Electronic Arts has turned off real money purchases of the premium currency “crystals” within Star Wars: Battlefront II which launches in just a couple of hours time. Their brief statement outlines that the game is built upon player feedback and that in-game purchases will not be re-enabled until they evaluate the state of the game with the community.
Last year’s Star Wars Battlefront reboot will receive its third add-on DLC in just a few weeks. We’ve known for a while that players would be taking to the lower orbit above the Death Star to fight alongside Luke or Vader and now we’ve got some more details about $14.99 DLC – which two new heroic units will be joining, two of the new vehicles and a brand new mechanics for the Death Star’s included maps.
Players will build up a separate experience level tied to the individual maps, based upon the level earned your objectives will change. In example: a player with low experience may fight above the Death Star while a more experienced pilot may take on the icon Trench Run from A New Hope.
New Vehicles
Darth Vader’s Advanced Tie Fighter
Luke’s Episode IV Red 5 X-Wing
New Map Mechanics
Dynamic map objectives based upon unique map-based experience
No specific launch date for the Death Star expansion has been confirmed yet, however it is expected to be launched either in late August or early September for Season’s Pass holders. It will be released two weeks later for everyone else on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and EA Origin for Windows PC.
Last year’s street racing focused reboot of the Need For Speed franchise is making its way to both the EA Access vault on Xbox One as well as Origin Access’ game vault on Windows PC this week. The latest NFS title received a mediocre reception – averaging just 66 on Metacritic but surely this won’t stop subscribers from getting at least a few hours of enjoyment out of the title.
Alongside the racer EA’s absolutely adorable Unravel will join the collection on both platforms this week as well. I played the 2-hour trial when that hit EA Access this past February and found that Yarny’s unraveling antics were very captivating. This brand new platformer was so successful in its initial launch that EA greenlit a sequel, and now subscribers to both services can try out the full game for free.
Another 7 titles will be added to the PC centric Origin Access vault later this summer. Among them are some oldies from Maxis, Bioware and the game that made PopCap a household name, at least for awhile.
What do you think of these additions to EA’s subscription services? Are they enough to get you to sign up? I signed up for EA Access last year and I’ve got my monies worth out of Titanfall alone. Alongside the free, unlimited access games, EA Access also gives subscribers access to six hour trials for some of EA’s newest games like Star Wars Battlefront. Do you think that we will see Battlefront added to the Origin/EA Access freebie list once the inevitable sequel is announced?
Fans of EA/DICE’s multiplayer centric shooter set in A Galaxy Far Far Away will be happy to learn that the pair has revealed the official patch notes for the upcoming February content drop. As previously announced a brand new map will become available when this patch drops – Twilight on Hoth which supports a whole bunch of modes including – Walker Assault, Supremacy, Turning Point, Blaster, Fighter Squadron, Drop Zone and Heroes & Villains. A new survival map also set on Hoth – “Ice Caverns” – will also be made available for the single player wave survival mode.
In terms of other smaller but impactful changes: Primary weapons will now do 10% more damage against vehicles. The ION torpedo has had its speed increased by 30 meters per second while using the Pulse Rifle players will suffer a 30% movement decrease and finally the pre-lobby countdown timer has been decreased from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
There’s a whole bunch of other stuff in the official patch notes which you can read after the jump. Here’s hoping that Twilight on Hoth lives up on the original Walker Assault map that shipped with the game. Read More
Gamers were upset earlier this year when EA announced it would not be bringing any content from The Force Awakens into Star Wars BattleFront. An announcement this week of the road map of DLC content did not include any thing from newest Star Wars film. Now EA is providing their reason& this puts and end to all of the speculation (some of which we did here).
On on earnings call with EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said:
“On Star Wars, the one thing that we are adhering to, and I think this is part of our arrangement with Lucas and Disney, is you can’t make a game in Star Wars that violates the canon of Star Wars. Meaning you can’t take something from the future and bring it back into the past unless it’s a reference. Not knowing yet exactly what the storyline in [Star Wars:] Rogue One is going to be, I can’t comment on how that could come in. But to the extent that it’s in the future… Our current Battlefront game is all based on the historical Star Wars canon, which is 30 years before the most recent movie, that will limit our ability to bring some new content into that.”
“But more to come there obviously,” he continued. “We’re trying to stay tightly connected to the Star Wars beat for future movies and we’ll obviously in future Star Wars games be able to tap the new characters and vehicles and so forth. But in our current game and for that manner the DLC associated with that current game obviously we’ll have to be careful that we don’t violate the cannon.”
So there it is you have your answer. Its not complicated, its not a conspiracy, its just the fact that EA was specifically instructed that they were not to damage star wars cannon directly with their game. If they allowed you to run around battling during the few major battle scenes in the movie, Lucas Film thinks it would confuse players into thinking they could get back in to the universe and change it.
Jorgensen went on to suggest that EA would be making a second Battlefront game (so surprised, I am) and hinted that it might have content from the new movies including the upcoming Rogue One.
Electronic Arts has finally outlined its plans for downloadable content for Star Wars: Battlefront for three content drops that will arrive between January and March as well as the mysterious Season’s Pass that has until now only been described in quite vague terms.
Players who chose to not invest in the potentially overpriced Season’s Pass will be treated to a free Tatooine map survival map, new outfits for Luke and Han and the ability to create private matches. February’s update will bring a new Hoth map that supports a number of game modes and the Turning Point mode being available on all maps that support Walker Assault. March’s free update will include a new Endor map for Walker Assault.
If you want a detailed breakdown of what’s included in the Season’s Pass head on over to Game Informer, apparently they’ve found everything including a list of included maps & modes.
I honestly think that the amount of content in the free updates will have me coming back to the game at least a few time in the next few months. The Tatooine survival maps sound interesting as well as a new Hoth map should have me rooting for the Rebels for taking down the Empire’s AT-ATs.
The Tatooine Survival map (called Raider Camp) will support Blast, Droid Run, Drop Zone, Hero Hunt, and Heroes vs. Villains modes
Hoth outfits for Luke and Han (previously unlocked upon completion of the Heroes’ Holiday community mission)
The ability to create private matches
Daily Challenges and Community Events
General weapon and mode balancing tweaks.
Free February Content Drop
Survival mission on Hoth (map not disclosed)
New Hoth multiplayer map supporting Walker Assault, Supremacy, Fighter Squadron, and Turning Point.
Turning Point mode available on all maps that currently support Walker Assault and Supremacy.
Free March Content Drop:
New Endor multiplayer map supporting Walker Assault, Supremacy, and Turning Point.
Tatooine Survival map.
What’s Included In The Season’s Pass?
Star Wars Battlefront Outer Rim (March 2016) – Fight among the factories of Sullust and battle within Jabba the Hutt’s palace on Tatooine
Star Wars Battlefront Bespin (Summer 2016) – It’s hunt or be hunted in this action-packed experience set in the Cloud City of Bespin
Star Wars Battlefront Death Star (Fall 2016) – That’s no moon! One of the most iconic locations in the Star Wars universe makes its debut in Star Wars Battlefront.
Star Wars Battlefront Expansion Pack 4 – Title TBA (Early 2017)
EA DICE released Star Wars: Battlefront on November 17, 2015. While the game has been criticized for not having the same range of weapons, vehicles and campaign play as its previous iteration, the new Star Wars: Battlefront has made some awesome advances, including absolutely gorgeous graphics and stunning sound effects and music.
One notable different between the new Star Wars: Battlefront and its previous versions, is its inclusion of female and minority Stormtroopers. In fact, the game has gone to great lengths to provide a diverse range of skins to choose from, male, female, young, old, black, white. Each are listed innocuously as “Human” followed by a number, with a brief descriptor for each version of the skin of their hairstyles. This is a wonderful way to allow people to put themselves into these skins without labels telling them. I looked at one of the skins for a long time, trying to determine if it the character was supposed to be of Greek or Middle Eastern origin, before realizing it doesn’t matter. In the Star Wars galaxy, those labels have absolutely no meaning. Anyone could play with that character skin and relate to it as they wish.
The “Human 1” skin in Star Wars: Battlefront.
When Polygon asked Patrick Barch, general manager at DICE, about the existence of women Stormtroopers, he responded:
“Why wouldn’t there be? When you talk to Lucasfilm, they’re like, ‘Yeah, of course there are. We just haven’t shown you [in the films].’ For us, it’s about filling in the details in the universe. We help out by asking the question, ‘Can we do this, can we do that? Should we do this or do that?’ And then we work it out [with Lucasfilm].”
Thus, female Stormtroopers during the reign of the Galactic Empire are canon and Star Wars: Battlefront has been sure to include them. This is a great step forward for the community, especially for people like me, who have been desiring to step into some Stormtrooper armor both online and in real life.
Star Wars: Battlefront does a great job of having slight distinguishing physical features for females from males without making them seem sexualized or out of place. The Stroomtrooper armor looks basically the same between the two sexes. The only noticeable differences between the female and males versions of the Stormtrooper is that the female has a slight taper on the lower half of her chest piece, a smaller waist, slightly less bulge on her codpiece and a higher belt. Overall, it really does look like standard issue Stormtrooper armor on a female body– No ridiculously curvaceous proportions, no missing armor protection and no “boob plates”.
The base Stormtrooper skins in Star Wars: Battlefront (male on the left, female on the right).
EA DICE deserves applause for this, they have done a great job making the Star Wars universe more open and inclusive for all. However, they’ve fallen short of being a truly welcoming game.
It is easy to get lost in overwhelming joy of the sheer amount of diversity of skin selections in the game and overlook where they are lacking. First of all, on a pure numbers side, there are still simply more male choices, with 70 male skins (42 male Rebel skins, 28 male Empire skins) and only 55 female skins (31 female Rebel skins, 24 female Empire skins). Some of this can be attributed to male skins having combinations of hair and beard combinations. Where it is inexcusable, though, is for the high level skins.
In Star Wars: Battlefront, you unlock skin variations as you progress in level. For the most part, these skins are hair customization. However, at level 40, you begin to unlock more noticeable skins that clearly show your peers and the enemy team that you are of a high level. For the Empire, this first skin is a Scout Trooper skin and for the Rebel Alliance it is three alien skins (Sullustan, Duros and Rodian). The problem? All of these skins are male, with male voices.
In fact, of all of the high level skins (of which there are 9), only two are female skins and both of those are aliens on the Rebel side (Zabrak and Twi’lek). The complete lack of special female Empire skins means that, if you prefer to play a female character, you will never get to fully flaunt your accomplishments while on the Empire side.
The two high level Empire skins in Star Wars: Battlefront both only have male variants.
With the base Stormtrooper skins, EA DICE showed how little modification is required to provide both a male and a female version. Why would they leave out female Scout Troopers and Shadowtroopers? Using Barch’s own words, “why wouldn’t there be” female Shadowtroopers?
It seems quite a pity that EA DICE worked so hard to be inclusive in their character options only to leave out women at the highest reward tiers. At level 50, I am reminded of this every time I end up on the Empire side and have to choose between having a character that speaks in a voice like mine and one that shows my accomplishments.
Progress has been made, but we don’t have equality yet.
Our first games sales numbers to include the post holiday discount period have arrived thanks to the weekly UK software charts. Not surprising several AAA franchise compose the top ten including EA’s Star Wars Battlefront, Activision’s Call of Duty and Bethesda softwork’s Fallout 4.
What is a little surprising is to see Just Cause 3 crack into the top ten – currently occupying the 8th place. Considering that game was released so late in the pre-holiday season (early December) it is encouraging to see it ahead of Forza Motorsport 6 and just behind the latest Assassin’s Creed.
Here are top ten titles from the UK for the week ending Jan 2nd:
With just seven days until Christmas Day it is no surprise that publishers are rolling out some great deals on some of this year’s hottest games as well as excellent releases from years past. Electronic Art’s Origin service pulls the trigger on this year’s sale ahead of competitor Valve. They’re not only offering some fantastic prices on some of our favorite games like Dragon Age: Inquisition and the entire Mass Effect trilogy but also the lowest price I’ve ever seen for Battlefront, and that game is only a month old.
The hype for The Force Awakens is very real and with that film being officially released today I’m sure Star Wars: The Old Republic will experience an influx of some fresh players. Despite the game going the dreaded free-to-play route several years ago it still provides an excellent Lvl 1 – 50 experience for free to all players. If you’re an MMO player I would heavily consider the Old Republic bundle available on Origin during the holiday sale: You gain access to all 3 paid expansions, 60 days of game time and a whole bunch of Cash Shop credits for the price of two months’ subscription time. Maybe it’s time to pick the light saber back up!
Sony has updated the PlayStation Store yet again with some fantastic deals thanks to the second week of their Holiday Sale. Some really big titles are on sale this week including Square Enix’s Final Fantasy X / X-2 remaster collection, Star Wars Battlefront many others. If you’ve missed out on some of the bigger games from last year & this year, then this might be the time to save a few bucks.
I’ve highlighted some of the games I think are worth checking out below:
It’s as if dozens of critics cried out in terror that one of the most anticipated games of 2015 might not live up to fan’s monumental expectations. Today is November 17th and it is probably the second most hyped days this year for long time fans of The Force – save for the December 18th launch of The Force Awakens – today is the day that EA unleashes the highly anticipated Star Wars Battlefront on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.Read More
Earlier today GMG sent out a blast email to all of those who recently pre-ordered EA’s upcoming shooter Star Wars Battlefront stating that GMG may not be able to fulfil all orders in time for the game’s release tomorrow. This has lead some to wonder if GMG is receiving their keys not from EA directly but from 3rd party retailers.Read More
EA is keeping the Star Wars hype alive by trickling out a steady stream of news about the final release of Star Wars Battlefront. The latest bit of news is to say the least controversial, EA today through a series of tweets confirmed there will be no “ingame” chat in Battle Front. The tweets are below, but the gist of it is that 3rd part voice clients are going to be needed to talk to anyone in Star Wars Battlefront.
Our staff played a combined 10 hours of the Star Wars Battlefront beta on Windows PC this weekend and are ready to share their field reports. It should be noted that these are early impressions based upon a beta build of an un-released game and as such the final game may address some of the issues we are about to discuss.
Fionna Fox’s Impressions
IT happened at 11:35 on the second day of the beta, with a slight almost cash register type of sound I bought the last item available for unlock in the beta. I had done it! I had beaten the Star Wars Battlefront beta. But I wanted to keep playing -that’s how good it is, I kept going without any incentives, any unlocks, or even the promise of in game rewards.
Let’s start with the basics, the game is beautiful, on the highest graphics settings it looks like a brand new hi-end game (not really surprising here since it hasn’t seen a retail release yet). I’m playing on a 1080p monitor at 1920×1080 resolution and I still get awed when I take a look at the vista of Hoth. The Sound design is AMAZING, it sounds like you are in a star wars movie. Without even having ever gotten to game play the game already feels FANTASTIC, it has the shiny look of a modern game, with a Star Wars skin on top. That alone will be enough for lots of players, but it manages to back it up with gameplay as well.
After a long gruelling wait – andwatching Twitch streamers and YouTubets posting their first impressions – the Star Wars Battlefront beta is available through Origin for all to try!
If you had the foresight to pre-load the beta than you can jump right in and get in on the action. For those of you who haven’t – there is a mandetory 7.5GB download required.
We previously also posted the recommended System Specs for Battlefront. Hopefully your rig is up to the task.
Star Wars Battlefront’s beta is available on Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4 for all until October 12th. It allows players to try the Battle on Hoth Walker Assualt level as well as the brand new point control Drop Zone mode and finally a horde like wave defence mode.
