Category: gaming

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EA re-examining approach to Star Wars games

ea-star-wars-battlefrontPatrick Söderlund, the executive vice president of EA Games Label at EA, recently spoke to Polygon about their approach to the Star Wars universe.

“The most important thing for me is that we take the Star Wars license and come up with games where peoples’ jaws drop,” he said. “We need to do with this what [Batman: Arkham Asylum] did for the Batman license.”

He revealed for the upcoming Star Wars: Battlefront game, announced at E3 earlier this year, EA’s DICE studio came forward to want to work on it – and is using resources developed by LucasArts for Battlefront 3.

“We didn’t toss anything out,” he said. “We’re looking at the old games. We have access to everything that was done during the LucasArts era. But we do want to take our own stance.”

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Order 67, up! Lucasfilm registers domain names

WolfpackStart your theories, people who care that Lucasfilm registered a bunch of domain names! Fusible was first to notice.

The domains include starwarsrebels.com, starwarsalliance.com, order67.net, wookieehunters.com, starwarswolfpack.com, and wolfpackadventures.net. (Wolfpack, if anyone is wondering, is a clone trooper squad that gained a good bit of traction among Clone Wars fans.)

An extraordinary amount of comment seems to focus on gunganfrontier2.com, gunganfrontier3.com and gunganfrontier4.com, which could mean sequels to a 1999 learning game or just someone at LFL being a hilarious troll.

In any case, the tendency with these domain things is to assume they’re video games, so consider the speculation floor open.

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EA gets exclusive multiyear Lucasfilm license for Star Wars gaming

EA-LogoStarWars.com just announced that Electronic Arts has locked up a multiyear licensing agreement with Lucasfilm and Disney Interactive to be the exclusive developer of Star Wars titles for the main gaming markets: console, PC, tablet & mobile. While not stating exactly how long the license will last, EA (which includes Bioware, producer of the popular Knights of the Old Republic game and The Old Republic MMO, as well as other EA studios like DICE and Visceral) will pretty much be the only game in town for Star Wars titles, with the exception for some casual games from Disney Interactive.

“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.”

“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.”

Or check out the full press release on EA’s site. With LucasArts downgraded from a game development company into a game licensing company last month, it looks like all eyes will be on EA’s stable of development studios for keeping Star Wars alive in the video game industry.

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Roundup: LucasArts closed: Tributes & Inquiries

lucasarts-logo-grim-fandango_250x250With the official word that Lucasfilm’s video game division, LucasArts, was being effectively shut down this week, there’s been a lot of reminiscing of the great titles that LucasArts had developed and some investigation for why the closing happened, and the search for a silver lining.

With the company’s re-alignment to solely focus on licensing Lucasfilm’s intellectual property to outside game developers, in-house game development has been shut down, finally cancelling Star Wars: 1313 and First Assault games. (See our guest column from Paul Ens suggesting that Dark Horse could turn these game projects into graphic novels.) I’ve rounded up some of the views on the closure, with a look at LucasArts’ recent history, and some tributes to the game company that started in 1982 and the people who worked there, as well as my own nostalgic look at some of the games that were part of my life.

Continue reading “Roundup: LucasArts closed: Tributes & Inquiries”

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Could Dark Horse rescue 1313 and First Assault?

1313

Wednesday, it was announced that Disney is closing down LucasArts, the video game division of Lucasfilm. This news did not come as a surprise to me, nor likely to many who follow the storied company closely. In the process, an estimated 150 employees have been laid off, including friends and former colleagues of mine. To they who worked very hard everyday to bring interactive Star Wars entertainment to the fans, we wish the best of luck.

1stassaultLike every aspect of Star Wars fandom, the pros and cons of this move will be hotly discussed and contested among fans, and perhaps I will join you when the wound has healed somewhat.

Meanwhile, for those who lament that they will never see cancelled LucasArts projects Star Wars: 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault, might I suggest that you may one day have a rescuer in Dark Horse Comics?

Continue reading “Could Dark Horse rescue 1313 and First Assault?”

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LucasArts laying off staff as LFL moves to ‘licensing model’ for video games; report says ILM also affected

LucasArtsKotaku reported and GameInformer confirmed with Lucasfilm that the company is in the process of shutting down LucasArts. Kotaku says that 150 have been laid off and both Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313 have been canceled. Variety is reporting that the layoffs are spilling over to Industrial Light & Magic as well.

Here’s part of the official statement:

“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.”

This has expected for a while, and there was plenty of speculation that LucasArts was headed for the bin even before Disney was in the picture.

Ron Gilbert, creator and co-creater of several of the company’s most iconic games, says goodbye to Lucasfilm Games.