In an all too faithful recreation of the then awesome, now classic, Battle of Hoth sequence, players take on the role of a snowspeeder pilot fighting off waves of All Terrain Armored Transports (AT-ATs). One can only assume that you take on the role of Luke Skywalker, the film’s hero, however Atari’s technology at the time left literally no room for voice interpretation and there are no other indications related to the game to insinuate that you are indeed the son of Skywalker.

Although, after reading this preview from GamerLive.TV’s Robert Workman, whom got to demo Kinect Star Wars at CES 2011, it sounds as though developer Terminal Reality is on track to be bringing us a much cleaner and responsive Kinect Star Wars.

Unfortunately, per Workman’s CES preview, it seems like that game will be pushed back a bit. Why? Well, Microsoft feels the need to push 3D support to the game. While we haven’t had a chance to play with Kinect Star Wars in 3D, it does sound like the game will do just fine in the third dimension.

Even with the game being pushed back to Summer 2012 due to the inclusion of 3D, hopefully this will give Terminal Reality a bit more leeway to further tighten the blots and make Kinect Star Wars a truly immersive and enjoyable interactive Star Wars game!

In a recent interview with IGN, Star Wars: Underworld (which is simply a working title) producer Rick McCallum sheds some more light on the status of the much anticipated live action series.

So what’s the hold up? Unfortunately, the series is on indefinite hold, and not for reasons why you would think. The Lucas camp is biding their time, simply waiting for technology to catch up to their vision.

This is, in all honesty, a pretty bizarre move considering that Lucas has always been known for innovating certain tools and ways of movie making to suit his needs – and not waiting for something to “pop-up” to paint his vision.

“We have fifty of the most unbelievable scripts,” McCallum said. “Each one hour episode is bigger than any of the prequels were. And they’re complex, they’re dark, they’re adult … But right now, technologically there’s no way that we can do them for the five million dollar mark [per episode]; which would be the maximum that we could do. That is because there is so much digital animation, because we have so many digital characters. I think the idea is that we just hold off [and] wait and see if there are any major breakthroughs in the next year or two.”

It’s clear in the interview that Underworld seems very ambitious for a weekly serial, especially trying to make a weekly 1 hour bite equal to the majesty of the prequels. With having to spend that kind of money, and earn it back in such a short period of time, it does make some sense in playing the waiting game. Another interesting tidbit that McCallum shared was distribution for the show.

With the Star Wars films being distributed by 20th Century Fox, it would seem as though airing Underworld on Fox or FX (or any other 20th Century Fox channel) would be a perfect partnership. Though, McCallum makes it sound that a typical Network/Cable/Premium Cable distribution plan won’t work to be able to recoup all the expenses to make the show.

Despite the show being on hold, I am very enthusiastic about the future of this project as well. It will just be a matter of time before I’m swilling in the pits of Coruscant, knee deep in the seedy Underworld of the Star Wars universe!

In another dimension, when two of science fiction’s most evil voices join together, we have the pleasure of experiencing what could be one of the most evil villains ever to grace the small screen.

Inspired by the Vader Project, a project where 100 custom Darth Vader busts were created to be auctioned off, Halloweencostumes.com hosted their own contest, choosing only 25 artists to submit custom Darth Vader bust, in turn, to be auctioned off for charity.

One of the 25 that were chosen was DeviantArtist, Ryan Peterson. His inspiration was a mash-up of two of the most fearsome villains in science fiction; our very own Darth Vader, and the skeletal scoundrel from Eternia, Skeletor.

This amazing piece has some incredible attentions to detail, both in regards to Vader and Sekeltor. I love how the outer part of Vader’s helmet was reshaped to look more like Skeletor’s sinister hood. Looking closely at the chest piece, rather than the plain-o jewel and cross bones, Peterson included the Imperial Insignia within the jewel itself.

Although, the absolute coolest part of the Skeletor/Vader mash up comes in Skeletor’s Sword of Power. Notice anything awesome? Yea, the Sword of Power’s hilt is actually that of Darth Vader’s lightsaber – AWESOME!

Now, it would be nice to see some of the other pieces that were submitted to the Halloweencostumes.com contest, unfortunately their webpage is difficult to navigate and the actual contest page was not updated to highlight any of the submissions or winners.

Maybe we’ll be able to hunt down some of the other submissions to see if they’re as amazing as Ryan Peterson’s Skevader bust!

Though, why do I love Star Wars?

For my own personal reasons, Star Wars kept me stable. When I was younger, we moved around a lot. In between all the new schools and new friends, one of the few constants in my young life was Star Wars.

Of course, as I grew older, the appreciation for normalcy grew into an appreciation for the art. Star Wars wasn’t just about the fancy space battles and the voluptuous, yet bouncy, princess. Yes, at 9 years old I could appreciate a beautiful bust. It was the art of creating not only a captivating series of films, but also an entire galaxy of creatures, peoples and happenings that would continue to leave an imprint on my life.

As time went on, books and comics, video games and TV shows expanded the reach of Star Wars. New characters and new situations meant that I wasn’t outgrowing Star Wars. Star Wars was growing with me.

And now here I am, an early thirty-something, just now beginning his career in Journalism (in some way shape or form). Whether I’m still searching for my calling, or just reaching out to the Force, I wanted to find a way to help give back to a story that has meant so much to me in my life.

So I bring you, The Probe Droid.

My goal with this site is to treat it as a sort of Star Wars magazine. Writing and chronicling all the influences of Star Wars. From the earliest of Star Wars video games – such as the 1984 Parker Brothers The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600, to some of the sultry slave Leia cosplay that we see annually during Halloween. I want to cover everything that has to do with Star Wars, or as much of it as I can.

Today I start as one man, but you never know. Maybe one day I can amass an entire army to help bring you, the Star Wars fan, everything you want in regards to Star Wars.

Thank you, have fun, and may the Force be with you.