Star Wars: The Force Unleashed [X360]

Blackman goes on to describe a third important Force Unleashed character, a Jedi named General Kota. "Kota's a hard-boiled Jedi character you encounter. He's played by a stage and TV actor named Cully Fredrickson, who captured the spirit of this edgy, unemotional, unsentimental Jedi general perfectly." Kota is very different from a lot of the Jedi that we've seen in the past: "Militaristic rather than meditative," as Blackman puts it.

If you're noticing a lack of familiar Star Wars names, it's not accidental. Force Unleashed began its life featuring more characters from the movies, but Blackman's team was convinced otherwise by one of the most famous Star Wars names of all. "We met with George Lucas a number of times to talk about this game and its storyline," he says. "George really encouraged us to go out and create new characters: the apprentice, Juno, Kota, a new droid sidekick for the player character, and a number of new enemy types."

Star Wars: Force Unleashed is due to release in Spring 2008, on Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP and DS.