While You may not know the name, you're probably familiar with developer Petroglyph's legacy. Comprised mainly of developers from the studio formerly known as Westwood, it's no overstatement to say that the heads behind Empire at War include many of the RTS genre's pioneers. The classic Dune 2 -- which arguably serves as the blueprint that RTS games still adhere to -- came out of this group, not to mention much of the immensely popular, and, for the most part, critically acclaimed Command & Conquer series. Yes, one could say that Petroglyph knows what it's doing. But as is evidenced by much of Empire at War's design, the studio has no interest in retreading the path that it helped blaze. Quite the contrary: Petroglyph aims to do with Empire at War to the RTS genre what Blizzard has done to MMORPGs with World of Warcraft -- to do away with the tedious elements (resource gathering, I'm looking at you), and emphasize the bits that players most enjoy. Which means blowing things up.

Picture a galactic map populated by 20 or 30 planets (the exact number is yet to be finalized). At the outset of the campaign mode, their distribution is markedly uneven between the two factions, with the Empire, naturally, controlling the bulk of them. You have your entire army at your disposal to deploy to all corners of the galaxy -- you can send a group of Mon Calamari cruisers to engage the Imperial fleet orbiting Planet X, for instance, while in the meantime dispatching land forces to overrun the modest defenses of Planet Y. You won't start from scratch after every mission, either; the units you amass throughout the course of the campaign mode stay with you as long as you keep them intact. As a matter of fact, go ahead and shelve the notion of "missions," as they apply to RTS games. Think of Empire at War's missions as you would quests in an RPG.

Our Search and Destroy mode provides the goal-directed behavior of scripted squad experiences, but without the brittleness of strict scripted control. The player can always choose to have the squad do something else. If a player prefers to lead the squad into battle, the player can use the "Form Up" stance to have the squad follow him. In Form Up, the squad won't fire unless either fired upon by enemies or the player starts firing their weapon. The "Secure Area" stance can be used to command the squad to take up positions near a player-specified location. We also have a wide variety of context-specific maneuvers the player can use in addition to the always-available basic stances.

To implement our vision, we constantly had to invent new AI technologies for Republic Commando. Traditional AI architectures didn’t gracefully handle the number and variety of behaviors we needed the squad to display, so we had to create new ones. We worked on novel methods to make scripting less error-prone and brittle. We developed new algorithms to help our wide variety of AI to navigate efficiently and effectively. We developed the most elaborate AI-driven voice system that we know of, consisting of thousands of AI-triggered lines categorized into over 180 different categories or cues.

Dave and Lou say they are looking forward to sharing their experiences with fans at Celebration III, and to being reunited with some of the other creative forces behind the film. They bring with them an infectious enthusiasm for what they do.

"Like everybody else, we started out as fans," says Lou, "and so it's a great privilege to be able to see things from the other side of the camera as part of the Star Wars family."

Fans at Celebration III can hear interviews with the Elseys, who will share the inside story of their incredible work for Revenge of the Sith. In addition to bringing new Wookiees to life one hair at a time, the Elseys created a host of other creatures and makeup effects that help give the film its unmistakable Star Wars look and feel. There will be plenty of time scheduled for questions, so fans of the filmmaking arts, especially those interested in makeup and creature effects, should come prepared. Fans may even be lucky enough to watch live make-up demonstrations by this experienced pair if scheduling permits.

As so many others going to Celebration III, the Elseys are anticipating the film release.

The DVDs are widescreen, with English, Spanish and French Dolby 2.0 Surround Sound. Special features include a brand new featurette explaining the connections between Clone Wars and Episode III, a behind-the-scenes featurette, the Episode III teaser trailer, two directory commentaries, concept art and more!

Click on any of the links below to view an image of it.

• DVD Cover (front and back)
• Clone Wars DVD-disk
• Chapter Selection Screen
• Clone War: Volume One image

Spoilers - Highlight to read:

Episode III

REVENGE OF THE SITH

War! The Republic is crumbling
under attacks by the ruthless
Sith Lord, Count Dooku.
There are heroes on both sides.
Evil is everywhere.

In a stunning move, the
fiendish droid leader, General
Grievous, has swept into the
Republic capital and kidnapped
Chancellor Palpatine, leader of
the Galactic Senate.

As the Separatist Droid Army
attempts to flee the besieged
capital with their valuable
hostage, two Jedi Knights lead a
desperate mission to rescue the
captive Chancellor....

"I really enjoyed Celebration II, and I'm thoroughly looking forward to III," says Gillard, who made several appearances at the 2002 Star Wars festival, including time on stage with Hayden Christensen to talk about lightsaber training for Attack of the Clones.

Gillard has been the master choreographer behind some of the most memorable scenes of the prequels. Serious and casual fans alike remember the "Duel of the Fates" battle between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace, and Obi-Wan's "rumble in the rain" with Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones, among many others. The upcoming fight pitting Anakin Skywalker against Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith, for which Gillard worked with actors Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor, may be the most anticipated on-screen lightsaber battle of all time.

Gillard created individual fighting styles for each of the Jedi in the films, even though some of these were "fictional" martial arts. He felt each style used needed to have an authentic, real-life feel. Taking into account each character's distinctive personality and position in the Jedi order helped Gillard fashion a fighting style best suited to each.

"I hate stunts that look like stunts," said Gillard in a starwars.com interview while filming The Phantom Menace. "Every parry is deliberate. There is no pure cinema stuff, no meaningless flourishes. There are no moves that would actually leave the fighter open. In some cases the fights are going so fast that you can hardly see all this, but if you slow it down, you can see that every move is for real."

At Celebration III, fans can enjoy listening to interviews with Gillard, and hear behind-the-scenes stories on the work that goes into making memorable and believable fight scenes. Sessions will Gillard are scheduled to include time for questions from the audience, so fans should watch their favorite scenes and come prepared.

Tweiten and his tiny blue couch were made to move by Seattle Police just hours after a police spokesman told me Tweiten had not been booted because there had been no complaints. Not one since the 27-year-old began a 139-day squat in anticipation of the May 19 opening of "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith."

Autograph fans attending Celebration III have a long list of reasons to look forward to meeting their favorite stars from the films, and receiving their autographs. In addition to the thrill of chatting with actors who helped make the saga the icon that it is, attendees can look forward to spending less time in line than they may have spent at Celebration II. Lucasfilm and Gen Con LLC have set aside an entire exhibit hall, Hall A in the Convention Center, for C2 Ventures and their autograph guests. The hall, more than 43,000 square feet, far overshadows the Celebration II autograph area, which was only 6500 square feet.

The Celebration III hall will boast more room for more stars, plus a planned system for managing lines. Fans should have more time to collect more autographs, and more time to take in the multitude of events and fun at the rest of the show.

Collectors will know they are getting their autographs on high-quality prints as well. C2 Ventures was recently awarded the photograph and autograph license by Lucasfilm, and is the first company to present officially-licensed autographs, photographs, and lithographs from the Lucasfilm photographic archives. At Celebration III they will offer select 8"x10" and larger photos and lithographs. In the Autograph Hall, C2 Ventures will have blank photos of the autographing stars available, with 8"x10" Celebration III photos selling for $5.00 each. In the Exhibit Hall (Halls D & E) their Official Pix booth will offer other iconic Star Wars film images, including autographed photos from stars who are unable to attend the event.

"Some of these images have never been seen before, and we are certain that new and old collectors alike will have something to enjoy," says Wise, C2 Ventures CEO.

C2 Ventures plans to use a coupon system at Celebration III, selling $10 coupons near the entrance of Exhibit Hall A. Fans can then use the appropriate number of coupons for each autograph. Some guests will require 1 coupon per autograph, some 2, and so on. The coupons will be good for autographs on the official C2 Ventures Celebration III images, or can be used for autographs on items brought from home. Fans should note that licensed Star Wars products are typically acceptable, but signing non-licensed items, like homemade images or toys, is up to the discretion of each actor.

Collectors who do not wish to wait may purchase previously-signed photos from many of the stars who will be signing at Celebration III, at the C2 Ventures sales area in Hall A.

Autograph guests who will appear at Celebration III will be announced soon, and new guests will be added and announced as the show draws near. Look for updates at starwars.com/c3, starwarscelebration.com, and at officialpix.com, the official site of C2 Ventures.

The 2005 Hallmark Keepsake ornaments are a nice mix between the Classic Trilogy and the upcoming Revenge of the Sith film. They include 3 spaceships, two classic characters and a large sized Clone Trooper.