Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures Review

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(More customer reviews)Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
*Sigh* Where to begin...
This game could be better named:
"Star Wars Galaxies: A Development Team Vs. A Player base".
Never in all my life, have I seen a company alienate so many people in pursuit of the almighty dollar. It's truly sickening. I WAS a 20-month veteran of the game, I had been playing since week one. PLEASE, READ ON...
In the beginning...
This game was alright; it was fun, it was unique, and it was totally bug-ridden and unbalanced. Over the course of the last 20 months, the SOE Dev team have made us promise after promise to do certain things to fix and enhance this game. They in fact did very little, if anything at all. They milked us. They exploited the "Star Wars" name to make a buck. They made promise after promise after promise... and never delivered squat. Don't believe me? Just ask any "Smuggler" in the game for their opinion.
They strung us along and led us to believe that the "fixes" to the game were right around the corner! Instead, they were hard at work on an "Expansion Pack" to sell us! And then once again "promised us" that the fixes we've all been waiting for were the next big thing waiting for us, "just hang on, this game is going to be great!" They promised us that they were going to do this "Combat Upgrade" and do it right, and it "wouldn't be released until it's ready!"
We all had a lot of hope, we thought that they had finally figure out that they had totally screwed up and were trying to make amends with a player base on the brink of total collapse. God, how wrong we all were...
Well, much to everyone's surprise, they made the announcement that the long awaited "CU" would be coming out along with the "Rage of the Wookiees" expansion pack! Uhhhmmm... did I miss something somewhere? The alpha test for the "CU" was supposed to begin in January, it never happened. Beta testing began in April, 4 whole weeks before it was supposed to go to live! We all rolled up our sleeves and dove in. I think after the first week or so, the sad realization of what was happening to our game begun to sink in...
The CU was supposed to go live on May 5th. SOE decided to push it to live a whole 2 weeks sooner than that. Honestly, with all the bugs that were still in beta, and then in live, beta could have gone on another 4-6 months! I guess they figured they could milk us all a little more and dump this beta on the live servers and let us pay to test it. Why am I not surprised?
The CU itself is unplayable. It has become Everquest in space, or "EverStar Galaxies QuestWars" as we call it. There are just too many things to list. There are a lot of other more technical reviews which go into much more detail over on the page for the stand-alone game.
As you all can imagine, the player community was totally enraged! We went to the SWG Forum boards to voice our concerns. The only response we ever got back from SOE was THOUSANDS of deleted threads and players banned from the forums (I was one of them). Facing futility, a large portion of the player base has left the game, permanently this time.
Then 6 whole months later, after they finally figured out that the CU did indeed suck, they let loose the NGE. They released it just two days after releasing the Obi-Wan expansion which had "special items" for classes that were about to disappear. 32 professions reduced to 9. The NGE is the final nails in the coffin of this game. It totally destroyed it. It became some sort of a twisted MMO/FPS wannabe. Fake and cartoony and dumbed down to where a 5 year old could figure out how to mash the buttons. It is so bad that even Smedly himself said that it wasn't good. And a recent developer conference in Austin the quote was "learn from our mistakes". It's widly rumored that the game will be "sunset" soon (they're gonna pull the plug on it). This "Complete" (I'm feeling sick here) edition is their last ditch effort to milk a little more cash out of it before it's all over.This is just not how you do business. I personally will NEVER deal with Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) EVER again. I DO NOT pay MY HARD EARNED MONEY to be lied to, deceived, ignored, strung along, censored, and banned for voicing my concerns. I do not pay money to folks who treat me, a PAYING CUSTOMER, in this fashion.
Star Wars Galaxies is dead. Servers are empty. People have moved on to other games where folks know how to appreciate their patrons. If you are a fan of Star Wars, and this is the only reason I ever started playing this game to begin with, you will be sadly disappointed!
SWG is nothing more than an exploit of a title, a milk machine. I for one, am tired of being milked.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

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Be the hero of your own Star Wars adventures in a galaxy far, far away.Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures includes Star Wars Galaxies and all of the game's expansions, including An Empire Divided, Jump to Lightspeed, Rage of the Wookiees, and Trials of Obi-Wan, along with all of the regularly updated "Chapter" adventures that are downloaded regularly to your PC. The Complete Online Adventures is the most inclusive and immersive Star Wars Galaxies experience ever introduced.Includes hundreds of hours of game play.Players of all levels can jump into exciting adventures 24/7 and travel to legendary Star Wars locations with iconic characters.Along the way, players can join with others on missions that take them across the galaxy fighting with the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Faction.Getting started is easy – The Complete Online Adventures is all you need!

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Official Star Wars Wii Anakin & Yoda Light-Up Replica Lightsabers - Dueling Pack Review

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(More customer reviews)Lightsaber controllers were one of my prime reasons for buying a Wii!
After reading all the reviews I could find I actually ended up buying two sets: these "Official" ones and the Thrustmaster Glow Sabers. Didn't really intend to.. I bought these first and then Amazon had a Black Friday deal on the Thrustmaster Glow Saber Duo Pack which I couldn't resist. (Hey, I'm a big kid)
Of the two I much prefer these "Official" sabers. They are about an inch shorter at the handle and almost four inches shorter along the blade so while the balance isn't perfect it's better than the Thrustmasters. In fact really can't say that I've noticed it with these Official ones... I do with the Thrustmasters, which being almost five inches longer, are also more likely to accidentally whack some item of furniture. (And they have)
The Thrustmaster sabers do look better - comparable with the regular toy lightsabers you can buy - but I actually like the simpler, stubbier toon-ish look of the Official sabers. Build quality seems fine for both so it's just a matter of aesthetic preference.
The Official sabers' glow looks a lot better than the Thrustmasters: it's brighter and more even. The Thrustmasters look washed out when the lights are on in the room and under all lighting conditions they appear to have bands of light at regular intervals along the blade where the Official ones just glow smoothly.
The quick release feature on the Official sabers is pretty darn nifty: the blade simply clicks into the hilt and when you want to remove it again you pull a ring at the blade end of the hilt and twist it slightly, allowing you to remove the blade. With the Thrustmasters you have to remove either one or two screws to remove the blade. (There are two different styles of hilt)
With both types of sabers you have to remove the Wii-mote to use the Infrared sensor on the end but that applies to every saber / sword I have a read a review of and so long as the games are written sensibly to allow menu navigation by buttons, which they seem to be, it only really matters when you are navigating the main Wii menus.
Both types of saber hold the Wii-mote snugly with no issues.
Knowing what I know now I would buy these Official sabers again in a heartbeat and not bother with the Thrustmasters. Your mileage, as always, may vary. :-)

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These Light-Up Lightsabers for Wiigive you the ultimate Lightsaber experience! Authentic replicas of Anakin's blue and Yoda's green Lightsabers come complete with sculpted hilts unique to each character. The Wii Remote fits safely and easily into the Lightsaber's handle while the On/Off LED feature produces a realistic light-up experience. Each lightsaber utilizes the exclusive POWER A "Twist and Lock" ring mechanism, allowing you to easily and securely assemble your Lightsaber for safe game play, and then disassemble for storage between games. Available in the Dueling Pack and individually. POWER A Light-Up Lightsabers are Authentic Star Wars items and are Officially Licensed by LucasFilm Ltd. Some assembly required.Wii Remote sold separately.

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Star Wars Galaxies: Starter Kit Review

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(More customer reviews)I have played Star Wars: Galaxies for 782 days according to the /getvet command. I have purchased all of the expansions out to date. I was considering creating a second account. As of 11-17-05 my account is cancelled. The New Game, also known as the Starter Kit, is the third version of SWG and it is riddled with bugs and incomplete. It is a far inferior product to its previous versions as well. The NG was released after being kept secret for an unknown period of time and allowing players only a two week notice of it being published. Even less time was devoted to it being tested by sources outside of SOE. Trials of Obi Wan and the NG were released in such a manner as to call into question SOE's and LA's ethics. As represented by the employees who post to the forums SOE and LA are uncarring, glib, and/or vastly out of touch with the player community.
Most of these are not new complaints. However, with the release of the NG these problems have escalted to such a degree that the game is no longer playable. While some are content to merely switch games I am not. Simply changing the direction of the flow of money to SOE and LA will not get their attention. I am boycotting all products created by Sony Online Entertainment and Lucas Arts. I encourage others to do the same.
I do not think my actions alone with effect SOE or LA one iota. In fact, I doubt anything will change their policies. The fan base for Star Wars and other properties is sufficiently numerous to mitigate any discontent portion. While some have predicted that the NG will cause the collapse of SWG I believe otherwise. It will lose many current players but those will be replaced by SOE's and LA's new target market. SOE and LA will later use the negative comments and future subscriptions numbers to prove that they were right all along and to dismiss anyone who opposes them as being knee jerk reactionaries who are against change just because they don't like change. Because most likely the next expansion will also bring a new version of SWG as SOE and LA attempt to copy whichever game is doing better then.

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Live in the Star Wars universe and be the hero of your own Star Wars adventure in a galaxy far, far away. The Starter Kit has everything you need to jump into Star Wars Galaxies right now. With an all new design of the first 30 levels of the game, players can get into the online of world of Star Wars easily and start having fun immediately.The all new Starter Pack makes Star Wars Galaxies fun for players of all levels from casual to experienced.

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