the-force-unleashed posts (Subscribe to this feed)

The Force Unleashed spread thin sells 5.7m units

by Alexander Sliwinski { Feb 11th 2009 at 3:27PM }

The Force Unleashed may have sold 5.7 million units worldwide, but let's take a look at the substance of that figure. Gamasutra notes that the global total is made up of all the various platforms the title was available on. The list includes all major consoles, handhelds, iPod Touch, iPhone, N-Gage (for realz?!) and other mobile devices.

Despite the varying quality of Force Unleashed on all platforms, the competent next-gen offerings were a hit right out of the space hanger. Although the gameplay may not have been stellar, the story certainly captured people's attention, as the title went on to recently win a Writers Guild award for game writing.

Force Unleashed grips Writers Guild video game award

by Alexander Sliwinski { Feb 9th 2009 at 12:58PM }

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has been awarded the second annual video game writing award by The Writers Guild of America. The title bested Fallout 3, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 and Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! Before complaining about your favorite game not even being nominated, it's worth noting that the award is only open to WGA members.

Congratulations to Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey on the award. They crafted a fine story that fit into the Star Wars universe and arguably bested any of the "prequels."

Cue the groaning: Writers Guild announces video game nominations

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jan 13th 2009 at 2:24PM }

The Writers Guild of America has announced five nominees for best video game writing in 2008. This will be the Guild's second year giving out the award, with last year's nod going to Dead Head Fred. Hmm, well, this year's nominees are certainly an interesting group and are sure to generate some conversation about what constitutes good writing in a game ... provided said game was written by an eligible WGA member, that is.

Although most of those titles are instantly recognizable, Dangerous High School Girls is an indie title that's (clearly) gaining some recognition. Are you betting on the dark horse? The winner will be announced Feb. 7.

[Via Big Download]

Target puts select titles on sale

by David Hinkle { Dec 26th 2008 at 4:35PM }

Target is having a sale where key Wii titles will be discounted. As you can see above, qualifying titles include Shaun White Snowboarding, Animal Crossing: City Folk, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. If you didn't get check any of these titles out, but wanted to, now might be the time to head on over to your local Target store. Also, we're not sure if the sale price on Madden 09 applies to just the Xbox 360 version, or all versions of the game, so keep that in mind if you're thinking about throwing the virtual pigskin around.

New DLC Roundup: Force Unleashed, V8 and GRID

by Dustin Burg { Dec 4th 2008 at 9:45AM }

Brand spanking new downloadable content for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, GRID and Vigilante 8: Arcade is now available via the Xbox Live Marketplace and is patiently awaiting your purchasing download. That is, if DLC was actually capable of patiently waiting ...

The new DLC includes seven additional characters for The Force Unleashed as well as a new single player mission, eight additional cars for GRID and a few extra rides / maps for Vigilante 8. Click the links below to get today's DLC deets.

The Force Unleashed Character Pack 2 - 400
The Force Unleashed Jedi Temple Mission Pack - 800
GRID 8-Ball Pack - 800
Vigilante 8: Arcade High Octane Pack - 320

Madden tramples Wii Fit in Q3 global sales

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 10th 2008 at 2:00PM }

The Top Global Markets sales data from NPD, Chart-Track and Enterbrain (via GameDaily) reveals that Madden NFL 09 blitzed the global charts to become the best selling game in the third quarter of '08 (that's July to September). Trailing Madden were Wii Fit and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Also, showing that the franchise still has some Pikachu-charged power behind it, Pokémon Platinum battled in fourth place with 1.4 million units sold, despite being only available in Japan. Mario Kart Wii rounded out the top five.

Certainly the most interesting question about the sales figures is: Where would Wii Fit be if it was actually meeting demand? Madden's sales were (obviously) US heavy, while Wii Fit had a regional sales spread based on Wii's install base. Find the full sales figures after the break.

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Deals: iTunes music with Fable 2, $45 games and more

by Dustin Burg { Oct 19th 2008 at 2:15PM }

It's Sunday and that means we've already sifted through retailers' ads and found the best Xbox 360 gaming deals. Why? Because we want to save you cash and because it counts towards our government mandated community service hours. Let's get to it ...

This week, Best Buy is giving away a free drum shade with purchase of Rock Band 2 bundle and Target is selling NBA Live 09 and SoulCalibur IV for $55. Over at Circuit City, they're giving out free $15 iTunes gift cards with purchase of Fable 2 (LE), a free strategy guide with Far Cry 2, a free t-shirt with the Rock Band 2 bundle and a $10 gift card with Midnight Club: LA. Circuit City is also selling GTAIV, Mercenaries 2, The Force Unleashed and Madden 09 for $45. Have fun shopping.

Zero Punctuation force chokes The Force Unleashed

by Chris Greenhough { Oct 8th 2008 at 8:08PM }

It's been a while since master of misanthropy Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw was featured on these pages, but now he's back, in full sneering mode, with a scathing review of the colossally popular Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Like many of us, Yahtzee hoped the Wii's motion-sensing capabilities would open the door to a whole new galaxy of light saber swish-a-thons that worked, only to be disappointed.

His ire is eventually directed towards the "temperamental" Wii Remote, which he describes as "like playing any other console but with all the buttons randomly reassigned every couple of seconds." Ouch. Bound past the jump for the full, NSFW review.

Gallery: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

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Force Unleashed getting Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan skins, new missions

by Xav de Matos { Sep 30th 2008 at 12:30PM }

Star Wars is popular for the multitude of memorable characters yet every decent Star Wars game is based on completely different people within the universe. Sure, The Force Unleashed main character Starkiller is cool but wouldn't it be fun to go all "Force crazy" as Luke Skywalker or Obi-Wan? LucasArts agrees and has announced plans via news release to add new character skins for the main character which will allow gamers to play as Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan, Ki-Adi-Mundi and Kit Fisto.

LucasArts also announced plans to release a new mission in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where the Apprentice will learn more about his father and battle his inner demons while navigating through the rubble of a destroyed building.

No amount of Jedi Mind Tricks were able to extract the pricing or release details from our contacts at LucasArts. The Force is strong with them. For another image of the re-skinned Apprentice do as the Xbox ads say, jump in.

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The Force Unleashed getting Luke, Obi-Wan costumes, new missions

by Justin McElroy { Sep 30th 2008 at 11:25AM }

Though it's fun unleashing the Force, wouldn't it be better if you could unleash the Force while pretending you're a good Jedi that has completely lost his mind? The people at LucasArts seem to think so: They'll be releasing new costumes for The Force Unleashed's single-player campaign this fall, including Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Kit Fisto. We've put an "in-game" picture of Fisto after the break, but he looks more like he's been pasted in from the cover of a Star Wars novel.

And later this year, look for a new mission in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where the Apprentice will "learn more about his father, and while searching through the rubble of the destroyed building he must confront his inner demons."

Neither the price nor specific dates for either of the DLC packs has yet been unlea-- err, revealed. We'll keep you posted.

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The Force Unleashed sells 1.5 million copies in its first week

by David Hinkle { Sep 24th 2008 at 7:07PM }

It looks like we should've taken those book sales as an indication of how hungry Star Wars fans were for something new. The latest game to bear the Star Wars name, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, has managed to sell a whopping 1.5 million copies in its first 5 days on shelves. The Force is strong with ... uh, yeah. Sorry.

Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts, didn't expect such high numbers, apparently. "We're blown away by the response to the game." So, how many of you picked up the game? Did it blow you away or have you found it to be sub-par?

Gallery: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Wii)

Force Unleashed sells 1.5 million units in a week

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 23rd 2008 at 7:00PM }

Sure, many ~~Bothans~~ developers lost their ~~lives~~ jobs, but The Force Unleashed has gone on to sell 1.5 million units worldwide in less than a week, making it the fastest-selling Star Wars game of all time. The figures are based on the first five days of sales across all platforms the game is available on. LucasArts states it shipped more than 4.3 million copies of the game globally, but the demand now requires more units to be manufactured.

Although reviews of the game have been fairly mixed, strong initial sales seem to have been foretold by the game's record-setting demo downloads and, uh, book sales.

FutureShop: Force Unleashed, Gears free with Xbox 360

by Xav de Matos { Sep 21st 2008 at 12:30PM }

Canadian retailer FutureShop has bundled a pair of titles, valued at $99, with every purchase of an Arcade or 60GB Xbox 360 console. For a limited time Gears of War and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be included with each console purchase. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the key title included in this bundle as it has just been released and is receiving mostly positive buzz.

Buyers note that the version of Gears of War included in the bundle appears to be the original version and not the recently released special edition which includes new multiplayer maps among other treats.

DS releases for the week of September 15th

by Alisha Karabinus { Sep 15th 2008 at 2:00PM }

This week, a pile of games are overwhelming DS shelves, but the real star is Jackass: The Game. Oh yes, Europe. It's your turn. Don't even try and say that we never gave you anything, because after this week, it's patently untrue.

Animal Paradise
Bratz Ponyz 2
Di-Gata Defenders
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition
Igor
Line Rider 2 Unbound
My Secret World by Imagine
Red Bull BC One
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Unsolved Crimes

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Worldwide PS3 releases for the week of September 14th

by Jem Alexander { Sep 14th 2008 at 6:00PM }

This week the Force unleashes worldwide whilst Americans get their hands on off-road racer, Pure. Europeans can enjoy recording TV onto their PS3 hard discs (while playing games, no less) and the Japanese finally get their hands on Eternal Sonata (though they choose to call if Trusty Bell, and why not?) Here's the full release list:

US Games

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
[Get a free $20 gift card at Toys R Us stores; Get a free $5 gift card at Circuit City]
Armored Core: For Answer
Pure

EU Games

Asian Games

Don't forget, release dates are constantly subject to change, so check with your local retailer if you need any of the above information confirmed. We're now only a month away from one of our most anticipated titles of the year -- Dead Space starts the holiday season off on October 14th and after that it's a terrifyingly expensive avalanche of titles until years end.