In honor of Father's Day, we celebrate dads in video games: from the good to the bad to the "Luke, I am your father kind," that don't fulfill any fatherly duties beyond lopping off a limb. Join us now in separating the Bill Cosbys from the Darth Vaders.

Fathers in… Role-Playing Games
Much like mothers, fathers in role-playing games often are killed early in order to inspire the hero to leave home and avenge dear daddy (and mommy) and the rest of their destroyed village. However, there are some dads who stick around. When they do, they're usually playable support characters their son or daughter's active fighting party, or they show up in flashbacks and hallucinations to offer pep talks and parental criticism. Here are a few of these fatherly figures:

Jecht, Final Fantasy X – Father of Tidus: He's an alcoholic all-star blitzball player who insults his son to toughen him up. Instead, he winds up alienating him. Only after son and father find out they're dead do they make up with a manly high-five.

Kaim, Lost Odyssey – Father of Liram: Kaim believes his daughter is dead, but when he rediscovers her as an old, sick woman, he gets around to some parental duties like making funeral arrangements and babysitting the grandkids.

Pankraz, Dragon Quest V – Father of The Hero: Pankraz travels the world with his son and eventually sacrifices himself to save The Hero from monsters. Alas, he can't save his son from being sold into slavery from beyond the grave.

Walter, Suikoden Tactics – Father of Kyril: Walter goes into exile to protect his lover and bastard son but decides to keep Mommy's identity a secret. He gets turned into a fish monster and attacks Kyril before another party member puts him out of his misery.

James, Fallout 3 – Father of You: Daddy dearest ditches you in Vault 101 and goes to find a cure for irradiated water. When you finally catch up with him, he sends you on a deadly quest and then bites it in the name of science. And, uh, saving you – that too.

Uriel Septim VII, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – Father of Martin: Had several legitimate sons to stock the throne with heirs, but wisely kept a child out of wedlock just in case a Daedra Lord killed all of his other kids. Instead of fostering the boy to a vassal or something noble, Septim stuck Martin in the church to keep him out of trouble.

Best Dad… Pankraz, because, while he couldn't keep his son from being sold into slavery, he didn't hesitate to take on a horde of monsters to save him.

Worst Dad… Uriel Septim VII, because, really, it was bad enough for Martin to be born a bastard – even worse to have Daedra Lords come after you because of some dude you've never even met. Thanks for nothing, Dad!

Fathers in… Fighting Games
Fighting games have a high volume of fathers. Apparently, popping out a few kids is the thing to do after winning world martial arts tournaments. But no father in any fighting game seems to have thought the decision to become a father and a world martial arts champion at the same time all the way through: Either you're abandoning the kid at a young age so they invariably follow in your footsteps just to find you. Or – worse – you actively train them in your fighting style so they can grow up, follow in your footsteps and then kick your ass.

Raphael Sorel, Soulcalibur series – Foster father of Amy: Raphael got kicked out of his own family for killing some crazy noble and found the orphaned Amy wandering the streets of some French town. He took her in, raised her, trained her and went completely crazy trying to create a perfect world for her.

Frederick Schtauffen, Soulcalibur series – Father of Siegfried: Frederick left his infant son to go fight in the Crusades. While he was gone, Siegfried fell in with a bad crowd and wound up beheading his own father in a misguided act of patriotism.

Seong Han-myeong, Soulcalibur series – Father of Mi-na and wannabe foster father to Hwang: Teaches both children how to kick some serious ass, but winds up favoring Hwang with family heirlooms. When Hwang refuses Han-myeong's offer to adopt him, he tries to marry Mi-na to Hwang. Mi-na runs away.

Cervantes de Leon, Soulcalibur series – Father of Ivy: Somehow fathered the hottest thing in the Soul series and then tried to devour her when she comes looking for his sword, Soul Edge.

Heihachi Mishima, Tekken series – Father of Kazuya: Throws his son off a cliff to toughed him up, throws him down a volcano out of spite and basically does nothing but try to destroy his son for the entire Tekken series.

Kazuya Mishima, Tekken series – Father of Jin: He may not have thrown his son off any cliffs, but Kazuya's revenge aspiration against his own father eventually turns his son against him. Also, it turns his son into a flying demon thing.

Marshall Law, Tekken series – Father of Forest: Law sees more of the insides of restaurants than he does of his own son, but he stops at nothing to pay the hospital bills when Forest wrecks his motorcycle.

Lau Chan, Virua Fighter – Father of Pai: Abandons his daughter to fight in the World Fighting Tournament and has the nerve to act surprised when she devotes her martial arts career to kicking his ass.

Bass Armstrong, Dead or Alive series – Father of Tina: Two words sum up his entire parenting technique– over and protective.

Fame Douglas, Dead or Alive series – Father of Helena: Fame knocks up a world-famous opera singer and then doesn't marry her; but he does leave his daughter his effed up company, DOATEC, after being assassinated. Thanks, Daddy!

Raidou, Dead or Alive series – Father of Ayane: Raped her mother. ‘Nuff said.

Dhalsim, Street Fighter – Father of Datta: Dhalsim serves as a father to his entire village by entering the World Warrior tournament to raise money for them.

Best Dad… Bass, because he loves his daughter too much to let her dress like a slut – unlike Cervantes.

Worst Dad… Heihachi, because he throws his son off a cliff and into a volcano; and he imprisons his grandson. Somebody call Child Protective Services!

Fathers in… Action Adventure and Survival Horror Games
It's hard to feel warm and fuzzy about fathers in these types of games because they're almost always an antagonist. Even the well-meaning Dads who just want to protect their offspring usually wind up doing the opposite by turning evil, letting work consume them or by losing the family farm to a rival rancher. But, even if they're real jerks, they're still fathers and they deserve their due on this day.

Joe Hayabusa, Ninja Gaiden – Father of Ryu: Leads an entire ninja clan and raises a badass ninja son.

William Birkin, Resident Evil 2 – Father of Sherry: The guy's got no time for parenting – he's so married to his work he becomes the last boss.

Mr. Burnside, Resident Evil: Code Veronica – Father of Steve: Not only did he raise his son to be a whiny loser, but Mr. Burnside also thought it'd be a great idea to steal from the Umbrella Corporation, thus getting his wife shot full of holes and landing him and his son on a zombie-infested prison camp island. Great going, old man.

Harry Mason, Silent Hill and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories – Adoptive father of Cheryl and possibly Alessa, depending on which ending you get: Harry probably shouldn't have picked up a strange child on the side of the road, but damned if he doesn't do his best to hang onto her – even when the monsters start showing up to kill him.

King Zora XVI, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Father of Princess Ruto: He loves his daughter, but is too fat and lazy to go save her when she goes missing inside a giant fish monster.

Talon, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Father of Malon: Talon is a narcoleptic rancher who makes a good living for himself and his daughter on Lon Lon Ranch; but unfortunately, he has poor taste in employees. Pro tip: don't hire somebody with the hots for your daughter.

Deku King, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask – Father of Deku Princess: Overprotective doesn't quite sum it up – this is a guy who tortures small animals when his child goes missing instead of looking for her himself.

Bowser, Super Mario Bros. series – Father of Bowser Jr. and seven other Koopalings: He lets his kids run wild with pirate ships and magic zappy wands. Not exactly parent of the year material.

Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong series – Father of Donkey Kong Jr.: He'd rather hang out with his nephew, Diddy Kong, than his own son. What does that say about his fatherly reputation?

Kratos, God of War series – Father of Calliope: He's away from home a lot, fighting wars and when he does come back, he kills his kid in a God-induced rage. She goes to heaven and he tries to visit, but that would kind of break the world, so he leaves her be.

Kento Marek, The Force Unleashed – Father of Galen, aka Starkiller, aka Vader's Secret Apprentice: He escapes the Jedi purges with his wife and young son and hides out on Kashyyyk. Vader shows up, kills him and takes his son to train/raise.

Dr. Light, Mega Man series – Father of Mega Man: Okay, so he didn't provide Mega Man chromosomes; but Dr. Light built him and raised him. So he's like both father and mother to Mega Man.

Nate Harlow, Red Dead Revolver – Father of Red: If nothing else, the old man sure taught his son to shoot.

King of All Cosmos, Katamari Damacy – Father of The Prince: His binge drinking wiped out the world, and he sent his son to clean up the mess. What a role model.

The Mourning King, Prince of Persia – Father of Elika: He makes a deal with the dark god Ahriman to resurrect his daughter, sends his men to capture her and then unleashes pure evil by destroying the Tree of Life.

Best Dad… Harry Mason, because he could have adopted some other orphan, but no – he went through Silent Hill for his Cheryl. That's a dad who cares.

Worst Dad… Steve Burnside's dad, because, while Kratos might've killed his kid, too, at least his daughter went to heaven instead of a zombie-infested prison camp island.

Fathers in… Shooters
Dads are the stars of shooters. Even if they're not the main character, they very often drive the plot even from beyond the grave. This is probably because a lot of cultures have a manly mythos of the son surpassing the father and it's bled right into the manliest of video games. Even with all that testosterone, there's room for really great dads. And some really awful ones, too.

Eli Vance, Half-Life series – Father of Alyx: Eli lived the simple life of a scientist at Black Mesa Research Facility with his wife and young daughter. Then things explode as they often do in the profession and his wife dies. He eventually falls in love with another woman, but to his dying day, he never stops loving his daughter.

James McCloud, Star Fox series – Father of Fox: Clearly James did something right in parenting Fox; he inspired such filial piety that his son hallucinates him during boss fights.

Andrew Ryan, BioShock – Father of Jack: Andrew had Jack out of wedlock with stripper/dancer Jasmine Jolene and didn't get to spend any time parenting him. Mommy Dearest sold the embryo off to Andrew's enemy. Ryan Sr. might make a big fuss about a man choosing; but, the truth is, you can't choose your children.

Big Daddies, BioShock series – Father of Little Sisters: Big Daddies have no blood relation to Little Sisters and probably no soul, either. But they do what all good daddies do: protect the bejesus out of their babies with power tools.

Roy Campbell, Metal Gear Solid series – Father of Meryl: He lies to his daughter and says he's her uncle for most of her life, but then relents and calls her his "pride and joy" at the most inopportune moment. Later, he gives her away at her wedding.

Jack Raiden, Metal Gear Solid series – Father of Rose's son: To his credit, Raiden probably would have been a great dad if his wife had lied and said she miscarried the baby. But, since she did lie and tell him that, he let himself be turned into a high-tech version of a Ken doll and now his son is really going to have daddy issues despite his parents getting back together.

Big Boss, Metal Gear Solid series – Father of Liquid and Solid Snake: Daddy must be so proud of his clone sons. One of them is a chain smoker with a terminal illness and the other one keeps trying to bring about a nuclear holocaust. He probably should have spent more time raising them instead of trying to kill one or both of them.

Adam Fenix, Gears of War series – Father of Marcus: Supposedly he's some kind of genius and like James McCloud he must've done something awesome to inspire filial piety that borders on insanity. His son winds up in prison for abandoning his post to save Fenix Sr. during an alien invasion.

Sam Fisher, Splinter Cell series – Father of Sarah: Sam is so devastated by his daughter's death he spends an entire game avenging her. Drunk drivers and assassins beware a bereaved father, especially one who's a secret agent.

Best Dad… Eli Vance, because he loves his baby girl without smothering her independent spirit.

Worst Dad… Big Boss, because one lousy man-hug does not make up for the sheer number of times he tried to kill his son.

(Dis)Honorable Mentions
Shinnok, Mortal Kombat – He's only Raiden and Shao Kahn's dad in that awful movie, Annihilation, so he doesn't count as a video game dad.
Homer Simpson, Don Corleone, Darth Vader – They've all got a presence in video games, sure, but their status as good or bad fathers comes from the shows and films they're from, not from the games they appear in.
Dr. Tenma, Astro Boy – Father of Astro Boy and Tobio: Like a lot of Dads, Tenma was married to his work until the day his nine-year-old son Tobio died in a car accident. Then, he turned his work into his son, created Astro Boy as the son that would never die. Unfortunately, he wouldn't age, either – so Tenma sold him to a robot salesman.
You, Fable II, The Sims games and Harvest Moon games - Just as with moms, even if you play as an upstanding paragon of parental vigilance as a dad, you're going to be guilty of neglect at least half of the time.

That does it for dads this year. Think we missed somebody important? Drop a line in the comments. And don't forget to call your dad on Father's Day!

I don’t know much about Gatheryn or what an advanced-casual massively multiplayer online game is supposed to be. But I gather (get it?) from the screenshots that it’s set in a steampunk fantasy world with zeppelins. The press release says gamers will enter a world of “adventure, mystery and romance,” and play familiar puzzle and action games to advance the story and earn stuff.

Stamos comes in as Game Studio Director for MindFuse, focusing on Gatheryn’s production and design . As a veteran of the Star Wars franchise – including The Force Unleashed – she sounds like she’s got the skill set to get the game from development to launch.

Clearly MindFuse thinks so too,going from the press release:

“Isa will be instrumental in the creation of the epic world of Gatheryn,” said Joseph Walters, Chief Executive Officer and Lead Designer of MindFuse Games. “Isa’s outstanding track record as a producer is self-evident when you look at games like the The Force Unleashed, and Gatheryn players will appreciate all she is contributing to the game.”

Well, at least somebody can get a job these dark days. More power to you, madam.

The content will be coming to be the 360 and PS3 version of the game. No specific date or prices have yet been set for the downloadable content.

In the coming months Lucas Arts will release a downloadable content pack featuring additional costumes and character models that can be used to play through the single-player campaign. The new models will include Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Kit Fisto.

The skins we decided to release were "based on what we heard from fans," Blackman said. "But some were from us. We thought Ki-Adi-Mundi or Kiit Fisto would be exciting to see running around in our game."

While the new skins simply give you a new way to play through the existing content, the new level will be played out on a beefy new map and includes quite a bit more plot.

Due out later this year, the new single-player mission is set in the Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant. Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice travels to the temple to learn more about his father, and while searching through the rubble of the destroyed building he confronts his inner demons.

(SPOILER)

The level seems to fit in nicely with a moment in the original game when the Apprentice comes face to face with the ghost of his father. I asked Blackman if that was done deliberately, or if that confrontation would be where players would jump off into the new adventure.

"That was a scene we had written into the script to suggest that the apprentice was getting more into his background and in touch with his childhood," Blackman said. "It's in there to remind the player that the apprentice had come from a jedi father that he wasn’t always evil. It coincides nicely with him beginning to question working for Vader."

(END SPOILER)

Blackman said the team talked about having that moment be the jumping off point for the new adventure, but in the end decided it wasn't feasible.

"We wanted players to be able to access it immediately when they download it," he said. "So it’s an added level. A separate campaign."

The new campaign's map is smaller than The Force Unleashed giant level on the junk planet Raxis Prime, he said, but it's larger than Cloud City.

"We hope it hits the sweet spot for size."

This new location, which appears in a different form in both the PSP and PS2 versions of the game, was one of about eight that the teamed talked about including in the final game, but didn't make the cut for one reason or another.

"We had a list of 20 locations in our exploration phase," he said. "Those got whittled down. Which ones were viable and which weren't. The temple hung on and hung on and hung on. We had to make cuts right before production and it was one of those."

And Blackman said it's entirely possible that the internal development team working on this new DLC will continue to work on new episodes, that The Force Unleashed could essentially become a delivery system for episodic content.

"We brainstormed a ton of locations," he said. "There's easily another two dozen we could make into levels. This is a good way to continue the story."

"I wouldn't rule out any future content on The Force Unleashed."

This new content also makes the game that much more replayable, something that could potentially help bump it from a rental to a purchase.

"We hope gamers hold onto the game anyway," Blackman said. "There is already a lot of replayability built into it. There is quite a lot of exploration you can do. If you enjoy the story, the gameplay, the first time through, though, you should enjoy this."

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]

Witwer managed to pack that ten minutes with a bit about his love of gaming, the excitement of speaking a "certain line" in the game and how the Force Unleashed managed to pack so much chemistry into the game.

For a Sci-Fi Channel superstar, Sam is really down to earth. And a total nerd, too.

“I was all into the X-Wing games [when I was younger].” He’s even read some of the books (although not the Michael A. Stackpole installments).

I asked him how he felt about being part of a pivotal moment in the Star Wars story. We already got the scoop on how he feels about the Clone Wars – I suggested Force Unleashed was a cut above, and Sam was quick to defend the CG acid trip movie as an important part of the continuity. But he agreed that Force Unleashed was a Big Freaking Deal and he was happy to be a part of it.

Spoiler Alert!

There was one major “geek goose bump” moment in particular that stuck with Sam. This is the line that hit Sam the most out of all dialogue recorded for Force Unleashed:

“Will you lead us?”

Sam squealed and actually kicked up his legs. “It was like the 8-year-old inside me rose up and was all like ‘alright – we need to defeat Darth Vader because he’s bad, and then we need to do this and this…’.” You could tell he was so totally into it. It reminded me of an interview James Earl Jones gave about being Darth Vader – about how the “I am your father,” line took his breath away.

End Spoiler Alert

We had to steer away from spoiler town and I only had a few minutes left, so the rest was a jumble of Sam’s impressions from working on the game.

As an actor, this was a tough job for Sam. There were times when he looked at the script and thought that he couldn’t do it, that he’d blow the line. Over a period of two and a half weeks, Sam worked to bring the character to life. There’s over an hour of game cinema worth of his acting and he was anxious to make the Secret Apprentice come alive.

“The key is the other actors,” says Sam. They shot the cinemas on a green screen, which explains the extremely high chemistry between Sam and his co-stars. The in-game dialogue, on the other hand, was harder. In these instances, he was recording basic lines into a mic instead of acting onscreen with other actors. There’s no context and absolutely tons of these lines. It got to a point where Sam didn’t even remember some of the stuff he’d recorded, so when people complimented him on parts of the game, he had no idea what he’d done to make the scene so good.

Comparatively, recording the Secret Apprentice lines for Soul Calibur IV was easy. And a ton of fun, because not only did he get to yell “I’m gonna kick your ass” stuff for about four hours – he also got to hear his Japanese voice actor counterpart.

“That guy was so cool,” Sam gushes. “He was all like, [fake Japanese in manly voice]! And I was like… [throws himself backwards in chair] WHOA!”

I had time for one last question – I asked what he thought of game voice actors being faceless unknowns.

Obviously, Sam isn’t an unknown – even if I can’t bring myself to watch Smallville – and he admitted that he had very little knowledge of the complaints of GTA4's Niko Bellic voice actor Michael Hollick. But he said LucasArts made this project totally worth his while and pointed out that since the game is using his likeness, that he is the face of the Secret Apprentice.

Observe his Apprentice face:

And this is his camera face:

Sam Witwer was a fun guy to talk to – and even if his character kicks the bucket at the end of the game (haven’t gotten that far yet, so I'm not spoiling anything), I do hope to see more of him on my Xbox 360 (and maybe less of him on the CW).

Check out our interview with Force Unleashed front man Haden Blackman.

P.S. - Sorry about the grainy iPhone pics!

“We can make this happen,” Haden told them, and it looks like he was right.

The Force Unleashed making-of book details Haden and his team’s long struggle to get this game made. There were tons of other concept ideas that got axed, a billion technical hurdles and all kinds of unforeseen nightmares to get past. I asked Haden which scrapped idea was his favorite and he immediately said he liked the idea where you would have been playing as a Wookiee.

The idea would have had you running about like a semi-feral beast, kicking ass and being a Wookiee (y’know, ripping peoples’ arms off when you lose). George Lucas put the kibosh on the idea, saying that not only are Wookiees not quite like the team had envisioned them – but people probably wouldn’t have wanted to play as a Wookiee. Because how attached can you really get to character that doesn’t have speech?

Haden also liked an idea that allowed the player to commune with Qui Gon’s spirit, thus filling in some of the gaps in the prequel’s back story; but this idea was also tossed out and Haden had to come up with something else.

Read the making of book for the whole story – me, I had to move on if I wanted to get all my questions asked in the 10 minutes I had to interview Haden.

I asked what color lightsaber Haden would want (to buy time while I frantically searched for where I’d written my list of questions). Haden – like me – would want to rock a purple lightsaber. And it’s got nothing to do with Mace Windu; he just likes the color. I’d a like a purple one, too – but that’s just because Jaina Solo wields one in the Expanded Universe (EU) books. (Oh, and there's an unlockable black lightsaber in the game - look for it!)

Haden has actually read a lot of the EU books – though he stopped short of the New Jedi Order series. An author of Star Wars graphic novels himself, he has great respect for the stories outside those covered in the movies. I asked if we might see a game set in the Legacy of the Force series, or some other post-episode VI timeline and Haden nodded, “We’ll see.”

Building on the original source material is important, though – Haden couldn’t stress that enough when it came to creating levels for the Force Unleashed. One of the easiest levels to design (at least in terms of art) was the TIE Fighter factory level on the count of already having tons of source material for what TIE Fighters look like. The hardest level to work with by far was the Raxus Prime junkyard. In the words of one of his team members, Haden described the level as both organic and inorganic – a lot of angular rusty metal and also a living ecosystem that sports moments of beauty. (For gameplay, the early levels were hardest, because the Secret Apprentice’s powers were limited – and later on, it got easier because his powers were more badass which allowed for more of the “playground” feel.)

Haden wrapped up our interview with an admonishment that The Force Unleashed is supposed to be an accessible, mainstream game. He’s concerned that hardcore gaming outlets are marking the game down because the combat “isn’t complex enough.” He really hopes that all his work has paid off in creating an experience the everyman will enjoy. But overall, the man is proud of his work, and he glowed with pleasure as he waltzed out of the room to take his place on the main stage.

His work on Force Unleashed is done.

…

So. Now what?

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]

The Art and Making of Star Wars The Force Unleashed is a chunky, 168 page book filled with more than 300 pieces of concept art, two packs of character cards and plenty of behind the scenes details of how the title went from concept to game.

I've only had a chance to flip through the book so far, but what I've seen impresses. The book is divided up into six chapters that tackle the concept behind the game and early pitches, the story approval process, the characters in the game, the environments, the technology and a run through of all of the game's milestones and how it progressed from greenlight, to alpha to launch.

I'm not typically a big fan of these over-sized art books but there seems to be enough meat to the book to make it worth picking up. I still might have a problem dropping $30 for it, but I'm sure bigger fans of the franchise wont.

I've got a very cruel test for you Star Wars fans. What we have here is a video dialog from the LucasArts folks that goes over some pretty major, pretty spoilerish, plot points for The Force Unleashed. It also shows off a lot of the game. Yes, painful. So you decide, hit the game fresh and untarnished or stoke your fan engines now. Either way, know it looks pretty bad ass.

Soulcalibur IV Unleashed [GameSpot]

The game will have you playing as Darth Vader's secret apprentice and takes place in the era between Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The game will have players assisting Vader in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi.

"Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is one of the most ambitious projects LucasArts has ever launched. The combination of a great new Star Wars story with revolutionary new technology and game play means more fun than you've ever had in the Star Wars universe," said Peter Hirschmann, Vice-President of Product Development, LucasArts. "We can't wait until gamers get their hands on it this September."

LucasArts teamed up with Spike TV to air segments about the upcoming game during the channel's upcoming showing of all six Star Wars movies this weekend. The channel will be airing six different segments about the game "each with an exclusive announcement or new game play footage."

Hit the jump for the segment times, more box art shots and some details on the game.

• April 6 at 7:58 p.m. ET/PT - between the premiere of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
• April 11 at 10:52 p.m. ET/PT - At the end of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
• April 12 at 12:00 a.m. ET/PT - throughout an episode of GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley filmed at LucasArts' headquarters in San Francisco
• April 12 at 5:06 p.m. ET/PT - before Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
• April 13 at 5:06 p.m. ET/PT - before Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back

More About Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the first next-generation game developed internally at LucasArts, and will be available on the Xbox®360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.

As its name implies, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force by taking full advantage of newly developed technologies that will be seen and experienced for the first time together: Digital Molecular Matter, by Pixelux Entertainment, and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd.

LucasArts and developer Krome Studios are creating an equally enthralling version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on the Wii™ home videogame system from Nintendo, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and n-Space, Inc., is developing a version for Nintendo DS™. All will feature the same storyline, with opportunities to unleash the Force in devastating new ways.

Working with Lucas Licensing, LucasArts is preparing an unprecedented promotional effort around the launch of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, encompassing a full line of toys and game-based action figures from Hasbro, as well as a full publishing program from Dark Horse, Del Rey, Prima Games, and Palace Press.

More information about the game can be found at the official website, www.theforceunleashed.com, which will continue to release details throughout the year.

The gameplay started in a Tie Fighter hanger, our male protagonist looking down at the cleanly-textured room. Everything is understated, save for the size. It's so massive that I found myself mentally categorizing other games that had indoor environments with ceilings that reach 150+ feet in the air.

And it reminds you that force powers are truly the intended focus of the game. Because while our male protagonist was indeed holding a lightsaber, he opted not to use it all that often. Sure, part of the gameplay decision was for our benefit, but when levels employ so much vertical space, sometimes propogated with Tie Fighters floating by (ready to be plucked out of the air), the saber feels so tedious.

We watched as the jedi made short work of the Storm Troopers (effortlessly lifting them and ran into the spaceship's hallways (also some of the largest we've seen). The blast doors were satisfyingly bent open ala The Force and then new troopers got the taste of some lightsaber.

Then something really bothered us. We noticed that when the troopers died, green orbs popped out like we've seen in God of War. While we're sure these orbs are intended to fill the force meter, their fantasy-based nature really sucked us away from the hyperrealism of gorgeous floating Storm Troopers, grabbing on to any near object in attempt to save life and limb.

Even on the large projected screen, the game looked very nice. We can only imagine it scaled down to a more manageable, non-jumbotron size. Unfortunately, there was one pretty cool image that you'll never see.

In an early concept video, designers rendered a mock battle between a jedi and a rancor (large humanoid monster). After battling for about a minute, the monster swallows the jedi.

Needless to say, this didn't end well. The monster was struck with a lightsaber ulcer so bad that its body exploded. And despite a packed hall of hoots and hollers in response, the content was too spicy for the ESRB to designate a "T for Teen" rating.

And it makes us wonder how long it will be until we're choosing between uncensored version of games and their "radio" edits.

Variety has a pretty epic story in their March issue that delves deep into LucasArts upcoming Star Wars game The Force Unleashed. Writer Frank DiGiacomo does not only an amazing job of shedding light on a hotly anticipated game, but also manages to lead the uninitiated on a quick tour of both the history of video gaming and the problems the emerging medium still struggles with. The story then quickly plunges into the making of the upcoming game and some of the issues the devs have run into while trying to blend new tech with old for the game.

The story does mention a few things interesting to the hardcore as well, like the fact that they had to play down the game's realism because if a person was really hit with a force blow it would be like being smacked with a cannon ball, and perhaps a bit too gruesome for the T-rating they are shooting for.

The article says that Force Unleashed, which is meant to tell the story of the time between Episode III and Episode IV by fleshing out Darth Vader, has a plot twist "almost as good as the "I am your father" moment from Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back." The game also contains surprising revelations about the birth of the Rebel Alliance.

There isn't, actually, a ton of detail about the game's play in the lengthy three-page article, but it ends with this gem of a description of a play through on the PS3 of the prologue:

The Dark Lord of the Sith is on Piper's screen, his black cape billowing, his death's-head helmet gleaming in the computer-generated sunlight. Piper guides Vader forward using the game controller and eventually arrives at a narrow rope bridge of lashed-together logs. As the Wookiees begin to charge across the bridge, Piper mashes buttons and summons up a ball of Force energy that, in a nice artistic touch, withers the plant life beneath Vader's boots. Then, pushing another button, he hurls that energy at the furry, fanged Wookiees. A bunch of them go flying off into space, causing the D.M.M.-enabled bridge to start rippling like a water bed. This sends more Euphoria-infused Wookiees toppling over the sides while those that remain struggle to regain their balance. They are only prolonging the inevitable. Using a more personal form of the Force, Vader hoists a struggling Wookiee into the air and dashes him against a wooden support beam, which cracks and splinters with remarkable authenticity. As another warrior is lifted, he grabs on to one of the remaining beams and hangs on for dear life, but Vader dislodges the wooden buttress and hurls it, with the Wookiee still attached, over the bridge.

I highly recommend either picking up the magazine or clicking over to the link to read through the article. DiGiacomo's fresh look at some of the issues video games face as they strive to recreate life on a screen are quite poetic at times and his take on the merging of Euphoria's AI and Digital Molecular Matter with the physics of Havok are alone worth the time. There are also plenty of screens and interesting images.

I'll leave you with this wonderful description of the process of making a video game, to hopefully convince you to go read the article:

To observe the men and women of LucasArts in action—aside from noting their propensity to wear their security badges on bright yellow lanyards—is to realize that the process of making a video game is really the fulfillment of French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes's dream of putting "the world into equation," in the words of LucasArts lead software engineer Cedrick Collomb.

The Game Has Changed [Vanity Fair]

I'm really, really hoping this will be good. And until we have the game in our hands to decide, expect bajillions of such updates as we get more info.

A few more Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Wii details [gonintendo]