Game Stooge

LucasArts Talks About the Force Unleashed, Evades Wii Snub

• Scribbled on February 19th, 2007 by Jonah Falcon
• Filed in Action, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, Platforms, Sony PSP, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3

In the March 2007 Game Informer’s cover story of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, LucasArts spilled the beans on its latest Star Wars game, which has been dubbed an official chapter of the Star Wars saga, stuck between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. If it were a movie, therefore, it would be Star Wars, Episode III 1/2: The Force Unleashed, and yes, there is more than a passing resemblance to the popular graphic novel Shadows of the Empire. In fact, the developers admit it is directly inspired by it.

In the game, you play Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. Yes, you play the bad guy, and your nemesis is Shaaki Ti - you know, the alien Jedi from Revenge of the Sith. She somehow survived the temple massacre, and wants to turn you into Dark Jedi shish-ke-bob, and controls a herd of Rancors (!).

Like most Star Wars games, there are multiple endings, though only one will be canon. There will be plenty of notable Star Wars locations and personalities, though the developers are coy whether Darth Vader will appear, though if you’re his apprentice, it’s basically a given.

The biggest news, however, is the fact there won’t be a Wii version of this particular game. According to the article:

The LucasArts site lists ‘Next-Generation platforms, PS2, PSP and DS’ among the systems capable of playing this game. So let’s just break this down. PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 are the next-gen systems. While those other platforms will have the game, the mechanics of gameplay will be decidedly different. Krome Studios will be making the PSP/PS2 version, while n-Space will be handling the Nintendo DS version. But what about the Wii?! Well, when they asked a LucasArts rep about that, the response was, “even if that version does happen, it probably wouldn’t be ‘the lightsaber game’ that gamers have eagerly been awaiting.”

One of the biggest problems of the Wii is that it’s travelling down the same path as its predecessors, the Nintendo 64 and the GameCube: poor third-party support. What do you think - will this curtail the Wii’s popularity down the road, as it did the other previous Nintendo hardware?

(Thanks, TheForce.net.)