Mar 12, 2012

Great Moments In Gaming Humor, Liquidious Fleshbag

STAR WARS™ Knights of the Old Republic™

The companion characters in Mass Effect are living, breathing, loving characters with unique personalities and motivations. They are also pretty boring. They could learn a lot from HK-47, the assassin droid from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

"Correction: Assassination is my primary function. I also possess excellent hearing and can bend spoons."

The Star Wars saga proper isn't exactly known for its wit and humor, at least it wasn't until 2003, when BioWare introduced Darth Revan's droid Friday to players of Knights of the Old Republic. Against a backdrop of cookie-cutter Star Wars archetypes, HK's dark humor and general disdain for all living things brightened the day of many a gamer, even if he persisted in calling them meatbags.

"Observation: I am a droid, master, with programming. Even if I did not enjoy killing, I would have no choice. Thankfully, I enjoy it very much."

This murderous machine, voiced expertly by Kristoffer Tabori, became an overnight sensation amongst Star Wars fans, which lead to roles in Star Wars: The Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Sony Online Entertainment's massively multiplayer Star Wars Galaxies, and most recently BioWare's own Star Wars: The Old Republic. He's even got his own action figure.

"Clarification: When I said 'death' before 'dishonor', I meant alphabetically."

I'd go as far as saying that HK-47 is one of the most important video game characters of all time, a completely original creation that managed to transcend the source material, changing the way fans perceived the Star Wars franchise.

"Observation: I am awesome."

That too.

Got a favorite funny gaming moment? Send them to Fahey @ Kotaku Dot Com and they could be featured in the next edition of Great Moments in Video Game Humor.

Feb 17, 2012

KOTOR, Mass Effect lead writer Drew Karpyshyn leaves BioWare

Mass Effect (2007)

Drew Karpyshyn, the lead writer of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect 1, has retired from BioWare and video games.

The parting was "completely amicable and 100 per cent my decision", wrote Karpyshyn on his website. (His website post didn't mention his retirement from video games as a whole, but his post on Twitter did.)

He retired to focus on writing books, "screenplays and other projects". He wants to finish the first book in his own original fantasy series, Children of Fire.

Karpyshyn has a decorated career. He co-lead wrote Mass Effect 2 and, for the last three years, has been instrumental in writing Star Wars: The Old Republic.

He also helped write Jade Empire; Neverwinter Nights and expansion Hordes of the Underdark; and Baldur's Gate 2 and expansion Throne of Bhaal - his first "significant contribution" to a BioWare project.

On top of that, Karpyshyn wrote the three not-rubbish Mass Effect novels - Revelation, Ascension and Retribution; he wrote a book about KOTOR character Revan and KOTOR 2 character the Exile; he wrote a Throne of Bhaal book; and he's writing a Star Wars: The Old Republic book.

He's also written three Star Wars novels about Darth Bane, and a standalone fantasy tale called Temple Hill.

"As of last week, I have officially retired from BioWare," announced Karpyshyn.

"The story and dialogue in any BioWare game is the result of an entire team of writers working together, and I often felt I received an excessive amount of the credit for the games we created."

Drew Karpyshyn, former star BioWare writer

"I know going forward that BioWare will continue to live up to its well deserved reputation for making the best story-driven games in the industry. The story and dialogue in any BioWare game is the result of an entire team of writers working together, and I often felt I received an excessive amount of the credit for the games we created.

"The Dragon Age games and the continued success of the Mass Effect series after my departure make it pretty clear that BioWare can get along just fine without me, and I'm looking forward to experiencing the games as a fan rather than from the other side of the fence."

"I realise some of you may be shocked by this announcement. Maybe even disappointed. My identity has been closely tied with BioWare ever since I crawled into the public eye, and I know it's a risk to move away from my comfort zone.

"However," he added, "I feel that [it's] an essential step for every creative artist to take at some point. It keeps us fresh, it keeps us energised."

Karpyshyn closed by saying he has a "great appreciation" for - and "fond memories" of - his time at BioWare.

Sniffle.

Incidentally, BioWare's lead Dragon Age writer is David Gaider, and Mass Effect 3's lead writer was Mac Walters.

Mike Laidlaw co-wrote Jade Empire with Lukas Kristjanson, who both still work at BioWare. Just saying.

Feb 6, 2012

Evidence for impending Star Wars: Battlefront 3 mounts

STAR WARS™ Battlefront II (Classic, 2005)

Evidence continues to mount that a third entry in the Star Wars: Battlefront series is in development at Legendary: The Box developer Spark Unlimited.

As noted by PlayStation Lifestyle, a new job listing at the studio calls for a "senior combat designer for a 3rd Person Action/Adventure sequel in a high-profile science fiction franchise currently greenlit for full production development for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC markets."

The site also spotted the LinkedIn profile of a former senior software engineer that mentions time spent on an "unannounced third person sword fighting game (well known IP, Xbox 360, PS3)". *Cough* lightsabers *cough*.

On top of that, a further LinkedIn page belonging to another staffer lists a mysterious "AAA third person shooter using Unreal Engine and Kynapse AI middleware."

This isn't the first time we've heard chatter of a new Battlefront game being in the works at Spark. Late last year, the studio Tweeted about one of two unannounced titles it's currently working on.

"Publisher hasn't stated when or where the announcement will take place. The time and place could be close or far, far away," it read. Cryptic.

The previous entry in the Battlefront series came out on last-gen consoles back in 2005, developed by now-defunct studio Pandemic.

Jan 11, 2012

Contest: Write Force-ful Dialogue for This Star Wars: The Old Republic Comic and Win The First Issue Free

STAR WARS™ Knights of the Old Republic™

BioWare's new Star Wars MMO covers a lot of ground when it comes the pre-history of Luke Skywalker's universe. But, even with all the gameplay and dialogue in The Old Republic, there' s still lots of stories to be told about the conflicts between Jedi, Sith, Mandalorians and The Republic of the old.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: War—written by John Jackson Miller and drawn by Andrea Mutti—chronicles one Jedi's saga as the galaxy's most powerful factions collide into full-blown armed conflict. If you're a fan of the video games set in The Old Republic era, you might even see some familiar names, too.

The first issue of the Dark Horse comics limited series is out today, but you can win a free copy by putting your own dialogue into the words and captions into the blank spots below. You'll have until noon on Friday to post your entry in the thread below and we'll pick out ten lucky winners from the submissions.

In addition to the fame and adoration of your fellow Kotaku readers, winners will get a free digital version of the first issue of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: War. After entering the redemption code at Dark Horse Digital, ten winners will be able to read the digital comic on a web browser or on an iOS device via their app.

Here's the link to the source image. Please note the following:

1. Create your entry.
2. Upload it to a free image hosting service. I suggest imgur. It's stupid simple. No account is necessary.
3. This is very important: You must use the URL of the image itself. In imgur, this is the second URL it gives you after you upload the image. It's under "Direct Link (email & IM)"
4. At the beginning of the comments roll, click "Start a New Thread"
5. To the right of your name, select "Image."
6. Paste the imgur URL in the image URL field. It's the field that says "Image URL."
7. You can add editorial commentary if you want, but then just hit submit and your image will load. If it doesn't, paste the image URL as a comment.
8. This is important: Keep your image size under 1 MB. It will not upload to comments if it is over that size. What's more, we're getting reports that if your 'Shop is more than 1000px tall (vertical), it won't upload. If you're getting the broken-image icon, try resizing to a smaller dimension.

Have at it, padawans.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: War [Dark Horse Comics]

Contest: Write Force-ful Dialogue for This Star Wars: The Old Republic Comic and Win The First Issue Free

Sep 16, 2011

Knights of Old Republic £3.50 on Steam

STAR WARS™ Republic Commando™

BioWare's iconic role-playing game Knights of the Old Republic will be half-price, £3.50, on Steam this weekend.

It's part of a weekend-long Steam Star Wars deal timed to coincide with the Blu-ray release of the Star Wars Saga.

Other discounted Star Wars games on Steam include Battlefront II, Republic Commando and Empire at War.

Knights of the Old Republic reinvigorated the Star Wars licence for gamers. It's set thousands of years before the Star Wars films. You are a mysterious stranger with no memory of your past. You escape an attack on your rescuer's ship, and your subsequent mission to rescue a Jedi marks the beginning of an epic tale.

Eurogamer called Knights of the Old Republic as "the best Star Wars game since X-Wing and/or Tie Fighter, if not ever". Kieron Gillen's Knights of the Old Republic review for Eurogamer awarded a delicious 9/10.

The success of Knights of the Old Republic lead to a sequel (developed by Obsidian) and to BioWare's biggest ever project, MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. The success of KOTOR also helped bring about the Mass Effect series of games, which share many similarities.

Sep 15, 2011

LucasArts making "Aerial Combat Title"

STAR WARS™ - The Force Unleashed™ Ultimate Sith Edition

X-Wing and Tie Fighter dev LucasArts is hiring staff for an Aerial Combat Title.

Experience with flight sims, aerial shooters and "especially space-based shooters" is considered "a plus", according to a senior gameplay engineer job advert.

Could LucasArts be in the throes of reviving 1990's spaceship shooter series X-Wing?

Other LucasArts job posts tease an action adventure game and a first-person shooter.

There's no indication yet of what they are. A third Star Wars Battlefront game has long been lost in development purgatory, and was once in the hands of TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design.

Earlier this year, LucasArts signed the Unreal engine for use in "multiple" titles.
LucasArts boss Paul Meegan also promised to make better games than 5/10 effort The Force Unleashed 2.

Video: The recent Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2.

Aug 23, 2011

Star Wars dev making openworld RPG

STAR WARS™ - The Force Unleashed™ Ultimate Sith Edition

The maker of Star Wars The Force Unleashed is hiring for an openworld role-playing game.

A job ad for a gameplay engineer, Tweeted by LucasArts' Clint Hocking, mentions the genre of the game.

Hocking was the creative director of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Far Cry 2 at Ubisoft.

He left in May 2010 after nearly nine years at the company to work as creative director for LucasArts on an unannounced game.

The job advertisement calls for console development experience, suggesting the mystery game will at least appear on home consoles.

LucasArts' last internally-developed game was The Force Unleashed 2, which disappointed critics upon its 2010 release.

Eurogamer's The Force Unleashed 2 review force pushed a 5/10.

In June this year LucasArts admitted its recent games hadn't been good enough - but promised to do better in the future.

"LucasArts is a company with tremendous potential," boss Paul Meegan said. "I think people look at it and wonder why it hasn't done better in recent years.

"Lucasfilm has some of the most beloved and powerful brands in entertainment, we have a loyal community of fans, and talented people in every discipline. We're surrounded by staggeringly bright and creative people at the top of their games.

"In recent years, LucasArts hasn't always done a good job of making games. We should be making games that define our medium, that are competitive with the best of our industry, but we're not. That has to change.

"Our priority is to create authentic, immersive, high quality Star Wars games."

Video:

Jun 2, 2011

LucasArts promises to make better games

STAR WARS™ - The Force Unleashed™ Ultimate Sith Edition

Star Wars The Force Unleashed creator LucasArts has admitted its recent games haven't been good enough but promised to do better in the future.

5/10 was the verdict in Eurogamer's The Force Unleashed II review. "While there are certainly pleasures to be had in The Force Unleashed II, they come off as the dregs of a concept that has run its course," wrote John Teti.

Now, LucasArts plans to return with a bang with better games.

"LucasArts is a company with tremendous potential," boss Paul Meegan told MCV. "I think people look at it and wonder why it hasn't done better in recent years.

"Our priority is to create authentic, immersive, high quality Star Wars games."

A number of Star Wars games are in development but none announced are being made inside LucasArts.

BioWare is hard at work on the Star Wars The Old Republic MMO, and Terminal Reality is creating Star Wars Kinect.

What is LucasArts cooking?

Video: