The Force Unleashed Makes Top September’s NDP Charts…

I guess The Force Unleashed isn’t quite as bad as some people make it out to be as it came out on top of the National Purchase Diary charts for the most sold video game for September.

“According to 1UP.com, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was the most-purchased videogame in the United States for the month of September! Each month, the NPD (National Purchase Diary) releases the top items purchased in many different categories. This month, TFU took three of the top ten slots, totaling 1,158,000 units sold (darn, 20,000 units too many)!

September 2008 Software Sales (US only)

1. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (360) — 610,000
2. Wii Fit (Wii) — 518,00
3. Rock Band 2 (360) — 363,000
4. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) — 353,000
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3) — 325,000
6. Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (360) — 297,000
7. Wii Play (Wii) — 243,000
8. Madden NFL 09 (360) — 224,000
9. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii) — 223,000
10. Madden NFL 09 (PS2) — 158,000

This is great! TFU is an amazing game, and deserves this. Just think what the numbers would have been if the game had been released at the beginning of the month, instead of the middle!

Note: While most stores submit their sales data to NPD, some do not. NPD uses a group of experts who are able to closely estimate the sales data for missing stores. NPD only covers stores in the United States. Worldwide TFU sales are much higher.”

Source: TheForce.net

A Few Updates On Force Unleashed Game Glitches…

As we wait patiently for LucasArts to give us something, a patch, some news or something that will help ease some of our pain and sorrow towards some of the glitches we’ve been having. There has been some news, multiple people have contacted LucasArts on the, “Default Text Glitch”, which seems to be the majority of The Force Unleashed owners (mostly on the XBOX 360 version). This was LucasArts response:

“This is a problem we are currently investigating”

I guess it is a little re-assuring that they are looking into it, although they seem to be taking their time. I noticed that even on their official support forums, there is a plethera of questions, that have no answers, or for that matter any response at all, which is kind of strange, at least they could do is add a courteous reply of, “we’re working on it”.

A fan did email Microsoft on the issue of loading problems, which they actually replied with some kind of solution, whether or not it will work for you or not, but it never hurts to try:

I emailed Microsoft about the issue some of us have been having with the game refusing to load up after downloading updates for other games. The “clearing the cache” option is the same as the one posted earlier on a separate post, and it worked for me, but it looks like there are a few other options. I heard that this clearing thing didn’t work for some people, though so maybe this will help. Here is a copy of their response, and I hope that it helps people.

Thank you for contacting Microsoft online support for XBOX! I am Martin and I will be helping you today with this issue.

As I understand it, after your Xbox 360 performs an auto-update, you cannot play a specific game or sign in to Xbox LIVE for that game.

I know how disappointing it is to have issues playing a game after an update. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you. Please be assured that I will do my best to help you resolve the issue.

This behavior occurs if the auto-update is corrupted. This corruption can occur because of line noise, because the download was interrupted, or for other reasons.

Here are some things that you can try to resolve the issue or to determine what the cause is. If you are unable to get the issue resolved by yourself, please contact Xbox Customer Support at the number indicated below.

To work around this behavior, you need to remove the potentially corrupted game auto-updates.
Important! You will have to re-download any previously downloaded game updates, as these steps will remove these updates as well. ”

In the meantime check out a great review of Metal Gear Solid 4 – Guns of the Patriots (Amazing game) Via: Testfreaks!

Other than that, there hasn’t been a peep from Microsoft regarding these issues. We’ll stay on top of it though, so check back frequently and don’t forget about our free Force Unleashed Prima Guide givaway! Check out more info on the main page and in our forums!

Force Unleashed: Downloadable Content Update…

Some new information pertaining to The Force Unleashed downloadable content has been posted by MTV.com (Via: TheForce.net).

“I spoke with “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” project lead Haden Blackman late last week about the game’s newly-announced autumn downloadable content of new player characters and a bonus Jedi Temple level.

A few things came up that hadn’t made the press release that I believe are important for gamers to know, since they show how LucasArts is handling its DLC differently than many other publishers and developers:

The New Level Stands Alone: Players will access the new Jedi Temple level through the game’s main menu and will not be able to use the character they controlled in the campaign. To compensate, the developers are giving players a pool of Force points, so they can spec a new character just for the extra mission. (This is a different approach than the one taken by BioWare, which required players to proceed a couple of hours into “Mass Effect” before being able to visit the new planets introduced in that game’s “Bring Down the Sky” DLC pack.)

The Game’s New Level Is Actually New: As publishers and developers have embraced the idea of DLC, we’ve also seen them embrace the idea of faking DLC by locking content on the discs we buy and charging people to download a key to access that content. That approach merely creates the illusion that new content is being downloaded after a game’s release, when it’s really being unlocked on something that shipped weeks earlier. Thankfully, that’s not the case with the new “Star Wars” Jedi Temple level being offered to Xbox 360 and PS3 owners. Blackman told me: “We waited until we were in submission [to the console manufacturers] on the core product…then we had the conversation internally about whether it made sense to downloadable content.”

That means that not only is the Jedi Temple level not already on gamers’ discs, but that it was designed in mid-Summer with the benefit of knowledge gained by making the full “Force Unleashed” game. “As we went through the development process on ‘The Force Unleashed’ we learned a lot of things, as we do with all games,” Blackman said. And were able to apply those to the Jedi Temple [level].” He said the team is actually trying “new things” with the Jedi Temple level. “We knew the two or three we want to try with something like this.”

Despite what you’ve heard, you haven’t seen the level before. The Jedi Temple level is not featured in “The Force Unleashed” novel or comic book. It’s also not the same as the Jedi Temple level in the Krome-developed PS2, PSP and Wii versions. It was one of three locations considered for a DLC level. An idea that almost made the cut was the Coruscant Senate Chamber. Throwing all those chairs would have been fun, Blackman noted. He described the new level as “highly destructive, very iconic and fun to build.”

The New Characters Are Skins: The announced DLC of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker and other characters — as well as bonus Dark Apprentice costumes — are all going to be skins for the existing player-protagonist. So when you play as Luke, he’ll hold his lightsaber the way the Dark Apprentice does. He’ll animate like the Dark Apprentice.

No ‘Soul Calibur’ Reciprocity: The DLC characters will all be from “Star Wars” lore. None will be from “Soul Calibur,” even though the Dark Apprentice, Yoda and Darth Vader all showed up in “Soul Calibur IV” earlier this year. Blackman said that there are still more “Star Wars” DLC characters to be announced: “We held back some that hopefully people will be excited about.”

This Is But A Grand Experiment: I asked Blackman why LucasArts would greenlight a downloadable level, offering motivations as disparate as creative freedom to discouraging new owners of the game from trading it in. His response highlighted an altogether different motivation: ‘From a company standpoint we’re really interested in downloadable content. We want to find ways to make that work for us and build games around it… This is one of the biggest things we’ve ever done in terms of downloadable content. It’s a chance for us to experiment a little bit, to see what works and what doesn’t and to be able to apply those learnings to future games.

“It’s also a chance for the team to hone their skills and … allows us to start gathering metrics in the event that we do a sequel or want to do more levels. It gives us the ability to really figure out those metrics and say okay. It’s really hard to take the data from working on the initial product whenever you’re building a game with a lot of tech and building it from the ground up, because so much of it is evolving together. So much of it is iterative. And with this particular process, because we know the tech, because we know how to design one of these levels and what it really works, it’s much easier to get clear metrics. How much time does it take for an artist to light a level? How much does it take to build geometry for a level? It’s a really good information-gathering tool. And this, quite frankly, was also something the team wanted to do.”

Force Unleashed: Now available on mobile handsets across the world…

Kotaku has made a post announcing that The Force Unleashed is now available on mobile handsets across the world. Included are: iPhone, Nokia’s N-Gage gaming platform, and more than 850 different cellular handsets.

THQ today announces that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is now available on mobile handsets the world over. This includes the iPhone, where it has been lurking for quite awhile, Nokia’s N-Gage gaming platform, and more than 850 different cellular handsets. Should you pick it up? Well Star Wars plus iPhone equals extra nerd chic of course, and Star Wars plus N-Gage equals you might as well, you obviously went out of your way for an N-Gage platform supporting phone.

As for the remaining 850 handsets, this is a good time to check and see if your phone needs upgrading. If yours isn’t one of the 850 you obviously need to step up to a newer model, unless that military field phone is part of your whole campy, retro vibe.

THQ WIRELESS UNLEASHES THE FORCE TO HANDSETS WORLDWIDE

Star Wars®: The Force UnleashedT available for download on iPhone, N-Gage and feature phone handsets

LightsaberT Unleashed now available to fans via the iTunes App Store

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. – September 29, 2008 – THQ Wireless Inc., a subsidiary of THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI), today announced Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is now available for download on more than 850 handsets globally, including the iPhoneTM, iPod® touch and N-Gage devices. The game casts players as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed offers truly cinematic action in breathtaking 3D visuals. Players will assist Darth Vader in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi – and face decisions that could change the course of their destiny. The game introduces the CellWeaverT mobile control system (created by THQ Wireless’ development studio, Universomo) where players can form sequence patterns through the phone’s keypad allowing them to feel and use the Force.

The LightsaberT Unleashed, available for free today on the iTunes® App Store, offers features directly from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, including: · Multiple lightsaber colors and hilts that correspond to the main characters in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, including Darth Vader, The Secret Apprentice and more · All-new music from the game · Hidden treats, including character dialogue directly from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

The release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed mobile game coincides with the worldwide debut of the LucasArts videogame which is now available on the Xbox®360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Nintendo WiiT and Nintendo DST, PLAYSTATION®2 and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment systems and PSP®.

THQ Wireless’ growing line of successful Star Wars titles span several genres including the side-scrolling Revenge of the Sith, space shooter Battle Above Coruscant, first person shooter Battlefront Mobile, and action titles like LEGO Star Wars Mobile and LEGO Star Wars II Mobile.