Star Wars: Empire at War

Star Wars: Empire at War (EaW) is the latest real-time strategy (RTS) game to take place in the Star Wars universe. Promising to end the mediocrity of past Star Wars RTS games (namely Force Commander and Galactic Battlegrounds), Empire at War started from the ground up. The game is being developed by Petroglyph, comprised of many former members of Westwood Studios (known for the Command and Conquer series). This company has developed a completely new engine known only as Alamo. The game also features a brand new style of play to make thing a bit more realistic--instead of building workers, gathering resources, and recruiting individual units, players will be granted resources based on how many and which planets the player controls. Some worlds will increase the players' cashflow, while others provide manufacturing capabilities. Infantry units are "made" in groups, while larger-scale units are made individually.

Battles are carried out both on a planet's surface and in orbit. Bomber strikes and orbital bombardments of the surface can be excecuted by space-borne units. Likewise, it is expected that ground-based units can attack those in space. Unlike in Galactic Battlegrounds, shields will form an actual physical barrier that must be penetrated.

Taking place in the time between Episode III and Episode IV, Empire at War features only two playable factions, the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire. Among the Empire's advantages are their sheer power and numerical superiority, though it will be difficult for them to move about the galaxy. The Rebels, on the other hand, won't have the resources to fund massive armies and will instead have to rely on spies and hit-and-fade strikes.