Star Wars: Battlefront going next-gen?

What we heard: Ever since the first Battlefront hit consoles in fall 2004, the series has proved a cash cow for its publisher, LucasArts. Mixing Battlefield-style combat with Star Wars lore, the first game was a hit on the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. It quickly blossomed into a full-fledged series, with a sequel proving popular on the same three platforms and the PlayStation Portable the following year.

Now, according to C&VG, the series is getting a third installment, courtesy of UK-based design house Free Radical. According to the site, the TimeSplitters developer, which recently inked a long-term deal with LucasArts, has been given the franchise. If true, the news basically all but signals the end of LucasArts' relationship with original Battlefront developer Pandemic, which is already shopping the sequel to Mercenaries to other publishers.

So where does the next-gen-console part of the story come in? Well, since LucasArts' deal with Free Radical is for next-gen consoles, it stands to reason that, if the studio is working on Battlefront, it is making the game for a new platform. Which platform, exactly, you ask? That's unclear, but it's worth noting Free Radical did wow Electronic Entertainment Expo goers with Haze, the futuristic first-person shooter it is developing for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC for Ubisoft.

The official story: When asked to comment on a) the Free Radical-Battlefront report and b) the next-gen Battlefront rumor, a LucasArts rep succinctly responded, "I can do neither. This is all just rumor and speculation, to which we don't comment."

Bogus or not bogus?: That Free Radical is working on Battlefront? Probably not bogus. Given Pandemic's exit from the scene, it seems logical to hand the Battlefront license over to a shooter-centric studio. As for one of the best-selling Star Wars franchises of all time coming to next-gen consoles? That's a no-brainer: not bogus.