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Day of the Tentacle HD? 27 Sep, 2013 / 26 comments

Just another in an apparently long run of cancelled projects that LucasArts went through in its final years. Jason Schreier at Kotaku has written an extensive feature covering How LucasArts Fell Apart, covering what went on at the sinking ship.

It's well worth a read!

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26 Comments

  • Avatar
    Shmargin on 04 Oct, 2013, 05:34…

    clone2727

    SurplusGamer

    Yeah, I know of many people who were exposed to the games through the special editions and as far as I'm concerned that alone justifies their existence. And there were shortcomings yes, but I think they were also done with more care than we really had any right to expect. Most of the shortcomings were fixed in time for MI2:SE, too (some poor voice direction aside) and frankly the very nicely recorded soundtrack for that game was worth the price of admission, in my opinion.

    Not saying they're perfect by ANY means but wishing them out of existence seems like a massive case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

    And I'm sure that people were exposed to Star Wars with the prequel trilogy too.

    It's strange to me that these "updates" to video games are acceptable. It's really incomprehensible to me. In almost all other media, remakes are given the middle finger. Yet, add "HD" at the end of a title and people jump on it. The latest being DuckTales.

    If someone were to remake Casablanca, for instance, what would we say to that? Or, to make the metaphor even closer, someone were to colorize the film? It just detracts from the original work and adds nothing to the value. And it seems just as apt, considering a lot of this community considers Monkey Island 1&2 and DOTT some of the greatest games ever. (MI2 is my favorite game of all time, for the record)

    Don't get me wrong; it's great that more people were introduced to the games. I just wish it didn't cost at some integrity of the original.



    I know I'm late on this one, but for the record, I wanted to point out that Ducktales HD is totally awesome by the way. And I say that as someone who played the original to death.

    When I heard the maproom/level select music, I got goosebumps....But I'm kinda weird.
  • Avatar
    megarock58 on 01 Oct, 2013, 18:38…
    It is a great game the way it is, but i do think that Lucas Art's adventure games should be available again aside from Ebay and Amazon.
  • Avatar
    OzzieMonkey on 01 Oct, 2013, 05:05…

    koosjebig

    A forum user at adventuregamers, tomimt made a cool example how dodd hd could look like: http://tomimt.deviantart.com/art/DOTT-carjacker-361923669


    That makes me want an HD remake if it could potentially look like that. It clears all the pixels up without compromising the original art. In short, it's perfect.
  • Avatar
    clone2727 on 30 Sep, 2013, 23:54…

    SurplusGamer

    Yeah, I know of many people who were exposed to the games through the special editions and as far as I'm concerned that alone justifies their existence. And there were shortcomings yes, but I think they were also done with more care than we really had any right to expect. Most of the shortcomings were fixed in time for MI2:SE, too (some poor voice direction aside) and frankly the very nicely recorded soundtrack for that game was worth the price of admission, in my opinion.

    Not saying they're perfect by ANY means but wishing them out of existence seems like a massive case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

    And I'm sure that people were exposed to Star Wars with the prequel trilogy too.

    It's strange to me that these "updates" to video games are acceptable. It's really incomprehensible to me. In almost all other media, remakes are given the middle finger. Yet, add "HD" at the end of a title and people jump on it. The latest being DuckTales.

    If someone were to remake Casablanca, for instance, what would we say to that? Or, to make the metaphor even closer, someone were to colorize the film? It just detracts from the original work and adds nothing to the value. And it seems just as apt, considering a lot of this community considers Monkey Island 1&2 and DOTT some of the greatest games ever. (MI2 is my favorite game of all time, for the record)

    Don't get me wrong; it's great that more people were introduced to the games. I just wish it didn't cost at some integrity of the original.
  • Avatar
    koosjebig on 30 Sep, 2013, 18:22…
    A forum user at adventuregamers, tomimt made a cool example how dodd hd could look like: http://tomimt.deviantart.com/art/DOTT-carjacker-361923669
  • Avatar
    elTee on 30 Sep, 2013, 16:07…

    Kroms

    It's not unreasonable to guess this was Handsome Halibut.


    Good call.
  • Avatar
    Kroms on 30 Sep, 2013, 15:50…

    The company also shut down a 2D physics-based shooter called Caveland that was meant to be an experimental digital title, like the sidescroller Lucidity before it.



    It's not unreasonable to guess this was Handsome Halibut.
  • Avatar
    Jennifer on 30 Sep, 2013, 10:07…

    clone2727

    Jennifer

    I was a beta tester for Sierra on The Realm in the mid 1990's (it's still my proudest accomplishment so far), though I never fulfilled my dream to become a designer, and now it's not possible (at least not with those two companies). :(

    The Realm? Interesting. I spent a little time looking at differences between The Realm and other SCI32 games, though never really got anywhere with it. I always did mean to ask those guys still running The Realm if they had the source code, but never got around to it.

    It would be definitely be neat if you guys ever do manage to get The Realm running in ScummVM's SCI engine. I really enjoyed playing it back then (so much so that I purchased a subscription for it when it went to retail). :)
  • Avatar
    SurplusGamer on 30 Sep, 2013, 08:56…

    Shmargin

    clone2727

    I seem to be in the minority. I'm glad another one of these "HD remakes" never saw the light of day.



    I dunno, I got a few people that had never heard of Monkey Island hooked on it because of their HD remakes. They would be smart to do an HD remake of MM first though, get every on the same page before an HD DOTT.

    All just wishful thinking now I suppose, unless Disney is watching.



    Yeah, I know of many people who were exposed to the games through the special editions and as far as I'm concerned that alone justifies their existence. And there were shortcomings yes, but I think they were also done with more care than we really had any right to expect. Most of the shortcomings were fixed in time for MI2:SE, too (some poor voice direction aside) and frankly the very nicely recorded soundtrack for that game was worth the price of admission, in my opinion.

    Not saying they're perfect by ANY means but wishing them out of existence seems like a massive case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
  • Avatar
    Shmargin on 30 Sep, 2013, 06:06…

    clone2727

    I seem to be in the minority. I'm glad another one of these "HD remakes" never saw the light of day.



    I dunno, I got a few people that had never heard of Monkey Island hooked on it because of their HD remakes. They would be smart to do an HD remake of MM first though, get every on the same page before an HD DOTT.

    All just wishful thinking now I suppose, unless Disney is watching.
  • Avatar
    Gov. Phatt on 29 Sep, 2013, 21:45…
    It seems their whole objective as a company became to develop promising games then systematically cancel them. George Lucas started LucasArts, like his films, with great vision and top entertainment. Then he turned them into absolute garbage. And don't expect Disney to do anything with the adventure library. All they care about is Star Wars.
  • Avatar
    Rum Rogers on 29 Sep, 2013, 09:57…

    clone2727

    I seem to be in the minority. I'm glad another one of these "HD remakes" never saw the light of day.


    Me too.
  • Avatar
    clone2727 on 29 Sep, 2013, 00:22…

    Jennifer

    I was a beta tester for Sierra on The Realm in the mid 1990's (it's still my proudest accomplishment so far), though I never fulfilled my dream to become a designer, and now it's not possible (at least not with those two companies). :(

    The Realm? Interesting. I spent a little time looking at differences between The Realm and other SCI32 games, though never really got anywhere with it. I always did mean to ask those guys still running The Realm if they had the source code, but never got around to it.
  • Avatar
    jp-30 on 28 Sep, 2013, 21:10…

    AndywinXp

    So, absolutely no possibility of a completion of this remake?

    Jake, Sean, do you have Mickey's number?
  • Avatar
    clone2727 on 28 Sep, 2013, 19:51…
    I seem to be in the minority. I'm glad another one of these "HD remakes" never saw the light of day.
  • Avatar
    Jason on 28 Sep, 2013, 17:50…
    The adventure IP is effectively stuck in precisely the same purgatory it always was. These properties are negligible figures on the ledger of a ginormous media empire. There are ways to turn a profit on them, but it takes more vision and interest than can be bothered with when you've got the dollar bill Xerox machine (Star Wars).
  • Avatar of the CEO
    Thrik on 28 Sep, 2013, 16:45…

    AndywinXp

    So, absolutely no possibility of a completion of this remake?


    Considering that LucasArts literally doesn't exist any more and its IPs have presumably been thrown into the Disney vault forever... probably not?
  • Avatar
    AndywinXp on 28 Sep, 2013, 10:33…
    So, absolutely no possibility of a completion of this remake?
  • Avatar
    OzzieMonkey on 28 Sep, 2013, 04:35…

    Jason

    We all assumed things were at least this problematic, but still: an 80% complete DOTT remake? Fuck everything.



    I know, right? At this point all we can do is hope that someone at Disney picks it up and decides to do something with it, but that's hardly likely. I really miss the good old days of adventures :(
  • Avatar
    Jason on 28 Sep, 2013, 02:43…
    We all assumed things were at least this problematic, but still: an 80% complete DOTT remake? Fuck everything.
  • Avatar
    Jennifer on 27 Sep, 2013, 22:00…

    Shmargin

    Sad stuff.

    I used to dream of working there so I could help make awesome point and click adventures when I was kid.

    Me too. As well as Sierra. Now both of the big two developers in 1990's adventure games are gone. :(

    I was a beta tester for Sierra on The Realm in the mid 1990's (it's still my proudest accomplishment so far), though I never fulfilled my dream to become a designer, and now it's not possible (at least not with those two companies). :(
  • Avatar
    jp-30 on 27 Sep, 2013, 19:21…
    A new X-Wing game for Wii-u!?
  • Avatar
    elTee on 27 Sep, 2013, 18:51…
    Gaaaahhhhh. LucasArts ¬
  • Avatar
    Shmargin on 27 Sep, 2013, 18:50…
    Sad stuff.

    I used to dream of working there so I could help make awesome point and click adventures when I was kid.
  • Avatar
    BJWanlund on 27 Sep, 2013, 17:35…
    Sob. That is so terrible.
  • Avatar
    Remi on 27 Sep, 2013, 17:02…
    God. Weep-worthy.

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