One of the biggest new features of the upcoming PSP-exclusive Star Wars Battlefront game is the ability to customize your character in a number of ways. No longer limited to simple classes, players will be able to assign points to certain abilities, allowing players to experience the game in a highly tailored way. Watch this interview and get the full details, and some game footage to boot.

Is a game too ambitious for its own good? Maybe. The new Star Wars Battlefront title brings brand-new massively multiplayer battles ... exclusively for PSP. We're not complaining, however. The new trailer from LucasArts shows there's much to celebrate in this jam-packed UMD. The game promises so much that if Rebellion is able to deliver, our console brethren will have a lot to be jealous of.

There's a Star Wars Battlefront game coming out, and it's exclusive for PSP. Titled Renegade Squadron, this new action game will feature an a "never before told" story that takes players through new missions and new battles that spans the classic trilogy (Episodes IV to VI). Han Solo has been recruiting "battle-hardened rogues and scoundrels" to fight the tired-and-true evil Empire. This ragtag team will travel throughout the Star Wars universe. Some of the levels include: Ord Mantell, Boz Pity, Korriban, Sullust and Saleucami. There will also be new space battles at Kessel, Hoth, Bespin, and the remnants of Alderaan. Star Wars mainstays, like Endor and Hoth, will also be returning.

Renegade Squadron promises to provide a greater customizable experience than its predecessors. Players will be able to choose their own weapons, equipments and abilities. A variety of vehicles will be available, including the Millennium Falcon, Darth Vader's TIE Advanced, Slave I, and the Jedi Starfighter. Capitol ships can be controlled as well.

To top it all off, Renegade Squadron will also feature 16 player Infrastructure multiplayer, with leaderboards, stats tracking, and profile pages. With such robust online features, Renegade Squadron looks to easily outdo the PSP version of Battlefront II. The game is planned to release this fall. For more details and screenshots, visit the official Battlefront web site.

LEGO Batman has been rumored to be in development for quite some time, but finally fans of building blocks and super heroes are having their dreams met (at least the ones that can be rated E for everyone). Variety of all places is reporting that TT Games is eagerly following up the success of LEGO Star Wars with a LEGO dark knight game. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will do the publishing rights this time and LEGO Batman is set to come out sometime 2008.

I'm personally more excited about this LEGO title than Star Wars simply because I'm a bigger fan of Batman. If you could have any property turned into a LEGO game, which would you choose?

[Via Firing Squad]

The Death Star wasn't build in a day and apparently Star Wars: The Force Unleashed won't be either. The game did have an official release date of November 2007, but now its release date has switched to "TBD" and the rumor is that it won't be out until sometime in 2008. Much like the Star Wars universe, game delays are both good and bad because while the extra time usually helps make the game better, it tortures fans awaiting that particular title. Let's hope that like cookies in the oven, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is worth the wait. Mmmmm cookies.

[ Via Games Radar ]

There is an upcoming CG Star Wars Clone Wars TV series coming in 2008. LucasArts must have lots of confidence in the property because their making a game based on it and Clone Wars will be their first internally developed handheld title. LucasArts Shanghai is doing the honers and has Feargus Carroll as the project lead. He previously worked on such popular games as Freedom Fighters, Black & White 2 and Battlefield: Modern Combat.

If both the game and and the new TV show are as good as the previous Cartoon Network Clone Wars than I'll be a huge fan of both.

[Via DCEmu]

PSP Fanboy offers the latest and greatest movie and game trailers, formatted for the PSP in this new weekly feature. Check it out every Saturday. PSP owners can download files wirelessly via m.pspfanboy.com.

Instructions: Save all movie and thumbnail files to MP_ROOT/101ANV01/. Requires firmware 2.00 or above. Do NOT place in "VIDEO" folder. Firmware 2.80 or above do not need to download thumbnails.


The following videos are featured after the break: Knocked Up, Tekken 6 [PS3], Motorstorm Behind the Scenes [PS3], Star Wars: Force Unleashed.

LucasArts has finally officially announced their next Star Wars game. It will be called Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. It's coming out to nearly every system around and luckily that means our PSP will be able to unzip ... errr unleash the force. While the last Star Wars PSP game was the gaming equivalent of a car accident, hopes are still high for this newest Star Wars outing. The game's storyline is being overseen by George Lucas himself and will take place between the events of the new and old trilogy. Interestingly you'll assume the role of Darth Vader's apprentice, who's goal is to hunt down the remaining Jedi Knights.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed hunts down PSP Jedi this fall.

[Via Gamespot]

There's something lethal about this game. How bad it is. When a publisher decides not to hype a game, and let it silently release to the masses, you know something's going on. Let's see what went wrong, according to the critics:

• Gamespot (71/100) enjoyed the game quite a bit, noting good ideas marred by poor controls - "The analog stick isn't conducive to subtle movement, so most of your "mission failed" screens are the result of control struggles. The shooting portions are standard fare"
• Games Radar (50/100) thought the game was a bore - "Star Wars: Lethal Alliance is the very definition of mediocre. The storyline isn't integral enough to the gameplay experience to really snag fans, and the gameplay won't do much for anyone else. It's cool to finally play a Twi'lek, but if Lethal Alliance is any indication, they should really stick to dancing."
• GameDaily (50/100) notes the game's poor controls as well - "Unfortunately, the poor mission design keeps this game from being a must buy. Ubisoft relied on old game ideas, such as not being able to leave a room until all enemies have been killed, or back tracking through the same bland looking environment instead of throwing the player something new. On top of that, Rianna's targeting system sucks."

Star Wars games have been notorious for being either amazing or merely mediocre. It's unfortunate to see that we got the latter.

Egad! It seems like Star Wars: Lethal Alliance is coming out next week. It's usually not a good sign when a game sneaks past everyone's radar until right before it ships. Maybe Ubisoft isn't too confident in their first PSP Star Wars offering? (Anyone know why Ubisoft, and not LucasArts is publishing this?) The new videos that IGN have put up showcase a weird mix of the Star Wars and Matrix universes, with the main character being far more nimble and acrobatic than I'm accustomed to. Unfortunately, it appears that the game looks nowhere as nice as it does in the still shots (shown above). The textures seem a lot worse, and the framerate appears to barely chug along.

Maybe I'm wrong (and I hope I am!). I'd love to see a decent Star Wars game on our platform. Read IGN's impressions to find out more.

I know there are a lot of you out there who want to forget about the new Star Wars trilogy. Characters like Jar Jar Binks, a bratty Anakin and Watto just make me sick to my stomach. For those of us in this camp, we should all be thankful LucasArts is bringing LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy to the PSP this fall, and the company has just released a handful of new screens for you all to drool over.

What will this game feature besides Ewoks living with half their bodies inside trees as the above image suggests? How about the Character Customizer, which enables you to take any of the 60 unlockable characters in the game and mix and match body parts from them to create your very own character - just like you would in real life.

"Character customization was something we'd been looking at for a while," says Will Thompson, character artist at developer Traveller's Tales in an interview with IGN. "There are lots of cool ideas like that which come very naturally from working with LEGO. The best thing about the Character Customizer is randomization, which gives you a completely different character than you've ever imagined with the touch of a button. You never know what you're going to get!"

LEGO Star Wars II looks like it's coming together rather nicely. The graphics look great, and if the game doesn't fall into the normal PSP pitfalls, it should be a sure-fire winner.

(Via IGN)

Ubisoft has announced today that they're developing a new, original Star Wars game for the PSP and DS. Entitled Lethal Alliance, the game will take place in the time between the so-so Episode III and the good Episode IV. You'll play as Twi'lek Rianna Saren and her security droid Zeeo, and it's your job to uncover the most lethal weapon the Empire has ever come up with: the Death Star (cue dramatic music). GameSpot has some screenshots of the PSP game, and also an interview:

On [the] PSP, we wanted to utilize the powerful hardware by making an action-packed, fun-filled game set in beautiful environments... Both versions of the game offer local Wi-Fi capabilities... On PSP you will play Twi'lek versus Twi'lek, while on DS you will play droid versus droid.

[Thanks, steve & daniel-kun!]

I present to you, late-night PSP Fanboy reader, my Fan-made PSP video sandwich. A video on top and a video on bottom, with some tasty commentary by me in the middle. And, I can guarantee that this sandwich has no trans fat. These videos have been unearthed from the depths of the internet. They would've been posted earlier, but they're not really too funny. They are, however, an interesting testament of the PSP fanboy spirit. The video on top is a great tutorial on the various functions of the PSP, marred only by the constant use of immature sex jokes. I like to be a bit more subtle in my efforts.

The video on the bottom successfully recreates the Hackers Versus Sony story from earlier, but now with Star Wars music and Really Awkward And Random Capitalization! Enjoy, and expect some real PSP news in the morning.

The news of Halo appearing on the PSP (the Iris mod, not the April Fools Day joke) was pretty significant on its own, but what if you pay your dues to the official Luke Skywalker Fan Club and not to Master Chief's Mercenary Squad, Newark chapter? A Star Wars mod for Iris has officially surfaced on the venerable Internets, which means that not only will SW fans be able to get their fix on the PSP (yay!), but we just might have yet another opportunity to blow the crap out of Jar-Jar Binks (double yay!).

[Thanks, craig]