LucasArts invited io9 out to their shiny new(ish) digs located inside The Presidio in San Francisco to take a look at three of their upcoming science fiction related video games. Right outside the entrance, was a requisite Yoda fountain, sagely watching over everyone who came in. Read on to find out about the video gaming scifi action.
The front lobby offered up even more Star Wars items, like full-sized Vader and Boba Fett costumes, Han's Blaster, and more. Next to the reception desk were two huge framed posted for The Creature from the Black Lagoon and Dracula. However, towering over everything in the center is a large monument built to honor Willis Harold O'Brien, the man who pioneered stop-motion in animation with the visual effects in King Kong, and later animated dinosaurs in The Lost World, co-wrote King Kong vs. Godzilla, and had Ray Harryhausen as an assistant. A surprisingly touching tribute to man who needs a lot more recognition.
- Fracture: In the far future, the effects of global warming have created terrain-deforming weaponry and split the United States in two. The Atlantic Alliance on the East, and the Republic of Pacifica on the West. You play a partially cybernetic human who has access to things like grenades they raise and lower the terrain, open swirling vortexes, send enormous molten rock formations into the air, and burrow through the Earth. If you want to beat up on the terrain of future San Francisco, this is right up your alley.
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Play as Darth Vader's secret apprentice as you hunt down the rest of the remaining Jedi, and use your amped-up Force powers to literally rip TIE-Fighters out of the air and hurl them at opponents. Set between Episodes 3 and 4, you'll encounter characters and settings from both sets of movies, mess people up with the Force, and use your lightsaber like it's going out of style. Hopefully we'll also find out why we never found out Vader had a secret apprentice before as well.
- Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures: We'll be the first to admit that Indiana Jones has a tenuous scifi connection, at best. The guy is a swashbuckling archaeologist who hunts down supernatural artifacts and doodads, but hey... at the end of the day he's a scientist and a professor. Plus he's pretty kickass and might be encountering aliens in Indy IV. This game continues the idea of encasing Indiana in Lego, like the Lego Star Wars: The Complete Trilogy.