DRIVING FORCE 'STAR WARS' A GAMER'S DREAM.Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer The real revenge of the Sith will come out of your wallet. Anakin Skywalker's descent into darkness may be complete on screen in ``Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith,'' but he's just getting warmed up in the video game world. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the three-day trade show for the multibillion-dollar game industry now in its final day at the Los Angeles Convention Center The Los Angeles Convention Center (abbreviated LACC) is a convention center in downtown Los Angeles. The LACC hosts annual events such as the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, and was best known to video games fans as host to E3 until its cessation in 2006. , all things Darth Vader Darth Vader fallen Jedi Knight has turned to evil. [Am. Cinema: Star Wars] See : Evil caused a stir Thursday. It's hard to catch eyes at the blowout event, which puts a circus to shame with its loud, flashy displays and stunts. But every time gamers heard the familiar John Williams This biographical article or section needs additional references for verification. Please help [ to improve this article] by adding additional sources. Unverifiable material about living persons must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. score or the screech of a blaster, cheers erupted. The Dark Side of the Force has many fans, apparently. ``Everyone wants to be a part of the movie, but they can't,'' said Mark Vencer, a 31-year-old sheriff's deputy from Van Nuys. ``You can still be part of the game, though. And you can play it over and over and over.'' He has a Sony PlayStation Sony Playstation - Playstation 2, a Microsoft Xbox and a PC at home and spends between 20 and 40 hours and $100 a month on his gaming habits. The latest edition of the Microsoft console, the Xbox 360, drew him in, but it was the ``Star Wars'' games that particularly lit his lightsaber. He'd heard good things about the Xbox title based on ``Episode III'' and was particularly interested in next year's Star Wars Battlegrounds II. George Lucas Noun 1. George Lucas - United States screenwriter and filmmaker (born in 1944) Lucas , the series' creator, long ago recognized the potential to transfer his popular series to game form. Even before he released the current trilogy, beginning with 1999's ``Episode I - The Phantom Menace,'' he began turning his intellectual property into games for the PC market. His LucasArts publishing house has transformed each subsequent film into multiple game tie-ins as well as spinoffs unrelated to a movie. Currently, the Marin County-based company has seven new ``Star Wars''-related titles in development or on the market on Xbox, PlayStation2 and PC platforms. ``This is a dream job,'' said Ted Morris, development director for Petroglyph Games Petroglyph Games is a game studio based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was formed by a group of former Westwood Studios employees who had resigned when Electronic Arts merged Westwood Studios into the EA Pacific studios in Los Angeles. , the Las Vegas-based studio that is responsible for next year's PC-title Star Wars Empire at War. ``The people I work with love being part of the 'Star Wars' universe, especially now that it's coming to a crescendo. It makes me feel good that even with all the other titles, we're still stopping traffic with the hard-core gamers.'' He still remembers the night as an 8-year-old kid when his neighbor banged on the door, insisting that his father go to the theater immediately to see this amazing movie called ``Star Wars.'' And so the elder Morris did, piling the kids into the car in their pajamas pajamas Noun, pl US pyjamas pajamas npl (US) → pijama msg; piyama msg (LAM for the beginning of his longtime addiction to the galaxy far, far away. He had plenty of company at the show, where gamers ogled everything with a Lucas logo on it. ``Star Wars'' for your cell phone, ``Star Wars'' on the Internet, ``Star Wars'' with Lego figures for heroes. When white-armored storm troopers posed for pictures at one booth, fans swarmed around them like they were pin-up girls. ``Anything `Star Wars'-related that comes out, you've gotta try it,'' said Felix Rosario, vice president of the Santa Monica-based repair service Mac 911. ``Some of them are junk, but people will still buy them just to see what they're like.'' He was a little bleary-eyed Thursday morning, fresh off a midnight showing of ``Episode III.'' Excited about the final piece in the six-part film cycle, Rosario downed some coffee and an energy drink, then went out to watch the latest upgrade for Star Wars Galaxies For other uses, see Star Wars Galaxy. Star Wars Galaxies (abbv. SWG) is a Star Wars themed MMORPG for Microsoft Windows developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts. . ``I hear the new `Episode III' one isn't even all that good,'' said Sarah Bendon, a 22-year-old file clerk and student wearing a ``Chewie is My Co-Pilot'' T-shirt. ``But I still want to play it. It's probably misplaced mis·place tr.v. mis·placed, mis·plac·ing, mis·plac·es 1. a. To put into a wrong place: misplace punctuation in a sentence. b. loyalty, but c'mon, it's `Star Wars!''' Brent Hopkins, (818) 713-3738 brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Trevor Wingett of Glendale plays Lego Star Wars Lego Star Wars is a Lego theme which incorporates the Star Wars saga. The first Lego Star Wars in 1999, included model 7140, the first Lego X-Wing. The first few sets based on the original trilogy were released in 1999, coinciding with the release of The Phantom Menace. at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the three-day event three-day event a competition in the pleasure horse sport comprising usually one day each for dressage, cross country and show jumping. at the L.A. Convention Center. There, anything linked to ``Star Wars'' is popular with gamers. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion