Experience the next great chapters of the Star Wars universe

Awhile back we told you the story of Andrew Ainsworth, the UK prop designer. Ainsworth was responsible for designing and creating the stormtrooper helmets that were in the original 1977 film. Since then, he has taken those rare molds and tools he’d used and made replica helmets for collectors and cosplayers in the UK and abroad. But the question was whether or not the replicas constituted infringement on Lucas’ intellectual property or not. Lucas had filed a lawsuit, when he alleged that they discovered that the company was selling to the US market. But Ainsworth has denied doing so.

The case went all the way to the British high court and they ruled in favor of Ainsworth stating that replicas are not works of art and therefore are not covered by copyright in the UK. This means that the company is free to continue to make and sell the helmets, as well as other Star Wars replicas, just not to those in the US. This is fine for the prop designer. He says...

Well as we mentioned in earlier articles, there were several panels surrounding Star Wars and the revelations were interesting to say the least about the Lucas empire. We’ll touch on a few of them right here.

Of course, the big news for gaming fans was Kinect Star Wars, which was finally given a release timeframe of Christmas 2011 although there was no specific date. They showed off a new portion of the game that included pod racing where gamers could race as any of the characters and over 20 pods on a variety of courses. In this one, you’ll even be able to play the Sebulba trick of actually throwing things at your opponent to wreck their racer. You can do all of this, as well as yielding a light saber, driving a flying car, and more with the Kinect motion tracking system that is only on the Xbox 360. The Star Wars Bundle, announced at the show, will include a R2D2 modded Xbox 360, a C3PO modded controller and a white cased Kinect to match, as well as two...

As you all know, Lucas is releasing all six Star Wars movies on Blu-Ray in various packs on September 16th, but one thing that they have in common is around 40 hours of extra bonus features such as the making of, etc. But for those who can’t wait and have an iPad or iPad 2, you can now download a free app from the iTunes app store that will let you get a sneak peek at the bonus footage that will be included. iPod Touch and iPhone users will have to wait a bit longer for the peek as the app won’t be ready until next month. But that is still long before the release date.

So what is in the app? Basically a very spiffy well intentioned interface that is touch driven, giving access to each of the films and their related content. That content includes a ton of concept art and rare never before seen photos with notes on what it all meant, a QuicktimeVR like viewer with props, costumes and maquettes (which are mockup statues) that you can view from all angles, and...

At San Diego Comic-Con that officially starts tomorrow, there will be a panel for Star Wars: The Old Republic, the much anticipated MMO from Bioware and EA. And during that panel, there was to be a huge announcement about the game. But a polish game store website named Empik placed in their store a TOR collectors set that it was taking pre-orders. Could this be what they were going to reveal?

The shop talked about the details of this set, giving the added features you will get over the lowly droids that just buy the regular game, such as a CD of the TOR soundtrack, of course a fancy box for which it all comes in, a map of the Old Republic galaxy, the game discs in metal cases, a Darth Malgus statue, a custom Security Authentication Key (which we aren’t exactly sure what it opens) and a journal by Master Gnost-Durai with notes by Satele Shan (who we are sure will have relevance in the game).

The set also features in-game enhancements, which is interesting...

One of the most interesting, but perhaps the least known of the original Star Wars trilogy cast is Boba Fett. For someone who barely talked in the original movies, but had a cool jet pack, and grew up in the prequels, he was a character that gained a lot of notoriety from his mysterious nature. Expanded universe novels have tried to fill in the gap on how he became a bounty hunter and most portrayed him not as evil, but someone trying to survive and do his job for the money, just as Dog the Bounty Hunter does on TV each week. Of course, Boba Fett’s clients are questionable, but they pay well. But for those who haven’t read the novels and only seen the movies, there is a huge space in time which a lot of stories could come from and now one man is petitioning Lucas to either make the film himself or allow someone else to make the movie that would finally offer an official timeline of the hunter.

The man asking is not just some random fanboy that is on the net...

Today we look at Saturday and Sunday at Comic-Con in panels and events that relate to Star Wars. There is not as much on these days as they were for Thursday and Friday.

Saturday, June 23rd

3:00pm - 4:00pm The Write Stuff III: Writing for Genre Television and Beyond
In this non-universe specific panel, the top TV writers will discuss the nature of writing for the medium and particularly genres and how potential talents can get into the business. On the panel will be Steve Melching, who is the writer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars

4:00pm – 5:00pm Dark Horse and Bioware: A Comic and Video Game Partnership
Dark Horse has been instrumental in providing Bioware with an outlet to extend its games into the comic book media with two series based on Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. Now as Star Wars: The Old Republic draws near, they will also be creating a comic for that as well. This panel will discuss all of their current and past joint efforts.

8:30pm – 9:30pm...

In our continuing series to tell you what’s going to be at Comic-Con for those attending in relation to Star Wars, we present Friday’s (July 21st) schedule for all things Lucas related…

10am – 11am Lego Star Wars
Ever wanted to find out what it takes to bring Star Wars and Lego together? Well now you can with the team from the game company, where you will be able to ask questions and hear the answers from some of the coolest developers around. The panel will also feature Emmy award winning writer Michael Price. There will also be the revealing of a new Lego Star Wars event.

11am – 12n Hasbro Star Wars
Of course, everyone knows that Hasbro makes a ton of Star Wars toys, fun props and action figures. In this panel, guests from the marketing and design teams will be on hand to talk about what is in store for the franchise with a sneak peek at next year’s offerings.

12n – 1:00pm Star Wars Books
Publisher Del Rey and LucasBooks will discuss the 20th anniversary...

San Diego Comic-Con International is one of the biggest comic book, and now pop culture events in the country. It’s where movie companies, comic book publishers, authors, artists, game developers, and even toy manufacturers, not to mention fans come together, 130,000 in all for the four day event. And Star Wars is right in the middle of it, with actually a lot of different events going on despite not having much in the way of new content except for Clone Wars’ new season coming soon.

Thursday:
10:00am – 11:00am Star Wars Kinect
The title that has been much awaited for the Xbox 360 and Kinect controller will have a panel in which participants will get to hear from lead producer Craig Derrick from LucasArts and studio head Jorg Nuemann from Kinect Publishing. Participants will get a free poster for attending.

3:30pm – 4:30pm Star Wars: The Old Republic
We’ve talked about the new massive multiplayer online world before here and Bioware will be on hand, along...

George Lucas, who usually is pretty good about fan based events and such, actually put a stop to a Star Wars Movie Marathon at a bar in Brooklyn that was to feature specialty drinks and costume contests during the showings. The Wicked Monk had planned to present all six movies for a night of fun and frolic, but the head Jedi was having none of it. He sent his squadron of lawyers descending down on the place like Darth on Leia’s ship and in the end, the establishment was forced to cancel. Actually he just sent a cease and desist letter. According to the communication, it was because they were charging, even though it was clear that entry was free and only the drinks would be charged for. Our guess it was probably because he wasn’t getting the licensing fees from it like theaters do. The bad PR he’ll get internationally was really not worth it for a local event.

The television special Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Adventure will make its debut on the Cartoon...

In the continuing saga of the Star Wars Galaxies shutdown that we spoke of yesterday, it seems that some players have turned to the Supreme Council, known in some circles as the US legal system, to file a class action suit against Sony Online Entertainment to block the closing. The suit mentions the tactics that the company has taken in response to the petition that was being circulated in an effort to keep the service from shutting down. They have blocked access to forums, singled out a ring leader who they threatened to sue as well as ban permanently and other practices that while designed to silence the opposition to their plan, is doing them more harm than good. The suit is not very likely to succeed due to the fine print in the EULA, which gives Sony the right to basically run their service as they see fit, but you can’t blame them for trying. Best case is that it shows the lengths that Sony is willing to go to shut up their members. The bad PR alone...

As you can imagine, there is nothing like a game player scorned. The surprise announcement that Star Wars Galaxies is shutting down in December has rocked the gaming world and message boards across the internet. The game’s Facebook page has been aflame with new postings referring to the petition to keep the game going, as well as their discontent at the plan.

At last count, around 2100 had signed the petition to Sony Online to request that the game stays open, but rather than business as usual, their request is for Sony to go to a free to play model making their revenue by selling virtual goods and reducing the number of servers. This move is not unprecedented. Other companies have kept their MMO’s based on popular franchises such as Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings open for free, while still gaining users and revenue, sometimes even five fold. But unlike those other games, they didn’t have a major competitor for the same market breathing down...

Today we are looking at some cool new Star Wars R2-D2 toys that will be coming out this fall.

Our first item is an old favorite that has been converted to the world of George Lucas. Yes, it’s Operation. You remember that game as a kid. You took a pair of tweezers and tried to remove things like the funny bone and heart from the patient without touching the sides. Otherwise his nose lit up and a sharp annoying buzzing sound would indicate to you that the patient had suffered. I always thought after ten of those he would have been flatlined, but that might have been too much for kids. Well now instead of Cavity Sam (which apparently was the unfortunately unhealthy man’s name), Star Wars Operation features R2-D2 under the tweezers, or in this case, perhaps spanners. But it’s still the same game, only you will be taking out R2-D2’s electronic parts and if you don’t do it correctly, he will beep at you and flash an evil red light. The game is to be released...