LucasArts flip-flops on Wii MotionPlus hate, 1:1 lightsaber game in 2009
Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 8:13am by Jack
Like any good little (and intelligent) publisher, LucasArts has apparently “changed its mind” about Nintendo’s recently unveiled MotionPlus 1:1 motion controls accessory, and now has a game in the works that will implement the technology.
If you’ll remember, LucasArts was one of the more vocal publishers in the wake of Nintendo’s E3 announcement, with one anonymous developer telling Game Informer that “LucasArts in particular wasn’t happy at being kept in the dark, especially since it created Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels specifically for the console.”
I had no idea LucasArts had the exclusive rights to swordfighting games, but I do now, and I’m glad this is all cleared up. The inevitable port, downsized from their Xbox and PS3 development platforms, will be a welcome addition to the Wii lineup, I’m sure. Too cynical of me? Fine. LA, prove me wrong.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:25 am
That other star wars game coming out soon for the wii that has some people excited looks a bit disappointing to me, and probably it will play out as a stripped down port as you mention. As for the announced 1:1 light sabre title, I doubt this will be a stripped down port. If they are smart they should see that it has the potential to sell like a AAA title. This doesn’t mean they’ll put AAA effort into it, necessarily, but at the least it should be something developed *for* the platform, given that it’s main selling point will be a very platform specific control scheme.
I was worried the only light sabre battling my Wii would see would be from the upcoming game developed without Wiimotion in mind, so this announcement seems pretty positive to me.
August 28th, 2008 at 9:25 am
that was stupid of LA saying nintendo was keeping people in the dark. If nintendo had announced the device will release this holiday, they would have a case, but unless they are saying they would delay this game release until spring i would say they werent thinking when they made the first comments.
They should instead look at this as an opportunity to get some good sales and get used to wii development, then refine the engine next year as they add WM+ to their game.
I also am disappointed in the look of the clone wars game. Why is it that on ps2, developers were willing to make good looking realistic looking powerful games, but somehow the wii, at 4times the power or more, has to always have childish looking graphics, even when they are “polished by third party standards”.
I am not advocating gritty, but variety and for developers to admit the wii can handle all types of graphics that suit the games. and the only star wars i saw that had such ugly graphics was the clone wars animated series and i hated that art style.
I will say, i am happy they kept the good looking graphics for the force unleashed, unlike the ghost busters developers who gave the characters plasticy looks.
August 28th, 2008 at 10:22 am
10 bucks says they still won’t get it right!
August 28th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
@daverage: I’m afraid you’re right about that.
August 28th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
With perfect 1:1 i think they’ll be enocouraged to make an original and well built (maybe not AAA) but then again none of their games are…
August 28th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
I haven’t played a good Star War’s game in the longest of times. The last good one I played has to be the Super Star Wars trilogy. I didn’t care for the simplicity of the Lego Star Wars series, and Star Wars Battle Front, while decent, doesn’t offer me enough content to continue playing. The addition of playing hero characters (read: Jedi’s and Sith’s) was somewhat cool, it didn’t give you full command of what they’re capable of. Yes I know KOTOR is a great game, but I never got the chance to play more than two hours of it and it’s unfair to make a judgment of a game without playing several hours unless it was a truly atrocious game.
I’m not sure about that Force Unleashed game as I haven’t had the chance to play that either, but that seems to come the closest to actually getting full command of the Force and also lightsaber battles. The Clone Wars doesn’t seem appealing AT ALL. Maybe it’s because I’m basing that on the fact that the recent Star Wars animated movie looks like crap and doesn’t even seem like it would capture the essence of what I loved about the original trilogy. Besides, why make a movie based on a one hundred minute animated series. For those who don’t know, in between Episode II and III, Cartoon Network got the rights to show twenty five-minute episodes that showed some events leading up to Episode Three. They should’ve left it alone at that.
Now with the 1:1 motion control there is the possibility of LucasArts making a great light saber game. But honestly, it’s hard to believe that the wii motion+ is going to be 1:1. They said that about the wii mote way back before the wii released and it didn’t have that capability. Furthermore. How will the device operate. Is it going to have it’s own battery or is it going off the remote’s batter, my bet is it’s going off the remote’s battery.
Now if this device does hold true to the fact that it should have 1:1 there could be a whole surgence of sword based games. I could definitely see another Dragon Quest Swords game benefitting from this, along with the aforementioned Star Wars game. We already know Red Steel 2 is going to benefit from the motion plus. The first game was good, but it’s sequel will be excellent with controls that make you feel like you’re in a real sword fight. Now with this new peripheral, I could see one game making the greatest benefit of all, The Legend of Zelda. That game would possibly be the one of the few games to push the system to it’s limits but imagine the sword combat. One things for sure, Nintendo would be stupid not to have a sword fight with Ganondorf like the one that was shown at Space World 2000. In fact that’s one moment I’ve been waiting for in every Zelda game since. Yes I know that Wind Waker pit you in a sword fight with Ganon at the end as well as Twilight Princess, but those sword fights felt more like you were just waiting to press the A button, with no real strategy to parrying Ganon’s moves and moving in for a quick strike before he regains his composure. But that’s all wishful thinking on my part.
I for one can’t wait to see what all Nintendo does with the WiiMotion Plus in it’s group of first party games, other than Wii Sports Resort. And I do apologize for straying away from the topic of Star Wars, but I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:26 am
hope it gets delayed, because it wont be AAA with a short development cycle.
If they were left in the dark concerning the 1:1 then an all new game with this technology, coming out in 2009, seems a little rushed.
How many AAA titles are made, from scratch, using new technology, in LESS than one year?
Still the possibilities are absolutely great, if you are a StarWars fan…
August 29th, 2008 at 1:13 am
IIRC, Reggie mentioned Lightsaber Duels would be using Wii MotionPlus at E3. Making this article a bit outdated.
August 29th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
The current lightsaber game’s based on the wood-chiseled clone wars characters so… I’m glad they got the news late so they can make a REAL lightsaber /starwars game.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I honestly think they have a right to be angry abut it. Nintendo showed Lucas Arts a full feature on their upcoming games, and the shows and now they show how they left them in the dark to develop their own word fighting game.
People wonder why 360 gets more developers, it’s because they are cool enough to clue their developers in to what their working on.