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Republic Commando('s head) cameos in Force Unleashed demo
Here's a fun Star Wars nugget that you may not have noticed during your numerous play-throughs of the new Force Unleashed demo. Above a tunnel in the TIE fighter area of the demo you'll find -- the head of Republic Commando's Delta 1138! Eeegah! ... No, no, we're kidding, it's probably just his helmet. Tipster and head hunter SpikeDelight tells us "This is almost surely a hint towards a next-gen sequel to the game," but we're not sure we'd go that far. Still, it's cute, right?
Lucas unleashes Force Unleashed demo to XBLM
Today is the day our Star Wars: The Force Unleashed demo hopes and dreams finally come true. Because today is the day the 904MB Force Unleashed demo releases to the Xbox Live Marketplace for all to enjoy, that is if you're packing enough HDD space and are connected to Live. If both conditions are true for you then you'll be unleashing the force in the TIE Fighter Construction Facility in no time. Give the demo a download and share with us what your gut gaming reaction is.
Hands-on: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Click for high-resolution image. You'll be able to get your hands on a demo of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed this Thursday on PSN. However, we had a chance to get an early look at the upcoming release. As with most every Star Wars game, there's a lot of excitement and anticipation over this upcoming LucasArts project -- in spite of the franchise's notorious legacy of mediocrity. However, fans have rallied for The Force Unleashed, due to its unique interpretation of Force powers, and the dark character that stars in it. Darth Vader's apprentice is, essentially, the Kratos of the Star Wars universe. Dark, brooding, conflicted ... and yet oh-so-powerful. Certainly, the premise has a lot going for it.However, it becomes immediately apparent that The Force Unleashed isn't going to be the definitive Star Wars game that some are hoping it would be. The visuals are rather lackluster, with none of the environments, character models, or special effects looking beyond "par." Of course, it may be because of the demo: restricted to a rather clean, barren Imperial spaceship, there isn't much to see. Perhaps the game's later planetary levels will offer a bit more eye candy. Even the framerate didn't feel smooth -- and the camera seemed annoying, requiring manual adjustment throughout.%Gallery-12716%
See excerpts from The Art and Making of The Force Unleashed
click to Unleash the gallery var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/See_excerpts_from_The_Art_and_Making_of_The_Force_Unleashed'; LucasArts has sent us a rather hefty excerpt from The Art and Making of The Force Unleashed book (itself a whopping 224 pages) that came out this week. We're guessing it doesn't end with a note on the dev team being cut.Click above to peruse the gallery (Protip: Click on the Hi-res button on each gallery page to view a high-resolution version of the image). A demo for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed drops this Thursday, with the full game arriving mid-September.%Gallery-29963%
360 Deals: Toys R Us' Xbox 360 BOGO half off and more [update]
Update: In our deal excitement, we mistakenly informed everyone that Toys R Us was running a buy one get one free sale on all 360 games. Sadly, that isn't the case. It's actually a buy one get another HALF OFF sale. Our apologies, someone will be fired over this ... promise.This week, the usually Xbox 360 deal-lacking Toys R Us stores are holding a pretty solid week long sale where, for their entire 360 catalog, they're holding a Buy 1 Get 1 half off sale. On their entire catalog! That's pretty dandy ... you know, just saying. Next up, at Circuit City, they have GH: Aerosmith (game only) for $50, GHIII (game only) for $40 and are giving away a $10 gift card with purchase of SoulCalibur IV. This week at Best Buy, they have Quake Wars for $40 as well as a pre-order offer for EndWar to receive a beta invite and a pre-order offer to receive Infinite Undiscovery foil packaging. That's it from Best Buy. Finally, Target's one 360 deal is a free The Force Unleashed wall graphic with pre-order. Happy shopping!
Force Unleashed demo attacks the XBLM this week
Just as Lucas Arts promised us back in July, a new Star Wars: The Force Unleashed demo will be released to the Xbox Live Marketplace this week. More specifically, on the morning of Thursday, August 21st. Also as promised, the Force Unleashed demo will include a tutorial mode to master the Force Grip power and a complete level of gameplay set in a TIE Fighter Construction Facility where we're guessing a bunch of objects explode real good. May the force be with you (and also with you).[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
Force Unleashed demo unleashes to XBLM in Aug.
The possibility was discussed months ago and now forceunleashed.org has learned that Lucas Arts' own marketing manager Matt Shell has confirmed that a Star Wars: The Force Unleashed demo will be releasing to the Xbox Live Marketplace sometime next month. Interesting too is mention that the demo will feature a different experience than the game itself, with a remade Tie Fighter Construction Facility, extra force powers unlocked and a special conclusion to the level that isn't seen in the retail version. Force Unleashed, good or bad? We'll give you an answer next month.[Thanks, Mads Klitgaard]
THQ Wireless' Brad Pitser talks to TUAW about iPhone development
I'm here at E3 in Los Angeles all this week (come say hi at the Joystiq meetup tonight if you're in town!). Yesterday, I got to sit down with Brad Pitser, the Director of Global Production for THQ Wireless, a company that makes games for mobile platforms like the iPhone. Pitser has helped oversee two iPhone games so far: De Blob (now on the App Store) and Star Wars' Force Unleashed (coming out later this year -- Joystiq has my impressions of both). He said that developing for the iPhone so far has been "a dream." They've partnered with Apple to publish on the iPhone and iPod touch as much as they can. "Apple was interested in our brands," Pitser said, "and we were interested in their platform."One concern he does have about the App Store so far is the pricing -- "everyone thinks $9.99 is too much," he told me. THQ released De Blob at the $6.99 price point. He says THQ has a lot of licensing fees and costs to pay for every game they make, and when those games compete with software that sells for 99 cents, they don't necessarily have a money-making proposition. But at the same time, he'd rather let the market figure things out -- the App Store has a lot of settling down to do, and Pitser is sure that companies will find their place in the price plan soon enough.I asked him what he thought of what he'd seen in the software that wasn't his, and he said he really enjoyed the iPint visual gag, the UrbanSpoon restaurant finder, and Aurora Feint (all very nice choices). It's great to have a bigger company like THQ interested in getting some good licenses on the iPhone, and hopefully we'll see more come out of Pitser and the division he oversees.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed trailer runs free
LucasArts released a fancy new trailer for The Force Unleashed and, although many of the people who made it aren't working at the company anymore, the empire must march on to get ready for the Sept 16 launch.Feel free to peruse our hands-on impressions of several versions of the game (Wii, PSP/PS2, DS) after you've checked out the trailer featuring -- what we're guessing, by the looks of it -- is the PS3/Xbox 360 version of the title. The Dark Apprentice can be found force powering it up after the break.%Gallery-1662%
Joystiq tries The Force Unleashed on PSP
We're pretty psyched for the PSP version of The Force Unleashed. Why? Well, it looks gorgeous. It also adds tons of PSP-exclusive features, like historical missions. You'll be able to recreate the epic battle between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in Episode V exclusively on PSP, for example. The lack of a second analog stick, according to Joystiq doesn't appear to hinder the game at all. "The PSP game still moved smoothly, and the automatic camera tracked from behind my character, usually providing an effective view of what I needed. In both versions, I felt in control of my aim, throwing the light saber at enemies, or launching other attacks from a distance."Joystiq has a few new images of the PSP version in action in their gallery: Gallery: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PSP)
Joystiq hands-on: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii)
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Star_Wars_The_Force_Unleashed_Wii_Impressions_Unleashed'; For good and bad -- or should I say light and dark -- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for Wii is clearly a Wii game. Side-by-side with the PS3 and 360 versions, the Wii graphics disappoint, and the complexity and frequency of enemies feels scaled back. But the Wii motion controls are regularly interesting, mapping many of the game's controls into gestures. The simplest ones feel great, like punching the Nunchuk forward to do the Force-push.After recently playing late-development versions of all four game editions--360/PS3, Wii, DS, and PS2/PSP--I think the Wii game holds up as well as any of them. I had fun throwing enemies, shooting them with lightning, and hitting them with the lightsaber. And while the Wii holds its own, I'm mildly concerned that the final game could be repetitious, just cutting down waves of attackers. Hopefully the many different attacks, and Wii-specific two-player duel mode, will keep the game interesting.%Gallery-20587%
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed looks impressive on PSP
The PSP version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed looks to be quite a winner. Not only will it have more content than its console brethren, but it's already pulling off some impressive visuals. Look at this new video from IGN to see the bloom lighting, impressive particle effects and spectacular physics engine. This is a portable game? Check out IGN for more details in their preview.
Soulcalibur IV adds one more lightsaber to roster
No, you're not seeing things, and no we haven't made a gargantuan mistake by having a Star Wars: The Force Unleashed pic on a Soulcalibur IV story. It, basically, is the story. For you see, according to Gamespot, not only is Darth Vader making his way into the PS3 version of Soulcalibur IV, but his dark apprentice will be following close behind. However, the apprentice will be the only guest Star Wars character to go multiplatform as both Vader and Yoda will remain console exclusives.It's quite interesting to see all these cross-genre, cross-developer crossovers. Another prominent one is Assassin's Solid. We wonder which two developers will unite and surprise us next.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed demo to be unleashed
Speaking to VideoGamer.com (most straightforward website name evar), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed producer Cameron Suey revealed that a demo for the game is definitely in the works. Suey stated that LucasArts "definitely want to get it out there," noting, "the gameplay itself is so engaging, people who aren't Star Wars fans or who aren't even hardcore gamers, once they get their hands on some of the gameplay and how it works, are really going to be won over by it." Strong words to be sure. No details were given regarding when the demo will actually be available. Presumably, it will arrive shortly before or just after the game launches in September.[Via Joystiq]
How to use the Wii remote in The Force Unleashed duel mode
Oh boy, we're really worried now about the plethora of Wii-itis and other Wii-injuries stories coming in September. We've already written about our hands-on time with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for Wii, specifically the duel mode, but G4TV has a video of LucasArts producer Dan Wasson showing X-Play's Morgan Webb how to use the control scheme in duel mode.To summarize: the game recognizes five different directions -- left, right, up, down and "stab" -- for different lightsaber strikes, while force powers are done with the nunchuk and can be combined for combos. We could easily see how this might get out of hand (literally) in heated multiplayer matches, what with someone getting strangled with the nunchuk wire and another hapless Wii remote sent through a big-screen TV. Help us, Wiimote Glove Kenobi, you're our only hope.
Darth Vader playable in Force Unleashed
Is making Darth Vader a playable character even a bonus anymore? Regardless, we're sure Star Wars fanboys out there will be happy to know that Darth Vader is indeed playable in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Darth is playable in the first level of the game, in which he travels to Kashyyyk and locates the boy that will become his secret apprentice. For those of you keeping score, said secret apprentice is the actual star of the game. Darth Vader comes complete with the Force powers you'd expect, most notably Force choke, which he uses to ... um ... choke people. Check out the video above for the first gameplay footage of the Sith Lord in action.[Via Joystiq]
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on PSP by Sept. 16
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is hitting the PSP this coming September 16. In case you didn't hear about it yesterday over on PS3 Fanboy, Force Unleashed lets players run amok as Darth Vader's secret apprentice. That means feel free to kill any and all younglings your dark heart so desires.The PSP version of Force Unleashed is not being developed by LucasArts but is under the care of Krome Studios. The portable version will also not be featuring the Digital Molecular Matter and Euphoria engines that make the PS3 version so life-like; however, it will include exclusive levels. Expect this title to ship out to Southeast Asia and Australia by Sept. 17, and Europe on Sept. 19.
Force Unleashed launches September 16
LucasArts today announced that the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be arriving on United States shores on September 16, 2008. Southeast Asia and Australia will see the game the next day on September 17, whereas Europe gets the latest Jedi fix on September 19. The Force Unleashed takes place between episodes 3 and 4 of the Star Wars saga and tells the story of Darth Vader's secret apprentice who, among other things, utilizes incredibly strong Force powers and has discovered yet another weird way in which to wield a light saber. The most notable feature of the game thus far is its implementation of physics among its characters and environments.Please note our use of extreme self-control in not resorting to an "unleashed" pun when writing this article.[Via Joystiq] Gallery: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Details Unleashed
Folks have been watching the console version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed because it looks like it's going to be the benchmark for kicking ass with The Force in video games. The DS version hasn't received much focus in the discussion revolving around the game, so little has been said on exactly what DS owners should expect from the handheld title. That is, until now.Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will supposedly employ a third-person perspective when playing the game, much like the console versions, but there will be 2D animated cutscenes instead of the highly-detailed snippets found in the game for consoles. Moving your character around will be handled with the d-pad, while interacting with the game will be handled primarily with the stylus. Also, there will be a multiplayer mode allowing for up to four players to enjoy over wireless, though further details on that are not currently available.Sounds good to us, we hope the control scheme can be pulled off. We'd like to be able to kick ass with The Force outside the comfort of our own home, as well as within in.[Via CVG]
The Force Unleashed for Wii gets exclusive content
While the Nintendo Wii's hardware may be sub par compared to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 – and is unlikely to enjoy the full potential of three physics engines – motion control enthusiasts will be able to enjoy five exclusive levels in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.According to Krome Studios' Ed Tucker (via CVG), "On the Wii we have places where the story veers off and we go and explore something, take the game in a different direction, like the Jedi Temple level." Krome is handling the Wii, PSP and PS2 versions of the title. No mention of exclusive content PS3 and Xbox 360 owners might have.