Joystiq has posted a video from Gametrailers of an easter egg in The Force Unleashed Demo. It looks like we know what happened to RC-1138. The video has been posted below for your viewing pleasure.

Source: Joystiq

Kotaku got a chance to sit down The Force Unleashed at this year’s E3 and has a great write-up of their impressions. A few highlights to whet your appetite:

Between the LucasArts presentation of the game and my brief hands-on, I walked away feeling confident that this could not only be one of the most exciting Star Wars video games of all time, it could very well provide moments more epic than anything we saw in the three prequel films.

And even better:

He [The SA] walks into a room filled with Rebels and Imperials, and everybody dies. He’s a secret, you see? You see him, you’ve pretty much signed your death warrant. His is, for all intents and purposes, a Force ninja.

Head on over to read the full preview.

 The Un-named LucasArts and Bioware game has been labled as a KOTOR MMO by Bioware parent company EA. From Joystiq:

Portfolio.com just published a short excerpt of its interview with EA boss John Riccitiello who tells the site that it’s “got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development” including “the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about — in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare.” One doesn’t need to connect too many dots to arrive at the conclusion that BioWare is returning to the Star Wars universe with a Knights of the Old Republic MMO.

Of course, this product has been rumored for … well, for a long time. Separately confirming a BioWare / LucasArts collaboration and a BioWare MMO project lead to certain obvious conclusions and countless other rumors and leaks seemed to do everything but confirm (and some denied) the project’s existence. Though it would appear Riccitiello wasn’t quite ready to put a name on that project – it’s Portfolio.com connecting those dots – by referencing that this is the game that “people are dying for us to talk to them about” he clearly seems to be pointing to KOTOR.

[Update: We've just spoken with N. Evan Van Zelfden, the writer of the report, who told us that when asked specifically if this game was "KOTOR Online", Riccitiello responded unequivocally, "Yes." So, there you have it – sounds like we can take off our skeptical glasses.]

And there you have it. It’s far from official (as there has been no annoucnement from LucasArts or Bioware) but I think we can bet it’s coming. Chances are also good that this game will be the one that uses the names that LucasArts trademarked earlier this week (or maybe late last week).

Joystiq

LatinoReview has gotten their hands on two new Clone Wars posters. Both look amazing. Enjoy.

Hope you enjoy them.

Kotaku reports that Amazon has Battlefront listed for 2009.

Retailer Amazon has listed tentative dates and platforms for Star Wars Battlefront III, long rumored to be in development at Free Radical, developers of Haze and Timesplitters. While we’ve been under the impression that the UK based dev was hard at work we didn’t know how hard at work they are. According to Amazon, Battlefront III is coming to everything — Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DS, PSP, PlayStation 2. OK, not everything, since it doesn’t list a PC version, but if these listings are accurate, anyone and everyone will have access to a version of the game come March 2009. We await more news at E3 next week.

I believe that LucasArts announced that no new games would be announced at E3 but this may change things.

Kotaku

IGN previewed the Force Unleashed recently and they’ve got nothing but good things to say about it. Here’s an excerpt from their review of the first level.

Indeed, Vader’s assault through the treetop huts and bridges of Kashyyyk is slow and paced, with him walking confidently as his cape blows behind him, but also incredibly deadly. Though Vader’s lightsaber makes quick work of the Wookiee soldiers, it’s his Force powers that make him unstoppable. Lifting enemies into the air with a Force grab is immensely rewarding and offers you plenty of options. You can toss enemies off the side of a bridge to the ground below, slam them into a tree or other object, or toss them into other furry soldiers. Or should you wish to make an example of a particular Wookiee, you can lift him up, impale him with your lightsaber, and then throw his body into whatever happens to be the nearest and hardest object.

The rest of the article has a description of the controls as well as more impressiosns of the game. And almostall of it is positive so feel free to head on over and take a look.

IGN

According to Joystiq, it appears that LucasArts may have cut part of the development team that created The Force Unleashed. This took place earlier this month during their recent downsizing. 

LucasArts may be “proud of the work” that members of its internal Star Wars: The Force Unleashed team put forth on the upcoming title, but Joystiq has learned that it nevertheless laid off a number of key personnel on the title earlier this month during its company-wide downsizing.

We spoke with one now ex-member of the team, who told us that the layoffs came just as work on the game was wrapping up.

The article continues, this time looking towards the future of the TFU.

Should The Force Unleashed live up to the hype surrounding it, and a sequel is ordered, the current team size is said to be insufficient to handle such an undertaking. Given the fact that LucasArts stressed a continued commitment to internal developement following the layoffs, it will just need to re-staff for such a project – in which case, it has already let some top talent go – unless it intends to outsource to an external developer.

I’m not sure how a sequel to TFU would work but Joystiq’s analysis of the future seems dead-on. Things definitely seem to be changing at LucasArts but only time will tell what happens. Kotaku also has a similar rumor looking at the future of LucasArts.

Shacknews is reporting, via “a reliable source,” that once Star Wars: The Force Unleashed drops in mid-September, LucasArts will pinkslip another 100 employees and quit internal development.

That would be the untitled Indiana Jones third-person actioner, and according to Shacknews, the remainder of its work, left after The Force Unleashed hits the street, will be outsourced.

All rumors seem to be pointing to a dramatic decrease in LucasArts internal development even though they have announced a dedication to it. Things definitely seem to be changing at LucasArts but only time will tell what happens.

UPDATE: LucasArts contacted Kotaku and informed them that the layoffs to the TFU team were part of the cuts mentioned earlier this month. There have be no further cuts since that time.

Links:
Joystiq
Kotaku

“This in from IGN via Kotaku. It appears that the Clone Wars game on the Nintendo Wii may not have the sort of lightsaber controls that fans may be looking for.

The promise of a Wii Lightsaber game has hung in the air since the Wii hit the shelves. We think this is the game that delivers on that promise”. That’s Ken Fox, from Krome Studios, developers of the upcoming Clone Wars game for the Wii. Excited? Cool those jets. He also says this: “We’ve tried to make the lightsaber control as intuitive and fun as possible. It’s not a Lightsaber simulator, but when you swing your Wii remote left to right; your character does the same. You use the thumbstick on the nunchuck to move your character and swing the Wii remote to swing your Lightsaber”.

It looks like we’ll have something similar to The Force Unleashed in terms of controls although it seems that the correlation between “Wiimote” movements and lightsaber attacks has been dimished.

Links:
IGN
Kotaku