By Jim Rossignol on July 26th, 2009 at 12:39 pm.
Third-person Jedi action of Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition will be turning up on the PC in the Autumn, according to Lucasarts. The PC game is an expanded version of the original Force Unleashed game, with three extra single-player missions. Bizarrely, the new missions set up a parallel timeline within the Star Wars universe, in which the events of the original films play out differently, according the events of the game. The second new mission in this rebooted version of the game “re-imagines the Star Wars Saga as if the Secret Apprentice had taken Darth Vader’s place at the Emperor’s side, becoming the most powerful Sith Lord in the universe. The story picks up as the Emperor sends his new apprentice to Tatooine to dispatch Obi-Wan Kenobi – who has been hiding on the planet ever since the events of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.”
The final new mission apparently sees you facing Luke Skywalker in the assault on Hoth, via a quick visit to Tatoonie, natch.
26/07/2009 at 12:43 qrter says:
This news would’ve been a bit more exciting if the console version hadn’t gotten mediocre to bad reviews..
The 3 extra missions might indicate that it could be a possibly good port, though (my fear would be that it’d be an unoptimised monster like Assassin’s Creed on the PC was).
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26/07/2009 at 12:44 Dominic White says:
The main problem with the original release was that it just wasn’t playtested and tuned enough. If they’ve gone back to the drawing board long enough to include new levels, there’s a decent chance that they’ve tweaked the core gameplay as well. One can only hope.
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26/07/2009 at 12:45 Dominic White says:
And.. wait – what? I’ve got a mid-rangeish (ATI 4850) card and ran Assassins Creed at maxed out detail very nicely here. Not only that, but they added a bunch of mission types to the PC version. Unoptimized monster what?
26/07/2009 at 12:47 Feintlocke says:
So a year on and suddenly everyone’s bought a “$4000″ system?
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/05/12/lucasarts-on-star-wars-and-pc-development/
26/07/2009 at 12:47 Sabre says:
I just ordered the novel to this yesterday because I was intrigued by the story and LucasArts had said it wasn’t coming to PC. Drat.
Well, here’s to hoping that they get it properly ported. Too many poor ports from LucasArts recently.
26/07/2009 at 12:50 Hunam says:
Whilst the game has some entertaining parts, it’s mostly terrible with a big spoon of stupid. Seriously the story will have you screaming out in pain and wondering if Star Wars is even worth bothering with anymore.
26/07/2009 at 12:50 Heliocentric says:
I’m going to cryogenicly freeze myself 20 years into the future and play this game on a midrange pc.
So excited for portal 3 when they delve into non linear time.
26/07/2009 at 12:51 Muzman says:
They should give up and just go completely Rosencrantz and Gilderstern Are Dead with these plots. Make the lead hilariously responsible for all the mishaps that befall the main characters (think ‘Concerned : The rise and fall of Gordon Frohmann’) and lead fulfilling and creative lives behind the scenes, only to be killed off for the sake of continuity.
26/07/2009 at 12:57 DMJ says:
Hmm. Lucas Arts is now doing the typical Lucas thing: “Hey everybody! Buy this! It’s awesome!” *wait a while* “Now buy it again in a superior version on this incompatible format!”
26/07/2009 at 12:59 Flint says:
Such oddly negative comments here. I admit I haven’t played it myself but I watched my partner play through the whole thing – finally a game where Force really felt like a powerful, well, force rather than just some sidearm magic with funky Star Wars names tacked on top.
Horribly short game though.
26/07/2009 at 13:10 Vandelay says:
I did think this game looked promising before we were told that they were only making it for consoles (because obviously a 360 is the equivalent to a $4000 PC.) Always been a fan of the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games (even liking Academy,) and this looked to be in a similar mould, although with more outlandish force powers.
I know that the game ultimately ended up being fairly mediocre, but I’m not sure what aspects were underwhelming. Personally, I’m only really interested in being able to kill hundreds of stormtroopers with a lightsaber and to throw them around with the force powers. The story of Star Wars has always been pretty simplistic and that moment of “screaming in pain and wondering if Star Wars is even worth bothering with anymore” that Hunam mentions has long been passed with the prequels. So, as long as the combat is satisfying and makes me feel like an all powerful magic man with some enjoyable fights with other force wielding enemies thrown into the mix to spice things up then I’ll probably be in on this.
What is the multiplayer like? Any JK style of duelling?
26/07/2009 at 13:14 JohnArr says:
Another positive vote here, I loved it and thought the story was one of the few Star Wars games to actually feel like Star Wars, which might be a good or bad thing for you :P
Plus they made a light-side jedi actually look cool.
26/07/2009 at 13:18 Jonas says:
This news arrives the day after I finally caved in and bought the X-Box 360 version. Admittedly at a good discount, but still – extra missions sound interesting. Also a bit crazy – me kill Obi-Wan? I could never do that.
26/07/2009 at 13:28 Xercies says:
Wow only about a year late so nobody cares since ti was a medicure game to begin with…way to go Lucasarts
26/07/2009 at 13:34 Markoff Chaney says:
I think they said it would require a 4000$ machine BECAUSE they were planning an unoptimized port in the future. That way, when complaints start popping up from people that can play GTA 4, Arma 2 and Crysis with hardly any issues they can say “Did you spend 4000$? We told you it would take a 4000$ machine to run this bad boy.” It’s pre-emptive damage control. That and if the game’s shite and underperformed on the non hardware constrained supercomputer like consoles they have to recoup development costs somehow.
26/07/2009 at 13:34 Ging says:
I enjoyed the shit out of the story, which was really well told – the gameplay wasn’t spectacular, but enjoyable enough to get me through the (admittedly short) game.
It looks like this version bundles up the DLC released for the 360 and throws in some extra stuff too (the Hoth mission).
26/07/2009 at 13:46 unclelou says:
Too little, too late, after too much bullshit, and in the busiest season.
Once it hits the bargain bins, maybe.
26/07/2009 at 13:52 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
Cool news and all… but what’s with those nails?
Let’s hope we can mod the game. :)
26/07/2009 at 13:56 jon_hill987 says:
This will sell badly, it is too late so no one cares any more, had they released it at the same time then it might have sold, but Lucasarts are just going to end up blaming the pirates for their own stupid mistake.
The whole business about the $4000 PC was a load of bull as well, a $400 PC is as powerful as an XBox 360 these days.
26/07/2009 at 13:56 Scroggage says:
Silly Lucasarts and their wildly changing views on PC releases.
I wish they’d leave the film era alone completely now and just carried on with better IPs like the Old Republic that haven’t already had a bajillion contradicting games set in them.
Hopefully this will be the last thing they try to push that’s set during the films. I know it won’t be, but we can only hope.
26/07/2009 at 13:58 Jim Rossignol says:
I’m not sure how “too late” applies in this particular instance. Was there a Bad Jedi craze that has now passed?
People who don’t own consoles wouldn’t have had an opportunity to buy this when it came out, and now they have one.
26/07/2009 at 14:01 yutt says:
I played through all of this on the 360. Was a great rental, don’t think I’d purchase it though. The story was excellent, and the boss fights were epic, but the actual gameplay was very hit-and-miss. Some of the levels I felt were very poorly designed, both visually uninspired and needlessly confusing.
I remember nearly quitting the game after my brother and I failed to notice a key progressive step in a lava level. In the end we were trying to solve a puzzle that didn’t exist, but the game seemed to lead in that direction and not the proper.
Anyway. Fun game for Star Wars fan.
26/07/2009 at 14:08 c-Row says:
The people I know who played it on that other Microsoft product all gave positive feedback, and I usually trust their opinion. They are like my offline RPS Wot I Think-ers.
26/07/2009 at 14:13 Dominic White says:
On the 360, it was a decent game overall but the whole thing just felt a little underbaked. Another month or three with Valves playtesting division (watch as the trolls come to object to that) could have turned it from ‘decent’ into ‘great’.
I just hope that they’ve done a little more than just added new levels to the PC build.
26/07/2009 at 14:23 Tei says:
If you have machines X,Y,Z, wen you optimize the game to run faster in X, it will run slower in Y and Z. If a game is optimized in all ways to run fast in X, it will be really slow in Y and Z. So maybe It make some sense that a game that run Ok, in a piece of hardware (XBox360) with only 512 MB RAM and outdated graphic hardware can’t run on a PC with 4 GB and a good 8800 nvidia card (a $400 PC )
Cameron Suey wrote:
“[The] PC being the gaming platform that it is, someone with a $4,000 high-end system would definitely be able to play the Euphoria, the DMM and really technical elements of the game. But someone with a low-end PC would have a watered down experience, they would have to turn all the settings down and it wouldn’t be the same game. On the other hand if we made that game for as many people as possible, because we are trying to make mass market games, something that everybody can enjoy, well then it’s not taking advantage of what those $4,000 systems can do. So one way or the other depending on how you build that lead PC SKU, it’s not going to be for the same amount of people, it’s going to be not as good or only for a select few people.”
The $4000 could be a typo for $400 PC. But I don’t think this person is a tecnical-minded one. The use of the word “SKU” could be a tip that is a bussines one.
26/07/2009 at 14:26 Tei says:
Is that, or the comment was made to make the Xbot users happy “Ooooh!.. I have a $4000 hardware here!”.
26/07/2009 at 14:31 Hermit says:
Had this on the PS3. Its worst crime is that about halfway through it just starts reusing locations – almost identical level layouts and designs with just more enemies poured over the top. That and the dubius plot. And the god damned Star Destroyer bit.
Other than that, it wasn’t bad I suppose.
26/07/2009 at 14:43 JKjoker says:
i hope this is a proper release and not another move from the new milk-the-old-games department of Lucasarts
im still hoping for a Tie Fighter remake ….
26/07/2009 at 14:49 Philip says:
I’ve watched one of my friends play this on the Wii, wasn’t too impressed. Mainly because the lightsabre controls looked uninspiring, but in general it just looked like a long grind of identikit enemies and bosses strung arbitrarily together.
26/07/2009 at 14:50 Azhrarn says:
“Jim said: I’m not sure how “too late” applies in this particular instance. Was there a Bad Jedi craze that has now passed?”
Well in a sense it is too late, they could have had the decency to release it anywhere near the original set, I mean it’s been 6 months or so?
Coupled with the derisive sneering they gave PC gamers when originally asked if the game would be coming to PC, I can certainly see why a “Too little, too late” stance isn’t surprising.
Yes it may be a better version of the original release, but that doesn’t mean that makes up for essentially calling PC gamers whiny idiots when the console version was announced.
26/07/2009 at 14:56 Dominic White says:
@Azhrarn – And PC gamers totally aren’t proving themselves to be whiny idiots with petty grudges in this thread, are they?
26/07/2009 at 15:02 We Fly Spitfires - MMORPG Blog says:
Meh, I’ll hold out for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
26/07/2009 at 15:19 Howard says:
Meh.
More 360 hand-me-downs from a franchise that hasn’t produced a good game in feck knows how long? No thank you.
26/07/2009 at 16:04 Azhrarn says:
Not saying we’re giving a good example here Dominic, but when you’re going to re-release a game 6 months down the line for the only platform you said “piss off” too earlier, you can expect quite a lot of negative sentiment. And rightly so.
26/07/2009 at 16:13 Seth says:
This is great news.
26/07/2009 at 16:28 malkav11 says:
I wouldn’t trust the Wii version to correspond to what you’d be getting on PC. Only the PS3 and 360 got the real full version of the game, previously. And on 360 it’s got some niggling design issues (the targeting is -terrible-. I threw my escortee to his doom several times, on the one escort mission. Fortunately I thought that was hilarious.), but is generally a lot of fun. I mean, if you can remember how much fun it was to wreak havoc with Force powers in, say, Jedi Knight, and then map that onto a game with vastly better graphics (and very awesome level scenery), full physics, and with all of the Force powers turned up to 11….
And yes, this version includes the DLC. There’s some question about whether the Hoth level will be available separately, but other than that, all DLC. Lest you feel special, the PS3 and 360 will also be getting an “Ultimate Sith Edition” rerelease with the same content.
26/07/2009 at 16:31 qrter says:
Six months? It came out september last year.
26/07/2009 at 16:38 Charlie says:
I really hope they add dismemberment. It really felt stupid to me slicing people with a lightsaber and no bits every popped off. Really put me off the game. As someone said though, good story, excellent acting, just sub-par gameplay IMO. Deff worth a playthrough if your a Star Wars fan.
And LOL! I have the same computer I had 2 years ago and I bet it runs this game maxed out. Oh and it was only a 500 quid rig then.
26/07/2009 at 16:38 The Fanciest of Pants says:
I for one approve of this developement.
26/07/2009 at 16:56 jackflash says:
At this point, who cares? Why would I buy something that was released for consoles a year ago to middling reviews?
26/07/2009 at 16:59 leelad says:
The demo on the PS3 was fun until I had to do DDR to chop an AT-RT in half.
If they remove that i’ll consider torrenting it…
26/07/2009 at 17:20 Hunam says:
I’m losing faith in Humanity when people comment on it being a good story, the characters are pretty good and well acted, but the story is nuts
*(Spoilers ahead!)*
You basically go around murdering everyone just because and then you get cheated on again, just because and then you singly handedly take on Darth Vader and the Emperor and kick both their asses before you decide actually killing isn’t so great and then you get killed for not paying attention. Least that’s how the light side pans out.
26/07/2009 at 17:33 IvanHoeHo says:
If this is as bad as the console versions and as un-modable as all other console ports are, then I don’t think they should even bother and save us all some time and money instead.
26/07/2009 at 17:46 Persus-9 says:
@ Jim
I’ll have a stab at this. The problem for LucasArts as I see it is that PC gamers don’t exist in a vacuum. It’s too late because at this point a great many of the PC gamers who’ll hear about this game before just seeing it on shop shelves will also have felt the hype amongst their console brethren last year and their subsequent disappointment when it turned out to be a bit mediocre. If it had been released at the same time as the console versions they could have sold a lot of games on the back of the massive hype machine that they had running at that time where as now no matter how good it is they’re going to find it very hard to get any kind of excitement built up for this game.
Even as rational individuals we can have our expectations for this game lowered by the mediocre reception that the console version got and I wouldn’t be surprised if the herd turns out to be far less forgiving than any rational individual.
Of course as rational individuals we should also be happy that we didn’t get the opportunity to get caught up in the excitement and shell out £30 to discover that our version of this game didn’t live up to the hype and if it turns out that the PC version is the best then we can thank the console gamers for participating in such a massive paid beta.
26/07/2009 at 18:26 lumpi says:
People, you better don’t complain!
It’s so uncool. Be happy about getting a mediocre game, a year late, after months of being ridiculed about your platform of choice being basically a purposeless, near-extinct mammoth that isn’t worth being developed for.
Now, dance, mofos, dance and cheer like there is no tomorrow!
26/07/2009 at 18:27 Baris says:
@Tei: Can you please explain to me what the hell Xbot actually means? Is it implying the machine is some sort of robot? That the players have such great skills their opponents think they’re robots?
26/07/2009 at 18:29 Klaus says:
Hmm, I didn’t like the ps2 version, perhaps the newer console versions were better. This is one of the few games where I felt I was burned by the hype. The story was so-so, somethings I liked, other things were bleh. Especially my ‘girlfriend’, Juno.
@leelad
No love for quicktime events? It’s the only reason Marek gets to look cool.
26/07/2009 at 18:30 Pantsman says:
He goes and kills Obi-Wan, then he comes back and kills the Emperor in single combat and becomes the new emperor. Then he uses his AWESOME FORCE POWERS to build like a million death stars and take over the entire universe because he’s just SO COOL!
26/07/2009 at 19:37 suibhne says:
Not a great game, really. Lightsaber combat in this game is a mere shadow of that in Jedi Knight or Jedi Academy, and level design compares even less well. I can only hope that Lucasarts chose to back the port as a strategic longer-term investment in future PC development.
26/07/2009 at 19:54 Sunjammer says:
on the 360 the game had serious targeting issues, which i think mouse control can mend. No control updates can fix the shitty ass lightsaber combat (light-baton more like. Bop bop!) or the bizarre reliance on quicktime events for every single boss fight.
26/07/2009 at 20:12 Weylund says:
@Hunam: That spoilered story sounds freaking awesome, from a “running around and killing guys” point of view. I’m in!
Speaking as somebody who (on occasion) writes very long stories that publishers look at, there are different kinds of story. Sometimes, there’s E. Annie Proulx. On the other hand, there’s Chuck Kinder. Sometimes you write affecting stories that make a whole lot of sense, and sometimes you just chuck around and tell tall tales and generally have fun with your characters. The latter is just fine by me.
26/07/2009 at 20:20 Solario says:
@ Muzman: “They should give up and just go completely Rosencrantz and Gilderstern Are Dead with these plots. Make the lead hilariously responsible for all the mishaps that befall the main characters (think ‘Concerned : The rise and fall of Gordon Frohmann’) and lead fulfilling and creative lives behind the scenes, only to be killed off for the sake of continuity.”
They actually did that in the comics. Tag and Bink. As far as I remember, it was surprisingly good.
26/07/2009 at 21:17 Dominic White says:
On the subject of the lightsaber not hitting as hard as people would have liked, I think it’s because they actively wanted to move in a new direction with this game. Almost every Star Wars game to date has been largely about running up to someone, hitting them once with the lightsaber and you win instantly.
Force Unleashed was definitely less about the saber, and more about – y’know – the Force. THAT became your all-purpose deathdealer, and your lightsaber got downgraded to being your close combat backup weapon.
It may not be SW universe canon, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t fun to swing it more than once per fight.
Anyway, why’d you want to stab a guy when you can pick him up and throw him into the flight path of a passing starfighter, causing both of them to explode spectacularly.
26/07/2009 at 21:22 Weylund says:
I dunno, Dom, the wild insanity of the lightsaber battles in Jedi Academy (and by extension, JK2) was pretty damned amazing. Even the one-hit kills were gratifying. That might just be my particular bent, though.
26/07/2009 at 21:41 Tei says:
@Baris: Sorry, It was a typo error or a freudian slip, but It was absolutelly not intended.
26/07/2009 at 22:10 pilouuuu says:
I like Lucasarts new administration. Maybe now they decided to hire good programmers, so there’s no need to have a $4000 system to run the game.
Really, whoever made that stupid affirmation should be fired or at least be forced to see The Phantom Menace for 24 hours nonstop.
Hopefully the next news from Lucasarts are a Monkey Island 2 remake.
26/07/2009 at 22:10 Hulk Hogan says:
The Hulkster agrees with this trend of releasing polished versions of console exclusives on the PC.
26/07/2009 at 22:17 Psychopomp says:
Wasn’t this game shit, though?
26/07/2009 at 23:31 Hulk Hogan says:
I don’t know, was it?
26/07/2009 at 23:34 Phil H says:
Quite enjoyed the game on my PS3, though the levels could have definitely used some work (and I’ll second the GODDAMNED Star Destroyer), but all in all, I’m glad I bought it. Abusing the telekinesis is what really made it worthwhile, from putting people in the way of TIE Fighters or huge lasers, flinging them into the abyss, or even just letting them float there while they occasionally try to shoot you and then spin around from the recoil- it never got old.
This potential of the Ultimate Sith Edition having the exclusive lock on the Hoth level irritates me though, as Hoth is my favorite part of the entire Star Wars canon and I don’t want to buy the whole game again for the privilege of playing it.
26/07/2009 at 23:39 Bhazor says:
What on earth are you lot talking about?
This game got 70+% on Metacritic on the next gen systems.
AC runs great on my mid range three year old rig.
What bad Lucas ports?
Please, please, please don’t turn this blog into a “Dirty Consoletards” site.
26/07/2009 at 23:42 Nick says:
It won’t, but the game is pretty awful.
27/07/2009 at 01:00 Baris says:
@Tei: Damn, sorry about that. I’d been reading some Kotaku comments earlier and it was getting on my nerves…
27/07/2009 at 01:23 subedii says:
@ Bhazor: The “dirty console-tards” remarks are daft. However, LucasArts effectively not only ditched the PC version because of piracy, they then said that wasn’t the reason honest and instead talked about how you would need a $4000 PC in order to play it, which you know, was obviously better.
You have no idea how much “PC gaming is dead
OLOL” crap this spawned.
So to recap, the port’s coming out on the PC a year after release on every other platform (including the PS2 and iPhone) when anyone who wanted it already has it. It was also a game with middling and mediocre reviews, it’s completely missed the critical advertising / hype phase (which is crucial for any game, it’s one of the main reasons the PC release of Dragon Age is being held back for the console versions, for a combined advertising campaign), and it’s also releasing during the busy part of the year when all the really major hitters are coming out.
I can’t see how this isn’t too late. The game’s going to sell poorly, there’s little other way of looking at it. About the biggest saving grace it has is that it’s from the Star Wars franchise.
All you need then is a LucasArts exec to comment about how bad the sales were on the port, make an offhand comment about how it’s solely to do with piracy levels, and then the entire freaking cycle has started all over again. Freaking joy.
Unnecessarily cynical? Undoubtedly. But it wouldn’t exactly be a shocker if it played out that way. I’m certain even you’ve seen plenty of this stuff as well, I suspect you wouldn’t be surprised either.
27/07/2009 at 01:33 tmp says:
71-73 to be more precise. Which they translate as “mixed or average reviews”. With user score being even lower, 6.2-6.4.
No need to pretend this elephant ain’t in the room; TFU turned out to be a mediocre game, so hardly worth excitement it’s getting a PC port now.
27/07/2009 at 02:47 Persus-9 says:
@ subedii: “everyone who wants it already has it” I’m sure that isn’t true and that’s one way in which it isn’t too late and never could be. Thing is not everyone can afford to own a console, not every gamer has anything but a PC. I know I didn’t when I was growing up, I wanted a console because I wanted those console exclusives but a console cost more than I got given in presents for a whole year so I never got one. I did however have a PC because my parents could see the educational value of it. I can’t imagine there aren’t people in similar positions today and some of those people will be huge Star Wars fans who have been dying to play The Force Unleashed and for those people it won’t be too late, far from it, for those few this will be some of the best news they’ve had all year. In some ways I kind of envy them that.
27/07/2009 at 06:25 pilouuuu says:
I agree with Persus-9. Why would I buy a machine just for playing when I can have a better, more powerful machine for playing, writing, listening to music, surf the web, watching movies, doing graphic design, etc, etc, etc? PCs maybe more expensive, but I think they give you more for what you pay.
Consoles are just a trend and they will pass vey soon. PC won’t. So I wouldn’t buy a console just for a game. So, no I haven’t played TFU yet, but I’m not sure if will, if only to give a message to developers to never do something as stupid as Lucasarts made here (The $4.000 PC crap).
I want to think that they will bring TFU to PC now, just because of the new administration and their new love to PC and adventure games. If that’s the case then there’s some chance I could buy this game.
Anyway I would play it more for the story which I think is rather good, more than for the gameplay.
27/07/2009 at 08:56 The Sombrero Kid says:
A shame no one wants this game, porting this tripe to the pc so long after release can’t and undoubtedly wont be encouraged.
27/07/2009 at 09:22 subedii says:
Persus 9: I don’t mean that in the absolute and most literal sense Persus, and your taking it as such misses the point.
If you want an explanation, then it’s pretty evident that from those that wanted the title, most will have already gotten it on the platform it was already available on. That’s a huge chunk of sales that the PC platform will never see right off the bat, outside of an extremely hardcore few who’ll buy it twice just for the Sith edition.
The statement isn’t about how everyone has a console. Not literally everyone does. It doesn’t change the fact that most gamers do (at least in the US / UK region). For them it wasn’t a question of choosing the PC version over the console version, that choice was already forced when the game was released and wasn’t available on what might have been the preferred platform, just one they had access to. Heck, it’s still questionable about getting TFU on PC instead of on console right now, the console version’s selling second-hand for about £10.
Then you’ve got people like Pilouuuu, who leaving all other factors aside, feel slighted over how obtuse LucasArts was over the whole thing to begin with.
All of these are factors that add, and none of them point towards good sales, or at least not nearly as good as the game could have had. Like I said, the biggest thing it has in its favour is that it’s from the Star Wars franchise. But the hype has past, the reviews weren’t excellent, the advertising isn’t there to make people aware, MOST (is that sufficient?) people who had a console and wanted the game will have already bought it, and it’s releasing when other, new AAA titles are coming out at the same pricepoint (ignoring the fact that it’s already cheaper on the consoles if you stop by any CEX or Gamestation).
So now where at this stage. Deny all existence of a PC version for fear that piracy will eat into your sales (whilst simultaneously making crap comments about the platform, even by most standards that’s pretty stupid). Then release it after the main sales period has passed, and get mediocre sales because of that. Rinse-repeat.
The game isn’t coming out too late for anyone who only had a PC and is wanting the game, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying it’s coming out too late for Lucasarts, it’s too late to make the money they could have on it, and quite likely, any decent money at all.
After which, we go into my own personal sphere of cynicism, where Lucasarts loudly announces how badly the port sold, announces it’s all pirates anyway, kicks over the pram and takes their toys home with them. This is not to downplay the effects of piracy (or turn this into one of those discussions), but when a product fails on the platform, it’s almost never attributed to one of the myriad other stupid decisions they made along the way, and is instead solely pinned on everyone owning a PC also being in ownership of a looted naval vessel and peg-leg.
27/07/2009 at 10:38 rocketman71 says:
Ridiculous. Like the rest of LucasArts.
27/07/2009 at 10:52 oceanclub says:
Bizarre. It’s like they’re actively trying to insult our intelligence.
As someone has said, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy; because of piracy worries, bring out a mediocre game months after anyone has stopping caring about it, while making it obvious that you previously lied to the target audience about the reason for delaying it. See the game torrented by hoarders who simply want to add it to the collection, while most people’s reaction is “meh”. Then, rather than try to attribute any self-blame to your sales and marketing strategy, which, remember, involved not just lying but dumb lying (that is, lying that is eventually 100% certain to be found out) use the external excuse of piracy and carry on as normal.
P.
27/07/2009 at 11:03 Heliocentric says:
Lucas arts allowed Republic Commando to exist, that is the only smart thing they did in the last 10 years until the steam releases.
27/07/2009 at 11:27 Skinlo says:
I only have a PC, and at the time I was looking foward to this game, before I heard it wasn’t coming out on PC. Now, I don’t really care ,especially with the things they said about it.
27/07/2009 at 12:36 Hmm-Hmm. says:
Silly, silly Lucasarts. I wonder how much more sales they could’ve made if they’d released both at (about) the same time. Now, especially given the (not-so-positive) news on the game, a lot of people may not even bother to get it at a discount.
27/07/2009 at 12:37 The Sombrero Kid says:
@Skinlo
you said it man, they might of been able to dupe me out of a sale a year ago, but now i know it’s a steaming turd.
27/07/2009 at 12:38 The Sombrero Kid says:
the sith edition isn’t exclusive to the pc btw
27/07/2009 at 14:23 -Spooky- says:
*sw fanboi need*
27/07/2009 at 18:43 edosan says:
Predition:
1) There will be little to no advertising for the game, so casual gamers won’t know it even exists on the PC.
2) Harcore gamers who would buy it either: already played it on another console, heard the reviews said it was okay but not great, or just can’t be bothered because there have been a lot of better, more current games out there to play in the past year or so.
3) Citing bad sales, Lucasarts representativeswill blame it all on rampant piracy. Then they will feel justified as they knock off work early to take naps on their giant piles of money.
27/07/2009 at 19:11 Acosta says:
It´s a fun game, not particularly brilliant in any way but fun in a “throwing-stormtroopers-around”. Don’t expect a Jedi Outcast type of game, it´s more a Beat’em Up with a very cool physic engine and overpowered use of the Force.
27/07/2009 at 20:28 pilouuuu says:
@ subedii. I pretty much agree with all you said.
I (want to) think that this sudden change is due to Lucasarts new administration and their new love with PCs. The game will probably sell quite badly due to all fact you mentioned. But they would disappoint me (once again) if they start boycotting the PC again and blame piracy due to that. They should have all those factors in consideration. They could simply have said “we sold a lot of units on consoles. Let’s make some extra money on the PC”, but without big hopes of it being a best seller.
What I’m more worried about is the sales of The Secret of Monkey Island SE, so Lucasarts sees that there’s still a market ofr adventure games and for GOOD games that are not based on the Star Wars franchise.
27/07/2009 at 20:29 Fumarole says:
“i hope this is a proper release and not another move from the new milk-the-old-games department of Lucasarts
im still hoping for a Tie Fighter remake ….”
Wow, you managed to negate your initial comment with the very next sentence you typed, congratulations.
Sigh. Do people even read what they type anymore?
27/07/2009 at 21:19 pilouuuu says:
@ Fumarole
lol Lucasarts are definitely confusing gamers with their announcements and the subsequent expectation created. Maybe they are using jedi mind tricks on all us.
Just give us Monkey Island 2 and I’ll be happy, dammit!
28/07/2009 at 01:14 Tei says:
I have see some videos. It looks like a really boring game.
What is wrong with these guys? I *hard* to make a bad Star Wars game.
28/07/2009 at 23:59 Bhazor says:
Ok , new rule, no commenting about quality unless you’ve played it. I haven’t, so I won’t but christ some of you are taking it personal.
31/07/2009 at 02:50 Buzzkiel says:
Meh.
31/07/2009 at 23:29 Wooly says:
unclelou says:
Too little, too late, after too much bullshit, and in the busiest season.
Once it hits the bargain bins, maybe.
jon_hill987 says:
This will sell badly, it is too late so no one cares any more, had they released it at the same time then it might have sold, but Lucasarts are just going to end up blaming the pirates for their own stupid mistake.
The whole business about the $4000 PC was a load of bull as well, a $400 PC is as powerful as an XBox 360 these days.
Pretty much sums up my feelings.
03/08/2009 at 02:18 redrain85 says:
I read that supposedly Aspyr will be porting the game to the PC and Mac. Unfortunately, Aspyr doesn’t have a very good track record when it comes to porting games.
Still, so much for the “you need a $4,000 PC” lies from LucasArts last year. I hope the producer who said that was eventually reprimanded for making such an blatantly false, idiotic comment.
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