Today signals the launch of the first installment of Sony Online Entertainment's brand new online Star Wars trading card game, Champions of the Force. The game depicts the epic battle between the forces of good and evil using a set of over 250 virtually collectible cards. Play alone in solo-play mode or challenge your friends and enemies online in between bouts of whatever it is you SWG players actually do online.

Right now the SOE store has a deal where you can get the original game, The Rage of the Wookies and Jump to Lightspeed expansions and a starter deck for the card game for $US 14.99, with all paying subscribers receiving five free booster packs each month to help bolster their decks. Starters are available for individual purchase for $US 9.99, with boosters running $US 2.99 or $US 99.99 for a virtual box of 36 boosters. Honestly I am a bit hazy on how the whole thing works, so why not head over to the trading card game page and figure things out for yourself? May the force be with you and all that.

Never one to give up on a dead horse, Sony Online Entertainment today announced that they are launching an online trading card game version of Star Wars Galaxies.

Following in the footsteps of Legends of Norrath: Oathbound, Champions of the Force will be playable through your SOE online account. Playing the virtual trading card game will require a "fully-paid subscription" to Star Wars Galaxies.

The game will let you play on either the light or the dark sides and play on your own or against other players. Hit up the jump for the full run down of the card game as well as some of the other things SOE and LucasArts are doing to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the MMO.

Champions of the Force [Star Wars Galaxies]

Many of you have probably come across the Calloftheday's video game boxes gone honest, but we wanted to point them out for those of you who haven't. Not all of them are side splitters, but we enjoyed this response to Star Wars Galaxies (and really, all Star Wars games) pictured here. We also enjoyed the "Same Shit, Different Year" title for Fifa 2008 or MotoGP's "Don't Drive After Playing This Game."

We also wouldn't mind the DualShock 3 being renamed "we lied, you do care" or Nintendo's friend codes going by something more catchy like "we want you to play with buddies IN PERSON, get it through your f'ing head already."

You say one thing, but you mean your mother. (VideoGame Box Art Edits 2) [via digg]

We're suckers for charitable PR moves. And while Sony Online Entertainment recently loose-justification for donating to Austin's Habitat For Humanity organisation would normally smack of goodwilled attention whoring, I simply must give them some credit for going about it in a unique way. Here's the deal—Star Wars Galaxies is littered with unoccupied (read: abandoned) buildings. In order to clear some space for the remaining residents of the online Tattoine and Yavin IV, the Empire is calling in the TIE fighters to blow the crap out of them.

The better part is that while SOE is tearing down in game, it's helping build up in real life. They're donating funds for each virtual building razed to Habitat For Humanity, the charitable volunteer organisation that helps build and find homes for the less fortunate. Star Wars Galaxies subscribers are joining in on the fun, too, netting some in game rewards for contributing to the cause.

Nice work all around, but I'm re-engaging my jaded cynic subroutine right after this heartwarming press release.