Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire is a VR game you can feel and smell

A new VR attraction invites users to strap into a haptic vest, grab a VR gun, and embark on a real-world indoor adventure as an undercover stormtrooper from the Star Wars movies. Complete with props, smells, sound effects, and weather, the experience is called "hyper reality" and it looks awesome.

The fascinating ways Star Wars and Star Trek are challenging their own franchises

It's very rare to see contemporary versions of Star Wars and Star Trek make similar creative choices. After all, part of what's fueled the age-old Wars v. Trek debate are the series' wildly different approaches to scifi. But with The Last Jedi in theaters and Discovery airing online, both franchises seem to be tackling something fascinating, questioning institutions in each world that fans have held dear for decades.

A new anthology will honour Arthur C. Clarke with 2,001-word stories

Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke would have turned 100 years old in 2017. Over the course of his long career, he left a legacy that science fiction authors still follow, by putting a premium on the scientific realism in his stories. A new anthology aims to honor the late author's legacy by collecting a series of stories. Each story will have exactly 2,001 words, a reference to his most famous work, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Rian Johnson had some pretty insane ideas for Rey's parents in The Last Jedi

The latest Star Wars almost turned out really weird.

I's hard to imagine the pressure Rian Johnson was under to write the middle chapter in the final trilogy of the Skywalker Saga. And the guy had some tough choices to make-including how to reveal one of the biggest remaining mysteries in the Star Wars franchise: Who the hell are Rey's parents?

10 underrated science fiction movies you must see

It's not all about replicants, Terminators, and galaxies far, far away. Across the spectrum of literary and cinematic genres, science fiction has long since proved one of the most enduring and popular of them all. This is no doubt largely down to its tremendous malleability.

The postmodern Prometheus

'Frankenstein' might be the first science fiction novel, but its literary heritage has a vibrant afterlife in pulp fiction. Victor Frankenstein and his moping, depressed creation was conceived of by Mary Shelley a good century or more before the golden age of pulp fiction, but the monster and the genre had always seemed made for each other. Reanimated corpses, hubristic scientists, secret laboratories, rogue humanoid creations-each of these tropes scream "pulp"!

Man behind 'Sophia' AI robot plans to create 'super-intelligent genius machines' that win humans' trust

* David Hanson worked as a sculptor for Walt Disney and created animatronic robots for their theme park shows before starting his own firm
* He now aims to create machines that are life-like enough to win people's trust
* His 'masterpiece' is Sofia, a wise-cracking machine based on Audrey Hepburn
* Previous works include a robotic Albert Einstein which teaches children science

This is not the future sci-fi writer Charlie Stross predicted (Q&A)

By Seth Rosenblatt

Spreading computer viruses with human DNA. Stalking romantic partners with malware. Recording someone's every move with Internet-connected security cameras.

Much to learn you still have: 10 aliens you should know from Star Wars: The Last Jedi's Canto Bight

Much to Learn You Still Have is a rundown of trivia and fun facts, both in-universe and behind-the-scenes, about the aliens of the Star Wars galaxy. Whether you've never set foot in a cantina or you're a well-traveled Jedi Master, you'll find the intel you need.

Actress Hong Chau drew on refugee past for role in science-fiction satire Downsizing

By Alison de Souza

Hong Chau, who drew on her refugee past for her role in the science-fiction satire, is the critics' darling this awards season. For her breakout performance in the science-fiction satire Downsizing starring Matt Damon, actress Hong Chau drew on her past as the child of Vietnamese refugees. The film envisions a world where some people choose to be irreversibly shrunk down to the size of toys to drastically reduce their living costs.

Our most anticipated science fiction novels of 2018

It's a new year, which means a new spacefaring lineup of awesome YA sci-fi to take you to other worlds and galaxies!

Solo: first trailer for Star Wars spin-off finally confirmed

News of a Star Wars spin-off film focusing on Han Solo's early life was first announced a long time ago (though not in a galaxy far away). But now fans will finally be able to see the young rapscallion in action, with the long-awaited first trailer for Solo.

'Star Wars' fans finally found a competent Stormtrooper

Notoriously poor marksmanship is a hallmark of Imperial Stormtroopers. Despite Obi-Wan saying that these folks are "precise," almost everything we've seen on screen suggests the opposite. In most Star Wars films, specifically the classic trilogy, Stormtroopers have a rough time actually hitting major members of the Rebellion with their blaster bolts. But there is one hero of the Empire hiding in plain sight. Star Wars fans have identified TK-714, the only guy in the Battle of Endor who managed to actually wound someone who was very integral to the Rebellion.

If Elon Musk is to colonise Mars, he'll need to recruit a crew of genetically-modified humans

Elon Musk dreams of creating a million-person city on Mars. But first, the SpaceX and Tesla founder is going to need a small group of people with an unusual genetic trait in common; resistance to radiation.

Radiation resistance in humans and animals is something we know little about, although we know it exists. At the moment, resistance tests are used to try and predict how much radiation cancer patients can survive, but one day this could be an important decider of who gets to venture into space.

New study finds thousands of alien asteroids could bring extraterrestrial life to Earth

When it comes to the potential that aliens might land on Earth, an invasion often comes to mind. Science fiction also has a place for the accidental infestation that might occur when an alien craft or asteroid crashes, though, and a new paper suggests the likelihood of this happening belongs firmly in the realm of reality.

Authors of this study estimated the capture rate of interstellar objects by means of three-body gravitational interactions to explore the implications of their model or the transfer of life by means of rocky material.

Altered Carbon may not be the cyberpunk show you're looking for

In the world of Altered Carbon, death is cheap. The human mind is digitized in a transferrable chip called a "stack," capable of being moved from body to body as necessary-or, if you've got the cash for it, as desired.

Bodies have become increasingly uncoupled from the consciousnesses that occupy them. Slang now just calls them "sleeves." The future of Altered Carbon, Netflix's new science fiction series, is one the flesh is just another kind of economy.

Medical milli-robots have potential to make science fiction reality, even if not imminently

In rare instances, the impressiveness of an innovation or technology needs no imminent application to justify its inherent impressiveness.

That is the case when it comes to millimeter-scale robots, or milli-robots, that have proven capable of using an MRI-provided magnetic field to move through the human body.

The War of the Worlds review - HG Wells's aliens invade the north

Laura Lindow's adaptation of the sci-fi classic is a thrilling parable of complacency that allows a brilliant cast to shine. H G Wells wrote The War of the Worlds at the height of empire complacency. In the late 19th century industry was booming, technology was dazzling and Britain ruled the waves.

The prosperous villages in the hinterland outside London, where the novel is set, could afford to look inwards with little-Englander smugness. The book's audacity lies in its challenge to a self-satisfied nation.

Star Wars' JJ Abrams has a mysterious new TV show in the works at HBO

The Star Wars: Episode IX filmmaker has struck a deal with HBO for a project currently called Demimonde, described by the US premium channel only as an "epic and intimate sci-fi fantasy drama". Demimonde is particularly interesting because Abrams actually wrote the pilot script.

While he's produced recent TV hits like Person of Interest, Westworld, 11.22.63 and the upcoming Stephen King series Castle Rock, he hasn't actually written a pilot since Fringe.

The possibility of A.I. going rogue is more than just science fiction

The thought of artificial intelligence causing destructive harm may seem impossible outside of movies like The Terminator, but it is more plausible than many people think. Despite these future risks, ASU is failing at its obligation to teach programming ethics. Currently, ASU's computer ethics class is not a graduation requirement for computer science majors, allowing thousands of newly minted computer scientists to enter the industry without knowledge of potential consequences.

Researchers call on science fiction to understand extremist psychology

Deakin University researchers have used science fiction to understand terrorist propaganda techniques in an innovative study. Dr Matteo Vergani, postdoctoral researcher at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, and Dr Ana-Maria Bliuc, senior lecturer at Western Sydney University, have used an innovative research strategy to gain new insights about the psychology behind the mobilising propaganda of the "new terrorism".

Well we hope you enjoyed this issue of StarWarrior. Let us know what you think, we'd love to hear from you! Send in your Cosplay photos and a brief bio and you too could feature in StarWarrior!

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Disney wants you to buy a 'Star Wars' book to find out what didn't make it into 'The Last Jedi'

If you weren't satisfied with "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" or have been on the edge of your seat waiting for deleted scenes some of the wait is almost over.

YouTube's "The Star Wars Show" confirmed the tie-in novelization for "The Last Jedi" will contain expanded and deleted scenes from the "Star Wars" sequel. Director Rian Johnson said he met with Jason Fry, the author behind "The Last Jedi" novelization, to write new scenes for the book.

Women in science fiction: If Mary Shelley invented the genre why are so few female sci-fi writers household names?

Two hundred years ago, Mary Shelley sat down to write a ghost story and created science fiction. Women still pen the genre's finest, exemplified by Ursula K Le Guin, who died this week. Yet so often they are overlooked.

David Barnett asks: whither the brides of Frankenstein?

Two centuries. Two hundred years. That's how long we've had science fiction. From the birth of Frankenstein, to the death of Ursula K Le Guin. Two hundred years.

Ursula K Le Guin: The 'fearless' author who showed us a different world

By Ian YoungsArts & entertainment reporter

Ursula Le Guin was loved for her groundbreaking fantasy novels that tackled questions of gender, race and the environment. She influenced generations of authors from Margaret Atwood to Neil Gaiman - and wrote about a boy wizard 30 years before Harry Potter.

In her writing and in her life, Ursula Le Guin refused to blindly accept how the world is supposed to work. In life, if something was illogical or unjust, she simply decided that things would be different. "I am a man," she said in a 2015 BBC Radio 4 documentary, somewhat surprisingly. "When I was born, there were actually only men. People were men."

Final Frontier Friday: 'Threshold'

Hello and welcome as always to 'Final Frontier Friday.' This week I'll be continuing my quest to focus on things that aren't the original 'Star Trek' or 'The Next Generation' by tackling an episode of 'Voyager'. In fact, for some of you, 'Threshold' may very well be "that episode" of 'Voyager'. Suffice to say, last time I was to some extent taking up the defense of an unpopular (or at least divisive) character in Ezri Dax.

But I'd be shocked, if anything, if I had to say about 'Threshold' was terribly controversial.

Making magic with star wars: secrets of the empire

Starwars.com speaks with some of the key minds behind the groundbreaking hyper-reality experience. The odds aren't good. I'm a rebel, so already the cards are stacked against me. My squad and I have to infiltrate an Imperial base. There are four of us against what I'm sure will be many, many more than that.

'Aliens: Dust To Dust' will show us xenomorphs through the eyes of a terrified 12-year-old!

When Xenomorphs attack we see people die, though 'Aliens' has shown that children can survive these attacks and 'Aliens: Dust to Dust' will give us a story told through the eyes of a 12-year-old. The 4-issue miniseries is being penned and illustrated by Gabriel Hardman who was the storyboard artist for 'Logan', 'Dawn of Planet of the Apes', 'Batman: The Dark Knight Rises' and more!

'Star Wars Rebels' sets 90-minute series finale

(via CNN)"Star Wars" is officially closing one chapter in its universe, with the animated series "Star Wars Rebels" to conclude March 5 with a 90-minute series finale.

The program, which airs on Disney XD, will return February 19 with back-to-back episodes leading up to its conclusion.

Star Wars 9: FIRST major Episode IX details CONFIRMED - Fans will be VERY happy

Star Wars 9 is about to start production and fans will be very happy with the first important piece of news about Episode IX. Star Wars fans haven't been so easy to please recently.

The Last Jedi is still powering ahead at the global box office (China excepted) but the hardcore fan reaction must have shocked Disney and Lucasfilm bosses. With JJ Abrams back at the helm for the final movie in the triple trilogy, there should be less controversy ahead. And the first piece of strong news about how the film will shape up has just been revealed...

Moving from science fiction to science fact-Intel and Linden Lab partner to create the fourth dimension at CES

By Frank Soqui

Linden Lab's Sansar, a new VR-enabled online community provides content creators with powerful tools to unleash immersive, dreamlike digital worlds. Create and enjoy your very own Sansar VR world on 8th Gen Intel(r) Core(tm) processor-based PCs, add HTC Vive headsets equipped with Intel's Wigig technology, and the end result is a Fourth Dimension wireless experience that defies human imagination.

Steven Knight creating sciencefiction series for Apple

You might think that, between his film work and shows such as Peaky Blinders and Taboo, writer/producer/director Steven Knight had enough to be going on with. Yet he's now sold a new small screen concept called See to Apple.