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Darth333 Newbie

Darth333

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Here are some of the previews floating around the net for The Force Unleashed, LucasArts' upcoming game for xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP and Nintendo DS:

 

Official Site - concept art, designer diaries, screenshots, a video documentary and other info

 

Forceunleashed.net

 

Force Unleashed: Official Web Documentary 1 (video)

 

Force Unleashed trailers at Yahoo

 

 

If you find other previews, let us know and we will add them to the list.

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Commander Obi-Wan Newbie

Commander Obi-Wan

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June 5, 2007 Game Trailers - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Panel Part 1 (video)

June 5, 2007 Game Trailers - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Panel Part 2 (video)

June 5, 2007 Game Trailers - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Storyline and Powers interview

 

Don't know if you want to use them, but here they are if you do. :)

 

 

Mod note: Added the links to the list. ~M

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adamqd Newbie

adamqd

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CES: First details of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

By Ben Kuchera | Published: January 10, 2008 - 09:41AM CT

 

"So should we show him Grim Fandango 2?" That's the question I'm asked as I walk into Lucasart's suite at CES, and everyone laughs. I don't laugh, because that joke IS NOT FUNNY; it's like they showed me a kitten and then killed it. But we are going to see Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and in terms of impressive use of Force effects, this is above and beyond anything we've seen in previous games.

 

"Every time you hit that face button, we want you to feel that power," I'm told as I watch one of the Lucasarts employees show off Force Unleashed. I'm not allowed to do a full preview, but I can say that the game is fast and mean; the force powers do some crazy things, and the play is impacted by the physics in amazing ways.

 

You try to pick up a StormTrooper and he grabs onto a crate while screaming. You yank up on him with the Force again, and both the 'Trooper and the crate fly into the air. The force powers and the physics get even crazier; if you force push a metal door, it twists and deforms realistically. Some of the other things that stood out:

 

* The main character, the secret apprentice of Darth Vader, is played by Sam Witwer, BattleStar Galactica's Crashdown

* He holds his lightsaber behind his back in a way that looks very unorthodox but pleasingly menacing, and also allows players to see the entire lightsaber since the camera is always behind the player.

* Boss bottles will be huge in scope, including a Rancor fight. There will be God of War-like button-tapping sections at the end of the battle, but it will only be for more points; you won't lose a battle by missing a button press

* There will be character and lightsaber customization, although you won't be able to dual-wield or have dual-bladed lightsabers

* The Wii version of the game will include a two-player duel mode where you can show off your lightsaber skills against a friend in the same room.

* The PSP version will contain classic scenes from other Star Wars movies with the more over-the-top force powers of Unleashed

 

I was very impressed by the game; it looked great and the Force powers really brought home the idea of this evil, dominating character. The game is currently in alpha and planned for a summer release.

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Serpentine Cougar Newbie

Serpentine Cougar

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* The Wii version of the game will include a two-player duel mode where you can show off your lightsaber skills against a friend in the same room.

* The PSP version will contain classic scenes from other Star Wars movies with the more over-the-top force powers of Unleashed

Why are those features just for those consoles? Wouldn't they work on all of them?

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Ctrl Alt Del Newbie

Ctrl Alt Del

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Why are those features just for those consoles? Wouldn't they work on all of them?

Attractiveness. Obviously, those versions will have worse graphics if compared to the 360 and PS3 versions. Those are the ways they found to make the game look equally attractive to those graphically inferior systems. Also, remember that hose versions have different developers.

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Rinku Newbie

Rinku

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Yeah, I have a Wii and have to admit the graphics are not very good.

 

And these extra features are surprising for the Wii, because on Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 there is not an online multiplayer mode but on all the other platforms there was.

 

But...you have to admit what will be good for the Wii multiplayer feature is the Wiimote and Numchuck will act for really interactive battle that will hopefully get some of us off our butts and moving.

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adamqd Newbie

adamqd

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The Force Unleashed - Pre-Review

 

The Force Unleashed - Pre-Review by Anthony Baratta

January 24th, 2008 - Letterman Digital Arts Center, Presidio, San Fransisco, CA

 

TheForce.net was invited by Lucas Arts to a press conference showing off the latest video game for fans of the Star Wars Universe. The Force Unleashed is an amalgam of First Person Shooter and virtual RPG game set in the "dead space" between Episode 3 and 4.. Lucas Arts has been working on this game for several years and the game is just completing Alpha testing and should be ready for sale by Summer 2008. While I suspect that Lucas Arts could push the release date back there is a ton of merchandising pressure building that could force the game to the market at that time - fully ready or not.

 

Spoiler Alert - The rest of this review covers a wide range of information about the game, game play, marketing and plot points. If you are not interested in learning "secrets" about the game or what could be hidden within the game do not read further. If you do and are upset with the spoilers - don't say we didn't warn you.

 

Hayden Blackman (Project Lead - Xbox 360 Platform) opened the press conference with list of 5 Questions that "Define the Game".

 

There are:

 

1. What is the vision for the force?

2. What is the core game play?

3. When does the game take place?

4. Who are you?

5. What is the theme of the story?

 

 

The vision for the game was focusing on force powers. But not like you saw in the movies or in any Star Wars games to date. Force powers that were "amped up", enhanced, out of control - hence the term "Unleashed".

 

Lucas Arts considers the core game play to be summed up as, "Kicking ass with the force". Also defeating an enemy with the force must be "fun". If the game was engaging and tactically challenging because of the setup, the enemies, and a very interactive environment - then the game will be satisfying to the player. Hayden also mentioned that simulation based game play has become the main focus of Lucas Arts and their game design and The Force Unleashed is the first game with that plan in mind as well as the programming support to make that vision a reality.

 

As a gamer I found this approach to be exciting, but as a Star Wars movie buff does this change how I feel about the movies and their use of force powers? Does taking a core feature of the Star Wars Universe and pushing it to 11 help or hurt the franchise?

 

The game is going to take place within the time frame of Episode 3 and 4. During Darth Vader's mop up operations of now rogue Jedi. And he's taken a "Secret Apprentice". You get to play the secret apprentice as he is sent on training missions by Lord Vader and his own personal journey. And has Hayden related this journey is one of redemption, much like the main theme of the 6 movie story arch. "You do not end up who you were when you started," is telling. That and the merchandising leads to a spoiler as to who the final boss is.

 

Interestingly, both Dan and Hayden mentioned that the first version of the Force Unleashed used existing characters, and during discussions with George Lucas they were encouraged to create a whole new series of characters to support the game story line. Dan Wasson (Project Lead - Wii Platform) mentioned during his talk that the Force Unleashed story line is now official cannon for the Star Wars universe. And that future work could involve these characters or involve these characters in side stories and other appearances within the story's time frame. And since the scripts for the Star Wars Live Action show have yet to be written, it's possible that some of the game's characters could end up making guest appearances in the TV show.

 

I would suspect if not direct cameo appearances, there will be the verbal or visual Easter Eggs for those paying attention. (Do you remember Dash Rendar's ship in EP 4 - Special Edition?)

 

Lucas Arts outlined the platforms support: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS3, PSP, and Nintendo DS. There will be no PC version of the game. Both Xbox 360 and PS3 are being developed in house, Chrome Studios is developing on the PS2, PSP and Wii. InSpace (UK) is developing for the Nintendo DS. They stressed that these are not "ports", but full development efforts in order to make the game as good as it could be for each platform. There will be unlockable characters, levels and other goodies specific to each platform - but the base story line and game play will be as consistent as possible between all the platforms.

 

Of the next gen consoles, currently only the Wii will have "death match" mode. DS (and PSP?) will have a "king of the hill" style game.

 

OK - so Lucas Arts has the vision thing (and merchandising angles) down, how does that translate to game play? We were privileged to see a late Alpha of the game on the Xbox 360 and Wii platforms. While the rendering was not polished, the game was able to show off it's potential. Hayden kept using the term "epic vision" and how they were trying to translate the movie to the game. One downside to RPGs and FPS games is the "angle of the camera". Do you feel claustrophobic or do you feel that you are really running down a hanger bay that is large enough to have Tie Fighters strafing you? The Force Unleashed is built on the Havok Game Engine which allows the "epic" feel to come through. But Lucas Arts has added two other parts to the game engine that they feel will make the Force Unleashed unique in game play.

 

The first addition is the Digital Molecular Matter (by Pixelux) sub-engine. With this enhancement Lucas Arts is better able to render and add behaviors to objects in the environment. When objects are destroyed in the Force Unleashed, they will break apart based on their weight, the location of the impact and the strength of the impact. They will not break apart upon predetermined lines, leaving all barrels/boxes/doors looking the same after taking damage. "Glass breaks like glass, wood breaks like wood." One example they should was using an explosive force push to bend open some blast doors. They bent at the force impact and when the character passed through the opening were bent back - although not perfectly back into place which makes sense - to stop anyone from following down that path.

 

The second addition is Euphoria (by Natural Motion) sub-engine. The addition of Euphoria removes the canned scripted reactions of the enemy, sort of a Biomechanical AI. The same action by you, will not always generate the same reaction in the enemy. They can and will react differently to the same stimulus. As it was described in real game use, the enemies have self preservation built into their logic. This means playing the same level multiple times should be not result in the rote memorization of strafe left- strafe left- strafe right- duck- strafe left- target fuel cell that makes re-playing a game boring.

 

Over all impressions are that the graphics are going to be very good. The unleashed force powers should be fun. There is a bit of twisted force power use (intended black humor?) within the game - where you can pick up an enemy, charge them up with force lightning and then throw them. When they make contact with another object, they explode. The blood and guts factor is minimal, but still that is a bit "on the dark side". (Not that I'm complaining, I just found that interesting.)

 

Character customization is going to be minimal for those that like RPGs. You can purchase new powers with your force points earned at each level, taking different routes with the available abilities, but tricking out your character will not be the focus of the game.

 

More info will be release at the Feb Gamers Convention and since there will be a full court press with all the merchandising tie-ins, novels, comic books, LEGOs, etc. expect the visibility of this game to climb to dizzying heights as we get closer to a release date.

 

I hope that this does not drive expectations too high for the game. It looks like a fun and challenging game. Plus the technology could prove to be an exceptional platform for creating other immersive environments for today's "next-gen"consoles and begin a steady release of games against the back drop of the Stars Wars Universe. (A re-release of TIE Fighter perhaps? Hint? Hint?)

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adamqd Newbie

adamqd

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An interview with Bret Recter and Steve Sansweet at wondercon 08, some info we know some we dont, sorry I didn't just link it but it was in amongst about 20 or so pages, mostly about things other than Star Wars...

 

 

"SS: And now it’s my pleasure to introduce an old friend, a former editor of the Star Wars Insider, and assistant producer on The Force Unleashed, Brett Rector. Tell us, what are the basics of The Force Unleashed?

 

 

Brett Rector: Well, basically you play as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, and it’s all about over-the-top Force powers. Anything and everything you can imagine that we can do in video games, we’re going to try to do with this game. So, it takes place between Episodes III and IV, we’re going to be a little vague right now as to exactly when, so that’s the time period so you’re going to see a lot of familiar faces.

 

SS: Do you really get to pull a Star Destroyer out of the sky?

 

BR: Yes you do. That’s one of the seminal moments of the game. It’s really cool right now. I think you guys are really going to dig it.

 

SS: The Force powers seem so over-the-top. It’s not quite what you see in the movies. How do you justify that, or explain that?

 

BR: Basically, early on in the project, we looked at the very first Clone Wars cartoon and saw how they were dealing with Force powers. Because it is a video game, George allows us to do these things with the medium. He understands. He’s a savvy person. He understands that we really need to take these things to 11 to really pay off on that. It’s not breaking continuity; it’s just a new way of envisioning Force powers. And it’s a lot more fun for the game. You guys are really going to dig it.

 

SS: Give us an update on exactly how The Force Unleashed is coming along at this stage.

 

BR: We patched our Alpha Stage right before Christmas.

 

SS: What exactly is an Alpha Stage?

 

BR: It’s where we have code and content complete and no major bugs are in the system. Right now — I just came in from work, the whole team’s there –optimizing, bug fixing. We really want to deliver on this game for you guys, the fans, and it’s something that we’re really proud of. So it’s coming along great.

 

SS: It is. They walked me through it, some of the game play, about two weeks ago. I’m not a huge gamer. I don’t have a lot of time to game, but I got to tell you, I was blown away by it. It really is exciting. You really do become part of the Star Wars galaxy. How heavily was George involved in the creation of the game? In the story of the game?

 

BR: He was very closely involved in the very beginning, especially as far as what characters we could use. The continuity of the game. He really wanted things to fit in nicely with what was going on. He didn’t want anything too outside the realm of Star Wars. He was trying to rein us in and giving us comments like, there should be 20 percent comedy and there should be a love interest. So, we have PROXY and Juno…

 

SS: Who’s PROXY?

 

BR: PROXY is the apprentice’s droid sidekick.

 

SS: Waitasecond. PROXY is a love interest?

 

BR: Well… depending on what program you run. No. No, Juno Eclipse is the love interest.

 

SS: How come a video game was chosen over some other form of entertainment for this next chapter in the saga, between III and IV.

 

BR: I think that with the rising popularity… video games are so mainstream right now. I think everyone has at least one console in their house whether it’s an Atari 2600 or a PS3. With the new hardware these days we can actually present a movie-like experience to the audience, to the consumer. Even more, you get to participate in that experience. You don’t just get to sit back and watch Anakin use Force powers. You’re playing his apprentice and you’re using Force powers.

 

SS: One of the reasons the game has been a little delayed, as I understand it, is that there two or three new technologies that all are done by different companies that have to be merged because everything touches everything else. Do you want to explain a little of that?

 

 

BR: Basically with new hardware you always have to build a new tool-set.. So to develop for the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3, not only do we have to have a new rendering engine, we also want to add these new technologies. One is Pixelux, which is Digital Molecular Matter or DMM, and the other is Euphoria, which is Natural Motion. Pixelux allows us to create realistic tables, chairs, buildings, structures made out of wood, cement, glass, whatever. And we can create these things where you can make these things break in real-time realistically so it’s not just a canned animation, it’s something unique every time. And the same applies to Euphoria, with Natural Motion. It’s kind of a BioMechanical AI

 

SS: So it’s actually the characters –

 

BR: Yes, the characters are going to move uniquely. They’ll reach out and actually, stormtroopers will grab one another and hold on to … I’m sure some of you saw the Penny Arcade…

 

SS: “Love Among the Troopers.”

 

BR: I’m sure you guys liked that one. That’s posted all over the office. So, it’s a way to imbue the characters with life-like qualities and a more realistic experience.

 

SS: One of the things that impressed me was the hugeness of the environments.

 

BR: The environment art in this game is incredible, especially the open air environments. They’re huge sprawling landscapes, and we’re able to imagine these landscapes as we could in a movie, and we can present them as such.

 

SS: Why don’t we show them the gameplay? You want to describe what we see in the first clip.

 

BR: The first clip is the XBox 360 version. You’re in the TIE fighter construction facility. It’s your first mission. Vader’s ordered you to go find a Jedi Master and hunt him down and dispense of him, and along the way, you’re supposed to leave no witnesses. So you’re going to notice the apprentice killing stormtroopers as well as the other insurgents. That’s why he’s turning on his own here, because Vader doesn’t even want the Emperor to know of you.

 

SS: Let’s take a look.

 

Video clip rolls: The Force Unleashed gameplay.

 

SS: Wow. That’s actual game play.

 

BR: Actual game play. That’s right.

 

SS: So, are we going to see any familiar faces in the game?

 

BR: Yeah, we have a few since we’re so close, right after Episode III and near Episode IV, so you’ll see we have Shaak Ti in the game. Vader of course…

 

SS: The Jedi who couldn’t be killed.

 

BR: THat’s right. And we get to kill her.

 

SS: Shhhhh!

 

BR: Maybe.

 

SS: Well, it’s a game. You never know how it’s going to turn out.

 

BR: Princess Leia. Bail Organa. A few guest surprises here and there.

 

SS: How about the locations? Any we’re going to recognize.

 

BR: We’ve got Kashyyyk and Felucia from Episode III, and a little moon or space station called the Death Star may make an appearance…

 

SS: A lot of people are very interested in the Wii and the lightsaber action. Is this the game they’ve been waiting for?

 

BR: Basically we’re releasing on pretty much every platform this summer. So PS3, Xbox360, the DS, the PSP, the PS2, and the Wii. The Wii game is going to follow closely what our game is, so it’s not a lightsaber game per se, but we consider the lightsaber to be a Force power, so it is The Force Unleashed, so that will be part of the gameplay mechanic. And what makes the Wii great is that you will use the nunchuck to use Force-powers, and the regular controller to swing and manipulate the lightsaber. And it will also play nicely into the two-player duel matches that we’ll have on the Wii so you can battle a friend. We’ll probably have some Expanded Universe characters in that version, it’s coming along great.

 

SS: Can you share any secrets with us?

 

BR: Secrets? We have secrets at Lucasfilm? We disclose everything, Steve! I don’t know how many of you people saw the Vanity Fair, but it made an allusion to the fact that you can play as Darth Vader. And yes, you will in fact be able to play as Darth Vader in the first level so it’s kind of a way to get the player into the game and using all the Force powers. He’ll move the way you expect Vader to move. He’s not going to run. He’s going to walk very briskly. We have continuity in mind. We’re all fans on the team, and Haden Blackman, the Project Lead, is really steering us in the right direction, so yeah. Vader is going to move like you would expect Vader to move. It’s great.

 

SS: We have one more clip of the game to show. Which is this one?

 

BR: This is the junk planet Raxus Prime, which is an expanded universe planet, and you’ve been sent to dispatch the Jedi Master Kazdan Paratus, who is another unique character in the game. He’s kind of this… he has the ability through the Force to manipulate junk and create junk golems. So you kind of battle a bunch of junk golems and you face off against him in the final battle. He’s a little stir crazy where he talks to himself and his junk…

 

SS: Much like you at your desk.

 

BR: Yeah, I think Haden got inspiration from me at night staring out the window. And you might even catch a glimpse of some junk Jedi. He’s pretty neurotic.

 

SS: Why don’t we take a look.

 

Video Rolls: The Force Unleashed gameplay on Raxus Prime.

 

SS: Very cool. Brett, thank you very much.

 

BR: My pleasure. Thank you very much, everybody."

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