The Chronicle Master system works much like City of Heroes Mission Architect, allowing players to use in-game tools to create their own missions and share them with the community. Since Sony Online Entertainment implemented the feature last month, players have been sharing the hell out of some missions. SOE cites one player who has already created more than 6000 playable quests all by himself. That’s relatively insane.

It’s even more insane when you take into account estimated subscription numbers for the game. MMO Data has Star Wars Galaxies’ subscriber list estimated at around 50,000 players. Even if they were off by half and it was 100k, that’s still 30 user-created quests per player. I suppose it helps that completing player-made quests earns you special in-game loot, but still, that’s a pretty impressive ratio.

It just goes to show that players who’ve stuck with Star Wars Galaxies this long are really, really into Star Wars.

That’s right, free character transfers are so popular that everything must go by October 15! Go from the twelve closing servers to the remaining thirteen, that is. From the SOE forum post on the subject:

Due to the overwhelming success of the recent Free Character Transfer Service, we want to inform you that on October 15, 2009, at 5:00 PM PT, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will close the following 12 Star Wars Galaxies servers:

o Corbantis
o Europe-Infinity
o Intrepid
o Kauri
o Kettemoor
o Lowca
o Naritus
o Scylla
o Tarquinas
o Tempest
o Valcyn
o Wanderhome

Players have between now and October 15 to vacate the premises and head to a more populated server for some Death Trooper re-killing action. Any characters remaining on said servers past October 15th will be permanently removed from your account, so if you’re a lapsed SWG player on any of those servers, you might want to hop on and move your Jedi to a safer harbour.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR SWG ACCOUNT [SWG Forums via MMORPG.com]

For a tie-in with Joe Schreiber’s upcoming book of the same name, Star Wars Galaxies will in October drop an update called Death Troopers, which sounds like an excuse to drop you and your friends in a room and have them kill a bunch of “horrific new enemies with a frightening affliction”.

So, yeah, zombies.

Still won’t make Galaxies fun, but it’ll at least make it good for a laugh.

Honestly I’m a bit surprised this wasn’t already in the game. I thought the first thing developers did upon starting up a Star Wars project based on the original trilogy was get the Hoth battle out of the way. Odd. Hit the jump for some very white screenshots.

And we do mean very white.
LEGENDARY BATTLE OF ECHO BASE COMES TO LIFE IN NEW STAR WARS GALAXIES CHAPTER

New Hoth Encounter Lets Players Experience One of the Most Memorable Battles in Star Wars History
AUSTIN, Texas — Nov. 20, 2008 — Choose your side and prepare for battle — the epic fight for Hoth is now yours to be waged! Sony Online Entertainment LLC and LucasArts today announced the latest addition to Star Wars Galaxies™, Chapter 11: The Battle of Echo Base, that brings the epic action and excitement from one of the most gripping fights in Star Wars history to fans and players in a way they’ve never experienced before.

This latest chapter in the Star Wars Galaxies saga lets players relive pivotal combat missions on behalf of either the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Alliance. The breathtaking heroic encounter adds vehicular combat, so players in groups of up to eight people can jump into the fray at Echo Base and take the controls of a Rebel snowspeeder or Imperial AT-ST.

The fight for both sides begins on the icy North Field, where the battle between the forces of good and evil are joined, and continues all the way to Evacuation Point, the site of the Alliance’s desperate, harrowing escape from the menacing Imperial ground assault.

About The Battle of Echo Base
After picking up the mission at the Adventurers’ Guildhall in Aurilia, players who have chosen a side in the Galactic Civil War will need to accomplish various objectives. Under the command of General Maximilian Veers, Imperial players must infiltrate Echo Base, taking out at many Rebels along the way as possible. Rebel players, led by General Carlist Rieekan, will need to evacuate Echo Base with as much manpower and material as can reasonably be preserved.

Feature Set:
• Multi-stage battle with exciting objective based-missions for both Imperial and Alliance players.
• Exciting vehicular combat featuring iconic Star Wars vehicles including snowspeeders and AT-STs.
• Massive gameplay area with endless replayability.
• Appearances by major characters of the battle including Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and R2-D2.

Freeman’s brother tells the Escapist that “personal issues,” not the fury of SWG players were at the root cause of his decision to take his own life.

Jeff Freeman, Former SWG Lead Gameplay Designer, Dies [The Escapist]

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.

LUCASARTS AND SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT LAUNCH THE STAR WARS GALAXIES™ ONLINE TRADING CARD GAME

The First Release of the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, “Champions of the Force” Now Available

AUGUST 27, SAN FRANCISCO – LucasArts and Sony Online Entertainment announced today the launch of the Star Wars Galaxies™ Trading Card Game and its first release: Champions of the Force.

Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game: Champions of the Force marks the first ever Star Wars® trading card game offered exclusively online. Available to both current and former Star Wars Galaxies subscribers*, the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game provides players an entirely new gameplay experience by combining the challenge of a trading card game with the adventures and community of the massively multiplayer game. For the first time online, players can:

* Choose between the light and dark sides of the Force and build their own Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game decks to fight virtual matches for the Rebel, Imperial, Jedi or Sith;
* Enhance their digital card decks with 15-card Booster Packs;
* Find more than 20 “loot” cards in the first release, Champions of the Force, that can be redeemed for fantastic virtual items for use within the Star Wars Galaxies massively multiplayer game for players with a Star Wars Galaxies account*;
* Challenge their skills in story-based solo-play or against other Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game players in epic one-on-one matches, cooperative Heroic Encounters, and official tournaments.

In addition, all Star Wars Galaxies subscribers with current, valid, paid accounts in good standing are eligible to automatically receive five digital trading card Booster Packs each month included with their paid Star Wars Galaxies subscription at no additional cost, providing a simple way for them to quickly and easily build their decks.

More than 250 unique virtual cards are available for players to collect in the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game, all of which feature beautifully detailed original Star Wars­ artwork depicting scenes from the story-based solo mode. In the story mode, players will battle through ten scenarios that revolve around an ancient Jedi holocron, the Codex of Tython, which players must work to reassemble and ultimately use against their enemies.

Anyone wishing to try the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game: Champions of the Force can do so at no charge through a downloadable trial that includes limited access to a tutorial and practice games with a provided virtual Starter card deck.

The Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game: Champions of the Force may be also be accessed from inside Star Wars Galaxies, including trial participants while taking advantage of the Star Wars Galaxies 14-Day Trial. This trial, offered at no charge for up to two consecutive weeks, also includes all the content of the base game, Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided™ and its first expansion, Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed™. Available by download from www.StarWarsGalaxies.com, the 14-Day Trial gives players a chance to meet and fight with or against their favourite Star Wars characters as they explore this massive online universe filled with thousands of other Star Wars fans.

As a bonus for trying the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game: Champions of the Force, players are eligible to receive a loot card that can be redeemed in Star Wars Galaxies for the choice of either a Rebel or Imperial flight suit*. Plus, becoming an active, current, paying Star Wars Galaxies subscriber, after trying the Trading Card Game, offers additional benefits including:

* One Starter Deck of their choice: Jedi, Rebel, Imperial or Sith;
* A Cybernetic Experience Chip, which gives a 20% experience point increase that can be used up to 50 times in Star Wars Galaxies when redeemed*;
* The complete third expansion, Star Wars Galaxies: Rage of the Wookiees™.

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]

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]

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.

DESTROYING VIRTUAL HOUSES, BUILDING REAL HOMES

Star Wars Galaxies® Video Game Event Raised Funds and Awareness for Habitat for Humanity to Fight Poverty Housing

AUSTIN, TX – September 5, 2007 – While in-game events are a fairly common occurrence in a MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game it’s not often that they result in the joint effort of a major video games publisher and a leading charitable organisation promoting affordable housing. But it’s exactly that kind of event that has enabled Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) LLC’s Austin, TX studio to team up with Austin Habitat for Humanity (AHFH), contributing financially as well as through volunteer efforts to help people in the Austin community find homes.

In SOE’s Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) MMO, there was a surplus of player-created houses and buildings that had been abandoned or left unoccupied by players. SOE Austin VP of Development John Blakely wanted to remove the houses, but do so in a way that is uniquely Star Wars – the buildings were marked as “condemned” by the evil Galactic Empire, and scheduled for demolition – TIE fighters would swoop in and bomb the buildings to the ground.

The SWG community was also given the chance to join in the fun of this “urban renewal;” players were provided reward points for the number of buildings they destroyed, which could be redeemed for special in-game items like droids, paintings and furniture. “When we initially conceived this idea, we didn’t know how the community was going to react,” said Blakely. “Oddly enough, it was very well received; some players that hadn’t been in the game for months came back to reclaim their property, re-activate their accounts and start playing the game again.”

SOE Austin took things one step further and offered to match the number of houses demolished with a donation to charity, considering Austin Habitat for Humanity first. “Using the money we raised blowing-up virtual houses and buildings to help build real homes was a no-brainer for us,” said Blakely. “Austin Habitat for Humanity has done incredible work in the community, helping people find good homes, and our whole studio wanted to contribute to their efforts.”

On Thursday, September 6th, Blakely will present AHFH Executive Director Michael Willard with a donation at SOE’s industry reception at the Austin Game Developers Conference.

“Teaming up with Sony Online Entertainment is a wonderful opportunity for Austin Habitat and the families we serve. The creativity and diligence that these professionals exhibit in their work are traits which translate well to our efforts to eradicate poverty housing in our community,” said Willard. “Austin needs creative solutions in our quest to create more affordable housing and diligent leadership in as we work toward those goals.”