'Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast' And 'Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy' Coming To PS4 & The Nintendo Switch

By: Benjamin Hart

Big news for fans of Star Wars Legends and classic LucasArts video games! StarWars.com has announced that two huge Star Wars titles from the early 2000's will be making a return on more next gen consoles!

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Lucasfilm & Limited Run Games Announce Re-Releases Of Classic LucasArts Video Games

By: Dominic Jones

More exciting news out of E3! Video game distributor, Limited Run Games announced that they were partnering with Lucasfilm to re-release physical editions of several classic Star Wars games, including Shadows of the Empire, TIE Fighter, Episode I: Racer, and Dark Forces, as well as other (non-Star Wars) classic LucasArts games like The Curse of Monkey Island. Some of the re-releases will be as (physical) collectors editions for their original console (like N64 and Gameboy), while others will be released (on disc) for modern consoles (like the PlayStation 4).

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Report: Details On Unused 'Episode VII: Shadows Of The Sith' Video Game Concept Revealed

By: Benjamin Hart

Now that we've all had a chance to see Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens multiples times and analyze it to the letter, it's hard to imagine how things could have been different. As it turns out, not that long ago, the seventh film in the saga may not have been a film at all, but rather a video game. Back in 2008 the book Rogue Leaders: The Story Of LucasArts was released and inside it a plethora of logos for various video game concepts were revealed. Some of the more intriguing titles included Star Wars: Jedi Knight III - Brink Of Darkness, Star Wars: Darth Maul and Star Wars: Scum And Villainy. But by far the most interesting title included was Star Wars: Episode VII - Shadows Of The Sith. For years speculation has swirled around what this game might have been and how close it got to becoming a reality.

Now, Cinelinx has stepped up to set the record straight. They recently spoke with LucasArts' former creative director Haden Blackman who revealed all about the game's concept. Here's what he said about it's brief development:

"I know everything about it, since it was my basic concept.  In late 2004, we were focus testing/developing a ton of different concepts — over two dozen in all over about a 6 month period. To focus test, I basically just wrote up a 'one-sheet' — a brief description of the game, with a bit of concept art and a logo added. "

“We developed a bunch of logos for this exercise, and sometimes used similar names for slight variations in setting or features so we could do A/B testing (does a concept test better when it’s called out that it’s M-rated? Does the time period make a difference if all other features at the same? etc.). Ultimately, it was a good motivation to generate a ton of different ideas in a short amount of time, but it really just validated what we already knew — the vast majority of gamers wanted to be a Jedi/Force wielder, and the setting, story, even the core features were secondary to that."

And about the plot of the game, has said:

"Episode VII: Shadows of the Sith would have put you in the role of an adult Ben Skywalker who was walking the line between the light and dark sides of the Force, unleashing new Force powers never-before-seen in games or movies as he investigated a new threat to the galaxy (a Solo…)."

Of course, all of this was happening prior to the release of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith in 2005, a time when George Lucas had seemingly decided that the film saga would end with that film. So a video game in place of a movie was a plausible idea, but ultimately did not come to pass. Blackman further explains that these ideas ended up being applied to other games:

"Eventually, I ended up pulling elements from several of the pitches to craft the pitch for The Force Unleashed. As we wrapped up TFU, I started working on some new concepts and revisited the far-future concept under the name “Shadow of the Sith.” The Darth Maul idea was also briefly resurrected after TFU2, and different versions of 1313 reused either the Underworld or Scum & Villainy codenames."

We've heard, and seen, a lot from the Darth Maul game, 1313 has seemingly been cancelled, and Underworld is a name that has been most prominently associated with the heavily rumored Star Wars live-action TV series. All of these sound like really cool ideas, so we can hope that they will be considered for new games in the future.

All in all, its fascinating to now look back at these concepts and consider what might have been. Sure, the game sounds awesome. And being that it would have fit inside the Legends-verse focusing on Luke Skywalker's son Ben, I'm sure a lot of book fans would be excited to play. But at the end of the day, I think The Force Awakens was the best Sequel we could have hoped for.

Source: Cinelinx

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Lucasfilm Registers Several New Domain Names

By: Dominic Jones

With the announcement that EA will be making Star Wars games for the foreseeable future, it's time to start speculating as to what those games will be.  And while we shouldn't expect a new game until at least 2014, we know work must be beginning on those games almost immediately.  We may have just gotten our fist hints as to what some of those games will be.  The website Fusible has discovered that  Lucasfilm recently registered nine new domain names, and based on recent history it seems likely that they will become video games.  The domains are:

http://whois.domaintools.com/gunganfrontier2.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/gunganfrontier3.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/gunganfrontier4.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/order67.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/starwarsalliance.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/starwarsrebels.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/starwarswolfpack.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/wolfpackadventures.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/wookieehunters.com

This is hardly the first time we've been down this path.  The now cancelled video games Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault as well as the museum exhibit Star Wars: Identities were first revealed to us by way of domain names.  So it's likely that some of, if not all, the domain names will be explained in the not-too-distant future.

Now let's take a look at the various domain names.   For the purposes of this, we're assuming all the domain names are for games.  They could turn out to actually be books, comics, TV series, etc.  But based on the timing (just days after the EA announcement) it seems like a safe assumption.  Also, what follows is purely speculation.

Gungan Frontier -  I know this sounds like an April Fools Day joke, but it's serious.  It will probably be some sort of mobile game aimed at younger audiences who actually enjoy Jar Jar and the gungans.  It could be fun, but expect the prequels haters to turn their hate-o-meter up to 11 when this one comes out

Order 67 - I know what you're thinking: "That sounds like a Robot Chicken sketch" and honestly it does.  But agian this could be cool.  It sounds like another mobile games, granted a more adult mobile game, that could possibly be set in the dark times era and have clone/storm troopers hunting down Jedi after Order 66.  Pure speculation on my part, but wouldn't that be cool

Star Wars Alliance - This is a bit more ambiguous because it could really be just about anything.  The obvious choice is that it's set in the original trilogy era and features the Rebel Alliance, but it could also help bridge the gap between Episodes VI and VII and be about the Rebel Alliance taking over power in the galaxy and taking out the Imperial Remanent (or whatever they're going to call it).  Again nothing but speculation.

Star Wars Wolf Pack and Wolf Pack Adventures - This one sounds like another one for the kids.  And will likely feature the 104th Wolf Pack clone trooper battalion from the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  Could be another mobile game, or perhaps an online game through StarWars.com.  Regardless i can think of at least a few fans who would love this games.

Wookiee Hunters -  This sounds like another more adult mobile game, perhaps based on the season 3 finale of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Trandoshans vs. Wookiees anyone?)  And could be a lot of fun.

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The SWU Podcast LIVE 09 | 4/3/13

In this episode of The SWU Podcast recorded live, Chris, Ben, and Dominic are joined by author Dave Gremillion in a discussion about the LucasArts shutdown, the ongoing #SaveTheCloneWars campaign, and Star Wars March Madness. Listen for your calls about Disney's recent controversial moves with Lucasfilm.

 

» Right click here and select save link as to Download MP3.

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LucasArts President Steps Down

By: Dominic Jones
 

Game Informer is reporting that LucasArts preisdent Paul Meegan has stepped down. "Paul has been a valuable member of the Lucasfilm leadership team and we wish him the best in his future endeavors," said COO Mich Chau. "We remain committed to our current projects and will be re-evaluating LucasArts’ leadership needs to ensure that we make the right decisions to keep the studio focused." Meegan, who joined LucasArts two years ago, will be replaced in the interm by Kevin Parker and Gio Corsi until a proper replacement is hired. Despite Meegan's departure, all LucasArts projects will continue as planned.

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