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Factor 5 had a Star Wars Trilogy Compilation finished for Wii, but it was cancelled

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Factor 5 had a Star Wars trilogy compilation finished for Wii, but was cancelled

 

star-wars-rogue-squadron.jpg

 

During the latest Nintendo Voice Chat episode, IGN spoke with Julian Eggebrecht, who was the president of the now-defunct development studio Factor 5. Eggebrecht revealed details about a cancelled Star Wars trilogy compilation for Wii – titled Rogue Leaders – that was actually finished.

 

Here’s what was shared:

 

– Factor 5 was originally working on a trilogy compilation for the first Xbox

– This would have contained Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, and Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike

– Factor 5 was interested in Wii given the advances of motion tech thanks to Wii MotionPlus

– The team tried resurrecting its cancelled Star Wars trilogy from the first Xbox

– Making the game work on a modern console was only a matter of tweaking the already-existing systems in the half-finished game

 

“…we had our old trilogy project, which we had fifty percent done, which was basically putting Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike with new content, [along] with fixing some of the mistakes, redoing completely the cameras, and everything.”

 

– Factor 5 wanted the game to work with the GameCube controller and a few Wii peripherals

– The team “wanted to support every single control that you could imagine.”

– During flight sequences, you could have the Mario Kart wheel control your X-Wing together with the balance board to control the pedals

– There was space combat, speeder bike racing levels, third-person action sequences, and even lightsaber battles making the most of the Wii Motion Plus’ 1:1 controls

– New graphics engine allowed for 60 FPS with a high visual fidelity

 

“Believe me, if you ever saw it running on the Wii at 60 [fps], it is by far – and I think I’m not overstating that – the technically most impressive thing you would ever see on [Wii].”

 

– Wii trilogy was finished, but the project was shut down

– The cancellation was because of the financial crisis of 2008 and the fact that the team had taken it upon themselves to self-fund the project in order to claim a larger “piece of the pie” once it was distributed

– Two potential publishers also went bankrupt and LucasArts was having “their own financial woes”

– IGN says multiple companies stepped in to help out with publishing, but financial hardship, legal snafus, and budgetary restrictions ultimately led to the project’s final cancellation.

 

– Eggebrecht loves the Wii U, but its unpredictable trajectory and licensing troubles make it unlikely

 

“Maybe sooner or later a hardware spot will be hit again, and we certainly would love to talk to Disney about it. And of course, with J.J.’s [Abrams] comeback to kind of the traditional trilogy feel, I think there’s going to be a lot of commotion around that. I just don’t know if we will be a part of it or not.”

 

http://nintendoeverything.com/factor-5-had-a-star-wars-trilogy-compilation-finished-for-wii-but-was-cancelled/

 

Ain't that a kick in the balls. Would have loved to have seen that. Almost wish I didn't know that now. What you don't have or don't know, you can't miss.

 

http://ie.ign.com/articles/2014/10/10/more-cancelled-star-wars-games-revealed?read

 

More Cancelled Star Wars Games Revealed - NVC Podcast

 

 

Watch from 4:50 on for the Wii section.

Edited by Wii
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Hero-of-Time Mentor

Hero-of-Time

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Absolutely gutted about this. The trilogy ( especially the first 2 ) were amazing and being able to play them again with a stable frame rate and improved graphics would have been amazing.

 

It's a shame Nintendo didn't see the potential in this project and step in to help them out. Sad times. :(

Cube Rising Star

Cube

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Posted

Stuff like this is why I didn't really care about LucasArts shutting down. Their management seem to completely change towards the beginning of last generation (PSWii60), resulting in an entire generation with no good Star Wars games (apart from the LEGO games).

 

Hell, I reckon that both Factor 5 and Free Radical Design would still be here if LucasArts had continued to support their projects.

Dcubed Proficient

Dcubed

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Posted

I remember hearing about this a whiles back, was hoping we'd get some video footage...

 

A real shame. Would've loved to see it hit the Wii during its lifetime :( They were some of the best arcade flight shooter games around!

Hero-of-Time Mentor

Hero-of-Time

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Posted

I'm about an hour in to the podcast and there's some great stuff on it.

 

- He said the N64 was an nightmare to work with, unless your game was colourful and starred an Italian plumber. Basically saying the console was made for that game rather than thinking about what others needed from it. Sounds familiar....

 

- They didn't have dev kits for the Megadrive or SNES so got a guy from the German secret service to reverse engineer the consoles. :D

 

- The Rogue Squadron series had reached its limit on the GameCube as Factor 5 wanted to take the series online but Nintendo had no interest in online gaming scene at the time. I guess this remains true to this day.

 

- They pitched the idea of a trilogy collection for the original Xbox with an online multiplayer mode. Both Microsoft and Lucasarts were keen on the idea but the deal fell through due to the constant change of management at Lucasarts.

 

- The idea was once again brought up for the 360 launch. They had an idea about making an online coop Rogue Squadron game called Rogue Squadron: X-Wing vs Tie Fighter. Again, this deal fell through due to Lucasarts.

 

I still have another 40 mins to go but so far it has been a great podcast. From the sounds of it @Cube was right on the money. It seems Lucasarts done a great deal of damage to the developer.

Fierce_LiNk Newbie

Fierce_LiNk

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Posted
I'm about an hour in to the podcast and there's some great stuff on it.

 

- He said the N64 was an nightmare to work with, unless your game was colourful and starred an Italian plumber. Basically saying the console was made for that game rather than thinking about what others needed from it. Sounds familiar....

 

- They didn't have dev kits for the Megadrive or SNES so got a guy from the German secret service to reverse engineer the consoles. :D

 

- The Rogue Squadron series had reached its limit on the GameCube as Factor 5 wanted to take the series online but Nintendo had no interest in online gaming scene at the time. I guess this remains true to this day.

 

- They pitched the idea of a trilogy collection for the original Xbox with an online multiplayer mode. Both Microsoft and Lucasarts were keen on the idea but the deal fell through due to the constant change of management at Lucasarts.

 

- The idea was once again brought up for the 360 launch. They had an idea about making an online coop Rogue Squadron game called Rogue Squadron: X-Wing vs Tie Fighter. Again, this deal fell through due to Lucasarts.

 

I still have another 40 mins to go but so far it has been a great podcast. From the sounds of it @Cube was right on the money. It seems Lucasarts done a great deal of damage to the developer.

 

Imagine an online Rogue Squadron where several of us from here met up to destroy the Death Star. Could even be done in some way like Destiny where you can level up and upgrade your ships as you progress through the missions.

 

Hnnnnnnnnnngggg.

Hogge Newbie

Hogge

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Posted

This is quite disappointing.

I enjoyed the first two games and never got the third. It'd be interresting to see the first game with bumped graphics.

Or better yet: all three games in HD on the Wii U.

 

Such a shame, because this is yet another company that Nintendo had an intimate relationship with, and then ruined it.

Does anyone know who owns the right to the RS games?

Cube Rising Star

Cube

Posted
Posted
Does anyone know who owns the right to the RS games?

 

Disney, although if it were to be released within the next 9 or so years, EA would have to publish it.

 

So it ain't happening on the Wii U.

Hero-of-Time Mentor

Hero-of-Time

Posted
Posted (edited)

I finished listening to it today.

 

- They helped Nintendo with the sound chip on the GameCube but their services were no longer required when it came to the Wii due to it using the same architecture.

 

- He said they were a few parties who tried to help them get the game released, with a special mention going out to Namco.

 

- Lucasarts wanted to help but at the same time they knew if they let Factor 5 go under then they would get the code for the game anyway, which is what happened.

 

- They eventually just concentrated on apps for consoles. Things like Netflixs, Hulu and other popular apps were developed by them. They've had a hand in a lot of stuff like this.

 

- IGN actually went to the Factor 5 early in the Wii's lifetime to get the IGN app up and running in the hardware but Nintendo weren't interested.

 

- Jose toyed with them making Starfox as Miyamoto said they were looking for someone to make the game. Justin said someone like Platinum would be more suited as it's hard for a western studio to work with Nintendo due to the communication issues.

 

- Their next game is on iOS. The team seems really happy with the platform and how Apple have evolved their hardware to suit gaming and developers.

 

Really loved this interview. It's such a shame these technical wizards were screwed over by the industry. I would love to see them work with Nintendo again. They had the ability to get the best out of Nintendo's machines. Sadly I can't see it happening.

Edited by Hero-of-Time
Dcubed Proficient

Dcubed

Posted
Posted

 

FUCK EVERYTHING!!!

 

THAT'S MY FUCKING DREAM STAR WARS GAME RIGHT THERE!!! The 1-1 lightsaber duels look fantastic! Pretty much EXACTLY what I was hoping for when the Wii was first announced!! :mad:

 

And on top of that, a fantastic upgrade with great new controls and new content for 3 of the best arcade flight games ever made!?

 

FUCK!! WHY!?!? :cry:

 

Hurry up and get Wii VC games up and running or get it ported to the Wii U so we can see this get released! Just... DO SOMETHING NINTENDO!!!

 

How the hell was this ever passed up for release back in the day!? It would've sold MILLIONS!!! How long were people crying out for a proper lightsaber game on Wii for!? Ever since before the fucking launch it was a no fucking brainer!!

 

FUCK YOU LUCASARTS!! Fuck you for passing on this in favour of the pure shit that came out of you last gen!! (REALLY!? Kinect Star Wars over THIS!? THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?) And now we have to deal with EA owning the Star Wars VG license, blocking any chances of a release for the next 10 years at least :cry:

Mr-Paul Newbie

Mr-Paul

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Posted

How on earth does so much crap get released, yet this, surely a guaranteed million seller on the Wii, never saw the light of day? Pretty much all the work was done by the looks of it, it just needed publishing. Shame that office politics/management/money is a factor as well as the actual quality of the product :(

 

Might have to go play the Gamecube version soon and remind myself of what we could have had, but even better :(

Glen-i Experienced

Glen-i

Posted
Posted

OK, I'm not the biggest fan of the Rogue Squadron games. (I found them kinda meh and a little frustrating) But the thought of having Pointer controls for this actually made me a bit sad it got cancelled now.

 

Kinda like how Resi Evil 4 Wii edition is way more fun than any other version in my opinion.

Agent Gibbs Newbie

Agent Gibbs

Posted
Posted
FUCK EVERYTHING!!!

 

THAT'S MY FUCKING DREAM STAR WARS GAME RIGHT THERE!!! The 1-1 lightsaber duels look fantastic! Pretty much EXACTLY what I was hoping for when the Wii was first announced!! :mad:

 

And on top of that, a fantastic upgrade with great new controls and new content for 3 of the best arcade flight games ever made!?

 

FUCK!! WHY!?!? :cry:

 

Hurry up and get Wii VC games up and running or get it ported to the Wii U so we can see this get released! Just... DO SOMETHING NINTENDO!!!

 

How the hell was this ever passed up for release back in the day!? It would've sold MILLIONS!!! How long were people crying out for a proper lightsaber game on Wii for!? Ever since before the fucking launch it was a no fucking brainer!!

 

FUCK YOU LUCASARTS!! Fuck you for passing on this in favour of the pure shit that came out of you last gen!! (REALLY!? Kinect Star Wars over THIS!? THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?) And now we have to deal with EA owning the Star Wars VG license, blocking any chances of a release for the next 10 years at least :cry:

 

while you are down on the ground, let me kick you...1313 was cancelled, KOTOR3 has never come, that fvranchise has been bastardised....and they did release those kinect and dancing games

 

Lucas arts were evil and good at the same time, no wait we all know who got involved and screwed a lot of stuff, the same guy who made jar jar binks...George

Cube Rising Star

Cube

Posted
Posted
while you are down on the ground, let me kick you...1313 was cancelled

 

That was probably for the better. The development was a mess, Boba Fett was shoehorned into the story and I'm pretty sure that we never saw anything real for it.

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