However, the fan site Battlefront3.net noticed, got in touch with Marazzo, and lo and behold, the guy replied. And confirmed to them that the game is in in development. Here's his quote to BF3.Net:

Thanks for getting in touch. The Original Title was Battlefront 3 but it evolved into Star Wars Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. However Battlefront 3 is also in development. It was by far the most fun and coolest casting I ever worked on.

What's more, the site member who contacted Marazzo said "he may be able to dig me up some Battlefront 3 storyboards, by the end of the week!"

Very interesting indeed. I've emailed a contact with LucasArts to apprise them of this rumor and ask if they want to comment. Anything they say that's updateable will go back here.

Battlefront 3 is in Development says Battlefront 3 Actor [Battlefront3.net via VG247]

The trailer featured a Vader vs. Yoda voice over, Starkiller fighting a beast muuuuch larger than a Rancor, but no gameplay, and no release date. Earlier in the day a Kotaku tipster emailed us describing exactly this trailer. The tipster said the game is being developed internally at LucasArts and will be out in late 2010. "It is everything the first game could/should have been and a lot lot more (online support!)" the tipster wrote.

Earlier, if you guessed that the mystery spike VGA teaser from late November, and the deep cover detective game set in Hong Kong that it depicted, was in fact Activision's True Crime, then give yourself a gold star. The game is being developed by United Front Games.

The title was submitted for classification way back in June, and earned the game a Mature rating (for "fantasy violence"). Interestingly, it's listed as an internal Lucasarts project, with Activision down as publisher.

And it's not just the Classification Board making stuff up; "Star Wars: Legends" also appears as a recent filing with the US Patent Office.

A Star Wars game we've never heard of, developed by Lucasarts, mature content...anyone would think this was the game due to be revealed at the Spike VGAs later this month.

[thanks Brodie!]

Over on Gamasutra, attorney Mona Ibrahim has provided a handy guide on how to go about making a fan game (whether it be a remake or all-new title), get it finished, and not end up with a nasty letter from Nintendo or George Lucas for your troubles.

The best plan of action is to "rely on unprotected game elements, mechanics and processes" and ask the IP owner for permission before commencing work. If those don't work, you can always take what inspired you from somebody else's game and use it as a foundation to build your own game on.

Budding modders and developers note, however, Ibrahim's advice is followed by a big 'THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. The content of this article is not legal advice" disclaimer, so, yeah, tread lightly.

To read the whole thing in-depth, hit up Gamasutra below.

Analysis: Clone Games & Fan Games — Legal Issues [Gamasutra]

Fans following the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic are probably already familiar with Threat of Peace, the weekly web-comic written by BioWare's Rob Chestney and drawn by Alex Sanchez. Dark Horse Comics will be publishing the first portion of the series as a 96-page trade paperback in April. Dark Horse also delves into the Old Republic universe on a monthly basis with its Knights of the Old Republic comic series, in publication since 2006.

Fans of words without pictures are in for a treat as well. In July, Del Rey Books will be publishing Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance, a hardcover novel by bestselling author Sean Williams, and there's another book already in the early planning stages from Paul Kemp. know for his work on the Forgotten Realms series of AD&D novels.

That's two novels. The Old Republic's script alone has enough text for forty. Looks like someone has a lot of writing to do to catch up!

The Expanded Universe of The Old Republic [Star Wars: The Old Republic]

The story starts off with Guybrush klepto-ing his way out of his own grave ("What's all this dirt doing here? Maybe I'll just hang on to some..."). How he got there is covered in the previous four episodes, which we won't spoil for you here. After passing by a Grog vending machine and some other promising-looking puzzle pieces, he encounters the Boatman — that infamous character out of legend who ferries the dead on to whatever awaits them.

In Guybrush's case, this is Crossroads — where Pirates go to die or be half-dead. With a Shred of Life in his pocket and a thin hope that he can get back to his body to be reunited with his wife Elaine, our hero goes on questing in Crossroads essentially the same way he did when he was alive.

Things don't get interesting 'til Guybrush actually discovers the way to return to his body. The demo master behind our tiny sample of Episode 5 didn't reveal how this comes about exactly (something to do with a locket) — but rather jumped ahead to a point in time when Guybrush's ghost was able to communicate to some buddies about why his corpse was being used as a dartboard. Strangely, the pirates were glad to see Guybrush in his corporeal form, but when he somehow got back into his own body, they freaked out and attacked him.

Clearly, this whole life after death thing is more complicated than zombie movies have led us to believe. If Guybrush being back in his body doesn't make his body undead, does that make him a standard zombie or some other iteration of undead? And where does this put his relationship with Elaine because pirates probably have laws about necrophilia.

Our demo ended with one final attempt to repossess Guybrush's body — which landed us in jail this time — where Guybrush got kicked out of his corpse after spending too long in the land of the living. Because the game was in its early days of development, there were no fight scenes to see. But we were told to expect a "good, classic boss fight" at the end of Episode 5.

As for the future of series, Telltale isn't telling. They do intend on releasing the full box copy for PC relatively soon after Episode 5 goes live and they said we can expect that we'll "be hearing from" Telltale "very soon" about their next big project. Also, they did say they were "committed to getting as many things on as many platforms as possible" in response to a question about an Xbox Live release for Tales of Monkey episodes. But again, nothing definite.

And for all you Wii fans out there still waiting for 1) a box copy of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People and 2) a release date on the WiiWare version of Episode 5, Telltale says 1) blame Nintendocomplicated circumstances and 2) it'll be out whenever Nintendo approves it.

Tales of Monkey Island Episode 5: Rise of the Pirate God is out for PC December 8.

ETA: Telltale's Will Armstrong wants to clarify that the situation is not about Nintendo being slow, but rather that the timing of completing the game and getting it to Nintendo for their submission process is complicated. Hence why they can't guarantee same-day releases between PC and WiiWare episodes.

I get that they're supposed to be a more badass version of a Sith Warrior with different ranged abilities. But if that's the case, wouldn't all players playing as Sith Warriors graduate to Inquisitors after playing long enough? Jedi Consular — the other new class revealed — confuses me less. "Consular" sounds like a political position; one you'd have to train for specifically as opposed to a rank you achieve over time.

So I guess I'll be playing on the Jedi faction simply to avoid asking myself uncomfortable questions.

What Is It?
Star Wars: The Old Republic is a massively multiplayer online game set way, way back in the ancient history of the galaxy far, far away. The Sith and the Jedi are rival factions and apparently things are getting explosive between the two. Enough so that players who choose to play on one faction side or the other will have plenty to shoot at, lightsaber cut or otherwise inconvenience on various planets in the Star Wars universe.

The classes are Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor, Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior, Smuggler/Bounty Hunter, Trooper/Imperial Agent. Companion characters will figure heavily into gameplay, as will storytelling (come on, it's BioWare). Space travel has yet to be revealed or discussed.

What We Saw
I played through about 95% of a quest we'll call "The Tomb of Tulac Horde" because I'm not sure what its official name is, but that just about sums it up. I was in the role of a Sith Inquisitor acolyte with a nice rack and red hair — and I was role playing her with an attitude problem that somehow didn't get her Force-choked even once during the play through. The quest involves going into a tomb to collect three tablets and returning to your Sith master. Additionally, you could accept a quest to activate something in the tomb called the Red Machine for some other dude standing outside the tomb. Also, you could talk to and accept another quest involving mind-raping a Jedi being held in a Sith dungeon, but I was told by a LucasArts representative not to pursue that quest.

How Far Along Is It?
It's hard to say with so limited an experience. Furthermore, no release date has been suggested and while names have been collected for the closed beta, there's no word on how that's progressing. I think I was playing on a very unfinished product on account of some missing text, the fact that I wasn't allowed to explore very much and the part where I was playing an MMO strangely devoid of other players.

What Needs Improvement?
I can't tell the difference between Sith Warrior and Inquistor: Just looking at the list of powers suggests that the class difference between Warrior and Inquisitor is supposed to exist. But while playing my big jugged female character, I just didn't feel any different from a Sith. I shocked people, I drained life force, I cut ‘em up with lightsabers. How is this different whether I'm a Warrior or Inquisitor?

Wow, is the whole galaxy a size D or just the Sith chicks? I'm not as annoyed as I am bemused by the boobs I saw in Old Republic. I almost missed half of what my acolyte was saying during the opening quest cinematic because I was watching her bosom stay oddly stationary while the rest of her body would shift when she sighed in boredom at her boss. Then, I practically ran into the bosom of another Sith female just trying to walk out the door. Finally, the Sith who assigned me the Jedi mind-rape quest I wasn't permitted to explore must've been using the Dark Side to keep her rack from sagging. Seriously, they took up one third of the screen in some camera angles during her quest-assignment cinematic.

What Should Stay The Same?
Excellent Voice Work: This is where BioWare really feels different than other MMOs to me. Every character I talked to had a different voice and sounded like they could actually act. It definitely speaks to the quality of the product LucasArts is encouraging BioWare to produce.

Good Use of Camera Angles: During cinema scenes, the camera would cut angles – much like they do in Mass Effect cut scenes. It kept things interesting and gave me more opportunities to look at things other than my character's chest. Also, they didn't over-use it, which is crucial to its success as a storytelling tool.

Hey, It's A Star Wars MMO: The quest involved navigating a series of rooms around an open space. The enemies were all slime-filled worms, reprogrammed droids or escaped Sith slaves. There was also a larger worm near the Red Machine — but it died just as quickly with a quick life drain followed by a lightsaber ground pound. Overall, the experience felt exactly like I'd expect an MMO to feel. The controls worked exactly like you'd expect them to (WASD to move, M for map, numbers or clicking for attacks, etc.), the menu system was familiar and it wasn't hard to master the combat once you got used to lightsaber fighting. Old hats of MMOs will have zero trouble adjusting and the rest of us will overcome the learning trauma for the sheer joy of swinging a lightsaber around.

Final Thoughts
I'm happy I got to see the game, but I'm sad that it was such a limited experience that basically amounts to your average fetch quest in any other MMO (only with more story behind it and higher production values). Also, I would've really liked to see that Jedi mind-rape quest because that sounded like it would yield more of the BioWare dialogue I'm addicted to.

But, from what little I saw, I can say that it's coming along. And no matter how many times I see that E3 trailer, it still looks badass. They actually let us re-watch it in LucasArts' super-huge theater with surround sound. LucasArts Old Republic Producer Jake Neri actually cautioned me when I headed for the third row back from the screen, "Don't sit there, you'll throw up." It was awesome.

Twitter maniac and former Kotaku guest editor Geoff Keighley is at it again, teasing more important goings-on happening at this year's spike TV Video Game Awards on December 12th. We've got the Halo: Reach premiere, and now a brand new game in the Star Wars franchise.

There's a teaser vid posted over at GameTrailers, but it doesn't do more than tease us with footage from older titles. Is it a new Battlefront? A new X-Wing game? Masters of Teras Kasi 2? We'll find out on December 12th.

The publisher writes on its official Twitter account today that it's readying a patch for LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues that will add online co-op play to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. That brings it up to speed with LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

LucasArts addresses one of our concerns with the game—a lack of user-created level sharing online—saying "you'll be able to join others as they build and play their levels." Maybe not the sharing you had in mind, but it's better than the current implementation.

We're happy to see that LucasArts agrees with us that offline-only co-op belongs in a museum.

I get that this is a family title, and blood or gore would be inappropriate, gratuitous or otherwise. But seriously, the wrathful spirit makes the Nazis line-dance? Really? They got permission for cartoon violence in the rating, can't it just, I dunno, blast them into several pieces? Maybe a ginormous Lego spirit who comically stomps them flat? Do something funnier than this? Wow. Some payoff.

Lego Indiana Jones 2 [CBS News.com via VG247]

While working on the recent Special Edition of the game, Lucasarts' Adam Bormann says he had to go back into the code for the original Monkey Island. And while in there, poking around for puzzle AI, he found a ton of content left in the game by its developers, including Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer.

Seems every time the original developers made a change to a puzzle or a piece of dialogue, they simply left the old stuff in the code. So Lucasarts have yanked it all out and posted it. Some of it's all-new content, others added lines to existing chit-chats, but for fans of the series it's all good reading.

Secret of Monkey Island – The Deleted & Extended Scenes [Lucasarts]

I kid. That guy to the left is "Enemy Mechanic," aka the Von Kaiser/Bald Bull hybrid who duked it out with Indy under the flying wing in Raiders of the Lost Ark. According to Video Games Blogger, the rest of the characters are:

1. Cairo Digger
2. Crystal Skull
3. Enemy Mechanic (pictured)
4. Indiana Jones
5. Lao Che
6. Major Arnold Toht
7. Marion Ravenwood
8. Mola Ram
9. Mutt
10. Native
11. Professor Henry Jones Senior
12. Rene Belloq
13. Short Round
14. Spalko
15. Willie Scott

I'm not sure why the Crystal Skull is listed as a playable character if in fact it's just an "object" in the game. "Native" is self explanatory, and Lao Che was the gangster from the opening sequence in Shanghai from "Temple of Doom."

LEGO Indiana Jones 2 Characters List [Video Games Blogger]

Then again, it's rated E10+, so maybe we should just let Marion's fist do all the talking. Snark aside, LucasArts' use of the game's cinematics and the film's footage makes for a very, very charming trailer here.

Microsoft?

LucasArts? Or Lucasfilm as the case may be?

Sony?

Zynga?

Candy? I mean, uh, Frog Design?

But the final answer is yes. Yes, Elite Squadron can handle all 16 players leaping from space combat to ground battles and back again almost at once. Yes, it can get hectic and confusing. And yes, you will totally love it.

What Is It?
Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is the latest in the cross-platform Battlefront series. This installment on PSP and Nintendo DS keeps level with the series' theme of dropping players into "everyman" Star Wars characters with some special chances to play as "hero/villain" characters in certain levels.

What We Saw
I played six multiplayer Conquest Mode matches with an assortment of other games journalists and QA testers who totally owned our collective face. The worlds we saw are: Tatooine, some Clone Wars planet I didn't recognize, Hoth, Kashyyyk, Dantooine and Mustafar. Conquest matches, for those of you unfamiliar with the series, involve capturing command points and destroying enemy spacecraft in a certain amount of time.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is out November 3.

What Needs Improvement?
Hey! I Didn't Want To Go Planetside! If you're flying a spacecraft, the game sometimes takes liberties with your locations. For example, you can hop in an X-Wing on the ground and try to jet up to space by flying skyward and pressing up on the D-pad – but the game doesn't think you should be up there quite yet and so it either doesn't send you right away, or it doesn't send you at all. This same thing happens in the space-side of levels as well, which gets really annoying if you're flying close to the planet while trying to shoot somebody and the game decides to send you planetside even though you didn't press the D-pad.

Tough To Change Targets: You can lock on to enemies both in space and on the ground – but I was having a heck of a time figuring out how to change targets if I didn't want keep shooting at something. This really became a problem if I happened to be targeting a turret on a Star Destroyer because my ship would automatically angle toward it even as I tried to jet away from the ship so I wouldn't crash directly into it.

My Kingdom For A Melee Button! It seemed like you'd automatically melee-attack somebody when pressing the shoot button if they got close enough, however it didn't happen all the time. I know there are some weapons that are automatically melee-only (e.g. lightsabers) – but if everybody has the potential to melee with their guns, I'd really like a separate button for it. I'm a huge fan of the pistol-whip.

What Should Stay The Same?
Space Combat: Loved it. Loved it so much, I actually started to avoid going planetside.

Escape Pods: A big part of the battle phase is destroying the enemy's command ship that's hovering above the planet. You accomplish this by bringing down the enemy shields (with the ion cannon that's planetside) and then boarding the craft with your ship (easier said than done). Once inside the ship, combat changes to the ground format where you're running around as a trooper, a droid or a special character. You've got to get to the reactor core station inside the ship and wreck it, whereupon it triggers a timed explosion. You've got about two minutes tops to either fight your way back to the ship you boarded with (assuming it wasn't shot up) – but the best option is to grab an escape pod which sends you right back down to the planet.

It's What Multiplayer Was Meant To Be: If you've ever gotten together a bunch of gamers to take a crack at any multiplayer mode, you know when things are going well. People enjoy themselves and really get into the rivalries. When a big event happens – like a command ship exploding – there's a cry from the victim team and a cheer from the aggressor team. When somebody morphs into a Jedi at a random point in battle (depending on how well you're doing), there are squawks of disbelief to see a lightsaber on the field. And when the match ends, there's a collective groan because it felt like it ended too soon.

Final Thoughts
I'm buying it. I really hope my PSP-owning friends do, too, so I can gun them down in space.

As Sofi, players are unleashed into a storybook-like, side-scrolling dream-scape evocative of the worlds created by Tim Burton.

Despite Sofi being the main character, players don't actually control her; instead, they protect her by placing objects in her path, ensuring she safely makes it from one end of a level to the other. As Sofi self-propels along, she's faced with pitfalls, traps and creatures that can send her back to the beginning of the level. Players place items such as staircases, blocks and trampoline-shoes to help her overcome obstacles and reach her destination. The objects appear randomly in a Tetris-like fashion, testing gamers reflexes as well as their brains, as they race to find the right piece and place it in front of Sofi, lest she land face first in a spiky pit.

Anyone who spies even a single screenshot of this easy-on-the-eyes offering will be hard pressed to escape its visual charms. However, once in Sofi's world, players might find the actual gameplay to be more a nightmare than a dream.

Loved
Storybook Come to Life: Each one of Lucidity's 40+ levels is a visual treat. Oozing charming atmosphere, they should appeal to anyone who digs the colorful-and often creepy-worlds created by Tim Burton and the like. In fact, it's impossible to watch Sofi skip through her imaginary world and not recall Henry Selick's recent cinematic re-imagining of Neil Gaiman's Coraline. From the lighter palette that begins the game, to the more foreboding tones coloring the later levels, it's always easy to appreciate the developer's visually-driven storytelling style.

Cool Concept: Rather than create a Super Mario Bros. ripoff in this pretty world, LucasArts' unique approach puts a fresh coat of paint on platformers. The idea of not actually controlling the character, but rather her fate, by placing objects in her path is packed with potential. And the actual items used to guide Sofi further speak to the creative passion behind the project; whether you're shooting Sofi with a slingshot or simply placing a make-shift bridge in her path, it's super satisfying to see her not step towards danger because you've altered her path.

Hated
Frustration Trumps Fun: Despite a fantastic idea and appealing visuals, Lucidity (and ultimately Sofi) stumbles hard due to unforgivably poor execution. Beyond the first dozen or so levels, the game becomes an exercise in frustration, as you scramble to keep up with Sofi and find the right pieces to ensure her safe passage. There's too much going on-obstacles, traps, enemies-in the later levels, making it nearly impossible to complete them, never mind take the scenic route to chase collectible fireflies which add life and open bonus levels. Additionally, the slippery controls don't accurately "snap" objects into place, so, as Sofi marches towards a poisonous frog, you're left to wonder if your staircase is maybe a little too far left or right. Of course, you soon get your answer when the menacing amphibian sends little Sofi packing to the level's starting point. Which speaks to the next infuriating factor: How about some damn mid-mission checkpoints?! Sadly, by the time you successfully get Sofi from point A to B, you'll be more relieved than satisfied.

Touchy controls, loose level design, and a lack of useful items when you need them, make Lucidity, despite its potential and beautifully engaging presentation, far more frustrating than fun. I went into this promising title with brimming enthusiasm, but by the end, too many laps on the trial-and-error treadmill had broken my spirit.

Lucidity was developed by LucasArts and published by LucasArts for XBLA and PC on October 7th. Retails for 800 Microsoft points, or $10. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Completed Xbox 360 version of the game on normal difficulty.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

The Lego series lost me after the first Star Wars game was released. Batman was interesting, and nostalgic, but not that much fun to play. I own the first Lego Indiana Jones game but haven't been able to force myself to play for more than an hour. I guess the charm of the concept just came and went too quickly for me. Seeing classic scenes recreated in Lego form is novel, but when the core gameplay is more or less the same, it just isn't enough for me.

Now, if they did a Lego Indiana Jones Dance Party game...

Tight timeframes ended up in a rushed development cycle, in turn resulting in a game that had huge chunks missing from the final, playable product. Chunks that coders later found out were included on the disc, albeit in a rough, unfinished form.

So some modders took it upon themselves to yank out that code, polish it up, drop it into the final game and give us all the version of KOTOR 2 that developers Obsidian originally intended.

Last week, the team at Deadly Stream announced that their work was done, and that if you own a copy of KOTOR 2, you can download a playable version of the restored content.

I haven't done so myself because, well, I banished all memory of KOTOR 2 some time ago. Anyone that does have a copy lying around, grab a copy from the link below, let us know how it all goes.

TSL_Restored_Content_mod ver1.4 "READY" [Deadly Stream, via Eurogamer]

I read about this a few months back in Rogue Leaders, the book on the history of Lucasarts, but was sad that the book didn't actually feature the thing. Now, I am sad no more.

Because Schafer has posted the entire application on Double Fine's site, which was submitted in the form of a game design document for an adventure title. As the man says, it "will surely become the standardized template for all future job-getting letters".

TWENTY YEARS, only a few tears. [Double Fine]