GOG.com Gets More LucasArts Games

The latest wave of LucasArts games has hit GOG.com, and the balance has been restored as this time there isn't a Star Wars title in sight.  The newly added games are Outlaws, the EGA and 256 color FM-Towns version of Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, Indiana Jones and the Emporer's Tomb, Monkey Island 2 Special Edition, The Dig, and the VGA CD version of Loom.

They're Here! LucasArts Games Are Now On GOG.com

The goal that the team at GOG.com has been working towards since it opened its doors back in 2008 has been accomplished. LucasArts games are now on GOG.com. X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Knights of the Old Republic and The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition are only available for Windows, while Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Sam & Max Hit the Road are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

That's right, the SCUMM games are actually using ScummVM! The lawyers who used to work for Lucas legal probably nearly had a heart attack when they read this news.  Around two dozen more LucasArts games will be released for the service soon.

It's True! LucasArts Games Are Coming to GOG.com

Update 2 (October 28th): The news is now official, so the link has been changed to the correct working one.

Update: The news release has been pulled from the site, as it was never intended to be revealed so early. The news will be made once the countdown timer on the GOG.com site reaches zero.

The new publisher on GOG.com has been officially revealed to be LucasArts.  GOG.com has made a deal with Disney to release about 30 LucasArts games on the service. These first six games will be made available starting tomorrow:

Star Wars™: X-Wing Special Edition - digital distribution debut, on GOG.com!
Star Wars™: TIE Fighter Special Edition - digital distribution debut, on GOG.com!
Sam & Max Hit the Road - digital distribution debut, on GOG.com!
The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition
Indiana Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis™
Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic

Rumor Mill: LucasArts Games Coming To GOG.com?

We've gotten our hopes up before that LucasArts games would be released on GOG.com when the site previously teased that they were going to add a large publisher to their catalog (not to mention the Night Dive rumors). Well, the rumors are here again, as GOG.com is teasing that another publisher will be adding their games to the catalog, with a countdown timer on their main page.

There might be some weight to the rumor that the publisher is LucasArts this time, as a GOG.com user has reportedly found three countdown images on the GOG.com website that use well known LucasArts fonts. Of course, if it does end up being LucasArts, it's uncertain if any games that aren't already released digitally will be released on GOG.com, as the three franchises represented (Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Monkey Island) already have games available digitally on Steam. But, at least this time signs do seem to point towards DRM-free versions of LucasArts games finally being available soon.

The Dig Review

The Dig is a game by LucasArts that is based on an abandoned story idea that was originally meant to be part of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories television program.  It began development in 1989, and went through four project leaders (Noah Falstein, followed by Brian Moriarty, then Dave Grossman, and ultimately Sean Clark) before it was released in 1995.  Despite its tumultuous development, The Dig ended up being a fairly enjoyable game.

The game follows two astronauts and a reporter who is part of the mission to report on it first hand.  The trio intend to set off detonations on an asteroid that is headed on a direct collision with Earth, in order to break it apart and send the shards of rock off course.  Things don't go as planned, as they soon find themselves hurled across space to a desolate planet where an advanced civilization seems to have just disappeared.

They decide to try to find clues about the planet they've landed on by deciphering the ancient machines that they encounter.  This is the bulk of a lot of the puzzles, which are similar in style to the object manipulation puzzles found in games like Myst.  This game actually has a lot in common with Myst, as the game is mostly about silent exploration, and the dialog that is there is pretty dry and scientific.  There are moments of dry humor spread throughout, but the tone of this game is much different from the other games in the LucasArts adventure library.  The story is pretty interesting, especially as the story slowly gains impetus as the crew begins to use artifacts without knowing their full purpose, with disastrous results.

The artwork is really nice in this game.  Its long development cycle meant that the game looked dated even in 1995, but it has a really unique art style that still looks nice today.  The cutscenes have fantastic animation, although the video has been highly compressed to fit on the media of the time, which means that there are noticeable artifacts.  The backgrounds are a high point, as they are all lusciously detailed, giving a sense of wonder to the otherwise dreary surroundings of the empty planet.  The voice work here is top notch, led by Robert Patrick (the T-1000 from Terminator 2) as Boston Low.  In a game where character interaction is sparse, this is important, as you'll be hearing from the same group of people a lot.  Luckily, this isn't a problem as all three of the main astronauts are all voiced well, as are the few other characters that appear in the game.  The music is also fantastic, helping to add to the mysterious nature of the game's setting.

If you don't mind the dry dialog and the many Myst like object manipulation puzzles, The Dig is an enjoyable game.  The cutscene videos are a bit too heavily compressed, and the pacing of the story is a bit slow, but the excellent voice acting, music, and background art help make the game a memorable experience.

(Side note: If you want a more detailed explanation of the game's somewhat abrupt ending, check out the novelization of The Dig by Alan Dean Foster.  It differs from the game in some parts, but it's an excellent read overall, and is a fine companion piece to the game.)

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Rumor Mill: Night Dive Might Digitally Publish LucasArts Games

Night Dive Studios, the company that managed to untie the legal mess surrounding System Shock 2 to negotiate the digital re-release of that game, is apparently negotiating to digitally re-release more games that are currently unavailable.

In this case, it seems they are trying to free the LucasArts adventure games from the Disney Vault, since they posted a teaser on their Facebook page that they are "Heading to Corley Motors!" (complete with a shot of Ben Throttle on his Corley motorcycle). After posting shout-outs to more LucasArts adventure games, such as Sam & Max Hit the Road on their twitter page, they were asked by twitter user BJ Wanlund to clarify the meaning of their LucasArts teases. Night Dive Studios responded by saying "We're hoping for it as much as everyone else, that's all we can say at the moment!"

So it seems like more classic LucasArts adventure games might come out on digital distribution sites some day after all. Or, they might not. We'll just have to wait and see how this situation develops.

Disney Purchases LucasArts

Disney has acquired Lucasfilm, and by extension LucasArts. The famed former adventure game developer is now under the House of Mouse, specifically Disney Interactive Studios. But, according to a LucasArts spokesperson, things aren't likely to change at LucasArts, at least not in the foreseeable future. "For the time being, all projects are business as usual". So, LucasArts' meager selection of their adventure game classics is likely to remain on Steam, at least for now.

The word is still out on what this means for the licensing of LucasArts properties, however. Disney CEO Robert Iger has stated an intent to license the LucasArts properties out on consoles. "We'll look opportunistically at console, most likely in licensing rather than publishing, but we think that given the nature of these characters and how well known they are, and the storytelling, that they lend themselves quite nicely, as they've already demonstrated to the other platforms." He was referring to the Lucasfilm licenses rather than the original LucasArts intellectual property, but it's possible companies like Telltale might now be able to work up a dialog with studio heads in terms of licensing their adventure properties.

Autumn Sales

Just thought I'd give you a heads up that Telltale's iPad titles are 50% off and their iPhone/iPod touch titles are $0.99 until November 30th. Also, there's a lot of deals to be had at Steam's Autumn Sale (which ends in just over 7 hours), including most of Telltale's PC titles, the LucasArts Adventure Pack (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, The Dig, and Loom), and other adventures.

LucasArts is one of the five possible publishers coming to GOG.com

GOG.com held a press conference where they stated that one of five major publishers will be releasing 25 games on the site this summer, and they are close to signing deals with two others. The publishers in question are LucasArts, Microsoft, Square Enix, EA and T2.

Hopefully it does end up being LucasArts, as most of their adventure games have been out of print for around a decade, and could certainly benefit from a digital re-release.

Deals on LucasArts and Telltale Adventures!

There are a few deals going on for LucasArts and Telltale adventure games. First of all, there's the Complete Collection of Sam & Max,which includes all three seasons of Telltale's Sam & Max games.  It is $49.95 for a limited time, which is 50% off the price it would be if you bought all three separately.  This offer ends on June 2, 2010.

The LucasArts Adventure Pack, which includes Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Fate of Atlantis, as well as Loom and The Dig, is also on sale for 50% off. The game is $4.99, and the offer is available until Friday.

LucasArts Adventure Pack on Steam

The four LucasArts games available on Steam, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Loom, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and The Dig, are now available on Steam in a LucasArts Adventure Pack for only $9.99 US!

I haven't purchased any yet, so I'm definitely going to pick them up now. $2.50 per game is really hard to pass up! :)

1UP LucasArts Reunion

1UP has posted a video interview of several former LucasArts designers talking about their time at LucasArts, and talking a little bit about what they are up to today (or at least as of 2008, when this interview was filmed).

 

It's a group discussion, and features Ron Gilbert (project leader of Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games, co-leader of The Last Crusade), Dave Grossman (co-writer of the first two Monkey Island games, co-leader of Day of the Tentacle, and design director at Telltale Games), Noah Falstein (co-leader of Fate of Atlantis), Bill Tiller (lead background artist on The Curse of Monkey Island, lead artist on The Dig, and founder of Autumn Moon Entertainment), Larry Ahern (co-leader of The Curse of Monkey Island), Mike Levine (lead effects technician on The Dig, and co-founder of Crackpot Entertainment), and Tony Hsieh (programmer on many SCUMM titles, also the project leader on Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi).

It's a great interview. The group talks about almost every adventure game LucasArts released, from Labyrinth to The Curse of Monkey Island, as well as several non-adventure games. They talk about the different climate changes in the management at LucasArts over the years, what killed adventure games at LucasArts, as well as what killed good games in general at LucasArts, and what almost killed the adventure genre. There is also an interesting bit in the middle of the interview that talks about cancelled games at LucasArts as well as games by the people in the group that never got out of the planning stages.

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and watch the video. It's really a great treat for any adventure game fan. :)

LucasArts Games Are Now On Steam

The 10 games from LucasArts that I posted about yesterday are now up on Steam. The games all come with their own updated Windows executable, and don't use DosBox or ScummVM. Some of their datafiles are now embedded in the EXE as well, as noted by bgbennyboy on the International House of Mojo comments section. So, they won't run in ScummVM.

But, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Loom, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and The Dig are now available for the first time in over 10 years, so that's the most important thing. LucasArts also mentioned they are going to be announcing more Steam releases in the future, so here's to hoping their entire back catalog of adventure games will become available again in one form or another. :)

Adventure Game Goodness

LucasArts announced that they will be re-releasing some of their older titles onto PC download via Valve's Steam delivery service. There are 10 games being released, and 4 of them are LucasArts' classic adventures. The four adventure games are:

• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
• LOOM
• The Dig

Joystiq has also posted news that the version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure is a a "previously unreleased version" with "even more bugfixes" than the original CD-ROM re-release, along with a "Tandy 1000 sound engine."

LucasArts also confirmed the July 15th release date for The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition.

And, if that's not enough, later today the first episode of Telltale's Tales of Monkey Island, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, will be released. There's still time to get in on the pre-order deal that includes a limited edition Steve Purcell-drawn cover-art for the DVD and a free episode of your choice of any of Telltale's series. But not much time. :)

The fan pages are back

Tinternet's largest and last surviving Zak McKracken fan page is back. I'm reviving all my old Mega Monkey sites - and building new ones so that I can finally accomplish my goal set forth at the last update on February 12, 1999: to have a fan page for every LucasArts adventure game.