While the usual headliners will be on hand to make their mark at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, one company in particular looking to showcase its prominence is famed developer, LucasArts.
Indeed, the company hopes to achieve just this by showing us more of two of the most highly anticipated games of the year. What makes both of these titles so anticipated is the fact that they will be using technology that has never been used in a video game before.
The technology, coined digital molecular matter (DMM), will be used in the upcoming "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" and will allow for a photo-realistic experience with characters naturally reacting to the scenarios they’re part of, just as humans would using new software called Euphoria.
Project leader Hadeb Blackman explains, "DMM allows us to simulate the way things behave in the real world based on real world properties, so metal bends like metal, wood would splinter like wood." Blackman also explains how this technology will be used with character models by allowing them to react and interact like real world humans would.
"It gives our character a central nervous system," Blackman explained, "It gives them an intelligence you don’t see in other games."
The second game, Fracture, is a brand new franchise for LucasArts that the company hopes will generate enough interest to warrant a theatrical release. The game will be utilizing new technology that they hope will set it apart from anything of it’s type.
"The thing about ‘Fracture’ that sets it apart from all other games is what we are calling Terrain Deformation," says Jeffrey Gullett, the associate producer on the title. "It is a brand new technology that allows you to manipulate the ground on the fly."
Fracture takes place in 2161 and global warming has "fractured" the world. In a battle of East and West, each half of the world has it’s method of survival in an intense Civil War that is raging on Earth beside the environmental conditions they must endure.
The previously mentioned, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will cover the ground between the Star Wars film trilogies through its story line. The game will allow the gamers to play as Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, but eventually the character seeks redemption and becomes a true hero.
Look forward to more information about both of these titles from the upcoming CES as well as in the coming months.
Source: CNBC