Star Wars: The Old Republic is definitely garnering a huge audience for both Electronic Arts and Bioware, but it's about to get a whole lot bigger.  The company recently announced a new Legacy expansion that would take the popular online PC hit in all new directions, one that would keep players addicted for years to come.

With its release, fans are divided over Star War Kinect.  And it’s easy to see why.  The product offers a lot that ties in with the Star Wars universe, but goes so far off the deep end with certain sections, it could easily be considered one of the most hated things since, well, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.  But keep something in mind when you play it.  Microsoft didn’t build it for the hardcore fans who know within their hearts that Han Solo shot first.  They built it for the casual audience and the kids who would have fun for hours on end waving their arms to swing a lightsaber and steer a podracer.  And in that sense, Star Wars Kinect does what’s promised.

Oh, George Lucas.  You’re just a little bit enamored by your own technology, aren’t you?  First you insist that Han Solo didn’t shoot first, despite what you directed way back in 1977.  Now you think a yelping Darth Vader would do good in Return of the Jedi, and a CG Yoda would do better than a puppet one…well, wait, that last one actually made a bit of sense.  Well, say what you will about ol’ George, sometimes he does have his heart in the right place.  And despite the fact it’s  probably the weakest film in the series (right down there with Attack of the Clones) Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is quite the looker.

Consoles and PC's have had a slow month interms of new AAA quality games arriving for your respected platform. While January got off to a slow start, it quickly recovered to bring us high quality tittles through digital distribution. Plenty of great downloadable arcade tittles were made available through XBLA, PSN and Steam, giving us many hidden gems on the digital marketplace. Let's look back at the games we reviewed over the past month.  

With George Lucas taking flight with his new Red Tails movie in theaters, his LucasArts division continues to have success with Star Wars games. With over four years of development, a team of 200 employees and a reported budget of $80 million, Electronic Arts has come under fire of late for BioWare’s massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. But Michael Pachter, videogame analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, said the game has already sold 2 million copies worldwide. And the game is already a huge success and money generator for EA, as well as licensor LucasArts.

Here we are, 2012, and already we're seeing a bunch of movie trailers indicating upcoming projects that will be in 3D.  Disney has already confirmed that Marvel's The Avengers will be in that format; the upcoming Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance from Sony will benefit from the third dimension; and remakes of Titanic and Beauty and the Beast will soon hit theaters with the 3D touch.  But perhaps the biggest title to use the format arrives next month, when Star Wars officially steps into the 3D realm with a re-release of Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

After successfully concluding one of the largest-ever Beta tests for an MMO, BioWare is now making final preparations for one of the biggest entertainment launches of the year as Star Wars: The Old Republic reaches stores on December 20, 2011 in North America. Gamers can get a head-start in this epic online universe through pre-orders. Players can use Early Game Access starting December 13. The developer talks about the new MMO in the exclusive video interview below.

Finally...the wait may soon be over.  After many months of speculation in the "will they, won't they" sense and news about continuous add-ons for the game, we've finally gotten word when Star Wars: The Old Republic will fly out of Bioware's camp and onto computers everywhere.  It turns out that the wait won't be that long at all...and many Jedi fans will be happy come Christmas morning.

Sony Online Entertainment has worked closely with Dave Filoni, supervising director of the Cartoon Network computer animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, to create the exclusive storyline in the Mission on Iceberg Three summer campaign for Clone Wars Adventures. Filoni was at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 to talk about season four of the TV show and the new online video game adventure in this exclusive video interview.

San Diego became a Mecca for Star Wars fans. The movie was celebrated everywhere during Comic-Con 2011. Electronic Arts had the new Star Wars: The Old Republic game playable. Sony Online Entertainment had new content for The Clone Wars Adventures. Microsoft featured Kinect Star Wars and unveiled a new Star Wars console bundle. And 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment unveiled new bonus features for the upcoming September Blu-ray Disc release. But there was also news in the comic book realm, involving Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

As legions of aspiring superheroes strap on their capes for the 41st annual Comic-Con International, Xbox 360 is set to take San Diego by storm with Gears of War 3, Halo, Kinect Star Wars, Kinect Sports: Season Two, Dance Central 2, and a sizzling lineup of other Xbox 360, Kinect, Xbox LIVE Arcade, Games for Windows and Windows Phone titles. Microsoft will have Xbox 360 and Kinect games set up all over downtown San Diego.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that underscored constitutional protections for video games, developers, and video game industry artists. At issue was a 2005 California statute restricting the sale and rental of computer and video games. The ESA, the lead party in the case Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association/Entertainment Software Association, argued that the statute presented unconstitutional limitations on expression, and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed, holding the California law unconstitutional under the First Amendment.