LucasArts has revealed its first PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 entry into the Star Wars franchise, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, while simultaneously launching a new website to promote the upcoming November release.
Most interestingly, the upcoming Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 release will feature a significant emphasis on new and emerging technologies, with development taking advantage of Pixelux Entertainment 's Digital Molecular Matter (DMM) and NaturalMotion's Euphoria run-time animation technology, as well as Havok's popular physics system. Gamasutra has previously covered a speech discussing LucasArts' next-gen tech approach, given at GDC London in 2006.
Set between the events from Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the upcoming next-gen release will feature a story that was created under direction from George Lucas, which will let players take up the role of Darth Vader's "Secret Apprentice" and assist the legendary villain in ridding the universe of the Jedi.
While few concrete details have been made available regarding the scope of the game's narrative, the website does hint at the possibility of branching story paths, noting that players could “face decisions that could change the course of their destiny.”
LucasArts first entered into a partnership with NaturalMotion for use of the Euphoria technology in April 2006, noting that the time that it would be used in the development of the company's upcoming Indiana Jones title in development for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It allows characters in the game to behave in a realistic manner by twinning AI and animation in real-time.
In addition, the following month, LucasArts also signed an agreement with Pixelux for the DMM technology, at the time indicating that it would be used on within internal titles currently in development for next-generation consoles, including the newly announced Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. DMM allows any in game structure to react realistically to external forces, allowing surfaces to bend and break realistically rather than along a predetermined seam every time.
