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Star Wars: Battlefront 3 live stream, new footage appears
Over this "May the 4th be with you" weekend, the irrepressible Star Wars: Battlefront 3 once again returned from the grave with new footage and a live stream. "New" is a malleable word here, since all of this comes from a game that was canceled in 2008 and may have leaked in one form or another over the past five years. The first occurrence of game footage was a livestream by PtoPOnline. According to Game Informer, ptoponline.com focuses on "coverage and streaming of pre-release games, betas, and canceled projects." There was also some alpha build footage, reportedly from a reel by developer Free Radical made in November of 2008, that was posted on Vimeo by Blue_Monkey. The Star Wars franchise is now a licensing opportunity for developers and publishers following the closure of LucasArts. [Thanks to everyone who sent these in.]
Here's an hour of Star Wars Battlefront 3 footage
Look, it's not our job to go around and re-open old wounds, and then pour salt in those wounds, and then smear mud on your salty wound and say "Aww, baby gonna cry? Cry baby gonna cry?", but sometimes such cruelty is an unavoidable consequence of our responsibility to share the truth, at all times.The video above contains roughly an hour of footage from an alpha build of Star Wars Battlefront 3, compiled and commentated upon by Past to Present Online. While very obviously far from finished, the game's promise is clearly evident – the enormity of the Cloud City alone is enough to make us pine for what could have been.As you'll recall, Free Radical Design essentially finished Battlefront 3 way back in 2008, but management changes at LucasArts doomed the project, despite being in the final stages of QA testing. If you (understandably) don't have a full hour to devote to footage from a cancelled Star Wars game, try skipping to this vehicle section on Bespin, which is a good encapsulation of how rough this build was.
This is what happened to Star Wars Battlefront 3
Despite our infinite sadness that TimeSplitters 4 is not in development right now, at least we have some closure regarding developer Free Radical Design today. Steve Ellis, one of three individuals who left Rare after the completion of GoldenEye 007 on the N64 and founded Free Radical Design, has shed some light on what happened to the UK-based developer – and why we never got Star Wars Battlefront 3, even though Free Radical basically finished it in 2008."It was a big thing, we were very excited and for a long time it was going very well," Ellis told GI.biz in an interview that focuses on the rise of Free Radical and how it eventually became Crytek UK. "That was a big deal for us because it meant putting all our eggs in one basket. It was a critical decision – do we want to bet on LucasArts? And we chose to because things were going as well as they ever had. It was a project that looked like it would probably be the most successful thing we had ever done and they were asking us to make the sequel to it too. It seemed like a no-brainer." But then things got a bit rocky due to a shift in LucasArts management. Key individuals left the company and suddenly things were looking grim for Free Radical's Battlefront 3."LucasArts' opinion is that when you launch a game you have to spend big on the marketing and they're right. But at that time they were, for whatever reason, unable to commit to spending big. They effectively canned a game that was finished." As of March 2008, Free Radical had a competent working build. "It was pretty much done, it was in final QA. It had been in final QA for half of 2008, it was just being fixed for release," Ellis concluded.
More Star Wars: Battlefront 3 footage from 2008 hits the tubes
The above version of Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was canceled and will never truly exist outside of the YouTube time portal, but sometimes it's nice to get a glimpse of what could have been. We can learn from its failings, reanimate its successes and keep talking about how great the old days were, forgetting that one day right now will be the "good old days."All premature nostalgia aside, the video above is reportedly a pre-alpha version of Free Radical's vision for Battlefront 3, shot in 2008, and it covers the menu, character creation, general gameplay and a few flight scenes.
Battlefront 3 still in development, casting director claims
We haven't heard anything on the subject of Star Wars: Battlefront 3 in quite some time -- so long, in fact, that we had nearly forgotten all about it. But when a forumgoer pointed out to Battlefront3.net that a casting director named Chris Marazzo noted on his personal website that, "After casting over 200 commercials and various projects in NY and LA, including most recently Star Wars: Battlefront 3 with Lucas Arts," the rumor popped right back up onto our radar. The folks at BF3.net asked Marazzo about his involvement with the title and got a somewhat straightforward, if not partially confusing, response. "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. " There's a possibility we'll find out more about a new entry in the Battlefront series this evening when the Spike VGAs premiere information on what's next for the Star Wars gaming franchise. In the meantime, we've contacted LucasArts for comment and will update this post if we hear more. [Via VG247]
Rumorang: Star Wars Battlefront III 'not currently' at Pandemic
Despite the rumor to the contrary, it appears that Star Wars: Battlefront III is not in development at Pandemic, the studio responsible for the first two games. Just last week an employee from Rebellion -- where Battlefront III development moved after its initial stint at Free Radical -- reportedly stated that development had shifted to Pandemic. According to Mathew Everett, community manager at Pandemic, the game "is not currently" with the studio. He added that only LucasArts would know the fate of the title at this point.Depending on your point of view, this news is either a terrible blow or a tremendous relief (unless you're just middlin', of course). Given the popularity of the most recent Star Wars title, The Force Unleashed, we imagine Battlefront III will find a home somewhere. Here's hoping Jabba is finally playable.[Via VideoGamer]
Rumor: Leaked footage of Star Wars Battlefront 3
Sporting a Free Radical logo watermark, a video of supposed Star Wars Battlefront 3 alpha footage has made its way onto YouTube and - if legit - gives us nearly six minutes of gameplay to drool over.The footage was supposedly shot during an "internal show and tell Alpha meeting" that took place in November and not only shows impressive visuals, but nifty gameplay elements including airborne combat that flows seamlessly from planet-level to space. It should be stated that the status of Battlefront 3 is still relatively unknown thanks to the predicament developer Free Radical is in.[Via Joystiq]
Star Wars Battlefront III60 exclusive?
According to GamesRadar, the March issue of UK Magazine Playstation World spilled some beans on Star Wars: Battlefront III. On page 65, they state that LucasArts is moving the series from Pandemic, who developed the first two in the series, to Free Radical, of TimeSplitters and GoldenEye fame. They go on to say that SWBIII is listed as an Xbox 360 exclusive, but don't think it will stick. Still, Free Radical has a history of making some badass multiplayer games, and hopefully it will translate well in Star Wars: Battlefront III's online skirmishes. Are you looking forward to the new gen iteration of the series? What are your thoughts on the potential exclusivity and Free Radical taking the helm?Oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, that box art is fan made, and not official.[Via GameStooge]
