The Force was with us as we made the intrepid hyperspace jump to the planet Indianapolis for Star Wars Celebration 3. We spent the day figuring out the convention center layout and getting an idea of exactly where the things we wanted to see were. And there is A LOT to see.
Today was mostly spent exploring the vendor hall and fan hall. We checked out the LucasArts booth to see the new Episode III video game, Battlefront 2, and the new “Rage of the Wookiees” expansion for Star Wars Galaxies. All “impressive, most impressive”. I didn’t get any hands-on time with them as the booth was more full of people than a bantha is of Tatooinian sand fleas. I’m going to try to get in sometime tomorrow and check them out. They look amazing, though! The Ep3 game is an action lightsaber fighting game that looks exactly like the movie. And Battlefront 2 starts with the battle aboard the Tantive IV / Rebel Blockade Runner from Ep4. There’s space action in the game, with a mode based on the assault mode from Unreal Tournament, where you can hop in a starfighter, fly in space, and then land on enemy ships and do battle aboard them. Very kewl. And did I mention JEDI in this one! w00t!
Natasha and I did get to play the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Miniatures game, which is based on the d20 version of the roleplaying game. It’s a very kewl game and amazingly easy to pick up, if you’ve had any exposure to d20 Dungeons and Dragons or any of the other d20 games. Natasha and I decimated Obi-Wan and his clueless clone troopers with General Grievous and his droid bodyguards.
We went to the opening ceremonies this evening which were amazing. We got to the hall an hour early and weren’t even sure we were going to make it in, since the line was out the doors and up to the roof, but we made it and there was even a fair amount of room behind us.
Steven Sansweet, the fan relations guru from Lucasfilm, emceed the show, which featured the “Battle of the Heroes” music video from the Ep3 soundtrack, as well as the Showwest piece that featured all the films tied together in one piece.
The highlight of the night for me had to be Jay Laga’aia (Captain Typho from Ep2 and Ep3) singing the Weird Al song about Episode I. Brilliant! Hit the link for videos of the band that played us into the hall and for Jay’s song.
More Force to come…..
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