Star Wars - The Force Unleashed

CVG has the news from the front cover of Game Informer's March edition: the next-gen Star Wars title LucasArts has been working on is called Force Unleashed. Set in the relatively unexplored time period between Episodes III and IV, you'll be taking on the role of a dark side agent assisting Darth Vader to hunt down the remainder of the Jedi. The game will use the much-touted Eurphoria physics engine LucasArts has been working on, and will feature a number of elaborate force-using effects. Highlights from the game may include (spoilers ... feel free to look away ...) a fight with Shaak-Ti in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and assisting Vader in an attempt on the Emperor's life. There's even talk of allowing you to play out 'alternate paths', in which the dark side ultimately wins the Galactic Civil War. No word on a release date, but the game will come primarily to 360 and PC. PSP, PS2, and DS ports are being farmed out to another developer.

Comments

Wow...?

[numbski]

This article has been posted for hours and no one has commented? Glitch?

Didn't have much to say about it, was interested to see what everyone else had to say. Apparently nothing. :P

Re:Wow...?

[robably]

This article has been posted for hours and no one has commented? Glitch?

Uh, we ran into some old friends.

Re:Wow...?

[cHALiTO]

there's something to say about it: PS2 but no Wii?? fuck!
I want it on the Wii!! there was a mock-up video on youtube about what it'd be like to fling clone troopers through walls by swinging your wiimote. I WANT that.

And since we're on the Wii + StarWars subject.. when are they going to release a lightsaber duel game for the wii? I mean, It's clearly what the console was designed for ;) First time i saw it, the first thing that came to my mind was "DAMN! LIGHTSABER FIGHTS!!!". More so when we learned there was a speaker on it. Kinda like my ForceFX replica, except the blade is on the screen and it might actually cut stuff!.. I mean.. what the hell are they waiting for? SW fans have been waiting for this for AGES (there was even a guy who did something to capture a toy lightsaber movement with a webcam and use that as the interface for a duelling game.. sort of.. but I can't find the link :( ).

Re:Wow...?

[MsGeek]

I was under the impression this WOULD be a Wii title as well. Bummer.

Great another

[master_kaos]

Thanks LA, this is what? the 30th star war game you have released? If you want to release Star Wars, fine, but can you also go back to your roots and start re-releasing some of the originals that made your name (Monkey Island, Grim F, Sam & Max).... I know the series would never be the same since most of your creative adventure designers are most likely long gone... but damn I miss them.

Re:Great another

[volsung]

Wish granted: http://www.telltalegames.com/

Re:Great another

[PaganRitual]

No doubt other game stores will stock these but this is the main one I use. Lucasarts ARE releasing a lot of their old games. For dirt cheap too. All AUS$10.

Curse of Monkey Island - http://www.dvdcrave.com.au/products/product.jsp?pi d=21597
Full Throttle - http://www.dvdcrave.com.au/products/product.jsp?pi d=32813
Grim Fandango - http://www.dvdcrave.com.au/products/product.jsp?pi d=6505
Sam & Max - http://www.dvdcrave.com.au/products/product.jsp?pi d=32814
Jedi Knight + Addon - http://www.dvdcrave.com.au/products/product.jsp?pi d=32815
Star Wars Racer (I don't know why either) - http://www.dvdcrave.com.au/products/product.jsp?pi d=7012
The Dig - http://www.dvdcrave.com.au/products/product.jsp?pi d=32817

Re:Great another

[jalefkowit]

There's no need to miss Sam and Max, they've already returned...

No Wii?

[Don_dumb]

Damn you Lucasarts, Star Wars is the perfect game for the Wii, everyone wants to wield their lightsaber, why are you porting this to the DS (albeit through 3-party) rather than the Wii?

On the plus side, it is refreshing to be the bad guys. Just let us Wii owners (there are alot of us, possibly more than you thought would be)

Re:No Wii?

[zyberteq]

Let us hope that there'll be a Wii Exclusive Jedi game this way only wii players will be able to truly wield the Force maybe even Dual Lighsabers! ;)

Re:No Wii?

[dreamchaser]

Truly wield the Force? Show the the game that gives me the power to shoot Force Lightning for real, or jump 10 meters into the air, and I am *so* there!

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

The Wii is only roughly 1.5 to 2 times as powerful as the Gamecube.

I'm sure you can still push decent graphics out of it, but Lucas is a graphics snob, and he will want the best. Regardless this game is real heavy on the use of physics, which requires a top-notch processor, which the Wii does not have.

This is what I feared, the Wii would be very popular early on, but the truth is that good graphics sell. When people initially saw screenshots for Oblivion two years ago, no one believed a console could push out graphics like that, and now people are saying they're mediocre and they expect better.

If the Wii can't continue to meet consumer demands, then developers will turn to more powerful consoles.

Sad, but true. If the Wii will sustain it's initial amazing success, it will be largely based on in-house franchises (Zelda, Mario, Starfox, Metroid, etc).

And I do hope LucasArts makes a lightsaber Wii game, but likely it will be one that isn't so intensive on physics.

Re:No Wii?

[rehtonAesoohC]

I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't want to play a lightsaber game on the Wii. The fact that there is no resistance would drive me nuts... You couldn't really have a great lightsaber battle because you'd swing right through your enemy parrying your attacks, even though your character's lightsaber on screen was blocked.

Re:No Wii?

[MeanderingMind]

I'm sure you can still push decent graphics out of it, but Lucas is a graphics snob, and he will want the best. Regardless this game is real heavy on the use of physics, which requires a top-notch processor, which the Wii does not have.

And so, they're publishing it on the PS2...

As far as I can tell, the real reason why they're hesistant to release this on the Wii is because of all the expectations gamers have of a "1337 l1gh754b3r g4m3". Everyone wants to see the Wii remote used for some sweet lightsaber action, but the nature of it is such that it will require it's own unique control scheme. Given the anticipation, they're much better off making a dedicated game.

The idea that it's a graphic's issue is hilarious when the DS, the PS2 and the PSP, all significantly weaker systems in horsepower, are getting ports.

Re:No Wii?

[maddskillz]

Are you sure you want to be playing with a lightsaber on your wii?
What if someone comes in, records it, then posts it on the internet...boy will you look stupid

Re:No Wii?

[StevoJ]

The Wii IS meeting consumer demands. It's LucasArts that aren't. We want Star Wars on the Wii!

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

They are pushing the PS2, DS and PSP ports out to a different company. Thusly, it will not use the Euphoria (or whatever it's called) engine.

I doubt the Wii can handle the physics in that engine. They could have just outsourced the Wii port to someone else as well, but I imagine they will make a seperate, in-house Wii game down the line.

However, LucasArts also said they only want to release 1-2 Star Wars games a year now, as to not oversaturate the market.

Battlefield was the best selling Star Wars game of all time. You better believe Pandemic is working on a next-gen Battlefield 3 right now. Eventually Bioware or Obsidian will be tapped for KOTOR:3.

You also know they need to crank out expansions for Galaxies, and there are rumors that a new MMO is in the works to replace Galaxies (I hope and pray it is the MMO out of Bioware's new MMO studio in Austin. Austin is also hope to all the ex-Origin staffers who worked on Ultima Online way back in the day).

So when we're going to see the Wii game, I don't know.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

A triple-A title based on a new engine can easily take two-three years of development. If they start on a brand new game for the Wii right this moment, and compare it with the graphics that the PS3 or 360 can put out two to three years down the stretch, it will be silly.

The Wii won't be abandoned, but customer demands will in fact be very different two or three years down the stretch.

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say this physics engine has been two or three years in the making, and is largely the backbone of both the Indy and Star Wars titles we're hearing about. They're officially announcing the game now, and I'd expect a release within a year or so. Knowing their MO, they'll release early and push for Christmas.

Most people have barely had the Wii in their hands for any length of time and are primarily playing Wii Sports. It is selling like mad, but it has been a stead-fast industry rule for the entire history of the gaming industry.

Graphics sell. Games with poor graphics don't sell. Customer's perceptions of what makes good graphics go up every year.

The Wii doesn't look bad in comparison now, but it will eventually.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

That's actually a really good point. I never thought of that.

If the controller had force-feedback, you could simulate at least some resistance of hitting your opponents or their weapon.

I wonder if the PS3 will ever have force-feedback in their controllers. Because of the patent-suit they lost, they will have to invent a new form of force-feedback.

Re:No Wii?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahhhhhhh he made a slightly unflattering comment about the Wii, nooooooooooooo not here on Slashdot!!

The worst aspect of the Wii isn't the technical specifications. It's the fanboys.

Re:No Wii?

[CommunistHamster]

Not to be pedantic, but the star wars game series was Battlefront; Battlefield was the EA games franchise, which coincidentally has some rather good Star Wars mods. Galactic Conquest for BF1942 for example.

Re:No Wii?

[heinousjay]

Graphics sell. Games with poor graphics don't sell.

In your world, maybe. Out here, there are plenty of us who care about the fun factor a hell of a lot more than what the game looks like.

Re:No Wii?

[the dark hero]

the gamecube was still more powerful than the PS2. It was lack of third party support that killed the cube. the wii might not have a huge graphics leap over the last gen consoles like the 360 and PS3 have, but that doesnt mean you can't get great games with awesome graphics out of it. The friggin PS2 and DS are still sellin like hotcakes! Why? awesome games.

when are people going to learn that graphics aren't the end all for games. This generation it just way too expensive just to enjoy these graphics. the PS3 and 360 are great consoles, but not enough people will get the most out of these until well into 2008. until then, why not enjoy plenty of wii titles that let you make "vwoosh* noises and have some fun? Lucas Arts need to quit being prejudice and give us what we want!

Re:No Wii?

[MrNiceguy_KS]

I thought of a solution. In the Wii lightsaber game, you only fight clonetroopers, ewoks, and gungans. No resistance whatsoever, and it will be exactly what Star Wars fans have been wanting.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

Actually, I spend 90% of my time playing retro games.

I'm not speaking of my personal opinion, but rather an industry rule.

It is a simple, cold-hard fact. Games with poor graphics do not sell.

They can be fun, and I prefer good-gameplay over graphics personally. I can't tell you the number of times I've played Fallout, Ultima 7, Planescape, etc. over modern RPGs.

Right this moment I'm running through Shadowrun on the NES, Breath of Fire, and Worlds of Xeen again for nostalgia because modern RPGs are lackluster for the most part.

But we are in the minority. If a game doesn't look good, don't expect it to sell millions of copies.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

Right now both the 360 and PS3 are pretty expensive. And the second the PS2 launched, it took a while for it to take off as well. PS1 sales continued for some time.

People don't drop 10,000 on a high-end plasma because they don't care about graphics. If graphics didn't matter, then console makers wouldn't literally lose money on hardware to push the graphics envelope.

Go to any major games review site, and the first thing you'll read in most any game review is a discussion on the graphics.

A good looking game entices people to take a look. A game with poor graphics can have great-gameplay, but many people may never ever look at it to give it a chance.

That is the cold-hard truth.

Re:No Wii?

[Hoi Polloi]

Thanks for reminding me, I have to download the latest version of MAME WIN32 tonight. :)

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

No, thank you. It is worth correcting. I am merely sleep deprived.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

The funniest line in Star Wars:

"Only Imperial Stormtroopers are this precise."

Though I just realized that in most LucasArts games, you've fought droids quite a bit. LucasArts didn't want the games to be viewed as violent or bloody.

This game should be a big departure in that department.

Re:No Wii?

[pamar]

I practice a martial art (Aikido / Iwama style) that includes staff and sword techniques.

The parent is completely correct. Without some sort of feedback when your weapon strikes your opponent's blade/weapon, this will feel odd, and probably affect the duels quite badly.

Re:No Wii?

[edwdig]

People don't drop 10,000 on a high-end plasma because they don't care about graphics. If graphics didn't matter, then console makers wouldn't literally lose money on hardware to push the graphics envelope.

Yeah, but about 10% of households in the US have HDTVs. When you leave the US, the numbers get lower.

Re:No Wii?

[rnmartinez]

There will be a wii lightsaber game - there was a promo when it was still the revolution, I think the vid is even on youtube. I'm sure its just a matter of time

Re:No Wii?

[Don_dumb]

Are you sure you want to be playing with a lightsaber on your wii?
What if someone comes in, records it, then posts it on the internet...boy will you look stupid A video isn't required to make me look stupid.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

PC sales, console sales, and game sales have always been pushed by graphics.

And we passed the 15% mark in 2005. That was two years ago. Last I saw they predicted over 80% penetration of HDTV in homes by 2010.

I'm looking for current numbers...

"Between 2006 and 2007, HDTV is positioned to jump from roughly 30% to about 50% of all U.S. homes."

http://www.natpe.org/memberresources/natpenews/arc hives/200504/leadstory2.shtml

There you go.

Re:No Wii?

[RogueyWon]

the gamecube was still more powerful than the PS2. It was lack of third party support that killed the cube. the wii might not have a huge graphics leap over the last gen consoles like the 360 and PS3 have, but that doesnt mean you can't get great games with awesome graphics out of it. The friggin PS2 and DS are still sellin like hotcakes! Why? awesome games.

This quote manages to both be technically correct and a spectacular example of missing the point.

It was indeed lack of third party support that killed the Cube. By the same token, it was massive third party support that secured the PS2's overwhelming victory. However, and this is the important point, there is *no* indication that this situation is likely to change during this generation. Moreover, once the novelty value and hype/astroturf that accompanied the release has vanished, the Wii's situation is arguably going to be even more precarious than the Cube's.

Right now, some of the big third party devs are making noises about wanting to support the Wii. Most of them, however, are very light on details of specific titles. Others are making it clear even now that they have no interest in doing so. Given how early in the cycle we are, this is bad. When the Cube launched, pretty much everybody was signed up to making games for it, with drop-outs happening gradually along the way.

Looking at the games actually announced for the Wii, I see a few cross-platform titles (a large proportion of which are shovelware licensed titles), a few party games, and first-party Nintendo games. The N64 and Cube demonstrated amply that the appeal of Nintendo's 1st party games is fairly narrow and as production costs increase, they will struggle to maintain their margin on these. By contrast, Sony are still sitting on exclusives with Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy, as well as preferrential relationships with the Metal Gear Solid people. Sure, right now, the PS3 is over-priced and only has 1 game worth playing, but this *will* change. By the same token, the 360 has a pretty decent selection of games already, and is, for the first time, starting to make headway in the Japanese market, both in terms of selling units over there and getting Japanese developers signed up for exclusives.

when are people going to learn that graphics aren't the end all for games

To a large extent, though, graphics *do* matter. As others have noted, it's the best looking games that top the sales charts. Just watch how the Madden games do it each year, with little justification for each new release other than better graphics than the last one.

More importantly, graphical standards get driven up all the time. I remember the first time I played the original Wing Commander, back when it was newly released. It was jaw-dropping. Look at it today and it's a pixellated mess. By the same token, look at the PS2 launch-titles, some of which were quite impressive in their day. Now that we're used to Farcry, Gears of War and Resistance: Fall of Man, they look absolutely hideous. If the Wii's technology really is as lacking as it seems to be, then by 2009 or so, it's going to be more or less finished as a contender.

Re:No Wii?

[AbsoluteXyro]

That really doesn't explain why there's a PS2 port in the works, and not a Wii port.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

Sure it does. This game's focus is the physics engine. Will that port well to the PS2, PSP or DS? Not really. So they outsource those. Why then avoid the Wii? Because if you're going to put something on the Wii, you really do need to design around the controller. It isn't just a novelty, it is a new way of gaming.

You really need a separate game with the Wii in mind.

Re:No Wii?

[lazyl]

You should have an open mind instead of declaring that you wouldn't want to play a game that doesn't exist yet because of imagined problems with a control scheme that doesn't exist yet.

I've studied fencing and I believe that even without resistance, if the game could properly recognize and translate the basic forms for thrusts, slashes, parries, and feints then it would work perfectly fine. It wouldn't even need to be completely free form, just have four different types of each for the four quadrants of your (or your opponent's) torso. To be complete though they would need both clockwise and counter-clockwise parries and feints, and slashes in a couple different directions, but I think they could still get away with not being completely free form.

So even without resistance I think it would work. Not to mention that in real life you're supposed to execute the forms the exact same regardless of resistance anyway; the resistance just helps your reflexes to choose the next form. But the game wouldn't be as fast as real life so that's not as critical. Plus it's not entirely reflex anyway; it's mental as well. You have to decide before hand what your set of possible next moves will be depending on how your opponent reacts. And sometimes you just have to guess your best next move, either because you know your reflexes won't be fast enough to react, or because you want to respond so quickly that he won't be able to react himself. That can all still work without resistance from the controller. In truth, the skills needed would be basically the exact same as those needed for a traditional fighter like Tekken.

Re:No Wii?

[lazyl]

I guess my ideas do come primarily from a fencing background. Fencing doesn't usually involve any large sweeping attacks that threaten to cleave your opponent in two, which are what you're probably thinking about. I suppose other sword fighting styles that do have such attacks might be a bit harder to execute without controller resistance. But I still say it's best to keep an open mind until we get a chance to play the actual games.

Re:No Wii?

[the dark hero]

I totally get the point, but what i really want to argue is that these ultra high-end graphics aren't that necessary. I can think of various games from past generations that have high quality graphics and continue to be enjoyable.

Vagrant Story

Resident Evil 4

Shadow of the Colossus

FFXII

Smash Bros: Melee

Zelda: Twilight Princess

I guess you just need to excuse my fanboyism. Perhaps its only wishful thinking that people will look past ultra realistic graphics.

Re:No Wii?

[CronoCloud]

Correct, but the parent could be somewhat excused for confusing them, they're very similar. In fact the first time I read about BF2142's game modes I thought, "hey looks like they borrowed some ideas from SWBF2"

Re:No Wii?

[servognome]

Show the the game that gives me the power to shoot Force Lightning for real

Just play any game on a Dell Laptop.

Re:No Wii?

[G-funk]

What I'd love to see on Wii is another Jedi Knight game. And not that atrocity that was Jedi Academy, a nice single-player-focused sequel to DF, JK, and JKII. Those games were badass!

Re:No Wii?

[AbsoluteXyro]

Not really. It is more than possible to create a port with tacked-on Wii controls. Just look at Mortal Kombat. Hell, Zelda is a Gamecube port with tacked-on Wii controls. Simply substitute button presses with motions, and viola.

Re:No Wii?

[KDR_11k]

Graphics sell. Games with poor graphics don't sell. Customer's perceptions of what makes good graphics go up every year.

Bull. Games can sell well without great graphics if they got other things right. Would you call The Sims, GTA or Animal Crossing a pinnacle of graphics? Hell, games don't need to do anything right except for marketing, look at Enter The Matrix.

Re:No Wii?

[Shabadage]

The Wii is only 1.5 to 2 times more "powerful" (The WORST term EVER BTW) than the game cube, which puts it at about 2 - 2.5x more "powerful" than the Ps2; which this is apparently being ported to (Unless that's a typo, but with the horrible PS3 sales, I wouldn't be surprised if they snubbed the Ps3 this time around and decided to do the Ps2 route.)

Are we also forgettting that Havok 3.0 also comes BUILT-IN to the Wii? No one gives it enough credit; true, it's not overpowered (I also need to remind you that just dialing up the quality to Hi-Def requires roughly 4 times the processing power that non hi def needs; not all that power is "for the games", alot of it is completely unusable to the developer, per se [can't be utilized by the dev as it's pre ordained for something else.]) But it's not 3 LED's hooked up to 2 AA's either. I STILL don't get why people think the Wii is only as "powerful" as a crappy toaster.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

The XBox wasn't even 2.5 times as powerful as the PS2, and the Gamecube wasn't either.

Blind fanbois don't impress me.

Try using some facts next time.

And the PS3 is literally about 23 times as powerful as the PS2.

I just tried Google searches for Wii and Havoc, and Wii and Havoc 3.0

Nothing. So I tried the technical specs on Nintendo's site, and then Havoc's site. Nothing.

I did find an article on how the Unreal 3.0 engine will never come to the Wii, because the Wii isn't powerful enough to run it.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

You have no clue what you're talking about. The Sims was released Feb 04, 2000

That makes the game seven years old. Now compare it to graphics of other games seven years old.

The graphics were rated an 8 on average by most reviewers.

GTA was hailed as having absolutely incredible graphics for the time in which it was released, and Vice City is one of the best looking games ever on the PS2.

Honestly, I never played Animal Crossing and I can't comment on it, but you brought up some really bad examples.

Re:No Wii?

[KDR_11k]

The Sims kept selling long after its graphics were outdated. If graphics were so important the sales would have dropped to near zero within six months.

GTA looks bad even for a renderware game. There's nothing pretty about it. Certainly nowhere close to being the prettiest game on the system.

Animal Crossing was a port of an N64 game. As you'd expect its graphics are about on par for the N64. Except it was released on the Gamecube.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

Actually people complained that the Sims started to appear dated, and so they jumped to a nicer looking engine.

And even though it meant leaving behind all the work people had done on their Sim creations, people spent money and jumped to The Sims 2, because graphics trump all.

I spend a good portion of my time talking to professional game developers. Try telling that that graphics don't equate directly to sales or a lack of sales, and you'll get laughed at.

As for Vice City, it averaged 9.6 in reviews, and most professional reviewers heralded how good the game looked. It is an older game today, released for last generation's consoles. It is easy to criticize the graphics today, but regardless, it was one of the better looking titles that pushed the absolute limits of the PS2 technology.

You still really have absolutely no clue what you're talking about.

Re:No Wii?

[Shabadage]

http://www.clubskill.com/News/3423/Wii_set_to_caus e_Havok_in_the_gaming_world http://www.digg.com/gaming_news/Nintendo_Wii_@_1.1 Ghz_NOT_750Mhz You must be using a broken internet or something, this is from page 1 of my google search. Or maybe it's because you misspelled HAVOK. Either way. Your "Stats" for the Xbox, Ps2, and GC are laughable as well. The Ps2 was the underdog in terms of power in the last generation. Deal with it; it's what happens when there's a delay of a year between competeing consoles. Obviously it didn't hurt as the PS2 easily kicked everyone elses ass in sales.

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

2 terraflops equates almost directly to 23 times the power of the PS2. Those are facts.

The Unreal 3 Engine won't run on the Wii because it lacks the basic power to run it. Those are facts.

And you still have no clue what you're talking about. Havok is being used in some Wii titles. Try reading your own links.

The Wii doesn't come with Havok built in.

Don't try to talk shit when you have no clue what you're talking about it.

Re:No Wii?

[Shabadage]

MIDDLEWARE my friend. Anyone who wants to use Havok on the Wii can, because Nintendo liscensed it as MIDDLEWARE. It's there, all you have to do is turn it on. No additional cost to the devs because it's part of the dev kit.

If that isn't built in, then I don't know what it is (Besides a physical physics co-processor, but we're still a year off from that.)

Re:No Wii?

[Enderandrew]

The article he linked specifically stated that it was licensed for 15 specific titles.

Saying that it is built into the console means that it is built into the console, not that a dozen or so titles have it licensed.

What?

[Ryan Monster]

No Wii port?

Re:What?

[Anonymous Coward]

I seriously doubt that the Wii-mote is actually anything like precise enough to give us a proper lightsaber duelling game of the callibre that people are expecting, on the basis of the evidence I've seen from the launch titles. I suspect that once the impact of the Nintendo hype/astroturf campaign for the Wii starts to fade, we may see more widespread acknowledgement of this.

Plus there's the fact that TFA seems to imply that this will be a PC/360/PS3 game. If this is the case, then frankly, the Wii just might not be powerful enough to cope with it, without an extensive and expensive trimming-down process during porting. The PS2, the runt of its generation, only managed to get so many cross-platform ports because of its vast installed base. Without that kind of base for the Wii, it's inevitable that it's going to be omitted from many cross-platform titles, especially as the power-gap between the Wii and the 360/PS3 seems, if anything, to be wider than the gap between the PS2 and the Xbox/Cube.

Of course, the slashdot summary also mentions a PS2 port (as well as handheld versions, which won't, I suspect, be direct ports). If this is the case, then a Wii port is perhaps more likely further down the line.

Re:What?

[MeanderingMind]

Firstly, how was the PS2 the runt of its generation? Are you referring to its somewhat lesser graphical capabilities? You do realize that anything that wasn't a system exclusive on the other systems eventually made its way onto the PS2, even AAA titles such as Resident Evil 4, not to mention a lot of titles were developed specifically for the PS2 and never ported to the others.

Secondly, what's the point in claiming the Wii might not have the power to cope with it when you follow it up with mention of the PS2 port?

Lastly, most gamers I've seen who are concerned about lightsaber dueling on the Wii are not concerned as much with the accuracy as they are with the issues of resistance. Specifically, there is none. If your lightsaber collides with another, you're still swinging even though the on screen character is now locked saber against saber.

It's entirely possible to make arguments against the Wii, which seems to be your MO. However, if you're going to do so there are far better arguments than those you're using.

Re:What?

[Anonymous Coward]

My point was exactly that. The PS2 *was* the runt of its generation precisely because of its limited horsepower next to the Xbox and Gamecube. However, it got ports of pretty much every non-exclusive game, for the plain and simple reason that it had an installed base that made both of the other systems added together look puny.

The Wii is now the runt of the new generation. If anything, its technological disadvantage seems to be even more severe than that of the PS2 in the previous generation. The Wii does *not* have a vast installed base - despite some ok initial sales, it remains to be seen how long this will be sustained - and developers looking to port games to the Wii will need to weigh up the costs and risks appropriately.

I know a few people who work in games development and back in the last generation, porting to the PS2 was often considered a major (and expensive) grind. A lot of the fancy, flashy effects you could do on the other two machines would need to go and you'd need to make lower poly versions of a lot of your models, with lower res textures, which still looked reasonable. This is actually *much* harder than you might imagine. The pay-off came when your PS2 version went on to outsell the other versions by a margin of 3 to 1. How many developers are going to go to that trouble for the Wii?

PS2-exclusive development was always strong and frankly, I'd say the best looking games of the last generation were for the PS2 (Gran Turismo 4, Final Fantasy 12 and Kingdom Hearts 2). However, again, there was a big incentive to spend a lot of money on development due to the potential profits from the installed base.

Moving onto the controller, I've really not been impressed by the precision I've seen so far. In Zelda, the "swordfighting" essentially just uses the Wii-mote motion sensors as a direct equivalent for a normal controller button. Rayman Raving Rabbids is marginally better and makes slightly better use of the tilt functions of the controller, but it still spends a large proportion of the game relying either on imprecise shaking or using the controller as a light-gun. The closest analogy to what you'd need for lightsaber combat comes from Wii-Sports Baseball, where the position of the bat before you swing does at least seem to map reasonably well to the controller, but even this gets very easily confused and seems to lose the ability to cope whatsoever once rapid movements come into play - the moment you make your swing, you're back in "direct equivalent to a controller button" territory.

As for the lack of resistance - yes, you're absolutely right. This is another killer argument against the existence of a Wii lightsaber game that will come even vaguely close to meeting the current stupid expectations.

Re:What?

[Ricken]

Speaking of Wii and lightsabers I just got the best idea!
Whaddaya say they make a kindof addon-sword to attach to the current Wii-mote, of course this still wouldn't work singleplayer, but you might get some nasty multiplayer with a couple of those things! ...or one could just go out into the woods with a couple of sticks.

Re:What?

[MeanderingMind]

The way things are looking currently, developers are having no problem porting or developing games for the Wii. This may be due to the lack of HD assets they need to create and tweak, or simply the ease of development as the hardware isn't radically different from their previous offering.

Concerning your controller argument, it seems less about precision and more directed at the lack of games that use the remote as anything but a replacement for hitting buttons. The best thing to do would be to rent/buy Warioware and put the remote through its paces, and see how precision affects the mini-games there.

Personally, the only argument of the lot that seems to be more than speculation is the "killer" one I brought up, which only affects games of an uncreated genre. What happened with the PS2 is something to be considered, but there are too many differences between the two systems for an argument by induction to work. Speculation is fun, but it needs to honor the fact that the position the PS2 was in is vastly different the position the Wii is in.

Re:What?

[RogueyWon]

No, the grandparent AC is right.

There are currently very strong signs, of which this story is one, that developers *are* hesitating to port games to the Wii. Sure, it's by no means universal and you can find counter-examples, but the simple fact is that more or less every cross-platform game scheduled for the Wii is a shovelware movie-license. These have never been made on cutting edge technology and most of them, for now, are still essentially last-gen games in every respect. Moreover, as we saw with the John Carmack story the other week, and as we are likely seeing in this case, the Wii's lack of horsepower is a key factor in this. Once the current generation is more firmly established and its standards have become the norm, even the current trickle of cross-platform titles is likely to dry up.

If the Wii doesn't have a PS2-scale installed base by this point to make it worth sinking megabucks into exclusives for it (and I'd say it has about a year from now), then it's dead in the water.

I've played Warioware. I actually found it less impressive than Rayman Raving Rabbids. Ironic that the only Wii game to have even come close to impressing me so far was a third party offering.

OOhh! oohhh!

[Kieranties]

They should make a more extensive lego collection from their previous games Lego Grim Fandango and Lego Monkey Island. Now theres an idea!

PC And PS3 Confirmed, But 360?

[Anonymous Coward]

The pc and ps3 and other platforms have been confirmed but I am pretty sure that 360 version was dropped some time ago.

Well now...

[navygeek]

I have to say, even as a minor SW geek, I'm intrigued by this. I like the idea of being a 'bad guy' from the outset, that isn't something you see a lot of in games - usually the game is setup so you play as the hero.

I remember wishing, back in the day when I used to watch cartoons like GI Joe, Transformers, and Thundercats - I believe this was last Thursday, that the bad guys would win one - if only to mix things up a bit.

I like being given a choice to be good or evil, a la the Knights of the Old Republic series, but sometimes it's just so much more fun to be straight up evil. The idea alone has me wanting to see/hear more - if the game play lives up to the theory, I may even buy this 350,001st Star Wars title.

That said, I do agree that seeing some of the older lines brought back to life would be wonderful. Guybrush Threepwood for Emperor.

Re:Well now...

[Rude Turnip]

"I like the idea of being a 'bad guy' from the outset,..."

Hmm, thinking in terms of absolutes? That's Sith-thinking right there, sounds like you're well on your way!

Re:Well now...

[navygeek]

Excellent... Everything is proceeding as I have forseen...

Re:Well now...

[PoderOmega]

I feel the same way, and this is probably one of several reasons why I enjoyed Tie Fighter so much.

Re:Well now...

[tygerstripes]

Guybrush Threepwood for Emperor? But he fights like a cow!

Re:Well now...

[Firefly1]

I remember wishing, back in the day when I used to watch cartoons like GI Joe, Transformers, and Thundercats - I believe this was last Thursday, that the bad guys would win one - if only to mix things up a bit.

I never followed Thundercats that closely, but I believe 'Worlds Without End' - a two-part episode involving a paralell universe - should at least partially sate that why-can't-Cobra-carry-the-day-for-once? hankering. To this day, I still would not mind seeing how said paralell world got the way it was.
As far as Transformers, I think the episode you'd want is 'Transport to Oblivion' - another two-parter wherein the Decepticons pull off an impressive frame-up job.

I've had trouble...

[Enderandrew]

Getting the story to load so that I can comment.

I'm shocked that Lucas of all people would allow a game that caters to the Dark Side fan-base so much.

I'm light-side for life, but my wife's panties will no doubt get wet when she sees this.

Re:I've had trouble...

[Gulthek]

Tie Fighter.

Re:I've had trouble...

[Nasarius]

Yes indeed. One of my favorite games of all time. I miss the X-Wing series of games. Why aren't they making any more?

Re:I've had trouble...

[Enderandrew]

From your link:

"Despite playing on the side of the Star Wars saga's "bad guys", the player's role is somewhat sympathetic, not only because he lives in fear under the shadow of Darth Vader and other unforgiving superiors, but also because the game's portrayal of the Empire--dictated, of course, by the player's superiors--focuses on its role as a guardian of order."

Even with Bounty Hunter, you played the villian in a somewhat good-guy role, hunting down other bad guys.

And for the record, we need a next-gen X-Wing/TIE game with all the ships from the EU and all six movies.

I'd pay $100 for a game like that, and I'm not kidding.

http://www.xwingalliance.net/

There are plenty of mods out there for X-Wing Alliance, BTW.

Re:I've had trouble...

[drinkypoo]

I'm light-side for life, but my wife's panties will no doubt get wet when she sees this.

If any of us had any doubts about your ability to attract women before this comment, we have none now.

Re:I've had trouble...

[General_Crespin]

Check out the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project for some unbelievable upgraded models.

Re:I've had trouble...

[Enderandrew]

I've always been a big Star Wars fan, but my wife is the one who is a member of the Fan Force and spends every night in a Star Wars RPG.

Re:I've had trouble...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Despite playing on the side of the Star Wars saga's "bad guys", the player's role is somewhat sympathetic, not only because he lives in fear under the shadow of Darth Vader and other unforgiving superiors, but also because the game's portrayal of the Empire--dictated, of course, by the player's superiors--focuses on its role as a guardian of order."

That's Wikipedia editorial, which is about as reliable as what some bloke said down the pub.

The game involves killing scores of Rebels, joining the Secret Order of the Emperor, and protecting the life of the single most evil being in the Star Wars universe. The fact that the player's character may not be fully aware that he's doing evil deeds doesn't alter the fact that the player is aware that the Empire is evil.

The original Jedi Knight also lets the player choose the Dark Side - you have the option of slaughtering civilians and taking Dark Side force powers, which will lead to you murdering your loyal companion in cold blood and setting yourself up as a new Emperor. No redemption possible. (The "canon" ending is obviously the Light Side one, but that's not the point.)

In short, it's fair to say that Lucas has permitted a number of titles to pander to the Dark Side market. :)

Re:I've had trouble...

[Firefly1]

And for the record, we need a next-gen X-Wing/TIE game with all the ships from the EU and all six movies.

I agree wholeheartedly, and have quite a few ideas for this game...
First, engine. I'm not sure anyone's topped Freespace 2, so that'd be a good basis.
Yes, we want the unfolding campaign(s); bonus points for branching missions, as well as success or failure in a given mission (or optional objective therein - see Tiberian Sun), or choice of mission branch, affecting subsequent missions (Ace Combat X does this). Hypothetical example: a mission tasks you with reconnoitering a space station's defenses. If you do so without being spotted, a later mission entailing the actual attack is somewhat easier (fewer fighters initially 'airborne', and so on).
Next: cooperative play. Aside from the specially-written set-piece missions, why not allow us to replay any mission we've completed with our friends? Heck, this also represents the perfect vehicle for team-vs-team objective-based play...
Now, with respect to the multiplayer scenarios - whether cooperative or adversarial - they can borrow some pages from the Ace Combat and Need for Speed families. Specifically: you start your 'career' with your choice of basic craft (Z-95 or TIE Fighter, for instance); everything else you'd have to work for. In many cases, it's a matter of accruing enough 'requisition points' (for lack of a better term); for others, satisfying certain criteria (example: passing a challenge mission requiring you to defeat Vader and his wingmen in a close time limit gives you the Dark Lord's unique TIE as a prize).
In addition to various craft, there would also be an assortment of upgrades to consider. Examples include passive stealth (see also: F-117, B-2, storm commandos), SLAM ('afterburners'), and fast-cycling cannon.

Re:I've had trouble...

[KDR_11k]

Heh, that reminds me of Star Crusader, an old, Wing Commander-esque game with a heavily branching plot (you could even become a traitor, fight for the other side and kill all your former friends), some recon missions with a stealth craft where you constantly had to watch your EM noise level (and indeed including scanning an enemy space station) and "unlock" new ships by either gathering ressources with your secondary units (you could send a second group of pilots on a separate mission that included ressource gathering or even a second chance at completing your mission) or just capturing one. It didn't even make a mission fail automatically if you leave in the middle (or had to use an escape pod because your ship exploded), there was always a good chance that your wingmen would complete it without you. There's a lot of stuff in this game that I haven't seen in any game after it.

It's being developed for the 360 and PS3,

[Anonymous Coward]

not the PC. That's worse news to me than the lack of support for the Wii.

360 and PS3, not PC

[rayde]

it should be pointed out that TFA mentions this game will be developed in-house for Xbox 360 and PS3, but makes no mention of PC (which the summary erroneously stated).

Re:360 and PS3, not PC

[Nasarius]

Strange. How many LucasArts Star Wars games have been console-only? I can only think of that horrible fighting game. While the summary is clearly wrong, it seems unlikely that this won't make it to PC.

Re:360 and PS3, not PC

[Anonymous Coward]

Rogue Squadron 2 and 3 were Gamecube only. There are probably others, I can't say I follow Star Wars games very closely...

full article text

[0232793]

to save u the trouble:

The first details of LucasArts' PS3 and Xbox 360 Star Wars project have finally emerged, from the latest issue of US mag Game Informer.

It's called Star Wars: Force Unleashed and takes place between Episode III and Episode IV, when new Sith on the block Darth Vader is out to wipe the galaxy clean of runaway Jedi.

As Vader's apprentice, you're on a secret mission to dive head-first into the forbidden Dark Side of the force, take out the emperor and rule the galaxy as master and apprentice. Awww.

Xbox 360 and PS3 versions are being developed in-house at Lucasarts, while PS2, PSP and DS duties have been outsourced to another, unnamed developer.

Advertisement:
George Lucas reportedly has a lot of input in the project, and even helped design some of the characters.

Force Unleashed uses LucasArts' much-touted Eurphoria engine, which calculates environmental damage such as smashing crates in real-time. One given example of the tech is how a tree will either break in two or splinter realistically depending on how you hit it. Likewise, steel will dent appropriately when damaged your fancy Force powers.

And speaking of Force powers, many of the world-bending tricks from the E3 tech demo are present in Force Unleashed, including the "cannon ball"-like force push, with controls presented in a similar vein to the excellent Psi-Ops.

One scene reportedly has you battling Jedi Knight Shaak Ti in the Jedi Temple, after the galaxy-wide order to exterminate of the Jedi. There's also the suggestion of being able to control your own pack of Rancors, the gigantic beasties that Jabba the Hutt likes to keep under his gaff.

But we all know how Star Wars ends so it's going to be a very predictable cock-up for Vadar's Palpatine-trouncing plans, right? LucasArts promises to shake up the Star Wars lore with alternate endings in Unleashed, where the bad guys really can win.

We'll bring you more details - and hopefully media - as it arrives. Where's the Wii version though? Perfect for the Wii Remote...

Re:full article text

[drinkypoo]

Advertisement: George Lucas reportedly has a lot of input in the project, and even helped design some of the characters.

That's not an advertisement, it's a warning, much like that blue oval on the front and sometimes back of many American cars.

Re:full article text

[Anonymous Coward]

Force Unleashed uses LucasArts' much-touted Eurphoria engine, which calculates environmental damage such as smashing crates in real-time.

Wow, this is incredible news! My biggest complaint about the game industry is scripted crate-smashing, I feel like it completely kills any sense of immersion that the game has created. I can't tell you how many times I've been doing a little crate-smashing in my back yard and thought "If only there was a video game that could accurately simulate this experience, then my life would be complete". Thank you, George Lucas!

Vader attacks Palpatine?

[MeanderingMind]

Am I the only one who finds the idea that Vader attempts to kill Palpatine before Return of the Jedi ludicrous and out of character?

Well... not that anything else that happened in 1-3 was in character...

Re:Vader attacks Palpatine?

[dooms13]

That doesn't seem that out of character to me. I mean if you think about it the Sith are all about the apprentice trying to over take the master. If he fails that could be the reason he never thinks of trying to over take the emperor again until Return of the Jedi.

Re:Vader attacks Palpatine?

[Katmando911]

This isn't talking about killing the Emperor and restoring the Republic, it's about power.

What sith wouldn't want to kill their master and take over? It's totally in character.

Re:Vader attacks Palpatine?

[SanityInAnarchy]

Why is it ludicrous and out of character? Vader's violent and out of control, no reason he wouldn't try to kill his master and be #1 -- in fact, that's basically what he wanted to do with Luke, if you remember. How can he "rule the Galaxy as father and son" if Palpatine's in the way?

Regardless, this isn't the first time they've tried this. Play through the Episode III videogame, and check out the alternate ending if you play as Annakin. (Spoiler: Annakin does not become robo-Vader (since he wins the fight with Obi-Wan), returns to his master Palpatine and kills him easily.) Indeed, if Obi-Wan hadn't burned away most of Annie's body, he'd be much more terrifying as Vader -- which does provide an explanation for how much worse a fighter Vader is in Episodes IV-VI.

Re:Vader attacks Palpatine?

[Anonymous Coward]

If the Death Star hadn't been destroyed in Episode 4, it would have completely destroyed the Rebellion. Perhaps when the article mentions alternate endings, they're going to have "What if" scenarios like that -- and in that case, I could see Vader turning on Palpatine and trying to take control of the Empire once the Rebellion's been dealt with ... or Palpatine trying to have Vader killed and Vader retaliating.

Re:Vader attacks Palpatine?

[Snappy (the Gamer)]

Vader conspiring to kill Palpatine is easy to conceive. (see Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader book)

Him somehow being allowed to live if the attempt failed is somewhat harder.

SWG

[theMerovingian]

From TFA: There's also the suggestion of being able to control your own pack of Rancors, the gigantic beasties that Jabba the Hutt likes to keep under his gaff.

Take heart, fellow Creature Handlers!

Re:SWG

[navygeek]

Amen brotherman (or sistergirl as the case may be)! Go tell it on the mountain...or at least some forums.

CH was my favorite profession in SWG. Sure I wasn't the most uberleetyeah nerd on the block, but it was fun running around with my three bio-engineered Rancors. If you've never seen a height-maxed Wookiee carrying a T-21 rifle dancing with three Rancors in step behind me - well then my friend, you simply haven't lived... (or you got a LOT more sun than I did during the year and a half I played SWG).

Probably a protection mission

[Alzheimers]

It says "Assist Vader in an attempt on the Emperor's Life." I'm guessing you're assisting him to *protect* the Emperor from the assassins, not playing the role yourself. That would be more in character with the story ... until, well...

Maybe you're spotting Vader lifting weights?

Re:Probably a protection mission

[Hoi Polloi]

Maybe Vader saves the Emperor by putting him on a strict low chloresterol diet and regular exercise?

"You play Vader the Nutritionist in this exciting, and educational, Lucas Games release!"

Re:Probably a protection mission

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds plausible. They've already run this scenario once before, in the venerable TIE Fighter. The final mission of the original, pre-expansions game had you flying a TIE Defender on Vader's wing as he flew to the Emperor's rescue against Zaarin's kidnap plot.

Ah... good times.

Lucasarts...Please get it right...

[Ukyo]

There will be no greater disappointment than a Wii game that uses the Star Wars license and totally reeks on the gameplay side. I rather see the game development take some time and get it correctly on the execution, than a hastily put together game that tries to cash in on the license. Again.

Not that THAT has ever happened before on a Star Wars game. On a Nintendo platform. Or any other platform.

Finally!

[tygerstripes]

ANY opportunity to throttle Jar-Jar with a force-grip before taking off his f*cking head with one good swipe is, in my opinion, very welcome and long overdue...

X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter

[goten]

Am I the only one out here who wishes LucasArts would just bring back the X-Wing series with some updated graphics? No change in gameplay at all, but some nice new shiny models.

Try MMOG Re:X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter

[CrazyJim1]

MMOG X-Wing vs Tie Fighter. You have to do some missions for rebels/imperial for money before you can go out on your own as a merc. Or maybe it would be funny for you to steal your first vehicle. Once in space, you can run missions to earn more money to buy bigger and badder ships, or extra ships to accompany your fleet: See Star Destroyer for an escort. Finally you get a team of your friends together, and you take on large battles for big money or rebel/imperial control of star systems. It wouldn't be hard to get it right.

Re:Try MMOG Re:X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter

[Astat1ne]

There is/was a mod for Freelancer called Freeworlds which allowed this sort of gameplay. There's still a few servers around that run it.

Euphoria-physics-engine

[MrCopilot]

For the uninitiated.

http://www.videosift.com/video/Euphoria-physics-en gine-GC-2006-demo

Looking Good.

Re:A Linux native version?

[SanityInAnarchy]

"Other game developers" means mostly indie stuff (Darwinia, Uplink, Lugaru, etc) and id software, with a few random things (Neverwinter Nights, ut2004). The vast majority of games do not have native Linux ports.

I mean, I do wish they did a native Linux verison. In fact, with most of the Jedi games (using the Quake 3 engine), it would've been a simple recompile. Then again, the Quake3 engine does REALLY well under Wine (better than native Windows), so I guess it's not all bad...

And by the way, the game+Linux DVD has been tried before, but they couldn't market the concept to anyone. One big problem with that is that on a console, you have the native console kernel/BIOS available for drivers, and even if you roll your own, the hardware is all identical. However, on a desktop, a bootable game makes no sense, because it's a hassle to reboot, and you can't then do driver updates. Plus, it makes patching and savegames kind of difficult, unless you assume one giant NTFS partition on the hard drive, which means the Linux bootable DVD wouldn't play nice with actual Linux installations...

It does mean you're immune to spyware, I suppose. But, for many Windows users, it's better to clean out the spyware and have all your games run faster than have to reboot for one of them in order to have just the one run faster.

Re:Enough Already!

[Anonymous Coward]

> I am so tired of all these stupid Star Wars games.

If they make you tired, perhaps you shouldn't play them.

No Force Feedback OH PALEEEZE

[Anonymous Coward]

Keep seeing comments from people who obviously don't have a wii, saying stuff like "it'l feel weird with no feedback, parrying, etc." Hello play wii sports lately? super Swing Golf Lately? Trophy fishing Lately? Hmmm thought not. You quickly get over any "force feedback" you "think" you might have to use to play a game. If you have a wii and play tennis, golf, boxing, etc. you know what i mean. Plus for those of you who are talking all the bs there is feedback and a rumble pack AND speaker ON the wii controlers, so not only will you "feel" a hit (albeit not the full force of a actual sword hit, but name one game that DOES! :P) you can also "hear" the "ching!" of the swords as they clang together.

So stop with the bs talk you know nothings.

Re:No Force Feedback OH PALEEEZE

[RogueyWon]

You miss the point entirely. I do have a Wii (waste of £200 that it was) and the grandparent is absolutely right. What he is talking about is not the lack of force feedback, it is the lack of resistance.

Just think about what happens when you swing your lightsaber, in this theoretical game, at your opponent and he parries. On the screen, he catches your blade with his and, to all intents and purposes, it stops moving. In the living room, meanwhile, there is no such physical impediment for you to encounter. Your momentum carries through your swing, even if the Wii-mote gives you a buzz of force-feedback. The result is that you are now positioned completely differently to your on-screen avatar. Even if the game has some code to tell it what to do when this happens (which would be difficult - probably impossible - to implement to everybody's satisfaction), the illusion of being in an actual lightsaber duel is lost. With eps 4-6 style "slow" duels, this is bad enough. The moment you try to simulate an eps 1-3 style fast-moving duel this way, the whole thing becomes a soggy mess.

Re:No Force Feedback OH PALEEEZE

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but a lightsaber slides right through everything apart from other sabers. So the game can focus on cutting up enemies who are using guns and other weapons and it would be perfect. A chainsaw game would work pretty well too.

You don't need duels to have a lightsaber based game.

Still waiting for Wii-enabled light saber duels

[WillAffleckUW]

And breaking the wrist strap confinement of my everyday life as my Wii-mote hums with cascading force-field contained light energy ...

Re:No Wii? Or Why the Wiimote is with you ...

[WillAffleckUW]

I agree, but let's hope it's not just online play, but one where you can fight light saber and laser pistol duels with your friends, even split up into Dark and Light side Force battles ...

No, the cat does not "got my tongue."

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

PLEASE don't pull a KoToR II lamer by making us "Jedi" from the start (which is good) but keeping us from getting a light saber for 1/3 the game. Someone needs a slap!

And please make the light sabers power-uppable with crystals and whatnot like KoToR. That, too, is sweet.

Re:Enough Already!

[hartek451]

How could I rant about how bad they are if I hadn't spent hours playing them. 'I hate this. Just another couple of hours, then I quit...'

All the other games got it right

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh! You're so right. Because all the other lightsaber games are TOTALLY realistic!!

No one wants to play something that's not realistic. Pushing buttons and using a directional pad is obviously the more realistic way to go!! This is why GTA is so popular! It's really just like killing cops and beating up whores!

Re:All the other games got it right

[RogueyWon]

No game to date has really done lightsaber combat perfectly. However, there's a significant difference in terms of the instinctive expectations that go with traditional controllers (mouse+keyboard, or gamepad) and the Wii-mote.

With Jedi Knight 2, which had, to my mind, the best implementation of a lightsaber I'd seen to date, the rules were fairly simple. Primary and secondary fire for different types of stroke, combined with directional movements, to give a basic armament of lightsaber moves. Within this framework, limited though it was, I could control how my on-screen avatar fought with reasonable precision. Any reasonably well designed set of controls should become instinctive for a player fairly quickly.

With the Wii-mote, the disconnect becomes more serious. To a large extent, it looks and feels like I am holding an actual lightsaber. My instincts therefore have a specific set of expectations regarding what the outcome of each move I make will be. When in the real world, I do an overhead swing downwards, but my on-screen avatar is blocked even before the blade passes below eye-level, the disconnect is much, much more significant than when I just get blocked after pressing a key on a controller.

The end result would be depressingly predictable; with the heavy penalty that would automatically be applied on large sweeping motions, battles would almost certainly be about people holding the Wii-mote within a relatively narrow field in front of them and twitching it about in a deeply spastic manner, in the hope of compensating for the disconnect through sheer number of swings.

About time

[pissedoffamerican]

I hope this is more or less the next Jedi Knight game. (Though I guess they'll have to call it Sith Knight, or Apprentice). It's been far too long since I was able to run around and slaughter things with the Force and my Lightsaber(s). Don't get me wrong, the KOTOR games were great, but not as visceral as the Jedi Knight series.

Whatever happened to playing the Good Guy?

[DJ_Adequate]

Ummm, as a kid I always wanted to be a Jedi. I didn't spend any time at all pretending I got to hunt down and kill all of the remaining good guys in the universe. Lucas appears determined to undermine any love I had for his world and series, by somehow wanting me to cheer for, not against, Vader and the dark side.

Watch me be right!

[iMySti]

I think its pretty clear what will happen at the end of the game, your character dies. Theres no way around it, being Vader's apprentice (playing Dark-side) you can't live because he has no apprentice in episodes IV-VI. If you choose to be a Jedi (playing Light-side) you can't live because the only one who does is Kenobi, and if they won't let you play Vader they're certainly not gonna let you have Old Benny-Boy! Come release time I'll be proven right.

Official website

[chlo310]

http://www.lucasarts.com/games/theforceunleashed/

They have some good looking concept art there, but I'd like to see in-game stills.
Also, this looks interesting:

Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) by Pixelux Entertainment

What is DMM? DMM -- exclusive to LucasArts for any game releases through September 2008 -- brings an unprecedented level of realism to the new generation of consoles by making completely interactive environments that react as they would in real life. From crumbling walls to shattering glass and even swaying organic plant life, in-game objects have material properties that behave realistically all in real time and without using a single frame of animation.

Re:Enough Already!

[ShadowsHawk]

Blazing Angels for the Wii comes out in two weeks. Not sure if it will be great, but it looks very entertaining.