Making a strategy game is "harder than people give it credit for," Bit Reactor's CEO Greg Foertsch tells me. The same could probably be said of any game this year in particular, but having spent over 20 years shepherding the art teams at Firaxis on Civilization, XCOM, Sid Meier's Pirates, Alpha Centauri and most recently Marvel's Midnight Suns, Foertsch has seen firsthand what it takes for strategy games to break new ground over the years, and what an arduous road it's been for the genre to get where it is today. Not only was it "late to party on 3D, they were late to the party on consoles," but it's also "suffered from lower budgets, which means it just hasn't pushed in the way that other genres have," he says.
Even now, "it's got some catching up to do," he continues, but there are plenty of reasons to be positive, too. As we speak at the beginning of September, our conversation quickly turns to Baldur's Gate 3, whose enormous success Foertsch cites as a clear and obvious sign that "there's a thirst for something different now," both within RPG circles and, perhaps a little unexpectedly, for strategy heads as well. It's his hope that his own upcoming project, the closely guarded Star Wars strategy game his new studio Bit Reactor are working on in collaboration with Respawn, will follow in these lauded footsteps. "We want to make a game and just have people say, 'Man, that's amazing game, and oh, it happens to be strategy.' That's the goal."
]]>Star Wars Celebration was held last weekend and the much-anticipated sequel Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is speeding toward us on April 28th. All of this nostalgia and excitement means there’s still fun to be had in a galaxy far far away, and luckily, there’s a 14-game Star Wars bundle on Fanatical to celebrate. It's currently enjoying a deep 80% discount for a limited time.
]]>Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has been delayed by six weeks. In a statement released on Twitter, developers Respawn Entertainment said that the action-adventure sequel would no longer meet its March 17th release date and will instead draw laser swords on April 28th.
]]>I appreciate when a mod knows the idea at its core, and makes just enough effort to realise that vision and release the mod. Too many mods got waylaid in Planet Half-Life screenshot roundup hell by a desire to make everything expansive and professional-grade. So I'm delighted by a mod for 2017's Star Wars Battlefront 2 which knows its core: it is funny to see dinosaurs do things that dinosaurs shouldn't be doing. So the JurassicFront replaces character models with dinosaurs, and away you go, shooting dinos around Naboo and the Death Star. That's the joke.
]]>It’s okay everyone, call off the search. I’ve found my Christmas game. LucasArts shooter Star Wars: Dark Forces has been given a modern makeover by The Force Engine project, and they’ve just released version 1.0 to the public after three years' work. During that time, the team’s reverse engineered Dark Forces and added a whole bunch of mod-cons, such as support for modern high resolutions and mouse-look. The project even has a trailer, which you can watch below.
]]>A new trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor hot out the Geoffries tonight shows off the return of Cal Kestis and confirms a release date of March 17th, 2023. He'll make new friends, use new tricks, and pet new animals. Check it out!
]]>Star Wars: Squadrons, an actually decent Star Wars game from recent years, is being given away on the Epic Games Store next week. You can pick up EA Motive’s dogfighting game for precisely zilch for seven standard Earth days starting from November 24th, although it seems to be the only game going for free that week. Until then, you can play with your boomstick in co-op multiplayer schlockfest Evil Dead: The Game, and there's tactical role-player Dark Deity too.
]]>The Force isn’t strong with the remake of classic RPG Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, which has been delayed indefinitely following a badly received demo shown internally at the end of June. Bloomberg reports that the game’s design director and art director were subsequently fired from developers Aspyr Media during the week after the demo was finalised. Sources from Aspyr told Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier that the game had been intended for a 2022 release, but that 2025 was more "realistic".
]]>I like teaser trailers for Star Wars projects more than I like most Star Wars projects, so this has been a good week for me. It was capped off with the release yesterday of the first teaser trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Respawn's sequel to Fallen Order. You can watch it below.
]]>The sequel to EA and Respawn’s intergalactic soulslike Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order could be called Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. At least, that’s according to GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb, who told a commenter that they’d correctly guessed the game’s name in the chat on his Giant Bomb show, Grubbsnax.
]]>Amy Hennig started work on a Star Wars game back in 2014 while working for EA and Visceral. That project was canned and the studio closed, but now Hennig is getting another swing at the galaxy that's far, far away. Her new studio, Skydance New Media, has partnered with Lucasfilm Games to to produce a "richly cinematic action-adventure game" with an original Star Wars story.
]]>Over the weekend, Square Enix surprise-announced Kingdom Hearts 4, the next big game in their incomprehensible RPG series which stars Disney cartoon characters as pop-punk boyband multiverse superheroes. I am mildly distressed to see KH4 lean towards a 'realistic' art style in parts, though I would be curious to see a Kingdom Hearts Mickey Mouse that's just a wee mouse wrapped in leather, plaid, buckles, and zips. While KH4 is largely a mystery for now, eagle-eyed viewers think the announcement trailer hints at a crossover with the Disney Princess world of Star Wars.
]]>Although announcing three games at once feels a bit much, I'm really happy about the Respawn feat. Star Wars news. Respawn Entertainment always felt like one of those development studios that should have been shut down by a bigger studio circa 2015 because the people loved Titanfall but it wasn't, you know, Call Of Duty or anything. I turned my back for what seemed like but a moment, and suddenly Apex Legends exists and Respawn are one of the key players under EA, growing stronger from within. One day we'll be watching Andrew Wilson at an E3 showcase and realise it's actually Vince Zampella's eyes looking out at us. Everyone coming on stage to present is just Vince Zampella doing a voice and wearing a different baseball cap.
Point is, I'm mostly just pleased that Respawn are still around to make games featuring robots that surprise and delight us. And if they're not allowed to do Titanfall 3, Star Wars is at least a rich field to till said robots. Lousy with robots, is Star Wars. But honestly, if anyone is going to make Star Wars games (apart from BioWare, who have spent recent years making Dragon Age 4 and / or collapsing like a magnificent neutron star) then I'd root for Respawn. They may not make the Star Wars games you think you want, but they'll make the ones you need right now.
]]>Heavy Rain developers Quantic Dream and Lucasfilm Games are making Star Wars: Eclipse, an action-adventure game set in the "golden age of the Jedi". It was announced at The Game Awards with a rather dramatic trailer featuring an alien playing some drums, adorable green monkeys in a market, lotsa space ships, and of course, plenty of shiny lightsaber shots. The rumours were true, then.
]]>Here's a rumour that's wildly unsupported but so horrible that oh god you can imagine it being true: Quantic Dream are secretly making a Star Wars game. According to two separate Internauts, the French studio behind Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human have become pally with Disney and are working on some sort of game set in the galaxy which gave us Baby Yoda and probably some other stories or something too idk. Take this all with the hugest pinch of spacesalt, of course.
]]>EA's exclusive hold over Star Wars has ended with the news that Ubisoft are making an open-world Star Wars game and Lucasfilm are looking to work with more folks. So, what game would you like to see made now? RPG? FPS? Walking simulator? Spacepub landlord sim? Dream big. Any genre, any development team, any budget. Pitch whatever you want. I happen to know a man who says he knows Mickey Mouse, so I can put in a good word for you.
]]>The studio behind The Division are making a new "story-driven, open-world Star Wars game," Lucasfilm announced today. They revealed plans to start working with more developers on Star Wars games, not just Electronic Arts. However, they do say they are still working with EA on new projects. This news arrives the day after Bethesda announced an Indiana Jones game, being made by Wolfenstein studio MachineGames.
]]>Disney have rebranded the Lucasfilm video games division, this time sending the Star Wars lords back to a name from 1986: Lucasfilm Games. That's the brand under which they developed games including The Secret Of Monkey Island and Loom. This seemingly is only a rebranding, mind, and they're not rebuilding the development studio. Because Disney run time on a loop, presumably they'll rebrand to LucasArts in 2025, essentially close it down in 2048, then return to Lucasfilm Games in 2056.
]]>One week after a job listing said Motive were hiring for "an upcoming Star Wars action game", the Star Wars: Squadrons studio have said oops nope, not true, no Star War here. It was "human error", they say. Typical humans. No, whatever it is they are making next (and they do hint they're "working on something pretty special"), apparently we will not see a single Galaxy-class starship or Ferengi.
]]>Baby Yoda, the Yoda that's also a baby, is coming to Star Wars: Squadrons as part of a new set of decorative ship bits. New Republic pilots will be able to have the breakout star from Disney's Galaxy High School Musical sitting on their dashboard, though it's only a model - he won't be fiddling with your radio. EA have said they've no plans for post-launch content and it seems this is just a cheeky bonus to market season two of the Disney+ show.
]]>With most games that Electronic Arts publish these days, I tend to just assume that there will be some form of extra content or microtransaction lying in wait for me. I'm pleasantly surprised, however, to discover that's not the case with Star Wars: Squadrons. The spacey flight sim came out last week, and what we got was the whole package, because EA says they have no plans to add post-launch DLC in the future.
"Never say never, so to speak, but as far as our philosophy goes we're not trying to treat the game as a live service," creative director Ian Frazier told UploadVR.
]]>My opinion of Star Wars: Squadrons is all over the place. I was excited when it was announced, as I'd been yearning for a proper Star Wars flight sim for years. But then I reined in my expectations, because my bland triple-A release sense was tingling. I played a few hours of Squadrons as soon as it launched, and finished my session feeling a bit nonplussed.
But since then, it has become obvious that this game is very good indeed. The central experience - of being a pilot in a Star Wars - is masterfully crafted, and I can't find much to fault with it. Squadrons is probably the most fun I've had with any piece of Star Wars media since my teens, in fact, and it frequently invokes a joy I haven't felt since playing TIE Fighter in 1995. But that's the problem. Because it's good enough to make me think hard about how it could have been perfect. And when you start doing that, you really start to see the holes in something.
]]>My first mission in Star Wars: Squadrons (which I shall now call Squadwarns for the sake of ease), saw me jumping into a TIE fighter to have a nose around a big asteroidy space dock thing, looking for refugees from the recently-burst planet of Alderaan. My space boss reckoned those refugees might be hiding in cargo transports, so he told me to scan some cargo transports. 'That looks familiar', I thought to myself, as I approached one of the big, blocky things. I'd seen that ship design before, you see.
And when the scan started, and the transport's model appeared in wireframe on my simulated cockpit's little computer screen, I had a real little moment. Because it was, of course, the exact transport design encountered in 1994's TIE Fighter. That was why it looked so blocky, I think: because if you were designing a ship for a 3D flight sim in the early nineties, it kinda had to be blocky. But what really did me in, was that the transport looked more impressive as a wireframe model on a deliberately rubbish retrofuturist computer screen, inside my computer screen, than it had done on my actual computer screen in 1994. Huh.
]]>Take your protein pills and put your helmet on, for the morning has brought the release of Star Wars: Squadrons. EA's new spaceship shooter has players boldly go into battle for both the New Republic and Empire, with a story telling both sides of the aftermath of Star Wars VI: The Undiscovered Country. On top of that, it has 5v5 multiplayer modes. And all those lasers that make the good noises.
]]>Star Wars: Squadrons is suiting up for takeoff next month, as are the pilots you'll meet during your space battles. Motive Studios have produced a new story short to introduce you to one of 'em. Varko Grey is in a spot of trouble when he misses the bus during an Imperial retreat from battle. It's called "Hunted", which is what happens when an Alliance pilot spots him adrift without his squad.
]]>Captain's log, stardate 74156.3. We've encountered an entity calling itself 'Electronic Arts', which demonstrates godlike powers and treats human lives as pawns in a game for its own twisted enjoyment. It tells us we are its latest toys, and our homes, our heroes, and our decor shall join the fantasy it calls The Sims 4, declaring our imprisonment to be a 'game pack' named Star Wars: Journey To Batuu. Worse yet, the entity claims that our very lives are not real, that we're mere props from an attraction at Universal Studios, a theme park in 20th century Earth. From how enthusiastically it stokes fires in our kitchens and sabotages our electrical appliances, I fear we may prosper but not live long.
]]>A new trailer for Star Wars: Squadrons is coming in hotter than a tauntaun's guts, fresh out of Gamescom Opening Night Live. It shows more of the story campaign, which'll have us playing on flying for both the Empire and New Republic, seeing two sides of a weird time in Star Wars history. That 'weird time' being before shortly after Palpatine died but a good few years before they discovered actually he was fine and his clones were sewing their wild oats across the galaxy and... welp. Here, watch the new Squadrons trailer and I promise it will remind you of none of that.
]]>EA have explained more about customisation in Star Wars: Squadrons, both the meaningful loadout decisions of different weapons and equipment as well as the purely cosmetic bits for pilots and ships. Tuning a ship sounds simple but maybe satisfying. And while EA claim cosmetic bits are "authentic" and made in collaboration with the Starlords of Lucasfilm, they're making a concession to people who just want multiplayer spacefights to look like regular ol' Star Wars: an option to not see other people's cosmetic ship bits. That's nice.
]]>I feel like I missed out on a lot of the old Star Wars space battle games because, well, most of them are older than me. But with Star Wars: Squadrons on the way, it seems I'll finally get a chance to have a go at one of those dedicated Star Wars flight sims. It all sounds pretty good, too - on top of the flashy trailer we saw at EA Play last night, the game's director has given fans some proper details on what it's all inspired by, how combat works, and the importance of managing your ship's power.
]]>EA tonight showed off more Star Wars: Squadrons in a new trailer, following its cinematic announcement on Monday. It may not be a straight gameplay video with all the answers you'd hope for but it does explain and show a fair bit. It does also: look very pretty with its lasers and explosions.
]]>Last night, after watching the trailer for EA's forthcoming space combat jamboroo Star Wars: Squadrons, I finally fell prey to the nostalgia that had remained unstirred by an entire trilogy of Star Warses, and got excited enough to blurt the words "TIE Fighter successor".
Reader: I'm sorry. I was drunk on lasers. Utterly trolleyed on spaceships, and slurring that a trailer was my best mate. This has happened before, I will admit. In 2002, after watching a midnight screening of Attack Of The Clones with my mate Josh, the two of us sat on the night bus home to Mottingham, and looked at each other guiltily for a while, before one of us dared speak the unspeakable. "It was better than Empire, wasn't it?" said Josh. "Yep, best Star Wars yet," I added, sage as a septuagenarian champagne critic. "Can't believe Yoda had a fight."
]]>I was a massive Star Wars nerd as a kid. Obviously. But by the time the prequel trilogy had been and gone, I was out of my teens and largely out of love with the whole thing. I mustered a bit of "ooh, that's pleasant" for The Force Awakens, and I had fun with the other two movies, but I definitely didn't feel any of the so-called Star Wars "magic" people talk about. I'd gotten older, I'd moved on, and I figured that if an entire trilogy's worth of "hey, remember that bloke/droid/hand gesture/monster chess" moments hadn't made me feel a twinge of wistfulness, there were no relevant heartstrings left to tug. I'll admit, The Mandalorian gave me a run for my money, but I suspect I really liked it because it was a fun, easy-to-watch show, rather than because it was a Star War.
But then, about an hour ago, I saw the trailer for Star Wars: Squadrons, the space pilotry extravaganza that's due to fall out of the big EA Games Bum on October 2nd, and my luck finally ran out. I went down like a chump, reduced to helium-hearted nostalgia by the same, idiot's trick all the New Star Wars things get people with - moving pictures of spaceships I spent way too long daydreaming about as a ten year old. But how come this one got through my armour? Easy. Because it wasn't targeting my nostalgia for the Star Wars movies; it was targeting my nostalgia for TIE Fighter. And that nostalgia, my friends, is a gorgeous beast I will never be rid of.
]]>EA today revealed Star Wars: Squadrons as a first-person spacehip dogfighting game, coming in October. It's set after Return of the Jedi, will let you fly both Rebel Alliance and Empire, and yes, it will have a singleplayer campaign as well as 5v5 multiplayer. Three pleasant surprises: it'll have cross-platformer multiplayer between PC and consoles; it'll support VR; and it will be on Steam at launch.
]]>Update: EA have now announced they'll reveal Star Wars: Squadrons with a trailer on YouTube on Monday, June 15th at 4pm (8am Pacific).
Electronic Arts just can't keep a lid on these new space opera games they've got hanging in the hangar. A game titled Star Wars: Squadrons popped up on the Microsoft Store today with some key art and the phrase "pilots wanted." There wasn't a date associated, but I imagine we can all guess there's a proper announcement planned for this here Squadrons game in short order, eh?
]]>Oh look, it's Star Wars Day and to celebrate of course an entire galaxy of Star Wars games are on sale. There are discounts to be had on all yer old favorites from back in the day and some of the newer laser sword adventures of the decade as well.
]]>On Star Wars Day, the holiest of days, we are duty-bound to celebrate the cultural monolith that is Star Wars. So let’s run through the most iconic characters from our beloved fascism allegory, and relive their finest moments.
]]>Ain't technology a beaut'? You press one wrong button and suddenly things just leak all over the floor—names and pictures and prices and dates mostly. This leak, courtesy of a Twitter bot that tracks updates and releases added to the PlayStation Network, has two of the four. It's a (possible) name and an image for a new Star Wars game that we're probably not meant to know about yet.
]]>Dust off that beige robe, reader. Jedi: Fallen Order came out overnight, and you don't need to pop off to a galaxy far, far away to jump in. The folks behind bangers like Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends have put together the first proper singleplayer Star Wars romp in years, letting you blast fascists through a beautifully complex star system as a sword-slinging, force-flinging slice of white bread. At least the robot's cute, eh?
]]>Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is out today, letting you follow in the roguish bootprints of young force punter Cal Kestis, played here by Archie of Archie comics. In celebration of his boyish padawan appearance, and the way he uses a deadly weapon like you’d use a torch app with dodgy permissions to find your keys, let’s make a list. A list of the least qualified Jedi (and Sith) in PC games.
]]>Last year was a good year for Star Wars games, since we got the release of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and there are more Star Wars game adventures to come, so it seems like a good time to check in on the best Star Wars games on PC. 2024 hasn't started off quite so well, with EA cancelling the Star Wars FPS game Respawn were working on. But there's a new Jedi game in the works there, Star Wars Outlaws at Ubisoft, and the mysterious Star Wars Eclipse at Quantic Dream. That's a lot of Star Wars still coming down the laser cannon, so you'd better get some practise with the Force in now. There are, of course, a lot of Star Wars games, from Lego adventures to podracing, amnesiac Sith and everything in between - which is why our list of the best Star Wars games is so useful. Whatever kind of Star Wars story you're after, you'll find something to enjoy on our list of the 10 best, right here, right now.
]]>Origin Access subscribers will not get to play Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order before launch but will receive cosmetic trinkets instead. Early access to new games is one of the marquee features of EA's service, with a ten-hour trial usually available for Basic subscribers and the full game for Premier members. EA claim they're changing the usual deal for this one because of a terrible fear of spoilers, and so are offering skins for your robopal and spaceship instead. Hmm. Weird. Suspicious. But while I can't imagine story spoilers meaning a damn in Star Wars these days, I do think the spectacle of Star Wars is best as a surprise.
]]>Let me take you back to 2005, when game names were probably just as stupid but at least a little less confusing. I'm like, twelve. I've just discovered multiplayer first-person shooters are a thing, that I like them, and that I like Star Wars: Battlefront 2 in particular.
My tag used to be "Oblivion", and my obsession grew to the point where I once joined a server and someone instantly said "oh no not this guy".
]]>While Lucasfilm may object to wanton limb-chopping, they can't stop Respawn from giving us a big slice of the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order video today. A little under half an hour long (double shown publicly at E3), we get to see a little Uncharted-ish clambering across an AT-AT walker, some mech combat, and a lot of lightsaber stuff. We also get some extended dialogue, a peek at the Metroid Prime-ish automap system, and a look at the kinds of upgrades you'll be able bolt onto the hero's adorable little robo-buddy. Give it a gander below.
]]>Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order didn't make much of a first impression when it was shown off at E3 this year, but we at least now know a bit more about what kind of game it is, as well as the release date. Granted they're important things to know, and we now have a better idea of what to expect in November.
]]>Dismemberment. We've all done it, but Lucasfilm have reportedly forbade the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order developers from letting players chop off limbs too jediciously. In the trailers, gameplay footage and behind closed doors demo we've seen so far, all limbs have remained attached. The internet is aghast, even though developers Respawn Entertainment have stated that limb removal will be reserved for critical plot moments.
]]>Every year on the 4th of May, Star Was fans celebrate America's National Bird Day and how our avian friends inspired George Lucas to invent spaceships. You'll see Warries swooping through the streets, arms outstretched as they shriek like a Tawny Indiana Eagle (which famously inspired the TIE Fighter). Others spread their fingers to mimic the x-shaped wing profile of the Lothian Gannet (which inspired not only X-Wing spaceships but the 'live long and prosper' gesture of their pilots). GOG, well, GOG being a digital games store, their way to celebrate National Bird Day is discounting a load of old Star Wars games.
]]>Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the upcoming Star Wars game by Titanfall and Apex Legends studio Respawn Entertainment, will be a little less shrouded in mystery this April. In this official blog post, they announce that EA will be showcasing the game on Saturday, April 13th at the Star Wars Celebration convention in Chicago. If you've been off in a galaxy far, far away, Fallen Order is set shortly after the prequel trilogy, and tells the story of a young Padawan who somehow survived Order 66, the backstabbilicious Jedi purge carried out by the Emperor's loyal clone army.
]]>Electronic Arts have said that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the new boldly go 'em up from Titanfall developers Respawn Entertainment, should launch in autumn 2019. We still don't know much of anything about the game, but there's a wee update for you from EA's latest earnings conference call for investors. They also mentioned that a new Need For Speed Game is in the works, which is no surprise, plus another Plants vs. Zombies, which is a little more surprising. Plus that mysterious new Titanfall... thing.
]]>Remember that ill-fated Star Wars game codenamed ‘Ragtag’ that was being made by Dead Space developers Visceral? It was supposed to be an Uncharted-inspired single player action adventure, helmed by Amy Hennig, director of the first three Drake ‘em ups. But it got cancelled (amid various development problems) and the whole project was thrown to Canadian studio EA Vancouver who were then told to make an open world Star Wars game out of the bits and bobs. Remember all that? Yeah, that open world game is cancelled too now, according to folks who’ve spoken to Kotaku.
]]>Not everyone loves the new version of Star Wars: Battlefront. Some people (and I'm just vaguely referencing the general concept of people, not saying that this is something that I PERSONALLY FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT) some of these people, well, they like the old SWBFs. When the cancelled Free Radical shooter developed Star Wars: Battlefront 3 had footage leaked to the internet, a group of fans saw the potential of these ideas and set out to make their own finished project in the same vein. Things did not go well.
]]>Amy Hennig, the writer and director of the Uncharted series who had been working on Visceral’s shelved Star Wars game, has left Electronic Arts and started her own studio. Well, she really left EA in January but hasn’t had the chance to talk about that in detail until yesterday, when she spoke to our pally wallys at Eurogamer. Now she’s starting a small studio and thinking about doing some VR projects. The single player Star Wars game she and the other Visceralites envisioned, has been out of her hands since the project was handed over to EA Vancouver.
"So yeah, I'm not doing anything Star Wars," she said. "And, who knows what the future may hold, but that project is on the shelf now."
]]>The exciting Starnews out of EA's E3 press conference was word of Respawn's game, Jedi: Fallen Order, but it wasn't the only Starnews. Proving that people in E3 press conferences will cheer at anything that moves, like some sort of motion-sensitive clapbots, EA today announced that Star Wars Battlefront 2 will start adding things based on the Clone Wars from the Star Wars prequels movies. I fell asleep during Attack Of The Clones yet several people in the E3 audience whooped today.
]]>That mysterious boldly-going game from Titanfall developers Respawn Entertainment is named Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, EA confirmed during their E3 pressblast today, and it'll launch next year. Respawn CEO Vince Zampella didn't have much to say about the game, beyond the obvious that we'll get to play as a Jedi and swing a glowstick as we delve into the past, somewhere between Episodes 3 and 4.
]]>I like Star Wars: Battlefront 2. I enjoy its big dumb bombastic fights and completely unsubtle everything. For me, it's an ideal shooter for 15-30 minutes of Star Wars flavoured cooldown in-between more demanding games, especially now it's escaped from loot-crate hell. As such, more of it is always good, and now that the new one-shot prequel movie is out, there's some tie-in stuff coming to the game. This June 12th, players get to take a run on Kessel, and dress up as Alden Ehrenreich, a canonically separate character from Han Solo.
]]>There's a new Star Wars film on the horizon, so that means it's time for fully-armed and cross-promotional battlestations. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (now freed from microtransaction hell) is well-positioned to capitalise on this, and is rolling out its first wave of Han Solo themed content today. This includes a new close-combat map set in Jabba's Palace, some Return of The Jedi-themed alternate skins and a 2v2 Heroes vs Villains arena combat mode.
Credit where credit's due; it'd be missing a beat if the 'Solo' season for the game was exclusively focused on multiplayer content. Fortunately for people who only take orders from just one person, DICE added Starfighter battles to the single-player/co-op arcade mode.
]]>The next starwad of Star Wars Battlefront 2 content will cross over with the adventures of dashing spacerogue Hanthony Solo, cross-promoting his upcoming prequel movie. It'll let players visit Jabba's Palace, the co-working hub where Hanthony did some freelancing in his early days. His mates Leia and Lando will also get costumes based on the time they picked him up from Jabba's office party that got out of hand when everyone started feeding things into the shredder.
Not everything is about Hanthony, as The Han Solo Season will also bring the new 2v2 Hero Showdown mode, UI improvements, and more.
]]>I'm not sure how rare this experience is, but I played A LOT of Star Wars games as a kid without having seen the Star Wars movies. They not only laid the groundwork of my later-fandom, but they also told these side stories that were (occasionally) so well done that I wound up underwhelmed by the films themselves. You know what? Typing all that out, I realize that's a pretty weird line-in for Star Wars. I am probably more alone on that than I expected. ANYHOW. One of the better, lesser celebrated Star Wars titles is on discount on Steam right now, as part of the continuing May The Fourth sale, and if you haven't given Republic Commando a spin, now is the time.
]]>Though Star Trek fans generally grumble about its prequel series, Enterprise, many will begrudgingly concede that its pod-racing at least spawned a fun video game. That game, Star Trek Episode I: Racer, reappeared yesterday after years lost in the digital Delta Quadrant, added to GOG's catalogue. The digital store are also now holding a big Star Trek sale to celebrate May the 1st as a gesture of solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of workers killed by royalists in the destruction of the Death Star.
]]>Oh look, Star Wars has snuck up on me again. At midnight tonight, cinema goers that are enthusiastic enough to brave the crowds will get to ogle The Last Jedi, sci-fi's premier space wizard opera. Cinema screens aren't the only place you'll find new Star Wars, though - EA are dropping a batch of free Star Wars Battlefront 2 content today, giving you the chance to get new Star Wars under your fingers as well as across from your eyeballs. That stuff gets everywhere.
The Last Jedi DLC brings a couple of new heroes, multiplayer maps and ships, though I'm most interested in the three new chapters for the singleplayer campaign.
]]>Keeping up with what the heck is going on with Star Wars Battlefront 2 is a tall order. The first-person shooter is now inextricably linked to the loot crate debate and the subsequent temporary removal of microtransactions, though the change did little to improve the game's reputation. The developers are still trying though: ahead of tomorrow’s season of content themed around The Last Jedi, DICE has pushed out an update that tackles the game's main bugbears, the economy and progression. The good news is that the focus seems to be on giving players more rewards, but the process is ongoing.
]]>We’ve already been told that Star Wars Battlefront II will hand out expansions, maps and characters for free a la Titanfall 2. But we weren’t totally clued in about what that stuff would be. Well, we are now. Sadly, there are no laser glaives, the iconic weapon beloved by fans. But there are: ships, maps, gear and a campaign expansion. Remember that on top of this two new characters will arrive - the coward and imperial whistleblower Finn, and heroic tin woman Brianne of Tarth Captain Phasma.
When Electronic Arts announced last week they were shutting down Visceral Games and giving the studio's in-development Star Wars game to another team, they muttered about "fundamental shifts in the marketplace" and needing "to pivot the design". You know, they spouted a bunch of empty business speak which didn't say much about what had gone wrong with Visceral and the game. That's publicly-traded companies for you. However! A report on Kotaku talks to a number of former Visceral folks, painting a picture of a deeply troubled game and studio. If you were into the idea of 'Uncharted but Star Wars' and are curious about what happened, it's interesting reading.
]]>EA have just announced that they'll be "ramping down and closing" Visceral, the studio behind the Dead Space trilogy. Visceral have been working on an untitled Star Wars project, described as an "action-adventure", and Amy Hennig, formerly of Naughty Dog and Crystal Dynamics, moved to the studio in 2014 to work on that project as senior creative director. EA's statement regarding Visceral's closure suggests that they're unhappy with the status of that game and they plan to "pivot the design" to fit "fundamental shifts in the marketplace". Full statement and thoughts below.
]]>Since its foundation in 2003, Obsidian Entertainment has worked with seven different publishers. Commencing with LucasArts on Knights of the Old Republic II, Obsidian has since signed contracts with Atari, SEGA, Bethesda, Square Enix, Ubisoft and most recently, Paradox Interactive. In fact, up until Pillars of Eternity [official site], every single game Obsidian had made was funded and distributed by a different publisher.
This is a highly unusual state of affairs, and has proved precarious more than once in the company's history. But it has also provided Obsidian with a unique insight into how the world of publishing works, and how the relationship between developer and publisher has changed in the last couple of decades. This topic is especially pertinent today, as new methods of funding and distributing games have seen a significant shift in the power dynamic between developers and publishers.
I spoke to CEO Feargus Urquhart about how it all works (and doesn't).
]]>Oh thank goodness, EA might be learning. After years of DLC packs and season passes which empty pockets and split playerbases, they are slowly (or partially, at least) turning away from that. Following the example of Titanfall 2, Star Wars Battlefront II [official site] will release new maps, modes, heroes, weapons, and vehicles free for all players. EA announced that during their E3 presentation-o-rama today, also showing off some swish action spanning all the Wars in a new trailer as well as hosting a lengthy live demo of actual gameplay. First, the fancy E3 2017 trailer:
]]>Update: Er, GOG say they got a bit mixed-up and over-generous with the sale. Some of the games are now more expensive. Details follow at the bottom of this post.
GOG have launched a big sale on their catalogue of DRM-free Star Wars games, with discounts of 77% on everything from X-Wing to Jedi Knight. Several of them are fantastic video games. Some are good. Others are, y'know, they're Star Wars, which is fine if you're into that I guess. Point your star-killing peepers this-a-way.
]]>After a long stretch of mumbling and leaking, EA have formally announced Star Wars Battlefront II [official site] for a November 17th launch. The boldly-going shooter's big addition is a singleplayer campaign, and a new trailer reveals that it focuses on a baddie whose story winds through thirty years of Star Wars history. She and her merry band of elite spacefascists have been in the cracks of the big stories, and we'll get to see her meeting big-name characters and whatnot while blasting zapguns. Here, check out the trailer:
]]>A cheeky peek at Star Wars Battlefront II [official site] has leaked out ahead of the official fan frenzy at the Star Wars Celebration this weekend. The wee teaser trailer will surely be pulled from the datanet by prowling cyberlawyers soon but it seems to introduce a little of the singleplayer campaign, as well as showing that the game will span the heptalogy and include everyone from Darth Maul and Yoda to Rey and Kylo Ren. Point your peepers at this before the cybersuits yank it and repossess your orbs:
]]>It's cold outside. There's no kind of atmosphere. You're all alone, more or less. But Humble want to let you fly far away from here. They've launched another Star Wars Humble Bundle full of fun, fun fun, in the suns, suns, suns. This time, the pay-what-you-want bundle has a couple of TIE Fighter and X-Wing games, some of the finest space pew-pew sims, along with your usual assortment of Jedi Knights, Rebel Assaults, Knights of the Old Republic, and so on. That's a lot of pew for your pennies.
]]>Goodness me, this new Death Star ride someone has made in Planet Coaster [official site] is jolly impressive. Or, as Star Warriors would say, "Oie boie! Disa dowopee isa bombad, all-n youse!" We've looked at Star Wars rides before, amongst other neat-o constructions, but this is certainly the fanciest I've seen. It hits warp factor 10, weaves through a battle, dives inside the starguts, and jogs down that infamous gutter. Watch a video below and hey, you can download the coaster to ride it round in own park too.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Not only did it allow you to throw your lightsaber across the room and electrocute a bunch of imbecile Stormtroopers until they fell into a big hole, it also spawned one of the most satisfying stories ever written about a videogame. Well done, Jedi Knight II.
]]>X-Wings activate! Or whatever it is X-Wings do! It's time to blow up the Death Star... again! But this time it's in a video game—Star Wars Battlefront's [official site] Death Star add-on to be exact. If there's one thing Star Wars' bad guys love, it's creating a massive planet-sized weapon and watching it get blown up by their enemies. When will they ever learn?
The Death Star expansion is out next Tuesday to Season Pass holders, so EA has treated us to a gameplay trailer. It looks as though you'll be able to take the battle into outer space, or light up some Storm Troopers in frantic gun fights within the Death Star itself, re-enacting the classic battle.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
This is a rare example of a 'Have You Played' entry about a game that I had completely forgotten about until RPS readers sent me messages saying, "haven't you played Star Wars: Rebellion?" Yes, is the answer, but I'd entirely forgotten it until you asked.
]]>Star Wars VR lightsaber battle experiment, Trials On Tatooine, is available free of charge for Vive as of today.
We actually had a hands-on with the experience way back in the mists of early 2016 while at GDC where Adam stood in a room in the Valve demo area and marvelled at the virtual Lucasfilm-iverse. It's not a game so much as it is a virtual experience - they call it a "cinematic virtual reality experiment". You can read the full hands-on account here but he says things like this:
]]>Many, many Star Wars games are coming from Electronic Arts, that much we already knew. EA took to their E3 stage today to repeat that, this time showing a few behind-the-scenes peeks with concept art and mocapmen from Battlefront II, Visceral's mysterious Star Wars game, and Respawn's equally mysterious own long time ago 'em up. Expect Battlefront II next year and Visceral's game in 2018. Here, have a look:
]]>Oh! I'd entirely forgotten about LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens [official site], possibly because its announcement leaked out with a pffffft. But yes, a plasticised adaptation of last year's boldly-going megahit movie is coming on June 28th, a new trailer reminds me. It's not the greatest trailer, unless you're really, really into Poe Dameron (yeah, I've seen your fan art), but hey, I'm glad to be reminded this is coming. Click on, where no one has gone before, to see Poe in action:
]]>We've got at least four Star Wars games to look forward to in the next four years, but one wonders how many more have been partially developed and discarded without anyone ever knowing. This thought is prompted by footage of an unannounced, presumably cancelled, Star Wars real-time strategy game that appeared online yesterday.
]]>Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen had several Star Wars games to discuss during an earnings call yesterday. I'm not entirely sure how an earnings call works but I imagine if you keep mentioning Star Wars games that your company is publishing at some point in the near future, everyone is happy.
"How many Star Wars will there be Mr Jorgensen, and when can we expect them?"
"Many and soon."
Wild applause breaks out in the boardroom.
]]>I only just found out May the 4th was a special day for Star Wars: the 40th anniversary of that fateful day George Lucas was struck with inspiration for a space-hairdresser made of LEGO. Sat beneath a starfruit tree, Lucas was knocked in the noggin by a falling fruit then leapt to his feet shrieking "Death to stars!" The rest is history.
That's why Titanfall devs Respawn announced they're making a Star Wars game, why Alec declared some other Star Wars game was blah, and why DICE's third-person shooter Star Wars Battlefront [official site] now has a free timed trial.
]]>Respawn Entertainment are making a Star Wars game with Electronic Arts, the Titanfall developers announced today. They say their Star Wars game will be "a third-person action/adventure game" and... that's it. That's all. That's yer lot. Will players be a Jedi, a Naughty Jedi, or perhaps even one of those famous Star Wars morally ambiguous characters like a Ferengi? Dunno, man.
]]>Sorry Dash Rendar, but you and your silly shoulderpads probably aren't canon anymore. You do get one more day in the sun, though, as Shadows of the Empire, one of the few remaining Star Wars games to not yet be re-released digitally, is now out on GoG. For the longest time, SOTE had the greatest Hoth level ever made. Maybe it still does?
]]>Hello youse.
In two days time, from publication of this piece, I'll be filming a board game segment for a BBC TV show, and as ever the question is going to be - “how do we best cover board games in video form?” Further than that, the question is going to be - “how do we do it in a 4-minute segment?” Because while board game coverage on video is common on the internet these days (some might say too common), most of these videos are long and sprawling things. But in two days, I film a piece on the upcoming Star Wars: Rebellion, and it has to be good and short.
]]>Imagine what GDC looks like this year: hundreds of grown-ups living out their childhood VR dreams, feeling all cool and special on the inside, and looking extremely silly on the outside. And what better way to fulfill those dreams and forget how silly this all is, than with a Star Wars game?
Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine is a small VR experience that should hopefully lead to an actual game in the future. For now it's little more than a proof of concept; but what a concept it is, to wield a lightsaber and reflect lasers and not care about what it actually looks like in Real Reality.
]]>Two months after the release of a multiplayer-focused game seems a good time to ask: how are you getting on with Star Wars Battlefront [official site] nowadays? What do you like, and what do you wish it had? And how does your wishlist stack up against DICE's planlist? The developers have shared their plans for the next few months, which include a patch adding private matches and cosy outfits ↑ today, two free new Hoth maps in February, a new Endor map in March, and, of course, plenty of paid DLC.
]]>Adam, Alec and Pip all went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens this week, as did many other people around the world. Yesterday, they discussed their feelings and thoughts about the film in the company of a transcription droid, which produced the following report. Plot spoilers are clearly tagged and hidden, but there are discussions of structure and character throughout so turn back now if you want to go in completely cold.
Adam: Christmas comes but once a year. And for the forseeable future, it appears that Star Wars will arrive on an annual basis as well. Episode VII: The Force Awakens opened in cinemas across the UK this week, with packed midnight screenings and all manner of excitement. We three have seen it already and the first matter for discussion is, naturally, wot did you think?
Alec: IV, V, VI, VII, I, III, II.
]]>Hello youse.
Today, RISK. Wait, come back! I'm not – Hey, forget I said RISK. Just – can we – hey, come back! Listen, honestly, friend, I just – YES, IT SAYS RISK ON THE BOX. But listen – please, take your coat off. Please. Give me the benefit of the doubt. Will you give me a chance? I just – look, I shouldn't have started by saying “RISK”. That was stupid. I wish I could change that. But look – THIS IS NOT RISK. I swear to you. This isn't RISK. I swear it.
How can I make you stay? Well. What if I say “STAR WARS”? Ah, there we are...
]]>My favourite Star Wars film is the one with Liam Neeson. Star Wars Battlefront [official site] is set much later, and next film The Force Awakens even later still. Battlefront's first free content update will bridge that gap a little with The Battle of Jakku - and EA say there will be more "new maps and Star Cards, for free in the coming months."
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
By which I specifically mean 'have you played the first level of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire?' Though the bulk of this 1997 game was a humdrum shooter, the opening mission was a then-astounding recreation of the battle of Hoth, almost two decades before Battlefront was a pixel-shaded twinkle in anyone's eye.
]]>Star Wars Battlefront [official site] may be stomping out this week with all the AT-ATs and TIE fighters and Skywalking your young heart could dream of, but I'm sure the question your longing for an answer to is: what'll be coming as DLC after launch? I know your type. Can't get enough of that DLC, you. "Mad for it," as they say in Manchester. Hold your horses, you DLC delinquents! I'll tell you all about Battlefront's £40 DLC Season Pass. Well. Mostly what I imagine is in it.
]]>"If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine," said Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. Because he was then struck down so promptly afterwards, he never had a chance to explain the rest of the rules: "But if you don't strike me down, I'll vanish anyway and appear as a powerless ground troop in the midst of a war, and from then on only become more powerful depending on the collection of limited and randomly spawning powerups."
There's a Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] live action trailer now. Watch it below.
]]>PC is far from the ideal platform to play Disney Infinity [official site], as I understand it, because it doesn't have a magic technoportal to zap its physical toys into the game ("toys-to-life" is the craptastic industry term I recently heard for such things). However, I also understand some people are not very picky about how and where they get more Star Wars, even more Star Wars, all of the Star Wars, so here: Disney Infinity 3.0 has arrived for Windows, two months after its console launch. It has a lot of Star Wars.
]]>Star Wars: The Old Republic [official site] feels like it has lived in the shadows of its ancestors, Star Wars Galaxies and Knights of the Old Republic, doomed to be eclipsed by their legacy. But after a night of playing, when what was meant to be a quick dip into the new expansion turned into a full-blown binge until little rays of dawn peeked through the curtains, I reckon The Old Republic is close to stepping out of that shadow.
]]>On the one hand, Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] is absolutely plumbing our nostalgic desire for meticulously-recreated AT-AT battles and X-Wing vs TIE Fighter dogfights. On the other, it's this absurd cartoon wherein a super-powered Skywalker or Vader sprint around the battlefield getting right up in everyone's faces. And now Han Solo, Princess Leia and OH FOR GOD'S SAKES Emperor Palpatine have been added to that list.
]]>I've felt so little about Star Wars for so long now, and had so much distance from a fictional universe I threw myself into in my late teens that it no longer feels quite as over-exposed and cynical as it once did. This means I'm starting to find it vaguely appealing again. Nostalgia inexorably returns, God help me. Whether that will be aided or undermined by the looming marketingageddon of The Force Awakens I don't know, but I do look at images of DICE's Star Wars: Battlefront [official site] and think 'yes, those are science fictional battles I want to be a part of.' It's the industrial look of the ships and structures that does it, a sweet spot between functional and stylised that the prequel movies totally bungled.
I don't care about the characters, though. Mostly I just want to drive an AT-AT. Oh God now I've opened an eBay tab and typed 'AT-AT' into it. This is bad. If I can just hang on until October, when the Battlefront Beta will be released, maybe I'll be OK.
]]>Star Wars Battlefront's [official site] newly announced team deathmatch Mode goes by the name of Blast and pits 10 against 10 in hot rebel v. empire close-quarter action, according to details coming down from on high by way of Lead Level Designer Dennis Brännvall. It's one of two modes EA's alluded to in the run up to Gamescom - The other is something they're keeping relatively mum about: X-Wing dogfights, or, well possibly.
EA took to Facebook to sort-of-mention-but-not-properly-announce a dogfighting mode named Fighter Squadron through a short trailer. But don't expect any more info until EA's Gamescom event which takes place on Wednesday at 9am UK time.
]]>Obsidian's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II doesn't quite reach the level of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines on the Oh Gosh Imagine If It Were Actually Finished-o-meter, but it has folks who go to bat to it. Like Bloodlines, for a decade KOTOR 2 has relied on fans to fix bugs, restore and finish cut content, and improve support for modern systems. Unlike Bloodlines, KOTOR 2 apparently still has some sort of official support.
Yesterday brought a new KOTOR 2 patch on Steam, adding native support for widescreen resolutions and controllers, Steam Workshop for mods, and more.
]]>Cross-studio collaboration is a big deal in AAA development nowadays, and EA this week announced they've opened a new studio that'll chip in with others' games and work on new things.
Motive Studios' first known project is working on Visceral's mysterious new Star Wars game written by former Uncharted head writer Amy Hennig. They'll be working with their fellow Montreal lot at BioWare too (I imagine on Mass Effect: Andromeda, yeah?). EA also mention Motive will be working on something new using DICE's Frostbite engine, which is now ubiquitous at EA, though that game's still under wraps for now.
]]>R2-D2 smells like yoghurt. In fact, the whole second part of the Star Wars Battlefront [official site] queue at E3 smells like yoghurt. I'm in a group of 40 attendees waiting for our turn to do battle on Hoth in the final play session of E3. I think the yoghurty smell is coming from the copious dry ice, which is swirling around R2's wheels as EA try to create a Hoth-like experience in a cavernous conference hall in downtown LA.
The Hoth of the game is not yoghurty, but it is gorgeous. An expansive snowy wilderness which we spawn into as Stormtroopers. Well, 20 of us do. The other 20 are rebel scum, ripe for the shooting.
]]>To commemorate the digital release of classic Lucasarts games X-Wing and TIE Fighter [Steam or GOG for the best versions here and here], we commissioned Rob Zacny to take a trip down memory lane and into the laser-singed spaces between the stars. He came back with extensive thoughts as to the quality of the games, and their place in Star Wars lore and legend.
]]>You've had a Star Was bed spread, Star Wars pyjamas, Star Wars crockery, Star Wars t-shirts, a Star Wars backpack, Star Wars sunglasses, a Star Wars wedding cake, a Star Wars credit card, and a Star Wars coffin, but do you have Star Wars video games? Well, yes, obviously. But do you have Star Wars characters running around with Spider-Man and Mickey Mouse? Well, outside of those weird Quake mods. Aha! Right!
You may soon, as Star Wars is coming with Disney Infinity 3.0. Announced yesterday, the new version of the collect-o-fight-a-platformer is due this autumn.
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