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.

A great new video has been released by Crunch Gear showing exclusive footage of The Force Unleashed for the iPhone.

It’s a very cool game and an ingenious way of using the touchscreen. The accelerometer is only used to switch gameplay from landscape to portrait at any time. It’s still a work in progress and won’t be released until September 16, but we didn’t notice any glitches. I can say without a doubt that this is going to be a hot, hot game for the iPhone/iPod platform.

 You can view it here.

Read the press release from Star Wars.com.

“LucasArts today announced that they will debut the launch trailer for the upcoming game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on ew.com at 6am Pacific Time on Wednesday, July 9th.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a new chapter in the Star Wars Saga. The launch trailer will delve more deeply into its storyline, and contains never-before-seen scenes from the game.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will ship in the United States on September 16, 2008, in the Asia/Pacific region on September 17, and in Europe on September 19. More information about the game can be found at http://www.theforceunleashed.com/

The Force Unleashed is the first next-generation game developed internally at LucasArts, and will be available on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.

LucasArts and developer Krome Studios are also creating versions of The Force Unleashed on the Wii, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and n-Space, Inc., is developing a version for the Nintendo DS™. All will feature the same storyline, with opportunities to unleash the Force in devastating new ways.”

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

Library Journal’s Michael Richards got a first look at the upcoming “The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” written by Haden Blackman and Brett Rector. His final thoughts on it are: Star Wars fans whether they’re gamers or not are going to want this, so buy a couple. The book comes out August 18. For more of his thoughts, as well as quite a few pictures from the book itself, check out the entire first look here. Enjoy!

Source: Library Journal (via)

This from our friend Mike over at TF.N:

From our friend “Master Devwi”:

“360Voice.com is a popular site that tracks what you play on your Xbox 360 and “blogs” about it. (See this example.) The site has lots of statistics for Xbox 360 games based on the data from registered users. Yesterday, what looks like the final version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was played for the first time on an Xbox 360 (on a registered user’s account). PexCorrh has the honor of being the first gamer to play TFU on 360Voice.com! Click here to check it out!

Note: According to PexCorrh’s gamer profile, he lives in San Francisco, CA. Sounds like he is a LucasArts employee to me.

Note #2: Games that show up on 360Voice.com are usually the final version of the game.”

That’s so awesome!  Some of us aren’t so lucky, so we’ll have to wait until September 16, when Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is unleashed upon us.

We contacted our friend over at Lucasarts Adam Kahn about the gamer being from Lucasarts and he told us:

“Yeah, standard stuff - part of debugging and testing here.  That’s a
LucasArts employee. “

So, while it wasn’t a gamer, it’s good to know that Lucasarts is trying hard to make this game the best experience possible.

According to Dark Horse, the image you see above is the final cover the the Trade Paper Back version of “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.” The final version for the TPB is a slit variation of the already known and seen video game and novel covers. If you were wondering, the comic will reveal the origins of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, the deadly missions on which he was sent to track down and destroy Jedi, and the awesome decision he is forced to make that will, literally, change the way you look at the Star Wars saga.

Written by game lead Haden Blackman, “The Force Unleashed” Trade Paperback comes out August 18, 2008 and can be purchased for $15.95.

Source: Dark Horse’s Official Site

As if a new CW trailer isn’t enough, Lucasarts just released a new Force Unleashed Web-Doc entitled “A New Chapter: The Story of the Force Unleashed.” You can watch it below thanks to GTTV, but be forewarned–as the name suggests, it goes deeply into the story behind TFU so spoilers are there. Enjoy!

This from our friend Mike over at TF.N:

From our friend “Master Devwi”:

“360Voice.com is a popular site that tracks what you play on your Xbox 360 and “blogs” about it. (See this example.) The site has lots of statistics for Xbox 360 games based on the data from registered users. Yesterday, what looks like the final version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was played for the first time on an Xbox 360 (on a registered user’s account). PexCorrh has the honor of being the first gamer to play TFU on 360Voice.com! Click here to check it out!

Note #2: Games that show up on 360Voice.com are usually the final version of the game.”

That’s so awesome!  Some of us aren’t so lucky, so we’ll have to wait until September 16, when Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is unleashed upon us.