These last two years haven't exactly been the best in the way of games for them. First there was The Phantom Menace computer game, a disaster that failed to live up to the standard of Jedi Knight and other titles. Then there was the fun but not astounding Episode One Racer, and likewise Jedi Power Battles.

In fact the only game that really lived up to the LucasArts name was X-wing: Alliance, and even that lacked many of its promised features including multiple crews, hyperspace regions in multiplayer, and fleets of ships at Endor (the background wallpaper was just totally unbelievable). It also gave us the .skm format, that while allowing the fast creation of multiplayer melees, was severely limited and stopped hardcore gamers from playing solid, variable, well-planned missions on the net. Squadrons in particular have to rely more on interactive single-player tours and death matches, where in XvT they could fly campaigns and battles together as a team.

And now it seems LucasArts is turning its back on the PC. All its new games are designed for the various consoles on the market, which means the we PC gamers lose out; even if you do have a console, I haven't seen ANY game for a console that beats JK or even the very first XW. These console games provide quick, cheap fun, which simply isn't good enough for some of us. No offence to Ms. Foster (See 'Toast Ewoks? Flame Jar Jar?'), but I do not see any console game as a worthy heir to the XW series of games, and I doubt I ever will.

In fact, the only game that seems to be coming for the PC is Obi-Wan, and while looking spectacular, there is cause for concern; it will once again be based around the storyline of TPM. With an entire prequel-era galaxy, with much unexplored time BEFORE the events of the film and even after, once again we are restricted to a storyline that stays within the limits of TPM. Sure, they say, 'it all happens off-screen.' But how much exactly can happen off-screen?? Side-plots that come to an end quickly, but if they manage to weave a worthwhile, interesting plotline and story that isn't a rehash of TPM every time Obi-Wan steps off the screen for a few moments, I'll be amazed. And I'd bet my stock of Corellian Ale you fight Darth Maul at the end. I tell you, how many times must we fight Maul? How many times must the movie sequences be rehashed? Did Dark Forces follow Luke Skywalker around the SW Trilogy? No! With a whole order of Jedi in existence, why are we stuck within the limited (due to the story) constraints of the Obi-Wan character? We can only hope that Obi-Wan is editable, which will at least ensure that it stays alive and allows players to create new adventures for the game.

In fact, editability and multiplayer are the two things that keeps games alive for a long period of time. How many people who still play JK and MotS would still be playing it today if not for all the mods, extra adventures and new multiplayer levels out there? And that, of course, is another disadvantage of console games; even if converted to the PC, they cannot be edited, a la Rogue Squadron.

Even when the games do provide editability, LucasArts lets us down. While many manufacturers support and encourage their editing communities, sometimes even assisting them in their various new works, LucasArts does one of either two things; ignores them or shuts them down. Their methods in this area are sometimes uncalled for and totally draconian. In one instance, a friend of mine received a Cease & Desist letter from LucasArts that actually contained the 'F' word! LucasArts DO own the right to all their material, but SW fans look upon the likes of Half-Life community goers with envy. Once again we are being let down.

It is thanks to the diligent work of people such as those at X-wing Legacy and the XWA Upgrade, as well as the numerous squadrons that play the game regularly, that XWA is kept alive and worthwhile, as is JK by its own strong and expansive community. But if LucasArts would come out from behind the steel walls of its armored copyright fortress and began to get its hands dirty, working with the fans and finding out what they want, it could be a lot better.

Sadly, it seems LucasArts is willing to sacrifice quality for quick money. In my opinion they are failing to treat the fans with the degree of respect they deserve, and some specific events have reinforced this view. Just recently a chat held with the president of LucasArts was attended by several of my peers from the XWA community. It turned out to be an ego-boosting exercise in public relations. Any and all pointed questions to do with LucasArt's abandoning of the PC were not put through, and only pointless and trivial questions such as 'Will Chewie be in any of the new games?' were put to him. In fact, some were kicked from the chat just because their questions hit a little too close to home.

LucasArts needs to get its act together. Since Episode I, things seem to be on a downward spiral. While I liked the film itself, most agree it was not what it could have been; Jar Jar was the biggest mistake GL ever made, and as a XWA pilot, watching Anakin 'The greatest starfighter pilot in the galaxy' Skywalker bumble his way through the Battle of Naboo was painful to watch. The whole Lucas conglomerate needs to get itself back on track.

In the end LucasArts is damaging itself through its own actions, and ultimately losing the respect of the PC gaming community. We can only hope that in the end they pull themselves out of the hole they are digging for themselves, and once again start producing quality games that aren't designed merely to give some eight-year-old kids a quick thrill only to be chucked aside once they grow tired of them.