Star Wars in development

LucasArts and BioWare, a division of Electronic Arts, are developing Star Wars: The Old Republic, a story-driven massively multiplayer online PC game set in the timeframe of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic franchise, says Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Players can team up with friends to battle enemies and explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader, when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy.

"Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is the most critically acclaimed Star Wars game in LucasArts history and is an example of our company's interactive storytelling heritage," says Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts.

As the global economic crisis continues, Nokia's head of gaming, Jaakko Kaidesoja, claims the overall gaming market is not growing, says The Washington Post.

Speaking at Nokia's gaming summit in Rome, Kaidesoja pointed out that some parts of the market that include pre-loaded games, emerging markets, N-Gage and iPhone would grow.

N-Gage players have created 400 000 personal profiles on the N-Gage Arena since its launch in May. There are now more than 20 million N-Gage capable handsets on the market, but Kaidesoja acknowledged, the major stumbling block is that the vast majority of users must install N-Gage on their phones themselves.

The Witcher, CD Projekt RED's acclaimed role-playing game (RPG), has sold over a million units, according to IGN.

This news comes after the September release of the game's Enhanced Edition.

More than $11 million was spent on developing the game and IGN awarded the original The Witcher with the title of PC RPG of the year in 2007.