Last month, Disney shut down video game developer LucasArts.  It was part of Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, and the studio has now decided to place Star Wars games in the hands of Electronic Arts and subsidiary developers BioWare (Star Wars: The Old Republic), DICE (Battlefield 3), and Visceral (Dead Space).  While many fans bemoaned the loss of LucasArts due to the company’s proud legacy, their recent Star Wars games—The Force Unleashed and Star Wars Kinect—were less than impressive.  That being said, EA is the “Worst Company in the World” according to Consumerist voters, and while that’s obviously an exaggeration, the company has received a bevy of criticism for multiple issues.  The press release also notes that Disney “will retain certain rights to develop new titles within the mobile, social, tablet and online game categories.”

I expect plenty of Star Wars video games start streaming through the pipeline, but I remain skeptical regarding their quality.  Hit the jump to check out the press release.

I’m counting down the days until Mass Effect 3 hits stores and then playing the hell out of it.  What makes the Mass Effect series stand out is how it builds a big, sprawling space opera, and you realize that there are whole galaxies and non-human races that have their own conflicts.  The big selling point of Mass Effect 3 is that Earth is now under attack, and the plot has the series’ hero, Shepard, on a mission to rally the universe to defend against the attack from the malevolent Reapers.  Sadly, this new trailer decides to go ful-on Michael Bay, and make an ad for a game that could easily be Halo, Resistance, or Gears of War, but with different-looking aliens.  Where’s Garrus?  Where’s Wrex?  Where’s Mordin?  Not to be found here.  But there is a shot of a falling building that could have been taken directly from a Transformers movie.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  For comparison, I’ve also included the far superior “Reinstated” trailer, which features the female Shepard.  Mass Effect 3 hits Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on March 6th.

I was hoping at Comic-Con Legendary Pictures would clarify their plans for the Mass Effect movie they’re developing.  But the extent of their presentation was basically, “Hey, we’re still making a Mass Effect movie.  Thanks for stopping by.”  Now Legendary has put up Twitter questions that were supposed to be asked during the panel but were skipped due to time constraints.

The biggest piece of new info is that Mass Effect “will be a completely new story.”  Screenwriter Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend) previously said his script would be “following and honoring the story,” and Legendary’s comment doesn’t negate that statement.  BioWare hasn’t created a single story for Mass Effect as much as it’s created an entire world.  Yes, there’s an overarching storyline involving an ancient evil race out to destroy the galaxy, but BioWare has put far more effort into developing the various species, planets, characters, and so forth to the point that any writer could conceivably drop a new Commander Shepard story into the mix and still have it fit.  Hit the jump for more. [Update: Now Legendary has changed their tune.  Hit the jump for what they're saying now.]

It’s tough for me to get excited for anything Star Wars (over-exposure and the stain of the prequels) and I’m no fan of MMORPGs (I don’t play well with others), but I can’t help but admire the sheer ambition of BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic.  This trailer not only hints at the number of characters and worlds you’ll be traversing, but the fact that they’ve also managed to include space battles intrigues me.  I’m not sure if it will all come together, but it certainly looks like The Old Republic will be the MMO that can draw everyone who fled from Star Wars Galaxies.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and be on the lookout for more coverage on the game when E3 begins tomorrow.  Star Wars: The Old Republic is expected to be released in the second half of 2011 for Windows PC.