April 22^nd, 2005 (6:42pm) - In late March, PC Gamer revealed the very first details regarding the sequel to Pandemic Studios Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Battlefront II. After months of waiting for an official confirmation, today LucasArts finally confirmed that Star Wars Battlefront II is indeed in development and on scheduled for its Fall 2005 release date for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC. LucasArts revealed the game to public audiences at the Indiana Convention Center during the four-day Star Wars convention known as Star Wars Celebration III.

As reported previously, Star Wars Battlefront II takes the best-selling Star Wars video game of all time one Imperial-walker step forward with all-new space combat, playable Jedi, and never-before-seen environments straight out of the "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith" film. Fans of the original Star Wars Battlefront will also enjoy an all-new single-player experience that takes players through an epic, story-based saga where every action the player takes impacts the Battlefront and, ultimately, the fate of the Star Wars galaxy. Critically acclaimed Pandemic Studios is once again developing the game for LucasArts.

"The original was a huge success for LucasArts and we plan to build on that success to make Star Wars Battlefront II exceed what we did for the first game in every measurable way," said John Geoghegan, Vice President of Global Marketing and Sales. "For Star Wars Battlefront, we joined forces with our colleagues at Lucasfilm to launch the game day-and-date with the Classic trilogy on DVD. Star Wars Battlefront II’s campaign will be even bigger, including promotions with major national partners, as well as unprecedented in-store support."

Star Wars Battlefront II improves upon the original game’s single-player experience with open-ended, mission-based objectives inspired from all six Star Wars films. The compelling storyline spans more than 12 new locations, many from Episode III, including volcanic Mustafar and the space battle above Coruscant. All-new classic movie moments complete the Star Wars Battlefront II experience, as players battle within the interior of the Death Star and visit Princess Leia’s blockade runner, the Tantive IV, as seen at the beginning of "Episode IV A New Hope." In addition, at certain key moments within the battles, players can feel the Force as a Jedi.

For the first time ever, Star Wars Battlefront II players can engage in space combat and, during the same battle, board enemy ships to attack from within. Starting on foot inside a capital ship, players can enter the spacecraft of their choice and travel into space to dogfight with the rival faction. From there, they can dock within the enemy’s capital ship, overtake the ship’s command posts, man its turrets to disable its shields and destroy it from within! Or, they can simply stay inside their own capital ship and defend it from attacks and enemy fire. The choice is theirs.

The stellar online play that marked the original Star Wars Battlefront returns even bigger and better for Star Wars Battlefront II. Players can locate their buddies and track their stats as they battle alongside more players than ever (up to 24 on PS2, 32 on Xbox, 64 on Windows).