still waiting at star's end

When I first heard about the Star Wars Trilogy coming to the GBA, without seeing the game I immediately assumed that UbiSoft was simply publishing LucasArts' incredibly fun games for the SNES. After seeing these screens though, it becomes painfully evident that this is not the case. If anything, it looks like UbiSoft used the same engine found in the GBA version of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Due for release in a couple of weeks, this game hopes to capture "all the exiting moments from the classic trilogy" in one game, while capitalizing on the release of the classic trilogy DVDs. The game looks as astoundingly terrible as Flight of the Falcon, and like an idiot I'll eventually give in to the Siren's call. This whole situation reminds me of the Star Wars Gameboy game that my friend stuck me with to replace my copy of Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins that his brother sold while on loan. That game was probably one of the worst I've ever played, and the only reason I forced myself to even touch it was deep resentment towards myself for ever lending Mario Land 2 out in the first place.

Adding to these feelings of betrayal is news about how Jump to Lightspeed is going to work. Sure, SOE is luring people in to pre-purchasing the game with a juicy guaranteed spot in the Beta this October, and an exclusive Naboo Flash Speeder to pimp yourself out in, but there is something about this ploy that absolutely reeks of "bait and switch". Going to the official SWG website, you can read all about how flying into space requires a visit to a terminal planetside, where you click "launch", are subjected to yet another loading screen and then suddenly you're floating in space. This might as well be a separate game, because as the design stands there is no real connection to the original planet-based game. With my initial fears confirmed, I doubt I'll be picking up the expansion, out of principle if nothing else. The game has way too many loading screens as it is, and to completely neuter what made the movies so exciting takes a lot of potential immersivity and further world building out of the game. I've definitely given Galaxies the benefit of the doubt, and I've done my best to see past the community backlash and empty promises from the development team on the vitriol-soaked bulletin boards. I wouldn't blame the development team entirely, though, as they're probably overworked to meet their deadline and secure more players before Blizzard does. As for the launch of Everquest II, the money is all going to the same place so I doubt it really matters. Galaxies does have some good qualities, though, and I'm not about to give it up just yet. I'm already starting a new character to become a Jedi as a result of the new publish. Nevertheless, the temptations brought by playing World of Warcraft will lead to a very tough decision this November.

Now, please excuse me as I dust the cheetos off of my Revenge of the Sith t-shirt.

don't play truth or dare