True to its word, Lucasarts has unveiled a short demo portraying some of those neat Force powers in the latest addition to the Star Wars video game franchise with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

The game showed off its powerful game engine during the recent 2008 CES. You can check out some of the neat new features that you can expect to see in the game after reading the full article.

Kurt Jellinek, president of Slackers, released an official statement in response to the news expose of Ars Technica Ben Kuchera. In the statement, Jellinek provided some material regarding this issue and even refuted some accusations made by the Kuchera's article about Slackers scalping Wii consoles on eBay.

Details about the official statement after the Jump.

Ars Technica expose writer Ben Kuchera brings another ground breaking story as he infiltratesd local video games retail chain Slackers and interviewed some employees about some of the business practices there. Apparently it was confirmed that employees mislead their customers by inaccurately reporting actual Wii stocks in the store and instead selling the extra ones on eBay at a premium.

For more information, read the full article after the jump!

Now we know many gaming sites have re-iterated and argued this point over and over again - that the story concepts and the driving of the story are just as important as the quality of the visuals. But given Ars Technica's technical nature and prowess over technology, it's amazing they've been able to put their point across so vividly with a game everyone could relate to.

 

Well, just about everyone in gaming of course. Valve's Half-Life 2 was the first of the games they cited in their multi-part investigation, whose story was written by Mark Laidlaw. The incredible effort and time placed into the "written" content of the game reflects immediately in the opening sequence.

We don't know about you, however, but Half-Life 2 still isn't a keeper in this blogger's books if it comes to gauging art. In fact, aside from the opening sequence, there's very little dialogue or "written" content that is memorable in the game. Even after playing the game over 10 times.

You can hop right into the article by Ben Kuchera over at Ars Technica via the "Read" link below. Currently, the article spurred another heated discussion about graphics and visuals versus game design and storylines over at digg.com">Digg, but if you'd like top place your two-cents right here, feel free to do so.

Two separate sources (not to mention comments in Major Nelson's blog) are throwing their hands up in frustration. Ben Kuchera of ars technica (cited here) and Jay of the FNG-Spot blog (cited by Ben) both found that their premium - paid-for - Xbox Live content (e.g., Live Arcade games) redownloaded into the Xbox 360 Elite are locked without online authentication. Meaning you have to be connected to Xbox Live as the profile that bought them to actually play these content.

No offline Arcade. That's the killer.

The warning about that had indeed been given by Microsoft before: Jay mentions a Major Nelson post; we have Kotaku's announcement. What makes this story more uncomfortable - besides the entire DRM-locking of the content - is that Customer Service, whom Ben called, proved of little help.

That call advised the ars writer "that the only way to get the games working is to get my free data migration cable." This is where Ben cites Jay citing the Major and his commenters: data migration doesn't help: you still have to be logged on to Xbox Live as the purchasing profile. Somehow Customer Service didn't get the memo.

Implication: request for DRM license-transferring and reauthentication solution from Microsoft. Probability...

 

Ben Kuchera of Opposable Thumbs alerts that Circuit City guarantees that they should have Nintendo's 2D to 3D platforming love-fest, Super Paper Mario available by Tuesday 2 p.m. or they give you a US$ 20 gift card. This means that not only do you not have to pre-order the game, but if they don't have it available by the aforementioned time, you get what is in essence, free money.

The offer is reportedly set to last until store closing time on Tuesday.

Others have noted that Circuit City has done this type of promotion before. Specifically, for GRAW 2. They note that the Circuit City they went to didn't have any in stock and they add that love promos of this nature. The reason is of course, pretty obvious.

Some of us here at QJ now wish that a similar promotion is made for the Wii console itself. Alas, it seems unlikely.

Opposable Thumbs' Ben Kuchera informs that he ran into this rumor regarding the ability to move data from your existing 360 to the supposed black upgraded Xbox 360. Kuchera quotes:

I work for a large game distributor. MS disclosed this SKU to us a few weeks ago—definitely not a fake story. Price, features, color are all correct. MS has told us that the data will be transferred via some sort of cable that will be included with the unit. The cable will also be included w/ the 120GB drive that will be sold separately (price TBD).

Please don't cite me, but this is all accurate info.

While he can't reveal his sources, and while he doubt that this is a sure thing, Kuchera does note that this makes sense. After all, Microsoft needs to convince people that the upgrade is worth it. The ability to transfer all of your data on your old Xbox 360 to your new one does sound promising.

If you've got the spare money, and you really want that spangly new black console, you could upgrade, transfer, and then recoup the costs by selling off your old Xbox 360. Makes sense right? Well, what about you folks? Assuming that the black Xbox 360 isn't a big April fools gag, what features do you think the newly "confirmed" (ah the trouble with April Issues of magazines) black Xbox 360 should include to warrant an instant upgrade?

 

Ben Kuchera likes to vote with his dollar, and with that, he prefers to keep the monopoly of gaming shops away from becoming "Only EBGameStop." It's why he prefers not to go into an EB Games or GameStop anytime soon. However, how do you deal with items exclusively up for sale only in a specific store chain?

That's the question he asks himself and others when it comes to gaming. In fact, it's already been happening with some titles, such as Chulip, Tenchu, and The Settlers:

Chulip—an offbeat game involving kissing—has been released in the US to the cheers of fans of quirky games. The only problem is that EBGameStop is going to be the only place to buy it. Strategy gamers will be annoyed to hear that The Settlers for the DS will also be an EBGameStop exclusive.

Sure, keeping games to yourself is sound business practice, but it's not particularly wonderful on the consumer end, and it also puts some strain on the backs of other game shops. The one thing Kuchera asks, and that we're hoping never happens, is this: Wouldn't you hate it if your favorite game was only available in one kind of store, which you never really were a fan of?

  

Wii's Virtual Console (VC) and 360's Live Arcade are a major chunk of what nostalgic gamers like about next gen. It's having to play ports of classic games delivered straight to your console. The thing is, some of the classics were not really as faithful to the originals as most gamers had hoped.

Ben Kuchera from Ars Technica spotted some nots on some classics. For the Wii's VC, Mario Kart 64 lacks the emulation of the memory pack slot that enables best times to be recorded. Kid Icarus' sound and graphics are great but lacks the original cheat codes from our youth (PAKING PAKING PAKING PAKING). Starfox 64 came with a rumble pack, unfortunately, Nintendo has announced that rumble in VC titles won't be supported.

From the Xbox Live Arcade, some people noted that Frogger seemed to be off. The increased difficulty and updated graphics just don't feel the same. Contra fans remember the classic cheat code to get 30 lives. The problem is, the download isn't the NES version - it's the arcade version.

Kuchera also notes that the D-Pad is a bit inappropriate for some games, unlike the multiple controllers supported by the Wii. Anyway, some would have different reactions to this but the point is - it was a good idea to have classic games make a comeback on next gen consoles. Notice anything off in your classic downloads? Some would just like to be reminded of their childhood.

 

If you're the type whose imagination goes wild at the slightest of things, then you might start to believe that the psychotic backstories of Manhunt are more real than you previously thought. Opposable Thumbs writer Ben Kuchera just recently got a little letter via snail mail from the Dixmor Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Much to say, its contents are both creepy and exciting at the same time (either that or we're all messed up in the head too).

Rockstar has taken a step up with building up for their upcoming sequel: Manhunt 2 (PSP, Wii). Kuchera got the letter (reproduce below) with two bloodied medical ward bracelets to make things even more visceral. The letter reads:

Enclosed are Danny Lamb and Leo Kasper's ID bracelets found discarded after last night's incident. This is the only potentially damning evidence we have found so far. I trust every possible precaution will be taken to ensure that any records relating to these patients are destroyed.

We are all too aware that both subjects pose a highly serious threat to society, let alone the very existence of "The Project." Both patients suffer sever psychotic episodes characterized by intense paranoia, involuntary psychotic reactions, delusional hallucinations and acute schizophrenic disorders...

We HAVE to track them down.

-Dr. Whyte

Well now, that's how to market your games, if anything. Way to go Rockstar for being clever. Imagine though, if this was mailed to your house and let's say your mom (assuming she doesn't know jack about Manhunt, of course) was the one who actually opened the envelope... "Freaking out" would be an understatement, we'd bet.