LucasArts E3 Interview

GameShark had the opportunity to chat with LucasArts vice president of product development Peter Hirschmann at this year's E3 about the past, present, and future of Star Wars video gaming. Here's a bit to start you off:
Q: Mr. Hirschmann, the last Star Wars movie has been released. Where does LucasArts go from here? Will you continue to mine the Star Wars universe or will new intellectual properties be forthcoming? Or perhaps some past favorites like Grim Fandango or Full Throttle?

A: A little of all of the above. Don't forget that there were Star Wars games before the prequels came out. Star Wars is a beautiful, huge, rich universe. What gives it that classic feel is that going all the way back to the original film, George (Lucas) created back stories for every character and every planet. In his original treatment of Star Wars in the early 70's he mentions Mace Windo, for goodness sake, and the character doesn't show up until 25 years later. It is a very carefully constructed universe. We have full-time Star Wars historians and anthropologists who are working on it all the time. George says there? a planet, character, gadget or ship no matter what you want to do with it, so Star Wars does not limit you, it actually allows you to explore elements of science fiction and make up whatever you need. And Star Wars will continue to live on. So there will be new Star Wars content, but at the same time George has gone on record that he wants LucasArts to expand the universe. Such as was done with Republic Commando and Clone Wars, and expand the story in new directions.