Articles

LucasArts Exposed! 28 Mar, 2008 / Comments: 5

By Gabez


Mr. Capel has written an editorial "rant" on LucasArt's treatment of the new Indiana Jones contraption.

The article describes the game's strange history, looks to possible sources behind the mystery, and concludes that it is "a whole smoke and mirrors act."

A very rum business indeed.
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5 Comments

  • jp-30 on 31 Mar, 2008, 20:30…
    Nice to see this article as a source to another story on Iny Jones 2007
  • The Tingler on 04 Apr, 2008, 16:06…
    Bow down before your master, puny mortals!
  • Aquarion on 28 Mar, 2008, 21:41…
    You are entirely correct, except for on two points, one where you are absolutely wrong, and one where you are probably wrong. These are where:

    Lego Indiana Jones is not a Lucasarts developed title, it is developed instead by Travellers Tales, and published by Lucasarts. This means it is not in any way a factor of lucasart's development systems (This is the absolute). It is a factor in "Mind-share" but not in development.

    Two, I can entirely believe that Lucasarts put the manpower previously working on IJ2007 into Force Unleashed, because I'm pretty sure Lucasarts are no longer a huge development studio, and haven't been for ten years or more. An increasingly large proportion of their game output has been by licenced developers rather than in-house, and the IJ game has always been an in-house announcement. I think they moved a few people from IJ2007 to The Force Unleashed when it was stalling and more important (Lucasarts _must_ be the first people to do sword fighting on the Wii, it's a major First rather than Another Indiana Jones game) and they never actually made it back. They could have hired more people, but that's not always possible (Training is hard, new people are hard, hiring is hard, all those items put pressure on existing staff).

    It's an old-fashioned cluster-duck, rather than an actual plan, though I admit its a shame.
  • The Tingler on 29 Mar, 2008, 01:10…
    (let me point out that I am slightly drunk and very tired, so if there is anything wrong in my rebuttal I will correct it in the morning)

    1. I can't remember ever suggesting otherwise. Nevertheless Lego Indy IS the Indiana Jones game this year it seems, and the one nearest to the film's release certainly. If LucasArts released their other Indy game this year, one would definitely affect the other.

    2. LucasArts are still a major name to many - it's just that they made the ill-advised notion to fire everyone and start from scratch. They should've realised that hiring new talent isn't as easy as it seems.

    (and for that sword fighting point, No More Heroes got there first, AND it's a lightsaber - LucasArts aren't doing the Wii version anyway)
  • The Tingler on 29 Mar, 2008, 10:11…
    Ok, I'm rested and sober now. Sorry if it sounded a bit blunt.

    The only thing I want to add is that LucasArts is only doing the 360/PS3 versions of The Force Unleashed, so there isn't really any milestone to pass. However, that game was supposed to be the cornerstone of a big Star Wars event, with books, toys, Lego etc backing it up - like Shadows of the Empire was.

    Unfortunately LucasArts have buggered this plan up entirely, with all the other items being released anyway and TFU without a release date still. And the big Star Wars event of this year now belongs to The Clone Wars instead.