5 Years From Now: Where do you see Star Wars within the realm of gaming?

5 Years From Now: Where do you see Star Wars within the realm of gaming?

If I would have asked you that question 5 years ago, back in 2000 do you believe that you would have been right considering how Star Wars is today in the world of gaming? Would you have imagined a truly interactive RPG experience such as KOTOR? A game that has went on to win numerous awards and has recieved probably the highest review scores for any Star Wars game to date. Would you have imagined that? Would you have imagined that one of the best Star Wars videogame experiences being a LEGO Star Wars game? Would you have imagined that there would be a game that lets you relive the battles from the movies in detail like Battlefront 2?

Who knows, but now I am proposing that question to you. 2010, how do you percieve Star Wars gaming once that year rolls around? What types of games do you forsee? The 30th Anniversay would have came and gone, the PT is now finished. The KOTOR legacy will probably have been finished. So what do you see?

Personally I see Star Wars videogames taking on the route of EU. When I say EU I mean Post Revenge of the Sith/Pre A New Hope era games and Pre The Phantom Menace games. If there can be anything learned by LucasArts, its that you don't have to create a PT/OT/Post OT Star Wars game for it to be successful, you can take it back 4,000 years to locations, characters, and events that are not clear to us all and still have probably the best Star Wars game ever created. So I wouldn't hesitate to say that more emphasis would be placed on the Star Wars era 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, or hell even 10,000 years before The Phantom Menace. Also considering that the PT has just wrapped up, I don't see an end to PT based games for some time. However the Star Wars TV show is supposed to kick off like in 2007 or 2008 I believe. It is supposed to take place after the events of EP3 but before the events of EP4, covering that whole 20 year gap. So by 2010, this concept will still be fresh in mind and maybe we'll see games take place during this era. Empire At War is already a first and perhaps there will be more. Maybe even with Battlefront 3, 4, or even 5. Assuming that the Battlefront series last that long.

I also believe that the trend of Jedi games will eventually become more quite and we'll see more Star Wars games that doesn't have anything to do with lightsabers or force powers. With possibly the success of KOTOR 3, I see more attempts at developers creating RPG games for Star Wars. Maybe not in the non-linear style of KOTOR, but maybe something more linear and direct like the Final Fantasy games....something that is turn-based which is something we never seen before in a Star Wars game.

Maybe LucasArts will get desperate and will remake old games. Imagine Super Star Wars, Super Empire Strikes Back, or Super Return of the Jedi on the PS3 or 360. Imagine a PS3/360 version of Shadows of the Empire or even Dark Forces. Maybe we will see a rebirth of the X-Wing/Tie Fighter games. Perhaps with the next generation consoles we would see a X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter 2 game.

I mean the possibilities are limitless, but how do you see Star Wars videogaming 5 years from now?

 

At their current rate? Dead.

Star Wars games in the past years have had 1 thing going for them. The name. Not quality. KotOR was an amazing game. But it was a bright light in a sea of dull or incomplete games and LucasArts hasn't been able to touch it since. Mostly due to poor publishing practices like rushing games out before they are ready for marketing tie-ins.

In 5 years far less people will care about SW and hopefully the majority will be well-educated buyers who read reviews. Also hopefully in 5 years more reviewers will see the flaws of games like Battlefront rather than being struck by the ability to live out their childhood fantasies.

 

I can only see it getting better. Imagine playing a photo realistic Star Wars game that lets you play as a Jedi, Sith, Clone Trooper, Rebel, Imperial, in an SW scenario, complete with actor voices and actual scenes from the film which aren't CG rendered, but contain actual film footage that you can control?

 

I see a bright and beautiful future that realized that Battlefront and X-wing style games are the way to go and KOTOR was just trash with a shiny coat of varish. I also see that Lucas Arts will blindly ignore Nintendo until the Japanese just gives on Sony and Microsoft is drowing under a sea of piracy from Hong Kong. Ah well, you must take the bitter with the sweet......

 

I'd like to see them being the 3rd party equivalent of Nintendo and take som frickin' chances. They've seen with KOTOR that they can do something a little unusual and make it work if they put time and effort into it. I'd like to see them putting out more quality games. Take a risk and put osme effort into it, the name will get it recognized, and hopefully the game will be good enough that they can be the originators of something new and shiny and wonderful.

I'd like to see them take a chance with a new X-Wing/TIE Fighter style flight sim. I've never had the good fortune of playing either of these supposedly wonderful games, and I'd like to see it happen. Seems that based at least on this board, it wouldn't be much of a risk at all. I've heard it suggested that it would be possible to do a console release involving a Keyboard peripheral (PS2 had one. I could see it occuring on next-gen as well)

I'd also like to see a Fable-esque game based on the training of a Force Sensitive. Like KOTOR, but with your character aging in real-time (albeit sped up so you wouldn't need a lifetime). Of course, the Fable elements of good and evil would work very well in SW, but you'd need to incorporate much of KOTOR's text-based LS/DS system. Real-time Jedi combat has been proven to work before.

I'd also like to see a game where you are given a dedicated interface to command capital ships, Like ST:BC, but with a more combat oriented feel to it. I've been posting this idea on every VG board I've been to. You could command either an Imperial or Rebel ship. You would start at something small, like a Carrack-class and work your way up to commanding ImpStar Deuces and Mon Cal Battlecruisers. Maybe even a system for commanding fleets via commands that given your reputation may or may not be followed by other comanders. I'd like a free-roaming deal with the whole Galaxy as your playground, and with Empire at War, that no longer seems as impossible (although I have yet to see just how well EaW will implement it). And imagine the multiplayer. I think there could be a "Skirmish Mode" set up with regular host-join rooms, or there would be a constant Online War going on, where you get plunked down using your single-player ship in the middle of the Galaxy with the ability to see where your allies are and how best to work with them, although you could get picked off on your way by a roaming enemy vessel.

If all the ranting Ctrl-Alt-Del does about Galaxies, I'd like to see a new and improved MMORPG, but if CAD is exagerrating, and the system is fine, don't fix what ain't broke.

That said, what we'll probably see are more slipshod cross-genre titles with the Star Wars title and Star Wars appearance painted on at the last second. Then again, that's what I was thinking in '00, and with a few exceptions, I've been pleasently surprised, and even the ol' copy-'n'-pastes like BF turned out pretty good.

 

Now there is a steamy pile. SW has endured for 30 years and isn't going anywhere....'popular culture', man.
Same goes for SW games - we'll see more for sure for a long time coming.

 

Still releasing movie-era games, as they are now, as they have for 15yrs.

 

BATTLE OF HOTH

 

I can see them making a Hoth exclusive game with a newer more overly contrived "Harpoon and tow cable" system.

By the way Draco, I think I've seen you madmouth just every game you've put on that list.

 

Yeah, i have to agree with Sith.


Saying that 5 years down the road people won't care about SW isn't very accurate.

Alot of the best Star Wars games (Dark Forces, X-Wing, Tie Fighter) came out at a time when there was nothing generating interest in STAR WARS save for Timothy Zahn's novels and fond memories of terrific films in the early 80's..

 

Please read my posts more carefully. I said there will be far fewer Star Wars fans. It will have been 5 years since a movie was released and the prequels are not the originals. The originals are classic films that will endure forever. The prequels are nowhere near that quality. Already we have people like EV who have realized Star Wars isn't as good as it is hyped up to be.

Hopefully in 5 years we will have more educated gamers. By educated I don't mean people who have a college degree. I mean people who think before they buy. As I said in another thread some of my friends planned on buying Battlefront II until they played it. They played someone elses copy and hated it. People should be playing demos, friend's copies, reading reviews (though reviewers can be stupid as BFII proved), etc. I personally hate the game for it's horrible AI and graphics. I've quit playing it because my squad AI is so bad I can't take it.

Add in the fact that LucasArts has a history of releasing bad games and not listening to there fanbase. Their refusal to make more X-wing type games is insane. Their practice of rushing games out is also stupid.

How about developers? Bioware is a great RPG developer and that's the reason KotOR was so good, but they are probably not coming back as they working on Mass Effect and then Jade Empire 2. Pandemic is hit & miss and all their Star Wars games have been more miss. Obsidian made a good effort with KotOR II, but didn't have time to finish it. The Collective dropped a massive stinkbomb in the form of the RotS game. Factor 5 moved to Sony. The in-house development team has been scrapped and we probably won't see any more Starfighter or X-wing/TIE fighter games because of it.

 

Please read my posts more carefully. I said there will be far fewer Star Wars fans. It will have been 5 years since a movie was released and the prequels are not the originals.

Because of the prequels and SE's, there are more SW fans now than ever before. There are also more prequel games than OT based games out there. I think the last soley OT based game was Jedi Academy. If Lucasarts were to revert to games based during the OT films and not EU, they would sell a lot more games.

 

Because of the prequels and SE's, there are more SW fans now than ever before. There are also more prequel games than OT based games out there. I think the last soley OT based game was Jedi Academy. If Lucasarts were to revert to games based during the OT films and not EU, they would sell a lot more games.

The prequels are overhyped and have nothing going for them but special effects. People are already realizing this. I think in 5 years casual fans will be moving on to something else. The ones left will be the people who watch the movies a couple dozen times a year and the EU fans. Why? Because that's how our culture is. Things are cool until something takes their place. All that survives are the classics. Everything else is pushed off to the side by everyone but the loyal fanbase.

I like the way you addressed the developer point BTW.

 

I don't see anything too drastic in the next 5 years.

So far, the trend is to the take already established games as develop a "Star Wars version" of them. There aren't that many risks as would take to develop a truly new game.

Age of Empires -> Battlegrounds
Neverwinter Nights -> KOTOR
Battlefield -> Battlefront
C&C -> Empire at War

It sucks that we may never see a truly new Star Wars game that breaks outside the established mold.

Of course, each of these teams do try to do something different. I give them that. But looking at the development of these games as a whole, there's really not too much to suggest a unique gaming experience. Each relies on an already established gameplay, established developers, doesn't stray too far outside the box.

I don't see changes to this in the next 5 years, because this is what gets $$$ to LucasArts. Even if the game sucks, people will end up buying it because its Star Wars. The greater mass of casual gamers will overwhelm the hardcore gamers that demand a truly unique game.

Personally, I want to see unique games on the PC. I've not bought any of the new Star Wars games, but I may just get Empire at War (I'm a RTS junkie myself)

 

I dunno, i really like BF2. I was also a fan of the game for ROTS, in a renting capcity. THe game was too easy but i think it had the right idea of how to put yourself in the shoes of a jedi. I also remember my love for the game that went with TPM. I think Star Wars should pursue the adventure jedi style game more. A game like Ultimate jedi battles, were you fight different scenerios from all 6 movies , i think would be very cool.

 

I see Star Wars in the realm of gaming in five years as the following:

Battle of Hoth number 329
Battlefront 7 (one new one every year)
Galactic Battlegrounds ROTS expansion + SE edition
Empire at War III: Into the EU
Rogue Squadron 28: Battle of Yuuzhantar
Bounty Hunter II: Boba Fett's Revenge
Battle of Endor number 18
Yoda's stories II: Why I fracked up in ROTS and what I plan on doing to fix that in exile
KOTOR 4: Search for more money
Star Wars Grand Theft Speeder: The depths of Coruscant!
X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter: OH WAIT THAT WON'T HAPPEN CAUSE LA DOESN'T WANT TO MAKE FLIGHT SIMS ANYMORE
Dark Forces 5: Fighting the Empire two months before the Vong invade.



Halting due to CSI coming on but you get my opinion.

 

I see one of two things occuring.

Star Wars games used to be good...the X-Wing series, Rebellion, JK, etc...quality and well liked games.

Then the prequels came out, and game quality started going down overall, as everything was tied in with the movies, ala Battlefront.

Either LA will get their act in gear and we'll get more EU stuff as the casual fans take their leave, or it'll die off completely as they screw over loyal fans and try to milk the prequels 'til they're bankrupt.

That said, BATTLE OF HOTH

 

How does that figure factor in the "ground battle" to "space battle" to the "some absurd combination of both" ratio?

 

Many years from now I think the prequels will only grow in popularity, because people will realise that that are just as good as the originals. Many already think ROTS is a classic, and ROJ less so.

 

Educated gamers are bull... as car salesmen say "there is a sucker born every minute". There might be a lapse in interest every 5 years but with the evolution, or more appropriately revolution, of culture getting faster and faster games might become those factors that reignite the interest.

 

RPG's are for nerds, KOTR is a heap of garbage.

The future is Battlefront, bigger better maps, better graphics, more weapons and force powers and alternate gameplay.

That's right baby....BATTLEFRONT ROCKS!

 

Many years from now I think the prequels will only grow in popularity, because people will realise that that are just as good as the originals. Many already think ROTS is a classic, and ROJ less so.

I don't want to turn this into a prequel vs original debate, but you are dead wrong. The older you get the more you notice how truly bad the prequels are. 2 years ago I would have agreed with you.

Educated gamers are bull... as car salesmen say "there is a sucker born every minute".

And I used to be one of those suckers. That's why Enter the Matrix is sitting on my shelf. But I've turned into someone who knows what he's doing since then and now I learn before I buy and help my friends to do the same. That's why I let them play my copy of Resident Evil 4 and show them what a good game is. That's also why I let them play my copy of Battlefront II before they run and buy it. BTW I bought Battlefront II because my best friend only has a Gamecube, thinks the series is great and I lost a bet with him. He's blinded by the ability to play the battles and doesn't look at where it could and should have been made good.

Games are not cars. I don't know much about cars, but I do know enough to do my homework before buying one. I also have friends who love cars and could help me out in choosing one.

There might be a lapse in interest every 5 years but with the evolution, or more appropriately revolution, of culture getting faster and faster games might become those factors that reignite the interest.

And as games become more and more popular I can hope people will begin to learn about them. Obviously it hasn't happened yet as Revenge of the Sith topped the charts in June and Battlefront II will be topping the charts this month.

 

You might learn your lesson, but as the quote suggest "a sucker is born every minute" meaning that more 6-15 year olds are buying games solely based on cool factor. a good example of this is the dynasty warrior series. they have released 10 games of the same title, same gameplay, same story and only adding little tidbits for each succession, they arent "great" games but they breakthrough sales/profit gap just enough to make the next one. That game doesnt even have the "StarWars" label on it nor its popularity.