Revenge of the Sith turning DS, PSP, GBA to the dark side

In April, LucasArts announced a deal with The Collective to develop console games based on Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, the third Star Wars prequel. The games will be released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox next spring. The film hits theaters May 19, 2005.

Today, LucasArts announced three more games based on Revenge of the Sith for all three handhelds: Sony's PSP and the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. In keeping with its recent strategy of outsourcing development, all three games will be developed by Ubisoft's Montreal studio. They will also ship around the same time the film premieres.

In a statement, Ubisoft promised that "in its own unique way, each game will immerse players directly into the most compelling and memorable moments of the movie." It also listed several features of the games, including multiple-character control and various force powers.

For those unfamiliar with Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, the film closes the trilogy of prequels to the original Star Wars films. It chronicles how Chancellor Palpatine (secretly the Sith lord Darth Sidious) uses the clone army created in the second prequel, Attack of the Clones, to eradicate the Jedi and turn the benevolent Galactic Republic into the evil Galactic Empire from the original three films. As is well known by Star Wars fans, dashing young Jedi Anakin Skywalker impregnates his wife, Senator Amidala, before turning evil and becoming the slightly more menacing Darth Vader. Their offspring become Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia from the 1977 Star Wars.

In the words of Palpatine, GameSpot will be following development all three Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith handheld games "with great interest."