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Star Wars: The Old Republic's game update 1.5, HK-51 Activated, is looming ever-closer. To stir up some interest, the dev team has released information about the new HK-51 companion and the patch's graphical updates. Now it's time for a look at the big picture. A new developer dispatch gives the down-low on what players can expect the update to bring to PvE.

A big feature of HK-51 Activated will be Section X on Belsavis, the site of the Republic's first attempt at a prison colony. Now the area will play home to new Dread Master antics. The area is meant to be "darker" and "edgier" than other content players have encountered and is being touted as the "coolest-looking area" in the game. Players will also find the wreck of the Fatality, which sets them off on a very special venture. (Hint: You're going to track down a legion of HK-51 assassin droids, and this whole thing is called HK-51 Activated, and you know that at some point you get an HK-51 companion.)

Players will be introduced to multiplayer quests during which they have to work together to move through an area without setting off traps or activating alarms. A new world boss, Dreadtooth, will be introduced. When Dreadtooth is killed, he respawns with a stack of Dreadful Resurgence, which makes him harder to kill every time he respawns with players in the area. Those stacks will dwindle if players leave, or they can be deliberately increased to make encounters more interesting. If interesting is what you like, you'll also find nightmare mode available for Operation: Explosive Conflict.

Skip below the cut to hear the developers talk about the patch!

Going from virtual to reality, one EVE Online player is bucking the stereotype of gamers as lazy couch potatoes by using his in-game avatar game as inspiration to get fit and change his life. Marcus Dickinson, a self-proclaimed roleplayer, hit the gym and changed his eating habits in an effort to better resemble his EVE persona Roc Wieler, a retired military colonel with an imposing visage and impressive discipline. And the hard work has paid off; Dickinson has toned up and trimmed down.