We’ve heard that it was demoed the first day of GamesCom 2011. Now we get to see the demo video by ourselves in glorious HD. The pit is the latest PvP warzone we are hearing about and it is the place where Huttball matches are being held. Hutball is a vicious sport played where two sides try to pass the ball across the opponents goal line. All moves are allowed including force lightning, stabbing and cheating. See for yourselves in this fun little video showcase of the Pit. I wonder if this is the PvP arena Daniel Erickson told us about in an interview at E3. He mentioned that it is so much fun punting your opponents into fire.
There are also two pieces of news you should all check out. First is a Q&A with Bioware’s good doctors Ray and Greg. They talk about beta weekends and raids and you can check it all out at Ask A Jedi.
There was apparently an impromptu Q&A session held on Twitter with Stephen Reid and Gabe Amatangelo straght from Germany. You can check out the full transcript at Tor Wars
There is a special day dedicated to press members only and this is one of the best things I remember about GamesCom. The crowds are much more manageable and if you scheduled ahead you can get most of your work done that first day; fill in the gaps during the other days. This day also is filled with new information and this year is no different.
First we have the video of the presentation held yesterday during the EA Press Conference reorded and posted on youtube by instarwars.de Grman SWTOR fansite:
Next is video of SWTOR booth brought to you by SWTOR EU fansite:
The juiciest piece that came out of GamesCom so far is this video by Darth Hater crew showing The Pit. It is a PvP arena with Capture the Flag rules, only you control a ball and not a flag and you can pass it around. It is a kind of deadly football with lightsabers and blasters and in game it is called Huttball.
We would also like to congratulate Bioware for Winning the Best Online Game of the show at GamesCom this year. It is very well deserved.
Electronic Arts Press Conference, that is traditionally held a day prior to GamesCom’s start, is one of those huge media events that always brings fresh news. There is a live stream available of this event, but as with all the other events so far we will be covering the happening live here on SWTOR Life. We will be updating this post with news as they become available so stay tuned and refresh those browsers. There will be other EA games showcased at the event but SWTOR will have a prominent spot. The conference is only 20 minutes away so stay tuned.
Dr. Ray Muzyka will be holding a live presentation of SWTOR during the EA press conference
image of rehersal
The conference is about to begin
We will see 10 games that we will play this year *wink wink – nudge nudge*
We are seeing Fifa Street and Need For Speed titles and their presentations
Dr. Ray is here talking about Dragon Age: Legends and Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes, a new PvP Play4Free game for the PC.
gearing up for smooth launch. Record breaking pre-orders of SWTOR. Quest sequence in German being shown now.
Open testing beta weekends upcoming
Talking about end-game Operations (raids) – showing live demo of Eternity Vault
8-16 players in raids
Eternity vault is an ancient prison and we are seeing turrets attacking the team and Agent healing the Juggernaut tank
I am seeing Rockjaw among the people playing the raid.
We are seeing a lot of AoE skills from different classes
Turrets are destroyed and after cutscene a huge annihilation droid boss lands and we are seeing a nice boss fight.
New Eternity Vault footage trailer being shown
That is it for SWTOR. Talking about MAss Effect 3 now. I ust say that footage looked good. The only real reveal is 8-16 people in raids. Whether this will be normal raid size is 8 and heroic raid version is 16 – remains to be seen
That is it for our live coverage of EA’s press conference. Stay tuned for more news from GamesCom as we cover all the incoming information.
One of, if not the biggest, gaming shows in the world is about to take place in Cologne, Germany, from August 17th-21st. With the release date closing in fast, Star Wars: The Old Republic will have a very strong presence at the show this year. First images that are coming in show that the hands on area this year is much larger (three times as large) than last year. There is a kind of excitement in the air as well because the Beta September is just around the corner and everyone is awaiting more news on this as well. For European SWTOR fans this will also be the first chance to meet the new European community managers. We also know from recent news that footage from the Eternity Vault, end game operation (raid), will be shown for the first time as well.
We’ll be watching closely for all the news pouring in from the show floor so you’ll have one place to go to for all SWTOR news from GamesCom. Here’s a preliminary schedule of things to watch out for and a few images we dug up.
The unofficial offical Twitter hashtag for This year’s news from Gamescom and PAX Prime is #ComPAXTOR
There will be some footage about SWTOR on BiowareTV. We’ll update you with details once we find out more.
If you are lucky enough to be present in the area at GamesCom this year in Europe you will have the opportunity to meet the Bioware developers at a “meet and greet” that they will be putting on.
Gamescom and PAX Prime. Two of the biggest gaming conventions in the world that happen back to back and mark “the end” of big convention season. Two locations where Bioware traditionally releases the biggest announcements, or at least the most footage and information. It is also two weeks (and some change) before September when the Pre-Order Beta Testing should start as well. Could this be the greatest two weeks for all us dedicated SWTOR Fans? It sure looks promising.
In today’s Friday update we found out that at GamesCom we’ll see small presentations of Eternity Vault, the only raid in SWTOR at launch (as far as we know for now). There will be hands-on stations of origin worlds, similar to the ones setup last year (this was done for the first time at Cologne last year). There will also be an invitation only Alderaan PvP experience like the one we’ve seen at ComicCon. It also seems that BiowareTV will be live streaming from the show extensively, so even us not being there will be able to get a glimpse of the happenings. This will surely not be the only news from the show floor, but we’ll have to wait and see. Click here to read our predictions about Pax Prime
This video has all the details and it sounds like a real hoot! I can not wait to see what the community comes up with for this. If you remember the recent San Diego Comic Con you may have seen some of the footage of all the awesome cosplay costumes that came out in full force for this event. Hopefully this contest will bring out some of those along with new costumes never before seen.
Wait, what’s that you say? Another “probable release date” rumor is spreading like wildfire through the SWTOR forums? Well then by golly, we need to spring to action and report on this!
Are we there yet?????
The “report” that’s making the rounds currently goes a little something like this:
We are officially moving the expected Star Wars launch from September to November. PopCap is not the key to getting ERTS right. We like this acquisition, but this is not going to make or break your ERTS trade this year. The success of Star Wars and Battlefield, on the other hand, will. All eyes now shift to them.
So aside from sounding like it was ripped straight out of a Nostradamus quatrain, what does this mean?
Within the next few hours Penny Arcade Expo, one of the biggest gaming conventions in the North America is about to begin. It is a very big convention for all the Star Wars: The Old Republic fans because, traditionally, it is the place where big reveals happen. Last year we got some gameplay footage and all attendees of the SWTOR panel got a copy of Knights of the Old Republic game. This year we’ll be having the first hands on event in the North America and all the PAX visitors will get what is called the SWTOR virus that can only be cured by more “gameplaytimis”. Some gamers will be lucky enough to get the elusive “betainvitis”, but for all of you out there that lack any of these rare and expensive medicine, we bring you the last of our gameplay videos we shot at this year’s GamesCom. This is the longest video we have and it features gameplay from most of the classes. You can see some cool Inquisitor action where he one shots some enemies with force lightning (at around 1:50). Present are also cutscenes and some more combat.
We’ll continue to monitor all the information pouring in from PAX and we’ll keep you updated with the most important news and footage. For now I would like to draw your attention to Jedi Archive Online, that have their man Lordhammer, from Guild Umbra, on the spot. They have the first images from PAX available here. Also covering the event are Darth Hater and ToroCast.
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GamesCom 2010 ended over the weekend and I can’t say that I won’t miss it. You get drawn in into the whole convention madness. Free swag, people doing crazy cosplay, meeting Darth Vader in person and games, games, games everywhere. If you are a gamer in heart (like me) you surely would appreciate the atmosphere. To share some of the atmosphere of the show we present you with a video of the crowds at the SWTOR booth (that is the place we hung out the most after all) and a gallery of images. We hope you enjoy them.
