LucasArts President Paul Meegan has apparently responded to Haden Blackman’s departure by hiring Clint Hocking, a former designer for Ubisoft. IGN once again has the scoop and reports Mr. Hocking will work on an unannounced project.
Char Ell
LucasArts Hires New Designer
By Char Ell at 8:26pm on August 6th, 2010 | Comment
Haden Blackman Leaves LucasArts
By Char Ell at 9:06pm on July 30th, 2010 | Comment
As reported by IGN, writer and producer Haden Blackman has resigned his position at LucasArts. Most recently known for his work on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and its upcoming sequel, Mr. Blackman’s time at LucasArts was spent working solely on the Star Wars franchise and will also likely be remembered for his work as a producer on the Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG. According to the IGN report, Mr. Blackman worked at LucasArts for 13 years and IMDB credits him with working on games as far back as 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. In a statement provided to IGN, the Steward of the Secret Apprentice is quoted as saying, “While the decision to leave LucasArts did not happen overnight or come easily, I really feel that now is the best time for me to move on and explore new creative challenges and I look forward to the next phase of my career.” It remains to be seen how recently named LucasArts President Paul Meegan will react to the veteran Mr. Blackman’s departure.
Yet Another LucasArts President Departs
By Char Ell at 9:38pm on May 7th, 2010 | Comment
Kotaku brings word that LucasArts President Darrell Rodriguez has resigned after 25 months on the job. Mr. Rodriguez’s tenure will likely be remembered for the return of LucasArts’ point-and-click adventure games, both old (Monkey Island) and new (Lucidity), the commercial if not critical success of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and the release of several of the publisher’s back catalog of PC games on Steam. Some may also recall that the PS 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings as well as the unannounced Star Wars Battlefront 3 were canceled during his time at the LucasArts’ helm. Kotaku also mentions that Lucasfilm board member Jerry Bowerman will handle day-to-day management of LucasArts until a replacement for Mr. Rodriguez is found.
PC system requirements for Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition
By Char Ell at 4:45am on October 14th, 2009 | 8 Comments
Aspyr has posted the system requirements for the PC version of the upcoming Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition including what amounts to a warning about DRM. Apparently set for an October 23 release, TFU:USE for PC has minimum requirements of
- Operating System: Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2. Windows 7
- CPU Processor: 2.4 GHz Dual Core Processor (Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2)
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Hard Disk Space: 23.8 GB + 1 GB Swap File
- Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
- Video Card: 3D Hardware Accelerator Card Required – 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 256 MB Video Memory with Shader 3.0 support
- Video Card (ATI): Radeon HD 2900
- Video Card (Nvidia): Geforce 8800
The Return of the Jedi Knights
By Char Ell at 7:14am on September 12th, 2009 | 1 Comment
LucasArts have announced via their Twitter page that all Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games will be made available on Steam and Direct2Drive on September 16. Sounds like all should be interpreted as four games: Star Wars Dark Forces, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II and the Mysteries of the Sith expansion, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. No word on pricing but looking at how LucasArts has priced titles on Steam thus far it should be reasonable to expect none of these JK games to cost more than USD$10 dollars.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Goes All Digital
By Char Ell at 8:01pm on September 5th, 2009 | 3 Comments
Moving forward with their announced plans to release more of their back catalog of PC games to online distribution systems, LucasArts has now made the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic available for purchase on Direct2Drive and Steam. So if you haven’t yet had the opportunity to play the first Star Wars computer RPG or your original KOTOR discs were lost/stolen/scratched beyond repair/eaten by your pet kath hound then all you need is about $10 dollars and the 2003 RPG of the year is yours for the playing.
Rumor: SOE working on new Star Wars MMORPG
By Char Ell at 7:31pm on September 5th, 2009 | Comment
Ready for another Star Wars MMO? Ten Ton Hammer reports that Sony Online and LucasArts are working on a new Star Wars MMORPG set in the Clone Wars era. While not officially confirmed the MMO may have its sights set on the casual gamer market and use the browser-based Free Realms engine. If this rumor turns out to be true the future of Star Wars Galaxies may be even bleaker now than it already was with just The Old Republic breathing down SWG’s neck.
LucasArts joins the blogosphere
By Char Ell at 9:42pm on September 3rd, 2009 | 2 Comments
Well what do you know? LucasArts have officially launched an official blog. Officially that is. Did I mention that this was an official blog? Titled “The Workshop,” LucasArts representative Jedi Mudkip advises LucasArts fans that The Workshop will be the place to get more in-depth coverage of the goings on at The Presidio in San Francisco. Having launched Twitter and Facebook accounts for LucasArts earlier this year, Mister Jedi Mudkip really seems to be propelling LucasArts onto the social networking stage. We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes peeled for any juicy tidbits from The Workshop.
Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes demo released on Xbox Live
By Char Ell at 8:49pm on September 3rd, 2009 | Comment
A demo for the Xbox 360 version of LucasArts upcoming game Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes was released today. Any PS3 gamers wondering why they’re not getting any Republic Heroes demo love needn’t worry. According to LucasArts’ Twitter account a demo of the PS3 version of the game should be available next week sometime. Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes is scheduled to be released for PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PSP, and PC on 2009 October 6.
Are you one of those who feels Republic Heroes is pretty much targeting a fairly young age range with this game? If so then you should check out the recent interview bitmob had with Republic Heroes assistant producer Xavier Rodriguez and see what LucasArts has to say on that subject.
PC getting more LEGO Star Wars love?
By Char Ell at 10:02pm on August 20th, 2009 | 2 Comments
Is LucasArts about to dish out some more love to PC gamers? Amazon has listed LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga for Windows XP and Windows Vista for pre-order with a release date of 2009 October 13. Originally released in 2007 November for console and handheld platforms, PC missed out on the complete LEGO Star Wars experience. If Amazon’s listing is right though then PC gamers will at long last get an opportunity to play through all six episodes of LEGO Star Wars.
