LucasArts confirm that a new Star Wars related RTS is set for release in Autumn 2005…

2005 sees the release of the final Star Wars movie that will (hopefully) justify the other two films in George Lucas’ Prequel Trilogy. To further bridge the gap between Episode III and Episode IV, LucasArts have today confirmed that Petroglyph, made up from ex-Westwood employees, are at the helm of the new Star Wars RTS, Empire At War.

We previously reported back in November 2004 that Petroglyph were rumoured to be working on a new RTS set in the Star Wars universe, and whilst the genre isn’t to every gamer’s taste, at the very least it should exorcise the demon of Galactic Battlegrounds, which was released a few years ago.

The game is set just a few years before the events of Episode IV, and shows the rise of Darth Vader and the Rebel Alliance and utilises a new game engine developed by Petroglyph. Empire At War will feature battles on planets set across the Star Wars Universe including Tatooine and Dagobah, with gamers able to choose to play as either the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire – and to make matters that little more challenging - it also has persistent gameplay and action, which according to the Press Release, should mean that events and tactics is previous events will have repercussions in the galaxy.

We’ll have more details on Star Wars: Empire At War shortly…