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Chris Knight's avatar

Today shall be a day long remembered…

Courtesy of the amazing folks at GOG.com (the GOG stands for Good Old Games), what are by far two of the greatest computer/video games ever wrought by mortal hands have gone on sale today, ready to be enjoyed by a new generation or by those who have longed to reminisce about those heady days of the early Nineties.

Stick it to the Empire in
X-Wing…

And I would be saying that even if they weren’t Star Wars titles!

X-Wing was an astounding and revolutionary game in its own right and when it came out early in 1993 it took the industry by storm.  With a brilliant combination of 3D graphics, rich user interface, an immersive storyline and balanced yet incredibly challenging gameplay, X-Wing was the Star Wars experience that everyone wanted but few thought we would ever get.  This ...

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Chris Knight's avatar
LucasArts, Disney, closing down

LucasArts is no more.

Disney laid off the entire staff and shuttered the studio this morning.  There had been speculation that LucasArts might be liquidated after Disney acquired Lucasfilm and the other companies beneath its umbrella five months ago.  The video game studio had been flailing in recent years despite moderate successes like LEGO Star Wars.  On the other hand there were turkeys like Kinect Star Wars.  It had been hoped that games like the upcoming Star Wars: 1313 would have increased its fortunes.

But now it’s official: LucasArts has been closed down.  Disney has stated that future games will be licensed to other studios for development.  Some like Star Wars: 1313 may never get released at all.  The “LucasArts” name will continue to exist but the firm itself and its development staff has been disbanded.

I can see that as an appropriate measure.  The Star Wars: ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

That’s what Scott Kelly is wondering on his blog. What precipitates the question is the “big reveal” that happened of the next Star Wars game during this past weekend’s Spike TV Video Game Awards 2009 show: a sequel to last year’s Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

As Scott puts it…

If we needed any confirmation that LucasArts was undoubtedly out of touch with their fanbase, the announcement of the newest LucasArts game, creatively titled “The Force Unleashed II”, has unfortunately given us the signal.

I could talk about how making a sequel to “The Force Unleashed” doesn’t make sense, in a narrative sense, since (SPOILER AHEAD) Galen Marek dies at the end. I could discuss how this violates the whole “no body/no death” trope. I could bring up the fact that most fans complimented the game not on the gameplay, but on the actual story told.

But I

...
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Chris Knight's avatar

Earlier this week LucasArts unloaded the very awesome news that it has commenced to re-releasing many of its classic games via Steam!

I had never used Steam before, but the prospect of once again playing Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (right) was too good to pass up, so I went to the Steam site and purchased the game. For $4.99 you get the CD-ROM “talkie” version from 1992, guaranteed to run on a Windows Vista system! LucasArts is also publishing anew The Dig (LOTS of people no doubt happy about that one), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure, Armed and Dangerous, LOOM, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure, Star Wars Battlefront II, Star Wars Republic Commando, Star Wars Starfighter, and Thrillville: Off the Rails.

And LucasArts has promised that many more classic games will ...

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