Oceanic release dates: no news is what news?

In the few weeks since the rumours surfaced of a delayed oceanic release for SWTOR, there’s been no shortage of debate, with some lengthy threads still discussing the issue on the official forums.

Unfortunately things are no clearer than when the issue arose and although I remain semi-confident the rumours may not translate into reality, that confidence has waned a little over the last fortnight. We’re still trying to get some more clarity so stay tuned.

In the meantime, here’s a story I’ve written for the ABC’s Technology site – there’s nothing exciting in it for the avid SWTOR follower but it’s a useful overview of the issue for a beginner.

Image courtesy of Dead Cow Girl.

Bounty Hunter Progression – ugly killing

Feared and respected throughout the galaxy for the unrivaled ability to track their targets, Bounty Hunters must learn new skills to compliment the powerful armor and weapons they will acquire on their missions

– SWTOR

This week Bioware brings us the Bounty Hunter progression video. The progression  videos are always some of my favorite updates, they let you get a glimpse at your favorite character or nemesis, and usually a glimpse at some abilities we haven’t seen or have only seen very little of.

Ths progression video starts just like all of the previous ones, showing a Bounty Hunter on his starting planet in his basic starter gear.  The low level bounty hunter shows off some of his skills such as a stun dart and a jet pack uppercut. The second set of armor shown in the progression video is very cool, resembling an assassin complete with a face covering turban – reminds me of an Immortal from 300 without the mask. The masked bounty hunter shows off some more skills including a wrist rocket and his iconic flamethrower.

The video then branches into the Advanced Classes the first being the Powertech. The Powertech’s first set of gear looks like it was inspired by the Mandalorian Crusader gear. The Powertech shows off his carbonite spray, Grappling Hook, and spinning Flamethrower. The second Powertech shown is a more heavily armored character, easily identifiable as a “Tank”. The second Powertech uses the jetpack to get airborne then rains down blaster bolts followed by a wrist rocket before floating back to the ground. He then shows how the bounty hunter can close the range gap to utilize his flamethrower and carbonite freeze by way of a jetpack powered punch. After the Bounty Hunter gets into close range in this segment of the video he dodges some swings from a lightsaber then uses a melee weapon on his wrist to dispatch the Jedi.

The progression video then switches to the Bounty Hunters second advanced class – the Mercenary. A damage dealer who can also walk the path of healing, the first Mercenary gear looks like an armored Calo Nord, with the goggles and duel blaster pistols. The abilities the lower level Mercenary shows off are a damage shield and the Jetpack rocket. The second gear set shown for the Mercenary is very Madalorian looking, personally I think the best Bounty Hunter gear so far. The Mercenary shows off some pretty cool abilities including a short range explosion skill, some sort of altered fire on his blaster pistol causing them to fire green blaster bolts that looked as though they were homing bolts, a dual wrist rocket and again using the flying uppercut.

This progression video is one of the better ones released – a very cool update. The Bounty Hunter should be a great character to play or a deadly enemy for us Republic players, Either way I am excited to meet the Bounty Hunter on the battlefield, be it a Tanking PowerTech or a DD Mercenary.

As always may the Force be with you.

 

Star Wars Galaxies: users try to go legal

An interesting story over at VentureBeat on a cohort of remaining Star Wars Galaxies have considered legal action in a final attempt to prevent the December 2011 shutdown of the game.

As the article says, it’s a futile attempt given they’ve all signed a EULA that protects Sony Online Entertainment pretty solidly, but it certainly shows the passion of the players still involved with the game.

Others like our own Ed are pleased to see the demise of the game after its controversial change in tack. If you’re really keen, Ed gives his take in detail in our most recent podcast.

Over to you: do you care about the issue or is it just another old game biting the dust?

Kicking ass in Alderaan

This week Bioware gives us two highlight videos for the Friday Update. The first video is a highlight of E3 which shows the length of the ridiculous line and interviews people who played the game. It also showed some in-game footage including some companions. The thing that stood out was when the agent went stealth, his companion followed into stealth immediately after – very cool. A few people praised the story in the video, but at this point that’s sort of redundant, we know it’s got  the story. Then people just named off the classes they played and I noticed no-one said Trooper, although I saw one or two being played in the background. The E3 highlight video was pretty cool but nothing we haven’t seen or heard before. Check it out here for the full video

The second video is a group mission on Alderaan for Republic players. The mission on Alderaan is to dethrone a militaristic war hero who misguidedly seized the throne to protect the people. The mission starts with Princess Katay instructing you to kill this “King Ulgo” and her family will support a republic appointed leader. The four party members (looks to be one of each Republic class) charge across the war torn streets of Alderaan towards the King’s throne room to some pretty intense battle music. Once the team battles their way up the stairs they make it to King Ulgo who refuses to step down. He must be killed, but before the team gets a chance a shield is generated around his throne. This leads to what looks like a ‘destroy the generators then the boss’ fight scenario, but King Ulgo isn’t going to just let the team claim victory.

Ulgo sends in his bodyguards and droids to try and stop the team. The  battle rages on until the trooper fires a rocket into the generator shutting down his shielding. The video ends with the Jedi of the group force leaping at Ulgo. This was a much better highlight reel and definitely worth a watch so check it out here!

As always – May the Force be with you

SWTOR in Australia and NZ: delay rumours (updated)

As we’ve discussed quite a bit, the speculation on Star Wars: The Old Republic‘s release date continues to increase in intensity. In that respect it’s been a very interesting recent few days, all thanks to one tweet. It came from Good Game co-host Hex:

Within an hour or so of that the enquiries started coming in to TOROZ, asking if it was true. Hex did tweet two more pieces of info – the first in reponse to a thread on the SWTOR forums discussing her original tweet:

and then:

After the initial tweet, TOROZ contacted David Bass at Bioware to get some clarification, with David responding that Bioware don’t comment on rumours and that “launch regions” haven’t been announced yet. We’ve sought clarification on the launch regions aspect but haven’t received a response to that as yet (and given it’s the weekend it’s not fair to expect one either).

So what does this all mean? Not a lot that can be verified really. There’s really a number of combinations, and one of them will be likely be the reality:

Worst case: delayed oceanic release with lockdown on game purchases and server access

I just can’t see this happening as it would be an overt indication of contempt for oceanic players. It makes no business sense and would create a whole lot of bad feeling that’s not required. I’d be gobsmacked if this came to pass. The truly dedicated could potentially work around it by using a US credit card and a proxy service for playing, but it’d be a mighty pain on a day-to-day basis.

Next worst case: delayed oceanic release with ability to buy from the US

Although this to would garner (rightfully) some significant backlash, it would be partially offset by the ability to purchase online from the US. There’d be complaints around lag and it would still be seen as a bad start for the region, but at least there’d be some access.

Bearable case: short delay then full access

This would arise whereby Bioware, for infrastructure / load balancing issues announce a staggered release schedule with oceanic areas able to access the game a month or two after launch. There would still be plenty of frustration but it wouldn’t be the PR disaster the two worse options would create.

Rightful case: simultaneous worldwide launch

This is what most people have assumed would be the reality until it has been called into question over recent days. This approach provides a smoother start to proceedings and although the potential for lag issues / server queues are increased, even that can garner some good PR from the viewpoint that the game is popular. As much as I still hope this is the planned approach, the fact that launch regions are even being mentioned places some doubt on it.

Best case: Oceanic launches first

I had to put this in as an option even though I’d argue it’s as silly as the worst case option.

The Sum Up

I tend to take the view that the tweets that have caused the debate are at least partially misinformed. If an Electronic Arts PR rep from Australia is the source, then I tend to assume they’re not really in the know. If the information is correct and Bioware have been caught on the hop, it’s a fairly stark illumination of how the EA / Bioware relationship works.

I think a simultaneous release is still on the cards but I don’t think it’s guaranteed by any stretch. There’s been nothing to date to suggest Oceanic areas have been given a great deal of thought in context of the large European and US markets. It’s a flawed strategy though: World of Warcraft is partially where it is today through it’s support of a worldwide audience. Bioware is already behind the eight-ball in that with its PC-only approach. Geographic segregation would be a further retrograde step, but it’s not something set in stone. Three tweets do not a company policy make.

You can discuss it more in the comments here, on our forums or on the SWTOR forum thread (which has now been closed with no response from Bioware except to say there’s an Aussie Guild listing thread already – a furphy of a rationale IMO).

Over to you: are you angry, bemused or indifferent?

UPDATE: Jason Wood James Dominguez over at The Age has also made a mention of a potential delay:

The bad news is that the Australian release looks like it will be pushed back, but I’ll get more news from EA when they know more.

James also alludes to EA PR being the source of the information. It’s now just a matter of whether the EA PR contact is on the money. A big thanks to Cameron for the heads-up.

Combat Noise and Community Q&A

The update for Friday May 20th Bioware gives us a Studio Insider over combat audio from Audio Designer Scott Morton, a Community Creations spotlight, a video review of the April Fansite Summit at Bioware Austin, and everyone’s favorite, a Community Q&A.

Scott Morton is one of the many Audio Designers working on music and sound effects in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Morton says he spends half his time creating new sounds for SWTOR and the other half creating technical concepts of how to get them working in The Old Republic.

Audio in video games is always sort of an enhancer – when you fire off a spell or ability you want to have the gratifying bursting or bellowing sound that accompanies it, or when entering a dungeon the battle music picks up and you know you’re about to get into some action. To me the biggest part of audio in games is to help with immersion, help making me feel like I just saved a village with a heroic song or war drums beating to let me know I’m about to get my hands dirty. It wouldn’t make sense for a character’s “Stealth” ability to be one of those booming sounds, or the battle music in a zone be less than a call to war.

That’s why there are people like Scott Morton who give each class and ability a unique sound that helps let you know what you’re getting into. In the update Morton goes over how after they create a sound they have to stop and think “Does this sound like Star Wars?”  To me that’s the biggest question of all – is this Star Wars? I don’t want my blaster to sound like a phaser, or my proton torpedoes to sound like photon torpedoes, because that’s one of the things that makes Star Wars great – its unique sounds and exceptional musical scores. To read the full story and watch three short but interesting videos check out the official update page.

The Community Q&A is done this week by Senior Concept Artist Clint Young, he answers some of the community’s more art-related questions.  As usual I will post the ones I find the most interesting or informative.

Q: Are there weather condition changes on planets? – Fyror

A: Each planet has localized weather conditions. Depending on the world the weather you will encounter will include rain, snow, sandstorms and many other unfavorable conditions; it just happens to be a constant for those worlds. For example, if you’re on Hoth you can expect moderate to heavy snowfall with the occasional blizzard.

I’m kinda torn on this one, I would’ve liked to see dynamic weather, but on the other hand I think every planet in the Star Wars universe is pretty static. It’s in no way close to being a deal breaker, but would’ve been nice.

Q: Will everyone have their own unique armor/look in the game, or will we be seeing some of the same armor/look on multiple people?

A: We have thousands of different armor/outfit combinations planned for the players and are currently still building this list and will continue to do so even after we launch. That being said, there will be millions of players, so there will be some crossover in their looks. Our main concern is that each player looks specific to their chosen class and has enough variation to allow the player to feel as unique as possible. For instance, if you are playing a Jedi Knight you will look significantly different from a Jedi Consular. You will also have opportunities to distinguish yourself from other players of your same class by going off the beaten path to find rare gear.

Sort of a rhetorical question – if you’ve ever played an MMO then you know that of course your gonna see people in the same sets that are the same class, because everyone is looking for that optimal set of gear. The thing I like on this answer is how he says “Off the beaten Path” – he possibly could be hinting at leaving the areas your quests send you so you can explore but also find special weapons and armors.

Be sure to check out the full Q&A on SWTOR’s site, it’s right below the Studio Insider.

The Video from the April Fansite Summit can be found Here, it’s short but shows some in-game footage of PvE and PvP which is always nice.

The Fan Friday Community Creation update is great, it shows off some of the forums fantastic artist as well as adding a new batch of smilies and forum avatars. Also has a great piece of consept art done for the planet Hutta. Most important part of the Fan Friday was the Events section: SWTOR will be attending San Diego Comic Con, GamesCon, Penny Arcade Expo, EuroGamer, New York Comic Con, Paris Games Week, and DreamHack. They’ll also be at E3 but that’s almost a given, and that’s when I bet we’ll get are release date.

May the Force be with you.

 

 

 

Leaked beta footage: it starts

Thanks to regular podcast listener and reader Gail, who’s pointed out what I think is one of the larger leaks of SWTOR footage from the beta program to date.  Coming in at around two hours it shows a hell of a lot of the game. I can imagine Bioware are far from impressed and you can’t blame them. That said, what the leaked footage does show is a game that’s looking pretty damn good. My main concern over the leak is that it can make people more likely to lock down information even tighter. As we’ve discussed on the podcast a couple of times, we’re keen for a broad public beta and events like this don’t help that case too much.

The alternate approach that could be taken is using the footage as a platform on which Bioware says “Hey, we told you it’s going to be a great game and you can see it for yourself, but there’s even better to come yet!”. It’s not a natural stance for any company however, particularly given it’s based on a breach of trust. Having watched the footage, it backs up the extensive reports from the Fansite summit that it’s a game with huge potential.

Leaks on their own aren’t surprising, although breaching an NDA is no light matter, which is why you won’t see a screenshot from the footage or a direct link to the offending footage. We still believe it’s worth reporting though as it’s a milestone a lot of MMOs face and it’s just another indication on how close this game is getting.

The original story is over at (Link removed at request of Bioware), but be warned it does contain a link to the footage in question. If it’s there for more than 24 hours I’ll be surprised although it’s now archived elsewhere according to the story.

Sith Warrior progression

The Sith Warrior Progression video was released today and shared a lot in common with the Jedi Knight progression video we saw a few weeks ago.

The video starts with the base Sith Warrior class running through what looks like some old Sith temple on Korriban beating down some foes with a training saber. The video then cuts to the Sith Warrior on the holonet screen with his armor changing from a gray imperial looking suit to a red one with larger shoulder pads and a red lightsaber.  After dispatching a couple of what look to be troopers with his saber, a Bounty Hunter lands and is immediately force choked. The screen cuts back to the Holonet style and follows a line that rises above the Sith Warrior and splits.

The next class shown is the Sith Marauder whose robes resemble a cross between Vader and Maul and is wielding dual  red lightsabers. The Sith Marauder seemed to block a lot more blaster bolts than his counterpart the Jedi Sentinel.  After dispatching two soldiers and a combat droid, the video cuts back and the Marauder’s armor changes a second time. The second set of armor is very menacing with spiked shoulders, a skull looking mask, and larger knee pads. The video picks back up with the Marauder running at a group of enemies when he suddenly vanishes using the Marauder’s recently revealed cloaking skill, then appearing behind one of the enemies and killing it. The Marauder then uses an unknown stun, kills the unaffected opponent then uses another unknown ability that looks like a self-buff that involves the lightsabers charging – probably a damage buff. Then after engaging the last standing opponent, he uses another unknown ability that has red smoke coming out of his lightsaber’s blades then strikes his foe down.

The video then cuts back to the Armor Progression screen and zooms into the Sith Juggernaut, whose armor looks very inspired by Vader. The Juggernaut runs headlong at two large mechs, blocking bolts and disabling both of them. As an assassin droid runs into view in the background and begins firing at the Sith, he turns and force leaps towards the droid, reflecting a blaster bolt off his saber in mid air, then landing and striking the assassin droid down. The second set of armor previewed looks like a mix between Darth Vader and a Bounty Hunter, very brutal. This Juggernaut doesn’t run into combat, but walks menacingly towards his opponent then force pushes him then uses some unknown ability where red smoke and lighting radiate off of the Sith’s body, probably a buff for defense, maybe attack. Three Jedis run into view and the Sith casts another unknown ability, looks like a debuff of some sort. After he casts it, all three of the Jedis have red circles around their heads, but only for a moment. One Jedi, probably a Consular casts some sort of maintained stun in which a stream of rocks pummel the Sith, it ends when the Sith’s companion blasts the Consular and he falls to the ground. The second Jedi is killed with a saber throw and the last is killed with a force leap.

This was a great video with some really cool looking armor – I personally liked the last Juggernaut set. There was something I found weird about this video though. It shows the Marauder blocking much more than the Sentinel did, and the Juggernaut didn’t seem to have a taunt (unless the second unknown ability was a taunt and not a debuff). I really like the masks the Sith wear, it really puts the whole “We’re Evil” on another level. Definitely check out the whole video:

[Read more…]

Revan novel on the way

KotOR fans rejoice – as long as you like novels that is. The Friday update this week isn’t a game update or even a developer blog. This week we get info on the third novel set in the Old Republic time line. Titled  Revan, this novel is written by Drew Karpyshyn, Principal Writer at Bioware, and author of the Darth Bane series.  Though Revan is the main protagonist in this novel and will be based off of the Revan who was a Light-sided male Jedi as canon states, it will also reveal who the Sith Emperor is, where he is from, and how he’s held onto power for the length he has. Drew Karpyshyn also does a Q&A over his upcoming novel, I’ll just go through and quote a couple of the more interesting ones.

Q: How does it feel to finally reveal that the title of your latest Star Wars book is Revan?

A: I’d like to start by saying how gratifying it was to work on this book. Knights of the Old Republic™ (KOTOR) was my first creative foray into the Star Wars universe, so writing Revan felt a little bit like I was returning to my roots. I also know a lot of fans have been patiently waiting a long time to find out what happened to Revan after KOTOR — it’s probably the number one question I’m asked on my website. I’m glad the story is finally being told, and I’m ecstatic that I’m the one who gets to tell it.”

Now a lot of people are complaining about not getting game info, but what other game has given us an update every week? No one has. So I’m pretty excited about the book, being a huge Revan fan I’ve always been extremely curious of what happened to the KoTOR hero and this is our chance to learn all about it.

Q: In what ways will readers who have read Revan benefit when playing Star Wars: The Old Republic?

A: I think the novel will give them a much better understanding of the Sith Emperor and the Empire, for one thing. The Old Republic Sith Empire is very different from what people know from the movies, or even from the Great Hyperspace War comics that focus on characters like Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh. The novel will also give them some very direct background and detailed information that ties in directly with key Flashpoints in the game. I can’t say too much, of course, but like any great prequel the books will give you the details of what came before to add an extra layer of depth to the experiences in the game.

If your a total lore hound and have to know all there is to know about the game then this novel might be worth buying, or if you’re just a KotOR fanboy, like myself.

Q: What other characters from Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II might we expect to see?

A: You can’t tell a story about Revan without also exploring his companions; they were such a key element of the KOTOR experience that it wouldn’t feel right without bringing some of them back. Of course it would be impossible to include all of them in a novel in a way that would make a cohesive and fulfilling story, so I focused on those who felt most directly relevant to what happened to Revan after the KOTOR games. I don’t want to give too much away, but Canderous, T3-M4, the Exile and Bastila Shan all have significant roles to play in the novel (along with some significant characters who appear in Star Wars: The Old Republic).

This one really got me excited just because I’ve always wondered about the opening to KoTOR II why the Ebon Hawk was all banged up, barely still flying only being operated by the small, but determined astromech droid T3-M4.

I can’t wait for this novel. I haven’t read the other two, Deceived and Fatal Alliance, but I just can’t pass up Drew Karpyshyn’s Revan.

Picture courtesy of clarkspark

 

 

If it ain’t broke, maintain it!

Men at Work

Maintenance. We all know what it is, right? How many of us have not had to do some kind of minor repairs to something around our houses, our cars, our computers? It is something that a lot of people take for granted, but it shouldn’t be. Speaking from painful, and expensive, personal experience, the car works much better if you keep the oil topped off and changed every 3000 or so miles. I don’t know about anyone else, but I am not going to be flying on SouthWest airlines ANYTIME in the near future, if they even stay in business. Something about having holes suddenly appear in the planes in flight really bothers me. But that got me thinking about maintenance in Star Wars.

One thing that I always thought was well done about the original trilogy was that things did not always work as they were supposed to. The Millennium Falcon in particular was one huge mess of problems. Han Solo and Chewbacca were always fixing things. In the Expanded Universe, the descriptions of the Falcon in particular were always somewhat on the hilarious side. It was a constant battle to see who would win, the ship’s multiple brains, the crew or the various and sundry people who wanted the crew dead. Without Han and Chewie’s skill at keeping the ship going, it would have fallen to pieces.

We see Rebel techs maintaining the fighters in the hangar bays before the battles of Yavin and Endor. Ground crews work to fuel, arm and basically get ships ready for battle. Fighter planes today are incredibly complex pieces of equipment. Pilots and ground crew alike have to know what they are doing with each and every part or bad things can happen. And if those bad things happen in flight…

This is the point. Maintenance is needed. Many people who should know better take things for granted. If the car is working, why bother to check the fluids, right? The brake fluid, oil level and radiator fluid level have to be good or a light would be coming on, right? Not necessarily. When the engine in the car I was driving seized up, the first notice I had was when it went ‘clunk’. Not a pleasant feeling, let me tell you, especially on the highway.

So… what does this have to do with Star Wars: The Old Republic? Well, every Wednesday, the website goes down for routine maintenance. This shows that Bioware is not as clueless about some things as a certain 18 year old was. They are also likely going to be taking hints from other publishers of MMOs who shall remain nameless. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ doesn’t work very well in high tech settings. Ignoring problems when computers are involved is a recipe for disaster. The words ‘cascade failure’ sends shivers up and down the spines of most IT professionals who know them. That is, a small problem happens, and is not corrected quickly. It causes other problems and then those problems cause more problems, and on, and on, and on. It is also called ‘The Snowball Effect’. Roll a snowball down a large hill and it grows as it rolls. Entire networks have been taken offline in the past because one lowly tech decided that some insignificant seeming problem was not worth his time. Bets on how long that tech kept his job?

Bioware is likely not going to be making these mistakes. They have seen, from other publisher’s mistakes, how small, seemingly insignificant issues can cause HUGE problems. Star Wars Galaxies comes to mind, but many MMORPGs have had the same thing happen. Who remembers having a patch come out, and all of the sudden, no one can play the game? A hotfix, or quick patch later and things are almost back to normal. We can hope that Bioware does not have to do rollbacks. There was nothing quite so annoying as logging in and finding that an entire week’s worth of playing was just gone. Well, except logging in and finding out that several YEARS worth of playing was gone with the NGE… but… no ranting today…

Without maintenance, any high tech equipment will fail, given time. Nothing made by man is perfect, especially when things are made by the lowest bidder.  A quote from the Bruce Willis movie Armageddon comes to mind. “Rockhound:  You know we’re sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder.” Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? We need to maintain what we build, or it will fail, usually at the worst possible time. Bioware knows this. Whether they can keep up with the needs of what will probably be one of the most demanded titles of the twenty-first century is open to debate. We will have to see, but I for one have hope. And I will not get on another plane for quite a while…

Picture from http://burhanchambers.com/

Game Tester feedback and waiting for PAX

This week’s update from Bioware is a Developer Blog from Blaine Christine, the Live Producer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. As he puts it: “I work with the development team to ensure that anything released to our fans (read – you!) meets the quality standards that are so important to any BioWare product. That means any time a new build of the game makes it into our Game Testing Program, I need to ensure that any content or features that we specifically want to have tested meet the designers’ needs and don’t contain any major bugs.” He also insures that the design team is getting the proper feedback from Game Testing (real players) to balance and build up the game itself.

Christine also confirms that Game Testing has begun. Blaine’s comment on testing so far is “We have received valuable and actionable feedback from the players that have participated thus far. Much of this feedback has already been incorporated into the game and we’re going to continue testing to validate the changes that have been made.” Rather than give actual bugs and fixes as examples Christine gave more info on what it’s like to play Star Wars: The Old Republic.

BioWare asked its Game Testers to give them some of their thoughts on the game – all Testers names have been changed to meet their NDA requirements) The first opinion I’ll post is from Game Tester JA:

“I’ve been waiting years and years and years for an MMORPG experience like this. The combat is incredible and never gets old. The grind is gone. I am so happy the grind is gone (so, so very happy). The stories are fantastic, well written, well acted, well animated, incredibly immersive, and the inclusion of choice takes it into territory that other MMOs have only dreamed of. Lastly, this game makes you feel like a bad***. The entire time. And I love that.”

Just one more because they’re almost all the same thing in different words – this one is from tester IV:

“This is the Jedi game to end all Jedi games. If you’re a gamer and you don’t throw your hands up in triumph when you get your first lightsaber, you’re not really alive. This game is, bar none, the best interactive Star Wars experience ever.”

Christine is also involved with SWTOR’s launch team, and insuring that BioWare’s customer service for the game will be far above standards. He also confirms that the closer to release they get the more Game Testers they will be needing, so keep your eyes on your emails.

Below the update post from Bioware as always is a long lists of posters from the SWTOR community. Over the last month, 80% of the posts are about how bad the updates have been. I would like to remind everyone that PAX is coming up very soon, so don’t be disappointed if the next couple Fan Friday updates are similar to what they’ve been because I’m sure that most of the stuff you want to know is gonna be released at PAX. Hopefully we get a release date and the Bounty Hunter update the community has been begging for.

Okay, who is ready for school?

I was just finishing my mid-term exams when I had a thought. Is there school in Star Wars? Then I remembered that yes, in A New Hope, Luke wanted to go to the Academy. But what about the first, what was it, nineteen years of his life? Was he home schooled? Was he taught in a classroom somewhere like Anchorhead? Did he have a tutor? What kind of school would Luke Skywalker have gone to? Or did he?

At first thought, it is a no brainer. He had to have gotten some kind of education. Maybe it was all in moisture farming, but, no – that doesn’t work either, since he is a pilot and apparently a good enough one even in the wilds of Tattooine that his friend Biggs comments on it when they meet again right before the Death Star attack: “Luke is the best bush pilot in the Outer Rim, sir.” Contrary to popular belief you usually cannot do what Anakin did in The Phantom Menace – crawl into a starfighter with no training at all and fly it like a professional. Admittedly, what he did was autopilot mostly and/or was incredibly lucky / the Force. So… maybe with the Force, you don’t have to study to be a pilot? That doesn’t work very well, does it? I sure wouldn’t want someone piloting anything I am in who didn’t study to be a pilot.

So some more on piloting issues.Surely it involves stuff like mathematics, history, sciences, stellar geography, astromechanics, navigation, plumbing or electronics? ‘How to fix broken stuff without the proper parts’ might be course in Tattooine schools, or it might not have been. Some of that could be taught by tutors, or as an apprentice of sorts. That is another question: how much of any of that list of subjects did Luke know? Admittedly, he was in hiding, unbeknownst to him. The Skywalker name was fairly distinctive. If word had gotten to the upper echelons of the Empire that there was a kid with the Force who had that name, would that have been a good thing? I don’t think so. So the whole reason that Owen kept denying Luke the chance to go study at the Academy was to keep the boy out of the sight, or try to anyway. Not that it worked in the end. So how well educated was Luke in A New Hope?

He obviously knew one end of a blaster from the other, he knew how to fix droids, and he knew how to fly. Beyond that? Who knows. My personal feeling is that he was not uneducated. This is a ‘gut’ feeling from watching the films so many times. He was reasonably well educated for someone who grew up in the back of beyond. Kind of like a young man growing up in the Western United States during the latter part of the nineteenth century. That is, he probably sat in a classroom with a bunch of other people his age for part of a day, several days a week, from the time he was five or so. The rest of the time, he was working with his uncle, keeping the moisture farm going, not an easy task. Maybe the teacher was a stern, possibly handicapped former farmer who couldn’t work, but found a place doing something he either enjoyed or despised. Not a nun, not on Tattooine. After all, his brain was still in his skull, right? So no B’omarr involved. Good thing too, ick.

Higher education is covered well in the movies, with the Imperial Academy mentioned a few times but no one covers any lower education. Maybe it is simply too commonplace to be seen in normal conversations. But to be a reasonably functional member of society an education is pretty important. If you make it a high tech society, like Star Wars is set in, well it is kind of important.

In the end, we don’t really know what Luke Skywalker had for an early education. He learned a lot ‘on the job’, as it were, with his uncle. But for actual education, classroom type education, we have no idea. If so, it was likely a small classroom, maybe the kids of the area in some kind of place set up by the Darklighters. Maybe in Anchorhead. Or maybe he was just so skilled in the Force that the things that us lesser beings need education for, he could do naturally.

What do you think? Can you see Luke Skywalker as a kid in a classroom?