Lucas' game company blasts next-gen games

LucasArts developer Chris Williams has expressed his disappointment with "the number of next-generation games that are really current-generation games with better graphics."

Tough talk, but something that the house of Star Wars intends to back up: "We are committed to next-gen gameplay; to experiences that are different," Williams told industry news site Next Generation in an interview.

The first evidence of that won't be due until late next year, in Indiana Jones, and then later in LucasArts' all-new Star Wars title. Both games will use new physics and animation technologies to allow characters to react 'naturally' rather than with pre-set animations.

"When you play a combat game, you know that this punch results in that animation," explains Williams, "but in Indiana Jones, every time you grab a guy and throw him, the result is a surprise. Who knows what will happen? Games are a series of player choices, and we are offering a series of great pay-offs that don't keep repeating."

It's an ambitious concept, but then that's what next-gen gaming is all about - and, before it became better known for churning out limp Star Wars licensed titles, so was LucasArts. Could this be the return of the development Jedi?

October 4, 2006