2 to 3 years developement? Gotta disagree STRONGLY with that (unless they make a MMORPG....which I would be totally game for).
Fact is, after two successful releases of the product series, LA knows the numbers in terms of sales, they just need to make sure the company that gets the contract (be it Obsidian, Bioware, who ever), has (and is willing to guarentee it) a staff large enough to put out a larger game but keep the quality at the same level (at a minimum). The KotOR franchise is a HUGE money maker for them so they should put some of those profits back into the development of the franchise I think.
My only real compaint about both releases has been the size of the game, both have just been way to small and cramped!
PS: I agree with other posters, Star Wars in about good vrs evil, not many shades of grey! If your looking for Grey in Star Wars, go play SWG where the dark jedi are politer and freindier then the so called Good Jedi's) The villians in KotOR have been top notch Villians. Heck most of the supporting cast NPCs have been top notch (altho to be fair, im sure if I posted the ones I disliked from parts one and 2, many more people will have liked them, so its just personal taste).
hehe, me im just happy there is once again a RPG on the market thats athrow back to the older days of substance and story over bang bang boom boom!!!!!!