Okay, you guys may be wondering why I haven't worked on OpenJazz for ages. I know I've used the excuse that I've been busy with university work, but the truth is I had so much crammed into last semester that I've had very little to do this semester.

So little, in fact, that I was able to squeeze in a trip to Austin, Texas. At the behest of George Lucas (no relation), CEO of Game Titan North America.

They paid for the trip, and even paid for my new passport (my old one wasn't valid for entry to the US because it wasn't machine-readable, even though it was BRAND NEW ). Anyway, they put me up in quite a nice hotel. After I'd caught up on some of my jet lag, they took me on a tour of their NA office. It was a lot smaller than I'd expected for a company that gives random guys free transatlantic air tickets

But the biggest thing I noticed were all the pictures of JJGBA-era Jazz and Spaz Jackrabbit, Zoe Cottontail, and Dark Shell.

Long story short, they gave me a job as Assistant Software Designer. I was due to start work this summer, and take my next year of university out.

Anyway, I've been worrying about it ever since. It's a kind of confidential project, so I wasn't comfortable about telling you guys. but there are some things which have been worrying me, and after all the talk about JJ3 that's been going on, I really have to tell you.

"Jazz Jackrabbit 3: A New Hope" will be based on the Jazz Jackrabbit Advance Universe, as you may have guessed. I could live with this. I'm a Doctor Who fan, I can deal with huge changes to franchises.

But there are more changes in store...

• To their credit, Game Titan have managed to come up with an incredibly innovative way of reconciling the new games' canon with the old. At the start of the game, Jazz wakes up and realises that JJ1 and JJ2 were all a dream.



• It is the morning of his wedding to Zoe Cottontail. AS the ceremony is about to begin, Dark Shell breaks in and steals Zoe's diamond wedding ring. He escapes to the planet Carrotooine.



• Jazz is found guilty of treason, and thrown in jail. Spaz comes to free him, saying "Meesa here to be freein yousa from da nasty jail cage!"



• They pursue Dark Shell to Carrotooine. There, they encounter Luke Bunnywalker, a farm boy who wants to join the resistance against Dark Shell. The game play then starts, with you playing as Luke Bunnywalker. Jazz and Spaz will apparently appear at various points in the game to help the plot progress.



• Towards the middle, Luke reunites with Jazz and Spaz to fight Dark Shell and Devan Shell. Yes, Devan Shell is back, but most of the time he's referred to as "The Evil Emperor." Dark Shell and Devan Shell both escape. Spaz then says to Jazz, "Zoe never wasa tellin you what happen to yousa brother. Jazz, meesa yous brother!"



• Spaz will be voiced by Chuck Norris.



• Towards the end, Spaz is approaching death, and says to Jazz "There... is... a-noth-er Jack-rab-it," to which Jazz responds "Lori! It must be Lori!" They were hoping this would be a good opportunity to spin off a new franchise:
  "Lori Jackrabbit: The Steroid Adventures"