In July 2000, LucasArts president Simon Jeffery announced a partnership with BioWare for a Star Wars RPG set 4,000 years before Star Wars Episode I. The collaboration represented LucasArts' long-term strategy of building relationships with the world's top game developers. "Together," Jeffery explained in the press release, "we aim to create a milestone role-playing game set within a unique and largely unexplored area of the Star Wars universe."

Mission accomplished, Simon—and then some. Immediately upon its midsummer debut, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic blew up like a Death Star, selling an astonishing 250,000 Xbox copies in its first four days en route to becoming the fastest-selling Xbox game ever. None of CGW's sister publications at Ziff Davis have rated it below a nine out of 10.