Howard and Raj show of their Galactic Dance Off moves on The Big Bang Theory! I'm glad the writers of the show understood the humor and fun we were going for when making the game.

Great news for Star Wars fans! Great news for Disney stockholders! Great news for Lucasarts?

I had the pleasure of attending Gamescom 2012 this year in beautiful Cologne, Germany to discuss and play our run-time demo of Star Wars 1313.  We had a fantastic reception to the game at E3 and again at Gamescom.  But don't take my word for it.  Check out this great write-up from El33tonline:

Titled ‘Star Wars 1313,’ the game is set in the bowels of the storied planet of Coruscant (famous in the Star Wars fiction), and is in development at LucasArts’ studios in San Francisco and Singapore. LucastArts’ Craig Derrick was on-hand to walk us through the game while the company’s Mark James (platform technical director) was also lurking in the darkness of the demo room (located in Activision’s booth) to oversee proceedings.

“Star Wars 1313, for us, is our first mature-themed game at LucasArts,” Derrick began. “It’s about playing as a bounty hunter in the most dangerous place in the galaxy – the ruthless criminal underworld of Coruscant’s Level 1313."

The demo began with a few close-ups of vehicles and a few environmental shots that in most any other game would seem pretty standard, except in Star Wars 1313, every last bolt, scratch and scrape is displayed in glorious detail – as I said before, I couldn’t believe that this was all really running real-time at a playable framerate.

The characters, too, benefit from an incredible level of care and attention and while their faces, bodies and movements still appear ‘game-like,’ it’s at a point where it truly does look like the CG you would expect in a Star Wars film, or a Pixar animated movie.

See the incredible game footage and read the entire article at El33tonline's website: here

Dive Into the Criminal Underworld in Star Wars 1313

LucasArts is diving into the most dangerous depths of the Star Wars criminal underworld with their newly announced internally developed videogame franchise, Star Wars 1313. Players will take control of a lethal bounty hunter in the never-before-explored expanses of Level 1313, deep below the surface of Coruscant. Using an arsenal of exotic weaponry to hunt down marks, the player must also uncover the truth surrounding a criminal conspiracy in this third-person cinematic action adventure game. It's a bold new take on the Star Wars galaxy, intended for mature audiences.

Star Wars 1313 emphasizes epic set pieces and fast-paced combat with a mortal, well-equipped hero who cannot rely on supernatural powers to survive his dangerous environment. The game benefits from an integrated development approach that brings together artists from across the entire Lucasfilm organization, including LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation Ltd. and Skywalker Sound.

Previewed on Spike TV, the game made its formal debut at the 2012 Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, June 5-7th. More details about Star Wars 1313 will surface in the coming months here at StarWars.com and at www.StarWars1313.com.

Take my hand as I lead you on a journey through the different game modes in Kinect Star Wars.  Jedi Destiny, Podracing, Rancor Rampage, Galactic Dance Off and Duels of Fate.  That's five games in one!

Yep, that's me sitting in the "Simon" chair crushing some kids' dream of being the Next Game Boss.  Here's the official description from IGN:

Six teams of up-and-coming devs compete in IGN's new reality competition show, The Next Game Boss, for a prize package worth $10,000!

In the premiere episode, the contestants are given the challenge to create a video game concept but are thrown two last minute twists: they can only use one button for player input and it must also be PC compatible! Watch the first episode, hosted by IGN's Naomi Kyle and Daemon Hatfield with special guest judge Craig Derrick from LucasArts then leave us a comment below and answer this week's question: which team are you rooting for?

They edited out all of our arguments, the crying and my jokes!  Oh well, I guess Greg Miller is the only guy that gets to be funny at IGN.  Anyway, I had a blast doing this and wish all of the teams the best of luck throughout the competition and into what I'm sure will be long careers within the game industry!

And a special thanks to Ken Fox for putting much of this together and inviting me to be their first guest judge!

Kinect Star Wars was back in action and this time in glorious 3D at the 2012 Las Vegas CES.  Here are Microsoft's Major Nelson and Glenn Gregory to show how it's coming along.

Extra Bonus Footage: My buddies Drew Skillman and Tim Schafer's latest game Double Fine Happy Action Theater.