The Force Unleashed

In case you didn't know, 2007 is the thirtieth anniversary of the A New Hope (the first Star Wars movie). While I am sure there will be many events this year to celebrate this historic event, such as the 501st Legion and two floats in the Rose Bowl Parade in January, it seems we have a whole lot more to look forward to.

The Force Unleashed is a new multimedia event in the Star Wars universe. You may remember the Shadows of the Empire multimedia effort from a decade ago. It was a concept of offering all the movie accouterments you usually find, such as video games, comic books, a novel, a soundtrack, action figures, but without an actual movie! It was a big success for Lucasfilm. They hope to repeat their success with The Force Unleashed.

The centerpiece is The Force Unleashed video game for the "next-gen" console systems - Xbox 360 and PlayStation3. You will notice the obvious omission of Nintendo's Wii (as well as a PC version!). Considering how well the Wii is doing against its other two rivals, Lucasfilm obviously bet on the wrong horse when developing the game. At least there will be a portable version for the Nintendo DS (and PlayStation Portable), so Nintendo owners won't be left completely out in the cold - just stuck inside a smelly tauntaun...

There will be some groundbreaking technology built into this game - hence its focus on the next-gen consoles. The following are You Tube links that you must see:

• Demonstration of Digital Molecular Matter physics
• Demonstration of Euphoria AI interactions
• Example of gameplay

Other rumored media for this campaign include a novel, graphic novel, and action figures. There is also speculation that the storyline established here could carry forward into the Star Wars television series scheduled for 2009.

The release date of TFU video game is November 2007, so we will have a long time to wait and anticipate! To keep up to date on the progress, check out the official Web site and also the excellent unofficial sites of The Force.Net and Rebel Scum.com.

March 5th Update - The Star Wars: The Force Unleashed novel will be written by Sean Williams (writer of three New Jedi Order books). It will be one of the few sources of the official canonical story of events (the video game offers multiple endings).