Is EA the new George Lucas?
A soon-to-be laid off artist from EA, one EA Louse ("Lou" to his friends), has detailed, I suppose in a moment of frustration, some of the shabby things going on in their game development - things that may involve Star Wars: The Old Republic. It's a fascinating read, and there's more fascination to be found in the comments section.
Obligatory second link not here.
Source: EALouse
You might recall us mentioning something about that Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures MMORPG that the Lucas house and Sony Online (but really only Sony Online) jointly produced. Now Gamasutra informs us that the "family-friendly virtual world" has hit an impressive milestone - its first million registered users. And what's more,
To celebrate this milestone, SOE and LucasArts will reward all current Clone Wars Adventures users with a limited edition Golden Mouse Droid pet. The MMO will also host a virtual party at 3PM PDT, the first in a series of weekly live events, where players can gather to chat, duel, and show off their gear.
Surely with this sort of success, LucasArts can, maybe, spare a few farthings of the licensing fee to up the amount of classic adventures they have on Steam to greater than four? I know I'm asking a lot here.
Source: Gamasutra
September 12th to September 19th, it's Star Wars Week over at Steam. Star Wars games are on sale. That means the entire Steam Star Wars catalogue goes for $49.99, and, as of the the time of writing, The Force Unleashed goes for $7.50. Might as well check-out pirate adventure game Jolly Rover while you're there, since it's now on sale and going at $4.99.
So, do or don't, there is no try, yada yada yoda. It's not every week that it's Star Wars week, unless you're this guy, where it's Star Wars week every minute, especially in the shower.
Source: Steam
The Republic Commandos are coming back at long last... but not the long-mooted sequel to the game, sadly. They'll be appearing in The Clone Wars instead when Season 3 debuts on September 17th.
While this is good news for fans of the characters, as Republic Commando is one of the best and most unique Star Wars games ever released I'm still annoyed there's no sequel incoming. Yet.
It's also a bit salt-in-the-wound that they appear in The Clone Wars, since the run of well-received Republic Commando novels by Karen Traviss (the most recent being Imperial Commando: 501st) was cancelled because the cartoon's last season totally contradicted the series' depiction of the planet Mandalore - even though George Lucas has whole paid departments to make sure this never happens.
Feel free to shout "NERD!" now.
Source: IGN
Source: Gamasutra
It is interesting to note that Lucasfilm still occasionally waves Cease and Desist letters around: in July they wrote to a company that makjes highly dangerous portable lasers.
According to Lucasfilm, said laser "is designed to look like a lightsaber from Star Wars."
The latest news is that Lucasfilm have retracted the Cease and Desist, because, apparently, "the media and public has come to realize that Lucasfilm would never endorse or license a highly dangerous product such as your Arctic Pro Laser."
You can read the original cease and desist letter here (via). Thanks to Narrative for the news tip.
Source: Narrativer/Gizmodo
The most amazing display of human art lies just a click away:
That's right: the Star Wars theme played on bagpipes. Whilst wearing a kilt. On a unicycle!
squidkidd has implored us to help him win a competition inwhich he video is being judged.
He is currently on 18%, behind a woman who can (apparently) rotate her arms. Cast your vote here.
If squidkidd wins, he has promised us that his next video will use the Monkey Island theme tune. Pressumably he will sing it backwards, whilst hopping on one leg, juggling a baby, and impregnating a horse, surrounded by a ring of fire. In space!
Source: Our forums
So much news, all in one day?! And you thought we were a bunch of slackers.
It aired live on GameSpot and IGN earlier in the day, but in case you missed it, here is an E3 stage demo video demonstrating the first level of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 (2 Force 2 Unleashed).
Go forth and.... watch the darn video, already. (This is the GameSpot version, which has a bit more footage than the IGN feed.)
So. If you're interested in Star Wars: The Old Republic (and why wouldn't you be, it's going to be one of the most expensive games ever made), then check out this stage demo for the game, as shown at the recent EA press conference at E3. Or see it here in HD.
Or check out the trailer from that stage demo, which was really the whole point of the thing. Also, here's a GameSpot hands-on preview of the game, and another from IGN.
Also check out some screenshot galleries: Star Wars: The Old Republic (at Gamespot and IGN; Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 (Force Unleasheder (GameSpot Xbox 360, GameSpot PS3); LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (at GameSpot); and the new LucasArts/Sony Online MMO Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures (again, see Gamespot).
So now that we know LucasArts is making a Star Wars game for the Xbox 360's Kinect body-sensing apparatus, Microsoft's E3 press conference has helpfully provided us with some clearer footage of the game in question.
It's buried in this GameSpot video beginning at the 1 hour, 19:30 mark. Basically it's the same footage as leaked from the now-infamous Cirque du Soleil E3 pre-show, but now in higher quality and with the beginning of the trailer included. (Which would confirm that, yes, the Kinect demo at the pre-show was in fact faked.)
According to the video, this Star Wars mystery-title game is scheduled to ship in 2011. It appears it will be an Xbox 360 and Kinect exclusive.
Update: Here's the same SW game trailer, now watchable separately from the massive Microsoft press conference. (And here's an HD version for those of you who are interested.)
Two days ago as part of some pre-E3 coverage, Gamespot shared their experience at getting some lengthy and exclusive hands-on time with The Old Republic, having played through six of the eight "professions" of the Star Wars MMO and learning a bunch of brand new gameplay details.
Being four pages long and including a nice video overview hosted by the project's lead writer Daniel Erickson straight from the show floor at EA Showcase London, the preview is a must read for anyone excited by The Old Republic, currently scheduled to release Spring 2011. Latest budget estimate: a lot.
Update: Here's another Gamespot video interview with Erickson from the same event.
Source: Gamespot
The new cinematic trailer for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is now available at GameTrailers, which looks impressive, but obviously the game itself won't look as good as it's on PC as well this time - and we all know PCs aren't as powerful as the mighty consoles.
UPDATE: IGN have a very brief gameplay trailer up too.
Source: GameTrailers
LucasArts has announced that if you buy the Force Unleashed 2 (Electric Boogaloo) special Collector's Edition for Xbox 360 or PS3, you will receive a special Starkiller skin for your player character.
Specifically, it transforms you from Galen Marek, the Sith Apprentice known as Starkiller, into Deak Starkiller, elder brother of Luke Starkiller, from a very early draft of the A New Hope script. As part of the deal, you get an option to use Deak's signature yellow lightsaber.
The character design is based on a mildly famous production painting by Ralph McQuarrie, the grand old man of Star Wars concept art, which depicts Deak dueling Darth Vader aboard the Rebel Blockade Runner. Yes, Deak was the person Luke had to rescue in this draft, not Leia--a good thing it was changed, I'd say.
Preordering the STFU2 Collector's Edition can be done through that infamous spawn of Satan, GameStop. No, I won't link to them. But if you want this edition, you probably should visit them and preorder, due to its limited numbers. Again, this special version is available only for Xbox 360 and PS3.
Source: Twitter
Gamepro has posted a rather extensive preview of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, a game whose predecessor's absurdly high sales made necessary, but is also probably going to be objectively awesome if you're a Star Wars fan (a species who I'm told accounts for a fair portion of the gene pool). My claim that the preview is "extensive" is justified by the fact that it's a two-page look at the game's development, replete with lots of quotes from the team and some scattered concept art, so do away with that leash altogether.
In other Star Wars game news, that other monolithic project, The Old Republic, which you probably don't need to be reminded is the Stars Wars MMO set in the KOTOR universe under development by Bioware that LEC is jointly producing with EA, is also in the news. For the second time, in this instance over at Gamasutra, the game is being touted as the most expensive project EA has ever funded. Apparently it's something they're really proud of.
Source: Gamepro
Source: Unleashed2010.com
LucasArts continues re-releasing their old classics on Steam today with the best Star Wars strategy game - Empire At War, plus expansion pack Forces of Corruption. You can buy it here. While it's not an adventure game, it's still one of the best Star Wars games of recent years.
Perhaps less good is the price. £14.99/$19.99 for a 4-year-old game? Even with the expansion and the Steam convenience, that's a bit of a rip in my opinion.
Source: Steam
Source: Now Gamer
