Articles

Force Push (Unleashed) 18 Jan, 2008 / Comments: 9

By jp-30


Theforce.net is reporting that LucasArts' The Force Unleashed, originally slated for November 2007 release, then Spring 2008, has been pushed back further still to wintery June 2008.

Let's recap Jim Ward from 2005;
"There's an attitude in this industry that says in order to make a great game, it takes whatever time it takes and it takes whatever money it takes, and that 'that's okay," Ward claimed. "Well it's not okay ? it's wrong. It's not okay in other entertainment businesses. In other businesses it's big trouble... When you have EA failing to bring Superman out with the movie, that's inexcusable. Moving games like Medal of Honor and Godfather out of the fourth quarter -? that's the old way of thinking and you can't do that any more... We've adopted new philosophies at LucasArts which, frankly, the whole industry should adopt. We make kick-ass games, but on time and on budget. Failure on any one of those three points is failure for the project. We are very serious about that strategy and we're able to deliver on it."
But to be fair, the push-back may well be for marketing purposes, perhaps to piggy-back the game's launch with the Clone Wars animated TV series?

Source: theforce.net

9

9 Comments

  • hierohero on 23 Jan, 2008, 12:12…
    please fire jim ward!
  • Char Ell on 19 Jan, 2008, 01:55…
    LOL. I remember reading Mr. Ward's rant back in the day. I'm glad [b]jp-30[/b] dusted it off and pulled it back out to remind everyone. All I can say is that if The Force Unleashed doesn't go gold in April, May, or June and/or if the Indiana Jones game doesn't come out within a month of the new movie then Mr. Ward is advised to prepare to engorge himself on plenty of crow. ;) And in all honesty, if both of games don't get released during these timeframes then for me it will demonstrate how little Jim Ward understood game development in 2005.
  • The Tingler on 18 Jan, 2008, 14:07…
    Well, the book and toys based on The Force Unleashed come out in March, and the Graphic Novel of the game comes out in February!

    Yet Amazon are reporting the game's out in August! Sod knows about Indiana Jones!
  • jp-30 on 18 Jan, 2008, 21:47…
    Force Unleashed LEGO is already out. The Novel (according to theforce.net article linked in the story) is now June 24.
  • clone2727 on 18 Jan, 2008, 11:06…
    Haha... "kick-ass" -- Like that's happening...
  • MrSneeze on 18 Jan, 2008, 08:29…
    Dear Jim Ward,

    It seems that not everyone can equal or be better than their idols, and it may be high time LucasArts reconsidered its position in the game industry.

    Apparently LucasArts will never be EA, and being in some kind of lethargy all these years makes it all the more implausible.

    Maybe, just maybe, LucasArts is not cut out for the greatness you feel it deserves, and it's just another game company that should stick to what it made it stand out, ooh, around 15 years ago.

    Maybe, again, your experience and extensive know-how would be better suited to a different kind of game company.

    Thank you for reading,
    MrSneeze.

    PS. Unless, of course, all this is some part of a diabolical scheme by another company to take LucasArts out of the "game" and you're actually a robot, Mr Ward. Well?
  • Udvarnoky on 18 Jan, 2008, 04:08…
    Every day I'm getting more prepared for the possibility of Indy getting delayed too. You'd think for sure that the game would come out with the movie, but that's a mere four months away. As the window closes it's becoming less believable that LucasArts will suddenly thrust the game back into the media spotlight and release it. I think it's still pretty possible, but I honestly won't be shocked if "coming out with the movie" (which admittedly is entirely our speculation) becomes "coming out with the DVD." This becomes more plausible when you remember they've still got LEGO Indiana Jones to take advantage of the theatrical hype.

    I also just want to point out that between the last time LucasArts said anything about the Indy game (early '06), the script for Indy4 was written, the movie greenlit, filmed, and now near completed. (At the very least assembly cuts have been made.)
  • jp-30 on 18 Jan, 2008, 04:36…
    Yes, but does the Indiana Jones IV movie have Euphoria and realistic particle physics? Huh?

    And yeah, the silence from LucasArts regarding the game is deafening. Poshed back to the DVD does seem like a real possibily. "We can put a demo on the bonus DVD!".

    It will make Ward's comments about the Superman game / movie all the more ridiculous if that's how LucasArts roll.
  • itchythesamurai on 18 Jan, 2008, 17:48…
    Personally, I can't get enough of Ward's words being put into an ironic context.