The International House of Mojo

As was announced earlier this year, LucasArts is following up its two years of absolute stasis with - I can't believe they're taking this gamble - a new Star Wars game, one that impressed so much at E3 that a number of people, including this guy, are completely sold on LucasArts as a developer. Jesus is a grudge-bearing asshole compared to the attitude of forgiveness fans of ubiquitous franchises catch when you open the spigot back up.

The full article on Digital Trends features many quotes from Star Wars 1313's creative director Dominic Robilliard, who discusses the ninety-seventh internal reorganization that led to the fructifying environment the development team enjoys today, until oppportunistic hindsight decides ten years from now that this was actually another big mess that we've now totally fixed for real this time.

Much is implied by the author about how the new guard has ostensibly turned the studio around and put it back on track or something, but I couldn't help but focus on this part:

It's certainly a relief to know that LEC is taking developers who were originally being put on smaller, interesting projects before getting their heads on straight and just assigning them to additional Star Wars. It is sensible to be delighted by this because this is after all going to be Competent Additional Star Wars instead of Mediocre Additional Star Wars, and why would you possibly want something other than Competent Additional Star Wars from the company that once did this?

Source: Digital Trends

Well, what can we say? Subscriber numbers have been dwindling and now it's time for the inevitable: In an effort to keep The Old Republic still floating, it will go free-to-play sometime this fall. There will of course be in-game micro transactions and one has to pay for more advanced features and new content which have yet to be announced.

For a ridiculous spin on the story, here's a quote from Bioware General Manager Matthew Bromberg:

A barrier for people who thought the game was too uninteresting to pay $14.99 per month.

Source: Swtor.com

Based on an invitation they extended to EGM, LucasArts will have at least one new game to show off at E3 this year. So what will it be? The perennially greenlit-and-then-cancelled Battlefront III? The aerial combat game implied by some job listings some time ago? Might we finally begin seeing some sort of video game shaped consequences of the "We hired Clint Hocking" and "We've licensed the Unreal 3 engine" announcements from like, well over a year ago?

I dunno, but even money says whatever it is will be unworthy of my time Star Wars-related. Not that it's the only thing you have to look forward to from LEC; as we told you a few weeks back, they're planning on issuing a re-release of the first two Knights of the Old Republic games sometime this year. And thank goodness, right? God knows there aren't oodles of less readily available games from their prestigious catalog that people would care to see back in circulation over a hidden gem like KOTOR.

Thanks to Threepwood4life for the heads up. Poor sap thinks people still read the forums!

JP Update: Gamezone is reporting that a 'first look' of this new Star Wars franchise will screen on GTTV on May 31, with gameplay footage to be shown on June 6th.

Source: EGM

What game is being referred to here? I'm going to assume that middle finger means "just tell me" - it's Star Wars: Battlefront III.

Yes, the oft-cancelled sequel to the lucrative shooter franchise is back in the headlines yet again thanks to a juicy interview between GamesIndustry International and Steve Ellis, co-founder of Free Radical, that sheds a little more light on how the relationship ended, and apparently it wasn't pretty.

It turns out the game was nearly finished and the publisher-developer relationship didn't sour until the arrival of that destructive force that dooms even Star Wars projects, a management shift.

The whole sordid affair, as well as more insider tales from Free Radical's storied history, can be found in the full interview.

Source: GamesIndustry International

When assaulted with contemporary games that are aggressively mediocre, it is understandable that Star Wars fans would prefer to reminisce about the halcyon days when, say, the Super Star Wars trilogy for the SNES was proffering some highly decent side-scrolling translations of the classic movies.

The folks at NowGamer were struck by such nostalgia and were inspired to write a feature about these 16-bit gems, and what really makes it awesome is that they thought to pursue the games' producer and lead designer Kalani Streicher for some reflections. As a result the article contains all sorts of great background info, and Streicher even expresses the desire to return to the series some kind of way, if LEC would ever be interested. Take a look.

Source: NowGamer

Who knows when Star Wars: Battlefront III will ultimately be made, but today you can check out eight minutes of leaked footage from the version that Free Radical was working on several years back before the plug got pulled. That plug has subsequently been re-inserted and removed in sexually suggestive ways - some concept art from a possibly-not-fraudulent version of the long-awaited sequel by Slant Six has emerged, and the latest rumors hold that Spark Unlimited is making the game now.

In any case, here's the Free Radical footage:

Source: Game Rant

I speak of course of Darth Maul Me, a free mobile app that comes just in time for the theatrical re-release of The Phantom Menace in 3D!So is this why the trademark jokes in Monkey Island are so funny? Because they're true? Oh, sorry for invoking a non-Star Wars LEC property; I know it's impolite.

Source: APPSMeNow

The Official Star Wars Blog reports that veteran English actor Ian Abercrombie, who voiced Chancellor Palpatine in the Star Wars: Clone Wars TV series (as well as LucasArts-published games adapted from it) passed away on January 26th. He was 77.

The blog post includes remembrances from some of the crew of The Clone Wars.

A peek at his filmography on IMDB reveals that you hardly have be a Clone Wars viewer to have enjoyed this man's work. Among a multitude of other roles, he played Mister Pitt, Elaine's needy millionaire boss on several episodes of Seinfeld, John Hammond's butler in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and the bearded wise man who sent Bruce Campbell to fetch the necronomicon in Army of Darkness (along with the poorly heeded instructions to speak three magic words).

Source: The Official Star Wars Blog

It's kind of amazing how many years of mileage the rumor mill has gotten out of Star Wars: Battlefront III, a sequel which is shaping up to have a damn near The Dig level of cyclical false starts.

A third installment in the hugely popular shooter franchise would seem a no-brainer, and indeed it was reported to have been being worked on a number of times by a number of different parties (on various occasions, rumors held that the contract was given to Free Radical, Rebellion, and even original Battlefront developer Pandemic), but the project never seemed able to gain any traction for whatever reason. I guess when a studio goes into transition as hyperactively as LEC does, it's more than the little games that suffer. Or maybe the game was just never turning out good, who knows.

Anyhow, the neverending story has entered a new chapter, or did a few weeks ago when everyone besides us reported on it. The latest developer associated with Battlefront III is Spark Unlimited, who turned in a Call of Duty installment several years back. Here's the evidence, as reported by Game Informer:

It's been not unreasonably speculated that Spark Unlimited could in fact just be working on another Call of Duty, but the rumors persist. And the saga continues.

Source: Game Informer

And that would be because today is the worldwide launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Though LucasArts did not develop the massively expensive online RPG and even relinquished publishing duties to EA/Bioware, Lucasfilm will be skimming 35% off the top after the game breaks even (a cut that Paulie from Goodfellas was quoted as calling "downright avaricious") as part of the licensing deal.

With the revenue they will derive from their rather envious "Do Absolutely Nothing But Manage To Fill The Coffers To Surfeit Anyway" business model, it goes without saying that the executives of the San Francisco based entertainment company will see fit to invest a little bit of that mailbox money in new and exciting interactive properties.

And I for one can't wait!

Source: Gamasutra

Yesterday, EA announced that anyone who has pre-ordered Star Wars: The Old Republic gets in early. In keeping with the spirit of the border-destroying internet that lives on in this MMO, different regions get different activation times: North Americans, you can start playing on December 13th. Those of you who pre-ordered in Europe get in on December 15th. Pre-orders also get you a whole month of "free" playtime ("free" apart from buying the thing, obviously), after which a monthly subscription is required. The game goes on sale on December 20th.

Games-industry favourite Bobby Kotick gives his much-wanted opinion on the financial odds and ends of The Old Republic here. His objectivity on the issue allows him to provide some searing insights. I'm just glad Reuters quoted the one man in the industry who doesn't make money off of World of Warcraft, and who has nothing to lose should The Old Republic - supposedly the most expensive game ever made - should succeed in the highly-competitive, but notoriously exclusive world of MMOs.

Source: Gamespy

Bioware and LucasArts have finally announced the release date for the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic. It will launch on December 20th in North America and on the 22nd in Europe. People with submitted pre-order codes will be able to play the game at an earlier date, though how much earlier is still up in the air. The game will have a monthly subscription plan with a slightly reduced fee if you pay for 3 or 6 months in advance.

Source: swtor.com

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO [p]OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO[/p] [p]OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO[/p] [p]OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO[/p] OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Source: The Inquirer

The release date has not been revealed, but EA has begun taking pre-orders for the upcoming Star Wars game. Pre-ordering will net you early game access as well as a colour stone which will change the colour of your weapon or something. There's a standard edition, a digital deluxe edition, and a collector's edition. The standard edition can be bought on EA's new Origin service as well as a physical copy. Digital deluxe is only available on Origin and collector's edition only as a physical copy. Bioware has put up a page over here with a list of retailers and info on what's included in the different editions. Most stores seem to be out of the collector's edition though last I checked, German Amazon still has copies left.

Source: swtor.com news

Earlier in the month, other parts of the web were told that developer Red Fly Studios laid off 30 employees. Today comes news relevant to this part of the web: those layoffs apparently occurred because Red Fly was working on a Star Wars game that LucasArts canceled. Details are precious; aside from the fact that Red Fly is mainly a Wii developer, the resume that constitutes the source of this story speaks only of the project as a "next-gen Star Wars game."

Statistically speaking, LucasArts' catalog is far less deficient in Star Wars than it is in, for instance, Not Star Wars, so it can be considered a safe assumption that their decision to kill the project had to with not wanting to re-assign resources away from Handsome Halibut, currently slated for release in the Spring of two-thousand never.

It's been a long time coming, and I'll bet most people thought it was already dead. Star Wars Galaxies, the ill-thought out MMO collaboration between LucasArts and Sony, finally comes to an end on December 15th, 2011. Mourn it do not, miss it do not. This is actually the first Sony Online MMO to close, as even Everquest is still going. The main reason appears to be that their licence to use Star Wars expires in 2012 and they didn't feel it was worth renewing. A smart choice in my opinion, especially with The Old Republic around the corner.

Oh well, there's always Clone Wars Adventures right? Right?

Source: Rock Paper Shotgun

No Star Wars game would be complete without a trip to Tatooine. It's where Luke grew up and by consequence where every game has to make a stop. The Old Republic is no different and Bioware released a developer walkthrough showing a Sith Sorcerer making his way through the planet ripped off from Dune.

Source: Swtor.com blog

Making good on the pledge to not let anything too interesting happen under his watch, LEC president Paul Meegan has guided his studio through perhaps its leanest E3 to date. There were exactly two games on the show floor they could claim a kinship to - Star Wars: The Old Republic, which they're so uninvolved with at this point that they're not even publishing, and Kinect Star Wars, which is apparently more Microsoft and Terminal Reality's production than LEC's.

But you keep your cynical remarks to yourselves, you buncha Negative Nancys. So what if those secret projects remain unannounced? There's no drive-thru at Commander's Palace - these things take time! And who cares if the Steam re-release effort from two years ago suffered a stroke after four graphic adventures with no progress in sight? Digital distribution of SCUMM games is a multi-billion dollar investment. And quit your whining about Indiana Jones' 30th anniversary being left thoroughly unexploited - can't you be happy that Star Wars fans are going to finally have their day after years of neglect?

Besides, the company's got bigger fish to fry here. That's right, bitches: there are Old Republic peripherals to put out!

Boy, do you look like a fool. I hope now you'll consider the bigger picture before rushing to judgment about a company's commitment to innovation. Feel free to apologize to LEC at your earliest convenience.

Source: GameGuru

It probably won't be deemed the most exciting headline to come out of this week, but there ya go.

Source: Gamasutra

E3 is again upon us and Bioware has started revealing more of their upcoming Star Wars MMO. The latest is a new cinematic, called "Return", which you can view below.

The developers have also released a new page looking at the advanced classes of the game. Advanced classes are specializations you can pick when you reach level 10 with each base class letting you choose between two specializations. Principal lead combat designer Georg Zoeller wrote a blog post back in April covering this very subject. He's also been interviewed by MMORPG.com over here.