Here is the new advertisement for the Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels Wii game. It is both incredibly irritating AND manages to show it as possibly the most boring fighting game ever made. Surely an impossible feat given that it's a lightsaber game being built ground-up for the Wii, exactly what most Star Wars (and Wii) fans wanted, but LucasArts have managed it.
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Here is the new advertisement for the Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels Wii game. It is both incredibly irritating AND manages to show it as possibly the most boring fighting game ever made. Surely an impossible feat given that it's a lightsaber game being built ground-up for the Wii, exactly what most Star Wars (and Wii) fans wanted, but LucasArts have managed it.
To those it may concern (like my ten year old cousin), the two games based on this summer's The Clone Wars that LucasArts is putting out will be released on November 11th, also the DVD/Blu-ray street date for the film.
For those who missed it or simply had something better to pay attention to at the time, like the speed at which their front lawn was growing, the two games in question are The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels and The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance, the former being a Wii exclusive and the latter being a DS exclusive.
The only possibly notable thing about these releases is that Jedi Alliance is the first game to be developed by LucasArts' Singapore animation studio (the same folks responsible for the Clone Wars movie and TV series), and also the fact that the Wii MotionPlus was announced only after Lightsaber Duels could take advantage of it may have pissed off LEC or something.
Anyway. I just figured you might need something to read while your AVS pre-order was being processed.
If you're one of the people interested in this game you probably don't need to be told this, but today LucasArts has released the long-awaited Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, DS and PSP.
It is my hope that this experimental and low-key game finds its audience.
The reviews for The Force Unleashed are out and it doesn't suck (you go, LucasArts!), but it isn't wowing the critics either. While some are calling it "not bad, but flawed," (Eurogamer, Gamespot), others were not so happy. Here's a round-up:
Eurogamer: "[...]despite moments of riotous, blissfully creative carnage, The Force Unleashed ultimately falls short of its lofty ambitions - despite a concerted effort to Jedi mind-trick you into acquiescence"; 7/10.
Wired: "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed isn't a bad game, but it is a disappointing one. And it's all the more disappointing because you can see, mired in the boring levels and bad cameras, glimpses of fun ideas"; 5/10
Gamespot: "When the game caters to its strengths, it soars; when it deviates, it flounders. Regardless, it's still a more than worthy entry in a long line of licensed Star Wars games, and a good action game in its own right"; 7.5/10 (both for PS3 and Xbox360; this is the highest score so far; the Wii version got a 6/10).
IGN: "Does it deliver [on its [promise]? Yes and no. It does enough things right, especially with regards to giving players the ability to wield the Force like we've never seen before, to make it a play-worthy effort for Star Wars fans everywhere, but it does so with a number of missteps that won't easily be overlooked"; 73%
You can check out more reviews on Metacritic: Wii, Xbox360 and PS3.
Videogamer caught up with LucasArts at the Leipzig games convention and asked once again the big question:
Suey was of course the man who made the much-mocked comments that this follow-up tries to address.
"Traditionally the way you get a game on multiple PCs is you have to scale the graphics down, right? Unfortunately physics, especially procedural physics, it's impossible to scale it and if you did scale it or turn it off or turn it down it would fundamentally change the way the gameplay works. It would just be too limited for us. It was a difficult decision to make but you can't scale the physics."Read the rest of his response here.
Source: Videogamer
The penultimate episode of GameTrailers' in-depth look at all the Star Wars games in existence hit Episode IX (that's nine) today, focusing on the non-X-Wing flying games. That's the Rebel Assault and Rogue Squadron series, and contains possibly the most sinister shot of a GameCube controller I've ever seen. Watch it here.
The next and final episode in the Retrospective will look at the 'other' (re: crap) Star Wars games. Possibly of most interest to us is their promise to also look at "the future of LucasArts", which should be worth a giggle.
In a double-whammy of Star Wars whup-ass, two falls have been reported for the previously inconquerable series.
Firstly, The Dark Knight continues to beat all expectations and has now ousted Star Wars: A New Hope as the No. 2 Top-Grossing Film of All Time in the domestic US market. Bear in mind the new Batman film has only been on the market for five weeks, whereas A New Hope has had 30 years.
And if that weren't enough, new animated movie The Clone Wars is doing absolutely shockingly and has only made $15.5 million this weekend - which was also beaten by The Dark Knight. It's basically a TV cartoon pointlessly put up on the big screen, so obviously the fans aren't as stupid as they appear (cough).
Although I quite enjoyed it... I'll get me coat.
Source: ComingSoon.net
In case you hadn't noticed, the first Star Wars film to be released since the saga wrapped up and so makes a mockery of all the time we invested in them, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Movie, is now available in cinemas and on BitTorrents everywhere.
If you've seen The Dark Knight four times already and would rather poke your eyes out than see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, why not give it a whirl?
Then visit here, of course.
Continuing our Star Wars YouTube Marathon that seems to have sprung out of nowhere, may I present our first actual videogame-related clip!
What would happen if Obi-Wan had used Jedi Knight's Force Speed in the battle with Darth Maul?
With the release just a month away, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is of course getting a lot of coverage even if it's mostly things we've heard already.
However, I have to direct you to this video at GameSpot (standard version here), which cheered me up immensely and shows that LucasArts do still have a sense of humour. Well, they did until they got rid of all their staff anyway.
Basically, it shows the Apprentice picking up Jawas by the head, electrocuting them, and then booting them like a football. Disgusting creatures, but they do fly well.
GameTrailers' enjoyable Star Wars gaming retrospective continues with Episode VII, which covers the 'Expanded Universe' games (which technically Jedi Knight, The Clone Wars, and all the ones which aren't direct film adaptations are, but we'll forgive that). This means Shadows of the Empire (the last big gap-filling Star Wars gaming extravaganza that TFU is also doing) and the two Knights of the Old Republic games.
(sniff) Sorry, I just remembered KOTOR II's ending and that the next game is a MMORPG.
And speaking of fan-angering MMORPGs, the next episode is on Star Wars Galaxies.
In case you hadn't noticed, E3 (or what passes for E3 these days) is currently in progress.
Unfortunately while LucasArts are there, they seem to have not done anything notable themselves just yet. The only thing of interest was a new trailer in the middle of Nintendo's conference for The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels. Marvel as two grown men make tits out of themselves by doing what we only ever do in private or with one of those expensive replicas!
UPDATE: There are several new trailers for The Force Unleashed now up from the show, including:
1. Battle with the bad-ass super horned rancor, with a surprise appearance by Dark Jedi Maris Brood (who's got an action figure y'know, not that I've bought it or anything).
2. Battle with the weird "junk titan" that looks like it walked off the set of Galaxy Quest
3. A walkthrough in the TIE Fighter Factory, which sadly makes starfighters and not new copies of TIE Fighter.
4. Some general videos of the Wii, PS2 and PSP versions in both multiplayer and single-player.
The first three can be seen here, and the videos of the non-LucasArts developed version can be seen here.
Fracture has also been shown off, and two large gameplay walkthroughs can be seen right here. Now you can make up your mind whether it's going to be any good or not, if you haven't already!
Still no Indy.
Entertainment Weekly exclusively has a new, and it must be said pretty cool, trailer for The Force Unleashed. It's more of a proper film-style trailer than previous videos, which have mostly focused on the technology, interviews or gameplay. This one seems to be about the story.
A lot of previously-rumoured characters and locations are revealed in this trailer, such as Princess Leia, the Emperor and the Death Star. Could it be - gasp - a decent Star Wars game? It'll be at E3 next week, so hopefully we should have some answers.
UPDATE: GameTrailers has it now too, in SD and HD and for download too.
GameTrailers have now posted the sixth episode in their ultimate Star Wars Retrospective, following the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, arguably the coolest Star Wars games out there. The next in the series will be on the contenders to that title - the Knights of the Old Republic series, as well as Shadows of the Empire.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is basically a continuation of the series in all but name (then again, so was Obi-Wan), as well as the next big cross-media Star Wars event after Shadows of the Empire, so I'll also link to a number of pre-E3 previews for TFU: Eurogamer likes it but has some concerns about player freedom, and IGN have a look at the characters and story, and then the game itself.
Additionally, Amazon are listing pre-orders for Nintendo DS Lightsaber stylus pens, as well as the mighty Robot Chicken Star Wars Special, both to be released this month. And I believe there's a new film coming out too.
You cannot resist, my son.
After
The next episode will be on the adventures of Kyle Katarn, although who knows when that will be?
The first trailer for Star Wars: Clone Wars: Lightsaber Battles: Jedi Alliance: Wii is now watchable exclusively at GameTrailers. While it mentions the DS version it all seems to be footage from the Wii game and also the film.
The game seems to be a beat-'em-up more than anything else. Lets hope that it ends up better than this.
There's a new interview up at IGN with Haden Blackman about The Force Unleashed (duh). He gives the usual spiel about the game with a bit of new footage, and thankfully doesn't mention the words "kicking ass with the Force" (I think he's got my letters).
Honestly though the most interesting part (at least for me) is near the end where he starts talking about the new music for the game. The composer is Mark Griskey, who did a stellar job with the score for Knights of the Old Republic 2, so I'm hoping for a John Williams-rivalling epic.
LucasArts have released a video that manages to spoil the plot of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed three months before the game is released. This beats Lucas' previous record of two months for us in the UK by releasing The Phantom Menace in July rather than May, but still giving us the game, book, soundtrack, toys and all the other merchandise.
Still, at least it opens with the Golden Guy back to his lightsaber-flinging self.
If you don't care, check it out here. But then, if you don't care, you won't want to check it out. So who is this video for again?
The official trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars (movie, not game) is now watchable at Yahoo! Movies. The biggest surprise is the presence of Christopher Lee, reprising his role as Count Dooku.
IGN is now the first proper site to review Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. It's a pretty favourable review altogether.
However, a surprise was apparently included with the game: an advertisement for an as-yet unannounced LucasArts game. Don't get too excited - it's a Star Wars game, the long-rumoured game based on the new Clone Wars series and movie coming out this Autumn/Fall.
The game will come out the same time. Of most interest is that it will apparently be exclusive to Nintendo's two consoles - Wii and DS. What the game will be like is anyone's guess, but as it's not even been announced properly yet and is out in a few months, I'm not holding my breath.