool.”

Soderlund has previously compared DICE’s work on Battlefront to Rockstead’s Batman: Arkham Asylum and said the combination of developer and franchise is a “match made in heaven”.

Star Wars Battlefront launches for PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 17th.

WHY STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT WON’T BE BATTLEFIELD IN SPACE

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Via Ign.com:

Battlefield Hardline may have cruelly been criticised as a title that felt like cops and robbers-themed DLC for Battlefield 4 by certain segments of the fan base, but no-one should expect Star Wars Battlefront to play like Battlefield in space. Despite the shared developer (DICE), team-based multiplayer classification, as well as the combination of infantry and all manner of militarised vehicles, the two IPs are light-years apart in terms of all of the little nuances that define their respective gameplay loops.

A long time ago…
But first, a history lesson. Before there was Battlefield, there was a game called Codename Eagle. This World War I-themed first-person shooter was built by a Stockholm-based developer called Refraction Games, and mixed on-foot shootouts with vehicular warfare. Refraction Games merged with another Stockholm-based developer called Digital Illusions CE (that’s DICE for everyone keeping track) and, together, they built Battlefield 1942 for the PC.

Battlefield 1942 played like the lovechild of Codename Eagle and what appeared to be part of the recycled feature list of Valve’s cancelled Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms. Battlefield 1942 went on to be a huge success and spawned not only sequels, but popular PC mods. One of those mods, Desert Combat, blasted the game out of World War II and into contemporary warfare, proving to publisher EA and developer DICE that there was an interest in modern warfare before the release of Battlefield 2.

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The New Star Wars Tabletop RPG

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Via popularmechanics.com:
​When it comes right down to it, we still want to “play Star Wars.” Many of us grew up orchestrating huge, complex Star Wars adventures with our Kenner action figures. We swung wiffleball bats wildly, making the “whuam, whuam” lightsaber sound as we traipsed through our parents’ gardens. We debated endlessly about whether Luke Skywalker would ever “go evil.” So it should come as no surprise the new Star Wars Roleplaying Game by Fantasy Flight Games is pretty close to a dream come true. Like Dungeons and Dragons, but set in the Star Wars universe, this game’s just as geeky—and amazing—as it sounds.

From using the force to lift huge boulders, to force-choking some scruffy nerf-herder who gets in your way, this game hits on everything that’s awesome about the Star Wars world. Epic lightsaber duels, laser blasts shooting off all around you—if you can imagine it, and your group can play it. This is a roleplaying game that commands your attention, and is full of fanservice and nods to the die-hards.

Don’t know what a tabletop roleplaying game (or RPG) is? Quick primer: You and your friends sit around a table, and using paper, pencils, dice, maps, miniatures, and your imagination, sharing collaborative story. One player usually runs the game and comes up with the adventure, while each other player controls a single adventurer.

Since 2012, Fantasy Flight Games has been on a roll, creating insanely fun RPG’s set in the Star Wars universe. They first released Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, where you played as smugglers and scoundrels. They followed Edge up with Star Wars: Age of Rebellion, where you took on the role of rebels fighting against the empire. And now, currently shipping and heading to game stores across the country, they’re putting out Star Wars: Force and Destiny, where you take on the role of wannabe Jedi and Sith, and head out into the galaxy to use the force for good and evil.

Players of Force and Destiny have some choices to make when they build their characters. Are you a human? A Twi’lek? A Zabrak? Yes, this game digs deep into the Star Wars mythos, but it’s not so esoteric as to drive away newcomers and casual fans of the franchise. Once you’ve decided what type of creature you are, you then dig into what you do in this world. Maybe you’re a mystic, advising others on the wisest course of action, or maybe you’re a warrior, slashing through the galaxy with your lightsaber.

While some RPG’s encourage intense number crunching and data management, Force and Destiny is all about story. When you want to, say, jump over a chasm, you roll dice. If you get more positive results than negative results, you jump over the chasm, if you get more negative result, you don’t. But the story goes on! Maybe you’ve just snagged a root sticking out of the chasm, or maybe you fall and break an arm. The most important thing in this game, more important than your stats, your treasure, all that, is that the story continues. Which means with Force and Destiny, you can look forward to many, many more Jedi adventures.

Fanmade ‘Star Wars’ Oculus Rift Game Trailer

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Via Slashfilm.com:

If you thought that Jedi GoPro video we recently posted was a cool new way to experience a galaxy far, far away, wait until you see this fanmade trailer for a proposed Star Wars virtual reality game.

A company called Hammerhead VR created this trailer for Star Wars VR, a game intended to be played on the Oculus Rift, the virtual reality headset that will end up changing the way we play video games forever.

Created with the Unreal Engine 4, the footage looks fantastic, even if it’s not the most complex footage. It’s the first-person Star Wars experience that really sells how cool a project like this could be. Whether it’s facing Darth Vader in the carbon freezing chamber yourself, or leading the assault on the first Death Star, experience the action of Star Wars in an Oculus Rift would be so much fun.

There’s not really any activity in the trailer with regards to characters in the Star Wars universe, but this was probably difficult enough to create with the moving ships and environments without worry about populating the game with digital people. Perhaps this is merely one of those automated experiences in the Oculus Rift that would be more like a video ride as opposed to a virtual reality game.

Hammerhead VR didn’t provide much background information on the project, so it’s not clear if this is something they’re actively trying to get off the ground and merely needed some online buzz in order to get the attention of Disney and Lucasfilm. But they’re careful to make sure they don’t get into trouble by saying, “This is a non-profit, fan-made project and is in no way approved by, sponsored by, or affiliated with Lucasfilm Ltd, Walt Disney, or Twentieth Century Fox.”

It’s this kind of game that will make something like the Oculus Rift a must-have for gamers. But since it’s still early on in the life of the Oculus Rift, game companies are still figuring out the best way to utilize the technology. Plus, it also needs to be made a little more affordable in order for it to take off in the consumer market. Once Oculus Rift takes off though, you can be sure valuable properties like Star Wars will be given the virtual reality treatment in a way that fans have dreamed of for a long time. For now, we’ll just have to settle for Star Wars Battlefront coming in November.

New Update For Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic II

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Via Mashable.com:
Completely-unexpected-yet-welcome news: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, first released in 2004, got an official update, replete with fixes and new features.

The update, which covers Mac, Linux and Windows versions of the game purchased through Steam, introduces a number of significant features, including widescreen resolutions of up to 4K and 5K, 37 in-game achievements, controller support and Steam Workshop integration.

That last item is particularly noteworthy, as it allows anyone to access and install user-created add-ons for the game inside the Steam client. One of the items already available is KotOR II’s popular “Restored Content Mod,” which fixes an assortment of bugs and introduces story content that was built for but not included in the original game.

As the story goes, developer Obsidian Entertainment was working under the gun during the final months of the game’s development. That’s why the day one release was littered with bugs. Years later, code-savvy fans discovered cut content inside the game’s code; that’s when the community effort to create the Restored Content Mod was born.

The new Steam update comes from Aspyr, a studio with a long history of porting games from other developers to new platforms. According to the official patch notes, Aspyr built the update “in partnership” with Disney Interactive and LucasArts — though the latter studio now exists only as a brand that Disney owns.

Stars Wars Commander Gets Expansion

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Via Gamespot.com:

Disney Interactive has regularly updated its popular mobile game Star Wars Commander with new content ever since its launch last year, and that continues today with a major expansion called Worlds in Conflict.

It’s the largest update to the game, which is closing in on 18 million downloads, to date. Previously released updates have introduced new storylines, characters such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, and even zombies. But Worlds in Conflict goes even further.

Worlds in Conflict adds a “brand new design” for the game overall and introduces the Galactic Map. This feature, the top fan request according to Disney, lets players relocate to and battle across all manner of famous Star Wars locations, including Hoth, Yavin IV, Dandoran, and Er’kit.

New Planetary Conflicts are available for Commander’s PvP, while players can also take on new missions and claim additional victory bonuses along the way. At the bottom of this post, you’ll find a rundown of the top new features for Commander delivered through the Worlds in Conflict update, written by Disney.

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Star Wars Battlefront: No Split-Screen Support For PC

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Via Vg247.com:

Having shown the very first gameplay footage for Star Wars Battlefront at E3 2015, DICE was inundated with question about how multiplayer works, the type of features we can expect, and more.

Which is why Mathew Everett, Star Wars Battlefront community manager decided to answer a few of the top questions coming out of E3.

Here they are.

Q. How do vehicles spawn in Walker Assault?

A: In Walker Assault, vehicles are tied to the power up system. When you find a vehicle power up on the map, you will need to activate it, which immediately spawns you inside the vehicle.

Vehicle power ups specifically must be used within a certain amount of time. This is a design decision to allow more equal distribution of the vehicle power ups amongst all players.

Q. Can I fly the Y-wing?

A: Y-wings are non-player controlled vehicles. They are a support vehicle that you can call into battle within certain game modes.

Q. Is Split-screen available on PC?

A: Split-screen will be available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One only.

Q. Does experience within Missions apply to multiplayer progression?

A: Playing Missions does not grant you multiplayer career experience, but it does provide you with credit rewards you can spend on buying unlocks.

Everett added that in the coming months, DICE will reveal more of the game’s multiplayer modes. Supremacy, Fighter Squadron, Blast, Drop Zone, and Cargo will be among them.

Jade Raymond Joins EA’s Team for Next Star Wars Game

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Via Gamespot.com:

Jade Raymond, the co-creator of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise, has founded a new EA studio called Motive, and will be working on the Visceral’s in-development Star Wars title.

“I’m happy to announce that I’m joining Electronic Arts and opening Motive, a new development studio in my home town of Montreal, Canada,” she announced.

According to Raymond, Motive will “work in close quarters with the BioWare team,” suggesting the studio may have some hand in developing Mass Effect: Andromeda.

“Yanick Roy and the BioWare Montreal team are doing some new and exciting things with Mass Effect: Andromeda and it’s clear that there is already so much talent to collaborate with on site,” she added.

Motive will be incubating “entirely new IP and taking on some amazing projects,” including the new Star Wars game from former Uncharted writer Amy Hennig, and developed by Dead Space studio Visceral.

“I’ve known Amy for years and have admired her work on the Uncharted games! I’m thrilled that the first big project that we will work on in Montreal will have Amy as Creative Director.

“An opportunity to work with her and the Visceral team, and to play in the Star Wars universe, is once-in-a-lifetime stuff.”

Raymond will also oversee the Visceral studio in California.

Speaking about Raymond joining, Patrick Soderlund said he “couldn’t be more thrilled.”

“Jade and I share the same passion for amazing games with huge imagination, and a drive to create that next big thing that everyone will want to play,” he added.

After more than a decade, Raymond left Ubisoft in October 2014, calling her decision to leave the company “one of the hardest decisions of my career.”

Little is known about Visceral and Hennig’s Star Wars games. According to voice actor Nolan North–who voiced Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series–the game will bear similarities to Star Wars: 1313.

North also said EA and Visceral’s game is modelled after Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series. Rumours have suggested it may also be an open-world game, though EA has yet to provide any concrete details on the game.

In 2013, Disney and Electronic Arts signed an agreement to make Battlefield publisher EA the exclusive creator of console Star Wars games going forward. A year later, it was confirmed Hennig would co-write a new Star Wars game at Visceral.

Disney Interactive Brings Star Wars And Disney Video Games to D23 EXPO 2015

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DISNEY INTERACTIVE BRINGS BLOCKBUSTER STAR WARS AND DISNEY VIDEO GAMES TO D23 EXPO 2015

Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition, Star Wars™ Battlefront™ and KINGDOM HEARTS III To Headline Disney Interactive’s Hall D23 Presentation and Expo Pavilion

BURBANK, CA – July 13, 2015 – D23 EXPO 2015 will feature the biggest Star Wars™ and Disney video games in a special presentation in the signature 7,500-seat Hall D23 theater and in Disney Interactive’s pavilion on the show floor.

In the Hall D23 presentation on Sunday, August 16 at 11 a.m., fans won’t want to miss never-before-seen gameplay, trailers, new reveals and surprises from Disney Interactive’s most anticipated games. Among the games participating in the presentation are: Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition, Star Wars™ Battlefront™ from Electronic Arts and KINGDOM HEARTS III from Square Enix. Disney Interactive will showcase more Star Wars characters and Play Sets new to Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition and provide the entire audience with limited-edition giveaways exclusively for Hall D23. Electronic Arts will give guests an in-depth look at Star Wars Battlefront, the authentic Star Wars gaming experience coming November 17. Square Enix will also bring special guests and surprises to Hall D23 to reveal new information from KINGDOM HEARTS III.

In the Disney Interactive pavilion on the show floor, players can experience the latest and upcoming titles through hands-on demos, innovative interactive experiences and premium giveaways for all guests.

● Players will join forces with Star Wars, Marvel, Disney and Disney•Pixar characters in Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition, the next chapter in the best-selling “hybrid toy / video game” series. Guests will have the chance to play some of the new Disney Infinity Play Sets, Star Wars™ Twilight of the Republic, Star Wars™ Rise Against the Empire and Disney•Pixar’s Inside Out, and the fully enhanced Toy Box mode. Pavilion guests will also be able to visit the “Only in the Toy Box” Experience. Using a new augmented reality technology, fans can step into a virtual Toy Box environment and interact alongside their favorite Disney, Disney•Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars characters found inside Disney Infinity. Disney Infinity will also be giving away thousands of pre-release Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition figures featuring popular characters from across The Walt Disney Company (while supplies last).

● Pavilion guests will also be able to live out some of their Star Wars battle fantasies by going hands-on with Star Wars Battlefront.

● Fans can experience the latest arcade sensation from Disney Interactive, Lucasfilm and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment, Star Wars™: Battle Pod™. Featuring cutting-edge, arcade-style video gameplay, Star Wars: Battle Pod brings players right into the action with a totally unique experience featuring a dome-shaped screen, air jets, and rumble seat.

● In the pavilion’s game lounge, fans can take a break from the show floor and try out the hottest mobile games including Star Wars: Commander, Frozen Free Fall and LINE: Disney Tsum Tsum.

Tickets for D23 EXPO 2015 are $74 for a one-day adult admission and $54 for children 3–12. Tickets for members of D23: The Official Disney Fan Club are $65 for a one-day adult admission and $48 for children. Multi-day money-saving tickets are also available. D23 Members can save as much as $112 off the price of admission, based on the purchase of four three-day tickets at the D23 Member rate. For more information on tickets and the ticket pricing structure for D23 Members and general admission, visit D23EXPO.com.