About David

David Holloway has been involved with gaming since the early 1970′s and with virtual worlds since heavy use of a MOO in 1993 – he even admits to having owned a Vic 20 and used it heavily to play cassette-based roleplaying games. As far as Star Wars goes, he still owns his original set of Star Wars figures and can vouch for the fact that a 1978 Stormtrooper can be blown to bits by shooting it with a slug gun from a distance. He’s also played Star Wars games as far back as the Super Nintendo console and to this day is devastated by the accidental erasure of all his progress on Lego Star Wars on the Wii.

Flash Point 50: Did We Really Make It This Far?

flashpoint-podcastWe get a little bit retrospective this episode given it’s our 50th one. March 12th, 2011 was when Episode 1 went live, and since then we’ve been plugging away roughly every 2 weeks, talking Star Wars The Old Republic and then MMOs more broadly.

To coincide with this significant anniversary, Simon, Kristy and regular guest Matthew ‘Scope’ Pearce take a look back but also at the current MMO news as always. A MYSTERY GUEST also makes an appearance two-thirds of the way through the show.

Points of discussion:

50th Episode
– Looking back at highlights of first 49 episodes
– Some thank-yous
– Looking back at MMOs more broadly since March 2011 when the podcast started

SWTOR
Patch 1.6.3
– Character copying to PTS
– Rise of the Hutt Cartel first look
– Darth Hater changes
– Shout out for Ye Olde Republic podcast

TSW
– Kristy hits her completionist goal
Game Director’s update

Other
– Marvel Heroes – discussion of closed beta (within boundaries of NDA)
World of Tanks 8.3
War Thunder overview
– Elder Scrolls Online: we need you!
– a discussion with Ed on SWTOR

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

Listen via iTunes or right here:

Rise Of The Hutt Cartel: First Look Trailer

A combination of factors means I totally missed the release of a ‘first look’ trailer for SWTOR’s initial expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel. At one minute and fourteen seconds it’s certainly no more than a first look but there’s some great scenic shots plus a decent storyline hint.

Have a look for yourself:

So, what’s your take? Anything in there that’s particularly piqued your interest?

Review: Todd, The Ugliest Kid On Earth – Perker and Kristensen

Review: Todd, The Ugliest Kid On EarthThis new release from Image comics is something a little outside the superhero schtick to say the least. The central character, Todd (surprise!), is a kid who’s constantly bullied and is considered so ugly by his mother that he’s forced to wear a bag on his head. Add a ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ mother, a heavy drinking father, a neighbourhood bully and a child serial killer and you have the foundation for an interesting comic series.

This is a story that has the potential to veer solidly into Archie / Dennis The Menace neighbourhood sitcom territory but it manages to achieve exactly the opposite – an edgy, funny, adult comic. Sure, there are some low moments where the story skids into stereotypes but they are far outweighed by the dark humour and a pretty stark portrayal of Todd’s day-to-day life. M.K. Perker’s art is a great match for the story and Kristensen’s writing is more than solid, including a handful of actual laugh out loud moments, something I don’t experience very much in comics.

Todd, The Ugliest Kid On Earth is now on my monthly pull list – kudos to Image Comics for giving series like this a platform to grow. You can buy the digital version here, otherwise hit up your nearest comic shop for a copy. I have a feeling I’ll be sorry to see this title end after its slated four issues.

Oceanic Soap Box: What’s Got You Excited?

oceanic-soap-box

Most people are back into the swing of day-to-day activities after the Xmas / New Year period, and that well and truly includes games developers. There’s been some great announcements already this year, not least of which is the release of the opening cinematic for Starcraft 2’s first expansion, Heart of the Swarm. If you haven’t seen it already, here it is:

Here’s where you come in: what games have you excited for this year? For me Heart of the Swarm is one, Marvel Heroes another and the upcoming Sim City release has me drooling as well. What about you?

SWTOR 1.6.3 Patch Notes

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As you probably already know, SWTOR patch 1.6.3 has hit and it’s a fair-sized one. Check out the full patch notes for yourself:

1.6.3 Patch Notes

1/23/2013

Cartel Market

New Items

      • The Czerka CR-17 Incendia, is now available. The protection provided from being knocked off this vehicle is greater than Speeder Piloting III. Cost: 1,800 Cartel Coins.
      • Three new armor sets, the Sand People Pillager Set, The Sanctified Caretaker Set, and the Malevolent Interrogator Set can now be purchased. These sets of adaptive armor can be worn by any Class at level 1. Cost: 1,440 Cartel Coins each.
      • The Preferred Access Bundle is now available! This bundle offers the player a selection of popular unlocks and customization options. Cost: 972 Cartel Coins (Discounted by 40% for a limited time!)

New Discounts

      • Access Authorization: Section X (Character) is discounted by 10%. Cost: 540 Cartel Coins.
      • Access Authorization: Section X (Account) is discounted by 10%. Cost: 1,215 Cartel Coins.
      • Unlock: Cargo Hold Access (Character) is discounted by 20%. Cost: 380 Cartel Coins.
      • Unlock: Cargo Hold Access (Account) is discounted by 20%. Cost: 840 Cartel Coins.
      • Unlock: Additional Cargo Bay (Character) is discounted by 20%. Cost: 380 Cartel Coins.
      • Unlock: Additional Cargo Bay (Account) is discounted by 20%. Cost: 840 Cartel Coins.
      • The Newcomer Bundle is discounted by 50%. Cost: 405 Cartel Coins.
      • Medical Probes are discounted by 50%. Cost: 250 Cartel Coins.

Expiring Discounts

      • The Gamorrean Axe is no longer 30% off. Cost: 350 Cartel Coins.
      • Fleet Pass (Single Use) is no longer 33% off. Cost: 90 Cartel Coins.

Items Removed From the Cartel Market

      • Czerka LD-1 Celebrator
      • Life Day Robes
      • Life Day Holo-Tree
      • Life Day Orb
      • Life Day Tinsel Bomb
      • Life Day Bundle
      • Imperial Fireworks x10
      • Republic Fireworks x10
      • Fountain Fireworks x10
      • Finale Fireworks x10
      • Fireworks Bundle x12

Bug Fixes

    • Players who have purchased vehicles via the Cartel Market will now find that their protection against being knocked off has been scaled up to Speeder Piloting III regardless of current Speeder Piloting level.
    • All color crystals from the Cartel Market and Cartel Packs can now be placed on the Galactic Trade Network.
    • The Fancy Reveler’s Outfit pieces now correctly display an icon.
    • Players will no longer be able to use unlocks such “Unlock: Additional Quickbar” if they already have the maximum allotment of that unlock.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

Colicoid War Game

        • Friendly Colicoids in Colicoid War Game are now immune to gap-closing abilities such as Intercede.

Taral V

        • Players are now required to defeat General Edikar in order to complete the [FLASHPOINT] Taral V mission.

Operations

Eternity Vault

        • Players can no longer pull Gharj to the entrance of the room.

Karagga’s Palace

            • Players are no longer able to reach the top of the pillars during the Foreman Crusher encounter.

PvP

Warzones

Ancient Hypergate
            • Alacrity will no longer speed up the capture of Energy Orbs.
            • New tiebreaker mechanic: If both teams have an identical score after reaching 600 the match enters a sudden death mode where the first team to capture a pylon wins the game.
            • Gaining defensive objective points will no longer incorrectly display an invalid effect icon.
            • Engaging in combat near a defensive objective will now correctly reset the vote kick timer.
Voidstar
            • Players can no longer leave the spawn area prior to the match starting.
Space Combat
            • Heroic Space Combat missions will now be available on the correct day.
            • Space Combat Daily Missions will now be available 12 hours earlier. They will now reset each day at 6AM CST (4AM PST/7AM EST/12PM GMT/1PM CET/11PM AEDT).
            • Players will no longer receive an “Ineligible” system message when accepting Daily Space Combat Missions.

UI

        • Corrected an issue where logging out would cause the UI to not be displayed at character select.
        • The Quickbar lock/unlock graphic has been reverted back to its original icon.

Miscellaneous

      • Added missing text to the Cartel Market for the French and German versions.

SWTOR Server Maintenance: 23rd January 2013

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(While the servers are down, why not listen to the latest episode of our podcast?)

A four hour downtime this Tuesday night / Wednesday morning, but slightly later in the evening than usually occurs.

The local time conversions:

AEDT: 10pm-2am

AWST: 7pm-11pm

NZDT: Midnight – 4am

BioWare’s notification in full:

Hello everyone, we wanted to let you know that we will be performing scheduled maintenance for four hours on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013 from 5AM CST (3AM PST/5AM EST/11AM GMT/12PM CET/10PM AEDT) until 9AM CST (7AM PST/9AM EST/3PM GMT/4PM CET/2AM AEDT). All game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours, but could be extended.

This maintenance is done in order to make general improvements and to check performance of the game so that we can continue to provide a consistent, quality experience. Quite often (but not always) after a maintenance period there will be a patch to download. After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you must close and reopen it for a fresh login.

Scheduled Maintenance

Date: Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

Time: 5AM CST (3AM PST/5AM EST/11AM GMT/12PM CET/10PM AEDT) until 9AM CST (7AM PST/9AM EST/3PM GMT/4PM CET/2AM AEDT)

All game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than four hours.

Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

Death Star: Blame The Contractors!

I’m a bit of a Reddit junkie, and I stumbled across this little gem of a discussion about the Death Star’s destruction as revenge for the annihilation of Alderaan:

(Click on the image for the larger size)

Star Wars Humour

You can check out all sorts of Star Wars stuff on Reddit here.

If Disney Made The Original Star Wars Trilogy

So, we all know that Disney is going to be the Force behind Episodes 7-9 of Star Wars, but what would it have been like back in the 1970s and 1980s if they’d been behind Episodes 4 to 6? This video provides one possibility of what could have occurred:

So maybe George Lucas’ stewardship looks a little better now?

[Thanks to Phil for the heads-up]

Flash Point 49: Cylon Meccano Shenanigans

flashpoint-podcastWe’re back after a Xmas / New Year break with lots to talk about and some laughs along the way.

Points of discussion:

SWTOR
– Patch 1.6.2
– Rise of the Hutt Cartel
State of the Game Update

TSW
– End of Days event
– ARG event
– Issue #5
– Leaving Kingsmouth!

Other
– WoW pet battles
– Marvel Heroes closed beta
– Australia’s first R18+ game
– Steam Sale
– Tera goes F2P
– Walking Dead game
– Shout out to Sean Robinson for his comics coverage
– Shout out to Jemima again for her excellent WoW Achievement guides.
– Simon’s love for Comixology
– Episode 50 ‘preview’

– Shout outs for our forums, Facebook page, Twitter account, Simon’s Twitter account and Kristy’s Blog.

Please review or rate the podcast on iTunes if you can – it makes a huge difference!

Listen via iTunes or right here:

SWTOR Maintenance 15th January 2013

swtor-server-down

Only a two-hour SWTOR server downtime this week, although a patch will still be deployed. The usual time conversions for you:

AEDT: 10pm-Midnight

AWST: 7pm-9pm

NZDT: Midnight – 2am

The official explanation:

 

We will be deploying a patch and performing scheduled maintenance this Tuesday, January 15th, 2013. Patch notes will be made available shortly after the servers come back up.

The servers will be down for two hours on Tuesday, January 15th, 2013 from 5AM CST (3AM PST/5AM EST/11AM GMT/12PM CET/10PM AEDT) until 7AM CST (5AM PST/8AM EST/1PM GMT/2PM CET/12AM AEDT). All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This maintenance is expected to take no more than two hours, but could be extended.

After the maintenance, please login via the launcher to download the latest patch. If your launcher was open during the maintenance, you must close and reopen it for a fresh login.

Maintenance

Date: Tuesday, January 15th, 2013

Time: 5AM CST (3AM PST/5AM EST/11AM GMT/12PM CET/10PM AEDT) until 7AM CST (5AM PST/8AM EST/1PM GMT/2PM CET/12AM AEDT)

All game servers and SWTOR.com will be offline during this period. This game maintenance is expected to take no more than two hours.

Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.

It’s Time To Score

If you like retro game stuff, then it doesn’t get much better than this. While trawling YouTube on an unrelated search, I stumbled on this snippet of win – you just need to skip to 1:59 or click this link:

Does anyone out here recall buying this magazine?

SWTOR 1.6.2 Patch Notes

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The servers are up and running again, and we now have SWTOR Patch 1.6.2 live. There’s quite a batch of fixes and changes, so read on for the full list:

1.6.2 Patch Notes

1/8/2013

Cartel Market

New Items

      • Players can now unlock additional character slots! Cost: 600 Cartel Coins.
      • The Newcomer Bundle is now available! It contains a wide range of items to help new players expedite their travels. Cost: 405 Cartel Coins (discounted by 50% for a limited time!).
      • Two new armor sets, the Interstellar Privateer Armor Set and Clandestine Officer Armor Set, can now be purchased. Each armor set costs 1,440 Cartel Coins.
      • A new Cartel Pack, the Skip Tracer Cartel Pack, is now on the Market. Cost: 360 Cartel Coins.

New Discounts

      • The Gamorrean Axe is discounted by 30%. Cost: 245 Cartel Coins.
      • Fleet Passes (single use) are discounted by 33%. Cost: 60 Cartel Coins.
      • The Life Day Bundle is discounted by 35%. Cost: 2,400 Cartel Coins.
      • The Newcomer Bundle is discounted by 50%. Cost: 405 Cartel Coins.

Bug Fixes

    • Unlock items no longer stack in the inventory.
    • Revan’s Mask no longer clips through hoods on some body types.
    • The textures for the Forward Recon chestpiece now display properly.
    • The appearance of the Phantom and Perceptor’s armor now matches the appearance seen in the Cartel Market.
    • The Stylish Dancer’s Top no longer binds on pickup.
    • The Statele Shan Holo-Statue and Darth Malgus Holo-Statue no longer allow the use of Heroic Moment abilities.
    • The Cyan-blue War Hero’s Color Crystal now binds on equip.
    • Using Imperial and Republic Firework items now causes the player to kneel down.
    • Tinsel Bombs can now be used on both friendly and hostile targets.
    • Players no longer move when using Fountain Fireworks.
    • Tooltips for equipment that requires the Event Equipment Requisition Authorization now update when the player unlocks the requirement.
    • The Carbonite Chamber and Life Day Orb now properly regenerate Ammo for Troopers.
    • The Remote Control Starship now regenerates a player’s health and energy pool when channeled.

General

  • Character slot restrictions are now being enforced:
    • By default, Free-to-Play players are restricted to 2 characters per server.
    • By default, Preferred Status players are restricted to 6 characters per server.
    • By default, Subscribers are limited to 12 Characters per servers.
    • All players have a Global Active Character Limit of 350 Characters.
  • Additional Character Slots may now be purchased from the Cartel Market. Each Character Slot will increase the number of Characters a player may have across all servers by 1 (players can go beyond their default character slot restrictions). Each purchase will increase the number characters that a player may mark as Active across all servers.
  • Subscribers and Preferred Status Players who have more than the current character limits will be allowed to keep and play all characters. No new characters may be created on the account until the number of characters on the account falls under the Global Active Character Limit for the account type, even if additional character slots are purchased.

Classes and Combat

Smuggler

Scoundrel
Scrapper
          • Flechette Round’s damage over time effect no longer interrupts players attempting to capture an objective.

Imperial Agent

Operative
Concealment
        • Acid Blade’s damage over time effect no longer interrupts players attempting to capture an objective.

Companion Characters

HK-51

    • HK-51’s dagger, “Dicer,” is now available in his combat outfit container.
    • Warning: Rivals Detected: Players are no longer prevented from restarting this mission if they abandoned it. Players that were unable to re-obtain this mission can speak to Bren in Section X to continue.

Flashpoints and Operations

Flashpoints

Kaon Under Siege
        • Optimizations have been implemented to improve performance inside this Flashpoint.
        • The Infected Screamer’s Brutalize attack now respects player immunities to knockback.
Maelstrom Prison
        • The Fifth Fleet Footmen and Fifth Fleet Gunners now spawn correctly during the Grand Moff Kilran encounter.
        • X-37 Oppressor’s Power Punch now respects player immunities to knockback.

Operations

Eternity Vault
        • Enrage timers have been increased by 1 minute for bosses (excluding the Ancient Pylons encounter) in this Operation in 16-player Story and Hard Modes.
Explosive Conflict
        • Warlord Kephess’ enrage timer has been increased to 5 minutes, 30 seconds in 16-player Nightmare Mode.
        • The Defected Imperial Commander now spawns correctly in the Colonel Vorgath encounter.
Karagga’s Palace
        • Enrage timers have been increased by 1 minute for bosses in this Operation in 16-player Story and Hard Modes.
Terror from Beyond
      • The Gargantuan Lobel mini-boss now spawns correctly.
      • In the Terror from Beyond encounter, the Unstable Larva, Hypergate Beacons (in the first phase of Hard Mode), and Hypergate Irregularities now spawn correctly.

Items

  • The Dread Guard’s Corrupted Mask now uses appropriate voice sound effects during cinematics.
  • The Devastator’s Double-Bladed Lightsaber now correctly displays two blades.

Legacy

  • Legacy of Combat abilities can no longer be used inside Warzones.
  • Using Priority Transport: Capital World now properly advances mission steps that require players to travel to Coruscant or Dromund Kaas.

Missions and NPCs

Missions

Belsavis
        • Section X Weekly missions no longer autocomplete if the player has previously completed the component missions.
        • The Section X daily mission area has had some encounters removed and others relocated to provide easier travel between mission objectives.
        • March of the Dread Guard: Players now use the remote device recovered from nearby enemy NPCs to free all prisoners. Only 5 prisoners now need to be freed (down from 12), and leader NPCs count towards this goal.
        • Imminent Threat: Only 8 escaped prisoners are now required for this mission’s objective (down from 16).

Class Missions

Jedi Consular
        • Find the Ancient Weapon: Players can now complete this optional mission after recovering the item from the chest.
Trooper
        • Justice: An issue that could cause players to become stuck in the floor on The Justice has been corrected.

NPCs

    • After Dreadtooth is defeated, Dreadful Resurgence no longer persists. Dreadful Essence must be used to increase Dreadtooth’s difficulty.
    • Dreadtooth’s difficulty when he is affected by 3 or more applications of Dreadful Resurgence has been decreased.
    • Dreadtooth no longer drops crafting materials when affected by less than 3 applications of Dreadful Resurgence.
    • The anti-griefing “Dread” debuff applied by Dreadtooth now uses a shorter range.
    • The Shriek attack used by Dreadtooth no longer causes too many visual effects to be played each tick.

PvP

Warzones

Ancient Hypergate
      • Players defending a pylon their team controls now gain defensive credit over time.
      • Transmissions inside this Warzone now use appropriate voice effects.
      • Players no longer gain attacker objective credit for finishing a capture attempt on an energy orb that has already been captured by another player.

Space Combat

  • The costs for Grade 7 ship upgrades available from the Fleet vendor, Daily vendor, and Starship Upgrades credit vendor have been reduced.
  • The credit reward from [Heroic] Space Combat missions has been reduced from 12,500 to 1,616.

UI

General

      • The “Unify to Chest” armor color option now works correctly for players and companions.

Galactic Trade Network

    • Preferred Players can now post 5 sales at a time on the GTN. Previously, Preferred Players were incorrectly limited to 2 sales.

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes

  • Several items that were missing correct translations in French and German have been updated.

  • A rare issue that could cause a Premium or Preferred Player to function as a Free-to-Play Player temporarily has been addressed.

  • Using /stuck now kills the player without penalty when used on a Personal Starship.