Classic LucasArts game Star Wars: Republic Commando is being rereleased for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation4, it has been announced.

The fan favourite game, set in the prequel era and told from the perspective of a Republic Clonetrooper, was originally released in 2005 for Xbox and PC.

Lucasfilm Games and Aspyr have teamed up to make Republic Commando's return possible, with Lucasfilm Games executive producer Matt Fillbrandt, who worked on the original game as well as the rerelease version telling StarWars.com that he looks forward to the game being enjoyed by a new generation of fans.

Republic Commando sees the player take on the role of a member of Delta Squad, a Clone Commando unit during the Clone Wars, and features a single player storyline with tactical team-based action, with the player able to issue commands to their squad such as identifying targets for attack or healing an ally, across iconic Star Wars locations like Kashyyyk and Geonosis.

The game was also accompanied by a series of novels by Karen Traviss, and almost had a sequel. Despite now being considered part of the Legends continuity Republic Commando retains a foothold in Star Wars canon through Delta Squad, who appeared in an episode of The Clone Wars, and served as inspiration for Dave Filoni's creation of the show.

Star Wars: Republic Commando will be released on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation4 (PlayStation5 compatible) on 6 April 2021.

During yesterday's Nintendo Direct presentation it was revealed that Star Wars: Hunters is a new game in development by Zynga and Lucasfilm Games, and will be coming to the Nintendo Switch platform as well as iOS and Android devices later this year.

The will feature team-based multi-player battles in a competitive arena set after the end of the Galactic Civil War, although further details about gameplay or plot (if there is one) have not yet been revealed. 

Star Wars: Hunters draws inspiration from classic Star Wars stories and settings, but with a look and feel that is different from anything we have done before. We’re thrilled to introduce this wildly creative cast of characters to our fans on Nintendo Switch, where they can join with their friends in thrilling battles at home or on the go.

Douglas Reilly, VP of Lucasfilm Games

A short teaser was released, which you can check out below:

Star Wars: Hunters will arrive later in 2021 as a free download for the Nintendo Switch, and from the Apple App Store, and Google Play.

Hot on the heels of the resurrection of Lucasfilm Games, VP Douglas Reilly has revealed that Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment is among the studios lined up to develop new games for set within the Star Wars universe.

We’re looking to work with best-in-class teams that can make great games across all of our IP. We’ve got a team of professionals here at Lucasfilm Games who can work with the developers, shape the stories, shape the creative, shape the games, to make them really resonate with fans and deliver across a breadth of platforms, genres, and experiences so that all of our fans can enjoy the IPs that they know and love.

Douglas Reilly, VP Lucasfilm Games

The new as yet untitled game is to be a story-driven open-world experience. According to Massive Entertainment managing director David Polfeldt and creative director Julian Gerighty, discussions have been ongoing for around a year already and they are excited to finally reveal that things have progressed to the point where they can confirm that they will be building on their extensive experience from crafting open world games in their proprietary game engine, Snowdrop.

Reilly has also stated that EA will be sticking around, too and will have a big future in Star Wars gaming with a number of projects already underway.

It seems Lucasfilm Games will take on a guiding role in the creation of future Star Wars titles, acting in a a capacity similar to the Lucasfilm Story Group to ensure that games all have the authentic Star Wars aesthetic and retain a connection to the larger themes.

Lucasfilm Games is now the official home of Star Wars gaming, according to news from the official website.

Relaunching their social media channels and releasing a new sizzle reel celebrating current Star Wars titles, Lucasfilm Games is being repositioned as the hub for Star Wars gaming news and promises to push the franchise into "a new and unprecedented phase of creativity" by collaborating with Lucasfilm and top games studios. 

It's currently unclear what this means for the oft-criticised EA exclusivity deal that has been the source of much consternation amongst fans and gamers over the years since Disney disbanded LucasArts, but it does seem that by bringing all Star Wars games under a new and familiar banner the plan may be to allow more developers to play in the Star Wars universe.

There is no hint that Lucasfilm Games will become a developer in its own right, of course. Older fans will remember that the Lucasfilm Games brand was originally launched in 1982 before being renamed LucasArts in 1990. LucasArts were prolific, developing and publishing many games throughout their tenure before being disbanded by Disney in 2003 when the licence for Star Wars franchise games was handed over to EA.

Does this mean that Star Wars gaming news is on the way? I guess we will have to follow them and find out. You can follow Lucasfilm Games on Twitter @LucasfilmGames, and on Facebook @Lucasfilmgames.

Star Wars: Battlefront II: Celebration Edition will be free on Epic Games Store from 14 January until the 21st.

The game will, for next week only, be free to keep as part of your Epic Games library, with the previous two years of content that was previously available through in-game purchases. 

As the second game in the rebooted series from DICE and EA, Battlefront II is playable both online and offline and includes familiar heroes and villains from across the franchise up to and including The Rise of Skywalker customisations that were released on 20 December 2019.

So set a reminder for 14 January to check the Epic Games Store, as the offer won't be around forever.

EA have released version 4.0 of Star Wars: Squadrons, adding two new starfighters to the game along with a host of bug-fixes.

This free update is available to all players, giving New Republic pilots access to the B-wing, while the Galactic Empire have obtained the TIE Defender.

The B-wing is classed as a bomber, and was first seen in Return of the Jedi, having been designed for the movie by Joe Johnston and Bill George, whereas the TIE Defender with it's unusual tri-wing design was created for the 1994 LucasArts game Star Wars: TIE Fighter, as a top spec TIE variant that hardier than the standard TIE Fighter due to having shields.

For the full list of changes, see the official patch notes.

As we eagerly close in on next months release of the upcoming space combat game Star Wars: Squadrons, EA has released a visually stunning CG animated short to introduce us to the world that awaits us when we enter the game. 

Neel Upadhye directed the animated short, titled Hunted, which was created in collaboration with Squadrons developer Motive Studios and Lucasfilm, along with a dash of expertise from skilled visual effects artists at ILM such as Star Wars veteran John Knoll.

Squadrons features a single-player story mode featuring new and familiar characters and starships from the Empire and the Republic, as well as a squad-based multiplayer dogfight mode that will see the factions face off against each other in the aftermath of the Galactic Civil War.

You can read more about Hunted on the official Star Wars website here: https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-squadrons-hunted

Star Wars: Squadrons launches on 2 October 2020, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and on PC via the Origin, Steam, and Epic stores.

The trailer for their next Star Wars video game, Star Wars: Squadrons, has been revealed today.

Developed by Motive Studios and published by EA, Squadrons is a starship combat sim set after the events of Return of the Jedi, during a period where the Empire is still a credible threat to the fledgling New Republic.

The game features a singleplayer story mode for both factions, as well as a 5v5 multiplayer dogfight mode. According to the details revealed so far the game will allow you to customise your pilots for the Republic's Vanguard Squadron and the Empire's Titan Squadron, and will feature original characters along with cameos from characters we are already familiar with.

Further information and footage is expected to be revealed at the EA Play event on 18 June.

Star Wars: Squadrons is set for release on 2nd October 2020, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and on PC via the Origin, Steam, and Epic stores.

To celebrate Star Wars Day 2020, Respawn Entertainment and EA Games have released a free content update for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The update is available now and contains several new features that have been borne from player feedback and add extra replayability to the game.

The major new combat feature is called Meditation Training, where Cal can visit any meditation point to battle waves of enemies in a Combat Challenge or use the Battle Grid to design custom encounters featuring any enemy or bosses.

Another much requested feature which has finally arrived is the New Journey + mode, allowing you to restart the story but keeping your collectables. So, no more getting sidetracked hunting for those pesky ponchos! Although skills will need to be earned as your new journey progresses you will still keep your unlocked lightsaber parts, so at least you can slice through the Imperial scum in style.

Among the new collectables added to the game are new skins for BD-1 and Cal, new lightsaber hilts, and the oft requested red kyber crystal. Some of these are only available through the New Journey + mode, though, so you'll need to have completed the game once already to make use of them.

For more information, check out the official announcement and release notes.

The award-winning virtual reality experience from ILMxLAB Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series is coming to PlayStation VR this summer, it has been revealed. The three part experience is classed as official Star Wars canon and will be available as one single purchase. 

Vader Immortal has links to classic multimedia project Shadows of the Empire and takes us back to Vader's castle on Mustafar, enabling you to get up close and personal with the Dark Lord of the Sith himself. 

You can check out the trailer for the original VR experience below:

There is no doubt that Bioware's Knight of the Old Republic was one of the greatest Star Wars video games ever released, and new rumours are circulating that the franchise may be about to be resurrected.

What is KOTOR?

For those who missed out the first time around, Knights of the Old Republic was a single-player role-playing game set 4000 years before the Skywalker Saga, released on Xbox and PC in 2003. Although gameplay is clunky by today's standards, the story and the interactions that result in your character moving towards the light side or dark side of the Force mean that it is still worth a playthrough.

A sequel, Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords, was released in 2004, and an MMO simply called Star Wars: The Old Republic which was set 300 years later expanded on this era of galactic history.  Ultimately, though, all three games and spin-off materials are now considered part of Legends, rather than part of the canon timeline, since the 2015 shakeup of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. 

I won't spoil the plot of either game, because if you don't already know it you deserve to be able to play through the game without known the broader strokes of the plot.

What do we know?

Well, things are a bit murky to be honest. Rumours of a sequel have circulated for years, with a source close to Bioware leaking in 2017 that the developer was working on a sequel. Kotaku later confirmed the story, but clarified that the project was a prototype that was never greenlit by parent company EA who hold the licence for Star Wars games. 

In April last year, Kathleen Kennedy told reporters that they had several projects in the works, and that the idea of Knights of the Old Republic had been brought up. A month later, it was reported that Laeta Kalogridis was working on a Knights of the Old Republic movie screenplay. 

More recently still, the ambitious multi-media initiative Project Luminous was said to be set in a re-imagined Old Republic era called the "High Republic", while Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order features temples left behind by an ancient race of Force users that would be perfect for exploration via a Knights of the Old Republic style RPG.

What could the new game be about?

While we are taking these rumours with a pinch of salt, it's fun to speculate. The original plan for KOTOR3 would have apparently seen the player face up against an even greater enemy than the Sith we had seen so far in the series, but if there is going to be another Knights of the Old Republic I would think it would be more of a re-imagining rather than a straight sequel, as nothing has really been set in stone for the era since the games were decanonised. 

As the era is so far removed from established Star Wars canon they could opt for a remake, keeping the main characters (many of whom are beloved by fans), keeping the broad strokes of the story, but reworking the encounters and plot points to suit the new canon.

Who would make it?

Well, the first two games were developed by Bioware, so they would be the obvious choice. But Bioware has several projects already in the works, namely for the Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and Anthem franchises. Recently it was reported that EA were hiring for their Star Wars team at Respawn, so it's possible that the success of Jedi: Fallen Order has allowed them to claim this game, too.

This wouldn't be a bad thing as Respawn did a terrific job, although it would mean that the new KOTOR would not have the same feel as it's predecessors. Of course, this new game could always be something else entirely, such is the nature of rumours.

I've never played KOTOR, it sounds great!

It really is! If you like RPGs and you're not afraid of older games with outdated graphics and clunky interfaces then you'll have a good time. KOTOR and KOTOR2 share some gameplay similarities with Bioware's Mass Effect series.

I often see physical copies of both games in pre-owned sections of game stores, but you can also pick them up relatively cheaply on Steam:

• Knights of the Old Republic on Steam
• Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords on Steam

As a fan of the Old Republic era I'll be keeping an eye out for more news on this.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order launched last month and was widely hailed as a fantastic success for single-player gaming, with EA taking a hands-off approach and allowing Respawn Entertainment to do their thing, without insisting on features such as  microtransactions or lootboxes; which have become commonplace in gaming in recent years.

Now, it looks like they are set to continue developing their Star Wars portfolio, as new job posting at EA appears to show that they are bolstering the workforce in their Star Wars team at Respawn. This could point to a sequel for Jedi: Fallen Order, which would be the safe play given that they have already proven to EA that the single-player story-driven concepts still work in 2019, or it could equally mean that Respawn are gearing up to tackle another aspect of the Star Wars universe. Fans were clamouring for a Bounty Hunter-esque game even before The Mandalorian won streamers over, and the success of the Disney+ TV show could have been the necessary push to bring us something similar to the once highly anticipated Star Wars 1313 which was canned in 2013 when Disney closed LucasArts.

We eagerly await new information, although given the development cycle of gaming, we don't expect it to be forthcoming any time soon.

The official launch trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has been released, along with new gameplay footage available across the web from a portion of the game that was made available to previewers in the games industry.

Feedback from those that have played the game is mostly positive at the moment, with reviewers saying the game is far deeper than initial previews lead them to believe. Even for non-Star Wars fans, Jedi: Fallen Order represents an interesting proposition - a AAA title focusing on a singleplayer story mode, with no micro-transactions or multiplayer mode in stark contrast to the usual offerings from EA who have previously derided these types of games as being unwanted by modern gamers. Success has the potential to spin EA's current ethos on its head and drive more investment to singleplayer story driven gaming.

Check out the trailer below:

Jedi: Fallen Order releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows on 15 November 2019.

A new trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order entitled "Cal's Mission" has been revealed, and appropriately teases some of the trials that Cal Kestis will face in his journey to become a Jedi.

After inadvertently revealing his latent Force powers, former padawan Cal finds himself on the run from the Empire's Inquisitorius - an elite special unit tasked with hunting down and destroying any remaining Jedi that managed to survive the purge. The trailer shows Cal and BD-1 teaming up with a band of outlaws, including Cere Junda and Greez Dritus, to fight back against the oppression of the Galactic Empire. 

Cal appears to be searching for "something very precious to the Empire", a search that will take him to several planets with dangerous foes and Imperial pursuers hunting him down every step of the way. Check out "Cal's Mission" below:

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is released on 15 November 2019.

Classic Star Wars games, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy have both been announced for the Nintendo Switch and Sony's PlayStation 4.

Lucasfilm is working with developer Aspyr to bring the beloved Force-powered action/adventure games back to consoles. Both games will include the multiplayer aspect of the game as well as the single player story mode, and will support Gyro Aiming on the Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons.

Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast was the 2002 follow up to the equally classic Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, which followed hero Kyle Katarn on his journey from Rebel spy to Jedi Knight. Jedi Academy followed in 2003, and allowed the player to create their own character to take on the role of Katarn's apprentice. Both games featured a variety of multiplayer options, including Capture the Flag, Free For All, and various other team and solo-based match types.

Jedi Outcast will release on Switch and PS4 on 24 September 2019, giving us something to do while we wait for Jedi: Fallen Order. Jedi Academy will release some time in 2020.

Respawn and EA have released an extended cut of the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order gameplay footage.

The new video adds extra depth to the gameplay demo, revealing a little more of the story driven aspect of the game as well as showing a few sneaky tidbits that we missed out on the first time around.

Jedi: Fallen Order game director Stig Asmussen has responded to criticism that the the gameplay seems to lack depth, saying that the demo footage didn't show the complexity of the combat system as it shows a more focused play-through to better show the narrative and attention to detail that has been put into recreating the Star Wars universe.

He also reiterated the game's inspiration from other titles such as Metroid and Castlevania, which wasn't clear from the demo footage either.

Check out the extended gameplay footage below:

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will be released this November, and is already available to preorder.

Lego Star Wars fans rejoice! TT Games has announced that a new game is coming our way, with Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga set for release next year.

Bringing the trademark humour we have come to expect from Lego games back to a galaxy far far away is an all new adventure spanning the nine films of the Skywalker Saga. Judging from the details released so far it does not appear to be a simple repackaging of the previous Lego Star Wars titles, and will will instead retell the entire story through the prequel, classic, and sequel eras. 

Check out the trailer below!

At the Xbox E3 Briefing today the official trailer was released for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The new trailer focuses on the Kashyyyk mission that we previously saw in the EA Play gameplay footage shown yesterday.

Respawn Entertainment today revealed gameplay footage for Jedi: Fallen Order at EA Play's livestream event.

You can check out the fifteen minutes of gameplay footage that was shown during the event below.

The footage shows new combinations of Force powers that indicate that use of the Force during combat may more nuanced than we've seen in previous Star Wars games. 

The developers have promised what they called "thoughtful combat" where rather than simply swinging a lightsaber, you will need to time your swings, blocks, and parties to ensure your success.

The mission seen in the video occurs on the wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, and we also spotted protagonist Cal Kestis meeting with Saw Gerrera, who fans will recognise from Star Wars Rebels and Rogue One.

More details are sure to follow during E3.

Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm have revealed new key art for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order ahead of the EA Play live stream set to reveal long-awaited gameplay footage of the upcoming single-player story-driven action adventure game. 

We now have a more detailed look at Cal Kestis, the former Jedi padawan and survivor of Order 66, who will be our main character in Jedi: Fallen Order along with some other interesting details. Cal appears to be holding the damaged lightsaber we have already seen in the artwork and reveal trailer for the game. The grounded Venator-class Star Destroyer in the background looks to be the one also seen being dismantled in the trailer, in what is presumed to be an early part of the game. 

There is a strong Imperial presence in the poster, which not unexpected considering the era in which Jedi: Fallen Order is set; AT-ATs, AT-STs, and TIE fighters can all be seen as can the Second Sister Inquisitor and a pair of the new Purge Troopers. 

Respawn and Lucasfilm will be hosting a livestream at EA Play tomorrow which promises to give us a glimpse of gameplay footage. You can watch the stream live on YouTube at 9:30 am PT (check the event calendar for your local time).

Jedi: Fallen Order will be released on 15 November 2019.