And there are no small Maniac Mansion retrospectives.
Source: Gameranx
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Who knows when Star Wars: Battlefront III will ultimately be made, but today you can check out eight minutes of leaked footage from the version that Free Radical was working on several years back before the plug got pulled. That plug has subsequently been re-inserted and removed in sexually suggestive ways - some concept art from a possibly-not-fraudulent version of the long-awaited sequel by Slant Six has emerged, and the latest rumors hold that Spark Unlimited is making the game now.
In any case, here's the Free Radical footage:
Source: Game Rant
If you ever wanted to dance with Han Solo to Jason Derulo's "Ridin' Solo", then there's good news for you. Kinect Star Wars is in stores now.
The reviews so far say that the dancing mini-game, the rancor destruction mini-game, and the pod racing mini-games are fun, but the game's most anticipated feature, the Jedi fighting mini-games, are unresponsive, making the game overall a let down.
Reddit's "Ask Tim Schafer Anything" event has come and gone, but the answers to the questions are still there to read.
Double Fine has also posted up 10 videos where Tim responds to the questions, which cover both his LucasArts games and his Double Fine games, as well as those games at Double Fine which were led by others.
Find out what adventure games inspired Tim Schafer's career, what Tim Schafer's favorite puzzles are in his games, how Tim felt about the sales of his LucasArts games, what didn't end up in the games he made, how he felt about Sierra, and much more.
See the answers for yourself in video form right here and even more answers in text form here.
An editorial published on Gamasutra today ruminates on the effectiveness of the absence of voice acting in certain games. The author was apparently inspired to write the piece when she replayed Loom recently. Evidently having grown up with the original EGA version, she was surprised to find that the version found on Steam is in fact the Talkie VGA version, the existence of which she was unfamiliar with. Outrage, and the article, ensued.
Not that LucasArts gives a flying monkey bladder, but for me this reinforces the importance of having both the original and "enhanced" versions of Loom available because they are such different experiences. While the voicework in the Loom update was quality, the game's dialog had to be re-written, and the close-up art had to be struck, in order to accommodate technical limitations of the time. It is unclear if the new script, at least partially (but possibly mostly) rewritten by Orson Scott Card, even involved creator Brian Moriarty at all. Plus there's a legitimate argument to be made that Mark Ferrari's original, brilliant, and ingeniously animated 16-color EGA backgrounds justifies the respect of being perpetually offered as an option, rather than replaced.
Source: Gamasutra
Over at Kotaku, Chris Person has put together a nice little montage of all the words he learned while playing Sam & Max Hit the Road.
If I had thought about using this as a studying tool, I wouldn't have had to spend all that money on an SAT tutor. Instead, I just stuck to using "how pavlovian" as a catchphrase to bewilder my friends (which is obviously the best line in the game). It's also nice to see there's another AdLib soundtrack aficionado out there.
Source: Kotaku
Oh, you thought LucasArts had just been developing the Pit Droids iOS port and Maul-Your-Face app for the last 3 years? WRONG, they're also working on building a large scale online services and infrastructure to support a new way of connected online gaming that is going to revolutionize the industry..
So, Steam then?
Here's the job description.
Also, Kinect Star Wars is finally coming out on April 3. You know you always wanted to do a Galactic Dance Off Electric Boogaloo.
So, Steam then?
Here's the job description.
Also, Kinect Star Wars is finally coming out on April 3. You know you always wanted to do a Galactic Dance Off Electric Boogaloo.
Source: LucasArts
In a surprise move LucasArts is re-releasing its old puzzle game "Pit Droids" on iOS devices this evening for US$1.99. Originally for PC and developed by LucasLearning, the game is a good fun diversion.
LucasLearning (in 1999) said:
In Star Wars® Pit Droids®, both kids who love math and those who don't will enjoy the challenging logic puzzles in this tile-based game. Increasingly complex puzzles engage students in sophisticated thinking as they explore the mathematics of attributes, geometry, sets and networks, while testing out multiple solutions to problems. Students can even build their own puzzles using a sophisticated puzzle design laboratory.
Will more games be dusted off from the archives and given a new lease of life on iPhones & iPads? We can only hope. Will they all tie in with The Phantom Menace? We can only hope not.
Oh, also 'Hai everyone'!
Source: TouchArcade
Reminding everyone once again how effortlessly brilliant Grim Fandango is, Eurogamer has published a retrospective article reminiscing about what I consider to be LucasArts' grandest achievement — and the reason that everyone should kind of fancy Tim Schafer.
Grim Fandango remains a shining testament to a bygone era. Just as classic films relied on clever banter and moody lighting before action took center stage, Grim Fandango's chief pleasures are mostly timeless. Its mile-a-minute punch-lines, stellar voice-acting, dazzling scenery, and well-rounded characters remain as enchanting now as they were 13 years ago. While the game delves into the sordid lives of the dead, the biggest crime of all is that it isn't available on Steam or GOG. Just because Grim Fandango is about the dead, that doesn't mean it should stay buried.
And that right there is a very fair point. Where is our Grim Fandango re-release, LucasArts? With modern consoles being better equipped than ever to handle a point-and-click adventure game thanks to the likes of PlayStation Move and Kinect, now is most definitely the time to unleash this classic upon the world for a second time.
I speak of course of Darth Maul Me, a free mobile app that comes just in time for the theatrical re-release of The Phantom Menace in 3D!So is this why the trademark jokes in Monkey Island are so funny? Because they're true? Oh, sorry for invoking a non-Star Wars LEC property; I know it's impolite.
Join the dark side and become Darth Maul(TM) using the free Darth Maul Me mobile app from Star Wars(TM): Episode I in 3D. Whether you want to turn your face completely into one of Star Wars' greatest villains, use the partial Darth Maul tattoos, or only give yourself the Sith eyes, Darth Maul Me has an option for you. Simply take a photo with your camera or use an existing photo to quickly and easily turn yourself into Darth Maul. Share your creation with your friends and encourage them to join you on the dark side.
See Star Wars: Episode I in 3D on the big screen; only in cinemas!
Source: APPSMeNow
The Official Star Wars Blog reports that veteran English actor Ian Abercrombie, who voiced Chancellor Palpatine in the Star Wars: Clone Wars TV series (as well as LucasArts-published games adapted from it) passed away on January 26th. He was 77.
The blog post includes remembrances from some of the crew of The Clone Wars.
A peek at his filmography on IMDB reveals that you hardly have be a Clone Wars viewer to have enjoyed this man's work. Among a multitude of other roles, he played Mister Pitt, Elaine's needy millionaire boss on several episodes of Seinfeld, John Hammond's butler in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and the bearded wise man who sent Bruce Campbell to fetch the necronomicon in Army of Darkness (along with the poorly heeded instructions to speak three magic words).
Source: The Official Star Wars Blog
Remember Sam & Max Hit the Road and Curse of Monkey Island? Kind of? Well, now's your chance to be reminded about the two games's awesomeness. No, not by playing them yourself -- how 2011 is that?! -- but by watching 1UP play them for you.
The site has a "lunch break" feature, apparently, where they play classic games while streaming the experience live. You can also ask them questions about what the hell's going on.
Tune in tomorrow, the 25th, at 1pm for Sam & Max and the 26th for Curse.
It's kind of amazing how many years of mileage the rumor mill has gotten out of Star Wars: Battlefront III, a sequel which is shaping up to have a damn near The Dig level of cyclical false starts.
A third installment in the hugely popular shooter franchise would seem a no-brainer, and indeed it was reported to have been being worked on a number of times by a number of different parties (on various occasions, rumors held that the contract was given to Free Radical, Rebellion, and even original Battlefront developer Pandemic), but the project never seemed able to gain any traction for whatever reason. I guess when a studio goes into transition as hyperactively as LEC does, it's more than the little games that suffer. Or maybe the game was just never turning out good, who knows.
Anyhow, the neverending story has entered a new chapter, or did a few weeks ago when everyone besides us reported on it. The latest developer associated with Battlefront III is Spark Unlimited, who turned in a Call of Duty installment several years back. Here's the evidence, as reported by Game Informer:
There are only two real pieces of evidence that have lead people to believe that Spark Unlimited is working on Star Wars: Battlefront 3. One, on its website Spark Unlimited lists in its job section that, "We are in production on an unannounced high-profile, popular game sequel for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC release." The other piece of evidence, is that it simply isn't flat out denying that Battlefront 3 is the title it is working on, on twitter. Every inquiry is met with a, "you'll have ask Lucas Arts about its franchises, we're just a developer, not publisher," response.
Source: Game Informer
The clever chaps at ResidualVM (the 3D sister to ScummVM) have finally discovered the reason for the missing dialogue at the end of Grim Fandango. As it turns out it wasn't a design choice, it was a simple bug...
A bug so buried that apparently not even Tim Schafer was aware of its existence:
"I had no idea that there was a bug in Grim that caused a critical dialog not to play! :O! But these guys fixed it."
The bug is now fixed for players using the latest version of ResidualVM to play Grim Fandango.
You can get ResidualVM for free here: http://www.residualvm.org
Source: ResidualVM.org
And that would be because today is the worldwide launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Though LucasArts did not develop the massively expensive online RPG and even relinquished publishing duties to EA/Bioware, Lucasfilm will be skimming 35% off the top after the game breaks even (a cut that Paulie from Goodfellas was quoted as calling "downright avaricious") as part of the licensing deal.
With the revenue they will derive from their rather envious "Do Absolutely Nothing But Manage To Fill The Coffers To Surfeit Anyway" business model, it goes without saying that the executives of the San Francisco based entertainment company will see fit to invest a little bit of that mailbox money in new and exciting interactive properties.
And I for one can't wait!
Source: Gamasutra
You may recall that a novelization of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings penned by Rob MacGregor, author of seven previous Indy books, was supposed to accompany the game's release but was bizarrely cancelled despite having been long completed. In a blog post, MacGregor recalls the incident in detail.
Basically, the publisher (Del Rey) had set the release of the novel to coincide with the release date for the game that was slated at the time, but when LucasArts changed the release schedule for Staff of Kings to the tune of a year long delay in a harbinger of the whole We're Abandoning The Internal Version To Focus On Force Unleashed fiasco, they did not let Del Ray know. Despite MacGregor's attempts to communicate this development with his editor, the game came out with no book. Rather than release the book even slightly belatedly, it was decided that it wasn't worth releasing it at all (?!). At one point, Howard Roffman (Lucas Licensing exec and interim LEC president) told an inquiring fan the point-blank falsehood that the reason for the novel's mysterious absence was that MacGregor had "missed the deadline," despite the fact that the manuscript had been submitted an entire year before the game came out.
It's completely ridiculous and a little heartbreaking to think that a completed Indiana Jones novel will not see the light of day simply due to a communication failure and boneheaded business decision. I think I know what MacGuffin Indy should be searching for in the fifth movie. For his part, MacGregor seems more flummoxed than pissed off, noting that he was "paid quite well" for the adaptation, but the publisher lost money and us Indy fans are left to cry.
Think you can hold in the tears? MacGregor has this image of the novel's cover to help get you going:
Source: Seven Realms Publishing
An Australian LucasArts graphic adventure fan succumbed to his carnal desires by stripping the backgrounds of some classic titles of their objects and sprites and making these fully exposed beauties available in full resolution on his imgur page. The backgrounds are taken from every SCUMM game from Maniac Mansion to The Dig (the latter not even 18 yet(!)), minus Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The enhanced and VGA versions are used as the source for those older games.
NSFW, obviously.
Source: neurotech's albums
Cracked, a site for anything humorous, has proclaimed that Pirates of the Caribbean was, indeed, a rip-off of Monkey Island. An excerpt:
The video game The Secret of Monkey Island came out in 1990 and follows the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood, a bumbling swashbuckler who must gather a crew of pirates to rescue the woman he loves while dealing with a mysterious supernatural curse. Sound familiar? That's also the plot of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, except Threepwood is called William Turner there. Both characters even dress alike.
Rip-off or not? Does anyone really care anymore? Either way, it's a fun little read anyway.
Source: Cracked
And I'm less snide about it this time.
LucasArts creative director Clint Hocking has published another opinion piece for Edge. This one voices his concern for yearly sequels:
In the end, there is no question that in the current economic climate we need to better capitalise on our brands – but annualising sequels is probably not the most responsible path to doing so. It might generate easy revenue, but the long-term costs to the creative well-being of our workforce and the risk it places on our pipeline and workflow development, and on the skills we nurture and develop and will then need to leverage in making future games and (hopefully) new brands and franchises, should not be underestimated.
Not hard to agree with that which he opines, but, am I a jerk if my overall reaction to this piece is, "No duh?"
The project Hocking is working on at LucasArts at the moment remains unannounced.
Source: Edge Magazine