LucasArts announces Sam & Max sequel

Altima(BoB) writes "LucasArts announced today a sequel to their 1993 cult classic adventure game Sam & Max Hit the Road. This follows a recent announcement of Full Throttle II. The press release explains: It's due first quarter 2004 for Windows PCs, no other operating systems or platforms mentioned, but it looks promising. Personally, I think that LucasArts' adventure games have been long overdue a comeback, anyone who's played them can attest to their top-notch writing and humor."

Comments

.. and then there was one

[jmaltais]

I'm still laughing after I cut off that pirate's peg leg in Monkey's Island ][.

They're not as funny anymore... Forget this "I need more action" society who demand more FPS games. Bring back the adventure games I say.

Re:.. and then there was one

[inteller]

HELL YEAH! I want to see sequels to The Legend of Kyrandia! PLEASE! I'm so SICK of FPS!

Re:.. and then there was one

[xingix]

Next we need a sequel to The Dig and Day of the Tentacle. And Sierra needs to do another Space Quest!

Re:.. and then there was one

[failrate]

Okay, Sierra was working on SQ7, but then they canned it. If you google-search, you should find a team of developers working on an unofficial sequel to SQ. This is not just fans, but some former Sierra programmers. Also, anyone who complains about there not being any new adventure games need look no further than The Crow's Nest, the Ultimate AGI & SCI site, www.agidev.com , www.agigames.com , www.angelfire.com/games4/failrate , or check out the message board at agiboard.cjb.net . Adventure games still live (The Longest Journey, for example), but the fact is that the enthusiasm for sexy-graphicked fps' has virtually destroyed the US market for logical adventure games with depth and story. The closest you'll get to an old school adventure game will be some weak-assed puzzles stuffed into the most recent Resident Evil sequel. Booo-yaaah!

The million $ question...

[Anonymous Coward]

will it work with ScummVM?

Re:The million $ question...

[thelinuxking]

I strongly doubt it. The program is probably in 3d. I don't think that they would risk making a 2d program in a program to be released in 2004. If it is cartoony at all, it could be cel shaded, which would be really cool.

Re:The million $ question...

[geekster]

Why a risk? It's an adventure game. These things look better in 2D if you ask me. I mean, come on, look at the low poly characters in Monkey Island 4. Sprites look a lot better than those chunky soulless things. And those controls...

Not that I'm totally against it, in Grim Fandango it was nice because it fit the whole thing (except those pesky arcade style controls).
But why do they keep on doing all of them in 3D? Is it because most people just won't buy a 2D game? These people probaly don't play adventure games anyway...
ah well, why am I bitchin', there are 2 new adventure games on their way! yipee!

Re:The million $ question...

[Yorrike]

Yes, "people" (i.e, the mindless gaming public), buy for graphics. Simple as that. It seems games with great graphics are bought up enmass, while games with unique or somewhat overclocked retro stylings are shunned and branded "ugly".

If the average gamer went out and bought games based on pure gameplay, we'd get a 2D Sam and Max (which is the way it should be, the same applies to Metroid Prime, which looks nice, but just isn't Metroid).

Re:The million $ question...

[szap]

If I remember correctly, the 3D LucasArts games, starting from Grim Fandago (excellent!) have been done using the Lua programming language. That bar (Lua) being renamed from Scumm in Escape from Monkey Island reflects that too.

Lua the programming language, BTW, is a Open Source (but not GPL copyleft) Brazillian developed language.

Re:The million $ question...

[0x0d0a]

They use Lua, but it's not like they're handing out a collection of Lua source...also, it wouldn't surprise me if they've modified their Lua.

Re:The million $ question...

[Sj0]

Cartoon graphics at 1024x768x32 native, hand drawn.

Not only would those be better than 3d, it would be SO MUCH better, it could make or break the game.

Cartoon effects translated into 3d suck royal ass. Trust me, I've seen too many attempts to believe otherwise. 2d is 2d. It's the reason cartoons are still on TV, despite the fact that 3d rendered TV shows are possible. 2d Graphics at that resolution would stand the test of time just as the original "Sam and Max hit the road" have, only much better. Now; install a 3d shooter from the same time period, and tell me if it looks half as good under the all-jading eyes of time and advancing technology.

Re:The million $ question...

[Yorrike]

As cool and as styling as that would be, you're more likely to get the game drawn with vector graphics as opposed to hand drawn.

They're natively scalable to any resolution then, plus you can include extra, or drop surplus frames.

I agree that 3D pretending it's 2D isn't right. It's got it's own style, no one's fooled into thinking a cel shaded 3D model is an actual cartoon cel. Not saying that it doesn't look cool, but I think the old cel shading is being really overdone at the moment.

Every man and his game development studio is hoping on the cel shaded band wagon, it's the lens flare of the new millenium.

Re:The million $ question...

[Sj0]

The reason for bitmaps vs. vectors even is that hand drawn art is a more refined art form. For something with simplistic graphics, it might not be a problem, but add a little detail, and it goes to hell.

Another interesting thought is this; have you ever considered that adding extra frames can DEGRADE graphic quality? If the scripts aren't designed to take full advantage of precision 10 years ahead of us, the motion ends up looking realistic--for a robot. It's like the trooper in Jdoom(which lets you swap out all the sprites in Doom with full 3d models). The original sprite left out parts of the movement, but seemed more natural and realistic, because the skipped frames were mere transition, and animating them (and invariably animating them badly) lead to unnatural looking movements. Instead, trying to make high resolution graphics which look perfect today will succeed because the graphics will run exactly the same in 10 years on someones Cyrix 45 Thz(It's the future -- you never know...) ubercomputer.

And yes, Cel shading really sucks, but only through the POWER OF THE X-BOX can a simple DX8 shader effect be achieved.(sorry, long rant there concerning the ignorance and sheer manipulative lies coming out of MS Marketing)

Re:The million $ question...

[Anonymous Coward]

I would agree with you on your stereotype of "people", unfortunately, because it is very true. I was also an avid fan of the Metroid series, but see no reason why the game can not progress into a FP/3rd Person camera, isn't it partly about the innovation? If every game just carried over the "style" of the precursor, we would all be stuck playing pong with different color paddles and balls. And BTW, there is a side scrolling Metroid (Metroid Fusion coming out on GBA also, same release date as Metroid Prime.

Re:The million $ question...

[Ndr_Amigo]

Yeah, it's modified.. but not very well :)
It's quite easy to patch a normal Lua tree to read and execute EMI scripts, for example.

Also amusingly enough, the Lua commands they extend for GF and EMI are very similar to the SCUMM opcodes used in older games, obviously so their scripters don't have to relearn everything.

- Ender
Project Leader,
http://scummvm.sf.net/

Re:The million $ question...

[frunch]

Ech. Does anybody else remember the string of 1024x768 sierra hand-drawn games? I think it was Kings Quest VII and Space Quest VI. Ugly ugly ugly.

For some reason, hand-drawn/painted looked good in 320x240... but in 1024x768, too much detail just makes the games look like a thundercats cartoon. eww.

Now...

[dokutake]

If only I could get the original to work on a modern version of Windows. Something's got to tide me over until the new one comes out!

Re:Now...

[SpatchMonkey]

Maybe this would help?

Re:Now...

[Jucius Maximus]

"If only I could get the original to work on a modern version of Windows. Something's got to tide me over until the new one comes out!"

That's what ScummVM is for. Using this VM, you can even run it on Linux and Macintosh.

Best of luck

[mfos.org]

I hope they do great, the wit and intelligence in Lucas Arts adventure games are unmatched. I know I'll buy a copy.

Re:Best of luck

[Anonvmous Coward]

I remember telling my aunt about "Day of the Tentacle". (get yer finger off the 'off-topic' button, it's a LucasArts adventure game like Sam & Max and Monkey Island.) Unfortunately, I mispronounced 'tentacle' and caused everybody at the dinner table to pause their meal and stare at me with buldging eyes.

I really wish my family'd loosen up and watch FOX more often. I really shouldn't be that shocking to anybody.

Re:Best of luck

[HaggiZ]

Really shouldn't be that shocking? Damn... if somebody started talking about a computer game at our dinner table you'd be likely to lose an eye to a brussell sprout!!

Re:Best of luck

[Anonymous Coward]

Mispronounced it as what?

Re:Best of luck

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Mispronounced it as what?"

Isn't it obvious? The n became an s.

MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[unicron]

Well, I didn't know about Full Throttle 2, so reading that post made me slip into what I like to call "A massive coronary".

Full throttle was the best damn Lucararts game ever made, bar none. Maybe even the best adventure game period, and that's if I include Grim Fandago.

That better not be a polecat on the wall.

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[JANIT0R]

Minivans, Ben!
MINIVANS!

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[Meridun]

I actually went and bought the Gone Jackals CD Bone to Pick merely based on how cool the opening sequence for Full Throttle was.

"Heh. Bunnies"

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[BollocksToThis]

Why do you consider Full Throttle to be so great?

I mean, I liked it and all (bunnies in the fanbelt! Ride of the Valkyries!), but IMO it never matched up to the amusement value of either Sam and Max, or Day of the Tentacle, and it felt so much SHORTER than either of those games.

Maybe it was just easier...

Mind if I drive?
Not if you don't mind me clawing at the dash and shrieking like a cheerleader...

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[Gudlyf]

I've seen screenshots in the latest PC Gamer, and I'm a bit disappointed. Judging by the screenshots, they're switching from the cartoon-esque look and feel of the old Full Throttle to 3D models and "more action". The developer(?) interviewed tried to brush off the notion that this was going to be a hybrid game instead of pure adventure, but the description sure shouted HYBRID to me.

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[Deluge]

How was it? I had a feeling that the intro song would be the only worthwhile track, so I decided not to give into the urge to buy...

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[Deluge]

they're switching from the cartoon-esque look and feel of the old Full Throttle to 3D models and "more action".

If the "action" is anything like the road combat of the original (a pain in the ass), then no thanks. It would be a shame to ruin yet another adventure game series with action bits. Look at what a disaster King's Quest 8 was (aside from the fact that it ran like shit).

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[gpinzone]

Full Throttle was cool, but certainly not a difficult game to solve. Hell, even I figured it out in no time.

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[Gudlyf]

If the "action" is anything like the road combat of the original (a pain in the ass), then no thanks.

That's exactly what they're saying. Another motorcycle sequence, and a bunch of fist fighting. *sigh*.

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[xingix]

Full Throttle was a great game I'll admit but it was quite short. One of my favourite adventure game from LucasArts is The Dig--- has anyone ever played that one? The music was amazing because instead of it abruptly changing between scenes, it seemed to "shift"--- amazing technology for the time! And the storyline was so gripping, written with the help of Steven Spielberg. Anyways, this emulator or whatever it's called is going to be great on my XP machine :-D

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[Meridun]

It was pretty good. About three good tracks, which I consider par for a CD. Amusingly, it was the only time I ever used CDNow as a service, since I could never find the CD in a store.

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[BollocksToThis]

DUDE! The Dig was frickin excellent. I *loved* that game... I was sad as hell when I lost the CD
=(

If only I'd been allowed to make a backup ;)

Although the Dig isn't really on the same sort of humour level as the other Lucasarts adventures, it was an excellent and gripping story... I think the ONLY game I've played in the last five years that kept me playing FOR THE STORYLINE.

Re:MY PILLS, GET ME MY PILLS

[biggleswat]

Three words...

"Chitlins, Whiskey and Skirt"

That made the greatness right there. It's a serious hard toss between SnM and FT for the best Lucasarts adventure game.

Still not Star Control 2 though... =)

Sam and Max????

[Anonymous Coward]

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I have a reason to live again!

day of the tentacle...

[ZeNMaSTeR21]

should be next! please please please...!
imagine it in 3d cell shading...

Re:Day Of The Tentacle...

[kubrick]

Sequel to DotT? Don't you mean 'Maniac Mansion III'? :)

Re:Day Of The Tentacle...

[krony]

Giving George Washington the windup teeth for his dentures was the greatest!

I'm amazed that you can still buy the game. By the way, the original Sam and Max is here too!

If you haven't tried them yet, be sure to check them out. These are two of the funnest games I have ever played, especially DOTT!

Re:Day Of The Tentacle...

[Aash]

This seems like an ideal time for some shameless self-promotion. I have a Day of the Tentacle comic strip which uses the original art from the game. You can see it here:

http://members.rogers.com/mnusair/

Re:Day Of The Tentacle...

[T-Kir]

Just been to the site, your shameless self-promotion is what should feature more in this LucasArts thread...

I like the site a lot, and it sure as hell beats waiting for LucasArts and sequels, and is harmless fun (i.e. Please don't sue me.) to boot.

Lets just hope it doesn't become too popular, the /. effect alone would be enough to knock off any fake barf off the side of the computer case (if there was one).

Re:day of the tentacle...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just so you know, a sequel to Day of the Tentacle would be called Maniac Mansion 3 ;)

"no other operating systems or platforms mentioned

[SpatchMonkey]

• "no other operating systems or platforms mentioned"

That seems fair enough. Who would want it running on Linux anyway?

eep

[EggplantMan]

"Why you dirty lint-sniffing mama's twins! I oughta stretch your legs around your head and make you do the lambada!"

What about the really good ones?

[A5un]

Where's the Maniac Mansion sequel or Zak Mckraken and the Alien Mindbenders part deux? Now, those are classics ..

Re:What about the really good ones?

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, the maniac mansion sequel is called Day of The Tentacle

Re:What about the really good ones?

[Ian Wolf]

I would rather see Loom 2. Damn that game was cool, for its time. I remember how blown away I was by the music and graphics.

Re:What about the really good ones?

[MrEnigma]

And the scary part about that is....I have my original loom CD and weave's (or wahtever they were called) book right next to me here....hmmm...this post and comments are making me remember the great games..and I have all the CD's right here..woo hoo!

Re:What about the really good ones?

[Chris Pimlott]

Loom was definately a great game. An interesting experiment with the single-click interface too.

I still chuckle about the multimedia intro - that come on an audio cassette tape. How far we come... but I guess that makes it more of an effective demonstration that the technology of the game isn't the most important thing.

(BTW... I remember that supposedly if you beat the game on the hardest mode (without notes on the distaff and without the distaff lighting up) you got a special ending or something... tried it but it didn't seem to work for me, was that just a rumor>)

"Pet the bunny, you know ya wanna!"

[Anonymous Coward]

I first played Full Throttle when I was 13, and it is hilarious. The famous line, spoken by the crazy vendor guy, "Pet the bunny, you know ya wanna!", is the best ever. Lucas Arts adventure games rock! This is a Good Thing.

Best Comedy/Adventure Game EVER

[ZahrGnosis]

Sam and Max still has my vote for the best game of that genre ever... Any game where the solution to one of the "problems" is to pick up your partner, dunk him in water and use him to short out an electrical panel works for me. It took me an hour to get through trying all the little gadgets in the inventory before coming up with that one.

Can't wait for the sequel.

Re:Best Comedy/Adventure Game EVER

[lethalwp]

have you played monkey island 1 and 2?
those are the best games on the world for me ;)

at second place, quake 3 ;)))

4th: day of tent, indianajones4
5th: sam & max ;)

Re:Best Comedy/Adventure Game EVER

[esper_child]

I would have to put Grim Fandango and The Longest Journey higher than Sam and Max, but I agree, it is one of the best games ever made.

Re:Best Comedy/Adventure Game EVER

[IxnayOnTheIxnay]

Any game where the solution to one of the "problems" is to pick up your partner, dunk him in water and use him to short out an electrical panel works for me. It took me an hour to get through trying all the little gadgets in the inventory before coming up with that one. Actually, that was my least favorite part of the game. Funny, yes, but poor puzzle design. But there are one or two groaners in every LA adventure game. I'd still rather play any of them than anything released in the last 5 years.

Re:Best Comedy/Adventure Game EVER

[Anonymous Cow herd]

Grim Fandango was a great game, but I can't stand the interface/engine, which they also decided to use for Monkey Island 4 :-( IMO the Monkey Island series peaked artistically at Monkey Island 3, although 2 was one of the better games for plots and puzzles.

Re:Best Comedy/Adventure Game EVER

[xingix]

Yes I agree that it was poor puzzle design, perhaps the writers were stuck and they had to have some solution.

What I particularly love about LucasArts games as opposed to other companies like Sierra, is the fact that you can't die. You can't screw up as you click and try and do everything. You didn't have to worry about saving, moving, saving, moving etc... I don't mean to trash Sierra though, I do love their Space Quest series!

Re:Best Comedy/Adventure Game EVER

[Anonymous Coward]

Discworld Noir was also quite good, but not a lucasarts adventure.

A happily-phrased "Hell Yes"

[graffitiboy]

Finally Lucasarts is doing something other than milking the rapidly drying "cash-cow" that is Star Wars.

I can't even bring myself to count the number of awful Star Wars Games I had to disdain and refute in order to hook my wife (successfully) on Lucasarts' fine adventure games -- thanks to the great character design on Grim Fandango.

Lucasarts has really good innovators and well done art (Steve Purcell rocks), and it's more than high-time that a decent adventure game came to for.

I for one am sick of the endless parade of "free form" games (i.e. the Sims), the neverending re-release of the "yet-anotherFPS" engine games, and the D&D based games that have more bugs than characters (NWN). <\RANT>

So, back to slashdot thinking... this gonna run on Linux? :)

Re:A happily-phrased "Hell Yes"

[tedDancin]

Totally agree. I'm not alone in thinking that Monkey Island 2 is the greatest adventure game that lived. Bring on more! In the words of the great Big Kev: I'm Excited!

And how did LeChuck pull his underpants off without taking off his pants? (:

Re:A happily-phrased "Hell Yes"

[Anonymous Coward]

But unfortunately Tim Shafer left the company. He's the mind behind some of the greatest game (Grim Fandango tops here).

Re:A happily-phrased "Hell Yes"

[ceejayoz]

I'd still like to see a good quality Star Wars RTS. There've been good SW games - TIE Fighter and the three Dark Forces (aka JK I/II) for example... but the bad ones (like Force Commander) have soured me on 'em.

Playing Homeworld with the SW mod, though, gives me shivers. :-D

Re:A happily-phrased "Hell Yes"

[Anonymous Coward]

MI2 was the very first computer game I ever played. It could even be argued that the enjoyment of MI2 was what led me to play around with our 286, which is what in turn pushed me into my non-stop decline into technogeekism that continues to this day.

And as much as my parents got on my nerves, you have to give them credit for that particular birthday present. Any parent that brings home an adventure game (with a freaky-looking pirate sticking pins into a voodoo doll featured on the box) to a 7 year-old can't be all bad.

The astonishing part is that I seem to have turned out... dare I say it... almost normal! It's amazing all that animated violence and all those poor role models didn't morph my young brain into that of a school shooter or child pornographer.

So in conclusion: MI2 does indeed rock. ("It's a great day for spitting!")

Re:A happily-phrased "Hell Yes"

[kubrick]

I can't agree more strongly with the LucasArts good games & Star Wars games split. :)

I was just wondering, though -- a Star Wars game in the style of the Indy 3 & 4 adventure games could be quite fun... however it would need to be skewed slightly for comedic value, as the Indy games were compared to the films, and this is probably anathema to LucasArts. Oh well.

Great news about the Sam & Max sequel, though -- I even have a comic book Sam & Max that I found somewhere, and have held on to for all these years. Hearing this really made my day. :)

Rescue On Fractalus!

[fyrie]

Now there is a game that could use a remake, But this time you can get off your ship. Man-o-man, remember the first time that alien popped up in the window?!

Star Wars Movies

[GuyMannDude]

Personally, I think that LucasArts' adventure games have been long overdue a comeback, anyone who's played them can attest to their top-notch writing and humor.

If only the same could be said for their movies...

GMD

Re:Star Wars Movies

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny, I didn't know LucasArts even made movies...

Re:Star Wars Movies

[Anonymous Coward]

don't pretend to be stupider than you are (if that is possible?)

he's obviously talking about LucasFlims

Re:Star Wars Movies

[Anonymous Coward]

LucasFlims? Closely related to LucasFlams I presume.

Man, you don't even HAVE to pretend.

And I strongly suspect that was sarcasm. Dumbass.

Re:Star Wars Movies

[Anonymous Coward]

you shouldn't pretend to be someone else when you try to defend your own posts

I'm glad I got the scoop...

[Altima(BoB)]

Well then I'm glad I finally got a scoop on Slashdot. Not bad for a relative /. n00b This story makes me wonder if we're heading back to those wonderous days of gaming, before frames per second was even a common worry, before parents' groups hated our hobby. Back when game companies put thought into what they produced and wrote. These days, with all the shooter games out there, each new game feels like a disposable summer blockbuster movie. I'm excited.

Re:I'm glad I got the scoop...

[sqlrob]

Scoop? This was on fark yesterday.

1993?

[Anonymous Coward]

Almost 10 years. Why not dig that old Sam & Max box from the closet, give the CD a spin, and have fun without spending a dime. It's not like you'll remember everything. Sorry LucasArts, but 10 years is too long, we might as well replay the same game.

Re:1993?

[unicron]

You are so very, very alone in that mode of thinking. Every other reply in this thread more or less says "I'll do any weird, perverted sexual thing Lucasarts can think of if it means I'm getting the game sooner."

Re:1993?

[ObviousGuy]

"I'll do any weird, perverted sexual thing Lucasarts can think of if it means I'm getting the game sooner."

I'm having my subincision done as we speak!

Oh please George, release soon!

You can. I have. It rules!

[freeweed]

Check this out.

Basically, it's something along the lines of an emulator that allows the original LucasArts point and click games to run under modern Windows. I've played Sam n Max and Day of the Tentacle for hours, and compared to the 486 sitting next to me, it's identical. Support for other games is in the works.

The absolute coolest part is, it uses your (presumedly) modern sound card's MIDI - the intro to Sam n Max is AMAZING on my SBLive compared to the old SB16 - and it also offers anti-aliased graphics if you so choose. Sure, the jaggies are nice for a nostalgic feel, but these games look simply amazing with the AA effects turned on.

I really can't recommend this enough for anyone who wants to play the old LucasArts games on anything approaching a modern system.

*nix users go and compile a life

[shrike99]

Well, no matter how bad Windows security is, no matter how secret it's source code - the games available on the win32 platform make it all worthwhile. btw, any ideas on an open source textbook archive? distributed on palm-like devices for schoolkids? yes I am a hypocrite.

Hope they fix the interface

[Anonymous Coward]

They went from a mouse interface of stunning simplicity and elegant to the most dumbass walking-around-bumping-into-things tedious keyboard-arrow-key system when they went to 3D (Grim Fandango, Escape from Monkey Island). I just don't know what the fuck they were thinking when they did that... I hope they learned the error of their ways...

On a day when the RIAA gets defaced...

[Silver222]

We have this story, something about videophones, and a writeup on a dance video game. WTF??

Re:On a day when the RIAA gets defaced...

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe because a site getting defaced isn't very interesting news in 2002, no matter whose site it is.

3D or 2D?

[galaga79]

Does anyone know if this going to be 3D or 2D? I am guessing the former because the Full Throttle sequel is 3D from what I have seen thus far. If my guess is correct it will be interesting to see how Sam & Max translates to the 3D world because it was very 2D animated game with some weird geometry and architecture in some areas. I remember Max had a secret 3D cameo in Jedi Knight and that looked kind of weird. Fingers crossed they get the same voice actors and composer too, which if you have never heard you can hear in this remix

Re:3D or 2D?

[unicron]

Sam and Max 1 was very cartoonish looking(not that that was a bad thing, on any level).

I think if they use the same cell-shading a few new games are using(Robotech, and the new Zelda) then it could come out very different, and very beautiful.

Re:3D or 2D?

[Anonymous Coward]

both 3D. I work there.... shhhh.

Re:3D or 2D?

[Anonymous Coward]

I honestly hope they don't go 3D. I would much prefer the cartoon style 2D animation like in the original than blocky 3D models.

Take Escape from Monkey Island, while the 3D characters weren't completely distracting, I didn't feel it fit the style of the game at all.

It's pretty sad that a majority of people think games need 3D elements in order to survive.

Re:3D or 2D?

[kubrick]

I'd imagine 3D in Grim Fandango style... even though I'd prefer the 2D (mock 3D) of the original game. If it was good enough for Monkey Island 2, they didn't need to change anything after that. :)

Re:3D or 2D?

[Anonymous Coward]

Cel Shading can give you the best of both worlds. I imagine that Sam & Max will be cel shaded. Full Throttle II, maybe not. I'm just afraid that Ben might end up looking like Max Payne.

Re:3D or 2D?

[elmegil]

Given that they were cartoon characters in a comic book to begin with, that's hardly a surprise. The original game was incredibly true to the artwork (given that the same guy did 'em hardly a surprise). And I think Max would gnaw your hands off if you called him very beautiful.

Re:3D or 2D?

[Gudlyf]

It sounds like it's going all 3D, which judging by the screenshots I saw of Full Throttle in PC Gamer, is a real shame. The developer interviewed in the mag was trying to brush off the notion that the game could be considered a "hybrid" (i.e., a lot more action sequences than the previous version, like fighting sequences, etc.). Personally I wish they'd stick to the cartoon 2D graphics and beef it up with more pure adventure aspects instead of trying to make these games geared more towards consoles.

Re:3D or 2D?

[Nodatadj]

My problem with the 3d of Monkey Island 4 was that it was completely unplayable. The play area was just lots of empty spaces that took ages to run through because you couldn't just click on a point on the screen to go there, you actually had to manuver around obstacles yourself. Bring back the 2D.

Re:3D or 2D?

[BigJimSlade]

Maybe if we have to suffer through 3D, they'll at least have the courtesy of making it look like a comic book by using cel-shading techniques (like those found in Jet Set Radio Future or it's predecesor)

Re:"no other operating systems or platforms mentio

[demon]

How about... me? (See my sig.)

Give us another DoTT!

[eddy]

Personally, I'd pay premium for a new MM/Day of The Tentacle or a new Zak McKracken (yes I know about the inofficial one).

Sam'n'Max II and Full Throttle II? Not so much.

Re:Give us another DoTT!

[Anonymous Coward]

day of the tentacle!! i loved that game.. too bad i couldnt get past the point where it asked how to make a salad i think... cause i had a pirate copy and no manual :(

Re:Give us another DoTT!

[Anonymous Coward]

So you're the one!

Don't you know? Lucasarts wanted to make a DOTT sequel (or a Maniac Mansion trequel???), but they heard about the guy that had a pirated version and couldn't get past the salad thing. They thought "Let's not make a sequel until that guy buys the game..."

Unless you buy the friggin' game in the 48 next hours, a swarm of angry gamers will stampede on your house.

Better kiss your furniture goodbye

Re:Give us another DoTT!

[Anonymous Coward]

As any LucasArts fan will tell you, sequels to games written and designed by Tim Schafer will inevitably be stupid without him working on them, and he quit LucasArts after making Grim Fandango. If you're looking for that old LucasArts charm, take a look at Psychonauts and www.doublefine.com . Play it on your hacked xbox.

Current Systems

[hlopez]

I was wondering if it is still possible to play this clasic games on a modern setup. EG WinXP

Re:Current Systems

[Anonymous Coward]

It can be done, but be ready to spend some time.

Biggest problem is often getting the sound to work. DOS based games often need drivers or initialization for sound cards at boot-time, and will often only work with a handful of ancient cards.

Re:Current Systems

[RatBastard]

Well, that's one reason I reformatted my WinXP systems and went to a dual boot between Win98 (for older games) and Win2K Pro. Most of my time is spent in Win2K, but when I want to play an old DOS/Windows9x game (DoTT, Sam&Max, Tomb Raider, etc...) I boot into Win98.

Sure, it's not the most elegant solution, but it didn't cost me any money (I already had the legal copies of the OSes) and it works.

Just came across my old copy

[shlong]

Just the other day I was cleaning out a box of old college-era stuff and came across my boxed copy of Sam and Max, floppies and all. We always used to get a kick out of the sceen where people are bungie jumping off the noses of the presidents at Mt. Rushmore, since they looked like big boogers. The 'Second Largest Ball of Twine' or whatever it was was hilarious too.
/nostalgia

Re:"no other operating systems or platforms mentio

[Anonymous Coward]

duh

This made my week

[Anonymous Coward]

I own this game for both Mac & Windows -- where do I beg and plead for them to make a version for Mac OS X?

Next thing you know, they might put the TV show out on DVD (but for now I've got my homemade version recorded off the three 3 VHS tapes they made). Stranger things have happened.

Re:You can. I have. It rules!

[demon]

It's not an "emulator". Sam and Max, and many other LucasArts adventure titles, were written in a scripting language custom-made for developing adventure game titles. It was (is) called SCUMM, the Storyline Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion. The ScummVM team has managed to reverse-engineer enough info out of the original game engines to run many of these older titles. (I just played all the way through the CD version of Sam and Max Hit the Road last night.) It's more like running a shell script or Perl script than "emulating" anything.

LucasArts

[EngMedic]

where's my monkey island 5??!!!

full throttle 2 looks great...

Re:LucasArts

[Utopia]

I sure hope it comes out soon. And it better have full mouse support.
Keyboard-play in MI4 felt so ancient technology.
Though I wish it had the 2D cartoony feel on MI3, I don't see MI5 going back to 2 dimentions after having MI4 in 3D

Re:LucasArts

[EngMedic]

sadly true. somehow, Guybrush looked so right in MI3

Slashdot Readers Contain Cures for Diseases

[AndyChrist]

I don't want to imagine it in 3D cel shading. Not unless the technology improves markedly in the next year and a half. It's okay in a fast-moving game like Jet Set Radio, but thus far it mostly looks pretty awkward if it's sitting still.

Monkey IV

[Anonymous Coward]

Was great! I bought it the first week it was in stores. Not as funny as El Pollo Diablo

BWHAHAHAHAHAHA

from Monkey Island III but hey.

Now I have to go dig up all the old stuff. Zak McKraken, Maniac Mansion, etc.

Good to see a return of adventure - the glory days are, sadly, too long since passed.

Anyone managed to figure out how to get Monkey I or II or III to run under linux? dosemu barfs up a lung, and Wine barfs on Monkey III.

Re:Monkey IV

[foonf]

Anyone managed to figure out how to get Monkey I or II or III to run under linux? dosemu barfs up a lung, and Wine barfs on Monkey III.

I believe you are looking for this.

Re:Monkey IV

[docwhat]

How about linux on my Sharp Zaurus, does that count? I have sound, save games and all the treasure of Melee Island(TM) in the Palm of my hand.

More Info

Ciao!

Re:Monkey IV

[Jay Cornwall]

Monkey Island III works fine under WineX (http://www.transgaming.com/). You have to fiddle the installation a bit as explained on the site, but it works a treat when it's installed.

It's also useful to copy the 'resource' directory and 'comi.la*' files from the CDs into the directory you installed to, rather than just linking them, to speed up loading times. (and for a quieter experience, for those with fast CDROM drives)

To quote comic book guy...

[geekindustries]

Best game EVER! Sam & Max was my very first computer game I ever played, not to mention my favorite. The thought of a sequel almost makes me shit my pants. The hilarity, the zaniness, the sarcasm (by a naked bunny no less), the everything. Hmm, that description fits Darias Inferno too (except for the bunny)...another great adventure game that is highly recommended. Anyway, Sam & Max is one of the best adventure games ever. I am going to eBay right now and buying a copy to replace my lost one. I suggest that anyone who enjoys adventure games go buy the classic and get the sequel. Now, if you will excuse me, I must go to the bathroom and then eBay.

Re:To quote comic book guy...

[Anonymous Coward]

I have that game and I thought it was LAME. YMMV

Re:To quote comic book guy...

[lunatik17]

Even better, why not go to LucasArts' own store and buy it there? They have most of their classic games still available to buy. I've recently picked up new versions of Day of the Tentacle and Sam n Max, and I'm thinking about picking up Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Never did completely finish that one...

Re:To quote comic book guy...

[geekindustries]

Becuase LucasArt's seems to think that their classic games are worth gold. Don't get me wrong, they are great games. But they charge WAY to much for a title from almost a decade ago. Well, the prices on eBay are up there too....but if I can find it cheaper on eBay I'll get it there.

Re:To quote comic book guy...

[Anonymous Coward]

what do you mean by new versions?

if you mean the fact they have cd audio then they are not really new at all, and have been out for ages

they still are pc/dos and with win2k you have trouble running them (i am not sure about xp)

Re:To quote comic book guy...

[RatBastard]

Windows XP has teh same issues as Win2K with these old games. WinXP does not have DOS level sound drivers.

Day Of The Tentacle...

[T-Kir]

So a sequel to Sam and Max is good news, but I'll be much happier if they can do a sequel to Day Of The Tentacle...

Berrrnaaard... float over here soo I can puunch yoouuu.

Just be careful what wine you buy, 'cos you'll never know how long it'll take to turn to vinegar.

How can you say no to a cast described as:

[Yobgod Ababua]

"Popular Madcap Dog and Rabbity Thing"

Re:You can. I have. It rules!

[freeweed]

It takes code written for one set of software and produces a result on an entirely different one. It's all semantics, and to most people (remember, not everyone in the world is a computer expert), this is about as good an explanation as they'll understand. WINE is a perfect example - try to explain to a non-geek just what the acronym stands for, and why. Most people respond to me with 'what's the diff?' :)

LucasArts ruled the Adventure world

[hoytt]

Back in 1993 I got copies of Monkey Island 1 and 2 for our brand new Apple LC II. After that I've bought every adventure LucasArts made for Macintosh. IMO LucasArts was the best company making graphical adventures between 1990 and 1997. I just hope they bring back mouse support. I recently played Escape from Monkey Island and the keyboard interface sucked. The I got SCUMMvm and ran MI 1 and 2 under OS X. It was like being back in 1993, the interface is so great in those adventures.

Imagine, a new adventure with Sam and Max so big they'll need a DVD. 240 hours or more adventure time.

Now where can I reserve my copy?

Anyone trying to get other old games running...

[Snover]

VOGONS (pun intended), Very Old Games On New Systems, is a forum designed to help you get old games (DOS/3.1/some 95/98) running on new systems (usually NT/2K/XP, but occasionally users running WINE*, 95, and 98 have problems as well). Shameless plug, but hey, I'm still waiting for The Dig 2.

* WINE users are known to have .005% more problems than those using a real copy of any of the 9x series.

I must be in heaven

[videodriverguy]

Sam and Max has to be one of my all time favorite games - to hell with advanced 3D pixel shaders and realistic worlds. Wak a Rat was one of the best interactive game experiences ever. Help - need reality fix.

Screen caps from the original. . .

[Fritz Benwalla]

Pardon my blatant karma-whoring, but for those of you who didn't play it here's a link with some screens from the original:

http://www.angelfire.com/ar/SAMNMAX/grafjueg.html

**** Dr. Bellows ****
Funk/Soul/Jazz
drbellows.net
for gigs, music & more.

I enjoy it more through Multibabel.

[Jonny 290]

Lost In Translation makes it fun!

"LucasArts written of Altima(BoB) that has announced today, of him & follows 1993, that is traditional of the SAM of the game of the adventure of the Anbetung; The maximum repaired the way. This follows a new warning of the publicity of complete control II of the energy. The Pressekommuniqué is aqui ': the trimester 2004 of http://www.lucasarts.com/press/releases/61.html first one is he was adaptou for GCV von Windows, aucuns indicate others to him the softwares or the platforms of the operation, but it looks like promising. Personally that was the games of the adventure of LucasArts delay to much period to him a return, he thinks for the confirmation indifferently, of that, that is played they, with the relative letter of the lateral jump and latta advanced one of humor."

Re:I enjoy it more through Multibabel.

[Anonymous Coward]

if that isn't the most blatant example of karma whoring...

Hope they re-release the original

[Kismet]

At least so it can run, with sound, on a modern PC.

It's like if Lucas were to release his next installment of Star Wars in the year 2050, when nobody has the equipment to view the originals anymore.

Re:Hope they re-release the original

[ChiPHeaD23]

OR you could get your ass to this page, download the binary for your favorite OS and play it now. With sound.

Re:Hope they re-release the original

[rnx]

Best would be if they just integrated it in the sequel somehow
like they did with Manic Mansion.
They could keep on doing this for every release ... now that would be neat.

Not to rant but..

[interstellar_donkey]

Ok, just to rant just a little...

Sam and Max was a great game. I'm looking foward to the sequel. Sam and Max, in fact, was a great game, orgininal, funny, and just overall fun to play.

And it wasn't a sequel to anything.

Which makes me wonder; Are there any new games that are orgininal, funny, unique, that are worth playing? To read sites like Slashdot (or others), one would assume not, that the only games of note being realased are either

a: A sequel to a popular game
b: A new game based on a popular graphics engine
c: A new game being released on linux.

Don't get me wrong, it's always nice to hear about a release based on the above three things. But what about a new game that nobody's heard of before that's really, really good?

Do they not exist, or are most popular websites either uninformed of them or decide not to publish them. As it stands, the only ways you can find out of there is a good new game that you've never heard of is to:

a: Be impressed at the software store by the shiney box, plunk down $50 for something that may end up sucking
b: Read the game review websites and magizines, which seem to be staffed by, and cater too 12 year old boys
c: Hopefully hear from a freind through word of mouth about a game.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking slashdot. It's not really in their scope (or in my expectation) that they tell me about the next new, hot thing in gaming. But does anyone out there know of a place to find this out? I mean, a place smart enough to distinguish the next Sam and Max from the crap?

Re:Not to rant but..

[Jucius Maximus]

"Don't get me wrong, it's always nice to hear about a release based on the above three things. But what about a new game that nobody's heard of before that's really, really good?"

I suggest you go look a game called "Arx Fatailis" and download the demo. It has an Ultima Underworld kind of feel and it is a breath of fresh air.

As to the lack of 'new stuff' I blame that on the demise of Looking Glass Studios. The people from LGS were always injecting something unexpected and original into the gaming market. All the way back to the Ultima Underworlds and System shock to Thief: The Dark Project and the very original System Shock 2, LGS always danced to their own beat. Too bad they had a bunch of financial problems appear at the same time. They were truly a giant among giants.

Re:Not to rant but..

[Banjonardo]

To the first list, add category

d. a game made by one of the "Game Gods" of old: Black and White by Molyneux, Sim games by Wright, new Id games, etc.

Re:Not to rant but..

[esper_child]

a lot of that group works for Ion Storm now. Warren Spector (Ultima Underworlds, System Shock, Deus Ex) is working on a Theif III, and a Deus Ex 2. They pretty much still play their own tune. Ion Storm was essenially 2 groups, one headed by Romaro and the other by Spector. Romaro's group was killed off (thank god for that, we didn't need another Diakatana out there) and Spector's still remains. Though I think they are trying to get a new name (or tried at one point). LGS may be gone, but a lot of that team is still making games, which is a good thing.
What I think is one of the biggest problems facing our computer games originality is the fact that the companies don't want to get an original game, they just want one that will sell a ton of copies. They play it safe in the market instead of taking risks and we wind up with the same crap over and over again. This is the way the system always winds up working. Heads of companies want to be greedy and instead of taking a risk that could net them a crap load of cash, they take the safe road that keeps their head in but nets them a smaller amount of cash. If the companies who pay the studios would take more risks we would have a better market for computer games, but they don't so we get stuck with repeats of the same games. This has been going on in most of the other industries for years, and the computer world is catching up with them. Same trend goes on with movies, music, tv shows, and even in camera lenses.
What we need are companies who are willing to take risks and try to create new and creative products instead of the drek that we are force fed regularly. If we could get that to happen then we might get out of this billion and one Quake clones, or the extremely repetative Dune clones. We need companies who aren't afraid of change and who are willing to take the bull by the horns and get something new and different out there. Companies shouldn't be afraid to make mistakes and screw up a few times, that is what the market is really there for. Unfortunately all these companies care about is money, and that is a shame. If they cared about the customer (not consumer) they could have a much more respected business image.

Re:Not to rant but..

[MoneyT]

Ambrosia (www.ambrosiasw.com) does a nice job at realeasing new and fresh titles. Yes they also have sequals (The EV series is one of the best game series out there) but they have some originals too. Unfortunately for all my PC lovin buddies, they're a mac only company.

Re:Not to rant but..

[kreyg]

Warren Spector (Ultima Underworlds, System Shock, Deus Ex) is working on a Theif III, and a Deus Ex 2

Given his complaint of sequilitis, I don't think that's going to make him feel any better at all. :-)

Re:Not to rant but..

[Fredpro]

That's because NEW and ORIGINAL games aren't popular news to report about. I mean, sequels get so much attention and so do games based on popular graphics engines BECAUSE we have evidence already that it was successful before, and thus is more likely to be successful in the future. Those types of games ALREADY have fans before they are even released.

New, Original games are GREAT, but they aren't newsworthy until release, because nobody really knows until then.

Re:Not to rant but..

[qute]

Maybe liquid war is something for you then?

It's fun, GPL, very hard to master and not like anything I've seen.

http://www.ufoot.org/liquidwar/

Maybe we should have an "Ask slashdot"?

Re:Not to rant but..

[FeloniousPunk]

Well, it's no longer new (over a year old), but in the vein of original and funny, and not a sequel to anything, is Ion Storm's Anachronox. In my opinion, it's the only game ever made that was as funny as Sam and Max, although it's a console-style RPG instead of an adventure game. One cut scene in particular made me laugh so hard I cried.
Sadly, that team (Tom Hall's) went under after the game was released. It would be nice to see more gaming goodness spring from the demented minds that made that game.
It wouldn't necessarily have to be an Anachronox sequel, either ;).
The most reliable place for finding out about the good games out there is the Usenet, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.* - aside from that there's http://www.GoneGold.com, http://www.Quartertothree.com, and Adrenaline Vault (http://www.avault.com).

Re:Not to rant but..

[gl4ss]

moonbase is the most original game i've seen in a looooong time. sort of mixing scorched earth and full metal planet or something...

Re:Not to rant but..

[Big Sean O]

"[Sam and Max] wasn't a sequel to anything."

As a game, true enough. But technically, Sam and Max were a comic book first (and a very funny one).

My fave quote from the Comic Book: "I'm Buck Nekkid, Texas Ranger!"

Re:Not to rant but..

[Kvan]

But what about a new game that nobody's heard of before that's really, really good?

Syberia might fit your description: an adventure game after the manner of The Longest Journey, it's an excellent story with a wonderful and varied cast of persons and locations.

Re:Not to rant but..

[hrm]

Penny Arcade is a good place to keep up with all things gaming. The site's updated three times a week, which each update being a news story (very well written) and a comic strip (very well drawn, and often as not damn funny).

It's not a traditional gaming magazine that covers everything new, rather they talk about which games interest them at the moment. I've a feeling that very few games of interest slip by them. The game "rez" that is mentioned in this thread as an example of a great original game is also a favorite of the PA guys.

As an example of their kind of humor, everyone on slashdot who spells Microsoft as Micro$oft should take a look at this penny-arcade comic and briefly consider if whether Gabe has a point!

Re:Not to rant but..

[BurtCrep]

Hmmm, very good point. What I'm hearing from the above is that for all of us who grew up playing games on Commodore64 or TRS-80 in the high-school years, later went on to college and bought our first PC, witnessed myriads of great original games such as the ones mentioned above, also witnessed the gaming industry becoming monstruously big, there are a few facts to consider:

1- We are now in our thirties and have learned to demand a little bit more out of life's experiences

2- We still like playing games. Sorry, can't grow out of it...

But, no matter what technological advances there has been lately, it is still very difficult to find quality in a game. Personally, I'm not as impressed by cool graphics as with a good storyline. I don't care if the game spits out 10 zillion polygons per second and will require the latest and greatest Matrox/ATI/NVidia hardware to run it. No, this is what I want in a game:

1- A entertaining plot. A game to me is entertainment much like a movie or a book, and I refuse to be entertained by gung-ho Joe going in to kill every monster and retrieve a precious access key so he can move on to the next level and do the same.

2- A realistic environment. I know it makes for good adrenaline to enter an arena alone against hundreds of villains and decimate them, but it doesn't work for me anymore, hasn't in a long time.

Now I know there are games out there that fit that description nicely. I just wish there were more...

I must think that I'm not alone feeling like this, yes?

Re:Not to rant but..

[festers]

As an example of their kind of humor, everyone on slashdot who spells Microsoft as Micro$oft should take a look at this penny-arcade comic [penny-arcade.com] and briefly consider if whether Gabe has a point!

Actually, that comic is pretty unfunny. Using a tired, worn-out cliche to critique a tired, worn-out cliche is rather pathetic.

Re:Not to rant but..

[Sunnan]

Yeah, and also:

While calling it Micro$oft is boring now, it did help in making microsoft-hate commonplace.

Childish, true, but we've all been children.

Re:Not to rant but..

[FurryFeet]

Try The Longest Journey . Beautiful graphics, interesting story, 2D adventure game. Unfortunately, it didn't sell well, so don't expect any sequels. It's more of an experience than a game, up there with Grim Fandango.
Really, really worth a shot.

Re:Not to rant but..

[matthewcraig]

Game was ok, but it is hardly a new game, as it was released March 2000.

Download has an (original) demo

[Fritz Benwalla]

Download.com still has a PC demo of the original available here:

http://download.com.com/3000-2099-857427.html?tag= lst-0-1

**** Dr. Bellows ****
Funk/Soul/Jazz
drbellows.net
for gigs, music & more

What about the OTHER new Sam & Max game...

[X_Caffeine]

... by Infinite Machine, and is apparently coming out on PC AND X-box? Is Lucasarts Publishing this for Infinite, or is this a completely different project...?

Re:What about the OTHER new Sam & Max game...

[rei_slashdot]

infinite machine is bankrupt. no game coming out from them. page is full of tumbleweeds.

Re:What about the OTHER new Sam & Max game...

[lahosken]

I worked at Infinite Machine. The company is gone. And before it was gone, we couldn't interest any publishers in our Sam and Max game. (It's good to see that Lucas finally got their priorities straight :)

second time around?

[tux-sucks]

Many of the greats of LucasArts that made that company such a gem have moved on. Could the trademark humour, wit, story, and organic puzzelry of those classic adventure games (in particular of course, sam and max) ever be the same again? Yes, Steve Purcell will (hopefully) be working closely on this new edition, but I have this feeling it just might not be the same, just as the new star wars games could never hope to live up to the clasic x-wing, rebel assualt or dark forces. Hopefully, they can turn things around.

Dark Forces Cameo

[Cyno01]

anybody remember dark forces?, yeah, the Jedi Knights prequil, Max's head ahd a cameo there, on one of the maps, th icy one, dont remember if it was hoth, if u looked at the map (tab) one room was shaped like Max's head

Re:Dark Forces Cameo

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't remember the head shaped room thing, but there was an actual (full human sized) Max you could find on one of the maps. If you took the time to lead him back, he would follow you around and kill bad guys with a stormtrooper rifle. :)

Re:Dark Forces Cameo

[Masem]

Ever since the release of S&M, nearly every LucasArts game (both adventure and action) have had some easter egg in the form of Max's head being present. The Dark Forces map one is common, but it's been reported to find Max in Full Throttle, MI3, Grim, and others. A quick web search has a good listing here of other LA in-game jokes and easter eggs.

Re:Dark Forces Cameo

[IxnayOnTheIxnay]

I don't remember the head shaped room thing, but there was an actual (full human sized) Max you could find on one of the maps. If you took the time to lead him back, he would follow you around and kill bad guys with a stormtrooper rifle. :)

I believe that was in DF2:JK. In the original DF, the icy level had a secret room right at the beginning you had to squat to get into. The room itself was round, but on the map, it was shaped like Max's head. And one of the cheat codes (forget which) would color it in, face and all.

SHARE THOSE TAPES!!

[Cyno01]

damnit, get a capture card and put those episodes on kazaa, go, now

Max

[finny]

Is it just me or do talking rabbits creep anybody else out after seeing Donnie Darko?

I can only hope I still feel the same way Harvey and Bugs!

Full Throttle 2 huh?

[jayhawk88]

Nice. Just remember, "You don't want to do that to Mo's mailbox."

damn

[(startx)]

thanks slashdot, I've been trying to get the original on ebay for the last couple months now. This asures me of not finding a copy for under the original face value for a few more months to come now!

Re:damn

[Jucius Maximus]

"thanks slashdot, I've been trying to get the original on ebay for the last couple months now. This asures me of not finding a copy for under the original face value for a few more months to come now!"

You should look for "The Lucasarts Archives Volume III" which sometimes still appears in retail stores. It comes with a bunch of LEC games including MI1 and MI2. But there's no way in heck I'm gonna sell you my original boxed Monkey Island 2 with original code wheel on 5.25" floppies ;-)

Slightly Off-Topic: Grim Fandango

[Batlord]

For those of you (and unfortunately, there were many) who overlooked Grim Fandango, I strongly suggest fishing it out of the bargain bin and giving it a chance.

It's one of the most well-designed games of all time. The puzzles are very inventive and the characters are actually engaging.

It's the only video game that I've played that has an any emotional depth in the traditional sense. Granted "wow, I just carjacked a cop, that's so cool" is an emotional response, but Grim Fandango is different.

Re:Slightly Off-Topic: Grim Fandango

[Jucius Maximus]

"It's one of the most well-designed games of all time. The puzzles are very inventive and the characters are actually engaging."

Well I have played the GrimFD demo ... do you know if there's any way to turn off that silly console-style joystick type navigation? That is also the reason I did not get Monkey Island 4.

Re:Slightly Off-Topic: Grim Fandango

[Jugalator]

I agree - I found Grim Fandango far more enjoyable than Monkey Island 4 for example. It's an original game with a lot of personality and extremely well done overall. I don't think a game I've ever played have had such a pleasant finale even if you knew all along how the game would end.

The noticeable film noir style makes this game a truly unique masterpiece that no fan of any of LucasArts adventure games should miss.

Too bad the genre LucasArts are putting the least effort at is adventure games - the genre I think they do the best job at. There's litterally no competition in the area and I'd like to see this genre reinvented like what happened to CRPG's.

Re:Slightly Off-Topic: Grim Fandango

[geekster]

No there isn't.

This was the game that started the whole 3D console navigation adventure thing. I love Grim Fandango, but damn those controls

Re:Slightly Off-Topic: Grim Fandango

[Anonymous Coward]

FYI, this can readily be had at most Best Buy locations (at least around me) for only $10. Highly recommended!

Re:Slightly Off-Topic: Grim Fandango

[Anonymous Coward]

If you liked Grim Fandango try Discworld Noir.

Grim Fandango

[tealover]

Did Lucas Arts make that game? Man, I thought that game was awesome. Very funny with nice gameplay. That type of game just doesn't get made anymore. It's sort of gone the way of the CD-ROM games (remember them ?)

It's a shame because I think the videogame industry is heading towards a crash soon. There is no diversity in games these days. Videogames have been too corporatized. It's beyond the point where a couple of guys can make a game on their own and as a result, you have executives making decisions about which games get released.

I hope this game is good because I'd like to see a resurgance of these type of games.

Way to go Lucas Arts !!

Re:"no other operating systems or platforms mentio

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are Europeans so far behind American and Japan in technology?

Steve Purcell ?

[Dix Flatline]

Does anyone know if the original comic book creator Steve Purcell will be involved in this one ?

He was involved in the first one, and even did the animations. If I'm not mistaken, he did a bunch of animations for Lucasarts adventure games, including Monkey Island 1 and 2.

If he doesn't participate, it'll hardly be worth anything.

He's cute Sam...

[Tarantismic Yak]

...Can I make a tennis raquet out of him? This is about the most uplifting gaming news I've had in a long time! ~-o0.\--/.0o-~ \ )( / "I'm sick you STUPID FARMER!! (__) I'm burning up with FEVER!!"

Will it be THIS sequel??

[spoco2]

I was reading not long ago about a Sam and Max game that was slated for release on the X-Box, it was being developed by 'Infinite Machine', however their website hasn't been working for a long time, so perhaps they've gone under. In any case there was this article on ign about it, and this page about it on the unofficial website.

So is this game THIS game, or some other, completely unrelated Sam and Max game.

I'm betting that it's using work done on THAT game and expanding on it for this title.

In any case, I can't wait, I love the duo.

Re:You can. I have. It rules!

[zsazsa]

ScummVM also lets linux people run their old Lucasarts games on their boxes as well.

For me, though, the killer app is using ScummVM to run them on my Sharp Zaurus (the resolution is perfect for the old DOS games, too: 320x240 pixels when held sideways.) There are also ports for PocketPC and iPaq's Linux.

There's also a Dreamcast port, but I haven't tried that (yet!)

full throttle had the best soundtrack

[AssFace]

I was like a van halen wannabe - loved it.

Jedi Outcast one of the best Star Wars games ever.

[Brian_Ellenberger]

I have to agree with you on the Lucasarts thing. Maniac Mansion was one of my first computer games and one of the games that got me hooked on computers in the first place. And I loved the early Star Wars games like XWing and Tie Fighter.

My opinion is they dumbed down their games too much. Instead of simulators like XWing they came out with a bunch of dumb arcade crap. I feel like puking every time I see those Star Wars Mortal Kombat ripoffs.

However one exception is the reciently released Jedi Outcast. It is incredible! The lightsaber control and force powers all make you feel like you are a Jedi in the movies. Nothing like running into a room filled with Stormtroopers, defecting their shots, and cutting them all down. :) The story is pretty good as well.

The problem for Lucasarts is that adventures don't sell nowadays. Even the best ones. Grim Fandango was a financial failure. But I guess with all the money Lucas is making from Episode 3 he can afford a loss here or there.

Brian Ellenberger

Sig says it all...

[carambola5]

Gosh I love those guys.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time"

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you regret it later?

Re:"It seemed like a good idea at the time"

[Anonymous Coward]

why would they?

its an awesome album and they have two others

So JK2 meant nothing then?

[ramoth4]

Is that all we macs users are now George? Just people you can mess around with? Only good enough for a one-game stand? It's cruel to mess with our minds like that! I thought LA was back! Making awesome games for my wonderful Mac again! What happened, guys?! Gosh darn, where are my pills...

When??

[3ryon]

It's due first quarter 2004

This is the Video Game Industry's way of saying, "We haven't actually started yet."

Jedi Outcast wasn't a LucasArts game...

[EvilFrog]

Jedi Outcast was made by Raven Software, not LucasArts. LucasArts just published it.

Re:Jedi Outcast wasn't a LucasArts game...

[PaganRitual]

and whats even more interesting than that, was that it sucked incredibly badly. its gotta be up there in the top 10 'worst designed games ever' and i dont care for anyones star wars fanboy 'JEDI OUTCAST ROCKS' shite, the game was POO, no matter which way you look at it. it broke just about every 'game design no-no's there is. but yes, it sold in bucket loads (probably) and got mega high review marks everywhere, just because its star wars ... its almost as bad as that 3D RTS star wars game from a year or two ago. hmmm, okay, well, even ill admit thats being a little harsh to JK2 ...

Re:Jedi Outcast wasn't a LucasArts game...

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? What "game design no-nos" did it break? I didn't notice anything horribly wrong or badly designed (except for that "stealth" section... God that was out of place. Why weren't there these magical "push once to instantly capture that guy that's single handedly destroying The Remnant" alarm buttons any where else?).

I played it and, while I'm not a big fan of Star Wars FPS (the SW games like TIE Fighter are decent IMHO), I liked JK2 a lot. Maybe not the best game of all time, but definitely one of the better games this year.

Re:Jedi Outcast wasn't a LucasArts game...

[PaganRitual]

my earlier comments on jk2

Re:Jedi Outcast wasn't a LucasArts game...

[Anonymous Coward]

- horrible level design in places ... instant-flame-death-reload anyone? (thats assuming you bothered to finish it) ... and endless basic square style rooms filled with crates (oldmanmurray.com would have a heart attack)Yeah, there were a few of those places in the game, and they sucked. On the other hand, there were at least as many fun, well-designed levels. But I don't think a couple of stupid level designs makes the whole game crap.

- overall bad game design (you can take on the entire empire singlehandedly for 90% of the time, but for one small section of the game, if someone gets to trigger off an alarm, its game over because you are suddenly 'outnumbered' ... wrong, wrong, WRONG) ... and dependency on AI elements staying alive when the retards are under attack from a two legged walker, and only have explosive boxes to hide behind, which they are oblivious to ... no, no, NO I agree. I hate FPS that feel the need to stick in a "stealth" level somewhere, even if it makes NO sense whatsoever. But again, one or two stupidly designed areas don't make the entire game bad. If that was the case, then Half Life sucked because of the stupid teleporter puzzle and the endless running around in vents.

- woefully innacurrate weapons (the first few levels where you only had the auto-blaster/whatever were suicide-inducing) I didn't think it was that bad. Not much worse than any other game I've played, at least. If you were expecting rail guns, you picked the wrong game.

- crap saber-on-saber combat that involved nothing more than whacking on the force speed power and then frantically hacking away Huh? Maybe on single player. Saber combat is best in multiplayer. There it actually takes some skill to beat your opponent, rather than speeding your way past the AI. Frantically hacking away isn't the best strategy in single player, and is suicidal in multiplayer. Practice in a good dueling server for a little while, then tell me what you think about the saber system.

- and ridiculously powerful boss enemies ... you try and beat them for 45 mins straight then give up and resort to alternate ways of taking them out ... Every game I've played has had ridiculously powerful bosses. And they generlly have some trick to beating them easily. JK2 is no different. On the girl boss, using force speed is about the only trick to winning. On the admiral-robot guy, hit him with energy weapons (or explosives, I can't remember which) until his shield goes down, then shoot off the shield generator on his backpack. On the final end boss, there's the invincibility device to use. You can also throw off his AI by jumping down and pushing him immediately; for some reason this keeps him from using his uber-force powers.

Thanks for the link...

[IcerLeaf]

... it's real *fweeeep* educational. :-)

Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

We should be drawing more attention to demonstrations that the opponents of the RIAA are all criminal teenagers. Excellent.

I mean, it's not like anyone visits the RIAA website or anything - it did them no appreciable damage whatsoever. The only thing this stunt did is strengthen the RIAA's cause. Good job!

Sam and Max

[Jakyll]

I hope they do as well as they did with Monkey Island 4 - I loved all of the LucasArts games... I'm sure new titles would be great, but I would really love to revisit Sam and Max, Maniac Mansion, LOOM, Grim, and all the rest

Mini-reviews DoT, S&M and the Dig

[Codeala]

Other great LucasArts games from around that time:

Day of the Tentacle
Sam & Max Hit the Road
The Dig
Full Throttle

Both "Day of the Tentacle" and "Sam & Max Hit the Road" first came out in floppies (yes floppies kids!) with CD-ROM versions with full voices a few years later.

DoT features characters from the original Maniac Mansion game from the 80s (which also spawned a short-lived TV show in the 90s, one of the joke in the game is about the characters not getting royalties from the show ;-). A not so secret bonus in the game is that you can play the original MM by using one of the computer in the mansion!

S&M probably got the strangest story line in any game, EVER. It got a talking dog and rabbit, bigfoots and giraffe-neck girl, circuit freaks and country-singer. And it all make senses in the end!

S&M also features some cool mini-games like the "whack-a-mole" (or rabbit :-) and "dress up paper dolls", the latter one is also used for copy protection in the original floppy version! The game contains at least one song that is even funnier when actually sang by the voice actors.

Both "Full Throttle" and "The Dig" came out in CD only version.

The Dig is probably one of the most overlooked game from the company. While not as good as the others (slower pacing, may hard logical-type puzzles that are not very well integrated into the story), it is unique in that it has a serious storyline with a lot less jokes and gigs than the others. The art direction is a lot more realistic than even darker game like Full Throttle.

The game is about a big asteroid that is going to hit Earth and a team of astronauts is going to set off a bomb to "deflect" it. And that was back in 1995 before films like "Armageddon"! It got some amazing (for the time) pre-rendered 3d cut scenes and probably the first LucasArts game to have a "celebrity" voice actor - Robert Patrick from T2 and later X-Files. He did a good job.

Full Throttle features the now familiar "full screen" game mode. No more list of verbs or icons on screen. When you right click on the objects/persons a context sensitive menu (in the form of a coin) popup. This provides a very cinematic feel of a good action movie.

The game also features a rock theme song (music & lyrics), a mix of 3d objects (vehicles, rotating signs, etc) and 2d backgrounds. FT is also the first LucasArts game to have action sequence (that highway game in S&M doesn't count ;-). There was quite a debug about that at the time.

=-=-=

Oh yeah, as joked about in Curse of the Monkey Island, you can't die in a LucasArts Adventure game!

=-=-=

Ahh the memories. Until I start typing this, I didn't even know that I still remember so much about all these games. It is a sure sign that these are classics, are will remain so in my mind forever. Thanks LucasArts, and here is to more good adventures games in the future.

Re:Mini-reviews DoT, S&M and the Dig

[esper_child]

what about in Maniac Mansion? do you remember the little gravestones you get? get 3 of them and you lose, even though you can wind up with 3 gravestones and one live person wandering around (2 graves for same person and one of someone else). Though to the best of my knowlage that is the only one that death of character occurs (in game atleast, Grim Fandango (possibly my favorite Lucas Arts game) doesn't count as you are already dead). The Dig is another one of my favorite games (just below DooM and above Quake I). Loom is probly one of the more inovative ones, magic through music was pretty cool.

Re:Mini-reviews DoT, S&M and the Dig

[Frohboy]

It got some amazing (for the time) pre-rendered 3d cut scenes and probably the first LucasArts game to have a "celebrity" voice actor - Robert Patrick from T2 and later X-Files. He did a good job.

I guess it doesn't really count, but Day of the Tentacle did feature the voice of Richard Sanders (Les Nessman from "WKRP in Cincinnati"). If I recall correctly, he played the voice of Bernard. I remember being surprised at the time that I actually recognized the voice (as WKRP was in syndication in my area.)

Re:Mini-reviews DoT, S&M and the Dig

[Brian_Ellenberger]

>S&M also features some cool mini-games like >the "whack-a-mole"

I can't figure out whether you are talking about a game or an "alternative lifestyle".

Re:Mini-reviews DoT, S&M and the Dig

[Masem]

One quick note on The Dig: Orsen Scott Card ("Ender's Game" fame) helped with the plot and dialog, and also wrote a mini-novelization of the game plot.

Re:Mini-reviews DoT, S&M and the Dig

[stickb0y]

The Dig is probably one of the most overlooked game from the company. [...] The art direction is a lot more realistic than even darker game like Full Throttle.

I liked The Dig, but the art direction IMO was schizophrenic. I think the various hiccups that occured during the game's development probably contributed to that. My main complaint about the game was that the cut-scenes were in a cartoonish style (similar to LucasArts' other games) that was totally contrary to how the rest of the game looked.

Re:Mini-reviews DoT, S&M and the Dig

[meringuoid]

I'll just add to all the other people saying how you can die in LucasArts games... Maniac Mansion (from before the No-Death policy) - drown in the pool - radiation poisoning if you microwave water from the pool - murdered by Weird Ed if you give him the Exploded Bits of Hamster - murdered by Weird Ed if you give him the publishing offer for Purple Tentacle's manuscript - murdered by Green Tentacle if you give him a publishing offer for anything other than the Sushi Platter demo tape - cause a nuclear meltdown (in several ways) - waste the essential Paint Remover (no-win situation) - launch the Weird Edsel without the Evil Purple Meteor (no-win) - waste the coins when steering the Really Powerful Telescope (again, no-win) Monkey Island 1: let Guybrush stay underwater for over ten minutes. Fate of Atlantis: there are various ways of getting killed by Nazis. Whew...

Re:Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

We might have gotten some discussion out of it, instead of masturbating over how great it is going to be to put another $20 in George Lucas's pocket.

Oh my god.

[Fortyseven]

Holy shit. I almost had a fucking heart-attack. I had to check the date, because this is exactly what I expect to see on April 1st. Oh this is wonderful.

Just don't make it 3D.

WOOHOO!

[mrseigen]

I'm just so glad that LucasArts actually decided to listen to the squadrons of the hardcore asking for an adventure game and ceased the flow of Star Wars shooters. They were beginning to get old. :) I hope this one is in 2D!

Re:Jedi Outcast one of the best Star Wars games ev

[Banjonardo]

everyone mentions their first lucasarts games.........What about the best, bar none?

The Secret of Monkey Island, of course.

quest for glory

[sidspencer]

lucasarts games always seemed heavy-handed to me, much like lucas's awful film directing. i suggest sierra's excellent (and subtly satyrical) quest for glory series instead. the first three are classics, the final two solid. they're the only reason i still own an x86.

-s

Re:quest for glory

[SuiteSisterMary]

Quest for Glory 3: Finest. Adventure. Ever.

It's by the Gone Jackals

[graffitiboy]

The music in Full Throttle was done by a group called the Gone Jackals, and they don't have a website that I can find, but you CAN find their cd's on your favorite jungle-themed retailer or your favorite auction-owned subsidiary

Re:It's by the Gone Jackals

[sconest]

How about this ?

You CAN die in a LucasArts adventure game...

[kisielk]

In fact, that games is The Curse of Monkey Island. If your character steps off the dock in the town and falls in the water, his face will begin to turn ever-darker shades of blue. If you remain under water for around 10 minutes, you will die. Of course, this doesn't really happen in regular gameplay, but I discovered it when I didn't bother to pause my game when going for dinner.

Re:You CAN die in a LucasArts adventure game...

[Anonymous Coward]

Once I keyed in the wrong exit visa code in Zak McKraken and got hauled off to 'jail' (in Nepal no less). It was bad for my karma.

Re:You CAN die in a LucasArts adventure game...

[beruche]

In Zak McKracken, if you failed the copy protection, you ended up in a jail in Katmandu. Game was basically over. Same game, you could also lose characters if you take their helmets off on Mars. Was playing it through earlier today and thought I had turned the oxygen producer on.

Still my vote for favorite Lucasarts game, though. Classic. Pity I can't find the 256 color version.

Re:You CAN die in a LucasArts adventure game...

[stickb0y]

I don't recall there being an area in Curse of Monkey Island for this, but it was certainly in the original The Secret of Monkey Island. Even after you're dead, you still can command Guybrush to--uh--bob and float.

(If this seems totally random, in the beginning of the game, when Guybrush meets the pirate leaders, he lists being able to hold his breath for ten minutes as one of his skills.)

My favorite LucasArts anti-death joke is the rubber tree gag. (Also from The Secret of Monkey Island.)

Re:You CAN die in a LucasArts adventure game...

[Anonymous Cow herd]

Actually, the rubber tree and the holding his breath for 10 minutes is are something of a running gag, I know the rubber tree played a key role in MI3, and holding his breath boast has been in every game :-)

Oh no! No more 3D!

[EnsilZah]

Is this going to follow this trend of 3D adventure games ? Those just make me sick! Adventure games were never meant to be 3D, I didn't like Monkey Island 4 nor Simon 3 and i'm certainly not going to like Sam&Max or Full Throttle if they are 3D. I've bought 7 of Lucas Arts' adventure games and if this continues i'm certainly not going to buy anymore.

If its headed to PC, then prolly to PORTBox too..

[Viewsonic]

Gratz MS on another port to the pile of other useless games diluding that terrible console.

me = happy

[twifkak]

OK, now would be a good time for me to make a deposit at a sperm bank. Gwar! Waiting 'til 2k4. At least there's Psychonauts. And Broken Sword.

Yay

[rat7307]

We finally get the chance to kick some more puffy white mad scientist butt!!!

Man, I love that game

MI 3 & 4 and DirectX

[aok]

I just ordered Monkey Island 3 and 4 for my sister
for her birthday coming up. But when I tried the demo, it complained that I didn't have DirectX installed. I have DirectX 8.1 installed. I was wondering if anyone has those games and know that it will run fine with DX8 so I don't have to install DX5 that the CD comes with.

Thanks!

Monkey 4, Grim Fandango

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope they will gretly improve the gameplay if they are using the same engine.

Re:You can. I have. It rules!

[llin]

For those reliving the glory days, also check out VDMSound, a software MPU-401 emulator for NT-based systems. In Windows 2000, this was all I needed to play Monkey Island 1 & 2 in theif full MIDI glory. Although the AA does sound way cool...

why god???

[thedarkness1111]

Although the thought of a sequel to Sam & Max does get me excited, I cant help but getting this sinking feeling in my gut when I remember Lucasart's last debauchery *cough* Monkey Islnd 4 *cough*, the worst adventure game I have ever played, I felt like crying when I finished that piece of garbage, and I get depressed at how much talant they are lacking to re-do such a classic as Sam & Max.

For those who don't know

[iankerickson]

The Sam & Max adventure game was based on a comic book entitled "Sam & Max: Freelance Police". They basically roamed the world, pretending to be police officers/P.I.s and solving whatever crimes they stumbled on. Usually with violence.

I was (un)lucky enough to find a color issue of Sam & Max in the bargain bin of a comic book store while looking for back issues of Grendel, The Elementals, and Groo the Wanderer. I think I paid $4. It's the most dangerously funny posession I own. I keep it safely packed away out of sight, because I can't read the damn thing without laughing so hard it brings tears to my eyes.

The comic was drawn pictures first, and then the dialog was made up after the fact. Kind of like Mad-Libs, or the heckling on MST3K. If you like the Simpsons, you might like Sam and Max. Groo the Wanderer is good too, but it's funny the way Mad magazine or Cracked is funny (or isn't) -- mostly corny jokes.

Compare for yourselves:
---
Groo: "I'm hungy. Aha! Groo smells smoke! Where there's smoke, there's fire. Or a village! Or a village on fire!!"

---
Grateful Stewardess: "Thank you for saving our plane! How can we ever repay you?"

Max: "JUST GIMME ALL THE NAKED WOMEN MY POOR EYES CAN STAND!!"

Sam: "Easy, Max. You don't even like girls."
---

Luckless Villager: "Who be you?"

Groo: "I be Groo."

LV: (aside) "We are doomed..."

---
Max: (a naked, yet fuzzy Max produces a 9mm pistol from thin air)

Sam: "Where'd you get that gun, little buddy?"

Max: (grinning) "None of your god-damned business, Sam. Tee-hee."

---

So if you liked the game, you might be able to scare up a copy of the comic book and see where it all came from. I don't there were ever many issues released, maybe less than ten. I get the impression they're fairly rare, unless they've gone into reprints since then.

Don't disappoint us, please!

[cra]

I too really hope the sequel will be made in 2D. Last time I experienced a jump from 2D to 3D was with Deuce Nukem, and I was SO disappointed when the 2D platform game was turned into just another Doom clone. :-( As has been stated; the 2D cartoon feel is what makes these games great!

Anyawy, just my $.02

Re:Don't disappoint us, please!

[falkor]

When it comes out, I will buy it; if it comes in 2D, I'll be the first one to run to store! I was disapointed with Monkey Island IV, because they tried to change it more to 3D. For it to become a truely great sequel to 'Sam'n Max:hit the road', it has to continue in good old 2D, otherwise it just would not be the same.

I don't think it will be usable in Scum at the time of release or anytime near that. Lucas Arts are already quite annoyed with the people behind Scum, legal issues of some kind (but you guys are brilliant!).

In any case, I will buy it; I have been waiting for it since 1995! Pitty they don't make many games like this; FPS and RPGs are alright, but in my opinion they will never beat 2D adventure games like Sam 'n Max and Day of the Tentacle..

Now there's hope!

[wunne]

A little off-topic, but is there a perspective for something like the old Maniac Mansion adventure? No, not a sequel, just a graphics adventure where you dont have mindboggling visuals but a real possibility to try out what you want, not just one linear way of playing...

Or are there OpenSource developers who are trying to start such a project?

Ambrodia ports to Windows

[Saint Fnordius]

There are some products that are available for Windows such as Pillars of Garendall, and others like Escape Velocity Nova are being ported by 3rd party companies (in this case Contraband Entertainment).

The unique thing about Ambrosia is that they've managed to survive for so long despite being a Mac-only shareware company. The quality of their games is better the a lot of standard offerings out there, and the openness of their architeture encourages fan-created mods and add-on scenarios. I just wish there were more companies like them out there.

Oy! ... Aye!... .... .... ....

[PARENA]

This is even better than sex!

WTF!

[Negatyfus]

WTF! Sam+Max are back? If the feel remains the same and it looks like a game such as Stupid Invaders it is a must-have!

And I never even played Full Throttle. :( Anybody have a copy lying around that needs reselling?

There's 'Rez'...

[Anonymous Coward]

There still are some excellent and original games. One shining example is 'Rez' for the PlayStation 2. I suppose you could call it a shoot-em-up, but that's like calling Elite a space trader. This is a completely trip-like experience and one of the rare truly original games I've seen in the last few years. Check out the IGN review.

(Sorry for being an anonymous coward, but I'm not a slashdot regular.)

LucasArts top 5...

[Smid]

Ah, the days before Lucasart became the whore of George Lucas's Star Wars merchandising empire.

1) Day of the Tentacle, amazing, illogical, and the jokes are like a decent saturday morning cartoon.
2) Monkey Island II (that twist at the end, though hinted in 1st, works best if you play II before I)
3) Monkey Island I (what can you say?)
4) Grim Fandango (hugely underrated)
5) Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (adventure)

(a search for "monkey island fanpage" on google turns up a huge amount of german fanpages, btw).

Never rated Sam and Max, mainly because I read the comics for a long time before, and saw it as a cheap unfunny version of the humour. Full Throttle was ok, but a bit like a bad B-movie.

Later MI games suffered from the lack of Ron Gilbert, and a bit like a sequel which doesn't involve original creator...

I'd guess adventure games don't sell anymore, unless they're call Myst and pre-rendered. Thats why LucasArts churned out so much mindless stuff in recent years...

Longevity...

[Mascot]

Full Throttle was kickass, indeed. Too bad it was all over in a single very very short evening.. Unless the next one has a bit more value for money (if it costs 5 times what a movie costs, it damn well better last me longer than one) or I ain't gonna buy it :/

Some corrections

[EvilDonut]

Both "Day of the Tentacle" and "Sam & Max Hit the Road" first came out in floppies (yes floppies kids!) with CD-ROM versions with full voices a few years later.

Years? Try months, my friend. The Talkie-versions of DOTT (not DoT) and Sam & Max were released no later than 6 months after the floppy versions.

Also, Full Throttle was released before The Dig (1994 and 1995, respectively) and featured Mark Hamill (as in Luke Skywalker) in at least three parts, including the main villain.

Mac OS X version

[Pius II.]

of the engine of Sam & Max at http://scummvm.sourceforge.net .
It also plays DOTT, Indy 4, Monkey Island 1 & 2 and others (those are the ones I have).

What's up with sequelmania?

[Sunnan]

One of my favourite games ever is Grim Fandango. Original, clever and wonderful. I also love the original Sam & Max and Full Throttle and Monkey Island.

But why keep rehashing the past? Look forward, give us new stuff!

Tim Shafer, Ron Gilbert and the others of the golden era have left.

Yes, Sam and Max is Back...

[DarkHelmet]

... but does it use the Doom 3 Engine? :)

I'm excited!

[jimbolaya]

Who isn't?

Re:I'm excited!

[Supergrass]

Heh. I actually got that.

Re:I'm excited!

[jimbolaya]

Thank goodness somebody did! That's one of my favorite lines from Sam & Max, along with "Are you as confused as I am?" "More so!" and, of course, "Get bent."

Finaly!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been waiting for this... there are no decent new adventure games anymore. Hope they make a Linux version, and I might even buy it this time.

Sequal? What about the originals?

[smblion]

I think it's great that LucasArts is creating sequals to these games, but new gamers will have absolutely no idea what they're playing a sequal to. You cannot go back and play these games without building a computer specifically for the task, or using the SCUMM engine, which LucasArts is trying to sue out of existence.

While I look forward to these releases, the sad fact is this is a long time comming. It's just further evidence to me that someone making decisions at LucasArts just 'doesn't get it'. This seems like a move by a company struggling to release a good product. I'm sure they have no shortage of money with all their star wars releases, but they've been really letting their fans down in the last 5 or 6 years with BOATLOADS of crappy games all based on Star Wars, and nothing original at all.

I hope this move begins a new day at LucasArts, where they diversify their game line a bit, perhaps stop being so sue-happy, and maybe even write their own emulator to run their games in windows operating systems, so new gamers can learn why we all liked LucasArts so much in the past. I feel bad for anyone who hasn't had the chance to play The Dig, DOTT, Sam & Max, or Full Throttle, or any of the Monkey Island games.

Re:Sequal? What about the originals?

[Anonymous Coward]

Amen to that brother.
Luckily for me still have an original sound blaster 2.0 and an AWE32(the last hardeware SB compatible from CreativeLabs) AND several win95 disks lying around AND an 8x-cdrom that doesnt sound like a 747 taking off AND non-usb mice.
Phew, guess im ready to play DOTT now!

BTW did you know that the SBLive is roland compatible? Kewl sounds in sierra/dymanix games aplenty. For Lucasarts games its less of a pretty picture.

I still remember the guy who could bend spoons!

[RichMeatyTaste]

Tell me you remember the guy who bent spoons with his mind!

Tim Schafer will be missed on this one i think..

[dmouritsendk]

(first, this is old news people. I saw concept drawings of this @ E3)

Tim Schafer was the gamedesigner who was behind most of Lucasarts adventure games, sadly he left Lucasarts after making "Grim Fandango"(best game ever btw, no contest) to create his own company(Which havent created anything yet).

Anyone ever seen Tim and or read/hear him interviewed, know without a doubt that "Tim" is a nutty charecter.

The latest monkey island certainly was good, but it lacked the distinct nuttyness of Tim. Most of the funny-stuff in the last monkey, was actually "recycled" from the older games.

Tim came up with stuff like insult swordfighting, for the first title. In the second title, it was spitting contests and more. Plus he created a shiteload of memorable charecters.

In the newest one(who lacked tim), we have insult armwrestling. And most of the charecters are just taken from the first three titles.

With that said, Monkey 4 was great. "Moooonkey cooooombat" still cracks me up (the look like complete idiots when fighting/dancing with eachother), and certainly they still have alot of creative people @ lucasarts.

But, i played ALL lucasarts Adventures. From Tentacle and up, and Monkey4 defently lacked alot in the wackyness department.

I fear that Sam and Max without Tim is like Monty Phyton with out John Cleese. Which just wouldnt be right.

If you can't wait...

[docbrown42]

the "Sam & Max: Freelance Police" unofficial rpg is available here
And "Fudge: Full Throttle" rpg is available here

-Ed

docbrown.net NEW!
Graphic Design, Web Design, Role-Playing Games...all the good stuff

Dont forget...

[Anonymous Coward]

To all the people who say "wow, finally, Lucasarts are making adventures again".

I guess you missed monky island 4, wich came out about two years ago. Well that game sucked to high heaven. And monkey island 3 was already pretty bad compared to the flawless 1&2.

What im trying to say is, dont get your hopes up.

Their adventure games in full:

Maniac Mansion '87
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders '88
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade '89
Loom '90
The Secret of Monkey Island '90
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge '91
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis '92
(Maniac Mansion 2): Day of the Tentacle '93
Sam & Max: Hit the Road '93
Full Throttle '94
The Dig '95
The Curse of Monkey Island '97
Grim Fandango '98
Monkey Island 4 2000(?)

As you can see, its been downhill since '93 with the exception of Grim Fandango wich was pretty excellent apart from the horrible user interface.

And they did NOT fix the 3d-interface problems in Monkey4 two years later, so their 3d interface would, i fear, still stink in 2004.

(...While on the topic of user interfaces, did anyone really think their move from visible inventory/commands to full screen graphics in sam&max constituted an improvement? I know i didnt :-)...)

Where you can get the old games

[Ellen Spertus]

• The LucasArts Archives (Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis)
• Game Trader Zone (place to trade old/new games)

Re:Where you can get the old games

[Anonymous Coward]

Do the re-issues work in win98/XP with an SBLive out of the box, or is that left as an excersise for the reader?

Lame, but appropriate, joke alert!:
In some cases "Some assembly required" should read "Some Assembly required" eh? ...oh dear oh dear...:)

MEG Novel to be a videogame

[Jurrasic Shark]

http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=8705

3 words

[frunch]

DEATH FROM ABOVE!!!!

Geek Love....

[MojoRilla]

Sam and Max hit the road again. Score a major victory for geek love everywhere.

I have conned my wife into playing video games occasionally. She hated Diablo (too stressful when the monsters keep coming at her). She didn't understand Civ (oh, you created a city, isn't that nice). She liked the Sims but it was short lived (wow, this is way too much like real life).

The games she has always loved are LucasArts Adventures. She loved Day of the Tentacle (which featured you playing three different characters, time travel, evil tentacles, etc). She really loved Grim Fandango (a good 3d adventure, featuring a wonderful swing music soundtrack, and lots of funny puzzles as you travel through the art deco land of the dead). But probably her favorite was Sam and Max. The humor really did it for her.

Sam and Max is the only game that she not only played all the way through with me, but has asked about a sequel.

In these days of game cloning (how many first person shooters do we really need?), it is wonderful to see a clone of a game that my wife can love. Now if it only dispensed tuna flavored treats for my cat....

Re:You can. I have. It rules!

[TilJ]

Where can you get the Familiar (iPaq) port? It sounds like the *perfect* time-waster!

Screw you, LucasArts!

[Pope]

Dark Forces was one of the best FPS I've played. After they released Rebel Assault 2 for the Mac and it tanked (as it should have, everything I read about it made it sound like a horrible game), they said, "Duh, no more Mac games."

Well, here we are in 2002, and there's no friggin reason they shouldn't be making this for the Mac.

Feh, I think I'll go back to playing my N64, there are still a bunch of games I haven't played yet.

Sure is!

[nicestepauthor]

I bought Sam and Max to play on my 386, just to have something better to do with that box than throw it out. I played it on my 486 too, and when I put Linux on the 486 I made it a dual boot with DOS 5.0 so I could still play it. A couple of weeks ago I tried playing it on my Pentium under Linux using ScummVm--not perfect, but promising. Now there is as sequel coming out! Wonderful!

Sam and Max was a terrific, and very funny, game. It is the only game I never got bored with.

If they reissued the original modified to work under Windows 95 and later I'd buy that too.

Re:Sure is!

[JosefK]

If you have or can find the CD version, there's a patch (samcd.exe, IIRC) from LucasArts to allow it to play under Windows9x.

oh good lord!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

ah yes! this is some real news for us...thanks /. for pointing it out 8-)

Now...all I need is Grim Fandango 2 and my gaming
for next year is 100% planned! :-)

hoping for GC versions of all these titles too!

Anyone know how to install this from Floppy??

[FyRE666]

I bought this game way back when. Just dusted off my copy from the attic and wondered how to go about installing in on WinXP or Linux. I'm guessing the files are compressed and the installer would usually go about unpacking them, so how do I do it without DOS (no, I'm not about to blow away my HD to install DOS6 ;-)

Re:Anyone know how to install this from Floppy??

[FyRE666]

Never mind, I got a clue and looked at the files. Just a case of copying them off the floppy disks into a directory...

Re:You can. I have. It rules!

[gsfprez]

for the Mac OS X users out there..

http://www.lucasarts.com/companystore/archives1/

I see no reason why these games wouldn't play in Classic mode on Mac OS X - however, i'll have to update you later..

actually.. what's really funny is that these are the perfect games for a Blue Box window, instead of a full screen implimentation Classic.. that way, i could play the games in the corner of the screen and still see if i got email.

or.. maybe i'll just buy the PC versions and play them in a VirtPC window.. hmm... now i have no idea what to do. crap.

Re:"no other operating systems or platforms mentio

[Anonymous Coward]

What's wrong with the crack the moderators smoke these days? This was hardly a flamebait.

"Moderation is good when it's not exaggerated"

Ball Blazer

[RatBastard]

I want a good rebuild of Ball Blazer. That was my favorite Atari 8-Bit game of all time. There was a Ball Blazer 2000, but it was horrid. Too much energy wasted on eye candy.

Re:Ball Blazer

[wilfrid]

Ah, Arboster Kipling et al. That was indeed the coolest of all the Atari games. Funky jazz soundtrack aswell. Genius.

Trade Paperback Available

[BigJimSlade]

More info about the series can be found here. A trade paperback exists, but I don't know where you can find it.

Re:Tim Schafer will be missed on this one i think.

[ElusiveSpoon]

> (first, this is old news people. I saw concept drawings of this @ E3)

You're sure those weren't from the now defunct infinite machine who were recently working on a new Sam & Max title?

And Tim Shafer is now heading up his own game company, Double Fine Productions, which is working on the impressive Psychonauts, which is sadly only scheduled to be released for X-Box.

And did Shafer really work all that much on Sam & Max? For some reason I think his involvement was minimal (though I can't verify this). And as long as Purcell is involved, it should be great!

If it had worked, maybe.

[Thag]

It might have been a great game, if it had ever run properly on my computer.

As it was, the action scenes flat out didn't work, and eventually I got to a spot where I couldn't go any further.

LucasArts' games were not exactly the most reliable, or maybe it was just the state of the OS they were running on.

Jon Acheson

monkeysvsrobots.com has a great review of S&M

[zonker]

check out the review of the original sam and max (before the game!) at monkeysvsrobots.com

Re:Tim Schafer will be missed on this one i think.

[Phexro]

"I fear that Sam and Max without Tim is like Monty Phyton with out John Cleese."

Uh, you do know that John Cleese left Monty Python, right? He didn't appear in the 4th series at all.

Re:Tim Schafer will be missed on this one i think.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, and the 4th season suxord real hard. Seriosly, it made the last season of Seinfeld look like any other season of Seinfeld:)

sam and max-way too cool

[viksit]

guys, you have to admit that no matter what, s@m was one of the most engrossing games ever made by mr lucas and his "force" (forgive the pun) of people..

Re:You can. I have. It rules!

[zsazsa]

There's an .ipk on the ScummVM download site. http://scummvm.sourceforge.net/downloads.php
I don't know if it works with Famliar, but as long as you have SDL you're in business.

- Ian

Re:Tim Schafer will be missed on this one i think.

[dmouritsendk]

Yes, but dont you think he was missed? I dont think it was the same with out him, but thats just my oppinion =)