Be The Gamer » Galaxies http://www.bethegamer.com Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 The Guild Counsel: What if the game leaves you? http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/12/15/the-guild-counsel-what-if-the-game-leaves-you/ http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/12/15/the-guild-counsel-what-if-the-game-leaves-you/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:30:00 +0000 Karen Bryan http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/15/the-guild-counsel-what-if-the-game-leaves-you/ Filed under: , , , , , , , , ,

SWG sunset
In previous Guild Counsel columns, we've tackled the issue of players leaving their guilds or even their games, but what about when the game leaves you? Recently, this has become an issue that, sadly, we're seeing more and more often, with announced closings of MMOs and even studios.

This week, Star Wars Galaxies' eight-year-plus run will come to an end, and the servers will shut down at midnight EST tonight. I saw a terrific tribute video made by Kyranna Mythina from the Starsider server, and I wanted to get some thoughts about the game and its closing. Read on for Kyranna's best memories of the game as well as thoughts about the end... and where to go from there.

Continue reading The Guild Counsel: What if the game leaves you?

MassivelyThe Guild Counsel: What if the game leaves you? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    ]]>     http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/12/15/the-guild-counsel-what-if-the-game-leaves-you/feed/ 0     Star Wars Galaxies’ GU20 brings the GCW to space http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/08/18/star-wars-galaxies-gu20-brings-the-gcw-to-space/ http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/08/18/star-wars-galaxies-gu20-brings-the-gcw-to-space/#comments Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0000 Brianna Royce http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/18/star-wars-galaxies-gu20-brings-the-gcw-to-space/ Filed under: , , , , ,

    Star Wars Galaxies screenshot
    Star Wars Galaxies may be due for a tragic space opera death come December, but that doesn't mean the devs are twiddling their thumbs in the meantime. This morning, Sony Online Entertainment's sci-fi sandbox received a major faction and space update, making the ongoing Galactic Civil War content truly interplanetary. According to the patch notes, players can now "participate in dynamic space battles and fight alongside or against Ace pilots including Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Boba Fett" above iconic planets like Tatooine, Corellia, Naboo, Lok and Dantooine. The patch offers new duty missions for player Pilots as well as awards for participation in the new content, and recurring station events ensure that players can always find some action in the cold black of space.

    Medics and Smugglers also received profession tweaks to bring them into balance with the other classes, and Shipwrights will be happy to learn that the update's new starships are in fact player-craftable.

    MassivelyStar Wars Galaxies' GU20 brings the GCW to space originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>     http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/08/18/star-wars-galaxies-gu20-brings-the-gcw-to-space/feed/ 0     Hyperspace Beacon: Bucket list http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/08/16/hyperspace-beacon-bucket-list/ http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/08/16/hyperspace-beacon-bucket-list/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:30:00 +0000 Larry Everett http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/16/hyperspace-beacon-bucket-list/ Filed under: , , , , ,

    Hyperspace Beacon: Bucket list
    Once we start Star Wars: The Old Republic, we will not be able to stop. After only playing the game twice, I have a hard time going back to other games because -- among other things -- voice-over dialogue is far superior to walls of text any day. Then, of course, we can't forget character choices. We will be able to tell the quest-giver what we think of fetching that item for him at the shop when he could just as easily get it himself if he decided to walk 10 feet to the building next to him. That leads me to the point of this article.

    Despite all the incredible things we will be able to do in SWTOR, certain others will be missed once the game launches. Particular staples of MMO games, in general, will never be seen again. As someone who is placing his MMO future in TOR, I suggest creating a bucket list. Let's face it: When The Old Republic releases, we cannot look back to other MMOs. They will be dead to us. After the cut, I have complied a list of 10 items that we will never see again once we start playing TOR. Count them down with me.

    Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Bucket list

    MassivelyHyperspace Beacon: Bucket list originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>     http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/08/16/hyperspace-beacon-bucket-list/feed/ 0     Hyperspace Beacon: Post mortem http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/06/28/hyperspace-beacon-post-mortem/ http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/06/28/hyperspace-beacon-post-mortem/#comments Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000 Larry Everett http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/28/hyperspace-beacon-post-mortem/ Filed under: , , , , , ,

    When a company ends a project or when a theatre production ends, the producers and directors will usually do an analysis of the project. They will give a rundown of what performed well and what performed poorly. The idea is to ensure that the next project delivers better results than the previous one. Granted, we will not be able to sit in on the official post mortem meeting for Star Wars Galaxies, but we can do our own analysis of what happened.

    As I said above, the idea is to take what we learned from the previous project and apply it to the next one. In the eyes of a Star Wars MMO fan, the next project will be Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now to be fair, I already have a series of articles that feature the mistakes SWG made that we don't want to see in The Old Republic, so this time around, I figured it would be best to show off the good things SWG did that should probably be repeated in SWTOR. This is by no means exhaustive, but it's a couple of the big ones in my mind.

    Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Post mortem

    MassivelyHyperspace Beacon: Post mortem originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>     http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/06/28/hyperspace-beacon-post-mortem/feed/ 0     Exclusive: Smedley on the sunsetting of Star Wars Galaxies [Updated] http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/06/24/exclusive-smedley-on-the-sunsetting-of-star-wars-galaxies-updated/ http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/06/24/exclusive-smedley-on-the-sunsetting-of-star-wars-galaxies-updated/#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 21:00:00 +0000 Brianna Royce http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/24/exclusive-smedley-on-the-sunsetting-of-star-wars-galaxies/ Filed under: , , , , , ,

    When I penned this week's Soapbox about Star Wars Galaxies and the NGE, I had no idea what was in store for MMO gamers today. In fact, I was so confident that the pre-eminent MMO sandbox was going to be around forever (or at least another eight years) that I reassured commenters that there was no need to fear Star Wars: The Old Republic. The two games might both feature the Star Wars IP, but their goals are so dramatically different -- one being a dialogue-driven themepark, the other being a player-driven sandbox -- that they shouldn't conflict unduly. Surely Star Wars fans could play both indefinitely and enjoy both types of gameplay.

    Unfortunately, on Thursday we learned that just won't be so. Sony Online Entertainment has announced that Star Wars Galaxies will be shutting down on December 15th of this year, marking what is in my mind the most significant sunset of a major MMO to date (and a personally painful one for many on the staff at Massively, including me). I know what you're thinking, and no, the impending closure is due neither to the hackings nor to a dwindling playerbase. Past the break, an audibly regretful John Smedley, President of SOE, sits down with us to chat about SWG's sunset, explaining the reasons that led to the decision and offering a new hope for the future.

    Continue reading Exclusive: Smedley on the sunsetting of Star Wars Galaxies [Updated]

    MassivelyExclusive: Smedley on the sunsetting of Star Wars Galaxies [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>     http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/06/24/exclusive-smedley-on-the-sunsetting-of-star-wars-galaxies-updated/feed/ 0     The Soapbox: The Uncle Owen paradox http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/06/21/the-soapbox-the-uncle-owen-paradox/ http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/06/21/the-soapbox-the-uncle-owen-paradox/#comments Tue, 21 Jun 2011 18:00:00 +0000 Brianna Royce http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/21/the-soapbox-the-uncle-owen-paradox/ Filed under: , , , ,

    Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

    This week, the venerable Star Wars Galaxies celebrates its eighth year of existence. I was there in the beginning -- before the beginning, in fact. I did what a lot of you early SWG players probably did: I had a guild and a guild city, multiple accounts, a booming business as a chef, and a character who could entertain and fight. Even then, we realized how different SWG was from its immediate predecessors like EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot. We'd returned to the earlier age of Ultima Online, of persistent worlds (as the term was used back then). It was more a world than a game, and in it we could roleplay whatever we liked, to a point. Nowadays, we'd call it a sandbox.

    Old-school MMO gamers know well that the sandbox is under attack. Some will blame it on EverQuest, some on World of Warcraft, some on the free-to-play phenomenon. Among the Massively commenters, there's a large contingent of gamers who consider SWG's own NGE to be the beginning of the end of the classic sandbox. I can't say they're wrong when it comes to the philosophy governing new MMOs, but the sandbox isn't dead yet.

    Continue reading The Soapbox: The Uncle Owen paradox

    MassivelyThe Soapbox: The Uncle Owen paradox originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>     http://www.bethegamer.com/2011/06/21/the-soapbox-the-uncle-owen-paradox/feed/ 0     Star Wars Galaxies Offers Free Character transfers! http://www.bethegamer.com/2009/01/12/star-wars-galaxies-offers-free-character-transfers/ http://www.bethegamer.com/2009/01/12/star-wars-galaxies-offers-free-character-transfers/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2009 01:15:40 +0000 Xavier http://www.bethegamer.com/?p=769 SWG is offering free character transfers

    Free Character Transfer Service – January 13 – March 31, 2009 – 01/12/2009

    Kick off the new year with a fresh start on a new galaxy! Join up with old friends or make new ones with the free Character Transfer Service promotion! Free character transfers begin on January 13, 2009, and are only offered to those accounts with characters created on or before December 11, 2008 on the identified galaxies.

    Check out these links for the most up-to-date information about transferring your character:

    Please note! To prevent issues with a transfer, please close the game immediately after completing the transfer process and do not log into ANY character on that account for at least TWO HOURS after transferring.

    http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/players/news_archive.vm?id=68184&month=current

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