Starting to get scared of what is going to happen to Star Wars

[Upbeat Zombie]

Haven't Star Wars games been hit or miss (and more of the latter) ever since they started making them? If all the bad SW games that came before haven't ruined the Star Wars brand. I would imagine Disney would have to do screw up royally to do any serious damage.

Besides Lucas had been cashing out Star Wars from the beginning with merchandising.

 

[Skrimmy]

I suspect it will end up like the new Star Trek films, hollow imitations of a bygone age, still entertaining in their own right but lacking the spark that made StarWars great.

This. I really hope not, but you're probably right.

 

[drummond13]

Your post confuses me. The movies likely couldn't be worse than the prequels. And Star Wars has been a cash grab since day one. What exactly are you concerned about changing?

I remember when pretty much every Star Wars game was awesome. This was in the 90s...

 

[Fox12]

So I've been playing a lot of Marvel Games since Disney's acquisition of Marvel, and while I don't have a clear idea of how much of the game is based on their influence, I do think these games are looking more and more like cash-outs at every possible turn. This is starting to worry me a bit about the future of Star Wars.

Having always been a Star Wars fan, even though the bad times (hey, its hard to get good space action any more), I feel as though a story is coming to its close. One of the things I've always loved about Star Wars is how open the universe is, and how welcoming of different stories it can be (when it wants to). Yet Disney is pulling this big cash out with marvel, and I have to wonder if the same is being done to Star Wars.

How does everyone else feel on this correlation, and does anyone have any real info on how involved Disney was with the recent Marvel Releases (Deadpool, Marvel Heroes, Ect).

I hate to be a downer, but it's owned by Disney, and the games are made exclusively bt EA. Two of the worst companies in the world at whoring out successful franchises.

Star Wars has always been a commercial cash cow though. George Lucas is a business man, a fairly good one, but he was never an artist. That's why people expect too much from him. He was hugely involved in the marketing and product productions before the first film. He helped write the script with help from others, but the space ship designs, iconic wardobes, darth vaders breather helmet and entire outfit, and the mellinium falcon were all ideas created by other people. None of that was in the original script, atleast not in the form we know and love. The film was almost a flop, but it was saved by his editors. And lets not forget the fantastic musical score he was LUCKY to get.

He didn't even direct the second or third films. There was supposed to be an army of wookies in the third film, but George thought that teddy bears would sell better, so he replaced them. Harrison Ford insisted Han Solo should die, but George Lucas refused to do it, because "nobody wants to buy dead Han toys." George had barely an iota of talent, and his films were made classics through the effort of everyone but him. When he took back the reins for the prequels, we saw just how incompetent he was. Nothing "happened" to George Lucas, he didn't change. He was always this way. He couldn't decide if he wanted the Star Wars prequels to be a dark social commentary on the collapse of human government and civilization, the fall of man, a light hearted childrens adventure film, or a stupid but fun summer action series that would continue to be a commercial vehicle in the future, so he decided to do all of them at once...

 

[hermes]

He's a perfectly safe choice and an adequate director, but not any kind of visionary.

Star Wars does not merit a "visionary" director. It needs a competent, meat and potatoes director who can run more than two cameras, and a competent, meat and potatoes script writer who can pen dialogue that doesn't sound like it was written by a coked out six year old.

Star Wars is space opera, not 2001: A Space Odyssey. You don't want monkeys throwing bones or catalysts standing on Citadels blathering about synthetic singularities. You need space ships going "pew pew" and roguish do-gooders dead-panning their way through fire fights and a sprinkling of menacing Sith.

No visionaries, please.

Well...it was somewhat visionary at the time. The story was fairly ordinary, if done well, but the visual style didn't really look like anything that'd been seen before (a bit like 2001, yeah, but more explosiony).

Anyone can do a space opera, but not anyone can do a space opera like Star Wars.

Sorry, but no. The visual style is similar to a lot of space opera of Lucas childhood (like Buck Rogers), the same way the visual style of Indiana Jones is similar to matinee movies like Solomon's Mines. Nothing wrong with making movies like the ones you liked when young, but that is pretty much the idea behind Lucas' finest...

 

[MrBaskerville]

Since no one has posted this yet, I feel obliged to.


While I know that Star Wars is a pop culture icon and the original films were genuinely good, it's had the shit mined out of it already. Try thinking of a single product that any given franchise can be used to market and I guarantee you that there is a Star Wars version.

I always found that video to be a rambling mess. I have nothing against Errant Signals, he has good points at time, but i don´t see what he´s getting at in this video. There are lots of different Star Wars games out there, just look at recent titles like Force Unleashed, they did stuff that hadn´t been done in the series before and they are even quite unique compared to other games in the same genre (though we could argue about the quality).

 

[MrBaskerville]

He's a perfectly safe choice and an adequate director, but not any kind of visionary.

Star Wars does not merit a "visionary" director. It needs a competent, meat and potatoes director who can run more than two cameras, and a competent, meat and potatoes script writer who can pen dialogue that doesn't sound like it was written by a coked out six year old.

Star Wars is space opera, not 2001: A Space Odyssey. You don't want monkeys throwing bones or catalysts standing on Citadels blathering about synthetic singularities. You need space ships going "pew pew" and roguish do-gooders dead-panning their way through fire fights and a sprinkling of menacing Sith.

No visionaries, please.

But the original Star Wars wasn´t meat and potatoes, just look at the cinematography in the films. Empire is filled with memorable shots with imaginative and effective use of lighting and the designs are extraordinary and funnily enough, designed by a visionary. Star Wars needs to be a space opera, but they need a good writer and a Director who has more ambition than your average blockbuster director. It needs style and personality! Something Abrams movies are utterly lacking...

Though it obviously doesn´t need someone like John Boorman or David Lynch, but someone who can take the series and elevate it above other Sci-fi/Fantasy movies of our time.

 

[faefrost]

Star Wars doesn't scare me as much as you would think. The fact that Dice begged and campaigned to be given the new Battlefront says a lot about the passion involved. And they are a truly competent team.

And really? Can Marvell games get any worse? The best of hem are a handful of meh brawlers or arcade type fighters. I'm not sure that there is a lot of room there for Disney to actually do any harm?

 

[Something Amyss]

How does everyone else feel on this correlation, and does anyone have any real info on how involved Disney was with the recent Marvel Releases (Deadpool, Marvel Heroes, Ect).

Disney's been pretty hands off, really. And, I mean, I know that people only tend to care about recent events, but Marvel's record for games is far from a sterling one. For every good one, you have like ten bad ones.

Plus, as other people have pointed out, Star Wars has been a cash-in franchise since back when the movies were good.

Also, I fail to see how Deadpool was a cash-in, unless you're just taking the average review scores and judging your opinion on them.

Even still, mediocre doesn't mean cash-in, either. Like, my biggest problem with the game is how forced the dialogue comes off, and that strikes me as more a translation issue. Granted, I'd prefer the old Deadpool, but that's not going to happen. In the meanwhile, it looks like it's pretty solid overall. Not great, but then look at most of the other Marvel game titles out there, pre or post Disney.

Is Joe Quesada still EIC over there? Let's blame him.

In fact, let's blame him anyway.

 

[shrekfan246]

Also, I fail to see how Deadpool was a cash-in, unless you're just taking the average review scores and judging your opinion on them.

Even still, mediocre doesn't mean cash-in, either. Like, my biggest problem with the game is how forced the dialogue comes off, and that strikes me as more a translation issue. Granted, I'd prefer the old Deadpool, but that's not going to happen. In the meanwhile, it looks like it's pretty solid overall. Not great, but then look at most of the other Marvel game titles out there, pre or post Disney.

I can understand that. Personally I loved the dialogue, but I'm pretty easily amused and I know nothing about the comics, so it's not like the game had a high standard to reach with me in the first place. But even the 'generic, repetitive' gameplay was still a blast (for me, at least) until the very final stretch, which dragged on a bit too long with too high of a random difficulty spike all based in one boring arena.

And yeah, Marvel's game record isn't all that great. Even Spider-Man 2 is a pretty mediocre game, no matter how awesome the web-swinging may have been.

Is Joe Quesada still EIC over there? Let's blame him.

In fact, let's blame him anyway.

He's apparently the CCO of Marvel Entertainment now, which I guess is the greater Marvel company as a whole?

...

If anything, it sounds like a higher position than the one he held before, so sure, let's blame him.

 

[Greg White]

So I've been playing a lot of Marvel Games since Disney's acquisition of Marvel, and while I don't have a clear idea of how much of the game is based on their influence, I do think these games are looking more and more like cash-outs at every possible turn. This is starting to worry me a bit about the future of Star Wars.

Having always been a Star Wars fan, even though the bad times (hey, its hard to get good space action any more), I feel as though a story is coming to its close. One of the things I've always loved about Star Wars is how open the universe is, and how welcoming of different stories it can be (when it wants to). Yet Disney is pulling this big cash out with marvel, and I have to wonder if the same is being done to Star Wars.

How does everyone else feel on this correlation, and does anyone have any real info on how involved Disney was with the recent Marvel Releases (Deadpool, Marvel Heroes, Ect).

Considering Lucas has been whoring Star Wars out with as many cash-grabs as possible since day one(can't blame the guy for that, honestly), you can rest assured that Disney is at least going to make decent cash-grabs out of the Star Wars franchise instead of the mostly abysmal ones from the past 20 years.

 

[tardcore]

I suspect it will end up like the new Star Trek films, hollow imitations of a bygone age, still entertaining in their own right but lacking the spark that made StarWars great.

Yep. Star Wars has become Vegas Elvis. There is still that tiny spark of nostalgia that keeps you from turning away completely, but you can't help but notice its really just a bloated glitz and glitter covered mess mostly lacking its once brilliant ability to entertain.

If the new Trek films are anything to go by I think that for me the new Star Wars films will be a waste of my time. And since Disney decided to award my least favorite company exclusive Star Wars game making rights, I won't be touching any of those either. Looks like its time for me to chuck SW into the discard bin next to the hobbits and Mr. Spock.

 

[Benni88]

The involvement of JJ Abrams doesn't abate my concerns about this, either. He's a perfectly safe choice and an adequate director, but not any kind of visionary.

Really? I think that JJ Abrams is a name representative of good sci-fi. I found my cynicism for the "Disney Star Wars" films was somewhat reduced when I heard he was directing.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Well the prequels wernt that great, and i think that because they were prequels. They change what we think of characters we love. We liked Vader, but when you watch the prequel its difficult to watch the original trilogy the same way as we did as kids. Vader is awesome, but part of you has to accept he was a whiny kid. When you watch the original, it seems more like Vader was a likeable, fun and good person. Just some turned him. In the prequels he is an unlikeable douche bag, he moans, complains and constantly clashes with Kenobi.

Now the new movies could be awesome. If they base it on new characters, new stories and dont just add every old thing in it. I like R2D2 and C3PO, but they can be back ground characters. We love the original characters, Solo, Leia etc But we dont need that to enjoy starwars. Its a big universe with loads of characters and stories.....almost infinite amount of ideas and stories. I would prefer an original film for SW7 that fails than just a rehash of old ideas and old characters. Star Wars can succeed past the original trilogy.....just need a writer to write an awesome story, awesome new characters and fans will love it. By all means add Luke, Leia and Solo, but only as back ground characters handing the torch to the new group. An hopefully SW8 and SW9 will be 100% original.

 

[knight steel]

Star wars has been selling out since after the second movie. I don't think you
need to worry about Disney's treatment. It's not like Old Georgie was treating it with all that much respect.

Spoiler

Are there any depths for it to further fall?

I still don't get how there's so much hate for this specifically, with cries of selling out and what not, and then you have this event

Spoiler

that's evidently acceptable for what it is - good, clean hilarious fun.

Hahaha I love these Star wars dance video's they always make me happy and cheer me up-They're great I don't understand how anyone can hate them-in fact lets have some more:

Captcha:sick puppy

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Well, in the end, pretty much everyone is in it because it puts bread and jam and butter and cold beer on their tables.

George L. is no exception on that front, and if we're talking selling out and ruining things, well, George certainly ain't no exception there. To me, he pretty much ruined the Star Wars franchise with his infuriating, stupid, nonsensical, boring and utter shite prequels trilogy.

From what I've gathered so far, Disney got that funky to direct/write/spin it like a dreidel. That might or might not turn out better than the prequels trilogy.

But they've also gotten the old, i. e. original actors in, at least for the initial take off. I like that idea. To be honest, that should have been done, what, ten or fifteen years ago already. The prequels trilogy is pretty much the worst thing that could have happened to the franchise, but I fear the fistful of spin offs (crap games, so-so animated TV series) did generate some cash. No hard numbers to crunch there, so that's that.

 

[shootthebandit]

As long as R2D2 is still there. Somehow a few beeping tones can say a lot more than words. Also R2 always seems to get everyone out of shit and they dont appreciate it. Also i love how his beeps always sound so sarcastic. By far the most consistant character in all 6 films

To be honest id like a prequel of the prequels. Id love to see qui gon get a decent story after all he is incredibly powerful (first jedi to come back from the dead if i am correct?). Id kinda like to know how the whole jedi thing started and when the division of jedi and sith started

 

[mbarker]

the franchise was already destroyed by lucas Disney can't do any worse so I say have-at-'er you can't do any worse than Lucas. I'm still surprised there is a strong fan following of the franchise.

 

[barbzilla]

Well it seems like most everyone is saying that we can expect more of the same, with a slight variation one way or the other in quality. I can handle that. I was mostly worried about a white wash. Gazillion's Marvel Heroes was the real warning point for me, and I'm not even sure how much Disney had to do with the process. The funny thing is Marvel Heroes is one of the better Marvel games in the past 10 years or so, it just way too far off as far as paid value.

Thank you to everyone for the input though.

 

[Waffle_Man]

I always found that video to be a rambling mess. I have nothing against Errant Signals, he has good points at time, but i don´t see what he´s getting at in this video. There are lots of different Star Wars games out there, just look at recent titles like Force Unleashed, they did stuff that hadn´t been done in the series before and they are even quite unique compared to other games in the same genre (though we could argue about the quality).

What he's getting at in the video is that we shouldn't be worried about what Disney and EA are going to do with Star Wars at this point because Star Wars has been taken so many places as to have no real thematic or emotional center any more. You can literally do anything with the Star Wars license and not have it seem out of place. Therefore, what value as a franchise does it have?

And what I wanted to ask was "what is so good about Star Wars anyway?" Not that I don't love the original films, but a lot of what made them good, such as the cinematography and how the imagery went well with the simple themes, has been increasingly thrown out and ignored in adaptation. Star Wars itself was purposefully designed to be as generic as possible in order to pay homage to older works, and yet we treat it as some sort of sacred scripture. Being generic and derivative isn't bad, but after enough derivations, things tend to become diluted past the point of having any emotional weight. Everyone rightly likes KOTOR, but has anyone stopped to ask what the game actually gained from being in the star wars universe as opposed to any other universe?