LucasArts just announced that its newest game in the Star Wars franchise, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, will be released on September 16, 2008.

Set during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the game is said to cast players as Darth Vader's "Secret Apprentice," assisting Vader in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi.

Three different versions are in development, in fact, with the internally created LucasArts iteration coming to PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 while 3rd-part developer Krome Studios are developing versions of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for PlayStation2, PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo Wii and developer n-Space, Inc. is creating a version for Nintendo DS.