Star Wars & gaming

Okay, my geek is showing... A LOT...

Vanessa and I bought a used Wii quite a while ago (several years now) for exercise apps, etc. I picked up a copy of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, but never played it much. Earlier in the holiday break I started playing it again and have really had a great time with it! I got far enough today that I found out what the Staff of Kings is. No spoilers here, but let me know if you want to know...

Anyway, what with my getting back into Star Wars in a big way (X-Wing Miniatures game, the role-playing game I'm hosting, watching Clone Wars, etc.) I bought a used copy of Force Unleashed & Force Unleashed II for the Wii. Started playing the first one today. I plan to take it back to GameStop and get a refund. It's a good game, and I can see Kyle or Colton really playing it and enjoying it, but it's not for me.

The story itself is VERY cool! It takes place between episodes III & IV and the "clone troopers" have the uniforms from the Clone Wars era and the ships they use also "fit," but the game play itself is too complicated for my 46 year old brain. :-) You have motion with the controller and the nunchuck, then you have something that ALL of the buttons do, then you have combinations of buttons and movements, etc. Not something that holds my attention.

I am enjoying hosting the RPG though and I'm prepared for our next session... I need to do some more uploading of files to roll20.net, and I have most everything ready now... The players have all shared more backstory with me and they've also given me permission to blog about the game. Not HERE, which I would do anyway, but in more detail...

I enjoy reading other's stories about their sessions and enjoy listening to podcasts where people have recorded their actual games. I get GREAT tips on what to do and not to do as a GM, and they are just plain enjoyable too, so I thought I'd start a separate blog for this. If you're interested, head on over and check it out...

http://impsintherearview.blogspot.com/

One more thing about Star Wars... I've shared this theory with a few people and want to mention it here and solicit your comments or thoughts... R2-D2 in Episodes IV, V & VI is obviously an older droid. He's a hero, for sure, but he's not "new" anymore.

In Episode I we see where he came from... He was one of several astromech droids on board Queen Amidala's ship, and he was a hero there as well. In Episode II we see that he has "jets" on his "legs," and everyone was surprised to see them! He doesn't have these in IV, V or VI, nor in I. He has them again in Episode III and of course all through the Clone Wars cartoon.

Here's the question - why? Was it just a twist thrown into the movies? Was it a "newer" R2-D2 even though II - Clone Wars - III took place 20 years before IV? My theory is that it was Anakin. Watto says that he can fix anything, and he even built his own pod racer I think that as R2-D2 became "his" droid that he modified him and gave him the jets. Once Anakin became Darth Vader he no longer had any contact with R2-D2 and thus wasn't there to repair and maintain the special modification, and it eventually quick working.

What do you think?