Big News: Star Wars Episode VII, Ouya Updates, Wii U Rewards Program Detailed

In light of the unstoppable juggernaut that was my top 100 video game list, it was impossible to post updates over the past ten days. Yet some very big news broke, most notably the story that George Lucas had sold Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney Company for $4.05 billion. According to the agreement signed by George Lucas and Disney President Bob Iger, Disney will acquire ownership of Lucasfilm and its operating businesses -- this includes the video game developer LucasArts. Kathleen Kennedy, current co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will stay on as president, and will report directly to Disney chairman Alan Horn. Kennedy will also serve as brand manager for Star Wars, and as Executive Producer for future Star Wars movies. George Lucas will serve as creative consultant for upcoming Star Wars movies.

So this is HUGE news for several reasons:

1) George Lucas has sold the company he founded in 1972, a studio that produced Willow, Labyrinth, and all the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies.

2) Disney now has a film portfolio that includes Pixar, Marvel Studios, and Lucasfilm.

3) Star Wars Episode VII, the first of a brand new movie trilogy, is set for release in 2015. Avengers 2 and Justice League are also scheduled for 2015.

Another important piece of news related to this story came from LucasArts, which stated that the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm will not affect its development of Star Wars: 1313, an upcoming action-adventure game set in the Star Wars universe.

LucasArts says development on 1313 is "business as usual"

Aside from the Lucasfilm bombshell, a few other news items emerged over the past week. Nintendo finally released details on its digital rewards program, for one. As was previously reported here, Nintendo is offering with the Deluxe version of Wii U a "Nintendo Network Premium" that provides 10% back on digital purchases. So this is how it works: when you purchase a game from the Nintendo eShop, you earn 10% back in points. For example, a $59.99 game earns 599 points. For each 500 points earned, you will receive a code worth $5 in Nintendo eShop credit that can be used for future purchases. The rewards program commences in December and will run until November 2015, and is only available with the $349.99 Wii U Deluxe bundle.

Some relatively big news appeared on the Kickstarter page for Ouya, which was previewed two months ago here. After weeks of relative silence, Julie Uhrman, CEO of Ouya, released a big hardware update: Ouya received its first development run of PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). "This is the heart (and we believe the soul) of the OUYA experience," wrote Uhrman. The circuit boards, pictured below, are now in the EVT (Engineering Verification Testing) phase, during which OUYA employees will test the controller and console with OUYA software. According to Uhrman, the company is set to complete the EVT phase on time, and expects to meet its December target for developer kits.

The OUYA circuit boards are out, and they're tiny.

Finally, digital distribution platform Steam continues to host its Halloween sale, with scary titles at reduced prices. A total of 80 spooktacular games are on sale, including The Walking Dead, F.E.A.R., BioShock, and Left 4 Dead. The sale ends today at 10 AM Pacific time.

Steam is a slasher! A slasher of prices.