The International House of Mojo

Gamasutra has printed an excerpt from the Rogue Leaders book about LucasArts, covering the development, launch and cancellation of the primitive online game Habitat for the Commodore 64.

Check it here.

Source: Gamasutra

Here they are.

Although you probably don't give a damn, you should know that BioWare - makers of the original KOtoR (as we spell it in l337) - are developing the game, so it might be the occasional exception to the LucasArts rule and not suck.

Source: Wired

That's the rumor doing the rounds. Here's IGN's take on it.

IGN has heard from multiple sources (both internally at LucasArts and elsewhere) involved in the long-in-development Indiana Jones title for Xbox 360 and PS3 that the game has been cancelled. Unofficially we've heard that developers are being reallocated to other projects and that the new Indiana Jones project that we last reported on in April 2006 is dead in the water.

If it does turn out to be true, maybe the handheld version that LucasArts has had in the can for a year or so (allegedly) might get a release?

TINGLER UPDATES: Joystiq has the response from LucasArts. And it's a bit strange.

"LucasArts remains absolutely committed to the Indiana Jones franchise. While we are aware that fans have been eagerly awaiting additional information on the upcoming game, they can rest assured that details are forthcoming."

This doesn't exactly say yes or no does it? We're getting an Indiana Jones game, but when and developed by whom is still another matter.

Source: IGN

Go look at The Campbellian Myth of Monkey Island, which may or may not be the title of Monkey Island 5 (oh my God oh my God let's donate to the SCUMM Bar!). Go read you fool, go!

There are only five days left until our competition to win the excellent Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts book is finished: so get your fake histories of LucasArts games to this address pronto, along with your name and e-mail, in order to be in with a chance to win that baby! And even if you don't win, we'll be publishing the best stories as part of our annual new years booze up feature.

Speaking of Rogue Leaders, ATMachine has already focused his eye of fire onto one aspect of the book, to wit, Monkey Island 2 originally had animated close-ups planned, a la SOMI and LOOM. Join in the discussion here.

Edit: The contest will close at midnight tonight (GMT) -- so just a few more hours to get those entries in!

Edit 2: The results are in, and a winnar has been chosen! See it here, along with a handful of very honourable mentions.

Thanks a lot to everyone who entered -- the standard was very high indeed -- to Chronicle Books for providing a copy of Rogue Leaders to give away, and for Spaff for kindly agreeing to judge the contest with me!

Free Radical design who had a game in development for LucasArts have shut up shop, partially due to the deal with LucasArts falling through.

The game rumoured to be in development was Star Wars Battlefront 3. More details are available at most gaming sites, such as gamesindustry.biz.

Tingler Update: It is now rumoured that Alien Vs Predator developer & 2000AD owner Rebellion is making the game instead. As Jason reminded me, they also made the well-received PSP Battlefront game, so this is very possible.

Source: Game Industry.biz

This is hardly newsworthy, but when it comes to LEC's upcoming, development-troubled Indiana Jones game we take what we can get. In this case it's merely another acknowledgment of Staff of Kings' existence by LEC in talking to the good folks at PSU:

With no word on the title's development since 2006, gamers have forgotten about the game or figured it was indefinitely shelved. However, speaking with PSU.com, LucasArts confirms the title is still in the works with new details soon on the way.

"LucasArts remains absolutely committed to the Indiana Jones franchise," said the LucasArts representative. "While we are aware that fans have been eagerly awaiting additional information on the upcoming game, they can rest assured that details are forthcoming."

New details "forthcoming," huh?

As pointed out on the forums by Darth Moeller, GameCyte has published an epic interview with Rob Smith, who put together the very-soon-to-be-released Rogue Leaders LEC artbook we've been swooning over for months.

As someone whose job has recently been to immerse himself in LEC history, and as a longtime gamer who's been enjoying their games since the late 80s, Smith has a lot of educated and balanced insight to share about the company, including his take on its current state and eras that have preceded it. Read it, or at least check out the art scattered throughout. Let's hope this sucker starts showing up at bookstores I go to.

It turns out that the Mac can now be used to run one other worthwhile application besides Final Cut Pro - LEGO Indiana Jones! The port, the work of Feral Interactive, is now shipping. There's even a press release and everything!

Steve "Starchie Spudnoggen" Purcell has posted a piece of concept art he did of Flint Paper for Sam and Max: Freelance Police. The game's cancellation, as you know, was the last nail in the coffin of LucasArts, but was also the spark that gave creation to Telltale Games, a company synonymous with "awesome".

I urge you to check-out the rest of Mr. Purcell's fantastic gallery, including his wonderful Toybox storyline, starring Ernie and Suda - a duo similar but also very different to Sam and Max.

What are you doing this Thursday? Working? Teaching a child to read? Feeding the sick and needy? Cancel it all! Chronicle Books are having their Rogue Leaders Launch Party, and you are invited!

Just RSVP them up, and make sure you can get to San Francisco by 6pm on Thursday. The part of the website that caught my eye was "come early for light refreshments," which in my language means "arrive at 5 to 6 and get a free supper."

You've played the games, now read the book! And before that, read the review of the book!

Rogue Leaders is a kind of magic book, like in Harry Potter. If you open it up then you see the face of a tortured artist screaming at you from out the hellish past. It also has pretty pictures and quotes from Tim Schafer.

Adventure-Treff has posted this huge interview with Tiller about Autumn Moon, AVS, and his LEC past. Did you know that it was George Lucas who insisted on The Dig not being cancelled despite the repeatedly failed development efforts?

Then there's this article at GameSetWatch, which takes an analytical look at Grim Fandango, a game about which there never seems to be a deficit of things to praise.

Thanks to reader Igor for the heads up on both of these news items!

Tim Schafer has just dropped a pretty awesome surprise on our laps to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Grim Fandango: the original Grim Fandango puzzle/design document.

Written in 1996, this mostly-complete document details the cut-scenes and puzzles in the game. What makes this particularly fascinating is that it's packed with concept art and descriptions of scenes/puzzles that were cut from the game, giving us an insight into a slightly different Grim Fandango.

Any Grim Fandango fan is sure to want to put this aside for 72 pages of superb toilet reading, so be sure to grab the document at once.

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Update by Kroms: It seems to have gone offline. I guess, as Mr. Schafer hints: he didn't own it.

Source: Double Fine Action News

Shipping today are Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels and Star Wars The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance for the Wii and DS respectively (and exclusively). Jedi Alliance is the first game to be developed by LucasFilm's Singapore studio, which produced the Clone Wars animated series itself.

You enjoy now.

For those of you who don't know (and you were supposed to know, but I was held back because of ugly school deadlines): two days ago, on November 2nd (update: apparently it's October 29th), 2008, was the tenth anniversary of the brilliant landmark game, Grim Fandango. Ten years! Tim Schafer's thoughts here.

I wasn't old enough to play Fandango in 1998, and I only played it last year. It was beautiful. I'll never, ever forget a moment at the end of the game - and spoiler coming-up here - where Manny runs once again into Chepito, the traveller following the "moon" underwater - as he "[evens] out my life in this world before I go on to the next," and then walks into the next world, singing that song. As Manny, I tried to follow him. And Manny stopped.

He stopped, looked at the tunnel to the next world and said that he wouldn't, not without all the people he'd promised to save.

And in a surge of emotion I realised that my life's just that much better because of it.

LucasArts producer Tom Nichols recently talked to Eurogamer about Star Wars: the Old Republic, the upcoming MMO from LucasArts. Details on the game: Lucas is excited for it, he apparently really likes Star Wars Galaxies, and he hasn't played World of Warcraft.

That's like back-of-the-box info, right there.

But the real question: How long do you think it'll be until someone unlocks a Jedi this time?

Source: Eurogamer

There's a report here on Gamespot regarding the PC KOTOR MMO "The Old Republic".

So, when's it going to be released?

"When the content and the quality is there, that's the sign we'll be ready to go," said Nichols. "We're gonna make sure we take the right amount of time to make sure it's awesome," seconded Muzyka. "At the same time, we're part of Electronic Arts, so we're committed to delivering a great experience for our fans, who are eager to play like we are."

When the possibility of a console version came up, the infamous wall of BioWare secrecy was raised. "The PC version is all we've talked about so far," was the most Zeschuk would say.

For more information, visit the official site: www.swtor.com.

Source: Lucasarts

When I was your age, we didn't have all these video games that you play on your idiot boxes. Our TV was books - like that awesome LEC art book we reported about, the release of which is imminent.

How imminent? Well, as Sven_Q45 noted on the forums, Amazon.com has it up for pre-order, with a Nov. 26th release date. Seeing as two of the four placeholder cover images feature Guybrush Threepwood and Purple Tentacle, I think it's safe to say that the original titles will not be left out in the cold.

So forget the steep price and the possibility that LEC didn't do everything they could have. This 256 page beauty is a must-buy for any fan of LEC's older games. Go get it, now.

Yeah, blindingly obvious. But it's always fun to read that coming from the mouth of the president of the PC Gaming Alliance.

Videogamer.com is reporting that in an interview with Randy Stude, he slams LucasArts over the ridiculous excuses given for not releasing The Force Unleashed on PC given by LucasArts' Cameron Suey.

Stude said: "That's not an educated answer. In the last several years there have been at least 100 million PCs sold that have the capabilities or better of an Xbox 360. It's ridiculous to say that there's not enough audience for that game potentially and that it falls into this enthusiast extreme category when ported over to the PC. That's an uneducated response."

Of course, given that Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings uses he same engine as STFU, it's reasonable to conclude that PC owners will again be left out of LucasArts' plans.

Source: videogamer.com