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.

 

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?

Ben Kuchera over at Opposable Thumbs has it right: for $20 and a chance to make virtual food, Cooking Mama is a great deal. But he can't find it. His quest to get a copy:

• He went to a game store that had only two copies. They were sold out.
• The next one could hardly cover their pre-orders.
• The third one had a copy. But it was being tried out by an employee. So it wasn't available yet.
• At EB (Gamestop), the game is back-ordered and none of the stores in Ben's area were expecting any more copies.
• Best Buy is sold out.
• Circuit City hasn't heard of the game.

He brought up an interesting point: he hasn't seen a review. This game is "one of the quietest cult hits."

What's our take on this? It looks like game vendors underestimated the demand for this game. And why should they have expected people to look for it? It has no violence (except for boiling things, I suppose). There are no bombs, rockets, or huge explosions (the pot gently simmers most of the time). And Mama is fully clothed. Yet the gameplay and premise of the game has made it something to look for, and the use of the two screens is clever. In other words, if you liked WarioWare, you'll like this game. If you can find it.

Buy (if you can find it!): [Cooking Mama]