The opening montage for FoxSports for tonight's game was a total Star Wars opening.
It started with the famous Star Wars scroll, but about the Game, then it scrolled down to the Corvette with a Boston Symbol on it being Chased by a Star Destroyer Whose Docking Bay had the Yankee Symbol. Then During the Entire Pre-game show Star Wars music was playing.

More of the "Evil Empire" versus the little guy stuff.

Towards the end of the game, as the Yankees were winning, some fans pulled out a large banner that read "The Empire Strikes Back."

Thanks to TF.N for this infomation.

TF.N has supplied some more spoilers, mostly related to Anakin. Spoilers - Highlight to read:

After the events of the absolutely epic opening space battle, the droid general has escaped, Palpatine has been rescued and Dooku is dead. Unfortunately, the Seperatist cruiser that Obi-Wan, Anakin and Palpatine is on, has now broken apart and tumbles into the atmosphere of Coruscant. The "Coruscant Fire Department" sends up fire ships to help guide the ship in for as safe of a crash landing as they can manage.

Anakin expects to be treated with more respect by the Jedi order now after having killed Dooku and rescuing Palpatine. When the droid general is tracked down, Obi-Wan is sent off on the mission to take him down, not Anakin. Palpatine, in response to his being kidnapped, uses this as a foil to upgrade his security and make Anakin his personal bodyguard. Another step for Anakin to be closer to Palpatine and in the future the Dark Side. He is getting prideful with slaying Dooku, and we see him now separated from Obi-Wan yet again. A receipe for disaster. And "upgrading the security" sure sounds like the Red Guards finally get much deserved recognition.

Anakin does indeed have to make a "choice" in the film. That choice is given to him by Palpatine. In response, Mace Windu chooses to try and defend himself. Anakin is guarding Palpatine, and Mace comes for a visit. We see a flash of the ROTJ Palpatine, then he unloads on Mace. Anakin and Mace duel, with Mace going down hard - sealing Anakin's embrace of the Dark Side.

Over 40,000 people have signed the online petition at OriginalTrilogy.com, which is dedicated to bringing the original Star Wars movies to DVD; Not in their Special Edition form, but as their original release:

Dear Mr. Lucas:

In recent public comments, you have stated that the original versions of the classic Star Wars Trilogy would not be released to DVD at any time in the future. This letter is an open plea on behalf of your devoted fans for you to reconsider your position regarding the release of your wonderful films.

In the August 2002 edition of Star Wars Insider Magazine, you are quoted as saying, "I think of the film as The Special Edition. I don't think of it as the early version, any more than I would put early rough cuts on. I could put four or five rough cuts onto the thing and say, 'This is how it advanced.' I consider The Special Edition as being the final version at this point. I don't even worry about the other ones, because it went through a lot of incarnations to get to the final stage." You recently reiterated this position in comments made during the American Cinematheque tribute to ILM and Skywalker Sound in Hollywood.

While we appreciate your creative viewpoint on the evolution of the films, we respectfully submit that there is tremendous importance in the original theatrical prints of the Star Wars Trilogy. Above and beyond the nostalgic value that they hold for millions of fans the world over, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi are landmark films that represent watershed moments in motion picture history. To preserve the original, award-winning work of the many artisans, sound technicians, craftsmen, and special effects artists is to do justice to their priceless contributions.

Undeniably, these movies are also cultural placeholders for millions of film fans. The impact that the original Star Wars Trilogy made on countless numbers of children, young people, and grownups everywhere is indisputable. Preserving the unaltered theatrical release forms of these movies and making them available to your public is of utmost importance.

Those of us who love your movies and even those who are only casual film fans admire your drive to perfect your vision of the Star Wars experience. We know that you constantly push your creative companies to blaze new frontiers of digital filmmaking and that you are also an artist who is never satisfied and strives for perfection. We, the film-going public, benefit from your vision and embrace the ever-growing Star Wars universe.

Furthermore, we understand that you have commercial concerns and that you need to consider the financial viability of any home video product that you release. Perhaps a Limited Edition run of the original films along with a Special Edition release would be in order. This approach would sate niche market demand, while still targeting the general public and no doubt breaking home video sales records. We want it to be known that there is enormous demand for the original theatrical versions of the films. Your devoted fans would more than likely purchase both an Original Trilogy release as well as any Special Edition versions.

An entire generation grew up with these movies and loves them dearly. They have created treasured memories and will always hold a place in our lives. We hope that you take to heart the hopes and wishes of the undersigned as well as the countless others who feel the same.

Have you signed the petition yet? Click here to suppport the movement of getting the Trilogy on DVD!

TF.N has provided the following Star Wars reference from the Down With Love DVD, which was released a few days ago:

In a funny reference to Star Wars in the outtake reel on the Down With Love DVD, one of the scenes shown is of Ewan McGregor right before a scene is about to be shot. He looks to a man off screen and asks, "What is my name?" The man offscreen jokingly replies "Obi Wan" with a deep voice. Ewan then plays along and deepens his voice and gets a very serious look on his face as he says "Thank You", sounding like Obi Wan.

Vaillancourt found this interesting auction on eBay with some Episode III implications:

Fox Studios, Sydney, Dumpster full of broken wood pieces from the set in Sound Stage 7 - interior of the Separatists' ship. Me - extra from Star Wars Episode 3 shot two weeks ago(September 2003). This console (1m x 40cm approx) is from one of the holographic tables we acted in front of with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christiansen. I can't divulge what took place in those scenes but I can say that this is the only piece not hanging up on my wall or in a furnace. When the film comes out in 2005 you will recognise your piece of set in the scenes I'm (not)talking about. I fished a few intact goodies out of that dumpster, and knowing how strict Lucasfilm and JAK productions were with the props and costumes, I'm sure pieces of actual Star Wars sets are NOT EASY TO COME BY. That is why I'm going to start the bidding at $1000 (American dollars).

I'll even throw in my Attack of the Clones Visual Dictionary which I got signed by George Lucas, Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christiansen, Palpatine and nearly everyone else in the book except for Natalie Portman and Christopher Lee. Nearly all the aliens have been signed by the extras who played them in Episode 3 including myself (PO NUDO).

Click here for the first image.
Click here for the second image.

Gamespot reports that Simon Jeffery, the President of LucasArts, has resigned his position. LucasArts is the publisher of Star Wars: Galaxies among other Star Wars related games such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

With little warning, LucasArts president Simon Jeffery resigned today. The company issued a brief statement this afternoon saying that Jeffery "has decided to leave the company and return to his native England with his family." No official reason for the exit was given. Mike Nelson, LucasArts' vice president of finance and administration, will serve as acting general manager until a replacement is found.

"The company is at a crossroads," said one industry insider reflecting on Jeffrey's departure. Another industry source echoed that sentiment, saying that Jeffrey leaves a publisher struggling to transition away from Star Wars-based products and produce original games that can sell in similar numbers. So far, LucasArts' internally-produced non-SW titles have not been much of a force: Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels was cancelled in August, and RTX Red Rock produced both tepid reviews and poor sales.

You can read the full story here: Gamespot Article.

SWG.Warcry got a chance to interview Kevin "Q-3PO" O'Hara about where Galaxies is at, and where it is headed.

Tark: Will we be seeing more diverse quest/theme parks? Currently the majority of missions are: go to point a, kill lair rinse repeat. Will we get more diversity? What are your plans to address this?

Q-3PO: Definitely. The simple "terminal" missions serve their purpose (short session play) and we have enough of them to do that. Based on feedback, we've added several more of types of mission terminals (Artisan, Entertainer, Explorer). Going forward we are focusing our efforts on more diverse missions like the ones you see on some of the static NPCs or in the Themeparks. The trick is to make ways of them being worth more to the player. Multileg quests sound more interesting but the convenience of the terminals makes it hard to wean players away from them. We're working on ways to entice the players to go the more interesting missions. This will involve better rewards and better information on where to find them.

Tark: We have heard you mention the ability to add new professions when needed; people are very excited about this especially with the mention of the Elite Elite Professions. How will you address balancing these new professions against the current ones? How will you address the skill points cost issue? I.e. will there be more then 250 points available, or just points that can be spent on specific elite elite professions?

Q-3PO: We do have plans for additional professions. We first want to make sure that our current professions get a couple of their biggest issues addressed first though. Next up is the Politician for player cities. Balancing isn't as much of a concern for us. We want to make sure they are all engaging to play. Currently there aren't plans to up the skill points because players can purchase multiple professions (or parts thereof) and can also surrender skills to try new things. Part of the game is evolving your character into what you want to play. Someone who never surrenders a skill really isn't getting the most out of the game in my opinion. We will have to address this issue when we go to the Space Expansion however.

IGN has gotten their hands on a preview copy of Rogue Squadron 3: Rebel Strike, and they've taken pretty much the first look at the multiplayer mode.

Everything said and done, the multiplayer mode in Rebel Strike surprised us -- it turned out to be deeper than we thought it would be, and we've had fun with many of its modes.

Read the entire article here. Also, check out IGN's fresh new gameplay movies of multiplayer in action.

TF.N has reported some rumors of a sequel to Knights of the Old Republic:

The November issue of the Official XBox Magazine has a brief mentioning of a KOTOR sequel in the works, as well. Bioware probably won't officially announce this until they have something nice to show off (like a trailer). Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 (fictional name) has been greenlighted with the potential for a late 2004 or early 2005 release. Rumor has it that the universe will jump far enough forward in time to help introduce a new batch of characters.

PCGameWorld.com has an interview with James Ohlen and Casey Hudson of Bioware to chat about KOTOR.

PC Gameworld: One of the most amazing aspects of this game is the Light/Dark balance. I must admit that there were a few times where I became frustrated because something I thought would get me light side points earned dark ones instead. The depth here is amazing, and the system seems to work near-flawlessly. How did you come up with this scheme, and, in your opinion, how well does it work?

James: It’s a very simple system. The player starts at 50 on a 100 point scale and moves up and down the scale when he chooses good or evil dialogue options. As the player moves along the scale, his character’s skin texture reflects the changes. In the original system a player would receive a set amount of points according to the severity of his actions (-3 for a minor evil act, -10 for a major evil act). We eventually changed it so that the points were also based on the player’s location on the scale. The closer a player approached the pinnacle of lightside or darkside, the more significant his actions had to be to continue down the path he had chosen. For example, if a player was at 10 on the scale, stealing money from an innocent was only going to have a negligible effect (-1 on the scale); he would have to kill an innocent or betray someone that trusted him if he really wanted to see results.

The popularity of the lightside/darkside scale was something that caught us by surprise. While we knew people were going to have fun with it, we didn’t think it would be as popular as it ended up being.

A member of TF.N's forum talked yesterday about how an early draft of the script was indeed titled: "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." We thought maybe it was a joke like Jar Jar's Great Adventure on the early drafts of Attack of the Clones, but perhaps we were quick to judgement.

Kudos to HamSalad3000 for this follow-up report:

Called Register.com this evening. Asked the nice person (I'll keep his or her identity secret in case they can get in trouble) if revengeofthesith.net was registered. I added I was on the road and couldn't look up myself.
The person said that it was. I said I was interested in purchasing the domain. The person said s/he would find out. "Actually, we own the domain," the person said.

On further inquiry about possibly purchasing the domain, s/he said s/he would inquire a bit more, since they were the one's who registered it.

The person then explained that the domain was a corporate client domain, and that corporate client had it registered/on hold through June 2004.

The name of that corporation, s/he said:

"LUCASFILM LTD."

As a corporate client, the person continued to explain, Lucasfilm recieves "certain priveleges" in terms of registering and holding domain names.

This was one of those instances.

So, no friend of friend. No person from another web site said. This was my investigation.

And the investigation reveals, without a doubt, that LUCASFILM OWNS REVENGEOFTHESITH.NET.

Now, having said all that, that DOESN'T mean it is the title of Episode III. But I'd say it's in the running.

TF.N has posted tons of information on a major update for Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, including AI fixes, diseases, combat fixes, and much, much more! Be sure to check out the rest of the article here.

BBC.co.uk has an interesting article about Star Wars games, specifically KOTOR and it's relation to the selection of Star Wars Games. Be prepared for an opinionated article that may make you defensive or supportive depending on your views...

But for many, especially those of us who first saw Star Wars as wide-eyed kids, the biggest factor in the whole franchise was the sense of involvement in the adventures of Luke, Han and others in the original films.

Despite how good a Star Wars racing or shooting game may be, they can feel shallow, lacking that sense of involvement with a wider universe.

Hit the above link for the full article.

JediNet.com interviewed Hayden Blackman, from Lucas Arts, concerning Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided. Here's a snippit from the interview:

JN: To date, what would you consider the number one accomplishment with Galaxies to be? (ie. graphics, worlds, programming items)

HB: For me, it's probably the depth of gameplay. There is just so much to explore, in terms of the different game systems, and hopefully there's a Profession for everyone. I also think the game is gorgeous.

JN: If you could go back and change one thing about the development process what would it be, and why would you change it?

HB: We would have focused more time and energy on static content. To be fair, there is a tremendous amount of content in the game, but it's spread out because our worlds are so large (which we still feel is necessary, especially with player cities on the horizon). I do think we could have done a better job creating more locations like Jabba's Palace and the Warren (a large, Imperial facility that we recently finished up), unique enemies (soon after launch, we added nearly a dozen, though), and story-driven quests. Right now, we're working very hard on creating more content and, perhaps more importantly, on coming up with ways to guide players to the content that's right for them.

Click here for the full interview.

The game that will be released for Game Boy Advance, Flight of the Falcon, will be available in 4 days. Here are some unconfirmed stats about it:

Game Overview:

- Fight off TIE Fighters in the Millenium Falcon, the fly over Tatooine making your way to the planet.

- Play through the Battle of Yavin.

- Follow it up by the Hoth Asteroid Field, Evading TIE's and asteroids.

- Try and capture Fett as he leaves Cloud City with Han Solo's Carbonite Body.

- Raze the Executor and try to avoid becoming space flotsam!

- Fly with Lando and Nien through the Second Death Star, with an intermittant level to ride a speeder through the Endor forests.

Playable Vehicles:
- X-Wing
- Millenium Falcon
- Speeder Bike

That really makes me wish I had a GBA. Thanks to TF.N for this report.

Release Date: 2000
Platform: N64

Review: Although the graphics are not quite up to par with the other Star Wars titles released by N64, Battle for Naboo is, nontheless, one of the best mission-based shooter games in terms of fun and overall replay value.

The storyline follows the events on Naboo after Queen Amidala's party escapes. You play Gavyn Sykes, a Naboo security officer, who must go on many missions to help free the planet from the grip of the Trade Federation. In doing so, you are allowed to pilot all of the craft seen in Episode I - including a STAP.

A few of the later levels can become a bit frustrating; particularly the mission in which you must take out the Federation communications satellites above the planet. You'll find yourself flying in a limited area and constantly searching for enemy fighters and the two satellites you need to destroy. The task is challenging, but a little perserverance pays off.

Two disappointing aspects are that when the Queen returns you are not privy to the meeting in the film, and in the last level I was quite surprised that you were not allowed to play as Anakin to destroy the droid control ship.

Despite these quibbles, Battle for Naboo still ranks as a fun title and sure to please fans of Rogue Squadron.

Here's a spoiler about the Sith Master in Ep3. Spoiler - Highlight to read:

There was an image from Episode III recently that showed the actor in costume getting ready to shoot a scene. It is intentionally misleading because that isn't what you'll really see him as in the film. Well, kind of - the side he shows the Jedi is still relatively tame, when we finally see the reveal it'll be a throwback to the ole' Return of the Jedi days.

In a makeup test, they had Ian McDiarmid looking just like the Emperor we know from the Classics, complete with yellow eyes and terrible crevaces of deep facial features. In one shot he's kind of gritting his teeth looking right at the camera. There are dark rings of red and brown under and around his eyes, and his lips are pursed and cracked. His face doesn't just look weathered, it looks plain evil. His black cloak is over his head in this first test shot.

In a second shot, his cloak is removed and you can see the top of his head. It is more of a casual shot with Ian almost smiling an evil grin to the camera. You can SO see him under the laytex, its some great work there.

Source: TF.N

The latest installment of the Official Site's Homing Beacon features an article on Paul Nicholson, the man behind the mask of Po Nudo (Aqualish). Here's a brief bit: Spoiler - Hightlight to read:

Nicholson counts himself lucky to have landed a behind-the-mask part in Episode III as Senator Po Nudo. On the off chance you are a fan of the Aqualish representative from Ando, you may be sad to hear that Po Nudo does not survive to the end of the new movie. In fact, the greatest extra acting challenge for Nicholson was the fact that Nodu’s dead body serves as set dressing for a scene that took the "living" actors over ten hours to shoot.

"I could move my head inside my mask a bit," Nicholson recalls, "and I eventually found a way to watch the other actors while remaining dead. I only had a 1 mm diameter drill hole to look out of, so I really couldn’t see much -- especially considering my four eyes had been layered in KY jelly to make them shinier. And I really needed to pee."

In order to read the full article you should have subscribed to the Beacon, however, you can always wait and check it out when it hits StarWars.com down the road.

GameSpy released their Jedi Academy Review today, giving it a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.

Combat has been enhanced with more complex moves and combos, and in addition to the standard lightsaber, you can also upgrade to fighting with two lightsabers at once, or a Darth Maul-esque dual-bladed staff. It's sometimes hard to tell if you're really pulling off moves or just button-mashing, but it's still fun; as in Jedi Knight II, the best parts of Jedi Academy are the missions where you get to let loose with your lightsaber and Force powers, slicing, dicing, flinging and crushing enemies at every turn.

Check it out here!

TF.N has provided another spoiler from Episode III. Spoiler - Hightlight to read:

The Blockade Runner from Star Wars: A New Hope is definitely the one we'll see in Episode 3, though it'll be much cleaner and not so worn down as you may remember it. It is indeed the ship Bail Organa travels on to Alderaan at the end of the movie. It is even complete now including landing gear - it's been slightly redesigned, just to make it look a little fresh and new compared to what we see in the original film.
Escape pods from this craft are also seen and used in the film. This ship is Bail Organa's to use throughout the film - it definitely has a "newer" look to it. There's also a good chance you'll see a scene that takes place on the never before seen bridge of the Tantive IV, and you'll see that it is capable of making planet-side landings with those new gear.

The Galaxies PA Animal House snagged an interview with Haden Blackman. Excerpt Follows:

Kimiko: Will a PA ever be able to build more military type installations and structures like the rebel and imperial bases that we have been seeing? It is my understanding that you can indeed build minefields and what not, but only if you are in a faction. What about those of us who don’t want to join a faction but still want fences and barbed wire and defenses?

Haden: What you describe above is certainly possible, eventually, given the way our PA system is currently designed. Essentially, we can allow for multiple types of PAs. We're calling our current set-up "social PAs." We're in the process of adding player cities, which are essentially another type of PA with different powers. We're still discussing additional PAs, including military PAs (which would allow for military perks like you describe) and commercial PAs (which players could use to form companies). But these are still a ways off: to be quite honest, we haven't done much design work on other forms of PAs outside of the current social PAs and the player cities, and we will strive to ensure that each PA has its own unique set of abilities.

There are several PA-specific questions as well as info on the Space Expansion, and mounts. Go check it out! Thanks to TF.N for this information.

You could win approximately $100 worth of STAR WARS
Action Figures and Accessories from Hasbro! Plus, you can play every
day between now and December 15th, to increase your chance to win!

You must be a registered user of Hasbro to enter, so sign up for your
chance to win, and see if you're one of today's 5 Instant Winners!

Hasbro updates with news that the Jedi Master Points program is live and for the next 13 weeks fans can bid on interesting Star Wars toys and games using their official Jedi Master Points!

Fans must first be a registered user of Hasbro before participating in the auction at jedimasterpoints.com. Participants should thoroughly read the Official Rules prior to bidding on items in an Auction.

Each week, there will be new items posted, so be sure to check back at jedimasterpoints.com every Monday for a sneak preview of the upcoming week’s Auction Items!