Star Wars Battlefront 3 renders revealed by former Free Radical artist

by Randy Nelson { Dec 29th 2008 at 6:26PM }

3D artist Richard Smith – one of 140 employees of Time Splitters (and ... Haze) developer, Free Radical, laid off as the company went belly-up-for-sale – posted images from some of his modeling work on Star Wars Battlefront III on his personal blog. Or, shall we say, what could have been Star Wars Battlefront III.

The renders have since been pulled; lucky thing the internet is faster than the Millennium Falcon making the Kessel Run. Apparently, Smith was working on concepts for Han Solo (above) and a bounty hunter named Shara. Two of the images carry a game logo and are dated 2007, indicating that Battlefront III had been in development for some time prior to Free Radical's demise.

Development on the game is now rumored to continue at UK-based Rebellion, which just so happens to have created Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron for PSP.

[Via X3F]

Source – Richard Smith (blog)
Source – Rebellion Battlefront III reports aren't wrong (Videogamer.com)

Tags: free-radical, leak, star-wars-battlefront, star-wars-battlefront-3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ludwig Kietzmann @ Dec 29th 2008 3:39PM

I'm pretty sure he stole those from the latest Bethesda game.

ice~ @ Dec 29th 2008 6:29PM

lol looks like it huh?

Jakka ( The Order of Haters of Balance) @ Dec 29th 2008 6:59PM

Nah...these look like they're actually capable of pulling off a realistic facial animation...

Obie @ Dec 29th 2008 7:13PM

Yeah Bathesda is great, but their characters look hella creepy!

Mr Khan @ Dec 29th 2008 4:38PM

Renders from TimeSplitters 4 were released also, though a link escapes me atm

Also: Welcome to the future!

Shagittarius @ Dec 29th 2008 6:31PM

I wish Star Wars would just DIAF already.

chimp o death @ Dec 29th 2008 8:56PM

Exactly! The "Star Wars", as we once knew them anyways, are OVER. Even if you liked the prequels, they're OVER. Unless Lucas wants to make the final, post-ROTJ trilogy, I don't want or need any more of this stuff. It's just a wank job for the fans that can't bear the thought of leaving this flimsily constructed "universe".

Shmil @ Dec 29th 2008 6:36PM

*SOBS*

Dr Jeckyl and Mr ESC. @ Dec 29th 2008 6:45PM

"Han Solo"

That model doesn't have any recognizable resemblance to Harrison Ford.

Roofie @ Dec 29th 2008 7:14PM

The first side-view kind of looks like him.

Giroro @ Dec 29th 2008 7:39PM

I thought it was supposed to be luke skywalker =(

Haggard @ Dec 29th 2008 7:58PM

That'll have been early work though. I mean the game never even got announced.

DaRabidDuckie @ Dec 29th 2008 8:59PM

Han Solo? I thought that was Tony Hawk!

Lee @ Dec 29th 2008 6:58PM

That's supposed to be Han Solo?

Charlie_Six @ Dec 29th 2008 7:12PM

Lord of the Rings Conquest's PS3 demo is crap. Super crap. Only slightly related to Battlefront 3 but yeah.

Obie @ Dec 29th 2008 7:22PM

Actually that looks more like the dude from "Firefly".

mismajor99 @ Dec 29th 2008 8:24PM

yes Obie, it was necessary, it's a TERRIBLE franchise on all platforms. Forget competitive FPS's, this just isn't good. Go ahead, Mark down truth all you want, but people just suck this garbage up.

The Dark Wayne @ Dec 29th 2008 9:35PM

I have no idea what "forget competitive fps' " is supposed to mean right there

mismajor99 @ Dec 29th 2008 7:22PM

terrible franchise...probably the worst shooter if I had to make a top ten list. Console only gamers probably suck this garbage up though

Obie @ Dec 29th 2008 7:26PM

Was that really necessary? *Sigh* -1

Reader @ Dec 29th 2008 7:35PM

The Battlefront games were by fun the most fun to play casually with my family. Sure, they're not prime examples of competitive FPS gaming, but they're not meant to be.

To add, I'm no console loyalist. I'll take my mouse/keyboard over a controller any day, but multiplayer games with the fam are usually a lot more fun on a console than on a computer.

Yipcanjo @ Dec 29th 2008 7:47PM

"Han Solo"? Really? Hmmmm....perhaps...

Although I found the Battlefront games to be not-that-much-fun in the long run, they did have a certain charm about them. Obviously the Star Wars universe is fun, but they also did a great job of "getting you right into the action", which was a nice change. My son loved those games!

Blazur @ Dec 29th 2008 7:57PM

Oh wow, I'd LOVE to see a sequel to battlefront 2...that game was fun as hell!

The Dark Wayne @ Dec 29th 2008 8:00PM

God i hope it still comes out, the battlefront series were exactly the kind of games I always wished for, to be a nameless, faceless, unimportant soldier in the Star Wars battles, and now with the 360 and PS3 there's just so many incredible things that could be done, this needs to be made still

Shmil @ Dec 29th 2008 8:57PM

I would love a call of duty styled FPS within the star wars universe, sorta a mix between Republic Commando, COD4 and these battlefront games.

mismajor99 @ Dec 29th 2008 11:51PM

i don't believe you. There's no way you liked this series that much. Terrible shooting mechanics for one..

Blazur @ Dec 30th 2008 10:31AM

Believe it. There was plenty of diversity in this game to make it interesting. Varying maps, vehicles, classes to play as.

And the space armada game types introduced in the 2nd game were wild. There were SO many different things you can do in a given round. You could fly into a main ship to sabotage it from the inside. Bomb them from the exterior. Choose an agile fighter to go after transports or bombers. Or just dogfight if you want.

Say what you want about the franchise, but I thought it was truly badass and would drool over a new installment. Hell, just talking about it makes be wonder why I stopped playing it in the first place!

Blazur @ Dec 30th 2008 10:33AM

Oh, and not to mention the Hoth map. I used to go on 24/7 Hoth servers and play that map over and over, lol. Even that map had so much diversity to it.

- Choose and At-At and wreak some havoc, targeting shields and vehicles.
- Choose a snow flyer to take out At-Ats.
- Choose a Scout walker to rain fire on infantry.
- Use the RPG guys to take out snow fliers.
- If you're lucky enough to spawn as a hero you could tear some shit up.
- Snipe on the snow dunes.

Forget you man, you're nuts if you didn't enjoy this game...

Shmil @ Dec 30th 2008 11:12AM

@blazur
damnit, now i'm looking for a copy of this game, why did i ever pawn it why?!?!

ill trooper @ Dec 29th 2008 9:28PM

Posting works in progress that were supposed to be unannounced... That sort of thing can make a potential employer question whether they can trust you. Not too bright on his part, probably a move out of frustration, and I can guess that he probably got contacted about it, which would explain the missing pages. Some Encyclopedia Brown-style searching of the Google cache shows a Palpatine render too.

I liked each of the Battlefront games for a few days (they always get me with the Star Wars sound effects/music combo), I would have loved them to have more depth, but I think they really needed more horsepower - and now with the 'next gen' machines we're on now, a Battlefront game could shine.