The March issue of UK magazine PlayStation World dropped quite a bomb in its pages this week, in the middle of a Star Wars retrospective feature. On page 65, PSW states that Free Radical - the team behind GoldenEye and TimeSplitters - is masterminding the next iteration of the Star Wars Battlefront franchise. Check out what they had to say:

"Star Wars Battlefront III is also currently in development, with LucasArts having switched coders from Pandemic Studios - who made Battlefront I and Battlefront II - to Free Radical... SWBIII is listed as an Xbox 360 exclusive, but expect a full PSW review to before the end of the year."

Keep in mind that LucasArts hasn’t yet made an official announcement that SWBIII has switched development teams, so take this with a grain of salt, albeit a mighty plausible grain at that.  Also, knowing LucasArts, we expect that the 360 exclusivity won't last and that we should see this game comming to a few other consoles.

If this is indeed true, then that is some damn good news. GoldenEye and TimeSplitters are just about some of the best console FPS’ we’ve ever played (whatever Halo). They certainly lend themselves to amazing multiplayer shenanigans. We hope Free Radical can create Ewok versus Gungan deathmatches to satisfy our bloodlust for both races.

Hopefully LucasArts will make an official announcement soon. Remember, you heard it here first and if we’re wrong, don’t shoot the messenger.

March 2, 2007