Kevin O'Hara, Community Relations Manager for the massive Star Wars Galaxies online RPG, has posted a new message on the game's official forum. The bad news is that all of the invites for phase 2 beta testers have already been sent out, so if you haven't heard anything, then you're out of luck. Too bad, but hey, there's always phase 3! Read the thread for an inside peek into the beta testing process.
Articles
Kevin O'Hara, Community Relations Manager for the massive Star Wars Galaxies online RPG, has posted a new message on the game's official forum. The bad news is that all of the invites for phase 2 beta testers have already been sent out, so if you haven't heard anything, then you're out of luck. Too bad, but hey, there's always phase 3! Read the thread for an inside peek into the beta testing process.
Adventure Gamers has written a preview for the upcoming Full Throttle 2. While the preview doesn't reveal any new details, it does summarize all of the information we know at this point. If you feel you may not be up to date on the latest Full Throttle 2 news, this will give you all there is to know... well, publicly.
With the Playstation 2 version of Star Wars Bounty Hunter now in stores, we've assembled some of the reviews for you:All reviews recognize the game for having a good story and amazing cutscenes animated by ILM. The main complaints thus far seem to be technical issues like AI problems and camera placement.
GameSpot also mentions that the game suffers from confusing level design and some tedious gameplay. With the reviews being mixed at this point, we'll just have to wait and play it ourselves.
The Gamecube version of Bounty Hunter will be in stores around December 5th.
IGN has posted the third installment of the designer diaries for Knights of the Old Republic, written by David Gaider of Bioware. Here, David discusses the ability to create your own character in the game:
For those players who yearn to play a Wookiee or some other species, be aware that while your main character has to be human you do have the option of switching control to any of the party members that join you during the course of the game. Want to switch to the Wookiee, tell the rest of the party to hang back while you tromp up ahead and deal out some savagery, Wookiee-style? Not a problem.If you're interested in this upcoming Star Wars RPG, an online chat will be held this Thursday at 9 pm EST in which LucasArts and Bioware will answer questions. To attend, log on to the IRC server chat1.ign.com and join channel #ignvault.
As promised, LucasArts has posted the box art for Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, which you can view here.
In addition to the sweet cover design, LucasArts conducted an interview with Drew Struzan, the creator of the box art as well as the posters for the previous Indy films and Infernal Machine. Here's a quote:
I compose the picture and elements in a strong and classical manner to set the scene with the proper emotional tone; that of secure and powerful, rock steady design. The color composition is warm, as is the trademark of so many of the Indy pieces, making it at that magic hour with the setting sun. Of course the reason I was asked to do the piece in the first place is that my style and taste is recognizable as the authentic Indy representation. With me doing it, it says immediately that this product is the real thing.Check it out! A new screenshot for the game is also available at the site. And to those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving and aren't vegetarian, enjoy your turkey dinner!
Yeah, it appears so. TheForce.Net has published an interview with Jango Fett, star of LucasArts' Bounty Hunter which recently went gold. Here's what "he" had to say:
At first I was going to print an autobiography, but when LucasArts came to me with the idea for Bounty Hunter, I decided to scrap that idea and use what I had for the game. I hope, when my fans sit down to play, that they understand the world a Bounty Hunter has to live through. It may look cool, but it isn't an easy life. Until now, of course.Yep... there it is.
If there's any doubt that ScummVM is in fact the coolest software project in existence, that doubt should be stomped into the dirt upon viewing this scan from PCZone magazine.
Those of you who haven't been following ScummVM should definitely check out the ScummVM website for updates about the forthcoming 0.3.0 release, which will include support for The Dig, a basic GUI, as well as other things you should read up on.
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about...<:MORENEWS:> here's a slightly altered clip from the ScummVM website, which you should read over briefly (especially the FAQ and downloads page):
ScummVM is an implementation of LucasArts S.C.U.M.M. (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) interpreter, used in games such as Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Day Of The Tentacle, Sam and Max, and many more. With ScummVM you can run these games and more on nearly any computing platform without the usual bugs, and with some additional features. Some things are still missing, and some games cannot be completeted yet. There are quite a few known bugs. Regardless of the bugs it is still possible to play some games all the way through to the end.
BBC News World Edition has written an article about LucasArts, Star Wars games, and originals. Here is a quote:
The fact that [LucasArts] could almost depend on making money by exploiting interest in Star Wars meant it also had freedom to experiment with games and storylines, said Mr Sarris.Courthold of Adventure Developers points out that the articled used to say that a 4th installment of the Monkey Island series was in development, but later changed. This leads us (well, it leads Jake) to believe that the article was talking about EMI. Don't get all excited, we all know there will be a fifth Monkey Island game eventually.
In the past it has developed popular cartoon adventures such as Sam and Max, Grim Fandango, and Full Throttle.
A sequel to Sam and Max was being developed, said Mr Sarris, as were more instalments in the Monkey Island series of games.
GameSpot has posted several new screenshots for the upcoming RPG, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. From the looks of things, it seems that the game will feature a dialogue tree system similar to LucasArts graphic adventures. Check 'em out.
Got a PC that's too old and tired to play Jedi Knight II, or just prefer to play your FPS's on the couch? Fortunately, just for you, we've rounded up a couple major reviews of Jedi Knight II for the XBox and Gamecube. Erm, here they are:
- IGN Gamecube: 7.2 / 10
- Gamespot Gamecube: 8.2 / 10
- IGN XBox: 8.8 / 10
- Gamespot XBox: 8.3 / 10
Gamespot seems to think that these side-effects of a poorly done port don't get in the way as much, lending to a higher rating. What does it all mean? Ultimately, probably not a whole lot, and you're best off renting first. At least it's something to chew on.
A little more Indy news here, this time from TheRaider.net. Drew Struzan, the artist famous for numerous things including the original posters for the Indiana Jones films, will be doing the box art for Emperor's Tomb, and it will be released as a poster.
LucasArts will be running an interview with Drew in the near future at LucasArts.com, and you can ask questions in advance in this forum thread.
Source: TheRaider.net
According to LucasArts guy Sam Saliba (AKA Gladius Man), the instruction manual for Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is going to seriously own, reminiscent of the extravagant pack-in goodies of yesteryear's games. Apparently the Emperor's Tomb team hunted down the biggest Indy fan they could find, who also happened to be an accomplished graphic designer, and set him loose on the manual.
Saliba says the full color book is covered head to toe in Indy, with numerous in-jokes and obscure references throughout for the bored (us) to dig around for. We're holding him to it. Sounds perfect for reading while waiting for it to install, or for your brother to stop hogging the game (the jerk).
Of course, there's no telling how cool the thing will be when it actually shows up along with Mr. Indy CD. At least it sounds cooler than the now-typical 2-page black and white Install Guides most games seem to come with.
In Friday's LucasArts.com update, you can find new screenshots for Star Wars Galaxies and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. You'll notice that the in-store date for the Gamecube and Xbox ports of Jedi Outcast have been set for the week of November 18th. You may also want to check out this statement from LucasArts regarding the enviornments found in RTX Red Rock. And finally, the Knights of the Old Republic product spotlight has been updated with a new character.
On a less fortunate note, it seems the 20th Anniversary celebrations have been removed from the main page. Too bad, but I guess the fun had to stop sometime.
Update: The 20th Anniverary logo seems to have returned... but for how long?
Computer and Video Games has interviewed Tom Sarris, the head of public relations at LucasArts. The interview goes over LucasArts' increased focus on the console market, other stuff like Galaxies, and then stuff about Full Throttle 2, Sam & Max 2, and a mention of Monkey Island. Here's a question about Sam & Max 2's E3 presence next year (hint: hype!), and a bit about the gameplay:
With something like Sam & Max 2, do you have any idea of how you're going to establish such credibility?Read the whole interview over at Computer and Video Games' website.
Sarris: Not quite yet. We're so concentrated on our Fall and spring games right now that we haven't really even begun to think very seriously about what efforts we're going to need to put into Sam & Max 2. Certainly we're going to showcase it in a very high-profile way at E3 2003.
It is in development, but it's very early days right now. In the next six to eight months it's definitely going to progress to a point where we can showcase it then and show people that it's going to be a very important part of our line-up.
Presumably Sam & Max 2 will still be an adventure, but you're going to have to move away from the point-and-click style of the original Sam & Max?
Sarris: Yeah, although I'm not really sure at the moment how that looks. However, I do believe that, as with the original, there will be mini-games.
Source: Shacknews
LucasArts announced yesterday that its Jango Fett action adventure title, Bounty Hunter, has gone gold. You can expect the game in stores around November 22nd, and unless things have changed since last july, the Gamecube version may be in stores about two weeks after that. Here's hoping that Bounty Hunter is more fun than The Clone Wars...
Our own Andrew "telarium" Langley has reviewed LucasArts' recently released Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Is it any good? Well, that depends. Do you like games that are fun and engrossing, or games that are amusing for a while but rapidly become uninteresting, then painful? Give it a read. Disagree with Andrew? Leave a comment.
GameSpy.com has written a preview for the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. Their impressions of the game up to this point seem very positive, admitting that the quality of some of the previous Indy titles has been questionable. Here's a highlight concerning the game's characters:
Wu Han, Indy's ally who dies in the restaurant during Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, is there to lend a hand. Mei Ying, a stunning secret agent, tangles with Dr. Jones in more ways than one; both characters are going after the mirror of dreams and after some initial confusion find themselves attracted to each other. Equally alluring, but far less friendly, are the Feng twins -- a sexy pair of sisters that are out to kill Indy.Read the full preview here.
As if anybody on this website cares, but THQ has released a new Star Wars Episode II-related game for the Gameboy Advanced. The new title features Anakin Skywalker attempting to hunt down Count Dooku, who is on the verge of creating a new and stronger droid army. So naturally, the name of this new title is Star Wars: The New Droid Army.
The game is now in stores across the US, so if you've got money to burn... good for you.
Source: TheForce.net
Marek of Adventure Gamers once again saves the day by pointing out that GameSpot.com has released a bunch of new screenshots that should spark the interest of any LucasArts fan.
First, check out these 18 nice screenshots for the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. Interesting to see Indy fighting Chinese women.
Then check out these 14 sweet new screenshots for Hal Barwood's new game, RTX Red Rock. Hmm, has EZ Wheeler changed his outfit's color combination? All these screens look really cool, so be sure to give 'em a look.
Update (Jake) : These screens are from the press event LucasArts held earlier today for Indy, RTX, and Knights of the Old Republic. I'll be posting some guaranteed-interesting hands-on impressions sometime tomorrow.
Source: Voodoo Extreme
You can find even more goodies now at the LEC 20th Anniversary Site. First, the History of LucasArts articles have expanded to cover the 1995-1998 years and discusses games like Full Throttle, The Dig, The Curse of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and oh yeah, Star Wars.
Be sure to also read the updated Flashbacks section for amusing stories about Fate of Atlantis character animations and being dissed by CMI's Gary Coleman. The Flashbacks also contain an interesting memory of how the LucasArts art department reacted to the news that they were going full 3D.
Finally, check out this really cool pencil animation from Outlaws as well as the original trailer for Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. The fun never stops at LucasArts.com!
