- Rumor – : Star Wars Battlefront III ‘not currently’ at Pandemic
March 21, 2009
Despite the rumor to the contrary, it appears that Star Wars: Battlefront III is not in development at Pandemic, the studio responsible for the first two games. Just last week an employee from Rebellion — where Battlefront III development moved after its initial stint at Free Radical — reportedly stated that development had shifted to Pandemic. According to Mathew Everett, community manager at Pandemic, the game “is not currently” with the studio. He added that only LucasArts would know the fate of the title at this point.
Depending on your point of view, this news is either a terrible blow or a tremendous relief (unless you’re just middlin’, of course). Given the popularity of the most recent Star Wars title, The Force Unleashed, we imagine Battlefront III will find a home somewhere. Here’s hoping Jabba is finally playable.
Zombieville USA, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed get free, lite versions in the AppStore
March 21, 2009
Two popular iPhone games, Zombieville USA and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, got the free, lite versions in the AppStore. And while we see this as a good thing — now when every iPhone/iPod Touch user will be able to try these games out before spending some money — I must say I was disappointed with both titles. The problem is that both demo versions are super short. It takes about 5 minutes to complete the Star Wars demo level and even less for the Zombieville USA. However, I must be fair to add that both games seem quite entertaining and that I’ll probably push the button and acquire full versions. Still, even though we’re talking about “lite” versions, I did expect to see something that could be played for at least 15 minutes. This way it’s kinda ridiculous. Sure the idea is to make money and push free version downloaders into buying full-blown apps, but folks – give us just a little bit more (like 2 more levels) and we’ll love you even more. People who don’t want to buy your games, won’t buy them even if you provided 3 free levels, and showing some respect to the regular folks, which I believe are a majority of iPhone users, could be certainly beneficial in the long run.
Here’s a link to the free Zombieville USA version and here’s the link to free Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed nabs best writing award from WGA
February 21, 2009
The competition was tough, but in the end, writers Haden Blackman, Cameron Suey, John Staffor and Shawn Pitman took home the second Video Game Writing Award bestowed by the Writers Guild of America.
The writers won the award for their work on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in a ceremony held over the weekend. They went up against the writing teams working on Fallout 3, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble.
As of now, to be eligible for the WGA award, the game writers must be a member of the WGA’s Videogame Writers Caucus, which some see as a fledgling writers union for game writers. Some of criticized this practice, saying that the award ceremony is a membership drive used to recruit people into the Writers Caucas, and that WGA awards should be given out to writers not in the guild.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Sells 5.7 Million Units
February 21, 2009
San Francisco, CA – February 12, 2009 – Driven by the popularity of the STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS animated television series, the Force remained strong in 2008 as STAR WARS catapulted to the Number 1 spot of all traditional toy licenses, according to The NPD Group, Inc., Lucasfilm Ltd. announced today. U.S. toy retail sales for the brand in 2008 exceeded $450M. STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS was the single most popular licensed toy property in 2008 according to data released by the NPD Group. It was also, as a result, the top boys’ toy license of the year.
During the 2008 holiday season, U.S. retailers reported the strongest sales for STAR WARS toys and products in the 31 years since the first STAR WARS movie was released theatrically, even as the overall retail economy faced significant challenges. Sales of STAR WARS video games also reached new heights in 2008, driven by the huge success of STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED. Following its release in September, STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASED became the fastest selling STAR WARS video game in history with sales now exceeding 5.7M units worldwide.
In addition, STAR WARS books topped the charts with 14 titles appearing on the New York Times best sellers list, with both STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED novelization, and STAR WARS: LEGACY OF THE FORCE: REVELATION, reaching the number one spot. The smash-hit, animated STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS will return to Cartoon Network the fall of 2009 for a second season, continuing the adventures of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, and the heroic Jedi Knights.
The October 3, 2008 premiere of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS scored as the most-watched series debut in Cartoon Network history, according to Nielsen Media Research. Since its premiere, STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (Friday 9 p.m.) has ranked #1 in its time period on all television with boys 2-11, boys 6-11, and tween boys 9-14 through January 2009. It is also a worldwide hit, airing in 166 countries around the globe. Cartoon Network is scheduled to air the final first-season episode of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS at 9 p.m. Friday, March 20.
As the series has continued its popularity, the official STAR WARS website WWW.STARWARS.COM has seen a 30 percent jump in site traffic with millions of fans now viewing free full video episodes of the animated series, playing new STAR WARS games, reading the latest news and online web comic, or just watching some of the hundreds of exclusive STAR WARS fan films and videos on the site. Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS features the voices of Matt Lanter (Heroes) as Anakin Skywalker, Ashley Eckstein (That’s So Raven) as Ahsoka Tano, James Arnold Taylor (Celebrity Deathmatch) as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Tom Kane (Wolverine & the X-Men) as Yoda.
Dave Filoni is the supervising director of the series and Cary Silver is producer. George Lucas serves as executive producer and creator of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS.
Leaked Star Wars Battlefront III art shows Sith Obi-Wan
January 19, 2009
One of the more interesting aspects of Star Wars Battlefront III, one of the games left in limbo after the closing of Free Radical, was its “what if?” scenarios, which would retell some of the more important stories of the Star Wars mythos in different ways. Some new concept art unearthed by Kotaku has revealed just how awesome this concept had the potential to be, by asking one question: What if Obi-Wan Kenobi turned to the dark side?
The new images show a decidedly evil Kenobi, complete with yellow eyes, tattered black robes, and a red lightsaber in hand. Accompanying the art is this brief description of the new Obi-Wan: “An old man, gnarled by the corruption of the dark side. Mostly a hermit, he wanders searching for places and things with strong connections to the dark side. Any artifacts he finds (e.g. force crystals, talismans, bones) he keeps about his person in pouches or threaded through his clothes. Currently found in the swamps of Dagobah.”
Development of the game has now been shifted to Rebellion Developments, and we can only pray that they decide to include Dark Obi-Wan as a character. Seeing one of the most upstanding characters in the Star Wars universe turned bad is undeniably cool, and now that it’s been teased, to have not have it in the game will be extremely disappointing.
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