Knights of the Old Republic coming in 2003

LucasArts has announced that Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare's Star Wars role-playing game, will be released on the Microsoft Xbox this fall, while the PC version of the game will be released in spring 2003. According to LucasArts, the PC game has been pushed back so that it won't compete with Star Wars Galaxies, Sony's upcoming online role-playing game in development at Verant.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic features an original storyline about a conflict between the Jedi and the Sith that takes place 4,000 years before the events depicted in the Star Wars films. Players will control a party of up to three characters--which can be humans, droids, wookiees, or twi-leks--and they will adventure through 10 different worlds. Some of the locations that players will encounter in the game include Tatooine, the Sith world of Korriban, the Jedi Academy on Dantooine, and the wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. The game will also have a number of minigames, such as racing swoop bikes or controlling turret guns.

"BioWare has been fortunate to develop role-playing games that have been well received over the years," said Ray Muzyka, BioWare's joint CEO and co-executive producer of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. "In Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, we'll be able to bring BioWare's strengths--engaging story development, striking art and animation style, and rewarding character development--to the Star Wars universe in a way that will deliver an amazing gameplay experience."

LucasArts has also launched a new official Web site for the game. The new site contains a brief description of the game's features, along with galleries of screenshots, concept images, and character models.

We've posted the first six screenshots from the PC and Xbox versions of the game in the gallery above. They show off some of the game's different characters and environments. For more information about Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, visit the new official Web site and take a look at our previous coverage of the game.