Tag Archives: Video games

Star Wars: 1313 Won’t Let You be a Jedi

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Gaming blog Kotaku had a chance to sit down with Lucasarts to talk about their upcoming new franchise in the Star Wars videogame realm. One of the tidbits dropped? You won’t get the chance to play as a Jedi.

“It’s not that I think that that’s overdone,” says Robillard. “But the criminal underworld of 1313is a little more grounded and that has to live in the mechanics of the game. Having mechanics that are limited by human ability makes things more relatable, then we can put all the cool stuff you can do into the gadgets and weapons.”

“You still get to do all of these amazing things because of the environment the game takes place in and because of the gear you have,” he continues. “But at the core you still have these vulnerabilities that are a bit more relatable, so you won’t have the demigod complex of a Jedi.” If you fall in 1313, Robillard sums up, you know you’re going to be in trouble.

You know what? I’m perfectly okay with this. If you’ve ever listened to the podcast (such as our latest! With Aaron Allston! Shameless plug!), you know one of my big things I really want to see from Star Wars is a bit more of a focus put on non-Force sensitive characters. It’s a big, grand universe. Show that to us every now and then!

Star Wars: 1313 Gameplay Footage

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As promised, Lucasarts revealed some in-game video from their new franchise at E3 this week.

A bit of an Uncharted adventure feel combined with Gears of War style cover mechanics. No release date has been issued yet, but no doubt we’ll be hearing more about the game in the coming weeks.

Star Wars: 1313 Is The New Game

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Last night on Spike, Lucasfilm finally announced what that new game franchise they’ve been hinting at is. The answer, Star Wars 1313.

LucasArts is diving into the most dangerous depths of the Star Wars criminal underworld with their newly announced internally developed videogame franchise, Star Wars 1313. Players will take control of a lethal bounty hunter in the never-before-explored expanses of Level 1313, deep below the surface of Coruscant. Using an arsenal of exotic weaponry to hunt down marks, the player must also uncover the truth surrounding a criminal conspiracy in this third-person cinematic action adventure game. It’s a bold new take on the Star Wars galaxy, intended for mature audiences.

Admittedly, I was hoping beyond hope that this was going to be a flight simulator of some sort. Or anything else, really. I’ve got bounty hunter and sandbox shooter burnout. This sounds like it’s going to be a combination of both of those.

Expect actual gameplay footage to be revealed at E3.

New Star Wars Video Game At E3

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Lucasfilm announced today that a new video game franchise tied into the Star Wars IP would be unveiled at this year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo, one of the nation’s largest video game conventions. The debut trailer will appear on May 31st on the Spike network’s Gametarilers TV with a gameplay premiere taking place on June 4.

What could the game be?  Game Informer thinks it could be related to the recent “Star Wars 1313” trademark, which would suggest perhaps a Boba Fett game. I’m secretly wishing for an all new line of space combat simulators, but I’m not holding my breath.

Via

‘The Old Republic’ Loses 400,000 Subscribers

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Bad news for Electronic Arts, Bioware, and Lucasarts. Their massively-online Star Wars IP is having a very hard time retaining subscribers as 400,000 have left the virtual universe according to an EA earnings statement.

To put this into perspective, subscriber totals peaked around 1.7 million and have crashed down to 1.3 million. Nearly 25% of subscribers have bolted since the game’s launch. Those are numbers that no one involved with the development of the game ever wanted to see, especially this early in the game’s life.

You have to wonder, would a proper Knights of the Old Republic III have been a better choice in the long run?

Via Kotaku

‘The Old Republic’ May Already Be Losing Subscribers

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The great Word of Warcraft killer? Perhaps not quite reports Ars Technica.

In an investor note released today, Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz said he suspects that subscription levels for The Old Republic may already be lower than the 1.7 million EA reported in February. Creutz’s primary piece of evidence for this belief is publicly available server population numbers assembled and reported by TORstatus.net. These figures have shown a roughly 10 percent decline over the last two months. That doesn’t necessarily mean the game has lost 10 percent of its subscribers in that time, of course, but it isn’t really a sign of strong player growth, either.

I’m, unfortunately, one of those subscribers who canceled their TOR subscription. For the first month or so, I was greatly enjoying the game playing through as a smuggler. The first three worlds were a delight but the problem came when I got to the fourth world I visited. It was pretty much a carbon copy of the third. By this point I was growing a little tired of the recycled dialog, battle mechanics, and fetch quests.

The Old Republic might be a neat Star Wars-skinned MMO, but it just can’t escape being a bit too much of a grind for me. Those hoping that Bioware somehow managed to squeeze a Knights of the Old Republic experience into the game didn’t get quite what they were looking for.

Ars Technica via Club Jade

Trouble On The Horizon for ‘The Old Republic’ Publisher?

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A disappointing 2011 at video game publisher Electronic Arts may be leading the company to lay off anywhere from 500-1000 employees. The rough year was headlined by declining subscriber numbers to their flagship Star Wars: The Old Republic massively-multiplayer online game, the departure of their CFO, and the expensive acquisition of PopCap games. To cap it all off, gamers angry with the ending of Mass Effect 3 flooded Consumerist’s March Madness style tournament to name EA the Worst Company in America.

Even for a company the size of Electronic Arts, those kinds of layoff numbers would be a rather eye-opening five to eleven percent of their workforce. A few years ago it was Activision that couldn’t seem to escape bad press and bad news. These days, EA seems to be the company in the industry that can’t escape the negative publicity.

Electronic Arts has somewhat denied that there are layoffs upcoming: “There are no lay-offs as such, we always have projects growing and morphing. At any given time there are new people coming in and others leaving. EA is growing and hiring and building teams to support the growing demand for digital games and services.”

Not exactly the most confidence-inspiring statement for those working at the publisher. News outlets covering the industry expect something definitive to happen within the next week or so.

Via CNET

A Brief History of Terrible Star Wars Games

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With the outrage over Dancing Han Solo*, one would think there has never been a bad Star  Wars game to grace the market. Lucasfilm has sold out for a quick buck, you say. Oh you silly fans. If that’s the measure for selling out (whatever that means), Lucasfilm sold out years ago. Star Wars has a long and storied history of shoddy video game tie-ins pushed out the door to make some scratch.

*I don’t care what any of you say, Dancing!Han is the best thing to happen to the fandom in the last decade.

Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire: Death by Colons was a horrible mashup of bad full-motion video, clunky game mechanics, on-the-rails dullness, and difficulty curves designed by a sadist. If the horrid acting didn’t make you cringe to the point of turning it off, the bizarre spikes in difficulty at random moments would make you rage quit. Rebel Assault II hearkens back to a day when every game developer on the planet thought that unskilled actors and a green screen were the key to creating a big hit. Rather than, you know, actual gameplay value.

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