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LucasArts Shows Interest In Wii Lightsaber Game 112

Posted by Zonk from the vroom-swoooosh-vmmmmmm dept.
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."
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LucasArts Shows Interest In Wii Lightsaber Game More

LucasArts Shows Interest In Wii Lightsaber Game

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  • Ob (Score:5, Funny)

    by HoosierPeschke ( 887362 ) <hoosierpeschke@comcast.net> on Thursday May 11, 2006 @01:19PM (#15309971) Homepage
    Just don't film yourself playing....
    • The Star Wars Kid really had a Wii controller hidden in his golf ball retriever and was playing an advanced prototype of the LucasArts game.

  • Not quite the same... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 11, 2006 @01:19PM (#15309976)
    Hand me my lightsaber. It's the one that says, "Wii" on it.
  • Look at the Wii Lightsaber!
  • I love these announcements of "big giant bloated company filled with cynical skeptical middle managers drenched in cash shows interest in something" as news. Proves the point that big giant bloated companies are rarely interested in anything except the lunch menu.

  • "Alpha developments were halted when game playback consistently altered whose saber lighted first."

  • Oblig Spaceballs Quote (Score:5, Funny)

    by hal2814 ( 725639 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @01:26PM (#15310049)
    You have the ring, and I see your Wii is as big as mine. Let's see how well you handle it.

  • Article is a bit hopeful... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by inkdesign ( 7389 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @01:28PM (#15310079)
    They translate this:

    "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)

      by DingerX ( 847589 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @01:53PM (#15310391) Journal
      Same thing. Money talks. The essence of Jedi persona is tied up in the light saber. Now you've got a controller that can make you monetize that.

      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)

        by Golias ( 176380 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @02:13PM (#15310597)
        Okay, so everybody with memories of playing "lightsaber fights" with their flashlight beams when they were little kids hears about a Jedi game for the Wii and thinks "oooo! That's perfect! The wireless Wii motion sensor will work just like a lightsaber! What could be more intuitive????"

        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.
        • 1)THe numbchuck's analog stick.

          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)

          by DingerX ( 847589 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @03:08PM (#15311146) Journal
          Aye, 1) is the rumblestick.

          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.
        • What you're describing sounds a little hardware intensive. A simpler solution would be that the control doesn't represent where the lightsaber is in the game, but instead represents which of a set of actions to execute. For example, to attack, you would tilt the control forward and the on-screen lightsaber would thrust. Or, to block, you position the control diagonally and the on-screen lightsaber will block. The controller would be calibrated before play and to execute a new action it would have to return
      • Sure, any SW title would sell just because it's SW and, sure, it would be in-character for Lucas to do some more merchandising of his franchise. E.g., to sell you some lightsaber-styled Wii controllers for a hefty mark-up.

        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)

    by linvir ( 970218 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @01:30PM (#15310093)
    They'll find a way to ruin this, believe me. For example, it'll take place on a world where lightsaber energy depletes at 1000x the normal rate, and you have to search for generic blue crystals to replenish some bar. Or it'll interpret general controller gestures into predetermined saber motion animations.

    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.

    • Or it'll interpret general controller gestures into predetermined saber motion animations.

      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?
      • " 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?"

        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
    • Or it'll interpret general controller gestures into predetermined saber motion animations.

      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)

      by poulbailey ( 231304 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @02:46PM (#15310940)
      Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2 were both great Star Wars games. Theory shot down.
      • Not all Star Wars games suck; I really liked the Jedi Knight games from a pure lightsaber hack-and-slash perspective (dismembering stormtroopers with a lightsaber never really gets old.) There are some stinkers, sure, but Star Wars has a surprisingly good success rate considering how many are out there.
      • Past games != Future games. Mine was an example for a general idea about high-potential gameplay ideas, whereas you're saying that two specific good past games negate the possibility of this future game being bad. Theory shot down.
        • > Past games != Future games

          Good thing that you didn't bring up Star Wars Galaxies to support your claim then... Oh wait, you did.
          • You are very smelly indeed. Only a particularly smelly person would make a remark like that, a remark that demonstrates a lack of having read the rest of my post which provided context for the quoted remark. Very smelly, very smelly indeed.
            • You should do standup. You're the next Carrot Top!

              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.
              • It's not so much about Star Wars specifically. It's more "potentially awesome ideas" in general. I chose SWG because everyone drooled over it like crazy until it turned out to be crap. KOTOR doesn't really fit that description.

                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

      • Let's face it, KOTOR was more of a Bioware game than a Lucas Arts game.

        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
        • And SWG was a SOE game. Theory disproved.

        • 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

    • Just think though with both the Wii-mote and the Knunchuk being motion sensitive you could easily wield dual sabers.
    • I've made a petition in the hope that they will make a good game. Go sign it: "Don't make the Wii Jedi Knight game suck!" http://www.petitiononline.com/jedi_wii/ [petitiononline.com]
    • Same with Star Wars Republic Commando
    • Jedi Academy was great. It was effortless to beat it (to me) because it was fun. The "ubering" was fantastic. It was relaxing and fed my huge desire for power-tripping.

  • A true Dark Forces/Jedi Knight game? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Dark Paladin ( 116525 ) <jhummel.johnhummel@net> on Thursday May 11, 2006 @01:36PM (#15310183) Homepage
    This would be the perfect game in the Kyle Katarn story line. Work it as a first person shooter so you can face stormtroopers and block the shots, face off against Jedi with force powers (and use the crosshair to select your own, A to execute).

    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.
  • But could the Wii posts end? Im really growing tired of every jackass coming up with a 'Wii' pun and getting 5 points for it.
  • It'd be superb if they would implement online multiplayer. people swinging their wii-motes wildly across the U.S.! (and wherever else Star Wars is wildly popular)

  • new technology (Score:5, Funny)

    by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @01:44PM (#15310276)
    As everyone always says, the pr0n industry decides what new technologies take off. I can't wait to see their novel uses for the Wiimote...

  • Prior Art!!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ratso Baggins ( 516757 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @02:03PM (#15310503) Homepage
    My dad taught me to play light-sabers with wee (sound effect and all) and I in turn taught my son. It's a tradition 'round here.

  • Controls would be perfect (Score:3, Interesting)

    by UncleFriendly ( 953257 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @02:07PM (#15310545)
    Remote would control the lightsabre, obviously. It should be free-form, in that as you move the remote, the onscreen sabre moves, too. Also, since the analong "nunchuck" has motion-sensing capabilities, too, it could be used for force powers! Push forward to do a force push in the direction you push. Pull back for a force grab. Pull back and quickly pull up to do a choke and mid-air suspension... all while fighting a second guy with the sabre! The analog stick moves and it could use Metroid-style controls to lock on to a guy during sword combat so that you won't have to worry about strafing.

  • oh YES (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This is pretty much the videogame every person has wanted for their entire lives. Its like they added a speaker to the wiimote just for this purpose. Next up custom lightsaber hilt attachments for the controller. Clip the nunchuck spatial locator to the players belt to tell you where the player is in comparison to the saber. The game practically writes itself!

  • too obvious (Score:2, Insightful)

    by dlc3007 ( 570880 )
    So... When Nintendo first announced the Revolution with the wireless controler you can wave around, who didn't think of a light saber game? It is just a question of when -- not if.

  • And if they don't.... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Churla ( 936633 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @02:28PM (#15310755)
    It's already been mentioned that in the Zelda title you use it to sword fight. Someone else will come out with a great sword fighting game (Pirates of the Carribean anyone?)..

    Then some group will just come out with a retexturing mod to map jedi graphics and make your sword glow and make noises..

    Done

  • The easy one to do... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Turken ( 139591 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @02:35PM (#15310823)
    LEGO Star Wars!

    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)

    by ebooher ( 187230 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @02:44PM (#15310907) Homepage Journal

    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=1636493631 669206983&q=Star+Wars+revolution [google.com]

  • Sith game please (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Winterblink ( 575267 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @02:54PM (#15311016) Homepage
    Make a Sith game. Playing as a Jedi is fun sure, but sometimes it's neat to take a walk on the Dark Side. Let us as players indulge in being a bad guy, it may untether the game design a bit since it's a side of Star Wars that's not focused in in any great detail for games.

  • We are... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Alzheimers ( 467217 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @03:10PM (#15311174)
    We are the Jedi who say ... Wii!

  • LucasArts says "we Kinda have too much money" (Score:4, Funny)

    by AzraelKans ( 697974 ) on Thursday May 11, 2006 @04:52PM (#15312359) Homepage

    "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."
  • "I see your Wii is as big as mine!"
  • While I totally, totally want this it seems rather likely considering they already released that TV lightsaber toy last year. Sure it was Hasbro, not Lucasarts, but the precedent has already been established. I'm willing to bet that the sales figures on that are going to factor into the decision to make a game at least slightly.

    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
    • Why would it be forced to be single sabers? If you can track one side of a controller, you can surely add the opposite side. The only big thing stopping a double saber would be the grip of the controller, it may be too akward to hold it sideways. Maybe it could use a single lightsaber, then make it perpendicular to upright and the direction of the controller, and use that to define a sideways line for the doublesaber.
      • The grip is a bit too small and the movement would be a tad awkward. As well you'd probably need to be able to use buttons so you couldn't be switching your grip around in orientation the way you'd need to. Finally you'd have to use the nunchaku for movement (assuming the game isn't just a really lame stand still and duel type thing) which would prevent you from getting the range of movement necessary.
  • "...a number of knowing smiles around the room from LucasArts employees, followed by the comments: 'We know' and 'We are looking into it'"

    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.

  • They could just rip-off the engine in Die By The Sword [interplay.com] in actual sword movement mode (using the wiimote instead of the mouse) and it'd be fantastic!

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