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LucasArts Reaffirms Commitment to All Consoles
dud83 writes to mention an article on IGN, in which LucasArts confirms they'll be making games for the Wii, in addition to their already announced titles for the PS3 and 360. From the article: "During the Q&A session, a younger gamer took the microphone and asked if the company would be showing support for the newest motion-controlled Nintendo console. Sansweet's responded simply by stating the likeness between the Wii controller and a lightsaber, followed by a statement that LucasArts would be supporting every next generation system."
That's great news, but what about its commitment to the fans/consumer?
... only to disappoint me time and time again with bland console games and repackaged computer games in the new millennium.
I don't know about the rest of you but games like Tie Fighter, The Dig & Dark Forces won me over long ago
They could seriously concentrate on their fans before worrying about which console they're going to choose to support.
My work here is dung.
A light saber dualing game would be the ultimate on Wii. They really really need to make it.
Just imagine the wii controller in you hand. The speaker humming that lightsaber hum, the rumble as you parry your opponent. Tendrils of the force squeezing your trachea shut. . . hmmm maybe that's too much immersion. I still can't wait though, I'll buy a wii for this game alone.
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
Both the Wii and PS3 have solid support within LucasArts, however the abysmal sales of the 360 are really making people question just how much support there should be after November.
The 360 needs to start selling above the first Xbox for it to have a chance of getting more than token support from LucasArts. The 360 desperately needs a price cut now to at least get most former Xbox owners to buy the console.
That's wonderful. Now if only they would commit themselves to making some great adventure games again. Like a "Sam & Max" sequel, maybe?
(BTW, whatever happened to the Sam & Max comic? Is it ever going to be updated?)
It doesn't even need a story, just give us a character with a lightsaber and let us go to town. Imagine the thrill of moving your arm and actually hearing the "VOOM FWOOM" sounds coming out of the Wiimote! Then doing various parries, blocks, and cutting Darth Maul in half. Add in having light saber battles with someone over WiiConnect or a network, and you have a great game. We can all be the Star Wars Kid!
Including the Phantom?
Everyone keeps commenting about how they want a lightsaber fight with the Wii without actually thinking about how poorly that would be implimented.
How would you possibly simulate a sword clash? Eventually the two light sabers will touch, but you cannot possibly simulate that with a Wii controller. There would have to be a great deal of hydrolics in any system that could simulate your lightsaber actually making contact with something other than air.
This new controller could be a great addition to a number of new gaming ideas, but a sword battle is not one of them.
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-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
> Sansweet's responded simply by stating the likeness between the Wii controller and a lightsaber,
> followed by a statement that LucasArts would be supporting every next generation system."
You know, he could have responded much more simply if he'd just said "yes". What is it with these business people that they can't just speak clearly?
Maybe the next would be either of the KOTORs or Rogue Squadrons as each were very fun and engaging. It's just too bad that the Rogue Squadrons didn't include multiplayer modes.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Enough with Battlefront, bring back the Jedi! Jedi Academy (the last Knights game) was great, I really wish they would start it up again.
Dude, there's these things called speakers, built into the wand. They make the sounds.
When your lightsaber hits, the sound changes. And continued motion just gets translated into "push" force.
So, in practice, it's more like Episode I, with light sabers twirled to build up momentum.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
plus you could probably do something with the vibration motors inside the wand.
------- Oh damn.... the Sigfile escaped... -Great OM
LucasArts makes some really great games... and a lot of really bad ones. I'm hoping the crappy ones pay for the good ones or something like that. I'm really happy to see they're staying multi-platform, the last thing we need is another major developer sticking to one or two consoles. You can't really blame Nintendo but any company that doesn't make a console is fair game in my book. Wii-only games, PS3 only games, XBOX 360 only games, and PS3/XBOX 360 only games are going to hurt everyone. While it's true that the different consoles have different abilities and some games are going to be exclusive simply because they take advantage of that I'm sick of seeing deals between Sony / Microsoft / Nintendo and developers - they usually just lead to less sales for the game developer.
Though I can't say this is any sort of news because anyone who has ever played a Star Wars game has to know that the Wii controller screams LIGHTSABER!!!
Haiku for you!
Sensable (http://www.sensable.com/) already has a great set of controllers, but they are currently super expensive (thousands of $$).
Novint (http://www.novint.com/) is claiming they'll have a controller out next year in the sub $100 range which is comparable to existing industry haptics devices. If Nintendo licenses the hell out of this technology, it's possible for the price to drop even further.
Briefly, haptics is the study of the sensation of touch, google for more info.
Outside of Sony and Microsoft, has any publisher of console video games gone on record as saying they are not going to support the Wii?
END COMMUNICATION
I think I have figured it out, now all I need is 15 million dollars, can I get some donations.
First problem, you need to set the lightsaber in relation to the characters orientation... This would be the most difficult part, this is because depending on how the character is oriented, the animations of moving his arms would need to change. As an example, let's say your character is running on a wall, and you would like him to swipe down at an enemy that is physically below him, but oriented to his left. You need to make a desision, does the saber link directly to your remote, or does it move relative to your character? I think the best way is to have the saber move relative to your character. I also think that it is very reasonable, to allow the possibility of cutting yourself with your own saber, this way you don't have to have your character do unrealistic things to account for this. Be carefull where you point that damn thing.
Second, how does the saber do damage, point based, or cut through? I think that the answer is pretty simple. Some enemies don't have saber resistance, some do. The hardest part will be to realistically take a cut through an enemy, and have the damage done look right. If you cut through the legs, you don't want storm troopers to fall to the ground and have their head roll off... I mean, come on, this isn't the 90's. This system doesn't need to be perfect, it is just important that certain strike areas take into account the force with which you hit them, which needs to include direction, which is an easy vector formula. This would be nothing for advanced game consoles like the Wii.
Third, How do you deal with parried lightsaber movements without giving up so much realism that the game is actually less fun and realistic than games like Jedi Knight 2? Well first bear in mind, we don't need force feedback. In fact, force feedback would suck, and would likely result in injuries, don't know about you guys, but I don't want a game that I could break my wrist while playing...
Well, this is where some of the interesting parts come into play. first there will be a limit to how fast you can swing. Or how fast you can accelerate the light-saber. The player will have to figure this out through experience, and the result of screwing up and overswinging by too much will result in a penalty, most likely a dropped saber. This has some big advantages, the most obvious is it gets rid of the advantage that 8 year old kids are going to get when they just randomly swing as fast as they can in every single direction... As soon as you start to try an "cheese" the system, you drop your saber, luckily, you can use the force to get it back, but in the middle of a duel, this will be the break a controlled player needs to take the fight.
Parries will incorporate a similar system, when you saber is struck, depending on the vectors of the two sabers that meet, they will bounce back, causing your player to be somewhat staggered (doesn't need to actually have footing staggered, just have the saber bounce back a little bit). You then need to move your Wii remote back to where it has stopped to regain control. If you had your saber nailed out of the way, this could take a little longer, if it was just blocked, it will only require moving your wrist back a few inches.
The most important part of implementing these systems is to take away the possibility of completely cheating the system by simply swinging much harder faster and wilder, while still taking into account speed, and acceleration.
Unfortunately, I fear what the same company that has been shitting on the action game industry since JK2 will do is not as good as what I just described... But we can dream, can't we?
You take it, I don't want it...
You mean like this?
http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax
http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=35697