In an interview with Eurogamer, Free Radical founder David Doak explains that the much anticipated Star Wars: Battlefront 3 game was actually in development as many hoped. Many rumors surrounded the game and its development, and Doak let it be known that the game was official, though it didn’t make it to the finish line. The game was eventually canceled due to unresolved conflicts with the developer and some of the executive staff at LucasArts.

According to Doak, the developer “went from talking to people who were passionate about making games to talking to psychopaths who insisted on having an unpleasant lawyer in the room.” He continued in the interview, “For a long time we talked of LucasArts as the best relationshipwe’d ever had with a publisher. Then in 2008 that disappeared, they were all either fired or left. Then there was this new guy called Darrel Rodriguez, who had been brought in to do a job and it was more to do with cost control than making any games.”

Doak was speaking about things that took place three years ago. The original development of Battlefront 3 started in 2006 and continued through until 2008. Doan continues to explain that they had concerns about the release date timeframe, and they brought these up to LucasArts which was something they’d not done before. They assumed their concerns would be important to the company, and something could be ironed out. This, Doak notes, is when the psychopaths came in:

“In many ways it was a depressing farce talking to them. They had an agenda motivated by purely financial considerations. Their goal was to stop doing it. And it didn’t matter that we had a contract that protected us. If we wanted to fight about it they were quite happy to fight about it, but it would be on their terms, on their turf, and we would lose not because we were wrong, but because… well, we wouldn’t be able to ante up.

My role at Free Radical meant that I was simultaneously involved in these unpleasant ‘high level’ discussions with psychopaths that wanted to destroy us, and then the next day sitting with out dev staff at their desks trying to boost people’s morale. Helping them to pass milestones that I knew would subsequently be manipulated to fail.”

All of this brought a tragic end to the development of a game that had a lot of hope. Doak claimed that this “was the most depressing and pointless thing” he had ever been involved in, and went as far as to say that it became “nightmarish torture” in the end. Is this the final end for Battlefront 3? We can’t really say. Free Radical was eventually purchased by Crytek, and went on to work on the Goldeneye reboot. Here lays a picture painted in dark hues depicting the executive force at LucasArts. Is it an accurate depiction? With Doak’s word and the death of Battlefront 3 at our feet, we can say we’re definitely one-sided.

Remember yesterday when we we showed you the upcoming LEGO Star Wars: The Old Republic toys? Well it seems that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Lucasfilm has announced that they have renewed their licensing agreement with LEGO Group to continue producing both toys and video games based on the Star Wars franchise for the next ten years.

What’s interesting is that they did mention games here. I jokingly suggested that they could make a game set in The Old Republic era, but it seems more likely that this could be the case. I think it doubtful that they would have it based on the MMO, simply because it would be silly. However, I don’t think that it would be too far of a stretch to see the Knights of the Old Republic games revisited.

Of course, this could be a great time for them to start looking into the Expanded Universe. Personally, I would love to see the Thrawn Trilogy in a new medium. Those three books have remained my favorite in the Star Wars universe since they came out nearly two decades ago. Then again, I’m not sure that they could do Admiral Thrawn justice in LEGO form.

I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan of the Kinect. I have one, and I’ve played games with it, and even spent some time controlling my 360 with it. However, I’m still completely convinced that Microsoft has misplaced their faith in the technology. I’ve yet to see it utilized in a way that doesn’t feel gimmicky. Despite all of that, I’m a sucker for anything that lets me use a lightsaber.

Yes, I am looking forward to the Kinect Star Wars game. Even more so after this latest advertisement. They’ve taken the famous lightsaber battle between Darth Vader and Obi-wan Kenobi, and changed it up a bit. Putting the player in the place of Obi-wan.

Honestly, could you say that you’d do things differently? Everyone wants to play with a lightsaber, swinging it around and listening to the awesome hum. It’s great to see this captured in this humorous ad.

Flight sims haven’t always been my cup of tea, as games like Microsoft Flight Simulator mostly consist of flying around lazily for hours on end. The only excitement comes when you decide to fly under a bridge, or try and land successfully. There was one franchise, however, that I did spend countless hours playing, and that was the X-Wing series.

Since X-Wing Alliance came out in 1999, we’ve heard very little regarding the series. Fans have been clamoring for a new title, but have been met with silence. There may be hope of a new X-Wing game in the future, if a LucasArts job posting is anything to go by.

One of the requirements listed in the post was “Experience with flight sims, aerial shooters, and especially space-based shooters a plus.” Now there is nothing else to help narrow down exactly what sort of game this will be, but a space-based shooter sounds like something Star Wars related to me. Honestly, I don’t care which era the game is based in, as long as it ends up being a successor to the franchise I grew up with, I’ll be happy.

If you’ve been lucky enough to get in on the beta for The Old Republic, I have some bad news for you. Your glory days of playing the game before your friends (and reminding them of it on a regular basis) has come to an end. Thanks to a reader tip, we have been informed that this phase of beta testing is over.

Bioware has sent out a round of emails to all of the current testers, to inform them that they will no longer have access to the game servers. This is curious, since they still apparently have plans to have future Beta Weekends throughout this month. Perhaps they are simply ready for a new batch of testers. Either way, that’s good news for those who didn’t get an invite to the last round.

Unfortunately with this round of testing coming to a close, there won’t be a flood of information hitting the internet. Bioware was quick to point out that everyone involved in the testing is still bound by the NDA they agreed to at the start. If you were a tester, do remember to be discreet about what you saw, lest the MMO gods frown upon your actions.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, EA Games lead Frank Gibeau made a statement that hinted toward Star Wars: The Old Republic featuring 200 hours of gameplay per class. That’s the equivalent of about eight days of nonstop play time.

During the interview, Gibeau was asked about the fact that the game is estimated to cost the company $300 million. In response, he stated, “I don’t pay much attention to that talk, I get a lot of questions from analysts and press about it. What I try and concentrate on is, is it a good game and is it ready to go? You look at a game that has 200 hours of gameplay for each of the six classes, and that doesn’t include the crafting, the raids, the multiplayer. It’s vast. It’s a gigantic game. And that costs money.”

At this year’s E3, there were a lot of games shown off, and certainly no shortage of MMO’s. However, the one I had my eye on has remained the same for several years now. I’m of course talking about Star Wars: The Old Republic. Being a huge fan of the Star Wars universe, (as well as a disappointed fan of Star Wars Galaxies) I’ve been looking forward to seeing what BioWare can do in the MMO genre.

I was able to spend a bit of time with a hands-on demo of the game. I took on the role of a higher-level character, so that I could jump straight into the action. My character for the demo was a level 26 human smuggler. She had a companion droid that would help out with cover fire, and could be upgraded to do a bit of healing in the battlefield. You could also converse with the companion, though it wasn’t always up for chatting.

My character was in the midst of a World Quest. If you’re not familiar with the term, these are a chain of quests found on each world, that take you through a complex story, with each lasting several hours. I was on the planet of Tatooine, where I was sent to dispatch a group of Tusken Raiders, who had stolen something rather valuable.

After jumping on my speeder bike, I headed across the desert to the location I was given. As promised, there were a group of the sand people who were more than happy to give me my first taste of combat. The first thing I did was make sure that my companion was out and set to lay down cover fire. Then, I set down my portable cover and prepared my attack.

The portable cover system was really interesting, and not something that I have seen in other MMO’s that I’ve played. When I think of a smuggler caught in a shoot-out, I usually picture them hiding around a corner and poking out to make shots that count. This portable cover really added to that part of the experience.

From there, I was able to line up a number of ranged attacks to take down my enemies. A combination of blaster fire and thrown explosives kept the fight interesting, but certainly flowing in my favor. After picking up the item I was looking for, I went on to find a Sith that was hiding out nearby. I found him in a cave, after fighting my way through more of the raiders.

Once found, we discover that the Sith we’re after is on the brink of death. I approached him and began a conversation. Instead of having mouth movements with lines of text, this conversation (like every other in the game) was completely voiced. Also, unlike many other MMO’s, my conversation with this NPC is not straightforward. Instead, I am given a number of choices throughout the conversation, each of which not only leads you down the dark or light path, but also determines what happens after you are finished talking. In this case, I could either slay the sith in anger, or leave him to possibly recover.

What is really interesting is that the choices you make in these conversations don’t just influence what happens immediately after you stop talking, but rather it can impact what happens later on in the game. Since my demo only lasted a limited amount of time, I wasn’t able to see how these choices impacted later gameplay. Also, the choices aren’t just limited to conversations with NPCs. I encountered an item that I could destroy, so as to prevent someone else from reading it. I’ll be interested to see how far they take these choices in the finished product.

Overall, the game did play like many traditional MMO’s. However, the voiced dialogue and the ability to make choices in your conversations really made it a step above others I’ve played in the past. I like knowing that I’m not on a linear path, and that even in small ways, I can make a difference in how the game plays out for me. I’ll be looking forward to seeing the full finished product when it is released.

Of course the Knights of the Old Republic screen pictured above is old, but it’s going to prove a point. The latest trailer for the Knights of the Old Republic title from BioWare shows just how much the Jedi have evolved since the days of old. Check it out, and tell us what you think.

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LucasArts has decided that they need more time with the new Lego Star Wars 3, and they pushed the release date for the game back from February 15th to March 22nd.

There has been no detailed reason for the delay, but we can assume that it has something to do with how content-heavy the game will be, and already is. As soon as more is known, we will be sure to cover it.

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Just the other night a friend of mine let me know he was playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 and was telling me how he hasn’t been enjoying it. Now I wrote a review of the game a while back, and gave it a pretty decent score. Everyone I’ve spoken to since has had me defend my score, and now I know why. I sat with my friend, David, and watched him play the game from start to finish and needless to say looking at it a second time from a spectator position doesn’t make the game look any more enjoyable than what people are saying about it.

Well the funny folks at Robot Chicken have decided to give us their take on the game, showing us exactly how they think it should have played out. Honestly, if the game was like this it would be the only one I would play. Ever.

Check out the video below.

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