E3 2006 is a lot of things to a lot of people. To some, it was a dedicated attempt to finally get into Nintendo's booth and get their hands-on the Wii (something I'm proud to say I got to do in the first hour). To others, it was a chance to score collectible schwag, like the Kojima Productions take on the E3 Show Daily and Microsoft's Gears of War faceplates. But a lot of companies were just on hand to show that they were just as serious about gaming as they've ever been, pouring millions of dollars into a set design that would support all kinds of gamers and allow comfort and high-end technology at the same time.

Not LucasArts. This year, the company took a quiet approach to E3, closing off their booth to the public for all but four hours of the expo. This left many questioning whether or not they even had anything for show, and when I finally went in for my Friday appointment, I could see that perhaps their seriousness towards a new direction in gaming was even more dedicated than most of those wide open on the show floor. This came in the form of four examples, all of which I got a chance to check out up close and personal...

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy

LucasArts isn't a company that's usually prone to bad decisions, but they did make a minor flub last year by not publishing Lego Star Wars themselves, and instead letting Eidos take the reigns for its release on PS2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, and GameCube. The end result was one of the best-selling Star Wars games in years, outdoing the average Episode III games and mustering up a feverish audience wanting more.

LucasArts saw thunder in that, and immediately said that they would be publishing the sequel themselves. And why not? The sequel actually has more potential of being a hit than the original, since it's actually based on the old-school trilogy of Star Wars films that emerged from 1977-1983. In the game, players once again take hold of a variety of characters, including the likes of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Ben Kenobi, and Princess Leia, as they go through a series of action stages, taking on Darth Vader and a load of Stormtroopers and attempting to liberate the universe from the dreaded Empire.

It's all done in cheeky fun, just like the original game, with little winks of humor (Princess Leia smacks Solo upon an attempted kiss) and some creative new options, like being able to mix up heads with bodies for a somewhat confusing effect (Yoda with Slave Princess Leia's body? YIKES). The gameplay seems to feel just the same as the first game, with the ability to build items to help you proceed ahead and to collect little coins to unlock content, as well as being able to switch off to different characters with unique abilities to help get the group further ahead.

The game looks great, even in this early stage, and has a fully accompanying John Williams soundtrack to back it all up, straight from the Star Wars source himself. This time around, LucasArts means serious business with their Lego Star Wars franchise, as it will be released across a wider variety of platforms. Along of just the basic current generation releases, we're also going to see the game for the PC, PSP, Nintendo DS, and the Xbox 360, bringing Star Wars to the next-generation just in time for Christmas. And Wii and PS3 versions could be waiting in the wings.

This is just LucasArts' first step, mind you...

Continue...