Category Archives: Star Wars Games

EA Shuts Down Visceral, Will Reboot Star Wars Game Due To “marketplace”

Posted on by

Via arstechnica.com:

EA packed a double-whammy announcement into a single post on its blog on Tuesday. The company announced the dissolution of an internal game studio and a substantial reboot of that studio’s upcoming, unnamed Star Wars game.

Visceral Games, which began life as EA Redwood Shores in 1998, is now “ramping down.” Members of its staff are being moved to “as many other projects” as possible, according to EA executive Patrick Söderlund. The studio is best known for the Dead Space trilogy, along with a number of ’90s and ’00s games in the Lord of the Rings and 007 franchises.

Visceral had most recently snagged headlines because the studio had been put in charge of one of EA’s upcoming, unnamed Star Wars games. The project was being led by all-star game industry vet Amy Hennig (best known for the Uncharted series). That game appears to have been all but blown up, as per Söderlund’s lengthy-yet-vague statement. “It was shaping up to be a story-based, linear game,” he starts, only to describe “feedback about what and how [fans] want to play” and “fundamental shifts in the marketplace.”

Click below to read the full article.

Battlefront II Beta

Posted on by

Via Ea.com:

As game makers, watching millions of passionate players get their hands on our game has been incredibly exciting and – in many ways – inspiring. Believe us when we say that your participation is making the game better, and we’re humbled that so many of you took time to not only try the Star Wars Battlefront II Beta, but to share your thoughts with us too.

The Beta was just a small piece of what we’re making. Yes, there’s more content (new locations, heroes, modes, and the all-new single-player campaign), but we heard your feedback loud and clear after the first game. There is more player choice in multiplayer through a deeper progression system and an evolving, event-driven live service that keeps the community together by moving away from Season Pass and having all new gameplay content free for all Star Wars Battlefront II players.

Rest assured, we’re continuing to listen to you coming out of Beta. We’re taking a look at some of the most discussed topics, from Crates and progression to Strike mode (which we’re considering changing to a best of three), the Specialist’s Infiltration ability (which might be a little too overpowered) and more. Oh, and the First Order Flametrooper needs some work – we agree he could use a little more… firepower. We are also looking into more ways to allow players to stay and play together as a team – for launch, we’ll have a new feature for you that rewards all players in a spawn wave. These are just a few examples of how your feedback is helping to shape the game.

We know you have a lot of questions about Crates and progression, so we want to clarify a few things, as the complete system was not in the Beta and will continue to be tuned over time:

There are many things you can earn in the game, including weapons, attachments, credits, Star Cards, Emotes, Outfits and Victory Poses.

As a balance goal, we’re working towards having the most powerful items in the game only earnable via in-game achievements.

Crates will include a mix of of Star Cards, Outfits, Emotes or Victory Poses.

Players earn crates by completing challenges and other gameplay milestones, or by purchasing them with in-game credits or Crystals, our premium currency.

If you get a duplicate Star Card in a crate, you will get crafting parts which you can then use to help upgrade the Star Card of your choice.

And lastly, you have to earn the right to be able to upgrade Star Cards and unlock most Weapons. You can only upgrade or unlock them if you have reached a high enough rank, which is determined by playing the game.

We also have heard some players are looking for a way to play where all players will have the same set of Star Cards with flattened values. Like everything else, we will be continually making necessary changes to ensure the game is fun for everyone. We will work to make sure the system is balanced both for players who want to earn everything, as well as for players who are short on time and would like to move faster in their progress towards various rewards.

And you, our community, will play a big role in the evolution of the game. Whether it’s comments on our forums or posts over social media, we’re listening. Your feedback makes a difference, and your passion is what keeps us creating.

Again, we want to thank you for taking part in the Beta and helping us make sure that the launch will be, to quote a certain masked Sith Lord, a day long remembered. We’ll have much more to share with you before we see you on the battlefront in November.

Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes Introduces Territory Wars, The Last Jedi Character and More

Posted on by

Via Ea.com:

In the past month and a half Star Wars™: Galaxy of Heroes has had some exciting additions to the game. We’ve seen players’ determination and total domination in getting Commander Luke Skywalker, conquering Territory Battles, and acquiring Gear XII.

We are seeing many different strategies as guilds are figuring out how to maximize their star count. If you’re not currently in a guild, or if your guild is feeling too small to take on the Territory Battle challenge, we strongly recommend you join up with other players to make your guild as large and powerful as possible. Territory Battles is just the beginning of the type of epic guild activities coming down the road.

Territory Battle Cadence and Rewards

We recently announced that Territory Battles are going to continue to last for six days, and will then be followed by a four-day cooldown before starting again. As we mentioned in this post it became clear that we needed to give guilds a longer break between Territory Battles. As always, we will evaluate the schedule based on data, player feedback, and player participation needs. To compliment this change, we’ve increased the reward payout from Territory Battles, as well as added three new Special Missions for additional rewards. As always, we are constantly iterating on features. We’re looking into some other places for players to earn Gear XII. We are also considering providing some better tools for Guild Leaders and Officers to manage how their guild plays Territory Battles.

In the coming months, we are going to be introducing a second Territory Battle map. Our newest Territory Battle is from the point of view of the dark side. Both maps will allow deployment of all troops. We’ll have more details very soon.

The Next Step in Guild Battles… is versus other Guilds

We are very excited to announce that after Territory Battles, we are working on the next step in Guild Battles… something we are calling Territory Wars. The initial Territory War map will take place on the Planet Jakku.

This mode will bear some similarities to Territory Battles, but instead of your Guild playing against the game, you’ll be competing against other Guilds. In this mode, you will play both a defensive and offensive game, one in which you must determine which parts of your collection you think will stand and fight for your territories and which you want to take down your opponents.

Both guilds will compete to see who gets the most territories, so strategy is key. Be prepared for anything in this Guild vs. Guild strategy competition!

We’ll be talking more about Territory Wars in the upcoming month, so keep an eye out. In the meantime, make sure you’re guilded up (using our new Guild Search functionality) are well-practiced on Territory Battles, and have several squads/fleets that are ready to battle other players.

Star Wars™: The Last Jedi™

Our first character from Star Wars™: The Last Jedi™ will be making an appearance before the movie comes out in December. This is going to be a variant of a character that fans of Star Wars are already familiar with, so stay tuned for more details.

October brings a lot of exciting events and content for Star Wars™: Galaxy of Heroes players!

Ships

First up, we start the month with big news in ships! Grand Admiral Thrawn’s Capital Ship, Chimaera, is being added to the game in the first ship Legendary event – and it goes all the way to 7 stars. With this addition, the other Capital Ships (Home One, Executrix, and Endurance) can also be leveled up to 7 stars in a new event, Fleet Mastery. This event series will return monthly and give players a chance to earn blueprints to bring their Capital Ships to 7 stars.

Also, some highly sought-after ships are making their way into the Cantina; so keep an eye out for their locations. Finally, we are changing the reward structure for Fleet Arena. We’re still working out the details, but we are hoping to make competition at the top end more… rewarding.

Nightsisters

October will also see one of our more popular factions get a much-requested update. We’re introducing several new Nightsister characters, so be on the lookout for their events. Finally, we’re going to end the month with a spirited, seasonal event; let’s see what else we can dig up with the Nightsisters.

Star Wars™: Galaxy of Heroes & Google Play Gift Cards

This holiday season, we’ve teamed up with Google to give Star Wars™: Galaxy of Heroes players up to a $50 in-game bonus with the purchase of Google Play gift cards. These in-game bonuses include Rey from Star Wars™: The Force Awakens™ as well as Crystals. In the weeks ahead, you should start to see Star Wars™: Galaxy of Heroes branded Google Play gift card kiosks at major retailers around the world, so keep an eye out for them.

 

Star Wars Battlefront II Multiplayer Beta

Posted on by

Via Ea.com:

PLAY THE MULTIPLAYER BETA

The Star Wars Battlefront II Multiplayer Beta is almost here. Get ready to battle enemies in multi-stage Galactic Assault, take on swarms of AI foes in Arcade, joins squadrons of friends in Starfighter Assault, and maximize your trooper skills in eight vs eight Strike missions.

Early Access begins Oct 4 at 8:00 AM UTC. Open to All Oct 6 at 8:00 AM UTC. Beta closes Oct 9 at 4:00 PM UTC.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (PC)
Minimum Requirements

OS: 64-bit Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10
Processor (AMD): AMD FX-6350
Processor (Intel): Intel Core i5 6600K
Memory: 8GB RAM
Graphics card (AMD): AMD Radeon™ HD 7850 2GB
Graphics card (NVIDIA): NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 660 2GB
DirectX: 11.0 Compatible video card or equivalent
Online Connection Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster Internet connection
Hard-drive space: 55GB
Recommended Requirements

OS: 64-bit Windows 10 or later
Processor (AMD): AMD FX 8350 Wraith
Processor (Intel): Intel Core i7 6700 or equivalent
Memory: 16GB RAM
Graphics card (AMD): AMD Radeon™ RX 480 4GB
Graphics card (NVIDIA): NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1060 3GB
DirectX: 11.1 Compatible video card or equivalent
Online Connection Requirements: 512 KBPS or faster Internet connection
Hard-drive space: 55GB

Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes – BB-8

Posted on by

BB-8 ARRIVES IN A NEW LEGENDARY EVENT

The newest addition to the holotable is the tenacious astromech droid, BB-8.

In the new legendary event, Pieces and Plans, players take control of several characters in the militant First Order to hunt down the secret intel housed within BB-8. Battle against iconic Resistance characters from Star Wars: The Force Awakens™ to unlock and add BB-8 to your collection.

One of BB-8’s signature abilities is called, Illuminated Destiny, which removes negative status effects from his allies and grants bonus Turn Meter. This makes BB-8 an excellent character to use in combat missions within the new Territory Battles campaign.

In player squads, BB-8 is at his best when paired with Resistance and/or droid characters. With an all-Resistance squad, BB-8 can inflict multiple Expose debuffs, which combos with Finn’s leader ability to reduce ally cooldowns and gain bonus Turn Meter.

In an all-droid squad, BB-8 will prompt R2-D2 to assist in a counter-attack, first hitting the target with Tenacity Down to then increase the odds of Artoo’s stun attack.

BB-8 and the “Pieces and Plans” legendary event is available for a limited time in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.