A long time ago, in a world of video games far, far away, Star Wars games were awesome. Whether LucasArts was was producing excellent space combat sims like X-Wing and its sequel or solid first-person shooters like Dark Forces, LucasArts could apparently do no wrong.

Then…everything sucked.

Some of this can be attributed to LucasArts farming out games to 3rd-party developers. Some of this is a total lack of quality control (remember Rebellion? Ooopha). Some if it can be related to a lack of focus and mismanagement. However you want to slice it, Star Wars games are a ghost of their former glory.

Is there hope for the future? Well, Bioware making an MMO is a great first step as Bioware is one of the few 3rd-party developers to “get” Star Wars.

For further illumination on the issues involved in developing a Stars Wars games, Developer magazine visited LucasArts and spoke with the people in charge.

“Rather than being timid in anyway, very early on we really shot for the moon and then let those in charge tell us what we can’t do,” says producer Cameron Suey, who is part of the group expanding The Force Unleashed with new DLC and a special Sith Edition release.

“We went for everything we could think of and said ‘pull us back’, which I think was a huge advantage for the development of The Force Unleashed, because thematically it was all about things gamers have never seen before. We actually started with pre-visualisation animations, and took that straight to licensing and to George and asked if we could go with what we had. It was actually surprising they said yes, because we really had gone big with Force Powers and such. However, we’d followed the concept of the big Force Powers shown in the original 2D Clone Wars TV series. What we were doing wasn’t completely unprecedented, and it was probably respect to other new elements of the canon that had helped us so much.”

It’s a process that the licensing department seems open to, and the spirit of daring to push what the Star Wars universe can play host to is by no means exclusive to the Force Unleashed team.

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A ruling has finally been rendered in the legal battle between LucasFilm and a prop designer in England who sells replicas of Star Wars costumes. The Force was not strong with LucasFilm:

A spokesman for Lucasfilm told the newspaper: “This ruling deals a significant blow to the copyright protection afforded not only to Star Wars but to every other great success of the cinematic arts, from Harry Potter to Dr Who and beyond.”

Mark Owen, from law firm Harbottle and Lewis, which acted for Lucasfilm said: “To say that you cannot retain copyright unless the object in question is by a renowned artist just seems wrong. Why should people be able to copy something?

The ruling is the latest twist in the legal battle which has been running since 2004 when Lucasfilm – which owns the Star Wars brand – first discovered Mr Ainsworth was selling the replica outfits.

The designer, from Twickenham, south-west London, was paid £35 each for making the 50 Stormtrooper helmets for Star Wars in 1976.

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Love you some John Williams Star Wars tunes? Find yourself humming the Imperial March in the shower? Then you’re the type of person who may be interested in Star Wars: In Concert, which kicks of a North American tour this October. The event will feature a live symphony orchestra, massive screens, clips from the movies and even an exhibit of props.

From Reuters:

“We’ve taken the key themes from the music and cut together all the images that fit with each theme, so you can really get a sense of how the music played into the images,” Lucas said in a statement.

“The whole soundtrack is a testament to John Williams’ creativity and his extraordinary ability to enhance the emotional aspects of the films,” he said.

Anthony Daniels, the actor who portrayed robot C-3PO in the movies, will narrate the event live. The 2 to 2-1/2 hour show will include some original film montages created by editors at Lucasfilm, and an exhibit accompanying the concert will include the full costumes for Jedi masters Kit Fisto and Plo Koon as well as new and old props from the six movies.

The tour will start in Anaheim, California on Oct 1 and play about 40 dates in the United States and Canada before the end of 2009.

Tickets go on sale August 1st.

There are a ton of books available that proclaim to offer the inside story of George Lucas and his company LucasFilm, but none are better than Droidmaker, written by Michael Rubin. This mammoth 518-page tome details the creation of Pixar, LucasFilm’s CGI revolution, the creation of its videogame empire and tons of technical aspects that make for fascinating reading.

All of this is now available for free, as the author has decided to unleash his work for one and all.

More details at can be found here.

Download the book here:

Act 1: Intro plus Chapters 1-6 [1.8MB]
Act 2: Chapters 7-17 [3.7MB]
Act 3: Chapters 18-26, Index [4.3MB]