The Force Unleashed Launch Party was last night in San Francisco, and we were there to help along with the festivities.

LFL definitely know how to throw a bash, It was at the local Best Buy, strange I know but it really worked. The place was packed, and I was told that almost 1,000 people showed up during the course of the evening. I met people from all over the country and some people had even flown in from Europe to be there - crazy I know.

They’d built a stage high above the showroom floor and were doing give-a-ways ever 30 minutes or so,  they also had the various SW movies playing on all the big screens, and console where people could play the new game ahead of the midnight release.

All the major voice and character actors from the game were in attendance signing autographs and taking photos with the fans, and they had big backdrops from the game throughout the store for photo ops.

The Rebel Legion and 501st were also there in force.

It was Gerard and I with the Artoo’s, and Steve providing support. The store was so big we had plenty of room to roam around and not bump into one an other (most of the time.)

George arrived at 8:30 and spoke to the crowd briefly (see the video), followed by the character actors and developers talking about they’re expericence working on the project.

It was a long night, sadly I did not get to take as many photos as I’d hoped, but here’s some highlights, and there’s more coverage and photos in the links at the bottom of this post

Most of the networks were out covering the event and we recorded a few spots, including one for the 11 o’clock news, and Steve, our resident droid wrangler and spokesman, also did a few interviews, including this one with CNET.

And to prove he’s a real jedi, here he is practicing his force lightning

Sam Witwer (the Secret Apprentice) messing with the troops

Around 10pm the party was moved outside while the store was reset for the midnight opening. Sony had brought in special buses where people could play the game and one of the local radio stations provided a DJ.

By 11:30 we were all beat, cold, hungry and ready to call it a night, but were asked to go out one more time for the people waiting in line for the game. The 501st decided to form into a squad and did a circuit of the parking lot.

By midnight we were all exhausted, I think Boba Fett below sums up how we all felt, most of the troopers suited down and we swapped out our batteries for one last tour of the store before heading out with a copy of the game

Big thanks to Lucasfilm, especially Mark Franklin, for inviting us to this event and being super host.

Additional Photos and Videos:

• My complete gallery of photos
• Official Star Wars Blog
• CNET coverage and video and additional photos
• Kotaku - Photos and coverage
• io9.com coverage
• Matt Tolosa’s Photos
• Jessica (Juno Eclipse from the Rebel Legion)
• Mark Chu-Lin’s Flickr Set
• Roberto Moran’s (Sith Anakin) Photos

Last Thursday Steve and I where at a the Mini Maker Faire at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.  There were probably close to 30 makers in attendance, ranging from robots and electronics projects to Steampunk musicians.

It was the last night of the show and the party was packed. We got to mingle with some cool people and show off Artoo and a bunch of parts and explain what goes into making your very own droid.

I’m in the computer industry so it was strange to be there as an outsider providing entertainment for the evening. It did allow me to make some obscure jokes about Intel chips that nobody would normally get.

This guy was upset because I didn’t have my transmitter in a bag to hide it from onlookers

We did a couple of interviews and TV spots, including this one with Wil Harris from ChannelFlip. I’ve been listening to him for years on Twit and it was fun to finally meet him.

Big thanks to the Make team for inviting us to this event - they really do know how to organize a great show.

More photos in the gallery.

I’m really not sure where to start with my RoboGames coverage - the weekend was jammed packed full of interesting people and cool things - like talking with the machinist who worked on the NPC motors many of us use in our droids, to hanging out with the Orb Swarm folks or Grant Imahara from Mythbusters, or getting some inside info from the engineer who maintains the machines that spin our aluminum domes. Artoo even got in on some battle bot action in the arena and lived to tell the tail.

The event is held at Fort Mason in San Francisco each year and attracts thousands of people from all over the world. I was in attendance all 3 days with support from my friend Richard, and Gerard was there on Saturday with his R2.

The games themselves cover everything from the traditional battle bot arena tournaments, to robot soccer and sumo fighting. There are also special categories for art and bar tending robots. Maybe next year I’ll enter Artoo into the latter. In total there were 70 different competitive categories.

Artoo was a big crowd pleaser as usual, and many photos were taken with his admiring fans. My favorite was this one I found on Flickr by inkyhack.

Read the rest of this entry »

I had a kick ass day at RoboGames. There’s way too many things to post about, but thought I’d throw up some photos.

The highlight has got to be getting in the arena with some of the battle bots.

R2 managed to flip this guy over using his own weapon against him

There were also a lot of cool art robots there, like this one serving beer

More photos in the gallery.

The good news is the new 3″ casters are working out great.

Big thanks to Dave and Simone for being great hosts to the group.

Here’s a videos I just found on YouTube of our appearance at WonderCon this year.

I really like this photo I found of Gerard and I at WonderCon

WC2008-088, originally uploaded by Barry Brown.

Related Posts:

• WonderCon 2008 Show Report

The WonderCon schedule is now online. Our panel is listed about half way down, unfortunately we’re up against Disney/Pixar and Beowulf

1:30-2:30 R2-D2 Droid Building Basics - Come meet local builders who will share their experiences and demonstrate working droids. Topics range from materials, tools needed, basic electronics and radio control information to make your own R2 come to life! This panel sponsored by the R2 Builders Club. Room 236/238

If you’re planning on attending, please let me know.