LucasArts.com has updated its Gladius product spotlight. This time, new concept art has been added, featuring some really freaky animals. Find them here.
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LucasArts.com has updated its Gladius product spotlight. This time, new concept art has been added, featuring some really freaky animals. Find them here.
The Dutch television program Gammo has raised itself just slightly above other pulp gaming television by doing a 'refresh' review of Full Throttle. I caught a rerun of the program last night, but the item may be posted on their website soon.
Full Throttle was run either in SCUMMvm or the new Entertainment Pack edition and looked absolutely beautiful on the TV screen. Ignorant as they may be, Gammo called Full Throttle a special game because it's about bikers who are 'real American characters', and said there were no aliens, knights, beasts or other fantastical characters. I guess they didn't remember the Cave Fish -- or the futuristic hover cars!
LucasArts.com was updated on Friday, although the only thing that seems to have changed is the featured screenshot. This week's shot is taken from what may be a soon-to-be-announced expansion pack, RTX Rodeo Roundup. It shows EZ "Tex" Wheeler riding a bucking mechanical spider. Ride and rope 'em, space cowboy!
Also, I'm drunk.
The official Gladius homepage has been updated with even more goodies. Among them are new models, more equipment, and a new Team Note from the lead game tester. Here's a quote:
"Is 600 battles too many?" Rob asked. We sat in a small meeting room where the design team and I could discuss Gladius' details. At first, I thought Rob was kidding. So, naturally, I laughed.Rock on!
An uncomfortable silence followed. No one else laughed. Rob just looked at me with that confident yet questioning look on his face. He was serious. Feeling like I had just made a complete fool of myself, I thought, "600 battles! This game is going to rock!"
LucasArts.com announced today that Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb has gone gold and launched a new website. The site now contains such goodies as desktop wallpaper, a TV commercial, and two tracks from the amazing live orchestral score written by Clint Bajakian. Woohoo!
Also, if you didn't catch it the first time it appeared, be sure to read our interview with Clint concerning his work with a live orchestra for this game. The results really speak for themselves.
Look for the Xbox version in stores on February 25th with the PC version available on March 18th and the PS2 port sometime in May.
As mentioned yesterday (and a couple weeks back), LucasArts is putting some extra effort into the manual (and hopefully the game) for Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. Last night they were kind enough to send us four scans out of the manual for us to check out, so check them out.
As mentioned by Pedgey and a couple others in the comments earlier, it's unknown as to whether or not people outside the US (especially non-English versions) will be receiving anything resembling this particular book, but we're checking on it. For now enjoy some very nice Indy graphic design, and maybe get a little insight into the game:
IGN XBox has an Emperor's Tomb "designer diary" of a slightly different type. The journal is by Gregory Harsh, the graphic designer responsible for the game's manual, made to look like Indy's journal. After getting a sneak peek earlier this month (shh) I have to say that it's pretty nice looking, as anticipated (see our previous report). The IGN story includes some details you'll find if you dig through the book, as well as some pictures of the manual itself. Some bits of the article are a little shady, especially the opening:
Console game manuals have a history of sucking. PC games often have nice packaging and great, in-depth manuals filled with extra goodies that don't necessarily pertain to gameplay. But in the console world, manuals are often in black-and-white and sometimes fail to even cover all gameplay aspects.When was the last time a PC game had nice pack-in goodies and a manual superior to that of a console game? Like ten years ago maybe. I haven't seen an amazing full-color full-size PC manual in years, while nearly every console manual I own is full color, and about 150% the size of my PC ones. That aside, it's a very interesting worthwhile read especially for Indy fans (and fans of nice game pack-in stuff), so check it out. It's not even an "insider" story!
According to The San Francisco Chronicle, George Lucas broke ground yesterday during a ceremony for the building of the Letterman Digital Arts facility.
The new campus, as you may have seen us mention before, will be the future offices for the newly merged Lucas companies. This includes ILM, Skywalker Sound, and LucasArts. The 850,000-square-foot project will house 2,500 workers and should be completed in 2005. Here's a quote from George at the ceremony:
"San Francisco's always had a quality of filmmaking that most people haven't been able to recognize, we always get shoved under the title 'Hollywood,"' Lucas said. "I think this will begin to put a stake in the ground for San Francisco as a filmmaking community, as a creator of world cinema."You may have already seen these, but Mixnmojo took pictures last July of the future LucasArts home following a press event. Woohoo for extensive journalistic coverage.
Source: TheForce.net
It has just been announced on LucasArts.com that The Clone Wars is going to be released for Xbox Live this spring, confirming what we previously reported. Apparently this means that you will be able to compete against eight other players in the game while communicating through voice chat. Click here to read about all of the Xbox specific features.
LucasArts.com updated again this Friday. This weekly update included a few PC screenshots for Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, information on how the Gladius combat system works, and a look at the Sith troopers found in Knights of the Old Republic. Unfortunately, it looks like we didn't get to see any Indy orchestral score clips in January after all...
The official Gladius homepage has been updated with some new additions to the equipment section. The FAQ on the site has also been updated, and here's a quote:
Q: What makes Gladius different than other games of its type?I can't think of a line to close this news post with.
A: Gladius is unique because it is a hybrid between real-time and turn-based combat. There are two parts to a turn. The second turn portion takes place while other units can move. This means turns will overlap, and the wise player will learn to account for characters that may rarely stand still.
Yesterday, we reported on the announcement that all of the Lucas companies would merge into one single organization. Today, the San Francisco Chronicle has published an article giving us new insight into the corporate merger.
Interestingly enough, the article includes a quote by Tim Schafer concerning the recent announcment. Here's what he had to say about all that:
"We used to wish there was more cooperation between Industrial Light & Magic and games, and now maybe there will be," Schafer said. "We used to gripe in the old days that we really could use some of ILM's resources."Hopefully this will turn out to be a good thing, although anyone familiar with corporate antics usually panics at the word "reorganization." Read the complete article for more information.
In response to our previous news post, I contacted the Game Developers Conference to ask if audio CD's will available sometime after the conference is over.
The good news is that the online store at Gamasutra will be selling audio recordings of the conference about a month after the event.
The bad news is that these recordings will only be of lectures and panel discussions. That means that you won't be able to listen to the full day workshop given by Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, and Noah Falstein. However, you will most likely be able to purchase recordings of the lectures and panel discussions led by Sean Clark, Clint Bajakian, and other LucasArts-related people.
So... any volunteers to sneak into the GDC and record the workshop?
A press release has been issued today, stating that all of the Lucas companies are going to combine into one huge... thingy. Here's a quote:
Lucas stated, "During the past ten years, my companies have functioned relatively independent of each other. As we look to the future, we have decided to bring these entities together into a unified, cohesive group to create a dynamic entertainment company that builds upon their mutual strengths. We have a unique array of talent in the areas of special effects, sound design, interactive games, licensing, distribution, and marketing. This new structure will make it easier for our diverse talents to work as a team."So what exactly does this mean? Well, I'm not sure, but it's likely that you can expect more collaboration between LucasArts, Skywalker Sound, and maybe ILM. But does this mean that LucasArts is no longer going to be called "LucasArts"? I guess time will tell.
Source: Business Wire
LucasArts.com pointed out today that many of their employees will be speaking at the Game Developers Conference March 4-8 in San Jose, California. Among the highlights of the conference, the following seminars should peak your interest:
Art and Science of Brainstorming, a full day tutorial led in part by Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman, and Tim Schafer.
How to Write Good "Bad Dialogue": Cramming Storytelling Into an Action Game, an hour long lecture by Sean Clark and Ryan Kaufman (Full Throttle 2 co-designer).
What Producers Should Know About Audio, a panel discussion led by Clint Bajakian and members of the LucasArts sound department.
Now I know, you're probably not qualified to go or unable to afford the travel expenses. Not to fret. Recordings of the conference are usually made available on audio tapes and CD's. Pretty neat, eh?
Lots of cool stuff up on LucasArts.com today. First, the Gladius site has been updated with a new character class called Berserker. This new screenshot has also been released.
Next, there is a renovated and slightly annoying Flash site for RTX Red Rock which includes a screensaver, information on the characters, an FAQ, and more.
Finally, the Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb site has also been updated with a new screensaver, featuring some really cool gameplay video of Indy smacking people around. I really recommend checking that one out, even though it's a bit brief.
February's Game Informer Magazine features an article about the men behind MMORPGs, entitled "The Art of Massively Multiplayer Gaming." Among Everquest and Planetside, SW Galaxies: An Empire Divided is lauded pre-release as "a lot for Star Wars fans to get excited about."
Quoth Kevin O'Hara, both associate producer and community relations manager:
"There are huge expectations, and I think that, with the love our developers have for the game, we're going to have a great game. There is no way we can live up to every single person's expectations of what they want in the Star Wars universe, but the game will be huge and bigger and better than any other game that is out there currently."He certainly sounds confident, and I hope to see it succeed.
In related news, both SW: Galaxies and SW: KOTOR seem to be doing quite well on reserves at GameStop #1455... a release day sell-out could be on the horizon.
Source: Game Informer
More LucasArts.com updates. The official box art has been posted on the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic product spotlight. Several new screenshots have also been added, and judging from these new screens, it seems that the game might actually have some funny dialogue.
It has also been revealed that an Xbox demo of Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb will be released in the March issue of the Official Xbox Magazine. Sadly, no word on a PC demo, but this new screenshot may help to dry up those tears of disappointment.
Music 4 Games has published an interview with Skywalker Sound. The interview discusses the company's work on Star Wars Bounty Hunter as well as the possibility of doing more video games in the future. Here's a clip from the interview:
M4G: Skywalker Sound doing games? Why video games?Be sure to check out the full interview.
AG: At Skywalker Sound we feel that video games are at an exciting point technology wise, and as the technology improves the sound in video games will only become better. The experience of playing a video game will become more like watching a movie in the coming years, and as the world's best feature film sound facility we feel that we're in an excellent position to provide cutting edge sound for games, now and into the future.
The official Gladius homepage at LucasArts.com has been updated. On the webpage, you can now find five new screenshots, new character models, updated character classes, and an update of the game's progress from the production team. Here is a highlight from the team notes:
Focus on the art side is now turning toward telling the story of Gladius? in hand painted and real time animated cutscenes. In December '02 we finished voice recording for the two storylines and we are quite happy with the results. We managed to get great talent all around especially for our lead heroes, Valens and Ursula.Also, QueZTone points out that Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is now available for pre-order along with some kind of free crazy pen. You can also buy some new Indiana Jones Boxer Shorts (???) from the official company store as well. Enjoy!