force-unleashed
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Behind the Mask: The Force Unleashed
Now that The Old Republic has hit the shelves, it seems like everyone has something to say about it. Cryptic seems to acknowledge it in its own unusual way: by lampshading it. Enter the Unleashed, Champions Online's newest free archetype. No, you're not misreading me here; the Unleashed is not a gold archetype. If you make an account right now, you can play the Unleashed from the moment you enter the character select screen, without spending a dime. Since it's the ninth free archetype, you'd think that he'd be a stable, bread-and-butter class. However, the Unleashed is nothing but. His wackiness approaches the Impulse, but where the Impulse is kind of ineffectual, the Unleashed is deadly efficient. Interested in a sword-wielding knight who slings force blasts? Hit the jump and we'll see what Cryptic's take on a Jedi can do.
Force Unleashed Avatar gear unleashed on XBLM
Comm scan has detected that new Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Avatar items are now available on Xbox Live Marketplace. Yes, even more Star Wars stuff for your digital self. Normally, we would scoff at things like this, but hey ... there's a Stormtrooper outfit. Oh sure, you could get a clone trooper outfit before, but why waste money on that when the obviously superior Stormtrooper armor is available? Check out the full collection of gear, including the Starkiller lightsaber, on Xbox Live Marketplace.
Xbox 'Deal of the Week' is old Force Unleashed mission
After new achievements were discovered for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, it's no surprise that the marketing machine is ramping up again for the game. Major Nelson notes that this week's "deal" on Xbox Live's marketplace is the "Jedi Temple Mission Pack" for 400 ($5). That's half off the normal price and is available only to gold members.The pack, which was originally released last December, follows The Apprentice as he searches through the rubble of the Jedi Temple to learn more about his father. The pack also comes with three new outfits made out of ... well, we never did find out what happened to those Bothans.
New Force Unleashed achievements discovered
We bet you thought you were done with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Well you just hold on a minute buster, it looks like LucasArts still wants to milk a few more Microsoft Points out of you before they've had their fill. We say that because a new batch of achievements have been discovered for the game on Xbox.com (full list at X360A).What's particularly interesting about these achievements is that most of them relate to characters made famous after the events that take place in Force Unleashed. There are achievements for defeating Boba Fett, Jabba's Rancor, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The interesting part about the third one is that you have to defeat Obi-Wan before and after he dies. From the sound of things, there's some new DLC on the way that takes place during A New Hope. It also seems like it tasks players with taking up the role of Darth Vader, or perhaps it will introduce an alternate history involving his secret apprentice.LucasArts will be at the San Diego Comic-Con next week -- with plenty of announcements to make -- so we probably won't have to keep guessing for long.[Thanks, Brandon!]
The Force Unleashed spread thin sells 5.7m units
The Force Unleashed may have sold 5.7 million units worldwide, but let's take a look at the substance of that figure. Gamasutra notes that the global total is made up of all the various platforms the title was available on. The list includes all major consoles, handhelds, iPod Touch, iPhone, N-Gage (for realz?!) and other mobile devices.Despite the varying quality of Force Unleashed on all platforms, the competent next-gen offerings were a hit right out of the space hanger. Although the gameplay may not have been stellar, the story certainly captured people's attention, as the title went on to recently win a Writers Guild award for game writing.
Force Unleashed grips Writers Guild video game award
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has been awarded the second annual video game writing award by The Writers Guild of America. The title bested Fallout 3, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 and Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! Before complaining about your favorite game not even being nominated, it's worth noting that the award is only open to WGA members.Congratulations to Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey on the award. They crafted a fine story that fit into the Star Wars universe and arguably bested any of the "prequels."
Cue the groaning: Writers Guild announces video game nominations
The Writers Guild of America has announced five nominees for best video game writing in 2008. This will be the Guild's second year giving out the award, with last year's nod going to Dead Head Fred. Hmm, well, this year's nominees are certainly an interesting group and are sure to generate some conversation about what constitutes good writing in a game ... provided said game was written by an eligible WGA member, that is. Fallout 3 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Tomb Raider: Underworld Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! Although most of those titles are instantly recognizable, Dangerous High School Girls is an indie title that's (clearly) gaining some recognition. Are you betting on the dark horse? The winner will be announced Feb. 7.[Via Big Download]
Star Wars: The Wii Mod Unleashed
We just had a thought: with Wii supplies potentially catching up with demand, we may see a Wii modding boom. After all, there's slightly less danger to modding a Wii if it is possible to find another one -- and some people may not have been able to find even one Wii to accidentally gouge or splatter.This Star Wars mod adds fiber-optic stars, a plexiglass logo and a hand-painted space combat scene to an aftermarket black Wii case -- with, of course, the standard slot light alteration. As a certain Star Wars character might say, "GRRRRAAARRRGGGHHHHH!" (That's the Chewbacca noise, which we've never tried to transcribe before.)If you somehow still love Star Wars after all it's been through, you can follow modder BeerBellyJoe's Instructable, or just buy the thing on eBay, with 15% of the purchase price going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It even includes a copy of The Force Unleashed! BeerBellyJoe is also responsible for a totally great Mario mod from earlier this year, as well as the must-see Hulk system.%Gallery-39353%[Via GoNintendo]
Force Unleashed, Vigilante 8, GRID get new DLC
Now that the rush of video game releases has receded, you can finally focus on putting your money where it really belongs: On smaller pieces of video games. New downloadable content is now available on the 360 for Force Unleashed, GRID and Vigilante 8: Arcade.We're far too broke to even think about picking some of these up, but what about you, team? By the way, we'd expect to see at least some of this on PSN today. We'll let you know.[Via X3F] The Force Unleashed Character Pack 2 - 400 The Force Unleashed Jedi Temple Mission Pack - 800 GRID 8-Ball Pack - 800 Vigilante 8: Arcade High Octane Pack - 320
Madden tramples Wii Fit in Q3 global sales
The Top Global Markets sales data from NPD, Chart-Track and Enterbrain (via GameDaily) reveals that Madden NFL 09 blitzed the global charts to become the best selling game in the third quarter of '08 (that's July to September). Trailing Madden were Wii Fit and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Also, showing that the franchise still has some Pikachu-charged power behind it, Pokémon Platinum battled in fourth place with 1.4 million units sold, despite being only available in Japan. Mario Kart Wii rounded out the top five.Certainly the most interesting question about the sales figures is: Where would Wii Fit be if it was actually meeting demand? Madden's sales were (obviously) US heavy, while Wii Fit had a regional sales spread based on Wii's install base. Find the full sales figures after the break.
Force Unleashed unleashes 1.5 million copies
For all the controversy, mixed reviews and internal firings, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a sales success! According to Lucas Arts, Force Unleashed moved 1.5 million units worldwide in its first week of sales, making it the fastest selling Star Wars game ever. EVER! Though, one has to be sure to note that the 1.5 million number takes into account the game's sales on all platforms. We guess a decent demo can help a game's sales after all.
Force Unleashed sells 1.5 million units in a week
Sure, many Bothans developers lost their lives jobs, but The Force Unleashed has gone on to sell 1.5 million units worldwide in less than a week, making it the fastest-selling Star Wars game of all time. The figures are based on the first five days of sales across all platforms the game is available on. LucasArts states it shipped more than 4.3 million copies of the game globally, but the demand now requires more units to be manufactured.Although reviews of the game have been fairly mixed, strong initial sales seem to have been foretold by the game's record-setting demo downloads and, uh, book sales.
Metareview -- The Force Unleashed (360, PS3)
The reviews are in for The Force Unleashed, and though the title promises unparalleled Force-based action, it seems that most of the praise being heaped on the game is for its story and how well it nails Lucas' universe. That doesn't mean that the Force is wrong with this one, though (we've been waiting for months to use that). The consensus is that throwing wookies about like Congenital Generalized Hypertrichosis-stricken Ken dolls is a never-ending font of fun. Eurogamer (70/100): "It gets an extra point, then, from this Star Wars obsessive for the story and the mostly magnificent recreation of the universe. As a fan you will want to experience what The Force Unleashed has to offer. It's just a shame that while there are occasional moments of brilliance when everything falls into place, they're not quite enough to back up the game's delusions of grandeur." Game Informer (88/100): "The Force Unleashed isn't the ultimate Star Wars game - KOTOR is still king in my book. But, as advertised, it amplifies this mystical power in new ways to delivers exciting gameplay and unforgettable Star Wars moments. It'll leave you wanting more, but take my word for it, it's worth playing just to see Vader Force-throw wookiees." Giant Bomb (60/100): "Overall, the story is the main thing that I'll remember about The Force Unleashed--I found it to be more satisfying than the last three movies combined. ... That said, it's unfortunate that the game isn't a bit more even, because the constant flips from too easy to too hard really drag things down and prevent The Force Unleashed from being great. But even with its lengthy list of caveats, The Force Unleashed is still one of the best Star Wars games to be released in quite some time." 1UP (C):"A more appropriate name would've been Star Wars: The Force Mildly Contained -- rarely does the Force truly feel like the ultimate weapon, something that separates you (Darth Vader's not-so-secret apprentice) from the rabble of stormtroopers, Rodians, and Felucians."
Shipping this week: Rock Band 2 Unleashed edition
The big releases are starting to drip out as the industry steadily ramps up for yet another packed holiday season. This week, the Xbox 360 plays host to some decent titles including the likes of Rock Band 2, Pure, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. On top of those, we've also got Armored Core: For Answer and ... um ... Battle Fantasia. To our disappointment, we have learned that Battle Fantasia is not a fighting game about the Disney movie Fantasia. It's a shame, really, because we were ready to throw down with some tutu-wearing hippos.[Via Joystiq]
Weekly Deals: Gears PC $15 and free tees galore
Update: Toys R Us has their own Force Unleashed offer, giving away a $20 gift card with an in-store purchase of the game. (Thanks Jonathan)We're trying something different this week with our analysis of the week's best gaming deals. We're going to present them in one, long, run-on sentence that may or may not be readable. So, here we go ...There's a free t-shirt with a Force Unleashed purchase at Best Buy and over at Circuit City they have a free t-shirt and $5 gift card with Force Unleashed, free t-shirt with Rock Band 2, 10% off all Rock Band accessories, Gears PC for $15, $5 off a 12-month Xbox Live subscription, and $10 off a wireless adapter which, again, are ALL deals at Circuit City with absolutely nothing going on at Target this week. PHEW! Deep breath and now it's time to pass out on the kitchen floor.
Force Unleashed demo breaks Marketplace record
Harnessing its force-like powers, Lucas Arts is gloating that the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed demo that released to the XBLM last month, broke a prestigious Marketplace record. Specifically, Lucas Arts claims that the Force Unleashed demo was downloaded 1 million times off the Marketplace in an eight day period, which would be a day quicker than the previous demo record holder Too Human. With demo downloads like that, The Force Unleashed should easily eclipse 5 million copies at retail ... HA!
Game Crazy's Force Unleashed midnight launch cosplay parties
Game Crazy stores will be holding Star Wars costume parties next Monday between 8PM-1AM to celebrate the midnight launch of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Those in attendance voted to have the best costumes by a jury of their peers will be able to play the game starting at 10PM at the store, before it officially goes on sale at midnight. The person voted to have the best costume will win "one of 750 limited edition" Force Unleashed dolls action figures.Those who don't want to get dressed up now know where to buy the game at midnight if they're so inclined.
Deals: Free MS points with 360 purchase, $15 games and more
It's time to page through the weekly retail adds to uncover a few special Xbox 360 deals. And just in case you forgot, all Xbox 360 consoles have seen a price cut where Arcades are $199, 60GB Pros are $299 and 120GB Elites are $399. If you're going to take advantage of the new price cut, we advise heading over to Circuit City where they'll toss in a free 1600 Microsoft point card with any console purchase. They're also selling GRAW2, Saints Row and Dead Rising for $15 and giving away a free tshirt and $10 gift card with the purchase of Force Unleashed. Sadly, neither Best Buy or Target have any 360 deals worth mentioning. Then again, who needs 'em anyway? Happy spending!
Producer takes us through the PSP version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Download to PSP LucasArts has always been a strong supporter of the PSP, and the effort they're placing into the upcoming PSP version really shows. Anyone who's played the PS3 demo will find this level awfully familiar: it looks like the PSP version makes no significant sacrifices. Physics, destructible environments, and large hordes of enemies are all present in the PSP version. In fact, there's exclusive content on the PSP version you won't even find on the consoles. How's that for love?
Joystiq Podcast 063 - S.N.A.X. edition
We've finally harnessed the power of our combined snacking knowledge to create a regular, completely non-game related segment on it. Oh, sure we're still talking about video games like Force Unleashed, Too Human and S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but snacks (S.N.A.X.?) really steal the show. Thanks to Evan Minto, Jordan Wasilka and Max Varenik of the JPAG for the trifecta of photochopping greatness. Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3) [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [Digg] Like the show? Digg it. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy Music: "Get Ready for Love" by Nick Cave, "Red Eye" by Ben Kweller For fans: Joystiq Podcast Facebook group See all of this week's links after the jump.