For those who have no idea what I'm talking about - which is more than likely the majority of you, unless you happened to be around ten years old in the mid-80s - the Nagai were a bunch of bad guys introduced in the dying days of Marvel Comics' Star Wars series in the hope that they could replace the Empire as the main hive of villainy of the franchise post-Return Of The Jedi. It didn't work, for a number of reasons - not least of which was the cancellation of the comic, forcing a somewhat awkward end to the story that showed that, hey, that warlike race wasn't so warlike after all and just wanted to join the Alliance and hold hands in the end - but the potential was such that, almost quarter of a century later, I want to see more of these albino aliens. And soon, so will you. Here are five reasons why the Nagai deserve to cause mischief again.

They're Ahead Of The Curve In Pop Culture
Created in 1984 by Jo Duffy and Cynthia Martin, the Nagai showed a strong manga influence both visually and in terms of their name - they're named after manga creator Go Nagai - long before it became the cultural force in the US than it is these days. And even if you're afraid of Japanese comics, you can also claim that they were the visual inspiration behind Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Even though it's not true.
They Work With Crooked Wookies
In their first appearance, they worked with Chewbacca's brother-in-law to kidnap Chewie's family - including his unfortunately-named son, Lumpy. You've got to admire that kind of co-operation with other races, as well as the deviousness required to kidnap anything called "Lumpy." I mean, Darth Vader? He would've just killed everyone. Haven't you seen what he does at the start of The Force Unleashed?

Their Darth Vader Is Female, Used A Lightwhip - And Is Luke Skywalker's Ex-Girlfriend
I'm not sure that that needs any more explanation, really; before Lumiya was a cyborg with her own specially constructed lightwhip, she was an Imperial spy who'd gone undercover in the rebel alliance to kill Luke Skywalker... and got closer to him than Sith boss Vader may have intended. In order to restore his wounded male pride - sorry, I mean "correct the imbalance of the Force" - he needed two lightsabers to beat her:
They're All Inclusive When It Comes To Recruitment
Former Stormtrooper for the Empire? Come onboard! Crashlanded Rebel pilots? Welcome! Unstable psychopathtic sadists with a grudge against the universe? Sign here! The recruitment policy for the Nagai was amazingly open; basically, all you needed to join their ranks was to be scum or villainous, and as we all know, the Star Wars universe has whole wretched hives full of them.

They're Curiously Polite When Circumstances Force Their Retreat
What other bad guys say "drat" as they're forced to retreat? If the Stars must always be at War, then let's have some villains who'll at least fight with a reasonable amount of courtesy, I say.

I've been told that the Nagai have made reappearances in various Expanded Universe venues, but that's not enough for me; I want to see them on the television shows and in the video games. I want to see people wondering, as I did, why sharp-faced albinos are quite so terrifying when they sneer. And, most importantly, I want to expose those evil wookies for what they really are.

The phrase heard most often at the press launch for The Old Republic was "We can't tell you that yet." Questions about the gameplay, scale, price, delivery system and release date of the game were all answered with those frustrating words, but at least BioWare's Gordon Walton acknowledged how frustrating he knew it was:

A lot of the things we're not talking about is not because we're teases or because we don't know yet, it's because it's not settled... At this point of time, [anything we tell you about the release date] would be a lie. It's all about the quality, and until we get close, we don't know yet. We don't want to overhype [the game]. No games are overhyped like MMOs are overhyped, and a Star Wars MMO may be hyped the most of all.

So what do we know about the game? Well, it'll be a cross-platform MMO. taking place 3,600 years before the movies — and 300 years after the Knights of the Old Republic games — where players will decide upfront on what "faction" their character is. (The only two were were told of were Jedi or Sith, but others were promised. "Not everyone's fantasy is to be a Jedi," said lead writer Daniel Erickson). You'll also decide on your character's class and race, as well as whether you're good or evil.

From there, the players will get to explore new worlds, complete tasks and — unusually for an MMO — experience a story. As BioWare's Co-CEO Ray Muzyka explained, the addition of a story to the MMO format is a groundbreaking — and, in his eyes, necessary — move, adding "emotionally compelling storytelling" to create something unique. (Lead writer Erickson agreed, saying that story was a central concept of "every RPG until we went to MMO-space, and then something fell off the truck").

While staying unsurprisingly cagey about the amount of work that's already gone into the game, BioWare's lead designer on the project, James Ohlen, admitted that the game is the equivalent to not just one sequel to Knights of The Old Republic 1 and 2, but several; "[The Old Republic] is the equivalent of every other BioWare game ever released, combined," he explained.

The game will offer players the chance to travel between worlds and interact with AI-driven companion characters as well as other players. ("What would Han be without Chewbacca?" said Muzyka when asked about the role of companions in the game. "What would Luke be without R2?" But don't worry; you can kill them if they annoy you). You can also choose between following the light or dark sides and, maybe most importantly, have awesome lightsaber battles.

Ohlen said that BioWare and Lucasarts' aim with the game was to "allow players to carve out their own epic stories - and that's important, because Star Wars is all about epic stories." Muzyka perhaps put it more succinctly:

We're going to allow you to experience the great moments of Star Wars... What are the cool things that you've seen in the movies? If you can do it in the movies, we're trying to do that in the game.

Even if you have no intention of ever playing the Star Wars RPG, the KotOR Campaign Guide is a pretty interesting book. There are detailed descriptions of Star Wars history and the lives of many main and supporting characters, along with ships, droids, weapons and alien races. The production values are top notch, with rich, full-color interior art, a clean layout and color-coded labels for each section. Here's a look at some of the splash pages that start off the sections:For gamers, this book is a feast of new rules. Wizards of the Coast has taken the force abilities, characters and weapons used in the KotOR video games and converted them into RPG form. While the SAGA rules system can be fairly complicated at times (it's a strange blend of 3.5 edition D&D with new 4th edition D&D elements, all customized for use in the Star Wars universe), this book offers plenty of options to players:

• 10 new playable alien races.
• 21 new feats.
• 3 new prestige classes, plus updates to old classes.
• 10 new Jedi powers, and two new Jedi talent trees.
• 15 new droid types.
• Dozens of characters, from Sith assassins to noble Jedi advisors.
• More than 20 new starships.

Star Wars Miniatures is a tactical tabletop game that lets you build your own squad of fighters to pit against your opponent. You can mix and match eras or even factions, so feel free to have a Mandalorian Captain lead an army of Ewoks into battle against a Jedi Knight and ten storm troopers.

Vader. Did I mention that he's a bad-ass? He's here to rip up your Jedis. And he's probably going to chuck a light saber at your head.

Yeah, it's a Gungan. Every army needs cannon fodder.

Nothing ruins a party faster than a Mandalorian lobbing a grenade into the crowd. Except maybe a group of Mandalorians attacking everyone twice.

I don't see any Mandalorian Commandos here.

I would say that the name says it all, but these things aren't named "Big Ugly Lizard Creatures That Can Bite Your Arm Off."

Stay tuned for more Star Wars gaming news - next week we'll have an early look at the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide for the Star Wars RPG. Images by: Wizards of the Coast.

Taking up the mantle of Mandalore the Indomitable after his death at the Battle of Onderon, Mandalore the Ultimate shaped the ragtag Mandalorian warrior clans into a powerful mercenary force. Himself a Taung, the Predator-like alien race that made up the original Mandalorian clans, Mandalore the Ultimate recruited humans and other species to his banner. His decree of uniform armor for his warriors lead to the well-known "Mandalorian Battle Armor" worn by everyone's favorite jet-packed bounty hunter, Boba Fett.

Mandalore the Ultimate's inclusive recruiting strategies are reflected in his "everyone's a Mandalorian" ability. He deals out an impressive 30 damage with brutal speed, attacking up to three times in one turn. Mr. Ultimate is also an effective commander, giving all his troops a startling amount of battlefield mobility. Knights of the Old Republic booster packs will be released on August 8, while the KotoR campaign book for the Star Wars RPG will come out a few weeks later. The dual release is perfect for fans who have been longing to run a campaign n the Old Republic era. Images by: Wizards of the Coast.

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• The first game to bear the Star Wars name was The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600. You could fly around as Luke Skywalker taking down AT-ATs which inexplicably had one tiny space on their backsides which allowed you to destroy them easily. Too bad the Rebels didn't know about this in the movie.
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• They followed that one up with the equally forgettable The Return of the Jedi: Death Star Attack on the same system, and it faded like a an iron-on tranfer that's been washed 2,000 times.
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• Probably the worst (or at least simplest) Star Wars game to come out of the Halls of Lucas was 1983s Jedi Arena, which featured an overhead shot of... two dueling lightsabers. The little Star Wars target probe would pop out every now and then to irritate the crap out of you, and you'd try to vanquish your opponent.
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• The real Star Wars game that most people think of and remember as the first in the genre was the coin-op game Star Wars from Atari in 1983. The thing came in both standup and sitdown versions, and featured digitized voices from the game. It was vector graphic goodness, and for some reason it was also addictive as hell. You could even "Use the Force" by not firing a shot during the trench run on the Death Star for bonus points.
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• Atari also put out versions of Return of the Jedi in 1983, and a strangely out of order The Empire Strikes Back in 1984. Jedi featured a weird 3/4 angle looking down at speeder bikes, but Empire returned to the vector graphic format. You could find Jedi at theaters across America, but Empire was extremely hard to come by.
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• Star Wars games faded from the limelight until 1991 when Ubisoft Games released Star Wars on the Nintendo, but the game really looked best on the Super Nintendo where it appeared as Super Star Wars, Super Empire Strikes Back, and Super Return of the Jedi. These were side-scrollers that were surprisingly fun to play, especially since the Jawas would say "Utinnin!' over and over.
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• Part of what I can blame my low grades for in college was the release of Star Wars: X-Wing in 1993. It was a flight and combat simulator based on the X-Wing, and it was obsessively fun because... well, you're in the cockpit of an X-Wing. What kid hasn't dreamed about that? It had expansion packs for more missions, different kinds of ships, and later led to Star Wars: TIE Fighter in 1994.
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• By 1996, the Star Wars gaming renaissance was in full swing, and LucasArts released Shadows of the Empire for the Nintendo 64. It was set between Empire and Jedi, and followed the exploits of Dash Rendar, a sort of Han Solo-ish mercenary. In fact, Shadows of the Empire was also a novel, a comic book, an action figure line, and a soundtrack release for Lucas, in an attempt to take advantage of all types of multimedia at once.
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• In 1997, the popularity of fighting games on gaming consoles was hard to resist, so LucasArts released Masters of Teras Kasi, where you could pit Chewbacca against Luke Skywalker, and so forth. The game had some decent animations, but mostly sucky gameplay. Just explain to me in what world a Gamorrean Guard could beat Darth Vader.
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• With the prequels came more opportunities for video games, and there were a slew of forgettable Episode I games on the consoles and on PCs. However, Episode I Racer in 1999, which was a game solely about podracing, can still be found in most arcades around the country. It's not half bad, even if that movie did suck.
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• In 2001 LucasArts created a launch game for the Nintendo GameCube with Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, which features the word "rogue" in the title two times, just so you're sure. It was a sequel to 1998's Rogue Squadron, which was a Nintendo 64 (and later Windows) title. It spanned all three movies, and tried to fill in gaps in the story.
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• In 2001, 2002, and 2003 LucasArts released Star Wars Starfighter, Jedi Starfighter, and The Clone Wars, all with declining sales, and they featured elements like stale gameplay, and repetitive missions.
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• 2001 was also the year that LucasArts tried to go after the hardcore strategy gamers with Galactic Battlegrounds. It featured gameplay similar to Warcraft (not World of, mind you, which hadn't been invented yet).
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• 2002 was a year of Star Wars sequel games, giving us not only Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (which was a sequel to Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, which was itself a sequel to Dark Forces) but also Racer Revenge, which was an update to the Episode I Racer game.
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• Dark Forces actually followed a character created specifically for the video games, Kyle Katarn. He was originally an Imperial Officer, but later turned and became a spy for the rebellion. He was played by actor Jason Court for Dark Forces: Jedi Knight II.
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• 2003 saw both the release of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars Galaxies, both of which were the first Star Wars roleplaying games. Knights was set 4,000 years before A New Hope, but Galaxies was in the "current" Star Wars universe. However, while Knights was a huge hit and spawned a sequel (and possibly an upcoming third game), Galaxies was reviled for having sucky gameplay and things like dancing Wookies.
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• In 2004 Lucas brought Battlefield style gaming to the table with Star Wars Battlefront, where you could play as a single soldier in massive battles set in the Star Wars storyline and universe.
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• Republic Commando in 2005 was, for my money, one of the most underrated Star Wars games, featuring you as a clone trooper who had to issue squadron commands to the other clones under his command. It was set amidst plot holes in the prequels, and was genuinely Anakin-free fun.
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• However, one of the most fun Star Wars games, both in gameplay and with the supplied tongue-in-cheek humor was Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. It was irreverent, sassy, and pure dumb fun. It was followed up with Lego Star Wars: The Original Trilogy in 2006 and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga in 2007. Later this year you'll also be able to pick up Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures.
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• While there are many to choose from, what wins the award for the crappiest game ever to bear the Star Wars name? That would have to be Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing from 2001. It featured big-headed versions of the movie characters racing around go-kart style. While the Star Wars Lego titles could take something like this and make it fun, this game just sucked, bombad.