star wars

Everybody wishes they were a kid again sometimes, and that feeling only gets stronger when you look at how cool toys are nowadays. New Atlas rounds up some of the best and most high-tech toys to help you spoil the kids this festive season (or yourself – we won’t tell anybody).

Augmented reality has been slow to break out, but few franchises can kick adoption into overdrive like Star Wars can. Lenovo is about to launch Star Wars Jedi Challenges, an AR system with three games from that galaxy far, far away, and New Atlas went hands-on at PAX this weekend.

Star Wars Episode VIII is just around the corner, and you can bet that Disney will unleash a galaxy’s worth of new merchandise. Chief among them is Sphero’s line of app-controlled droids, which has now expanded beyond BB-8 to include BB-9E and R2-D2. New Atlas took the new droids for a test drive.

Always fun to visit​, the CAS also has more floor space and ride-and-drive events included than any other show. This year, along with blacked-out trim packages​, famous race cars and new reveals, there was also something for Star Wars and Lego fans.

Rarely has there been such a kerfuffle over the selection of a site for a museum, but it appears that the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has finally found its forever home. The MAD Architects-designed project is now due to be built in Exposition Park, Los Angeles.

Among the flood of toys that accompanied Star Wars Episode VII last year, Sphero’s app-controlled BB-8 was a clear standout. With this year's version, Sphero makes users feel (kind of) like a Jedi (sometimes) with the Force Band, a wearable that allows BB-8 to be steered with motion controls.

Last year Sphero gave kids (and big kids) the chance to own one of the droids themselves, and now a special edition model gives the bot a new lick (or lack) of paint as well as pairing it with a wrist-worn controller that brings with it the power of the Force.

​There’s nary a Star Wars fan alive who hasn’t at some point swung a makeshift lightsaber around. A new patent awarded to Disney suggests that future visitors to Disneyland may get a more hands-on experience, using a physical lightsaber to deflect lasers fired at them by animatronic bad guys.

Propel RC has announced a line of Star Wars “Battling Quad” drones, including the Speeder Bike, Tie Advanced X1, X-Wing Starfighter and of course, the Millennium Falcon. Each hand-painted model can get up to 40 km/h (25 mph) and comes equipped with lasers for dogfights with other pilots.

If you've ever fantasized about being a Jedi, VR can take you there better than any other medium. The Star Wars Trials on Tatooine short game will be available as a free download for HTC Vive owners starting on Monday.

It would be remiss of us to let today pass without saying "May the Fourth be with you!" While Star Wars Day lasts for only 24 hours, there have been three days of preparation at Legoland Malaysia as it has been building what it claims is the largest ever Lego Millennium Falcon.

While a small-scale version of the newest Star Wars droid – BB-8 – was one of the hottest toys over the holiday season, more ambitious fans now have another option, with creator Ed's Junk making his plans for building a full-scale replica freely available.