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Former LucasArts vets at Fearless Studios announce webOS game for HP TouchPad
Former Star Wars: The Force Unleashed producer Haden Blackman left LucasArts last July, and then announced his new outfit, going by the moniker Fearless Studios, in October. And now, nearly a year after waving goodbye to The House that Skywalker Built, Blackman is ready to pull back the curtain just a little bit. "A little hint about what Fearless Studios is working on," Blackman tweeted today, linking out to a press release for HP's webOS mobile platform. Wait, what? Yup, the duo of Blackman and former director of engineering at LucasArts Cedrick Collomb announced that Fearless is setting up shop on HP's struggling webOS platform. "Working with HP and the webOS ecosystem has been fantastic," Blackman said. "It's a perfect fit with our core values as a company – creative risks mitigated by smart technology choices. Because the platform is so accessible and developer-friendly, we've been able to build the game we want to build." Wondering exactly what webOS product that dream game is going to be on? Collomb added, "We love the TouchPad and the webOS platform for game development." The TouchPad (which starts at $500) will be available in just over a week's time on July 1, at which point we're hoping we hear more about Fearless' first project. For more on Fearless, and their overall strategy, read our interview with Blackman here.
Fearless Studios formed by LucasArts vets Haden Blackman, Cedrick Collomb
After 13 years with the same company, it's hard to characterize Haden Blackman's departure from LucasArts earlier this year as "sudden." But being at the creative helm of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 at the time – a major sequel to a major product that Blackman also led – certainly made it unexpected. Now, less than three months after leaving the studio that Skywalker built, Blackman is back with partner Cedrick Collomb (the lead engineer on Force Unleashed and, afterwards, director of engineering at LucasArts) to unveil Fearless Studios, the latest high-profile, creator-led independent studio. I'm a big horror buff, and we've got a couple concepts we're exploring in that vein.- Haden Blackman "I've always wanted to run my own development studio," Blackman told Joystiq earlier this week. "It's been something that I've been thinking about for the last five or six years and have entertained a few other times in the past and this seemed like the right time. I had a great time playing in someone else's sandbox for the last twelve years but now I really want to see if I could build my own. Star Wars is arguably the most recognizable and powerful IP in the entire world and I was extremely fortunate to get to explore that universe." Operating outside of the confines of Lucas' Death Star-shaped sandbox, Blackman says, "At least in the short term, we want to remain independent and build the games that we want to build the way we want to build them and with the people we want to work with." To that end, the fledgling studio already has "six different concepts" in the works. "They range from big action games similar to what we've done in the past with things like Force Unleashed, to hardcore horror. I'm a big horror buff, and we've got a couple concepts we're exploring in that vein." One description that Blackman consistently uses to define the types of projects Fearless is working on is "story-driven."
Today will be a day long remembered: Haden Blackman resigns from LucasArts
13-year LucasArts vet Haden Blackman, the writer and producer on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and creative force behind Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 and Star Wars: Galaxies, has resigned today, IGN reports. "I've had a fantastic time working with the team at Lucasfilm and am really grateful for their ongoing support," Blackman said. "While the decision to leave LucasArts did not happen overnight or come easily, I really feel that now is the best time for me to move on and explore new creative challenges and I look forward to the next phase of my career." "Oh, sure, Joystiq," you might say, "go with a Star Wars joke as the headline. Real original." Well, look, we spent all freakin' day down at Toshii Station because Luke had to have this one power converter -- no, this one wasn't good enough, it's gotta be that one -- so excuse us if we're a bit off our game ... uh, this is kinda getting weird. If you wanna join us in pouring one out for our departed comrade, we'll be down at the local hive of scum and villainy.
Preview: The Force Unleashed 2 at Comic-Con
During the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Comic-Con panel, LucasArts producer Haden Blackman led a gameplay preview for the assembled crowd, showing off some new elements of the sequel which again stars fallen Vader apprentice Starkiller. The demonstration built on last month's E3 preview, with plenty more scenes of messy Stormtrooper cleanup -- it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it. As he showed troopers sliced, diced and Forcefully obliterated, Blackman noted that the development team has worked to diversify enemy AI. Player feedback from the first game criticized the different types of enemies for all acting the same, so LucasArts has created separate AI behavior for almost all of the enemies in the sequel. Of course, this also goes for the new enemies, of which Blackman introduced a giant walker equipped with a shield and a Carbonite gun. To defeat the menace, Starkiller must first use his Force power to rip off the shield, and then take on the vulnerable walker while dodging its freeze ray blasts. %Gallery-95704%
Star Wars: The graphic novel unleashed
We love Star Wars as much as the next geek, so we found the news about a graphic novel of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed to be only a good thing. It's set to come out this summer, which means it will be released before the game. We suppose if you're worried about spoilers, then you should probably avoid it for a while. If you want a heads-up on the storyline of the upcoming Wii title, though, the book will probably be useful. There will be a regular novel available, too, for those who prefer straight-up words; but, as you probably know, those are neither as nerdy nor as fun. The novel is set to be written by Sean William, who's been on the best-seller list of the New York Times before, while the graphic novel will be the work of Haden Blackman. As you might have guessed, the story involves something about the Jedi, Vader, and the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance. Sounds good to us.[Via GoNintendo]
