Fellow XvT World visitors and old friends,

It has been a while since XvT World has given any sign of activity, and also quite some time since I have even visited this place, but I thought I'd give you all a status report regarding this website.

Today, while checking my email, I noticed a lot of XvTW registrations. So I was like wow, either XvTW and the Star Wars Space Combat community is back in action, or we're getting a crap load of spam registrations. Unfortunately, it was as I suspected, and due to spam, our membership was up to 550 members.

So I sighed and proceeded with deleting all members with less than 1 post and installed an anti-spam feature. So we are back to 57 real members now.

To be honest, I had not visited XvTW in many months. I see that although there are basically no new posts or forum activity, this place still gets very high places in the search engines and we get a lot of traffic. Some of our articles and threads have over 3000 views which is pretty darn impressive.

Also, I believe my promotional video on YouTube for XWA hit 10,000 views also which is really awesome and it proves to me one thing. There are people out there that still love Star Wars space combat games a lot and that means that there should always be a place to unite and serve such people at all times. I believe that place can be XvT World.

So while I was at it, I checked my old XvT club, TRA, from which I was indirectly banned by having been banned from the mother organization that hosts the club. I see that they are still doing real crap and exist only as a signpost to point to the history and legacy left behind. It is really not their fault though, as they are trying to keep a flame burning in a...

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THis was posted on the Totally Games forum by WildstarRed2:

"Hello everyone, I am finally releasing the NJO Project's The Invasion Begins for anyone interested in the project. The mod includes the work of 34 voice actors playing 61 roles and features Richard Brookes, Amy Ferrell, Seth Marty, and Cass McPhee. Players can download the mod at http://www.njoproject.com along with standalone versions of the game's cutscenes, several behind-the-scenes documents and unimplemented voice work for the curious.

The final version of The Invasion Begins tells an in-depth story about Bryon Tomri, who finds himself entangled in the beginning months of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the Star Wars galaxy, and must choose between duty and his friends. The mod includes 5 missions, 19 skirmish missions that are based on the originally planned 16 missions for the mod, 5 cutscenes, a full voice cast, voiced briefings, new music, and new e-mail messages tailored specifically to the campaign.

The mod also supports multiplayer gaming between users who have The Invasion Begins installed, allowing players to take control of the coralskipper and Chiss claw fighter in head to head combat for the first time.

For more information about The Invasion Begins, visit http://www.njoproject.com"

Look spretty good, I may give it a go

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XvT World would like to feature a great 3D artist and modeler, FractalSponge. To see more of his unbelievable work, head to http://fractalsponge.net

For more images of his Imperial Star Destroyer, click here: http://fractalsponge.net/ISD/gallery/

His models truly rival with those produced by the pros in the Star War movies themselves, and XvT World is pleased to support FractalSponge.



The above picture really does not do this amazing model justice. Please visit the gallery on the FractalSponge's website to see the full size images and truly apreciate these masterpieces.

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"Jeez," I hear you all say, "Twigs is gonna write about this AGAIN?!"



Yes. Yes I am. Ok, so I post pretty much everywhere about FS, how pretty it is (it REALLY REALLY is!), how exciting, model details etc etc.... The fact of the matter is I am now a HUGE First Strike fan, for me this game has taken over from XvT as my most played game. So in order to convince you to take it up again I have decided to write a set piece on some of the changes, updates and plans for the game that LucasArts failed to come close to.

On it's original release last year, First Strike encountered many problems. Crashes were common, maps had to be removed from servers, players couldn't find each other...Despite most servers at the time being occupied, that level of activity quickly died down as people left due to the crashes. Yet within a few days the team had released version 1.1, available as both an update and a standalone install. This fixed the server crashes as well as some of the other more common problems.

Unfortunately, many of those who left in the first days never came back. Either losing confidence in the mod or simply failing to check for the update, the servers became quiet and abandoned. Lone players waited in Mos Entha hoping to find a battle that never came. A single Y-Wing could be seen drifting past the Star Destroyer in Escape from Hoth, the planetary ion cannons blasting the derelict hull, it's complement of Tie Fighters and Bombers hanging from their gantries.

 

Changes are underway though. Shots now ring out with increasing frequency across the sands of Tatooine. Those silent Tie Fighters suddenly spring to life, their ion engines howling out of the hangar exit to find that lone...

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...continued from Interview with Fate of the Galaxy Project Lead Chief1983 - Part II



Adalla: First Strike, a Star Wars mod for Battlefield 2142, is the closest thing we
currently have as a "XvT 2" and one of the first complaints from XvT veterans, is
that there is no energy management, one of the most successful aspects of the X-wing
series of games. It seems there is a big thirst for a realistic Star Wars space
simulator, otherwise we'd all be playing Rogue Squadron and would have stopped
playing XvT a long time ago. Will Fate of the Galaxy improve on XvT's "simulator-
like" characteristics and perhaps include even more sophisticated systems that make
gameplay even more challenging and realistic?

Chief983: The engine has a very similar system and we're still working out how to allocate it. We wanted a ship like the TIE Fighter to be forced to discharge in short bursts like you see the TIEs do in the movies, about 5 or 6 dual shots, and then a cool down and then firing again soon. That's one way we really want to differentiate ships. Their weapon systems are going to be very close to canon information.

Adalla: Quick question related to fire. What's the fire rate going to be like? As fast as the movies? Or as slow as XvT?

Chief1983: It's going to be in...

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...continued from Interview with Fate of the Galaxy Project Lead Chief1983 - Part I

Adalla: How will Fate of the Galaxy compare with say XvT or XWA as far as flight
dynamics and gameplay?

Chief1983: The way the tbl system is set up, you can achieve almost any feel you want just by editing the file. The engine has been shown to provide an amazing conversion to numerous universes, including Wing Commander, Babylon 5, BSG (Battlestar Galactica), and even Starfox. I'm confident the engine can create a believable Star Wars atmosphere. As far as differences, we definitely want to make it feel less like an arcade game, and a little more like a sim, as much as a fictional space game can anyway. To what extent we go for that is still to be determined, but I believe there's a very good balance between XvT and a realistic PC flight simulation, that will still be very enjoyable.


Adalla: Fate of the Galaxy seems to imply a game with an epic storyline. Will there be
single and multi-player campaigns? If so, can you tell us more about them, such as
what Star Wars period will the events unfold in?


Chief183: To tell you the truth, as far as the project title goes, it was already that when I took over (actually, it was Fate of Galaxy, but I thought that was stupid and changed the banner to have the word 'the' in it). And no one else has come up with a better title for it, so it looks like FotG is going to stick. My opinion on the subject was...

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Interview conducted on December 11th, 2007

X-wing vs. TIE Fighter World was founded with one primary intent and that was to bring those with a great passion and love for Star Wars space combat under one roof. Most of us still regularly play the legendary X-wing series PC games developped by Totally Games, namely X-wing vs. TIE Fighter (XvT) and X-wing Alliance (XWA), even ten years after the games were first published. In fact, some (such as the Rebel Squadrons (RS) gaming club) even play the mighty X-wing and TIE Fighter games, which are over 15 years old. This is a testament to two things. The first is the fact that the X-wing series have revolutionized the space sim industry and, to this day, many feel there has been no space combat game with a better gameplay. How many games can claim to have a following of dedicated fans playing them 15 years after their publishing? The answer is very few. The second fact is that Star Wars starfighter pilots are some of the most dedicated and passionate gamers in existance today. And yet, even after years of fun, excitement, camaraderie, and history making, today finding people who play Star Wars space combat games is becoming more and more difficult. Those who still regularly play the games online with other fellow pilots are facing an uphill battle that is draining us all. The Errant Venture, the replacement to the MSN Gaming Zone which has hosted literally thousands upon thousands of multi-player XvT and XWA events, is most often empty or with only a few of the warriors at the forefront of the battle for the survival of these games.

[img width=600...

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Albert Mack, the lead programmer at Totally Games was kind enough to give us some of his time to answer a few questions we sent his way. The rest of the article is merely the questions sent by XvT World and Albert's answers, we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did!

Al, I’d like to start by first thanking you and your team for taking the time to answer these questions, and for the interest and response you have given the X-Wing community on the company’s forums and at XvT World.

You have already given a brief history about yourself at XvT World and given a little background about the game development. As a young programmer already familiar with X-Wing and Tie Fighter, how excited were you at the prospect of creating the sequel XvT?

When I came in, they were just finishing TIE Fighter.  It was the week before gold, and I got to play it and experience the excitement surrounding its release.  I then worked on the expansion disk Defenders of the Empire and TIE Fighter CD.  So by the time XvT came around, I had already had some experience working on the Star Wars sims.  I was really excited to work on XvT as it would be TG’s first foray into multiplayer gaming, and I did a lot of the early research on online technologies.  It seemed like a natural fit for our space sims to take the next leap forward, and a perfect platform for Star Wars fans to live the dream of being a star fighter pilot.

DirectX became the universal language by which games could use the hardware on a computer, rather than each company having to write their own code for the various hardware that could be...

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A recent magazine article (featured in the UK's Micro Mart, a computer enthusiast magazine) looked at the rise in console game development and the fall in PC game development. At one point in the article, the writer talks about his recent visit to the Star Wars Celebration convention held in London. Lucasarts were there demonstrating Force Unleashed which is set to be released on the PS2, PS3, PSp and Xbox 360.

During a question and answer session the team were asked if the game would be released for the nintendo Wii, they said they would see how that goes, they also gave the same response when asked if it would be released for PC.

The writer of the article asked the demonstration staff about the PC release later in the press room. The answer given was "unlikely as the PC dosen't really offer the right platform and it would be difficult to convert across." Further conversation revealed other admissions regarding the attitude towards the PC market, apparantly the PC market is not the right one for this game. An admission was also given that LA was cutting down the number of games developed for the market as there is more money to be made developing for consoles.

Why is this of interest to us here at XvT World? Well, Force Unleashed is one game that many have been looking forward to, no doubt those that were hoping to play the game on PC will feel left out. It also (at least to my mind) shows that Lucasarts have indeed forgotten their fan base, concentrating only on making more money.

PC gamers have long felt cheated by many companies, with games being developed for consoles and then badly ported over to the PC. Dedicated gamers will always argue that while consoles are fun, the PC is without doubt the best platform for games. A control pad cannot compare to the control and finnesse a mouse and keyboard can give. The options opened up by the variety of buttons available gives us more choice in our...

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It is official, First Strike, the Star Wars Mod for Battlefield 2142 will be released Friday September 28th.

For more information visite the official First Strike website http://www.firststrikemod.com

It will be an exciting day for Star Wars pilots and one XvT World awaits with great anticipation.

Those who try it it, be sure to post your review of the mod here.

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The 20th September see's the start of a very special event being hosted at Battlestats.com, the site used to record statistics by those pilots that fly XvT and XWA for various clubs. It will be hosting the 10 year anniversary event for TFA, Tie Fighter Alliance. What is so special about this anniversary? Is it to celebrate a club that has played XvT for ten years, as well as adding XWA on it's release, or is there something more about this club? Let's take a brief look at the history and see why this event should be supported by all those clubs still playing XvT.

Tie Fighter Alliance is one of the oldest active clubs playing XvT and XWA, as already demonstrated by supporting the games for ten years! Yet it also must be credited with so much more. Without TFA we would have no DarkJedi.org, which supports TRA as well as other clubs for many more games. It must also be credited as being responsible for Battlestats.com. a site that without which, I truly believe would have allowed XvT and XWA to fade away many years ago.

Back in 1997, David Carter (aka DC_Hero) got a copy of XVT and began playing online at the MSN Gaming Zone, there he met Shawn (Nemesis_X). Nemesis had decided to create a club on a website he had, which he would call TFA and David offered to help with the design and creation of the pages. So began the creation and birth of the Tie Fighter Alliance.

Because of the long URL required for a site hosted address, Shawn and David decided to purchase a web-address, this became Dark-Jedi.org, and would serve as the admin and support area of TFA, as well as other future gaming clubs/divisions. Already they had foreseen the need for DJO to remain seperate and yet part of the gaming clubs that would be hosted there. At this time, TFA was still a fairly small club by the day's standard, yet now had found...

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Greetings fellow XvT World visitors. The XvT World News Team is happy to present another Star Wars space sim mod that we have recently discovered. I hope you are as excited about us about these various mods.

One is an X-wing Alliance mod and here is the official description: a patch for Xwing Alliance with about 200 missions and several new 3D models. Live the saga, episode 1 to 6 !

And the other is a Starshatter mod and here is the official description: a complete mod for the fabulous space game Starshatter. Incredible graphics, number of crafts. Fight on space, fight on planet, travel trought the galaxy and command your fleet.


Links:
Official Website for both mods
Star Wars Destiny FAQ
Star Ward Destiny Progress Summary
Star Wars Destiny detailed progress
Starshatter Official Website

XvT World Selected Star Wars Destiny Screenshots:

The X-wing

The A-wing

"Predator" Class Star Destroyer

TIE Cockpit

More Screenshot links:
Another shot of the Predator
B-wing
TIE Interceptor

XWAVI Selected Screenshots:
Jedi Interceptor
[img width=800...

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Fate of the Galaxy team members are working like true Star Wars fans on the Freespace 2 mod. I would like to feature two of their modelers today. Turambar, responsible for the X-wing model you see in the below image. And Brand-X, responsible for the Imperial I-Class,  Imperial II-Class and Interdictor Class Star Destroyers you see below.

For more latest modeling updates, check out the FotG forums hosted by Hard Light Productions here and visit their website here.

Enjoy these two renders

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For those who are not familiar with X-wing vs TIE Fighter and X-wing Alliance online multi-player competition history, here is a little background before I talk about XWA WoW 100.

When XvT came out, Microsoft's Gaming Zone supported XvT and was the place where Star Wars pilots met up online to test their skills in an X-wing or TIE Fighter against other human players. From hearing veterans of the game talk about those days when the Zone still supported XvT, it seems that it was the Golden Age of online gaming for Star Wars pilots. There were thousands of players, hundreds of clubs and dozens of open game rooms at any given point.

However, sadly, the Zone decided to stop supporting XvT and this was the start of the end for XvT multi-player gaming and the online community that had developped for it. As the Zone closed, and people were back to having to resort to exchanging IP addresses and finding each other through instant messenging program, most people left the clubs and stopped playing XvT online. Eventually, two new venues were created to replace the Zone as a place to meet for games. IRC and the Errant Venture client. IRC as most know is basically the home of millions of chat rooms which you can join and create. Some of the XvT/XWA community went in this direction. At DJO however, one outstanding TRA member by the name of Stresser, created a program that would essentially replace the MS Gaming Zone for XvT and XWA. This program would function as a chat as well as automatically launch people into the game.

So EV became the primary location for XvT and XWA multiplayer action. And a website called battlestats.com became the primary location where all the events would be hosted and statistics would be tracked. This Battlestats and EV combo has been used by thousands of XvT and XWA players from hundreds of clubs in thousands of events over the past decade.

As many types of events had been created over the years,...

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