Top Announcements From Star Wars Celebration 2015
Lucasfilm and Disney have saved some exciting announcements for this year’s Star Wars Celebration. Here’s a roundup of the highlights ranging from the films to novels to games (some content relating to Rebels could be considered minor spoilers, especially for people not caught up on Season 1):
Movie News:
The plot of Rogue One was released, as was the name of a new series of Star Wars movies:
Kathleen Kennedy revealed that the upcoming big screen adventures that explore the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga will be known as the Star Wars Anthology Series.
Up until now, details around the first entry in the Anthology Series, Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One, have been minimal. Edwards revealed that the film will revolve around a rogue band of resistance fighters who unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring new hope to the galaxy. “I couldn’t sit in a cinema and know that someone else made this film,” Edwards said in the panel. Fans were treated to concept art and a brief video that caused a packed house to erupt.
TV News:
Star Wars Rebels season 2 trailer was premiered:
And some interesting discussion about plans for season 2:
Book News:
The Novelization For The Force Awakens author and release date revealed (tweet courtesy of Star Wars Insider and Starwars.com writer Amy Ratcliffe):
Games:
Star Wars Battlefront 3 will be almost entirely a multiplayer game and aside from a few small scenarios will not have a single-player narrative.
I’d like to address a few criticisms that are already popping up:
1.) No single player campaign or narrative: Less than 10% of the audience for shooters plays single-player campaigns, so it’s perfectly reasonable for game developers to decide to minimize single-player content. There will be small single-player scenarios but overall this is a game meant to be played as a multiplayer.
2.) Lack of anything relating to the Prequel Trilogy: This is the number one reason I intend to buy this game. I have no interest in telling Prequel fans that they shouldn’t love the Prequels. If you love ’em, more power to you, and I’m not being sarcastic. But those of us who don’t like the Prequels have had their lore shoved down our throats non-stop in recent years. We can’t even buy the Original Trilogy without Hayden Christensen as Anakin. Fans of the Original Trilogy have taken the back seat to Prequel fans for over a decade now, and we’re finally getting a bone tossed to us.
3.) No space battles: I think it’s a plus that the devs are focusing their efforts on a specific type of gameplay instead of dividing their resources. Truly good aerial combat requires different things from ground-based combat and it would be a mistake to shoehorn in some poorly designed space fights just for the sake of having them in the game. If I play an air combat game I’d prefer it be designed from the ground up (pun not intended) specifically for that purpose.
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