Inside the Star Wars Pre-Vis

Again, game design drives technology. In the video, you see things like shattering glass, stormtroopers reaching for their weapons when suspended in mid-air, junk being ripped apart... All of this can be achieved using the technology being developed at LucasArts with partners like Pixelux Entertainment and NaturalMotion.

In terms of being "accurate" with the use of the Force, we're committed to creating powers that are logical and believable extensions of the Force as seen in the films, and provide tremendous gameplay opportunities. As a diehard Star Wars fan myself, I know that one of the big questions fans have when they see the video is "Why is that Jedi using Force lightning?" It's a legitimate question, but we think it'll make a lot more sense to everyone once they know a bit more about the story. I think we've got a story that will please everyone from the most hardcore to the most casual of Star Wars fans. But we're not talking about that just yet…

IGN: Since we're on the subject of the story, are the characters and situations shown in the pre-vis representative of actual characters and locations in a future game, or is this setting for demo purposes only?

Blackman: The characters and locations are not necessarily indicative of our current direction. They're just placeholder.

The situations are again meant to solidify the concept of the Force unleashed. We fully expect you'll be doing everything shown in the pre-vis and more.

IGN: Okay then, how about the technology that powers the placeholder situations? With all of the data processing and number-crunching going on there, is a game running on what's hinted at in the video going to run on a network?

Blackman: This is a legitimate concern, but we're confident we can get these simulations running over a network and we're working closely with our technology partners to ensure that becomes a reality.

IGN: So IGN readers can truly understand what the technology born out of the video really means to gaming, can you give us an example using an older Star Wars game as to how simulation-based gameplay can drastically change things?

Blackman: Well, you probably Force pushed a stormtrooper or two as Kyle Katarn in a Jedi Knight game, right? Imagine if that stormtrooper was able to stop his progress by grabbing onto a railing and then proceeded to grab a gun beside him and fire back at Kyle -- all this because his biomechanical AI simply knew that that's the best thing for him to do. That's euphoria in action.

Now, imagine that Kyle pushes another stormtrooper into a building with so much force that you'd expect the stormtrooper to make a permanent dent in the wall. That happens with DMM, and no matter how many times you throw that stormtrooper into that wall, it will look different every single time, and still always look authentic. In fact, if you hit him hard enough and the building is dilapidated enough, the whole thing might collapse on the stormtrooper, because DMM also takes into account the actual physical mass of an object and the ways in which objects are constructed. Even with euphoria in place, there's no getting up from that!

IGN: That sounds very promising! But now for our final, and most important question: Best Star Wars film, which one is it and why?

Blackman: Definitely The Empire Strikes Back. As far as I'm concerned, there's no more perfectly constructed scene from any movie than the one in the carbon-freezing chamber. And is there a better adlib in cinema history than "I know?"

IGN: That is the correct answer!

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