MODS: AT-AT Walker CPU

The modding community never ceases to amaze us.  Here is yet another example of the ingenuity of the community as a whole. The following set of images after the break depict a CPU tower made to look like an AT-AT walker from The Empire Strikes Back. This particular piece was created by Asphiax, who called it the Imperial Walker PC. It’s based on a giant Hasbro AT-ATs as the starting point, but carries something other than imperial soldiers. The AT-AT PC has a Zotax Z68 Mini ITX mobo inside with an Intel Core i7-2600K CPU, a Sapphire 6870 GPU and 8GB of RAM. Aaaaw, yeah, PC Master Race. Also, the lasers on the head light up. The computer has a Koolance 370 CPU cooler and mosfet waterblocks along with a Heatkiller NB/SB waterblock, and XSPC pump 2 x 240 radiators, 4 x 120mm Enermax Fans, and controlled by a Scythe Mediabay. Needless to say, this is extremely cool.  Hop over after the break for more images.

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A look back at Star Wars: Empire at War

When I was a kid I was a huge Star Wars nerd. I always thought about being able to control armies of Imperial troops, flying rebel ships into combat against Imperial Star Destroyers, and guiding AT-AT's through Degobah as Darth Vader fights Han Solo and Chewbacca. All of the following situations came to reality one day when I decided to pick up 'Star Wars: Empire at War' at the local discount bin. Four years later and the game has reappeared on Steam and in the top 30 of the Mac App Store games. Seeing this, I decided to download it on my Mac (more specifically because I wanted to see how it ran on my MacBook Pro) and I was amazed at what I saw.

The game has been ported to the Mac at amazing quality. Not a single element it seems has been lost since the original game, and it appears to be running insanely smooth at maxed-out settings. The game is the perfect mix between space-ship combat, squad-based combat, and individual control and micro management. One of my favorite features in this game has to be the cinematic mode. This makes the game extremely more fun to look at, as if you yourself were in the movies at times. Space combat is a dream to play around with. Fighters come in small squads ranging from 3 - 5 ships and the big cruisers and starships usually have a dock that spawns fighters even if they are destroyed. Almost every ship and squadron has a special ability that can give it the edge in dog fights and while broad siding other ships (Which by the way is one of the coolest things ever, especially when parts of the ships are being blown off the sides.)

Space stations are also a huge part of space combat. You build these from the Galaxy screen in-between battles, A level five space station alone can defend an entire planet against a massive assault with the on-station cannons and the fighters and ships that are produced (for free!) from the dock. While there is so much to say about this great game, It would take me hours and several pages to talk about it all. Honestly, If you have never played this game go pick it up now on either Steam or the Mac App Store.

The Bark Side Volkswagon Ad

Here is a commercial teaser from Volkswagen for their 2012 Super Bowl spot. The full commercial will air during the Super Bowl on February 5. I may just be a little more interested in the Super Bowl this year because I have to see the full commercial now after watching this awesomeness. Continue after break to watch.

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Movie Sword Master Bob Anderson Passed Away At 89

The new year has kicked off with some somber news as the world has lost a talented swordsman. Olympic fencer Bob Anderson passed away this week at the age of 89. While you may not recognize his name right away, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with his work, especially if you’ve seen the original Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings trilogy or Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl .

Entertainment Weekly posted the unfortunate news, listing the British Academy of Fencing as the source, stating that Anderson died on New Year’s Day at a hospital in England. The English fencer’s achievements not only include representing Great Britain in the 1952 Olympics, but going on to lend his expertise to the movie industry by staging some extremely memorable sword-fighting scenes, including Star Wars, The Princess Bride and the 1993 version of The Three Musketeers. And among the slightly less adventurous films on his list of credits, he's also credited as a “fencing consultant” for The Parent Trap (1998), which, you may recall, had two young Lindsay Lohans dueling at summer camp just before discovering they were facing off against their twin.

EW says Anderson went on to become one of the movie industry’s “most sought after sword masters,” and given his list of credits, it’s not difficult to believe that. The site also mentions a 1983 interview with Star Wars’ Mark Hamill, which reveals that Bob Anderson actually did Vader’s fighting in (two of the three) original Star Wars films.  

It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told (director) George (Lucas) I didn't think it was fair any more, Hamill told Starlog magazine. Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It's ridiculous to preserve the myth that it's all done by one man.

For some of Mr. Anderson's works, follow after the break.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic Levels 1-25 Review

Well after almost 48 hours, multiple trips to Sombrero’s Mexican Food 24-hour drive thru, and twenty-five levels, I am ready to rundown my full synopsis of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic Review is on its way!

I have currently finished the full install and patch of the game and will spend the next 12-15 hours doing nothing but leveling in a galaxy far, far away. After such time, I will write my FULL length review of BioWare and EA's latest lovechild, Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Stay tuned!! 

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Beta test weekend 11/25

Recently every single account that had signed up for a chance to test TOR before 11/11/11 was sent an email confirming their place in an upcoming test. What BioWare didn't do, was tell the millions of fans when they would be able to test their up-and-coming MMORPG set in the Star Wars Universe. Minutes ago a tweet revealed that the biggest beta weekend in SWTOR history will take place during the weekend of November 25, if you have yet to sign up for the beta, codes are still available! get your code if you didn't recieve a beta test email from BioWare. Will you play Sith or Republic? Let us know in the comments, as well as how you like the TOR beta experience.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Collector's Edition Unboxing

If you have the cash, check out what you'll be getting in the Collector's Edition of EA and Bioware's The Old Republic... if you dont, at least they were nice enough to show us.

R2-D2 Pumpkin

'Tis the season to be carving. I thought this was great, so I wanted to post it.  If you find anying carvings that you think are amazing, feel free to send them our way and we will try to get them up.

Star Wars The Old Republic Gets a Global Release Date!

Finally, after waiting for what seems like a millenia, the MMO we have been anticipating for most of all, has a release date. Today, a cavalcade of developers from BioWare took the New York Comic-Con stage to talk about the MMO. They also announced that the December 20, 2011 is the release date for the entire world and not just North America.

Star Wars The Old Republic Sign Of War Trailer

Darth Maul: The Return

Heeee'sssss BBBBBAackk! The forever infamous, apprentice to Darth Sideous, Pre-Vader, double-lightsaber wielding, pure-blood Sith, Darth Maul is appearing in: "The Clone Wars" cartoon series on Cartoon Network. How? Why? Stay posted to The Geek Domain to find out!

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in Theaters, 3D

It was inevitable. The movie poster for Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace in 3d has been unleashed upon the world. The movie will be re-released in theaters February 10, 2012.

Who's missing from this poster though? Oh yes, just about every single important character in the Movie.

New York Comic-Con; Panel Line-Up for Friday

The panel line-up for Friday, October 14th has a lot of interesting things that caught the eye of us here at The Geek Domain. The Kingdoms of Amular; Reckoning is having a panel where Andrew Auseon, Ian Frazier, R.A. Salvatore and Steve Danuser will be talking about how they brought New York Times best selling author R.A. Salvatore's world into a video game. At 5:15 pm to 6:00 pm Seth Green along with the other staff members from the hit Adult Swim television show Robot Chicken will be talking about season 5.5, premiering on October 23rd on Cartoon Network. Star Wars: The Old Republic will be hosting their own panel with little to no information given yet, all that can be said is it will be taking place from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm. Another 5:15 to 6:15 Panel; Street Fighter X Tekken where legendary Street Fighter producer, Yoshinori Ono will be hosting a Q&A session and a competition. Along with FUNimation, the deciphering of the hit Anime show Evangelion, DC talent search, Jagex, Batman: Arkham City, Venture Bros and many more, Friday's line-up is looking fantastic.

Yoshinori Ono is claiming Friday to be Street Fighter day, so don your Ryu outfit and enjoy the New York Comic-Con 2011!

Click right here for further details.

Dark Horse announces several new Star Wars comics, including one book that promises "Boba Fett is Dead."

2012 is shaping up to be a big year for the Star Wars franchise. Bioware's Star Wars: The Old Republic will finally be released just days before the new year. The 3D re-release of Episode I will hit theaters in February. And from what Dark Horse showed at the NYCC Retailer's Breakfast this morning, they've got some big plans in store for 2012 as well.

Dark Horse announced a number of new Star Wars comics, both ongoing and mini-series. One of the more significant was Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi. This series flashes back to the very beginnings of the Jedi Order, even earlier than the Tales of the Jedi comics of the early '90s. In these primitive days, the Jedi fight with swords rather than lightsabers.

Another significant announcement involved the er-popular Boba Fett. Writer Tom Taylor and artist Chris Scalf will be reuniting for a sequel to their Star Wars: Blood Ties mini-series. The original explored a shared conflict between Fett and his father Jango. We don't know much about the plot of the sequel, but Dark Horse did offer the ominous tagline, "Boba Fett is dead."

Bioware: Here's a Beta Key.......Not

Thursday night, 9/29/11 thousands of people received emails from BioWare regarding the Beta experience for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Two emails were sent, one thanking the participant for their testing and prompting them to take a survey comparing their testing to other beta tests in the past. The other prompting the user to pre-order the game to continue their experiences once the game goes live. It is important to realise that the emails were sent to addresses that WERE NOT invited to the beta. Those teases. It took BioWare 2 hours to respond, with the SWTOR website being down for most of those 2 hours. Nice PR, this might overshadow the release date announced last week!

The Old Republic: The Eternity Vault, First Look

The Old Republic has just released some end-game raid footage for, “The Eternity Vault”. Check out the video:

 We get to see some extended boss fights and engagements within the new Raid system. The game looks good, but is it the WoW killer people have been waiting for? Only time will tell. Pre-orders are available now at most major retailers.

Some things I like:

-Healer UI

-boss mechanics

-polished cut scenes before engagement

Some things I don’t like:

-blaster fire sounds annoying and with multiple troopers/agents I may have to turn the sound off

-graphics seem a little unpolished in some areas (could be beta, or the video editing)

What do you think? Leave comments below.

The Old Republic Pre-Order is live

Pre-Order of The Old Republic is open! You get early access into the game, as well as a "color stone" with purchase of Standard Edition. A Collector's Edition, Digital Deluxe edition, and Standard Edition are available for purchase, and by the sound of it, each copy of pre-order TOR comes with a que number for early game access, I am not sure if that is Beta invites or a chance to play a few days before launch. This "color stone" does exactly what it sounds like it does, change the color of your lightsaber/blaster bolts depending on your class. Keep posted for more info!

Link to pre-order!

The year of the Video Game

2011 will be looked upon as a gleaming gem amongst the rubble, some may liken it to the greatest year in video gaming history, 1998. 1998 was the pinnacle of video gaming, history making titles were announced during E3; Conker's Bad Fur Day, Mario 64, Metal Gear Solid, and of course, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and many more. I remember it fondly when "open world" meant an open world, when Peter Moluneux's promises of "bad assery" weren't just hollow gimmicks that reminded us how much better the first Fable was. I remember a time when I would go to school and rant and rave about Seyda Neen, and the city Vivec, that juts from the sea in The Elder Scrolls III, instead of the bland wasteland of Fallout 3(Not saying it was a bad game, just not pretty to look at) However, 2011 gives me hope! It raises my sullen brow from a desk filled with dust covered retro games, to an exciting future of sword slicing, building destroying, zombie killing, dragon fighting, and wall climbing epicness that all the purple font in the world can't emphasize. We here at The Geek Domain want you to be ready for all the up and coming video games of 2011, so, without further adieu...

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New CAD Comic: 'Exclusive'

Tim Buckley is at it again.  A look into the past to what we were all thinking about the future.  This is funny stuff people.  Click the image to read on.