star-wars-the-force-unleashed posts

Big Download has learned through several unnamed but reliable sources that Austin, Texas based game publisher Aspyr Media has laid off a large amount of its team members a couple of weeks ago. One of our sources estimated that over 50 percent of the workers were let go with only a handful of team members now remaining in the offices.

Aspyr Media began in 1996 as a major Mac game developer and publisher but has expanded over the years to include PC and console titles. This year it released several PC games including a number of titles from Russia-based 1C Company. Last month the publisher released Star Wars The Force Unleashed Ultimate Edition for the PC to retail stores and Dreamkiller as a Steam download exclusive. Most recently the company was responsible for the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network port of the original Call of Duty game. Big Download has both emailed and called Aspyr Media to get any official comments on their current situation.

It's Wednesday so that means its time for another game reveal teaser for the 2009 Spike TV Video Game Awards. As teaser trailers goes (and again this one is hosted by GameTrailers.com) this one is kind of . . . eh. It announces that there will be a new Star Wars game announcement at the show which takes place on December 12.

So what could it be? Maybe a sequel to The Force Unleashed which sold very well for publisher LucasArts? How about the long awaited Star Wars Battlefront 3? If we PC gamers cross our fingers maybe we will get a Jedi Knight sequel or possible a new Empire at War title. Or could it be something totally new? In the meantime you can check out the teaser after the jump:

This patch for the PC version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition addresses a number of game performance issues and adds support for different game controllers. There's a North American English patch and an EU patch that covers the UK, French, Italian, German and Spanish releases. A list of changes can be found after the jump.

Download Star Wars: The Force Unleashed v1.1 Patch (403 MB)
Download Star Wars: The Force Unleashed v1.1 EU Patch (403 MB)

Last year, when LucasArts released the console version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the publisher claimed the game couldn't be released on the PC because the system requirements would be too high. That was disproven earlier this summer when LucasArts announced (shocker) a PC port of the game.

Now the PC version's developer, Aspyr Media, has revealed the PC system requirements for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition. As we have reported before, the PC version will have all of the content of the original console game plus some extra missions. You can check out the system specs after the jump:

This week gamers can be a evil Sith apprentice, a ruthless dictator and other roles in two retail releases and three downloadable titles.

Tropico 3: Publisher Kalypso Media revives this sim game franchise that was first started by 2K Games. Developer Haemimont Games created this third title in the series which puts the player in charge of an island nation. Will you be the typical island tyrant or a more benevolent leader? As usual there are pros and cons to both choices.

For the past two days Big Download has been going over the games that are currently scheduled for release in the fall/holiday time period, which is traditionally been the busiest time for the game industry. You can check out Part One and Part Two of our report here.

Today we conclude our series with the third and final part of our preview as we look at games that will be released from mid-November to early December. We also have some games that as of yet do not have a specific release date but are still scheduled to be released sometime this fall. Once again we remind you that release dates can be fluid; we will report on any changes in ship dates as we learn about them.

Click on the image above to continue reading The Big PC Games for Fall 2009 - Part 3

We won't lie to you; July 2009 was a bit on the dull side in terms of news and exciting happenings in the PC game industry. That's to be expected after last month's flood of news thanks in part to E3. However there were still some significant items of note in the past 31 days. A few of them were revealed around the time of the San Diego Comic-Con which is becoming more and more important for the game industry.

As we do just after a month is over, Big Download has picked what we feel are the 10 biggest news items in July 2009. They include the revival of not one but two long dormant game franchises, the announcement of some classic games finally being made available again and word that a long running game series is being put on hold for a while.

Click on the image above to continue reading The Top 10 PC Game News Stories Of July 2009

Some might say this is a little overdue, but The Force Unleashed will be making its way to both the PC and Mac this holiday. However, it will come in the form of "The Ultimate Sith Edition," which includes all the content from the original console game plus three extra bonus missions. In one of the extra missions, the story is re-imagined to see what would happen if Darth Vader's secret apprentice actually turned against him and took his place at the Emperor's side. Another pits the apprentice against Luke Skywalker and other iconic Star Wars characters to see where the story would go if the dark side won. Star Wars fans will be able to unleash their inner dark sides this holiday.

Download HD Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition Trailer (219 MB)

We like PC Gaming Alliance president Randy Stude. We were impressed with his answers in our own interview with him a few months ago. More recently he slammed down Lionhead's Peter Molyneux for saying that the PC game industry is in "tatters". However, in a new chat with Videogamer.com we think that Stude picked the wrong battle to fight. Specifically, he went after LucasArts for not releasing a PC version of their best selling console game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

LucasArts has made the case that The Force Unleashed would only play well on a high end and highly expensive PC and that there's no market for such a product. Stude states, "It's ridiculous to say that there's not enough audience for that game potentially and that it falls into this enthusiast extreme category when ported over to the PC. That's an uneducated response." He added, "LucasArts hasn't made a good PC game in a long time. That's my opinion."

While we think that Stude has the right to his opinion, we also have a right to ours and our opinion is that PC owners should be glad that LucasArts chose not to port The Force Unleashed to the PC. While it's definitely been a sales success for the consoles, the reviews for the game have not been stellar. As far as his thoughts that LucasArts hasn't been involved in a good PC game in a long time, we refer to the high PC reviews of the terrific (and very recent) Lego Star Wars games. Even the PC only RTS game Star Wars Empire at War (released less than two years ago) got higher reviews than The Force Unleashed. Finally, there is that little LucasArts/Bioware project that's supposed to be revealed this coming week. We have a feeling PC gamers might be a little excited by that prospect. Our verdict? We like that Stude is on the offensive in promoting PC gaming but he should have picked this battle a little more carefully.

Earlier this week we reported on the first gaming panel programming that was announced for the first day (Thursday) for the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con on July 25-28. Now the convention's web site has revealed the panel programming for the rest of the show and Friday and Saturday seem to be packed with game and game related events (Sunday seems to be free of gaming related panels).

On Friday convention attendees can go to panels about Midway's fighting game Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe, the upcoming MMOs Stargate Worlds and DC Universe Online, and the upcoming Ghostbusters game (with actors Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson scheduled to attend). There will also be a World of Warcraft panel and the big Star Wars panel will have segments on the upcoming LucasArts Clone Wars and The Force Unleashed game titles. Capcom will hold a panel on how to break into the game industry and there will also be a Penny Arcade panel. There will also be a panel on the upcoming movie adaptation of Prince of Persia (with the game's original creator Jordan Mechner scheduled to attend) and a panel on the upcoming CGI movie Resident Evil: Degeneration.

On Saturday, Comic-Con will hosts a Telltale Games panel where the creators will announce plans for a third episodic game series to join their Sam and Max and Strong Bad series. A Warhammer Online panel will also be held and THQ will host a panel on Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II and Deadly Creatures. Cliff Bleszinski and Peter Molyneux will attend a panel to talk about Gears of War 2 and Fable 2, respectively. EA will host a Dead Space panel and Capcom will also host a Bionic Commando panel at the show.

If you haven't bought your tickets for Comic-Con yet, you are out of luck if you want the four-day pass or one-day passes for Friday and Saturday. Some tickets for Thursday and Sunday are still available for purchase.