LucasArts Shows Interest In Wii Lightsaber Game 112
Gamasutra reports that, though they're not willing to say they have one in the works right now, LucasArts is interested in a Wii lightsaber game. From the article: "At the end of the demonstration, Gamasutra inquired as to whether the company planned on creating a lightsaber game for the Wii, after many commented on the suitability of the system to the concept - especially after an internal speaker was revealed in the controller being used to demo the concept. This question produced a number of knowing smiles around the room from LucasArts employees, followed by the comments: 'We know' and 'We are looking into it', as possible concepts for the game were discussed. However, the firm has not yet made any official announcements regarding planned Wii titles."
Ob (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ob (Score:1)
Wrong again (Score:3, Informative)
Not quite the same... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Not quite the same... (Score:1, Funny)
Irish model smaller? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Irish model smaller? (Score:2)
Isn't it great? (Score:2, Funny)
From the Article (Score:1)
Oblig Spaceballs Quote (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Which Jedi though? (Score:1)
Re:Which Jedi though? (Score:1)
Re:CONTACT PROBLEM! (Score:1)
1) as mentioned above
2) most people dont have room-sized TVs, so all this "motion detection" would amount to a fancy 2-state on/off trigger button. A button that you need to swing around instead of pushing with your thumb. Resolution needs to match the weakest link, and while it would certainly be
Re:CONTACT PROBLEM! (Score:2)
What? I do not understand this at all. I don't see any limitation here. I'll tell you what I invision for a light saber game: basically Jedi Academy, a third person adventure, with your wiimote position being mimicked on the screen (movement handled by the nun-chuck), and possibly having two sabers if you you have two wiimotes.
Re:CONTACT PROBLEM! (Score:2)
Re:CONTACT PROBLEM! (Score:2)
Did you even read my post? From my post: (movement handled by the nun-chuck)
The nun-chuck covers movement.
Re:CONTACT PROBLEM! (Score:2)
The point isnt "ZOMGHOWWOULDYOUMOVEAROUND!?!" the point is "The entire system is rendered pointless by the method which you'd actually use to move around"
But it goes further than that. It's not merely "movement" in terms of "my character was standing here, he is now standing here", but also "movement" in terms of "my character is standing like this", which would be absolutely essential for
Re:CONTACT PROBLEM! (Score:2)
Re:CONTACT PROBLEM! (Score:1)
Re:Which Jedi though? (Score:1)
Re:Which Jedi though? (Score:1)
Re:Which Jedi though? (Score:2)
If you do this sort of game you need a way to make the character as well as the light saber, hence you use an add on to the Wiimote. Hence you have a wire between the two which would easily get wrapped around things if you spin around.
Starting to see why my post makes sense yet?
Re:Which Jedi though? (Score:1)
There is everything needed there to move around and fight, but there is nothing to get tangled in, unless you can tied your own arms in a knot.
Re:Which Jedi though? (Score:2)
As long as there are wires there will be a way to get tangled in them.
Re:Which Jedi though? (Score:2)
Re:Which Jedi though? (Score:1)
Re:Which Jedi though? (Score:2)
Article is a bit hopeful... (Score:3, Insightful)
"We know" and "We are looking into it"
into this:
"LucasArts staff have confirmed to Gamasutra the company's intense interest in creating a Wii lightsaber game"
Perhaps the author meant their own intense interest in playing a Wii lightsaber game?
Re:Article is a bit hopeful... (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm sure they've got numbers that will indicate how many sales of any turd with "star wars" on the box will sell. Then you add in something that they haven't done before, but would just be cool, and there you have it. A Wii light saber game is a million sales minimum; the Wii artwork demands are not as bad as PS3/360, so all you need to do is make it work, and make people feel cool doing it.
Besides, I want me one of them twin-blade batons o' death.
Re:Article is a bit hopeful... (Score:4, Insightful)
But wait a sec. There are a few details to work out.
1. If controller motion indicates what you are doing with your weapon, what indicates where you move and where you are standing? The thumb buttons?
2. If you swing your lightsaber and your opponent blocks it, but you follow through on your swing... where is the lightsaber? Still pinned against the block? Do you need to bring your hands back up to that aproximate location to move it? Or do you now need to keep your hands down by your knees for the rest of the fight?
I'm not saying such issues can't be worked out somehow, but unless you put the controllers into big plastic tubes, and attach several more motion sensors to your head, torso, and limbs, it's kind of hard to indicate that you block one swing, duck under the next, leap over the one after that, then circle around so your opponent's back is to the Sarlac Pit (or whatever) without resorting to old-fashioned button-mashing as part of the interface.
Re:Article is a bit hopeful... (Score:2)
2)I expect that they'd hit you with a rumble when you hit the other sword for tactile feedback. Continuing through the swing would result in either no movement or a strength test (where you might overpower your opponent). When you want to stop the lock, you'd move the other way. At least thats how I'd do it.
Of course these are implementation details. You brainstorm for a while and playtest and use whats best. Its an issue, but a solvable one.
Re:Article is a bit hopeful... (Score:4, Insightful)
2) is easier than you think. Swinging, and other motions are simply movements between extremes. Anything beyond an extreme (Such as against a contraopposing sword, or bey0ond the range of motion), you can either filter out or use to shift the relative range of motion -- or some combination thereof.
The best way to find out what really works is to hook someone up and play.
Re:Article is a bit hopeful... (Score:1)
That's not what they've said, though (Score:2)
But that's not what they've actually said. That's really the whole point.
They haven't said "we're intensely excited about the Wii", they've said "we know about it" and "we're looking into it", which is corporate lingo for saying nothing whatsoever. It doesn't mean any commitment, it doesn'
Good news (Score:5, Interesting)
Not meaning to sound like the typical Slashbot everything-hater, but it's my experience that the games with the greatest potential prove the most disappointing. Star Wars Galaxies is coincidentally the best example.
Re:Good news (Score:2)
This is the big question I have. And not just about star wars. What about the sword fighting stuff that Nintento actually demoed? (Red Steel was it?). How does that game work? Is it completlely free or does it have specific pre-programed sword animations?
Re:Good news (Score:2)
From the trailer I saw, I got the idea it was somewhere in the middle. Your movements are like gestures, not unlike mouse gestures in FireFox or Opera. (If you held out the sword, your character would touch it to the bad guy's throat...) Movement around the character was more or less automatic. It was more about g
Re:Good news (Score:2)
Actully it should act in predetermined saber motions. At least when the Force is with you. Who said being a Jedi was funny?
Re:Good news (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Good news (Score:2)
Re:Good news (Score:1)
Re:Good news (Score:2)
Good thing that you didn't bring up Star Wars Galaxies to support your claim then... Oh wait, you did.
Re:Good news (Score:1)
Re:Good news (Score:2)
Anyway, you provided one example of a potentially great game gone wrong, and I posted two counter-examples of two potentially great games that actually did turn out to be great.
If you're trying to say that potentially great games generally tend to disappoint, I don't really see how it applies here. I count more great Star Wars games than bad ones. Sure, there may have been some so-so mediocre ones, but the MMORPG is the only really bad one in my opinion.
Re:Good news (Score:1)
My other examples would have been stuff like Superman games where they ruin Superman by limiting his power with bullshit "energy levels". The Sims Online could have been a cultural phenomenon if they'd done it right. Halo 2 had a great backstory to build off, and instead chose to shit
Actually, you largely prove his theory (Score:2)
If you look at what came before KOTOR, you see a lot more of that stuff being _merchandising_ SW stuff than being concerned with making a good game. And I really mean pure merchandising, not unlike selling t-shirts with Darth Vader's head on them: it's not about making a better t-shirt, it's about milking some cash from SW die-hard fans.
E.g., you see stuff like "Episode 1: Pod Racer", which had less content than some minigames in other g
Re:Actually, you largely prove his theory (Score:2)
Re:Actually, you largely prove his theory (Score:2)
Now see, I had a huge amount of fun with Pod Racer. It was actually the reason I went out and bought the memory expansion for my N64. It had an excellent, consistent "physics" model, and the graphics (with the expansion) were top-notch.
I also think that there are quite a few quality SW games. The ones that come to mind immediately are of course the Tie Fighter series. Tie Fighter is still, to me, one of the best games ever made by anyone in any genre. And, Rogue Squadron and its compatriots can be a lot
Re:Good news (Score:1)
Re:Good news (Score:1)
Re:Good news (Score:1)
Re:Good news (Score:1)
A true Dark Forces/Jedi Knight game? (Score:4, Informative)
Man - I loved Jedi Knight II. I'd go through levels, pull every weapon away from my enemies, and then leave them screaming "Don't kill me" while I took out the turrents. I think I was able to play all of the later levels without killing anyone but the Dark Jedi.
troll me if you like... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:troll me if you like... (Score:2)
http://www.ucomics.com/foxtrot/2006/05/09/ [ucomics.com]
Re:troll me if you like... (Score:2)
Re:troll me if you like... (Score:1)
Re:troll me if you like... (Score:2, Funny)
So, basically you're saying, "Wii are not amused?"
Re:troll me if you like... (Score:1)
Re:troll me if you like... (Score:1)
Re:troll me if you like... (Score:1)
Lightsaber Duels (Score:1)
new technology (Score:5, Funny)
Re:new technology (Score:1)
Prior Art!!! (Score:3, Funny)
Controls would be perfect (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wouldn't work (Score:1)
oh YES (Score:2, Interesting)
too obvious (Score:2, Insightful)
And if they don't.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Then some group will just come out with a retexturing mod to map jedi graphics and make your sword glow and make noises..
Done
Re:And if they don't.... (Score:1)
Now fishing... that is where the remote action is at.
Re:And if they don't.... (Score:2)
Re:And if they don't.... (Score:1)
Re:And if they don't.... (Score:2)
Re:And if they don't.... (Score:2)
The easy one to do... (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, I know that more sequels aren't the "innovation" that everyone wants to see on the Wii, but it would work because it's simple enough that you don't have to worry about a lot of the issues already raised here. And depending on the character used, the wii remote can be either a saber or a blaster (or whatever weapon).
Someone has done it (Score:3, Informative)
I don't know if this was a Nintendo done commercial, or a fan based one, but it's the Wii controller as a lightsaber handle
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=163649363Sith game please (Score:3, Insightful)
We are... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:We are... (Score:1)
Mod parent Up
LucasArts says "we Kinda have too much money" (Score:4, Funny)
"We would love geeks throwing money at us for releasing this title (or titles) I mean, we love money as much as the next guy, but seriously we have so much money here we simply dont know what do to with it, we have used it to lit the boiler, as toilet paper, eating it, these days we are just giving it away, by the way heres a bag of money for interviewing us take it, please! Nothing works! Money just appears every day at the door, we are literally swimming in it and when we release the Star Wars Special DVD set later this year... well, Im afraid for our very own lives, you can't breathe money you know? we've tried."
obligatory spaceballs reference (Score:1)
Already been sorta done (Score:2)
Aside from the lack of force-feedback (which is more of an awesome pipe dream, but would add a lot to this type of title) it's probably going to be restricted to single sabers. Perso
Re:Already been sorta done (Score:2)
Re:Already been sorta done (Score:2)
I'll bet (Score:1)
probably translates into a number of executives thinking "Shit, that's a great idea why didn't we think of that?". Thats how you become an executive, knowing what to say.
Wii wants Die By The Sword (Score:2)
Re:Seems to me every other /. story is about Wii (Score:2, Informative)
It's the gamecube hardware, only faster. Since Linux has been ported to the GameCube [gc-linux.org], it stands to reason it could run on Wii.
Re:Seems to me every other /. story is about Wii (Score:3, Informative)
Other than the fact that we know little about ATI's GPU design for the unit, very little else about the GameCube and Revolution seem to be the same.