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Footage from Star Wars: Battlefront III leaked |
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2009-01-18, 16:05 - by Wacky
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...But it looks like it might not be the BF III we end up with.
The footage is apparently from an internal meeting in November at Free Radical Design, who are now in administration after losing the BF III contract. IGN has more in an interview with a former FRD developer.
You can watch the leaked video on Kotaku.com.
A choice quote from one ex-employee of FRD:
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Originally Posted by Thomas Dudenaughty
It's dead. The stuff in the video of going from the ground to air to space to orbit is the tech that is dying with us. They've [LucasArts] decided, for whatever reason, I guess because it's less effort, to completely remove that with a cutscene transition.
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And one more:
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Originally Posted by Thomas Dudenaughty
LucasArts never told us when they wanted to release, literally never. We didn't do any press, they kept it totally under wraps. I think that was partly because they had The Force Unleashed, they didn't want it to be contrasting with that.
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BF III had apparently been in development for well over 18 months, and was nearing completion, so one can only wonder what the reception and outcome might have been had LucasArts announced the game sooner. Now it looks like the FRD version of BF III will never see the light of day.
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462 Views
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Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO Announced |
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2008-10-22, 13:15 - by Prime
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After much speculation and verbally violent discussion the announcement has been made that Bioware and Lucasarts are developing an MMO called Star Wars: The Old Republic.
You can check out the announcement video at
Gamespot. Here is the official blurb in the setting:
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The true Sith have spent centuries building their strength in the depths of unknown space. The Sith Emperor patiently planned for the day when his Sith Empire would repay the Jedi for the humiliating defeats of the past. In that time, generations of Sith have come and gone, working hard and devoting their lives to the dream of vengeance.
With dark discipline and meticulous execution, the Sith's first assault on their enemies succeeded to near-perfection. They sliced through the Jedi and their defenses as if they weren't even there. Though their aggressive advances were eventually slowed, the Sacking of Coruscant settled any questions about whether the Sith were victorious.
In the years since the treaty, the twelve-member Sith Dark Council has overseen the consolidation of the Empire's new domains and the restructuring to put practical matters in the hands of the Imperial military so the Sith Lords can plan for the future. The Sith Lords' focus has now turned to recruiting and training new acolytes to increase the Empire's power. When the final battle with the Jedi comes, the Sith Lords plan to be prepared. There will be no mercy.
In the vaulted halls of the Sith Academy on Korriban and in the deep tombs of the great Dark Lords of the past, potential Sith must face arduous tests to prove their worthiness. Even if they survive this deadly training, though, their greatest challenge lies in the cruel competition of their fellow acolytes, as each vies for the favor of their Masters. Ultimately, only the strongest will become Sith; the others will simply die trying.
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721 Views
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KOTOR MMO News |
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2008-07-24, 15:31 - by Prime
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I bit late, but worth noting. Feel free to either yell suXX0rz or w00t. I'm the former...
EA to Play in Knights of the Old Republic
N. Evan Van Zelfden in Los Angeles warns, watch out World of Warcraft. In an interview at E3 this week, Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello said that EA is working on the next version of Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic, and it will most certainly have a massively multiplayer online component to it. [emphasis mine]
"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."
Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? "Yes," he said.
As for the bolded part, what does that imply exactly?
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1,228 Views
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Star Wars Battlefront III: not coming soon to the PC |
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2008-07-10, 09:36 - by txa1265
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We already know that there are Clone Wars games coming to the Wii and DS, but yesterday Kotaku posted a link to a short-lived Amazon.com listing for Star Wars Battlefront III. That isn't much of a surprise since the game has long been rumored to be in production:
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Retailer Amazon has listed tentative dates and platforms for Star Wars Battlefront III, long rumored to be in development at Free Radical, developers of Haze and Timesplitters. While we've been under the impression that the UK based dev was hard at work we didn't know how hard at work they are. According to Amazon, Battlefront III is coming to everything — Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DS, PSP, PlayStation 2. OK, not everything, since it doesn't list a PC version, but if these listings are accurate, anyone and everyone will have access to a version of the game come March 2009. We await more news at E3 next week.
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The listing noted that the game was coming to the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DS, PSP, PlayStation 2. Pretty much every viable gaming platform.
Except for the PC.
While everything is still in the rumor phase, some part of me believes that when the dust settles the PC will once again be left out of LucasArts plans.
What do you think?
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1,065 Views
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LucasArts "rebooting" yet again |
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2008-06-08, 01:41 - by Char Ell
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As reported by Kotaku, on June 5 LucasArts laid off somewhere between 50-100 of the company's employees, mostly in production services. A check of the LucasArts website reveals that the VP of product development, Peter Hirschmann, and the VP of production services, Atsuko Masumoto are no longer listed, making them former vice presidents of LEC. LucasArts spokeswoman Margaret Grohne later confirmed to Kotaku that LucasArts had laid off some of its staff, saying
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We are healthy. LEGO Indie was launched on seven platforms to positive reviews, The Force Unleashed and Fracture are on track for this fall. We have a good slate of games and we have some good stuff going on in production. We are definitely committed to the internal studio.
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Kotaku also reports some of the sacked employees have spilled the beans about what LucasArts has in the unannounced development pipeline, citing a KotOR MMO, SW Battlefront 3, a lightsaber game for the Wii, the official Indiana Jones game, and another LEGO Indy game.
It would seem that after about 6 weeks or so at the helm, new LucasArts President Darrell Rodriguez has decided to have the good ship LEC reverse course, jettisoning the past four years worth of effort to ramp up LucasArts internal production capability. While that flies in the face of what former president Jim Ward worked for Mr. Rodriguez has followed in his predecessor's footsteps with the decision that this change in course required making a sizeable portion of his crew walk the plank. Mr. Ward also laid off a significant number of LucasArts employees shortly after taking over at LucasArts in 2004.
In light of this information it's hard to believe Ms. Grohne's statements about LucasArts being committed to its internal studio. LucasArts' top two production leaders have departed. And if LucasArts has indeed laid off the vast majority of its remaining production staff then the viability of the DMM and euphoria based Indiana Jones game, originally planned for a 2007 release but pushed out to allow development efforts to be focused on The Force Unleashed, must be called into question. Who is left to develop the game? Alas it seems LucasArts will be reliving the tumultous time after the 2004 reorganization, once again expending much effort to change its strategic direction, lessening the time available to work on games development and publishing.
All this recent hullaballoo at LucasArts has caused me to wonder if George Lucas and Lucasfilm president Micheline Chau now regret their decision to put Jim Ward in charge of LucasArts back in 2004. At the outset Mr. Lucas seemed to be onboard with Jim Ward's business plan to build up LucasArts. In a 2006 New York Times interview then LucasArts president Mr. Ward recalled presenting his business plan for LucasArts and Mr. Lucas responding, "We can do this ourselves. We will put our resources behind this." Only Lucasfilm and LucasArts insiders know what changed in between 2006 and February 2008 when Mr. Ward resigned his position as LucasArts' president for "personal reasons."
Perhaps it turned out the plan was too ambitious, the costs too high for Lucasfilm executives to stomach. LucasArts did have to invest a lot of resources into developing its own development pipeline and integrating it with Industrial Light and Magic's development system. Members of LucasArts' production staff have also talked about the difficulty of getting their newly licensed development technologies, digital molecular matter and euphoria, to work with the Havok physics system being used in The Force Unleashed. In addition to all that LucasArts programmers also had to go through the learning curve for developing on the new consoles, especially steep on the Playstation 3. The result of those many challenges ended up causing The Force Unleashed to be pushed back 10 months from the game's originally announced release month and the previously mentioned Indiana Jones game from being released in spring/summer 2008 to seemingly on the verge of becoming vaporware. In hindsight LucasArts looks like they bit off more than they could comfortably chew. The unfortunate result for many of those hired to bring Mr. Ward's vision to pass is that they are now out of a job, the plan scrapped, and LucasArts is now sailing towards a different destination.
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995 Views
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No 'Force Unleashed' Multiplayer on PS3/360 |
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2008-05-17, 13:02 - by Prime
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No 'Force Unleashed' Multiplayer on PS3/360
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"To be specific, there's no multiplayer in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, because there is on the Wii, PSP, and DS. As far as specific reasons are concerned, we don't really like to get into the reasons why we don't do things because I don't think there's really a satisfactory answer that people would really be happy with. So, there isn't multiplayer and that's kind of how it is..."
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And apparently SP is short.
Lucasarts is playing a dangerous game, since they are hinging everything on this game right now...
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1,272 Views
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Download Legacy of the Force: Betrayal Free |
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2008-04-30, 10:01 - by txa1265
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From TheForce.net:
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DEL REY TO OFFER FREE TWO-WEEK DOWNLOAD OF FIRST BOOK IN STAR WARS™: LEGACY OF THE FORCE
As a special gift to STAR WARS fans, Del Rey will be offering Book One in the series, STAR WARS: LEGACY OF THE FORCE: BETRAYAL, as a free downloadable PDF, audio book, and eBook. This promotional offer will run for two weeks, from 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, April 29, until midnight on Tuesday, May 13. The free download, which can be shared, e-mailed or printed, will be available on www.legacyoftheforce.com.
A New York Times bestselling series, LEGACY OF THE FORCE introduces readers to a new era in the STAR WARS universe and features the beloved characters from the original trilogy, answering the questions of what happened to Han, Luke and Leia after the conclusion of STAR WARS: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.
Book Nine, the final book in the series, STAR WARS: LEGACY OF THE FORCE: INVINCIBLE, will go on sale as a Del Rey hardcover on May 13. Book Eight, REVELATION, reached the #1 spot on The New York Times paperback bestseller list.
Del Rey has partnered with booksellers to provide the free download. A1Books.com, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Booksense.com, Borders.com, Deepdiscount.com, the eBook Store from Sony, Overstock.com, and Powells.com are making the file available to their customers.
“This giveaway is a great way to introduce the legions of Star Wars fans to our books,” commented Christine Cabello, Deputy Director of Marketing at the Random House Publishing Group, who oversaw the execution of this initiative. “We also expect that it will build awareness and excitement for the on-sale date of the final book in the series, INVINCIBLE.”
Del Rey will be supporting the free download with a major online marketing campaign including an announcement in the STAR WARS e-newsletter, promotion on StarWars.com, and banner advertising.
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So hurry on over and grab it while it lasts - they have it in PDF, Kindle, Sony eReader, and Audio Book formats (unfortunately nothing native for Palm or Pocket PC PDA's).
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1,176 Views
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LucasArts locks down release date for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed |
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2008-04-04, 13:16 - by Char Ell
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After originally announcing a 2007 November release month for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, LucasArts quickly changed to spring 2008 and then later moved it back to summer 2008. Through all of the release window changes LucasArts never announced an actual release date for the game, until yesterday that is.
Straight from LucasArts' press release page "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be released on September 16, 2008 in the United States, September 17 in Southeast Asia and Australia, and September 19 in Europe."
LucasArts and Spike TV have teamed up to promote the game during the broadcast premiere of all six Star Wars movies starting this weekend. Below are the times exclusive TFU announcements and footage will occur.
- April 6 at 7:58 p.m. ET/PT - between the premiere of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
- April 11 at 10:52 p.m. ET/PT - At the end of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- April 12 at 12:00 a.m. ET/PT - throughout an episode of GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley filmed at LucasArts' headquarters in San Francisco
- April 12 at 5:06 p.m. ET/PT - before Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- April 13 at 5:06 p.m. ET/PT - before Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
Unless LucasArts is going to announce TFU for PC then there won't be much excitement for me. 
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1,105 Views
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