Geek Culture
What Star Wars Fans Want from the New Films
With recent rumors swirling about talks between Disney and Ewan McGregor, the Han Solo-Boba Fett meet and greet, and other little nuggets sliding out of LucasFilm’s hermetically sealed development group, fans, an always outspoken group, are clamoring for more input into the direction of the Star Wars Universe. It also seems like, to a degree, the desires of Star Wars fans are informing the development process. So what do Star Wars fans really want from the revised expanded universe? These are just a few of those desires.
Obi-Wan-ilogy
If the rumors have any shred of reality to them, Disney has been discussing terms with McGregor about the venerable Jedi Knight’s return to film—and not just a film, but three of them. Thanks to McGregor’s charming portrayal, the venerable Jedi has remained a fan favorite and was a bright spot in the otherwise less than stellar Star Wars Prequels. The Kenobi trilogy would likely focus on the Jedi’s activities prior to “A New Hope,” rather than his spectral post “Jedi” self.
Prequel Special Edition
More than a few superfans would love to see a special edition of the Star Wars Prequels. But contrary to Lucas’ controversially reconstructed original trilogy, the alternate prequels would ideally subtract some members of the cast, mainly Jar Jar. It would also serve it well to deemphasize and shorten the often interminable pod race, replace the emotively dead romance scenes between Anakin and Padme with an actual spark, and make Jake Lloyd less annoying and old enough to make sense as a love interest. Some of this has been done with the so-called “Phantom Edits,” but an official version would please many (except King George himself).
All Fett All the Time
Despite being a minor character with about 20 minutes of screen time and four lines of dialogue in the original trilogy, and a less-than-satisfying Prequel backstory (a clone? Really?), the enigmatic bounty hunter remains one of the most popular characters in the universe–minor or major. With a vast amount of fan fiction, (now) unofficial canonical comics and book-based storylines, everyone wants to see more of the man behind the mask. With the revelation of a Boba-based Star Wars “Anthology” film, Fett superfans will finally get their favorite bounty hunter en masse.
More Magic, Less Midi-Chlorians
Sure, having a scientific explanation for the Force was okay, I guess, but it kind of stole the thunder from those wacky Jedis and their mystic quest. At the dawn of a (possibly) new era for the Star Wars franchise, many fans are looking for a return to the cryptic Force, the grammatically awkward Force of Yoda, the childlike simplicity and wonder of the Force that made us all say “awesome!”
Seamlessly Blended Practical and CGI FX
The Star Wars Prequels were clearly a love affair with the emergent CGI technology. As such they were slick, shiny, and engrossing, but entirely unreal—almost surreal at times. Fans of practical effects will be pleased, though, as early on Mr. Abrams made a point of showing himself next full-sized models as often as possible. So at least we know there will be a return to practical effects. But, as much as it pains me to say it, CGI can be effective to develop an engrossing sci-fi fantasy world. So in this regard, I’m glad the new films will combine digital and practical effects. I only hope all future “Star Wars” directors follow Abrams’ return to form.
To Mandalore or not to Mandalore
The surprisingly well done and emotionally rich “Clone Wars” cartoon series opened a few storylines that really resonated with fans—myself included. One of these was a return to form for Mandalorian Warriors after the lackluster origins of Boba Fett stripped any potential mythology from them. With the suggestion of a past romance between Obi Wan and Dutchess Satine of Mandalore, as well as a Boba Fett standalone in the works, it’s very likely the fabled Mandalorians will burst onto the scenes in a big way.
Snips and Travails and Tauntaun Tails
Love her or loathe her, Ahsoka Tano was one of the more engaging, infuriating, and intriguing storylines left in the rubble off after “The Clone Wars’” abrupt end. Whether you jumped for joy or wept at the disgraced Padawan pariah, she left a backstory begging to reemerge. With her reappearance on “Rebels,” it’s clear she made it past Order 66. Rumors also persist that a certain orange hand, seen briefly in the “The Force Awakens,” may belong to her. The other curiosity from the “Clone Wars” days is dark horse Asajj Ventress. Will she return in the Sequels or the Anthology films, and which side will she be on?
And yes, personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing a Tauntaun or two either.
Take the Princess and the Wookiee to my Ship
I’ll put it this way, I’m not sure if Star Wars fanatics are actually clamoring for more Lando Calrissian (they are), but I am. Even the somewhat more diverse Prequel universe, while ethnically broader, lacked a character with the poise, the je ne sais quoi, the smoothness of Lando Calrissian. Sure Mace Windu had a certain sagely eloquent badassery, but no one will ever be Lando. And, since Mace is no longer with us—unless he took post-mortem speech lessons from Qui Gon—Lando is our best chance for having a cool side to the galaxy far, far away. If the speculation is to be believed, there might be a little more Lando to come in “The Force Awakens.” Because even as an older gentleman, Lando could still show us a thing or two about treating a lady to a fine dinner with the movers and shakers of the universe.
Gaming
Ubisoft says that future Assassin’s Creed games will need more time to be made
As Assassin’s Creed Shadows is about to sneak up on people in November, Ubisoft says that the time between developing games needs to be longer to find the “right balance.” Shadows has been in development for four years, longer than any other game in the series up to this point. That includes the huge open-world epics Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Shadows lead producer Karl Onnée (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz) says that the latest AC game took 25% longer to make than Valhalla. He says this is necessary to keep the quality of the series that it is known for: “It’s always a balance between time and costs, but the more time you have, the more you can iterate.” You can speed up a project by adding more people to it, but that doesn’t give you more time to make changes.
Onnée says this has as much to do with immersion and aesthetics as it does with fixing bugs and smoothing out pixels. This is because the development team needs time to learn about each new historical setting: “We are trying to make a game that is as real as possible.” We’re proud of it, and the process took a long time. In feudal Japan, building a house is very different from building a house in France or England in the Middle Ages. As an artist, you need to learn where to put things in a feudal Japanese home. For example, food might not belong there. Get all the information you need and learn it. That process takes a long time.”
You’ll have to wait a little longer for Ubisoft to work on each game. Are you okay with that? In what part of Shadows are you now? Is it interesting to you? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Gaming
You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP on PS5
You can now pre-order Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, a remaster that Dragami Games and Capcom both created. You can now pre-order the PS5 game on the PS Store for $44.99 or £39.99. If you have PS Plus, you can get an extra 10% off the price.
The company put out a new trailer with about three minutes of gameplay to mark the start of the pre-order period. Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a remaster of Grasshopper Manufacture’s crazy action game from 2012. You play as Juliet, a high school student who fights off waves of zombies.
The remaster adds RePOP mode, an alternative mode that swaps out the blood and gore for fun visual effects. It also adds a bunch of other features and improvements that make the game better overall. You can expect the graphics and sound to be better as well.
The game will now come out on September 12, 2024, instead of September 12, 2024. Are you excited to get back to this? Please cheer us on in the section below.
Gaming
This Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 zombies trailer is way too expensive
Is there really anyone who is following the story of Call of Duty’s zombie mode? We’ve known about the story in a vague way for a while, but we couldn’t tell you anything about it. It looks like the “Dark Aether” story will continue in Black Ops 6, but we don’t really know what that means.
For those of you who care, here is the official blurb with some background: “Requiem, led by the CIA, finally closed the last-dimensional portal, sending its inhabitants back to the nightmare world known as the Dark Aether, after two years of fighting zombie outbreaks around the world during the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War timeline.”
Wait, there’s more! “Agent Samantha Maxis gave her life to seal this weird dimension from the inside out.” Even worse things were to come: senior staff members of Requiem were arrested without a reason by the Project Director, who turned out to be Edward Richtofen.
Black Ops 6 will take place about five years later, and it looks like it will show more about Richtofen’s goals and motivations. The most important thing is that you will probably be shooting an unimaginable number of zombies in the head. This week, on August 8, there will be a full reveal of the gameplay, so keep an eye out for that.
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