Where's LA??

[stingerhs]

has anybody noticed that nobody has made any real announcement about the Lucasarts booth?? heck, as far as i know, LA isn't even at the show. whats going on??

[Hannibal]

They haven't even added an E3 section to their website this year.

[stingerhs]

well, Gamespot finally got a list of all the games that are on display at E3. i did a sort by publisher and found out that LA does indeed have a whopping three games at there booth: Battlefront II, Empire at War, and Ep. III for the PSP.

 

exciting, ain't it???

[TheMadDoofer]

At least they have Empire at War - that's the only one I'm excited about (except maybe KOTOR 3 - if it exists).

[Jeff]

Originally posted by TheMadDoofer

At least they have Empire at War - that's the only one I'm excited about (except maybe KOTOR 3 - if it exists).

Exactly. I wish they had shown kotor3 stuff there, I was hoping to see some videos or something online from it.

[StormHammer]

This is their poorest showing at an E3 in a long while. BF2 looks more like an expansion pack, not interested in Galaxies. That leaves Empire At War, which looks decent enough in screenshots - but I want a nice hi-res video of gaming action to get a feel for it.

 

Bad show Lucasarts.

[urluckyday]

Everyone sounds surprised that Lucasarts isn't performing well. After they stopped making their adventure titles, only a few of their games have been cool.

[jokemaster]

I can't help but feel that LA is going down the toilet. First they start losing most of their talent, then they cancel one of the best games in their lineup, now this.

 

I got too used to LEC's big E3s, I mean I remember when Rouge Leader, Jedi Outcast, KOTOR and Galaxies were all at the same E3

[VSTM]

With Episode III in the background, the LA booth probably should have been huge. I think the fact that it's not probably shows some kind of mismanagement within the company. My guess is either they're not doing particularly well financially or their marketing guys are stooges and didn't see the opportunity.

 

Maybe lucas arts is winding down because they don't see a huge future now that there essentially won't be any new star wars movies(as far as I know).

[StormHammer]

Originally posted by VSTM

Maybe lucas arts is winding down because they don't see a huge future now that there essentially won't be any new star wars movies(as far as I know).

 

That simply doesn't make any sense, when you consider that Dark Forces came out 20 years after ROTJ, and was very successful. The sequel Jedi Knight was even more successful and kick-started the JK franchise. This all happened before the Prequel movies came along.

 

Although those games tied into the original movies, the central characters and storylines were far removed from what happened in the films. Most recently, Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic and it's sequel were runaway successes - and were set in the expanded SW universe.

 

So in my view, it shouldn't matter if there will be no more films. Lucasarts should be concentrating it's efforts on introducing new characters and scenarios within the Star Wars universe. There is a cult following of Kyle Katarn, for example, who has grown to become a key figure in the expanded universe. Personally, I'd like to see another game in the JK franchise - and if they were smart, they would look at the Roleplaying that goes on in JA MP and realise they could cash in on making a game specifically for that market, possibly along the lines of Guild Wars, where you don't have to pay a monthly fee, but you can still roleplay as a Jedi.

 

There are so many ways they can explore expanding the SW universe beyond the movie context, and gamers would still be interested in buying games with original characters and settings.

 

Besides, we all know there is going to be a live-action Star Wars TV series, which will keep the franchise in the hearts and minds of fans.

 

So I don't see the Star Wars universe as being the problem (after all, the 3 titles they have at E3 are Star Wars games). The problem with Lucasarts is that they seem to be moving away from making games under other IP. Adventure titles may not be as popular these days...but other developers still make them. Then games like Armed and Dangerous were a fun blast. They should continue to engage other developers to make other interesting games as part of their portfolio.