After attending a Microsoft blogger event in Singapore recently, CNet Asia’s resident “geek” Nicholas Khoo reports that the much anticipated next game in the Star Wars canon, Force Unleashed will descend upon we rabid fans September 16th this year. Those of you in Asia will have to wait until the next day, and the rest of Europe will just have to suffer until the 19th.
‘Unleashed in you-can’t-play-but-can-watch demo form continues to garner rave previews from numerous sources, and Khoo suggests that goody-goody gamers may be able to find an angelic path in the game — even though you apparently start as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. Woot!
Khoo’s Blogger Party/Gear Score [CNet Asia]
SW: TFU [Lucasarts.com]
The folks over at XBox 360 Fanboy posted two new gameplay videos from the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Pay special attention to the second one in which the player force-pushes some trees, bending and breaking them. Now I understand why everyone’s so excited about the games application of Pixelux’s Digital Molecular Matter to handle a destructible environment. You just don’t get this kind of interaction from current technology.
The game will also incorporate NaturalMotion’s Euphoria, a software package that renders 3D characters by simulating individual muscle and nervous system interaction. The result: non-player characters react slightly differently each time, even if you provide identical input.
If Lucasfilm Director of Content Management Steve Sansweet’s 2006 ComicCon indication that the game will include “major revelations” about the franchise isn’t enough to tempt you into shelling out your hard-earned cash for this game, maybe this will.
Either that, or the possibility of wielding a light saber via Wii remote.
SW: TFU Gameplay Videos [XBox 360 Fanboy]
Fans will be happy to hear that BSG/DS9 writers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson are preparing the story behind the upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines game now scheduled for release late this year.
The Weddle/Thompson team’s Galactica credits include “Rapture,” “Maelstrom”, the incredible “Exodus: Part 1″ and “Exodus: Part 2,” plus the pre-season-three “Resistance” webisodes. They also penned twelve Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes including “Extreme Measures,” “‘Til Death Do Us Part,” and “Prodigal Daughter.”
Gaming blog Play says the Aliens title will consist of squad-based combat in “confined environments, which various nasties will no doubt be leaping and creeping out of.” Let’s hope that the writers who brought us the “greatest moment in sci-fi since the Millennium Falcon arrived at the end of Star Wars,” the Ferengi “Great River”, and Ezri Dax’s joyous family find a place for their talents in the game.
Sega Promise Aliens In “Late 2008″ [Play.tm]
Aliens: Colonial Marines [Wikipedia]
Martin Leung is a classical pianist with a twist: he plays music from video games. And while the idea of hearing the themes from Mario Bro’s first level on the piano may not sound exciting, I can personally tell you that it’s not only exciting –Â it’s addictive. When GWC reader dxf turned me on to Martin via the GWC Forum, I downloaded some of his free recordings thinking I’d show ‘em off to friends.
But a week later I’m still listening to them, Martin’s performance often conjuring up images of something entirely different than the game from which the piece originated. The Video Game Pianist doesn’t just bang out game themes. He interprets them in the same way he’d interpret Brahms or Debussy. The result is quite compelling.
Of course, now I’m really bummed that I missed Video Games Live when it came through Dallas. Doh!
The Video Game Pianist [Personal Site]
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