Slashdot Mirror
LucasArts Shows Interest In Wii Lightsaber Game
Gamasutra reports that, though they're not willing to say they have one in the works right now, LucasArts is interested in a Wii lightsaber game. From the article: "At the end of the demonstration, Gamasutra inquired as to whether the company planned on creating a lightsaber game for the Wii, after many commented on the suitability of the system to the concept - especially after an internal speaker was revealed in the controller being used to demo the concept. This question produced a number of knowing smiles around the room from LucasArts employees, followed by the comments: 'We know' and 'We are looking into it', as possible concepts for the game were discussed. However, the firm has not yet made any official announcements regarding planned Wii titles."
Just don't film yourself playing....
Mr. Universe: "They can't stop the signal, Mal. They can never stop the signal."
Hand me my lightsaber. It's the one that says, "Wii" on it.
can play with my Wii wee any time she would like to, like during a rain-delay or something.
Look at the Wii Lightsaber!
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
I love these announcements of "big giant bloated company filled with cynical skeptical middle managers drenched in cash shows interest in something" as news. Proves the point that big giant bloated companies are rarely interested in anything except the lunch menu.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
"Alpha developments were halted when game playback consistently altered whose saber lighted first."
"Made up/misattributed quote that makes me look smart. I am on
You have the ring, and I see your Wii is as big as mine. Let's see how well you handle it.
How would they do it though? Would it be done as an adventure or instead use the full expanded universe and make it so you can duel with hundreds of different Jedi, all with different fighting styles and tactics. So you could fight everyone from Vader on the Death star to Luke in the middle of a desert while Storm troopers try and kill both of you.
The only problem I see is using any sort of acrobatic style would be hellish. You just couldn't pull off the spins without tying yourself up.
I like muppets.
They translate this:
"We know" and "We are looking into it"
into this:
"LucasArts staff have confirmed to Gamasutra the company's intense interest in creating a Wii lightsaber game"
Perhaps the author meant their own intense interest in playing a Wii lightsaber game?
As a writer for the school newspaper and someone who is expected to write in excess of 10 pages a week in lab reports and other miscellenia the last thing I want to do when I am entertained is use a keyboard and mouse. I used a DDR gamepad for a long time but was looking into getting something a bit more resilient to 300 lbs of weight being thrown around.
Not meaning to sound like the typical Slashbot everything-hater, but it's my experience that the games with the greatest potential prove the most disappointing. Star Wars Galaxies is coincidentally the best example.
Perhaps someone can clarify?
This would be the perfect game in the Kyle Katarn story line. Work it as a first person shooter so you can face stormtroopers and block the shots, face off against Jedi with force powers (and use the crosshair to select your own, A to execute).
Man - I loved Jedi Knight II. I'd go through levels, pull every weapon away from my enemies, and then leave them screaming "Don't kill me" while I took out the turrents. I think I was able to play all of the later levels without killing anyone but the Dark Jedi.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
But could the Wii posts end? Im really growing tired of every jackass coming up with a 'Wii' pun and getting 5 points for it.
It's the gamecube hardware, only faster. Since Linux has been ported to the GameCube, it stands to reason it could run on Wii.
It'd be superb if they would implement online multiplayer. people swinging their wii-motes wildly across the U.S.! (and wherever else Star Wars is wildly popular)
You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.
Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
As everyone always says, the pr0n industry decides what new technologies take off. I can't wait to see their novel uses for the Wiimote...
This guy's the limit!
My dad taught me to play light-sabers with wee (sound effect and all) and I in turn taught my son. It's a tradition 'round here.
--
"we live in a post-ideological world..." - Billy Bragg.
Remote would control the lightsabre, obviously. It should be free-form, in that as you move the remote, the onscreen sabre moves, too. Also, since the analong "nunchuck" has motion-sensing capabilities, too, it could be used for force powers! Push forward to do a force push in the direction you push. Pull back for a force grab. Pull back and quickly pull up to do a choke and mid-air suspension... all while fighting a second guy with the sabre! The analog stick moves and it could use Metroid-style controls to lock on to a guy during sword combat so that you won't have to worry about strafing.
Wouldn't work. Not the way you guys are dreaming. They have no idea what your body is doing at the same time and the wii thingy has to stay pointed in a certain area doesn't it? It'd have to be just another gesture based game.
This is pretty much the videogame every person has wanted for their entire lives. Its like they added a speaker to the wiimote just for this purpose. Next up custom lightsaber hilt attachments for the controller. Clip the nunchuck spatial locator to the players belt to tell you where the player is in comparison to the saber. The game practically writes itself!
So... When Nintendo first announced the Revolution with the wireless controler you can wave around, who didn't think of a light saber game? It is just a question of when -- not if.
It's already been mentioned that in the Zelda title you use it to sword fight. Someone else will come out with a great sword fighting game (Pirates of the Carribean anyone?)..
Then some group will just come out with a retexturing mod to map jedi graphics and make your sword glow and make noises..
Done
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
LEGO Star Wars!
Yes, I know that more sequels aren't the "innovation" that everyone wants to see on the Wii, but it would work because it's simple enough that you don't have to worry about a lot of the issues already raised here. And depending on the character used, the wii remote can be either a saber or a blaster (or whatever weapon).
I don't know if this was a Nintendo done commercial, or a fan based one, but it's the Wii controller as a lightsaber handle
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=163649363"Genius may shine aloof and alone, like a star, but goodness is social, and it takes two men and God to make a Brother."
Go make another TIE Fighter game. Stick with what you're good at.
Just because the Wii and the GameCube both use IBM PowerPC processors doesn't men that "It's the gamecube hardware, only faster". That's like saying that the Athlon 64 is "The 386, only faster."
Other than the fact that we know little about ATI's GPU design for the unit, very little else about the GameCube and Revolution seem to be the same.
Make a Sith game. Playing as a Jedi is fun sure, but sometimes it's neat to take a walk on the Dark Side. Let us as players indulge in being a bad guy, it may untether the game design a bit since it's a side of Star Wars that's not focused in in any great detail for games.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
We are the Jedi who say ... Wii!
"We would love geeks throwing money at us for releasing this title (or titles) I mean, we love money as much as the next guy, but seriously we have so much money here we simply dont know what do to with it, we have used it to lit the boiler, as toilet paper, eating it, these days we are just giving it away, by the way heres a bag of money for interviewing us take it, please! Nothing works! Money just appears every day at the door, we are literally swimming in it and when we release the Star Wars Special DVD set later this year... well, Im afraid for our very own lives, you can't breathe money you know? we've tried."
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
How the hell is this the _ONLY_ post which mentions this? Ever since this stupid revmote thing was let out, people have been saying "oo! This would be perfect for a lightsaber game!" ignoring three key facts:
/capable/ of more, there just isnt more available yet.
1) as mentioned above
2) most people dont have room-sized TVs, so all this "motion detection" would amount to a fancy 2-state on/off trigger button. A button that you need to swing around instead of pushing with your thumb. Resolution needs to match the weakest link, and while it would certainly be
3) There is already a motion-capture lightsaber game. It's crappy, it has obvious flaws, and you don't own one because it's crappy and has obvious flaws. This point applies to all Wii games, and has been all I've been saying since hearing about the revmote.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
How about the fact that Nintendo has publicly stated that the Wii is an extension of the Gamecube architecture? Is that good enough?
Go look it up on wikipedia.
Film yourself, make sure someone (maybe even yourself) posts it to the internet (Google Video, youTube, etc.). And then instead of hiding in a closet and calling your lawyer; hire an agent and ride that wave of publicity as far as it will take you.
Think Deeply.
most people dont have room-sized TVs, so all this "motion detection" would amount to a fancy 2-state on/off trigger button.
What? I do not understand this at all. I don't see any limitation here. I'll tell you what I invision for a light saber game: basically Jedi Academy, a third person adventure, with your wiimote position being mimicked on the screen (movement handled by the nun-chuck), and possibly having two sabers if you you have two wiimotes.
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
And you can't use the saber itself to move around, because your TV isnt big enough- you'd have to stay in the same place, the tennis demo falls apart. So you'd sit in your chair, flicking the wiimote- not as if it were a dynamic lightsaber, but rather like a BUTTON.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
"I see your Wii is as big as mine!"
Blessed are the 1337, for they shall pwn the earth.
And you can't use the saber itself to move around
Did you even read my post? From my post: (movement handled by the nun-chuck)
The nun-chuck covers movement.
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
While I totally, totally want this it seems rather likely considering they already released that TV lightsaber toy last year. Sure it was Hasbro, not Lucasarts, but the precedent has already been established. I'm willing to bet that the sales figures on that are going to factor into the decision to make a game at least slightly.
Aside from the lack of force-feedback (which is more of an awesome pipe dream, but would add a lot to this type of title) it's probably going to be restricted to single sabers. Personally I prefer the Darth Maul style saber staff (since I've always personally prefered staff fighting) and that likely won't be at all possible. Dual-saber styles are right out.
it's amazing how you can realize that movement would be handled by the seperate joystick, yet miss the point completely.
/that/ will not be properly translated, the wiimote will be a button.
The point isnt "ZOMGHOWWOULDYOUMOVEAROUND!?!" the point is "The entire system is rendered pointless by the method which you'd actually use to move around"
But it goes further than that. It's not merely "movement" in terms of "my character was standing here, he is now standing here", but also "movement" in terms of "my character is standing like this", which would be absolutely essential for a sword-fighting game.
Because
"Flick the wiimote to the side to launch ultra power attack! Flick the wiimote forward to parry! Hold still to block!"
That is not a translation of wiimote to gameworld sword. That is arbitrary gesture-based mapping. This is a neat gimmick for some things, though I doubt the novelty would last. One thing is certain: it would make a very bland lightsaber game.
Stick to the $40 wal-mart toy.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Sure, any SW title would sell just because it's SW and, sure, it would be in-character for Lucas to do some more merchandising of his franchise. E.g., to sell you some lightsaber-styled Wii controllers for a hefty mark-up.
But that's not what they've actually said. That's really the whole point.
They haven't said "we're intensely excited about the Wii", they've said "we know about it" and "we're looking into it", which is corporate lingo for saying nothing whatsoever. It doesn't mean any commitment, it doesn't mean that a horde of engineers have been assigned to look into designing that controller, it really doesn't mean anything more than "we're not burning this bridge yet". It can just mean that it's in a FYI memo at their merchandising division, or at the bottom of someone's list of possible things to do, or not even that.
It's like Dell yearly "looking into" getting AMD CPUs. It never meant that they actually were excited about them (they were more excited about getting a big discount from Intel) or that they had engineers designing motherboards for Opterons. In fact, in Dell's case it was more of a veiled threat for their negotiations with Intel than anything else.
In the corporate world, neutral phrases like "we're looking into it", or company A's being present at company B's product launch and shaking hands on stage, don't really mean _anything_. You can even get stuff IBM shaking hands and giving canned endorsements at an AMD launch, only to then go and invest 100 million dollars (literally) into their X3 chipset to make Intel computers more competitive with AMD's offerings.
Basically until you see an actual product announcement, simply getting a canned "we're looking into it" means exactly nothing. It's just a more PR-friendly way of saying "no comment."
Yes, we can all argue that Lucas would be stupid not to milk this thing for every penny, but then we're talking our own guesses, and not what was actually said. (And also let's remember that people have argued that Lucas would be stupid to not make a Sam And Max 2, yet that was cancelled.)
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
"...a number of knowing smiles around the room from LucasArts employees, followed by the comments: 'We know' and 'We are looking into it'"
probably translates into a number of executives thinking "Shit, that's a great idea why didn't we think of that?". Thats how you become an executive, knowing what to say.
-- "Can't sleep, clowns will eat me!"
Let's face it, KOTOR was more of a Bioware game than a Lucas Arts game.
If you look at what came before KOTOR, you see a lot more of that stuff being _merchandising_ SW stuff than being concerned with making a good game. And I really mean pure merchandising, not unlike selling t-shirts with Darth Vader's head on them: it's not about making a better t-shirt, it's about milking some cash from SW die-hard fans.
E.g., you see stuff like "Episode 1: Pod Racer", which had less content than some minigames in other games, but OMG! You can pilot the same pod that Anakin piloted! Its _only_ merit was merchandising some of the SW franchise. Or, yeah, SWG which was little more than merchandising SW characters and costumes in an otherwise piss-poorly designed and piss-poorly run game. (Again, not unlike selling t-shirts with that stuff on them: you don't count on people buying those because they're a better t-shirt, but just because it has that stuff printed on it.)
It took someone like Bioware to basically have the balls to step out of the Episode 4 to 6 rut, in fact make sure they get as far from it as they can possibly get away with (a few thousands of years, in fact), and finally be concerned with the game and the story, not with merchandising Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker and the gang.
And if you look at what came _after_ Bioware, KOTOR II again started to move back towards peddling the franchise (WTH is an _Imperial_ Destroyer doing there, thousands of years before the empire?) and Lucas's new revisionist vision of the SW universe.
Now they didn't manage to ruin it too much, so I won't say it's crap or anything. But if you look closely you can see the step back it took. If it still stayed a good game it may well be more because it had to stay a sequel of Bioware's game, than because of being a Lucas game. Maybe in fact because the Old Republic setting prevents it from becoming too much of a Lucas game. At any rate, a lot of its being good still is, indirectly, a Bioware thing rather than a Lucas thing.
So, I don't know, if anything I'd take it as confirmation of his theory, rather than "shooting down" his theory. The fact that for your example of great SW games you had to pick a Bioware game, not a Lucas Arts game, I don't know, says something.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Why is this -1? I think its a reasonable question.
I agree. It's not going to be exactly like real sword fighting but I think it could still be fun. Remember that the nunchaku attachment also has some motion sensing capabilities so you could use a quick jerk to change to a more defensive stance or to jump or whatever. But you do bring up a good point that holding the nunchaku keeps you from really experiencing two-handed light saber fighting. I still think it could be quite fun.
They could just rip-off the engine in Die By The Sword in actual sword movement mode (using the wiimote instead of the mouse) and it'd be fantastic!
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
Don't cross the streams !
Actually, DBTS, a game which I played copiously since I have wanted to play a game with freestyle sword combat for decades now - DBTS had a rather primitive control scheme. Let me explain:
Long ago, a friend and I designed a samurai game, similar to Bushido Blade (another possible Wii title) which was designed to have free-style sword combat. And at that time I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to do sword control on a console controller. Seeing as how I study martial arts sword combat for real, I knew something about how it should look and feel.
The thing about a sword is that you need two pivot points, in essence. You need the point of freedom at the shoulder, and at the wrist, the elbows can be interpolated between them easily. To do this with two analog sticks you could have one analog stick control where the shoulders put the arms, and then the other to control where the tip of the sword went from there. It would have been an awkward system, and took away both sticks for movement, and in the end was untenable.
The Wii-mote is perfect. Lightsaber and sword combat will be owned by the Wii.