The success of Star Wars doesn’t just come from its cinematic source material though. It’s the canny positioning of this franchise and its ability to evolve into other forms of media that have helped it emerge as a pop culture phenomenon. You look at the video game side of the equation, and this was a brand that was a recipe for success when handled correctly. Which explains the deliciousness of the amazing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

That's right Jedi Apprentices, LucasArts have confirmed that the Star Wars Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition will be available for PS3 and Xbox 360 by Christmas. The title will include the full version of the original game as well as three new levels and a full alternate story. Apparently two of the levels will be available as DLC whilst the other is exclusive to the Ultimate Sith Edition. Basically the alternate story follows Star Killer killing Darth Vader and becoming the Emperor's new Apprentice. Players will have to then visit planets like Tatooine, Coruscant and even the icy landscapes of Hoth to take on the legendary Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jabba The Hutt and even Boba Fett (the bounty hunter who was used to create the clone army). The best part of all is that there is another alternate story in this one that will send players on a mission to destroy the Rebellion and face Luke Skywalker. The original version has sold over six million copies since its release in September last year and has since been hailed as the fastest selling Star Wars game ever. Thus its understandable why Aspyr Media and LucasArts are also bringing the game to both PC and Apple Mac. I thoroughly enjoyed Force Unleashed especially for the story (yeah I'm a bit of a fanboy). I did however think that the action was a little too watered down and never quite felt the full force capability of Star Killer. It was still awesome though and I'm so getting this new edition. Until then (oh man I'm gonna say it) may the force be with you. Sorry but I couldn't help myself to some cheese.

For anyone that can’t get enough of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, some more DLC has been made available for both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The DLC comes in the form of two options, the first being a new mission that takes place on Coruscant at the Jedi Temple for the price equivalent of $10 or 800 Microsoft …

Can you believe it, it’s Thursday and I nearly forgot about Zero Punctuation. I blame Nick for this, I have spent all morning hassling him to finish up his huge article that needed to go live this morning.. Oh wait, you don’t know which article I am talking about… well if it is before 8am then make sure you come …

The Force Unleashed broke two sales records this week by becoming the fastest-selling Star Wars title as well as the fastest selling Lucasarts title in the history of the company. Despite a Metacritic average of a measly 72 (of a possible 100) for Xbox 360 and 69 for the Playstation 3 it has managed to push out a massive 1.5 million copies in it's first five days on the shelves. Not only does this give us all a good display of how powerful a brand can be, but also how brands and marketing are able to trump review scores almost every time. I reviews the game on Xbox 360 for this site and I can honestly say that I am glad that people are buying it, mostly because I think that it's a fine game and one that a casual console gamer will easily enjoy. The fact of the matter is that review scores can only go so far and to be honest, most of the consumers out there don't read game reviews. It's only the hardcore gamers that keep themselves up to date with review scores, not the casuals. In this day and age, which has gaming taking over as the largest entertainment industry we have to realise that the casuals are overtaking us regular gaming folk. Then again, how many people rush out to watch new movies without taking a look at the review scores either, I know I do. Games cost a ton more than movie tickets though, which means that an impulse-buy could sting significantly more if the game is not all that you had hoped.

I see this morning that all the Force Unleashed reviews are coming in and it isn’t looking fantastic. At the time of writing the Metacritic average for the 360 version was 72 while the PS3 version was 67. That is very low for such a highly anticipated game. Last Updated: September 16, 2008