Articles

Gaffe of Kings 08 Feb, 2009, 05:49 / 12 comments

By Jason


In what is to my knowledge its first public acknowledgment, LEC has offered to gaming site DarkZero the excuse explanation for why the in-house Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings received the business end of a splitting axe:
"We want to bring consumers an Indy experience in 2009 following the successful launch of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008,” comments a LucasArts spokesperson. “The next-gen skus would not be ready for the 2009 window so we made a strategic business decision to end development on PS3 and Xbox 360.
While I've no doubt that the development of Indy was extremely troubled (what else can you really conclude based on the fact that it was announced in 2005?), it's hard to imagine that the team being transferred to The Force Unleashed and the suits' apparent desire to fire everyone and stop internal development ASAP might not have possibly played a role in the game's fate.

Look out for an explanation about the next-gen versions (which could very well turn out to be identical to the one quoted) that is said to be included in the upcoming Nintendo Power preview. The issue of the magazine in question hits American newsstands on the 17th.
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12 Comments

  • Char Ell on 12 Feb, 2009, 12:59…
    I just want to express my righteous indignation, though it was a foregone conclusion, that the PC version of SoK apparently never got off the ground to begin with and thus didn't even get the chance to be cancelled. :(
  • icanseestars on 09 Feb, 2009, 13:30…
    The Indy game announced in 05 was only a prototype from what I heard, the game which would become "Staff of Kings" was never actually green lit until a while later.

    I'm guessing that the Indy prototype was for use with the internal PS3/X360 tools LEC built for The Force Unleashed and eventually Staff of Kings only the TFU team managed to ship product and the SOF team didn't.

    I don't know if this rumor is true or not (originated at Variety games blog) but there is only one internal team left at LEC and they are working on the TFU2 anything else is third party/outsourced.
  • Jaap on 09 Feb, 2009, 01:17…
    hardly related: does anyone have an opinion on those 'riftrax.com' ads on this site? It appears they provide an alternative soundtrack to many movies (including Indiana Jones). However, i don't seem to find a free preview. I guess it must suck...
  • Scummbuddy on 09 Feb, 2009, 04:06…
    On the contrary. Its from half of the minds behind Mystery Science Theater 3000. You should be able to see previews on their site, or on youtube. Like for Batman 4 with Ahhhnold as Mr. Freeze.
  • Jaap on 09 Feb, 2009, 14:49…
    stupid me, you can indeed find easily examples online. Though, i have to say it's not my type of humor. I rather play Monkey Island or Sam and Max :p
  • Izzy on 08 Feb, 2009, 21:27…
    That just sucks man! I had to wait 3 years!
    Ah well, wish me luck while I search the dark,deep, and mysterious depths of my closet to find my PS2!
  • sladerlmc77 on 08 Feb, 2009, 18:42…
    There really is no "bright side" in this for me. I'm actually going to begin boycotting Lucas products, and that's a seriously big deal for me.

    I can't tell you how many thousands of dollars I spend on Lucas merchandise every year.

    That includes movies, books, soundtracks, props, you name it.

    I've been eagerly anticipating SWTOR. I've been wanting something released in the "Knights" series for 4 years now, but it's a matter of principle now.

    For 10 years, they've been mismanaging their company, and their IP. It's been difficult in those 10 years to defend them, but I've been trying.

    It's obvious now the only way to impact them is to hit them in the pocketbook, so I hope I'm not the only one boycotting.
  • Capn_Nacho on 08 Feb, 2009, 17:37…
    Hell, look on the bright side. Maybe the Wii version will be luridly fun, and maybe the PSP version will make custom firmware not work.
  • sladerlmc77 on 08 Feb, 2009, 07:04…
    Unacceptable, Inexcusable, and Untrue.

    If it were an SKU problem, the game wouldn't have been "far along in development", and certainly wouldn't have been in the pipeline since 2005.

    Are we expected to believe that these "next-gen" SKU's are brand new, in the first place? The Xbox 360 and PS3 have been around for a couple of years now.
  • neon_git on 08 Feb, 2009, 09:55…
    Ah, no, by "next-gen skus" they just mean the next-gen version of the game, not the SKUs.

    Developers have no interest in SKUs, they're for retailers.
  • sladerlmc77 on 08 Feb, 2009, 16:05…
    Ugh...blame my late-night posting. The comment from Lucasarts says "SKU", but my sleep-deprived brain read it as "SDK".


  • neon_git on 08 Feb, 2009, 22:13…
    haha, don't worry, I've done similar things numerous times ;-)