io9
We got to road test a little bit of the gameplay in the highly awaited Star Wars: The Force Unleashed at LucasFilm's presentation at New York Comic-Con, and hear a round of carefully scripted PR patter about upcoming releases. We did learn a few new bits of information about the Clone Wars animated series... and the one condition George Lucas set on taking part in the Robot Chicken Star Wars special.
As you may have heard, the highly-anticipated game "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed," due Sept. 16, takes place between Episodes 3 and 4 in the movie timeline. You play as Darth Vader's secret apprentice (neither side can know about you), and your Force powers are "over-the-top," in every way that is awesome. I can only describe them as Luke's abilities on acid. The premise seems to be that while the apprentice is mostly being sent on missions to take out Jedis, you also get to dodge and take out Stormtroopers who threaten exposure.
The game looks unbelievably cool, and we saw a clip with creators who said they wanted to give players the chance to go in and really experience using Force powers. Lightning crackles, people levitate in what looks like bullet-time, huge cinematic landscapes sprawl, a TIE fighter explodes — all is right with the world. We also saw a level where the crazy Jedi master assembles "junk gollums" from his giant planet of garbage for you to fight.
Young Indiana Jones is coming to DVD. And on May 1st, individual special DVDs of the first three Indy movies will be released, plus an all-new DVD box set with exclusive bonus features. The Lego Indy video game is coming soon, with the tagline "the greatest adventure ever assembled" and will let you play through the action of the first three movies in Lego form.
Seth Green and his Robot Chicken co-creator Matthew Senreich joined and livened things up, bringing the funny and the Robot Chicken Star Wars Special clips. Green said that one of the notes he received from George Lucas after he agreed to cameo was "Don't use penises." Green and Senreich, fanboys themselves, were thrilled to receive attention from Lucas, and he was game to take their direction when voicing his own tiny action figure.
We saw a few short clips from The Clone Wars, the Star Wars animated series debuting in theaters this August and then coming to television this fall. The show will premiere on Cartoon Network and then air on TNT. The plot goes that Anakin and Obi-Wan leave the Clone Army to fight the forces of darkness. Lucas is said to be very hands-on with the creative process.
They're particularly proud of creating a new "vertical battle" display that will have Walkers and Jedi alike fighting vertically. We're told that the mysterious female padawan Ahsoka Tano is "feisty and fun," and that each episode will be like having a new Star Wars mini-movie each week. That seems okay with me, because the animated Hayden Christensen is already displaying a hundred times more expression than the real one.
Comments
i was getting really excited about clone wars until i read the phrase "Lucas is said to be very hands-on with the creative process." Oh well-- another dead dream.
"Lucas is said to be very hands-on with the creative process."
damnit, there goes our last hope...
also, it is not difficult for anything, even rocks, to display 100 times more emotion than hayden christensen largely due to the fact that 100 X 0 is always 0.
LMAO George Lucas.
...way to destroy like, half of the humor in the show.
"That seems okay with me, because the animated Hayden Christensen is already displaying a hundred times more expression than the real one." Sad, but so very true...
God, I thought that presentation was so painful to sit through. "Remember to open your wallets! The newly remastered Indiana Jones DVDs come out one week before the film! Then a week after the film, we've got a videogame! Oh, oh, oh, I forgot! Here's a copy of the book about the making of it all!"
I understand fandom, but Christ, they might as well have been showing Colgate-Palmolive products.
@randallnathaniel: Indy branded denture creme?
I'd love to be Vader's apprentice...if only to have the opportunity to snap my fingers in his presence as often as possible.
That Force game sounds pretty bad-ass. Anyone know what system it will be on?
(Please say Xbox! Please say Xbox!)
@Dunny0: [joke about whip snapping up dentures from a Nazi's clutches goes here]
@extracrispy: XBox 360, PS3, Wii and DS.
[www.lucasarts.com]
"...and that each episode will be like having a new Star Wars mini-movie each week. That seems okay with me, because the animated Hayden Christensen is already displaying a hundred times more expression than the real one."
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Lucas is said to be very hands-on with the creative process.
Aw, geez... we're boned...
@DSTRYA: Yeah, if know how great the Clone Wars series with Genndy Tarkovsky's team of animators, you probably won't be surprised to learn how little Lucas inputted on their creative direction...
@BloggyMcBlogBlog: Ehhhhhxcellent, Smithers.
Lucas is said to be very hands-on with the creative process.
The more he tightens his grip the more....
but you know the rest.
I don't know if they're just showing off for the tech demos, but it kinda looks like there's nothing challenging at all about playing Force Unleashed.
Also: [www.penny-arcade.com]
@extracrispy: BloggyMcBlogBlog's got the right info! The version we saw was indeed for the Xbox.
@randallnathaniel: Agreed! I was really excited about it, and then it was pretty much like watching an ad in real time, complete with the most forced copy I've ever heard spoken aloud.
Random trivia and Sci-Fi crossover, "Crashdown" from BSG is doing the voice-over work for Vader's Apprentice in The Force Unleashed. They even modeled the apprentice's appearance after him.
@AZTriGuy:
I always thought he looked like a Sith Lord. All tall and pale.
To be pedantic: I think you meant "golems", not "gollums".
@loosenut: Thanks, very true! I think that's the result of what happens when one's head totally overdoses on genre in a weekend.
Assorted Gollums to fight would just be really, really annoying and too slithery. Not sure how the Force would go against the One Ring, either, but I smell crossover fanfic potential.
@Kaila Hale-Stern: "Not sure how the Force would go against the One Ring, either, but I smell crossover fanfic potential."
Or another crappy game idea from Midway...Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings...vs. Mortal Kombat!!
@c0dek: It's Lord of the Rings... In Space... with Fatalities! Practically designs itself.
wow, only 7 paragraphs! and such concise ones at that.
I'm not saying this because I effectively believed myself to be Princess Leia from age 13-14, but really this is probably the best blog posts I've ever read.
i never saw anything wrong with hayden's acting,given the material he had to work with he did a sterling job.
I suspect that George Lucas very much wants to erase any memory of Tartakovsky's "Clone Wars" because it's personally embarrassing to him. Star Wars has never been known for its deep plots or witty dialog, it's mostly about the action. "Clone Wars" made Lucas look, to put it charitably, inexperienced in this regard.
Hence the need for a Lucas-helmed "Clone Wars".
@Palliard: Hmm... well, Lucas did use the Clone Wars cartoon series to lead up to the final prequel. That's quite an endorsement of Genndy's work, if you ask me. And, he let him introduce a new Star Wars character, too. I think you might be right, though... Genndy did too good of a job with the writing and totally showed Lucas up.
I have to disagree with you on the witty dialog -- Han, Leia and Lando got into some rather nice banter at times.
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