Kotaku is reporting on word from a source with supposed details on Star Wars: First Assault, an enigmatic title that was first spotted amongst Xbox Live Arcade box art on the Xbox website last October:

Today, Kotaku can reveal that Star Wars: First Assault is a downloadable multiplayer shooter that was originally slated for release this spring. The game supports up to 16 players—one eight-person team of rebels and one eight-person team of Stormtroopers—as they face off on Star Wars worlds like Bespin and Tatooine.

And according to one person familiar with the project, First Assault is "step zero" to the heavily-rumored, highly-anticipated Star Wars: Battlefront III. If First Assault sells well—assuming it is released at all—the third Battlefront could be next.

The report includes two screenshots from the shooter, and claims that flying a TIE fighter, and piloting an AT-ST walker were among its prototyping features.

A closed beta was allegedly supposed to kick off last September, but plans were derailed due to the uncertainty caused by Lucasarts' change of hands to Disney, and suggests that the game, like the rumoured Battlefront 3 from Free Radical, may never see the light of day.