Tag Archives: gaming

Knights of the Old Republic being ported to the iPad?

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Well this could be interesting. According to IGN, an accidental promotional mailing from Aspyr suggests that fan favorite title Knights of the Old Republic may be heading for the iPad.

A KOTOR port for iPad isn’t too much of a stretch considering Aspyr’s history. The company is responsible for the original Mac port and has been increasingly active on the App Store. Although there have been some other fringe Star Wars RPGs over the years, KOTOR seems like the obvious bet.

Additionally, this newsletter slip-up confirms previous KOTOR rumors we’ve been hearing. For now official confirmation from Aspyr, or any details regarding a launch date or price, have not been announced. We’ve reached out to Aspyr for comment.

While I’m not sure how they will work out the control scheme yet, the iPad seems like a fantastic destination for Knights of the Old Republic. It’s an older game that doesn’t need a boatload of system resources and being able to take this on the road would make for hours of mobile gaming fun. Count me in as someone hoping it happens.

Assorted thoughts on the Lucasfilm/EA exclusive game deal

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EA LogoReaction to yesterday’s news that Lucasfilm will be licensing the Star Wars IP exclusively to publisher Electronic Arts was, to put it mildly, a mixed bag. First off were people happy that there were going to be new Star Wars games at all. Then there was the anti-EA crowd upset that Disney was licensing to the least popular company in the gaming industry. So what is it? Good news for fans, or Disney making a mistake and hurting fans?

Some assorted thoughts…

  • Disney and Lucasfilm were never going to break things up and offer rights individually on a per-game basis. There’s more leverage in locking a company up in on an exclusive multi-year deal. Because of this, only two publishers were realistic options: Electronic Arts and Activision. Given that neither company is particularly well regarded in gaming circles, it’s pretty much a pick-your-poison. For me, Electronic Arts has the better game developers in its portfolio so going with them is far and away the preferable option.
  • While Electronic Arts is hated by gamers (some would say irrationally hated), they’ve got fantastic game developers working under them. From the onset, they’ve announced that Bioware, DICE, and Visceral Games are going to be working on future Star Wars titles. This is good news. These are studios that have produced some fantastic products and are capable of doing great things with the Star Wars IP.
  • Yes, even Bioware is a fantastic studio. Whether or not you liked the ending to Mass Effect 3, they are a developer that has consistently put out above-average games that have featured top-notch writing efforts to create deeply immersive games.  Knights of the Old Republic 3? Maybe that’s finally back on the table now that Lucasarts isn’t pulling the strings. Maybe it means a single-player RPG experience in a completely different era. Either way, it’s exciting and turning Bioware loose on a new Star Wars title is great news.
  • For fans that have long wished for Battlefront III, this news is nothing short of a miracle. DICE is the company that produces the Battlefield titles, multiplayer online shooter titles with a remarkably similar feel to the Battlefront games. Critically lauded multiplayer online shooter titles along with warzone cheats for all first-person shooter games, I might add. You might not get Battlefront III specifically, but I’d say odds are high you’re going to get a game remarkably similar to it.
  • Visceral Games is responsible for the acclaimed Dead Space games, a franchise that’s textbook core market.  They’ve shown they can do atmospheric titles that can push the action angle. Good fit for Star Wars? I think so.
  • Disney and Lucasfilm were never going to leave money from the core gaming market on the table. Claims that they would abandon more grown-up titles to only produce Facebook and iOS titles were simply overreaction to the news that LucasArts was closing down. Maybe it’s time we recognize that Disney isn’t out to make Star Wars fans miserable by cancelling everything we love and acknowledge they just might know what they’re doing?
  • LucasArts was having an increasingly difficult time producing games, so Disney handing the IP off to a company with a stable of high-quality developers was not only a smart business decision, it was a good gesture to fans. At the very least, it’s hard to get much worse than where the IP has been. It’s been a long time since the last critically acclaimed Star Wars title. Giving Electronic Arts a go might be just what the franchise needs to produce something special again.

Boil it down and I just can’t find much to be upset about. There is way more good news than there is bad news involved in this announcement. As of right now, three top-notch studios are going to get to work on the Star Wars IP and I, for one, can’t wait to see what they do with it.

Lucasfilm Licensing selects Electronic Arts for exclusive multi-year game deal

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When LucasArts was closed down, Disney and Lucasfilm said that the Star Wars IP would move towards a licensing model with out-of-house talent handling development duties. Fans were skeptical that anything would come out of this, naturally. Today Lucasfilm put those concerns to bed with the announcement that publisher Electronic Arts has been selected for an exclusive multi-year game deal.

Today it was announced that Lucasfilm Ltd. and Disney Interactive are entering into a multi-year, multi-title exclusive licensing agreement with Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) for the creation of new high quality Star Wars games spanning multiple genres for console, PC, mobile, and tablets.

Industry leaders and creators of best-in-class blockbuster games, the development and publishing teams at EA will collaborate with the creative teams at Lucasfilm to provide audiences with all-new gaming experiences set in the ever-expanding Star Wars galaxy. As part of the agreement, EA studio teams DICE (Battlefield series) and Visceral (Dead Space series) will join BioWare (Mass Effect series, Star Wars: The Old Republic) in the development of new Star Wars games.

“Our number one objective was to find a developer who could consistently deliver our fans great Star Wars games for years to come,” said Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm. “When we looked at the talent of the teams that EA was committing to our games and the quality of their vision for Star Wars, the choice was clear.”

While EA studios will develop for the core Star Wars gaming audience, Disney Interactive will focus on delivering new Star Wars games for casual audiences on mobile, social, tablet, and online gaming platforms.

“This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come,” said John Pleasants, co-president of Disney Interactive. “Collaborating with one of the world’s premier game developers will allow us to bring an amazing portfolio of new Star Wars titles to fans around the world.”

“Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe,” said EA Labels President Frank Gibeau. “Three of our top studios will fulfill that dream, crafting epic adventures for Star Wars fans. The new experiences we create may borrow from films, but the games will be entirely original with all new stories and gameplay.”

More information, including titles in development, will be announced in the coming months. Continue to check StarWars.com for updates on the future of Star Wars gaming.

Take a moment to look at the studios that are going to be involved. DICE, Visceral Studios, and Bioware. These are three big-name players that command a lot of respect in the gaming community and have produced some incredible game portfolios. Lucasarts may be gone, but the Star Wars gaming IP is perhaps in better shape than it has been in years.

The Fate of LucasArts was a Decade in the Making

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To say fan reaction to the closure of long-time game developer and publisher LucasArts was strong would be an understatement. Emotions ranged from sadness to outright anger at new parent company Disney for shuttering the studio responsible for critically acclaimed titles like TIE Fighter, The Dig, and Escape from Monkey Island. Through the years, this division of the Lucasfilm brand had been responsible for numerous well received games that became benchmarks for the industry as a whole. It’s understandable, then, that fans of the company are bewildered as to why Disney would close down such a prolific studio and monument to gaming history.

While a glance through their catalog reveals a studio that has had more success than the vast majority of their competitors, a deeper look reveals that LucasArts set themselves on a risky path nearly a decade ago.

Continue reading →

Lucasarts Shuttered, Employees Laid Off

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LucasartsKotaku is reporting that Disney has officially shut down Lucasarts and laid off all employees.

Given the lingering hard feelings over Lucasfilm Animation and the cancellation of The Clone Wars, it’s easy to get upset at Disney. I would caution against it, however. Lucasarts was a development studio that was in trouble years before Disney even came into the picture. The number of titles they released plummeted around 2006-2007 and the marquee titles they did release were not well received critically. The Force Unleashed and its sequel were regarded as middling titles and The Old Republic was a huge expenditure that failed to put a dent in the MMO market.

There’s also this to consider:

Lucasarts has been a development studio in trouble for years. This studio getting shut down doesn’t mean the end of Star Wars games. If anything, I view it as a hopeful thing. For whatever reason, they have been unable to produce quality products internally for a number of years and they probably could have and should have been closed down sooner to redistribute that valuable IP.

If Disney is licensing the Star Wars IP now to other studios, that could be great news for fans.

Edit: Official statement from Lucasfilm

GameInformer received a statement from Lucasfilm discussing the closure of the studio.

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”

In addition, Kotaku is now reporting that Star Wars 1313 and First Assault have been canceled

Staff were informed of the shutdown this morning, according to a reliable Kotaku source. Some 150 people were laid off, and both of the studio’s current projects—Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313—were cancelled. Disney will still use the LucasArts name to license games, but the studio is no more.

Angry Birds: Star Wars Coming November 8

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Fans of Star Wars and cheap mobile gaming applications will be overjoyed to hear that Angry Birds will be moving to the Galaxy Far, Far Away.

In Angry Birds Star Wars, a totally new edition of the game out Nov. 8 for iOS, Android and computers, the birds and pigs alike will take on the personalities of characters from the Star Wars saga. “They are not Angry Birds dressed up as Star Wars characters,” says Paul Southern, vice president of licensing and consumer products marketing for Lucasfilm Ltd. “They are characters in their own right.”

For example, Red Bird will be transformed into Luke Skywalker as an X-Wing pilot in Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. “They’ve got personalities which are kind of similar,” he says.

Other birds provide takes on Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the game, which will likely have free and paid versions. And, of course, Darth Vader and the dark side of the Force will be represented. “You will see a pig-esque Vader and pig-esque stormtroopers,” Southern says.

You’ll be able to download the Star Wars edition of Angry Birds on November 8th.

WoW on Sale

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From now until Monday, you can get the entirety of WoW (including expansions) for only $30. That’s right, the original WoW, Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm for only $30. Is this yet another ploy on Blizzard’s part to gain back traction, especially as we prepare for the upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion? Absolutely. Possibly a reaction to TOR? Doubtful, given their hemorrhaging of members. But if you’ve ever wanted to play WoW or see what the fuss was about, now’s your chance–the Battle Chest (WoW and Burning Crusade) include the first month of play free.

SW:TOR goes partially free to play

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EA just announced at E3 that SW:TOR would be free to play from levels 1-15.

Will this help BioWare pick up all the subscribers it’s lost? World of Warcraft went free to play from levels 1-20 last year, but I don’t think it’s helped Blizzard make up the subscriber loss it suffered after everyone finished the Cataclysm end-game content. Seems to me that SW:TOR needs to spend more time developing new modules and content instead.