BSG Online Press Release

Press Release:

Battlestar Galactica Online Jumps past Five Million Players; Humans and Cylons Steeped in Competition for Control of the Veil Sector

Bigpoint Celebrates Milestone and Recent European Game Award with Introduction of New Recon Ships

San Francisco – Sept., 7, 2011 – Bigpoint (www.bigpoint.com) – a worldwide leader in online games – today announced that Battlestar Galactica Online (http://battlestar-galactica.bigpoint.com/) has surpassed five million registered players worldwide since its February launch. Based on the internationally popular Syfy television series produced by Universal Cable Productions, Battlestar Galactica Online is a free-to-play, browser-based space combat MMO that combines high-quality graphics with intense gameplay. The Unity-based title recently won ‘Best Browser Game’ at the 2011 European Games Awards. Battlestar Galactica Online is licensed through Universal Partnerships & Licensing on behalf of NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products Group.

“As BSGO continues to evolve, we’re excited to offer new content to the fans and growing community,” said Sarah Levantine, Producer, Bigpoint. “We listen very closely to what the players ask for and are happy to announce that more features and items, including a number of new ships, are on the way.”

Since its launch, Bigpoint has added a number of new ships and game modes to the title. To bolster the available fleet, a new line of Fleet Recon ships will soon become available for both Colonial and Cylon players. Armed with the ability to “Jump-To-Target” in proximity of an erupting battle, these light freighters are built to aid in combat as Recon versions of the series’ classic Raptor and Heavy Raider. Bigpoint maintains a multi-tiered development schedule, which organizes the team’s activity into three key areas: ongoing optimization and bug repair, short-term updates, and long-term content additions.

Beginning mid-September, basic models of both vessels will be obtainable with Cubits, BSGO’s in-game premium currency that can be earned through gameplay or purchased with real money, along with advanced models that will enable greater mission flexibility. The recently unveiled Brimir Class Carrier is also scheduled to become available this fall, though its size, complexity, and impact on game balance must be optimized before its general release.

In the recent European Games Awards ceremony held in Cologne, Battlestar Galactica Online was presented the award for Best European Browser Game, Europe’s largest and most prestigious consumer-voted gaming award. Bigpoint’s vast international distribution network of over 1,000 media partners, localization in 25+ languages, and team of worldwide community managers has helped Battlestar Galactica Online attract over five million users to the game, with over 25,000 new pilots enlisting every day.

About Bigpoint
Bigpoint (http://www.bigpoint.com) is an online-game developer, publisher and content provider for more than 1000 global distribution partners. Bigpoint’s free-to-play games are played by over 200 million registered users in over 25 languages. The company‘s portfolio includes casual, core, and hardcore titles, including Battlestar Galactica Online, The Mummy Online, and Drakensang Online. Over 800 employees from more than 35 countries work together at Bigpoint offices in Hamburg, Berlin, San Francisco, São Paulo, and Malta. For more information please visit www.bigpoint.net.

About NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products Group
NBCUniversal is a leader in providing entertainment programming to the domestic and international marketplaces. NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products Group manages all global ancillary television business endeavors for the NBCUniversal Television Group, including third-party home entertainment distribution, consumer products, musical soundtracks, special markets projects and the NBCUniversal Online Store.

About Universal Cable Productions
Universal Cable Productions creates quality content across multiple media platforms, including USA, Syfy and other networks. A leader in innovative and critically acclaimed programming, UCP is the studio behind USA's "Covert Affairs," "Suits," “Royal Pains,” "Psych," "In Plain Sight," "Fairly Legal" and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” along with Syfy's "Warehouse 13," "Alphas" and “Eureka." The studio is also producing "Against the Wall" for Lifetime and "I Just Want My Pants Back" for MTV. UCP is a division of NBCUniversal.

About Syfy
Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in more than 99 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)

An Exquisite Piece of Art

Quantum Mechanix Viper.

(On another topic check out Qmx's Big Damn Replica.)

And Anovos will soon offer up their replicas of the Commander's Duty Blues. They have all the good stuff: patches, double tanks, and insignia pins.

Swag

Television blogger Michael Ausiello is having an Ebay auction for charity of numerous swag items that are given out to members of the media. The collection includes items from many shows including Battlestar Galactica. Among the items, a framed and numbered rare print of The BSG Last Supper:

Place a bid for the chance to own this rare promotional art collectible from the fraktastic Syfy smash BATTLESTAR GALACTICA — and support one of my favorite charities in the process!

In celebration of the beginning of the fourth season of BSG in April 2008, Syfy had the cast pose for this dramatic “Last Supper” recreation (first seen by the general public in Entertainment Weekly’s January 11, 2008 issue).

Lucky TV journalists like myself were gifted with this rare collectible art print. This limited edition piece is framed and double-layer matted. For more details on this incredible BSG momento click here.

The frame measures 16 by 20 inches, and the art within the matte is 13.5 by 9 inches.

This piece is numbered 886 out of 1850.

Also check out these promotional screener DVD packages from season 1 and season 3.

And attention Browncoats, check out this awesome unopened press kit Firefly cargo crate.

The auction ends soon, so hurry.

In other cool merchandise news, Intrada records has something awesome:

World premiere release of complete Stu Phillips soundtrack from 3-hour pilot episode of costly, spectacular Universal sci-fi series starring Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch. Complete 1/2" multi-track stereo session masters survive in perfect condition in vaults at NBC Universal, including all format music (main titles, bumpers). This first volume in ambitious CD series focuses on entire pilot score, includes both original opening sequence plus post-production edited version as well as composer's lively disco source cues heard during Carillon sequence, also presented in stereo. ("Love, Love, Love" vocal was not written by Phillips and was recorded elsewhere. It is not included here due to contractual reasons.) Phillip's prepared a 40-minute LP in 1978 using meld of soundtrack performances by full Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, made at 20th Century-Fox Studios Scoring Stage, plus re-recorded cues by same players at later sessions.) Intrada CD presents every cue from LAPO recording sessions, premieres wealth of previously unreleased stereo music. For some episodes of single-season show, Universal commissioned new scores, recorded at Universal Scoring Stage with orchestras ranging from roughly 20-40 players, while other episodes simply tracked existing material. Multi-track stereo session masters were retained for many newly-scored episodes with other episodes stored in pristine condition on 1/4" mono formats only. Future volumes of this exciting Intrada series will cover remaining episodes from stereo session elements when they were made plus mono session masters when those were the only recordings prepared. (TV series, of course, was produced and broadcast only in mono back in 1978-79.) Stu Phillips supervised new digital mixes at Universal and editing sessions at Intrada, producing this definitive CD presentation of his landmark and justifiably famous score. Stu Phillips conducts Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. First volume in series, released as part of Intrada Special Collection and limited to 3000 copies!

Order the 76 minute CD and listen to clips here.

I have the original soundtrack release of that album that came out in 1978 on vinyl, so an upgrade might be order. And thank the gods of Kobol that "Love, Love, Love" isn't on this new special edition.

Last Minute Stocking Stuffers

The Complete Battlestar Galactica on Blu-ray.


The Science of Battlestar Galactica by Patrick Di Justo and Kevin Grazier, BSG's Science Consultant.


Bear McCreary's score for Human Target.

And check out this special Christmas Holidays presentation from Bear.

BSG Uniform Pins from Anovos

The time period to order wave one and wave two of BSG insignia pins from Anovos ends in 2 weeks. So, if you're planning on putting together a great BSG costume, act soon.

Anavos has other BSG, and Star Trek TOS and XI items in the works, so check out their site for more.

Caprica DVD Season 1.0

Univesal Studios announced recently that Caprica season 1.0 is coming out on DVD on October 5th 2010.

Galacticize your Mac

Etsy vendor CraftyGalDecals is selling this great Macbook laptop decal for a mere $8.99. And not just in black... Hard to choose though. She's got so many great designs in her shop. Hat tip to jeebs83 for finding this.

Haiti Charity Auction Part #3: the Frakkin' Toaster

Maureen Ryan's Haiti Charity Auction continues to add new TV promo items -- this week another great BSG piece: The Frakkin' Toaster.



Bidding is open until February 16.


Mo tells us there will be one or two more BSG items coming up soon as well!

Haiti Relief Charity Auction

Friend of Sitrep Maureen Ryan is running an Ebay auction to raise money for Haitian earthquake relief, and has put up for sale a ton of great BSG materials that she has collected during her years as tireless TV journalist.

There are a bunch of BSG-related items (here, here and here) -- but the grand prize for our fandom is definitely this Season Two DVD set signed by Ronald D. Moore, David Eick, Mary McDonnell, Edward James Olmos and Jamie Bamber.

Auction to help Haiti

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune is auctioning off items of TV-related swag that she's accumulated over the years in order to raise money for Haiti relief.

So you can get your hands on items promoting Battlestar Galactica, Lost, 24, Chuck, Damages, Deadwood, Torchwood, Life on Mars, and tons of others. And you can help the people of Haiti recover at the same time. So, check it out.

Visit here to find out all the details.

The BSG roller coaster at Universal Studios Singapore

Pretty frakkin' clever. Field trip anyone?

(Hat tip to Jeebs83.)

The Plan Airs Sunday

SyFy airs The Plan Sunday the 10th, so if you haven't seen it on DVD yet, check it out.

An excellent review of The Plan by Ben Scarlato for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. And Nicole Anell provides an entertaining view of the film on Live Journal.

Imagine if The Plan had Dollhouse style credits:


And when you visit SyFy's site, and you are an iPhone or iPod touch user, be sure to download the free Cylon Bobble app.

Great deal at Amazon

Gift-giving time may be over, but this is quite a deal: Amazon is selling BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE COMPLETE SERIES DVD box set today for 50% off at $140...

Last Minute X-mas shopping for BSG fans

Here's the perfect stocking stuffer or last minute gift under the tree for any BSG fan: Titan Books Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion for season four by Sharon Gosling with an introduction by Edward James Olmos. The book is full of new information and provides a real deep insight into the making of the final season of BSG.

And Battlestar Galactica: Downloaded by David Bassom

Battlestar Galactica: Downloaded
(Inside the Universe of the Critically Acclaimed TV Show)
Experience Battlestar Galactica: Downloaded, Titan Book’s full-color companion, unearthing all the crucial details of Season 1 and 2. Filled with interviews from the cast and crew, stunning photos and an in-depth episode guide, this is the ultimate way to experience the show.

In Downloaded you will discover:
Guides to your favorite characters, from Bill Adama to Gaius Baltar, with commentary from the actors themselves!
An in-depth look at the 3-hour miniseries which started it all!
Behind-the-scenes secrets about the costumes, production design and Bear McCreary’s unforgettable musical score!
Get the inside scoop on some of the most seminal episodes in Battlestar history including ‘33’ and ‘Downloaded’

All of Titan's BSG books are created at a high level of professional quality and are designed for the fans who want to learn more about the epic series.

Go Team Edward

Following up on the post below, you can now order your official Edward t-shirt from HijiNKS Ensue.

I think I know what I'm getting myself for Christmas.

Digital Bits review of BSG: THE COMPLETE SERIES

Since this box set (and the BSG Season 4.5 box) are coming out Tuesday July 28th, there will be tons of reviews out there.

But I don't think anyone will give us TrueFans a better rundown of the extras and features of BSG: THE COMPLETE SERIES than Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits. This guy is just a big a fan as we are, and he knows exactly which fan extras we have been fed over the years, and which ones did and didn't make the cut for this huge box.

Bill is reviewing the Bluray, not the DVD, but much of what he says also can be applied to the DVD release. According to the press release earlier this summer, the Bluray is 4077 hours of content and the DVD is 4066 hours total.

A few quotes from Bill's review -

All the series' episodes, the Miniseries and the Razor 2-hour film are included on 20 BD-50 discs, along with over 70 hours with of bonus content. Note that virtually all of the extras from the previous DVDs are in standard 480p here, as they were before (generally presented in 16x9 widescreen). A few of the new featurettes (mostly on Season Four) are in full 1080p. It appears that the first disc of each season starts with the same, newly-shot HD video introduction by Ron Moore himself. He welcomes you to the set, and tells you why he thinks high-def is the way to really fully experience the series. In terms of the special features, most (but not quite all) of the previous DVD extras have carried over here, and there's new material as well. I'll note what's missing and what's new for Blu-ray as we go...

...Unfortunately, the 10-part Face of the Enemy webisode series is missing here for some unknown reason (possibly disc space). We've checked with Universal and the studio IS aware that people want it, so we're told that it will be made available on disc at some point in the future. We'll keep you up to date on this. Sadly, also missing is The Making of Battlestar Galactica: Razor featurette that was available exclusively on a Best Buy DVD bonus disc - that's a real shame because it's pretty great. So if you have that bonus disc, don't get rid of it.

A few other items are missing from the box set as a whole, though they were never available on DVD, including additional Sci-Fi.com blogs and some of the exclusive writer's room and "frak party" podcast commentaries. Also not here are most of the "recap" TV specials (Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far, Battlestar Galactica: Revisited and Battlestar Galactica: The Phenomenon) and the two finale specials (Battlestar Galactica: The Top 10 Things You Need to Know and Battlestar Galactica: The Last Frakkin' Special). That's a bummer - especially The Last Frakkin' Special, which included a lot of great behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew on the end of the series. It would be great if Universal gathered all those specials up (including the two Lowdown specials that launched the series) along with The Face of the Enemy webisodes and released them on bonus disc of some sort (mail-in perhaps, or a BD-Live online reward?) to accompany this box set. Yeah, I know... unlikely. But still a good idea. A featurette on the show's special effects work (and team) would have been cool too, but what are you going to do? I do have to give the studio a LOT of credit for the new bonus content included for Blu-ray - ESPECIALLY the new deleted scenes and extended episodes. Even if you've seen the entire series as broadcast, the three extended episodes from Season Four essentially include more than an hour of new Battlestar that you haven't seen yet. That's a real treat - like rollin' the hard six!

...Among the new featurettes on Season Four, there are few standouts. The Journey Ends: The Arrival is a retrospective look back at the finale and the series as a whole, featuring the interview comments of many of the show's cast and crew. Evolution of a Cue and The Musicians Behind Daybreak cover the work of composer Bear McCreary - the latter is a very nice glimpse at the recording of the finale score with a full orchestra. The 5-part A Look Back covers a number of interesting aspects of the series, including Moore's original show "manifesto" (that convinced Olmos to join the cast), Richard Hatch's perspective on having been involved with BOTH Battlestar series, and the stylistic contributions of director Michael Rymer among other things. And for those of you eagerly awaiting the DVD and Blu-ray release of Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, which will complete the series later this year (and will be broadcast on the newly rebranded SyFy in November), the ...And They Have a Plan featurette gives you a nice little taste of it.

...One other packaging note: Accessible via a clear plastic lid inset into the top of the case, is an empty space containing a toaster! Well... a replica Cylon Centurion figure at any rate - a nice touch. The figure itself is very nicely detailed and highly articulated too. Personally, I'm thinking about taking the figure out and setting him on my office shelf, then using the empty space to store other discs - the series' soundtrack CDs (from La La Land Records), those bonus DVDs I need to keep, and even DVD-R recordings of the missing content in paper sleeves. (What, like I wasn't going to record that stuff, knowing that it probably wouldn't be on the DVD/BD?! Yes... I am THAT much of a fan.)

So say we all, Bill!


READ IN FULL OVER AT DIGITAL BITS

May The Toast Be With You, Frakkers

As we round the corner into the last few weeks before this year's San Diego Comic Con (which I will be covering on Twitter and at FanGrrl Magnet if you are interested), Wired announced something hilarious. Apparently the STAR WARS folks figured out a great new merch item for SDCC this year... and it looks vaguely familiar...



Says Wired:
It’ll be a surprise to precisely no one that Lucasfilm leads the vanguard of Comic-Con must-have gimmicks and gadgets. The marketing machine that put the action in action figures will introduce the Star Wars toaster at this year’s convention. The device turns every piece of toast over to the dark side — burning an image of everyone’s favorite Dark Lord of the Sith onto your Wonder-bread. Where else will you get a chance to smudge jam into Darth Vader’s grill?

Umm...the vanguard? LOL. Well, you know what they say about plagiarism, don't you. ;-)

Meanwhile, SciFi SyFy and NBC have announced that there are six special SDCC 09 swag items going on sale at the NBCU store, including a yet-to-be-announced CAPRICA item, this hilarious OFFICE Schrute Farms watch, a great CHUCK polo shirt...and a new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Frakkin Toaster with LED. See the demo vid below:

Keep an eye on NBCU's store blog and twitter feed for news of the SDCC item sale which begins soon.

Little Red Box

One of the Robot Chicken guys twitters via @cyborgturkey. I'm not sure which one he is though our reader Scott thinks it's Seth Green. But today was this tweet and twitpic:

"Just spent 10 min trying to open BSG Emmy screener. Then realized instructions were included."

Wow, cool box right?! When asked what was written on the sides of the box, he said "various reviews from different media outlets"...

Also today was this other tweet: "Ron Moore also stopped by studio today. Was gonna do commentary with @officialtila but she ran late. Moore/Tila combo...the mind boggles!"


ETA: Here's another, better photo from @ashmiNYC:

Auction Reports

Reports indicate that the BSG props auction was a great event. Check out photos from the events here and here.

Michael Trucco and Kate Vernon attended the event and spoke about working on The Plan.

See also, the Battlestar Blog.

Go to the Auction

The second Battlestar Props and Costume Auction begins on May 8th through the 10th, but Thursday the 7th is preview day, along with several panels. Bear McCreary previews his panel event on his blog. Also scheduled to appear on the 5 p.m. actors panel are: Grace Park, Michael Trucco, Kate Vernon and Luciana Carro. Bear will be a part of the 6:00 p.m. Production Executive Panel:

* Daniel Colman - Emmy-nominated and MPSE Award-winning Sound Designer will demonstrate the impact of sound on the BSG experience.
* Harvey Frand - Producer
* Gary Hutzel - Emmy and VES Award-winning VFX Supervisor will demonstrate the visual effects process
* Paul Leonard - Co-Producer will present an overview of the post production process.
* Bear McCreary - Composer will present a behind the scenes look at the making of a score
* Michael Nankin - Director of Maelstrom, Scar, Sometimes a Great Notion and Someone to Watch Over Me, will present his personal collection of 3D behind the scenes photos.
* Wayne Rose - Director of Blood on the Scales, Emmy winner for Razor Webisodes and Streamy winner for Face of the Enemy Webisodes
* Andy Seklir - Associate Producer and Editor
* Bradley Thompson - Supervising Producer and Co-Writer of Maelstrom, Scar, Sometimes A Great Notion, Someone To Watch Over Me and Revelations
* David Weddle - Supervising Producer and Co-Writer of Maelstrom, Scar, Sometimes A Great Notion, Someone To Watch Over Me and Revelations

Order the auction catalog, (or download the catalog PDF) and read their FAQ for more information.

Red Eye Chicago, and TV Squad have more information as well.