Slashdot Mirror
Steve Purcell On Sam & Max 2's Cancellation
An anonymous reader writes "Saw this newsbit on AdventureGamers.com - Steve Purcell, creator of Sam & Max, made the following statement in a letter to the LucasArts fansite Mixnmojo regarding LucasArts' cancellation of Sam & Max 2: 'LucasArts' sudden decision to stop production on Sam & Max is mystifying. Sam & Max was on schedule and coming together beautifully... It's a shame to think that the [dev team's] accomplishments, as well as the goodwill that has been growing in the gaming press toward this project, will all go to waste due to this shortsighted decision.' Check out the link for the full letter. There is also an interesting editorial posted on AdventureGamers.com as well." Is this cancellation a blow the commercially developed traditional graphic adventure can recover from?
Send your emails direct to LucasArts people.
Fight the good fight, else we may not see a decent AND funny adventure for a very very long time.
Robert Anton Wilson
I don't really want to start another "is PC gaming dying" thread, but I think that probably has something to do with the cancellation. Even though the game may have made a nice profit, on a gaming landscape where console games sell millions of copies, greed takes over and good titles get canned.
It would make more sense for Lucas Arts to publish Sam and Max 2 on a console and the PC. I still have very fond memories of the graphic adventure and think there's a whole generation of gamers who are missing out on this genre. Unfortunately, I doubt if any of the heavy weights really have the guts to risk bringing it to consoles. Funny thing is that adventure games might actually do pretty well in Japan on the PS 2. The so called dating sims that sell reasonably well there are not all that different, but home PCs are not as common there as in the U.S., so you really have to publish on a console.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
LucasArts seems to only see to the end of the fiscal year. They want to go with the games they know will be profitable, and by that I mean the Star Wars game du jour. As far back as I can remember, they've been grafting Star Wars onto whatever genre is popular: flight sim (X-Wing/TIE Fighter,) FPS (Dark Forces series,) a somewhat original RTS (the abysmal Force Commander) and a more traditional RTS (Galactic Battlegrounds) to name a few. Oh, not to mention the upcoming squad-level tactical shooter (read: Rainbow Six clone) Republic Commando. As adventure games are in a constant near-death state according to the popular gaming press, I'm not surprised that LucasArts decided to cancel Sam & Max 2. That doesn't mean that I'm not disappointed, however. I'll be writing a letter to LucasArts too. Just don't be surprised when the truly innovative and fun games (Sam & Max 2 and Full Throttle 2) get cancelled in favor of the safe bet that is a Star Wars game.
This sig has been stolen. Return it to its original user for a reward.
They are a company whose job it is to make money. At least they haven't stooped to suing people randomly, like the makers of ScummVM or ... God, whatever else.
The email address to email to is pr@lucasarts.com. Send them a polite, well worded, well thought out email. If your intent is to help get Sam and Max 2 published then you'll be polite. Any other actions will simply irritate LucasArts.
As well, another poster mentioned a console port. I would most certainly purchase a console port of an adventure game - of all the PC games out there the generally simple interface of the adventure game would work wonderfully well!
My reality check bounced.
I think the only way LucasArts is willing to revive Sam and Max is to turn it into a first-person shooter. Just imagine Max with two assault rifles gunning down the bad guys, and to add insult to injury, bounces on top of the dude who just got gunned down.
Let LucasArts have their way with their FPS. We should focus on supporting the companies who specializes on adventure games. Those are the ones that truly understands the essence of Adventure Gaming.
Of course, that was before people got so blase about these things. It's like running a hunger strike these days, instead of the sixties; nobody pays attention.
Also, Quest for Glory V sucked, and sold badly.
1. A Sam and Max FPS could be insanely cool and funny. Toss in some frying pans, giant mallets and fire hoses, and all of a sudden you've got first-person cartoon action.
2. LucasArts has proven MORE than capable of doing good adventure games. That's kind of the whole issue here. If it was Microsoft, EA or [insert other big company producing often lousy games here] it wouldn't be that big a deal. The cancellation of a LucasArts adventure game, however, IS a big deal to fans of the genre.
Where can I buy this?!?! It must be mine!
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
Sent to pr@lucasarts.com
Dear LucasArts,
While I'm sure you've received few emails regarding LucasArts' decision to cancel the much-awaited title Sam & Max 2, I wanted to make my opinion known as a representative of a whole generation of gamers who grew up with LucasArts' classic graphic adventures. Our fond memories of these games, especially the original Sam & Max, have not faded - even just a few weeks a whole group of my friends sat down for a weekend and played through six of our favorite LucasArts graphic adventures, with a packed room of people watching. When gamers around the world heard that Full Throttle 2 had been canceled, they thought "That's sad, but at least LucasArts can concentrate on Sam & Max 2." The news of two days ago was heartbreaking - everyone I knew who had played or seen the original Sam & Max had been excited about its sequel's release. The news reported today - that Steve Purcell's team was on schedule, and that Mr. Purcell thought the product they had so far was excellent, is even more confusing. Whatever market research led LucasArts to believe that the game was not worth making is wrong - the graphic adventure market is not dead, it's just been waiting for Sam & Max 2. Please reconsider the cancellation of this project, and keep in mind the generation of gamers who would be thrilled to have another Sam & Max in their hands. Thank you.
-My Name
Fantastic idea - oh, and don't forget the smart remarks they make when they frag someone.
A la the original game,"You threw the bomb out into the street? There are lots of people out there", "Yeah, but nobody we know".
"Well, put a stake in my heart and drag me into sunlight."
..is basically telling that you should become a corporate whore!
"And I understand now more than ever how important the success of Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude will be. Unquestionably I will buy it at full price the moment it's available, and I'll encourage everyone to do the same. Even if the game isn't great...even if the game isn't much of a pure adventure...it is the game that every major publisher is going to look at to evaluate whether or not there's any life in adventures, fair or not."
WHAT???? You think we should shoot them a message that whatever whoring you can do of old franchises is good and will go through? buy games that suck just because major publishers would get more intrested??
screw 'em if they don't make good stuff. what good is crappy adventure games?
it's not like they have a total monopoly on games biz anyways, there can always come games like Siberia 'out of the blue'(and in fact, if there's not much press flooding from the big houses they're mor probable to actually make it to the fans even if published by smaller publishers).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Max would appear in every Lucasarts game? And their catalog would feature a Sam and Max comic in each? Where did the love go?
Look it's a joke about my sig IN MY SIG! LOL!
I'm worried about what would happen if they somehow got convinced to start development again. The suits already cancelled it once, they wont be very likely to budget much more money for it. It will be rushed out the door.
:)
So then we'd get a terrible, buggy release. The game wont sell, and the suits will say "We told you so". That would be the end of adventure games. The current situtation is just a bit of a speedbump.
Or am I just too pessimistic?
There is a continuing theme in these posts whinging about good LucasArts projects being cancelled in favor of their latest Star Wars project.
Isn't the natural response, then, a Star Wars graphic adventure? This would seem to be right up their ally, and they would have a host of charaters and situations to put them in. Possibility?
On another note, they have not only done this to their "extra" licenses. The license for the Star Wars CCG (Collectible Card Game) was pulled out from under them. Decipher had put out a very high quality AND profitable product; the license was given to a different company to make a game better suited to 10-12 year olds because apparently they are a larger market and could turn more profit at the expense of an intelligent and fun game.
And yes, they ARE a company and it IS their job to make money, we've all read those posts- but it is important not to piss off your current consumers in chasing after new ones.
Emailing the management at Lucasarts will do nothing. Their shortsighteness cannot be cured with a few emails. It really is rediculous that Lucasarts is compromising themselves for profit/costs reasons. Too bad Lucas can't put ILM and Lucasarts together (that would make too much sense). As for the quote "It's not a good time to release an adventure game." Well, neither was it suppossedly a good time to release "Star Wars," but look how well that did!
"Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
I just sent the following email to LucasArts.
1985:
A Japanese game company tried to debut a new product into the American market. It was well designed and a testament to the ingenuity of its creators. Yet no one would give it a chance.
The retailers said "we won't stock it, it's doomed to fail."
Fellow developers said "these games will never sell."
The focus groups said "this is shit."
Their product went on to gross billions of dollars: the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Today:
Developers tried to complete a new adventure game. Their work was on time, well done and universally appraised by fans and critics. Yet the publisher would not give it a chance.
LucasArts said "we won't publish it, it's doomed to fail."
Fellow developers said "Adventure games are dead."
The marketing department said "it's the wrong time to launch a PC graphic adventure."
Their product, Sam & Max 2, would gross millions if it had the chance, but now it may never see the light of day.
The Nintendo had potential, had quality. That's why Nintendo took a risk against far worse odds, and went on to gross 14.5 billion in 1991. Sam & Max 2 has potential, has quality. We've seen it, the critics have seen it. Squandering it threatens the future of adventure games. Impossible, you might say? Stop and think about this - what if Nintendo had listened to their market research? No Nintendo. No revitalization of the game industry, post-crash. Game companies wouldn't exist. LucasArts wouldn't exist.
Quality tells the future. It is your choice to listen.The Official Address
Randy Breen, VP of Development
Mary Bihr, VP of Global Publishing
Michael Nelson, Acting President