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.
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
..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?