news archive

Discord - A new place for us to chat

Posted by STR-MS on Monday, December 28 2015

Hey guys, if you haven't already seen on the forums or elsewhere, we now have our own Discord channel.

You may have heard of it already but if not; Discord is a free chat app designed specifically for gaming. It's very easy to use, doesn't require a guide to connect to or set up, supports both text & voice chat, multiple channels, embedding for videos, screenshots & links and you can connect to it quickly and easily via your browser, the desktop client (PC & Mac, with Linux to come) or even a free mobile app (for both iOS & Android) for use on the go too. It also supports a full chat log history, even for when you're not in there yourself. Joining the channel in the middle of a conversation? Just read up and see what was said before you logged in. Want to leave someone a message for when they next come online? Easy! Lots of other cool features to come as well.

If you fancy joining us on there, all you gotta do is click this link!

Happy Holidays!

Star Wars: Battlefront with STR

Posted by STR-MS on Tuesday, October 6 2015

As many of you will already be aware, this week finally sees the arrival of the Star Wars: Battlefront beta - One of this years most hotly anticipated games!

Beta will run from October 8th to 12th and is open to everybody, with the pre-load beginning on PC tomorrow morning at 9am UK time. Download size is reported to weigh in at around 11GB.

There will be 3 modes available to try during the beta:

- Walker Assault on Hoth: Fight in epic 40-player battles as a Rebel to destroy the Empire's onslaught of AT-AT's by calling in Y-wing bombers. Or, side with the Empire and protect your walkers while utilizing their mighty weaponry to crush the Rebel objective.

- Drop Zone on Sullust: Escape pods are crashing down and you and your team must fight to control them. With its frantic 8v8 matches, Drop Zone is sure to put your combat and strategy skills to the test.

- Survival Mission on Tatooine: Play alone or with a friend via co-op or split-screen as you battle to hold off waves of Imperial forces including AT-ST's, TIE fighters, elite stormtroopers and more.

There's a few of us here at STR who are planning to check this out so hope to see some of you in there, as well as meet some new faces too. We have just opened a brand new SW:BF section to the forums as well so feel free to make use of that in the coming days!

Happy gaming and have fun on the Battlefront!

2015 Arbiter Elections

Posted by STR-MS on Friday, September 25 2015

Just a quick post to let you all know that this years Arbiter elections have now begun. Please head on over to the members forum when you have a moment. Cheers!

STR Store Updated

Posted by STR-MS on Wednesday, July 15 2015

Just a quick note to say that several new designs have been added to the STR Store since it opened at the weekend. These new designs are available across a wide range of products from t-shirts to iPhone cases, mugs, bags, stickers and lots more. On top of these I've also spent the week designing a snazzy new STR poster!

Got any design ideas or suggestions? Spotted an issue with a current design? Let us know on the forums.

Final note: It would be lovely to see some pictures if any of you happen to buy anything from the store. Mock-ups aren't always a true representation of the final product so it would be great to see what they look like once printed and this will also help us identify any potential issues with text, gradients etc on existing designs.

Happy shopping and stay tuned for future stuff! ;)

STR Store

Posted by STR-MS on Saturday, July 11 2015

Seeing Messiah wearing one of his custom embroidered caps (which a few other members have as well) made me think of something we once had, many years ago. A store.

Now, this place doesn't sell caps but if you've ever fancied a t-shirt with the Shattered Star on it, a mug, journal or maybe even an iPhone case. We have you covered!

Keep checking back (and in the forum thread linked) as new designs & items may become available in the future too.

Without further ado, I bring you the STR Store!

Sony kills it at E3

Posted by STR-MS on Tuesday, June 16 2015

Well, what can I say? Ubisoft put on a great show themselves with a solid lineup of titles to look forward to, many of which came out of the blue and were a complete surprise to us all. Best conference of the day by far.

Not for long though!

Sony dropped the bombs shortly afterwards and delivered arguably the best E3 Conference we'll probably ever see. When they open with none other than THE LAST GUARDIAN, you know you're in for ride, and that we were. If they're opening with this, surely those other rumours can't be true as well, I asked myself? I had a good feeling about TLG this year and strongly believed it would show, but I fully expected it to be the show closer. Nope!

What was the next bomb to drop? How about the much requested remake of Final Fantasy VII? Oh hell yes! OMG. I still can't believe it now.

They didn't stop there though. Oh no. Pretty much straight after that they went into... Shenmue 3. Holy Crap. This is something I have waited half my life for right there. Words cannot describe...

On top of that we got a stunning gameplay demo of Uncharted 4, the beautiful reveal of Horizon and the list goes on. What an amazing, amazing show. Well done, Sony and thank you for listening to your fans! <3

Apologies if this post is a little all over the place btw. Still on a high right now :D

E3 2015

Posted by STR-MS on Thursday, June 11 2015

The biggest gaming event of the year is nearly upon us and is sure to be packed full of exciting live demos, reveal trailers and surprise announcements.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, The Division, Fallout 4, Mad Max, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Mirror's Edge 2, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Star Wars Battlefront, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End & XCOM 2 are just some of the many games confirmed to be there, and those are just the ones we know about.

What are you hoping to see at this years E3? Persona 5, perhaps? Maybe Quantic Dream's next game? If reports are to be believed we may even get to see The Last Guardian resurface too!

The main event actually starts next week but as far as conferences go, those begin THIS evening. Kicking off with the Oculus livestream tonight at 6pm BST (10am PDT / 1pm EDT) - Same time as the Steam Summer Sale is due to begin.

Following that we have Bethesda's conference on Sunday. Fallout 4 and DOOM are a given but I'm really hoping we get to see a reveal of Dishonored 2 as well. Fingers crossed!

Monday covers the usual main 4 - Sony, MS, Ubi & EA, whereas Tuesday we have Nintendo, Square Enix and the new PC Gaming Show.

Excited? I sure am! - For a full list of conference times and stream links please see my forum post here

Hope you enjoy the shows! ;)

The Steam Summer Sale starts tonight!

Posted by STR-MS on Thursday, June 11 2015

Just a quick reminder that the Steam Summer Sale is due to start tonight at around 6pm BST.

As always - wait for the dailies or buy on the last day of the sale if what you're looking for doesn't get one. They may go cheaper!

Personally, I'm not looking to buy very much this year but I'll probably keep an eye out for the Homeworld Remastered Collection, Kholat, Black Mesa and maybe Dying Light too depending on price. Then see what else catches my eye. - That is unless any of you have any specific recommendations? Drop them on the forum here if so, I'll be sure to give them a look too!

As for recommendations from me? If you don't already own these I'd consider picking them up during the sale if they get a good deal:

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Life is Strange

Grand Theft Auto V

Ori and the Blind Forest

Cities: Skylines

Grim Fandango Remastered

Invisible, Inc.

These are (imo) the best PC releases of 2015 so far. Every single one of those is worth buying so give them a look if they pop up. We have videos for a few of them on our YouTube channel too.

Here are a few older titles to look out for as well:

The Wolf Among Us

This War of Mine

Transistor

Happy shopping and god help our wallets!

STR Fantasy Premier League 2014/15 Concludes

Posted by Anubis on Thursday, May 28 2015

As the 2014/15 English Premier League season draws to a close, so too does the annual STR Fantasy Premier League season.

As usual, this year saw a vigorous and highly competitive battle for supremacy (ahem), and a highly typical outcome. Congratulations to our winner - the only man to hold the coveted STR FPL trophy in its six years of existence - Isileth. Said the man himself:

"I had a dream.

The sixth Fantasy Premier League trophy was mine!"

We'll be back in August to kickstart another vain attempt to deprive Isileth of silverware, as the new season gets underway - new participants always welcome!

It's all the same, only the names will change

Posted by STR-MS on Friday, April 10 2015

After a month of discussions and votes, this week has marked the change of something quite important to our group and a topic we have revisited a couple of times over the years - our name.

For many years we were known as the Shattered Star Confederation, or SSC for short. The points of our Shattered Star logo symbolizing each of the 5 ideals we were founded with and lived up to as a group and as individuals; Freedom, Equality, Honor, Integrity & Friendship. Back in 2004 however and due to indifferences within the group and some of its upper management, a group of us splintered off from the Confederation and founded our own community. Still identifying ourselves as Shattered Star members whilst keeping the ideals and trying for a more relaxed and fair way of running things, we became the Shattered Star eXiles. SSX.

Two years later in August of 2006 the Shattered Star Confederation, the group in which we originated from when we split off and became eXiles, closed its doors for good. Leaving us (the Shattered Star eXiles) as the only remaining group of the Shattered Star.

We have talked about our Exiles name a few times over the years as it is something we have all felt very differently about but after several discussions and votes, this week marks a move towards changing that. We remain the same group of friends flying under the Shattered Star banner like we have since '97 but from this point on we will no longer be identifying our community as the Exiles. We are and always have been The Shattered Star.