This week sees the release of The Force Unleashed across a number of platforms, it's not the only Star Wars title coming in 2008. Based on the recently released feature length animation and the upcoming spin-off animation, The Clone Wars is set between Episode II and Episode III, as the Republic faces off against the Separatists led by Count Dooku.

Exclusively heading to Nintendo DS and Wii, TVG recently caught up with Gavin Leung of LucasArts to discuss the two titles...but was the Force with him?

TVG: First off, why was the decision made to focus the release of The Clone Wars on Wii and Nintendo DS?

We really wanted to keep focus for the launch of The Clone Wars. When we looked at focus, we also wanted to look at the alignment in terms of the property. Everybody knows how hot the platforms have been. With that focus, we can think of a great concept and look at how that concept would apply to the different platforms.

We flipped it around and asked what a Star Wars game would be like just on Wii and what would a Star Wars game be like on the DS. So I think for the Wii one, it's pretty automatic - since the thing [the Wii] was announced we've wanted to do a lightsaber game. The other one, on the DS, we wanted to focus on the use of the stylus and the touch-screen, and make it more of an adventure game. So with the whole expansive narrative of the Clone Wars we can have a whole original storyline for the DS. For the Wii, we recreated all of the big lightsaber duels from the series and put them in the game.

TVG: So the DS is original, but the Wii version is based on the new feature and the new Clone Wars series?

It's both. What we've done is taken all of the big lightsaber battles from both the feature film and the whole first season, and looked at what key fight moments we wanted to capture that fans would want to relive.

TVG: How disappointed was LucasArts when Nintendo announced the Wii Motion Plus at E3, which would have undoubtedly allowed a greater sense of immersion than the standard Wii remote?

I say not at all, for two reasons. One, I think it was more timing. The Clone Wars was always going to be a 2008 event, and we don't want to make a licensed game. We want to go out under the same corporate umbrella with LucasFilm Animation making the original IP. We see it like have this content [and ask], 'What would this be like as a feature film? What would this be like as a game? What would this be like in a TV series format?"

We really wanted to catch onto 2008. From what I understand, Wii Motion Plus is going to be a 2009 product, and we're really looking forward to seeing what Nintendo is going to do with that. Obviously, as we have the Star Wars property we can make games based on that. Our wheels are already spinning, but we really want to see what Nintendo's take on it [Motion Plus] is. It's really exciting for us to see that they really want to go even deeper with the 1:1 [motion].

Secondly, when we're making a game for the Wii we want to go as broad as possible, and look among the Wii owners at what hardware they have. At the moment, no one has the Wii Motion Plus. More importantly, if we're making a Wii game, what makes the Wii successful today? We believe it's making the game fun and accessible, and we wanted to follow that philosophy right for that platform.

TVG: The Clone Wars is an internal project from LucasArts' Singapore studio; how is it linked into what's going on in the Californian HQ?

I think the beauty of the Singapore office is that when the studio started in 2002/03, it was in the same studio as the animation studio. The luxury of having our game team down the hall from the Clone Wars animation team, in terms of getting the assets, the ideas, and the talent - that is not going to change. The idea of everything converging, like you see with The Force Unleashed getting a pipeline down in technology from ILM, is [opening up] a second pipeline down for Clone Wars, with LucasFilm Animation making the IP and the Singapore studio making the game. It's just a progression that we're heading towards.

TVG: Videogames based on movies seem to rely on the source material performing well at the box office; Clone Wars had a fairly satisfactory opening in the US in third place, but it was critically panned - has that affected morale in the studio, and has it affected the long-term targets and projections for the two games?

That's a fair question. We look at the whole roll out as multi-temple, so it's not dependent on any one in particular. We're starting with the film, but a big anchor will be the weekly television series. I think that's going to give fans a different feel of how the story is being told. I think that having original Star Wars content at a quality that it's being animated on the small screen at home is going to give a different feel.

So we're [reserving] our judgement for the TV series and the game, which is going to be launching closer to the TV show. If you think back to all the Star Wars properties, George has always made it for twelve year olds to start. Older audiences from then on have always picked up the brand, which is great for us. So Clone Wars is following the same philosophy we've always had in the way we've made a Star Wars film. We want to get the twelve year old to come in first, and the brand can go and then expand that - that's great. We're kinda in a 'wait and see' mode; we want to see how the TV show [performs]. We also feel confident about it.

We've lived through Episode 1, the critics didn't love Episode I, and that was many, many years ago. The Star Wars brand continued to live on, we continue to have a very strong fan-base, and we're going to keep going with new content. I think given time people are going to like it [the Clone Wars movie] too. Personally, I am a fan. I loved everything, I loved the storyline, I loved the animation style, and I love that I get to play it.

TVG: The Star Wars brand in videogames has had its fair share of lacklustre titles; how much pressure is there within LucasArts to deliver a really strong and solid Star Wars title - knowing that the likes of Obi-Wan really fell flat?

We recognise that we had some dark years at LucasArts. I think you've definitely started to see a change. The most obvious change is that we're being more focused. In the past few years, we haven't released very many Star Wars games, so cutting back has allowed the development teams to stay focused and build a quality title. We all recognise how important it is to continue to put out really [high] quality games for the fans, in order for the brand to continue in the long term, rather than just try and make a fast buck out of it.

TVG: And part of that is shown by the fact The Clone Wars is only coming out on Wii and DS?

Absolutely! One of the big reasons is that we believe there's big correlation between quality and focus, and coming out on a smaller number of platforms will allow us to deliver a high quality experience for gamers.

TVG: Both of Nintendo's consoles are seen as less hardcore than the Xbox 360 and PS3, and certainly tie in with the twelve year old audience you spoke about - was that a factor too?

I think it's partly to do with it. We've been talking to Nintendo a lot, I think the two brands are fairly well aligned. You have the core, but for both Nintendo and Star Wars, the audience spreads a lot wider than that, and that's important for us to consider as well. The Wii game is a great example. The twelve year old kids that watch the cartoons, they're into the brand. Then when they're done with that, they drink down the sugary drinks and cry 'Let's go play lightsaber duels!' So they get their friends over and do that. Fine, we've got that.

But I can also see a bunch of twenty-four year old guys coming from the pubs doing Jedi Karaoke and hamming it up. They may have a bunch of casual and social games like Guitar Hero for when their buddies are over, and this is going to sit right next to that. The Wii has the potential to do that, and we wanted to take advantage with this game to leverage that.

We can also go further. Given our thirty-year history, there are a lot of fans in their thirties - they have kids, they grew up on Star Wars, they love it. Now with the latest iteration of the Clone Wars on TV on a weekly basis, their kids are going to watch the cartoon and share the experience with their dad through the Clone Wars game.

TVG: Are you looking to take the Clone Wars onto the hardcore systems like the Xbox 360 and PS3 in the future? There's probably a good correlation between hardcore gamers and Star Wars too - are they going to be left out in the cold?

No, we're definitely looking at all options. The beauty is that with the second series of the TV show, we'll have a little bit more time for development that will take our learnings from a limited platform release in 2008 to seeing what opportunities there are in the future.

We're not going to come out one year - I'm not talking about the game, this is for LucasFilm too - we're not going to come out one year and just drop it. It only makes sense for all of the sister companies to have a more forward looking future.

Nothing to announce today, but keep your ears open.

TVG: So Clone Wars won't be a Nintendo-exclusive franchise is what you're saying?

There's nothing I can say at this point.