Perhaps the perfect sign of the “Star Wars” franchise’s massive appeal is how it has been embraced by gamers and the video game industry. Here are upcoming developments in that galaxy:
EA (Electronic Arts)
Nick Fegraeus, design director for the hugely popular EA “Star Wars Battlefront” game, said the production was sensitive to the needs of players. “We listen to what the players are saying, so we’ve added options to the game such as Skirmish Mode.”
“Battlefront” will soon see expansion packs, most notably the third pack: “Battlefront: Death Star.”
EA’s “Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes” returns with some new bells and whistles. “We always think about authenticity,” said executive producer John Salera. “We want to bring out the rich detail of characters and themes. They make the ‘Star Wars’ games different from all other games.”
Meanwhile the MMORPG “Star Wars: The Old Republic,” inspired by the franchise’s Knights of the Old Republic stories, features potentially 87 million characters, 340 hours of gameplay, with a coming new expansion pack, “Star Wars: Knights of the Fallen Empire.”
ILMxLAB
Interestingly enough, the most intriguing, game-related reveal at Star Wars Celebration 2016 was something that won’t be available in any kind of finished form to gamers anytime soon. The think-tank ILMxLAB (the fusion of efforts from Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound and Lucasfilm) drew long lines when it debuted the “Trials of Tatooine” experience.
Outfitted by a virtual reality (VR) headset and a controller, players found themselves on Tatooine, first helping Han Solo repair the Millennium Falcon, and then armed with a lightsaber, fending off a persistent platoon of Stormtroopers. It’s literally the closest thing you’ll ever get to putting yourself in the “Star Wars” movies.
