Wii lightsaber unveiling in UK

By Robert Purchese Published 12 October, 2007

Nottingham, later this month.

LucasArts will be showing off its Wii lightsaber implementation in the UK this month for the first time ever.

It will be demonstrated by Jonathan Smith from Traveller's Tales, who will be swishing around his arms and making funny noises as he plays LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

His presentation will form the first part of the Star Wars day at GameCity 2007 in Nottingham, otherwise known as 26th October.

Following his talk will be chit-chat about what makes a really good Star Wars game, lead by some woman from Wonderland and a chap who likes comics with aliens in.

After that, you will be treated to a run-down of the Euphoria engine that LucasArts is using its new Indiana Jones and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed games. You've probably heard about this before: the one that boasts advanced AI routines and rag-doll physics to ensure no two punches will land in the same way on an opponent.

GameCity runs from 24th - 28th October, and has attracted big name speakers such as Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, who will be delivering a keynote address and showing his new game Nobi Nobi Boy.

We will be there, and you can be, too; just pop over to the GameCity 2007 site and snaffle up your very own ticket.

But we are warning you: we will fight you if you try and get in our way when we make a rush for the lightsaber.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (47) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Steroyd #1 4 years ago

    It finally happened just what the wii was built for.

  • afghan_jones #2 4 years ago

    will it be 'proper' motion tracking or just like zelda was?

  • symmetry #3 4 years ago

    What I bought a Wii for.

  • Saladin #4 4 years ago

    Yet more suckling from George Lucas's teat.

    Remember when Lucas Arts used to make quality games that weren't Star Wars?

  • gaselite #5 4 years ago

    THAT'S IT PEOPLE, IT'S THE FUTURE OF GAMING RIGHT HERE, THE INDUSTRY HAS REACHED IT'S PINNACLE THEY MIGHT AS WELL NOT MAKE ANY GAMES ANYMORE.

  • Darkedge #6 4 years ago

    "After that, you will be treated to a run-down of the Euphoria engine that LucasArts is using its new Indiana Jones and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed games."

    just not on the Wii as the press release almost repeated verbatim here seem to imply. The Wii cannot do it

  • Wayne #7 4 years ago

    WAGGLE!

  • haowan #8 4 years ago

    Should be interesting.

  • Killerbee #9 4 years ago

    will it be 'proper' motion tracking or just like zelda was?

    For Lego Star Wars, I don't think it matters much - the Zelda way would be just fine.

    But if they do a proper Star Wars FPS (like Jedi Knight or whatever), then I agree, it does need to be properly tracked to the motion of your hands. How easy that is to do though, I'm not sure... I guess the problem will be that most people will move the Wii-mote too erratically and quickly for full motion tracking to work in the context of a fast paced FPS gameplay model.

    I'd like to be proven wrong though. :)

  • Brianstorm #10 4 years ago

    There is a god....

  • orakio #11 4 years ago

    I don't think the wii sensor is accurate or fast enough to deliver the full experience. A hardware upgrade might be a solution for that.

  • zuljin #12 4 years ago

    @orakio
    You're right. If you're planning on jumping around like Yoda on speed.

    For the average gamer, I'm sure it'll be just fine.

  • Popzeus #13 4 years ago

    "Nobi Nobi Boy"

    /snigger

  • Kryon #14 4 years ago

    I'm interested but unexcited, Red Steele with light saber sound effects...Meh.

  • Wayne #15 4 years ago

    The wiimote isn't acurate nor fast enough to do a proper swordplay style game where the sword follows your every movements. It's designed to be "gesture based", not an acurate transition of your movements into a game.

  • Ceatlan #16 4 years ago

    The other problem with motion tracking is what do you do when the light sabre on screen has had to stop because it has hit someone or something e.g. another combatant or light sabre, but the wii mote in the users hand has kept moving ? You no longer have a 1 to 1 mapping even if technically you were able to at the start of the move. Its a very challenging problem, and I suspect why we have not seen anything try to replicate it so far.

  • nick303 #17 4 years ago

    It seems to track your hand fine in Wii baseball so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work well in a starwars game.

  • Stormflood #18 4 years ago

    I'm sure it will just be gesture, but made to look and react to give the impression of full motion.

  • Killerbee #19 4 years ago

    I reckon they could do a decent "fudge" of accurate tracking with a set of 13 or so moves or so:

    - stab (1)
    - high slash, middle slash, low slash (left to right and right to left) (6)
    - vertical slash (down / up) (2)
    - diagonal slashes (4).

    That should be enough to give a pretty immersive gameplay experience without confusing the Wii hardware, I'd have thought?

  • Xerx3s #20 4 years ago

    Remember when Lucas Arts used to make quality games that weren't Star Wars?

    Yeah, the good old days.

  • lambtron #21 4 years ago

    "Remember when Lucas Arts used to make quality games that weren't Star Wars?

    Yeah, the good old days."

    It were all fields as far as the eye could see, we had nought but an old pig's bladder to kick bare-footed round a field of thistles.

    BUT WE WERE HAPPY!

  • afghan_jones #22 4 years ago

    @lambtron


    ooh, la-di-dah, a pigs bladder.

    When I was little, we just had to kick each other....

  • Monkey #23 4 years ago

    ...and if we use a camera with the game...
    [link url=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=3GJOVPjhXMY
    ]http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=3GJOVPjhXMY
    [/link]
    :)

  • black2 #24 4 years ago

    They need a Sarlacc mini-game where the wiimote controls slathering tentacles to lure unsuspecting Bounty Hunters into your gob.

  • JonFE #25 4 years ago

    "It seems to track your hand fine in Wii baseball so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work well in a starwars game."

    As already pointed out, the main difference is that, in baseball, hitting the ball does not stop your baseball bat dead on its track, so your Mii's/bat's movement and position can continue to reflect those of the wiimote's swinging.

    In the case of sword/lightsaber game, though, once you hit your opponent's weapon, both weapons should clash and stop, which cannot happen on your wiimote without a physical barrier, so the connection will be lost.

    Edit: Other than that, I'm really curious how this will turn out, since I've yet to decide which format to purchase...
    Edited by 1 at 12/10/07 @ 11:05

  • quantumsheep #26 4 years ago

    /lives in Nottingham!

    shit.

  • monkie_king #27 4 years ago

    /recalls Rescue on Fractalus!, The Eidolon, Pegasus, Ballblazer, Koronis Rift, Night Shift, Their Finest Hour, X-Wing, Outlaws ...

    And that's without even mentioning the SCUMM stuff.

    I'd love a XBLA revamp of Fractalus, that game was so incredibly atmostpheric (even the jerky C64 version). I've just about calmed down now after the infamous shock moment ...

  • peteb #28 4 years ago

    a first person Light Saber em up would be better IMO. Kinda like those bits Star Wars Arcade, but using the Nunchuck to move around and the wiimote as the lightsaber.

    In lego Star wars you know it'll just be waggle wiimote about furiously with the same animation on screen no matter what way you swing it...

  • Ceatlan #29 4 years ago

    @MattDamon,

    WiiSports boxing is not really tracking your hands, when it comes to registering punches and the like it is gestured based i.e. you have to create the right sort or motion with your hands to trigger a particular type of punch.

    Edited by 1 at 12/10/07 @ 11:22

  • pyrat6 #30 4 years ago

    In short. A good idea which may not work, or may do. Lets wait and see.

    Usual wankers saying the wii cannot do this - based on nothing but wishful thinking.

    Why so negative ? It's a bad as the cunts laughing at the scratched halo disks.

    /hits the ignore button before the equally tiresome flood of justification posts appear. when did gamers become such whiny little fucks ?

  • crazyhorse174 #31 4 years ago

    ...a billion Star Wars fans just creamed themselves in unison and all decide to go and buy a Wii...

  • beastmaster #32 4 years ago

    I want first person game. Lightsabre in one hand, the ability to use the force push etc with the other. Make it so, Lucas! Err...

  • bigbadbeasty #33 4 years ago

    @crazyhorse174

    They probably already own a Wii

  • MilkYMoO #34 4 years ago

    I hope this is'nt another addon. I thought what we got in the box was all we needed to enjoy the full potential of the wii. Damn new addons are appearing every few months. I'm very excited about a lightsaber game but I'm sure there'll be a catch.

  • Ceatlan #35 4 years ago

    @MattDamon

    I didn't say anything negative, or that the it was not technically possible on the Wii at all. I just pointed out to the people who seem to think that a motion tracked light sabre game on the Wii is really easy, that actually there are quite a few obstacles to get over first. It will take a really clever developer to come up with a good motion tracking or even gestured based sword / light sabre fighting game. I hope someone does, I too think it would be great. However its not as easy as a lot of people on these forums seem to imply, and even though I bet loads of developers have tried no ones released one yet.

    (P.S. I appologise about mixing up WiiSports boxing with boxing training, I had no idea they were different. I've hardly played any of the boxing bits in WiiSports as I found them to be by far the least interesting and fun parts of the package).

  • Telepathic.Geometry #36 4 years ago

    I don't know what everyone's excited about. This will be Lego Star Wars with added waggle, surely it won't be until The Force Unleashed is, eh, unleashed that we'll see decent Wii lightsabre action, and even then, I'm holding my breath that they won't just produce a wishy washy port, and not give this title the love and expertise of their AAA teams that it so obviously deserves.

  • Lov3 #37 4 years ago

    nice plug. i'm still going tho

  • SilasMalkav #38 4 years ago

    Does the new engine work on the Wii? From what I've seen it looks a bit too hardcore for it.

  • smelly #39 4 years ago

    Yes yes.. and the wii is underpowered and cant do anything at all because it's low def.. as we all know hi-def is the future.. just look at halo 3.

  • Wyrm #40 4 years ago

    The Wiimote perfectly recreated your movements in the fishing sections of Zelda. It can do it if it wants to.

  • smelly #41 4 years ago

    Of course it can. But it's down to the developer.

    My guess is that it will just require a small movement/shake to do the same as a big swing as lego starwars is aimed at the younger audiences.

    (Could you imagine how messy it could get with a kid waving around a lightsaber in your living room?)

  • Telepathic.Geometry #42 4 years ago

    At Silas: If you're referring to The Force Unleashed, I'm sure they'll have to simplify the engine, or build a new(ish) one from scratch. Most of the game mechanics should stay intact though. I'm guessing that the only thing to take a hit apart from the graphics would be the extent to which the physics is implemented.

  • Veldaban #43 4 years ago

    "Remember when Lucas Arts used to make quality games that weren't Star Wars?"

    I remember when they made quality games that WERE Star Wars games too... X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Dark Forces, Jedi Knight... classics all of them.

  • Bidermaier #44 4 years ago

    As long as the little speaker makes the lightsaber sound when you waggle it, everyone will be happy.

  • fightman #45 4 years ago

    hate your guts slut....'kirrr'...hate your fucking guts.

    rrrrrhate u......rrrrrhate u.

    if you dont like it, call the fucking police - i'll tell them about that note you put on my fucking car. call them, let's sort this out

    now go lick out your lesbian bitch and carry on pretending to be straight you ugly whore.

  • Turambar #46 4 years ago

    I'm sure lucas will find some way to ruin this.

  • rare_uk #47 4 years ago

    Has it been revealed then?

  • Bogulmon #48 4 years ago

    Brianstorm said: There is a god....

    And his name is Satoru Iwata :)