According to the title's project lead Haden Blackman, "But part of it...is that I'm watching this team that has worked so hard on this game for two, almost three years. And they're reading this stuff. And you're right; all the air gets sucked out of the room. People were miserable for the whole day. It's hard to keep them focused."

Two things: 1. Don't confuse hard work with good game making. Everyone works hard. That's what it means to be a professional. 2. This is the nature of the beast. You work on something and put it out to be judged. It can be judged by critics, and it can be judged by consumers. The Force Unleashed was judged favorable enough by consumers, it seems, racking up 5 million copies sold in North America and Europe.

Some games critics love, but consumers hate. Other games critics hate and consumers love. Chin up, Haden Blackman! Remember critics don't play the bills. George Lucas does.

Dining With Developers, Vol. 2: Haden Blackman, Part 1 [Crispy Gamer via GameBizBlog] [Pic]

Never say never. George [Lucas] has looked to tell new Star Wars stories through the games and with the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe, and then he has also shown a willingness to let the characters come into the films.

Kinda wish they would've made The Force Unleashed as the third movie, Episode III as the second movie and Episode II as the first movie. Episode I could've done with a good shitcanning.

Will 'Force Unleashed' be the next 'Star Wars' film? [LA Times via The Escapist via Go Nintendo] [Pic]

Hit the jump for party pics and more.

Lucas didn’t take the stage until nearly two hours after the event had started. During that time, I managed to wheedle my way into the VIP room to steal brownie bites, snag a diet coke and manipulate man friend into snapping cosplay pics with his Shiny Less Than New iPhone. Take a look:

Then, what we’d all be waiting for – George Lucas. But first, another long, drawn-out raffle sequence where the dudes on stage were having way too much fun dangling t-shirts over the side to generate loud screaming and people hoisting small children over head.

George took the stage slowly, looking every bit as old as his 60-some odd years. He thanked the team for all the good work, urged the attendees to grab whatever was on the shelves and buy it – and then revealed that his son had bugged more than 400 issues in Force Unleashed.

“More than the play testers,” George beamed.

More t-shirts were thrown and the man departed to wild cheers, chased after by Secret Apprentice actor Sam Witwer, bearing Lucas his very own t-shirt.

And at 10, we were all thrown out of the Best Buy as they closed the store. At midnight, the doors will re-open to sell the first copies of The Force Unleashed to the waiting crowd.

Be sure to check out our interviews with Sam Witwer and with project lead Haden Blackman tomorrow morning.

George gave us a history lesson about what the major characters in the Saga were doing in that time frame, and offered feedback and suggestions about the plot and characters.

Is it wise to actually go around and tell people that? Pssst, we consulted with George Lucas for this game. That's right, the George Lucas that turned the Force from a mystic energy into some cell-based midichlorian-communicating mumbo jumbo. And the same George Lucas who let stormtroopers kill Jedi\.

Certainly there are oodles of smart, talented people at LucasArts. Let's play up those folks, 'mkay?

Star Wars lives on through games [Reuters]

Analyst Michael Pachter estimated that prior to the layoffs, LucasArts had approximately 200 employees, the balance of whom were tasked essentially with liaising between George Lucas' intellectual properties and the only three development studios ever to build games on those properties: BioWare, Pandemic and UK-based Traveller's Tales.

Their primary role, Pachter said, was to ensure proper treatment of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones IP, manage business relationships with the studios, and handle marketing of the properties.

In April, former Electronic Arts LA COO Darrell Rodriguez took over for the recently-departed Jim Ward as LucasArts' president. We can assume Rodriguez still has close liaisons with EA, or at least a confident familiarity with EA's business practices, said Pachter. And with EA now owning two out of three Lucas IP development studios in BioWare and Pandemic, it would appear there is no further need for such a large staff while Rodriguez is on board at LucasArts.

"If I'm Rodriguez and I know that I'm going to do most of my games with EA going forward, then I'm a lot less anal about double-checking everything EA is up to," said Pachter.

An anonymous former LucasArts employee had the same speculation: "My guess: EA cut a deal and is already making Star Wars games! That's just a guess, but on the heels of the Bioware/EA thing and the hiring of EALA's COO as Lucasarts' new President... that math ain't hard to figure."

Film studio politics could be playing a role here too, said Pachter. Traveller's Tales is owned by Warner Bros., and can be expected to focus on making games based on WB properties like Harry Potter in the future. It would be highly unlikely, said Pachter, that WB would allow Traveller's to work on future Indiana Jones games when rival studio Paramount (Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull) would reap the benefits.

In other words, if WB won't be doing any George Lucas films, then a development studio it owns won't be doing any George Lucas games, and that means LucasArts has a limited need to deal with the UK-based studio.

"Why would Paramount want Warner Bros. to mess with their movie?" Said Pachter. "At least EA has a good reputation with the [film] studios and does a good job on the kid-friendly games."

So with a relationship to the UK studio reduced if not eliminated, and with EA's BioWare within a close radius of LucasArts, and with former EA exec Rodriguez at the helm, there's hardly any need for a large staff to handle IP development, said Pachter.

The analyst added, "If I were EA, I would go in to George Lucas and try to buy LucasArts."

When Kotaku spoke to LucasArts earlier today, a representative stressed the publisher's good health and commitment to its internal studio. "We are healthy," she said. "LEGO Indie was launched on seven platforms to positive reviews, The Force Unleashed and Fracture are on track for this fall. We have a good slate of games and we have some good stuff going on in production.

"We are definitely committed to the internal studio."

Despite the layoff of what sources have told us could be up to 80 percent of LucasArts' staff, Pachter doesn't believe the publisher is in dire straits financially, however.

"Don't think about LucasArts as a stand-alone entity that must make a certain profit," he said. "It's wholly owned by George Lucas, and George has more money than God. I would not ever worry about George Lucas being in financial trouble."

Both LucasArts and EA declined to comment.