'Star Wars' creator George Lucas made a surprise appearance Monday night at the launch event in San Francisco for the new video game, 'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.' Click the image above for a full gallery of game launch photos.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)Update 12:27 p.m.: This story has been modified to reflect comment from LucasArts about interest in the game, as evidenced by pre-sales and number of sales at retail.
SAN FRANCISCO--George Lucas was the "surprise" special guest at the official launch party Monday night here for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the new video game that marks the latest chapter in the epic story line. And despite his only making a two-minute speech, most on hand were excited at the rare opportunity to see him.
Indeed, Lucas doesn't venture into public very often, so for many of the people who had come to line up to buy the new game when it went on-sale at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, his appearance and quick talk were a treat.
The event took place Monday evening at a Best Buy outlet in this city's Mission district, an odd choice of venues for the launch of what many have been calling one of the biggest video games of the year.
On the other hand, the place was packed, something that one store employee said was a very unusual occurrence. So, all in all, the energy generated may have been worth it for Lucas and his crew.
A man dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi makes some of the guests at the launch event smile.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)The new game, known by many simply as The Force Unleashed, is the first Star Wars game to be considered by Lucas an actual chapter in the overall story line that begins with the three prequel films--The Phantom Menace; Attack of the Clones; and Revenge of the Sith--continues with this summer's animated film, The Clone Wars and then, of course, concludes with the original three films, Star Wars; The Empire Strikes Back; and Return of the Jedi.
In the new game, the main character, played by actor Sam Witwer, is an apprentice of Darth Vader, and the story line centers on that apprentice's path to redemption.
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Two fans pose for pictures bearing light sabers at the San Francisco launch party for the new video game, 'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.'
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)SAN FRANCISCO--In four hours, the latest--and maybe greatest--Star Wars game, The Force Unleashed, will go on sale.
No one knows if the game will be a best-seller, but if you judged by the energy at the Best Buy in this city's Mission District on Monday night, where the game's official launch event is being held, it's got a bright future.
There is a special guest scheduled to speak in about 15 minutes, and by now, it's no secret that it will be George Lucas himself.
For now, however, fans of the game--and hired hands--are milling around the Best Buy here in all kind of Star Wars costumes, and every now and then I hear the easily recognized beep bleep bloop sound of R2-D2.
Stay tuned to this blog for more on this event as the evening goes on.
Darth Vader 'chokes' a Best Buy employee at the launch party for 'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed' on Monday night.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)
The Star Wars movie series is over, but the brand name lives on, thanks to spin-offs like toys, novels, and, of course, video games. The dozens of Star Wars video games released over the past 20 years have gotten something of a bum rap--after all, the source material inspires such loyalty that a video game made with minimal involvement from George Lucas can't possibly live up to fans' expectations (and yes, a lot of those Star Wars games were pretty mediocre, too).
Some Force powers being...um...unleashed.
Aiming to remedy this, and update their product line for a generation used to slick action-packed experiences such as Gears of War and Halo 3, Lucasarts has created a game designed to appeal to adrenaline junkies and Star Wars fans alike. By "unleashed," the game's title indicates that the mystical Force powers used so sparingly in previous Star Wars games are the main star here--and using them to toss enemies around, rip open giant metal doors, and zap lightning bolts from your fingertips is very fulfilling experience, judging from our hands-on time with the game.
At its core, this is a basic follow-the-path third-person action game, where your character (Darth Vader's secret apprentice, if that's important) walks down corridors, finds an open area full of enemies and has to wipe them all out before moving on. Despite the somewhat repetitive set-ups, the game's all-too-brief opening level where you play as Darth Vader himself, is a total kick.
A note for trivia junkies--Darth's familiar guttural tone comes not from James Earl Jones but an amazing soundalike named Matt Sloan, who was discovered playing the voice of Darth's cousin, Chad Vader, in a series of popular Internet shorts.
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LucasArts' new game, 'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed,' centers around the redemption story line surrounding Darth Vader's apprentice.
(Credit: LucasArts)
SAN FRANCISCO--During the Game Development Conference, which is happening this week here, it's rare that I, or any other journalist cover it, would leave the area immediately surrounding the confab.
But when LucasArts invites you to its famous facilities in San Francisco's Presidio to show off what is being regarded as a ground-breaking game, you get the heck out of dodge.
That's why I rushed across town Thursday afternoon--to see what I believe was the first public demo of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the studio's forthcoming game, and a title that seeks to fill in the chronological gap between the end of the unsatisfactory film, Episode III and the original Star Wars, now known as Episode IV.
In this new game, the main character is an apprentice of Darth Vader, and the story line, according to Haden Blackman, the game's project lead, centers on that apprentice's path to redemption.
According to a recent article in Vanity Fair, the full story line of the game does a good job of letting players feel as if they're getting to actually be in what could almost be a seventh Star Wars movie. The article insinuated that the storytelling was that good and that the graphics only helped cement the illusion.
'Star Wars: The Force Unleashed' features two new, ground-breaking technologies, Euphoria, a bio-feedback AI system that makes it possible to have things happen differently every time rather than looking the same each time; and Digital Molecular Matter, a new physics system that makes it possible for things to break realistically rather than in the sort of cartoon-like way they always have in games.
(Credit: LucasArts)Based on what I saw Thursday, I'd say the graphics were good, but not movie-quality good. Still, I got a chance to see what should be two pretty ground-breaking technologies that the game showcases.
First, is what is known as Euphoria. It is a new form of artificial intelligence software, developed by a company called Natural Motion, which is designed to make it possible for things happen just a little differently each time in the game, even if they begin the same way.
In other words, in most games, if you do the same thing twice, the result will be exactly the same both times because there's no brain in the game allowing for a little chaos to creep in. Euphoria is meant to be that chaos. So things would turn out just a little bit different each time.
The other new technology is called digital molecular matter, from a company called Pixelux, and it is designed to bring more realistic consequences to things like a door breaking, or something smashing into a big piece of metal. That is to say, again, in most games, if you break a door down, it will shatter into a disturbingly unrealistic set of shattered pieces. If you break a door in real life, it would splinter and shatter and bend and there would be shards. DMM, as it's known, is meant to depict that realism.
I would say that the results of DMM, as I saw them, were good. I didn't think I was seeing real physics, or the kinds of special effects I might see in a real Star Wars movie, but it did look pretty good.
All in all, I think the game looked fun, and very complex. I'm not a big fan of the previous Star Wars games, though, so perhaps I'm missing a little context.
And only time will tell whether it really is like being in an actual movie.
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