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Last Screenshots of Sam & Max 2 Online
DasJan writes "German website Adventure-Treff.de got hold of the last available screenshots of Sam & Max 2, the recently cancelled adventure game. The last 10 images in this gallery are the screens that LucasArts gave out to print magazines around the world to accompany their previews. Some of them are completely new, others were only available in blurry scans. They are probably the last thing we ever see of our beloved duo." Seems like an awful lot of work to scrap. I wouldn't be surprised if the game is resurrected in another form someday, but for now, these images are all we have.
You now owe Darl your allegience, $690, and a straight face when he makes press releases saying silly things about IBM and Groklaw.
~Darl
when an upcoming game gets redlighted. You have to wonder how many games never see the light of day, near completion, just to be completely thrown out and abandoned because the marketing people didn't think it would be viable.
Which isn't to say they wouldn't be right. Still, I always wonder what would have come of the StarCon game for the playstation (yes, it was made without Toys For Bob, but I was still curious).
look at max, he is so damn cute! :(
If I only could kick his annoying ass again or put him in the toaster or something
Durn it. I often find a DVD director's commentary every bit as interesting as a movie, itself. I wish Lucasarts would release what they had, along with a postmortem/commentary. Aside from being a fan of the original, I'd like to see where the sequel production went "wrong," and try to pick the thing apart.
Hell, I'm probably in the minority, but I'd be willing to pay for such a thing.
We're indie. We're working on our 14th game.
Hopefully after the slurry of Star Wars episode III games that come out, LucasArts will realize that there aren't anymore games that they can give a face lift, and slap the Star Wars name on, then out of desperation will give us Sam & Max. In reality, they'll probably just release Mercenaries 2.
Why did they cancel sam & max 2?
it looked promising, and for me it was the start of lucasart's comeback
I hope they reconsider, maybe some e-mails to pr@lucasarts.com will help...
Time is the only precious thing I've got left; Don't waste it
the words "salt" and "wounds" spring to mind.
Would have bought this no questions asked. It also would have been a great game to introduce my gf to pc gaming. Going to have to dig out the old ones instead.
Ive been a long time fan of adventure games, and I was saddened to hear sam and max 2 was cancelled. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
I sent an email to pr@lucasarts.com questioning their motives, explaining my past fandom, and informing them that I will never be buying a lucasarts game again. Ever.
Ive done it already. Ive experienced the trench run and blown up the death star, Ive saved the Emperor from rebel scum. Ive blasted my way through scores of imperial storm troopers. No more. Its done and boring.
Sam and Max 2 looked fun, unique, and a revival of my 2nd favorite gaming genre. But no. I got spat on. Forget it lucasarts, Im tired of your games. Youve got enough competition making enough quality games that I simply do not have a need for you any longer. Congradulations, youve killed my starwars fandom through repetative mediocrity and baseless consumerism. (Not to mention shoddy writing)
Now, if youll excuse me, Im going to go play Monkey Island 2 again, its been a few years. Yay ScummVM.
Anyone have any good links for NEW adventure games?
no
"Use the force to levitate this chicken-with-a-pulley-in-the-middle."
Or.
"There is no three-headed-monkey." *waves hand* "There is no three-headed-monkey."
no
If the marketing folks really didn't think the game was viable anymore, why not release the game in its current form through their web site???
I mean, if it is so close to completion, they should be able to do a little last-minute debugging (a couple of weeks at most), put it up for sale through mail and state clearly that the game is unfinished and no future patches are planned.
It's interesting to note that LucasArts also recently canceled Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels...another game that was clearly close to completion...
The real question should be, why is LucasArts canceling projects so close to their completion dates???
No text
Those concept sketches look a helluva lot more intriguing than those sloppy 3D-renders. Why can't the gaming-industry take a hint from the movie-industry here? Not everything is better with 3D.
"I tend to think of OS X as Linux with QA and Taste", James Gosling, creator of Java
I asked this very question in the last article we had about this cancellation, with nearly the same bitch-and-moan you have. Now that I'm all growed up with a job, I can afford to buy adventure games by the dozen. But they just aren't there. My girlfriend bemoans her selling of her Kings' Quest and Hero's Quest collections-- she said "I never thought those would be the last Adventure games made."
So, for everybody out there, here's a list of what I've found to keep me amused so far:
1. Everything ScummVM plays. You've probably played a good number of these, but I'm sure it's not all of them. Broken Sword I and II are good, and I haven't made my way around to Beneath a Steel Sky or Flight of the Amazon Queen yet, both released as freeware by their original authors to the ScummVM team. Buy the ones still being sold new, like Broken Sword and Simon the Sorcerer 1 & 2 to encourage "good behavior" from game companies.
2. Sequels to ScummVM games that ScummVM can't run yet-- things like Broken Sword III, Monkey Island 4, and Grim Fandango.
3. New things you've never heard of, but are still being sold new-- this is the best bet. Runaways: a Road Adventure (available new), Wyrmkeep's remade Inherit the Earth (may be in a future scummvm version, from peeking in CVS), Gilbert Goodmate for the PocketPC, Syberia 1 and 2, etc... Check out justadventure.com for news.
4. Stuff you haven't heard of but isn't still for sale-- this can be tricky, finding things on ebay or abandonware sites. A friend clued me into one he'd played when younger, now available as abandonware: Amazon: Guardians of Eden. I've heard good things about I Have No Mouth But I Must Scream, but don't have a copy yet. I've also turned up websites about a couple of Discworld adventure games that sound excellent, and the first two also seem to be available as abandonware. There is a third that is still for sale, so if you download the other two BUY THE ONE THAT'S STILL BEING SOLD.
Remember-- if you don't buy the ones that are for sale, companies will keep right on assuming the market doesn't exist for these games.
For old DOS games that don't work with ScummVM, NAGI, FreeSCI, or the like, there's always DOSBox, which does an excellent job of making your shiny new PC pretend that it's old and crappy to make the games run.
Anyway, that's what I know. Anybody got anything else?
Those that don't are part of the problem. If you don't support the great adventure games from smaller publishers, you'll show big publishers exactly why they shouldn't release an adventure game.
It is not even as if the two previous Star Trek adventures did bad. They were moderate commercial successes. Sure nothing amazing in sales but in the game industry doing two games who turn a nice profit is amazing enough. Especially when you consider how much success Interplay has had since with Star Trek titles or other games.
Oh well. What was that other sleeper adventure serious that made a profit? Broken sword? Oh yeah look at number 3. Lara croft wannabe.
Longest Journey? Again a small success. Sequel rumorerd to take a more action adventure approach. While we all know Tomb Raider is death adventure game makes seem determined to follow it.
Adventure gaming however ain't dead. Best adventure I played in a long time has been "Space Quest 0". No 3D, no action, just fun and puzzles and pure old fashioned gaming goodness.
Problem is that companies seem to want their games to appeal to all people all the time. This never works. Name me one game genre that everyone likes. Instead of focusing on a small section of the market and totally owning that section they instead aim wide and miss completly.
Sigh.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Looking at those just made me angry again, like I was when it was first cancelled. That would have been one rocking game.
How do you NOT include The Longest Journey?
Anyway, it always pisses me off to hear people complain about how there "aren't any adventure games." That's utter bull. They come out all the time, on every platform (Syberia, Drake, Broken Sword on XBox alone!) and people don't buy them.
Criminy, people, this is all yammering for no point if you don't go out and *buy the games* when they come out! Publishers think the genre is dead because the genre is dead, and all you idiots who bitch and moan about there being "no new adventure games" are making it true.
Just put your money where your mouth is. If you like adventure games, buy them. If not, then don't whine that the genre is disappearing. (And definately don't say there aren't any adventure games when they are all over!)
Comment of the year
An addendum to my previous post:
.5), Escape From Monkey Island, Curse of Monkey Island, and a Mega Monkey Bundle with Monkey Island 1-4 (look for promo link under Escape from Monkey Island).
Buy Simon the Sorcerer 1, 2, and 3D
Found out that Harlan Ellison's site has I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream the computer game for $32.
Lucasarts has a few of their classics still for sale, buried deeply on their site: Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, a 3.5-pack with Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and Sam & Max hit the Road (the full Maniac Mansion game is included in Day of the Tentacle, hence the
Broken Sword III
Broken Sword I and II are still for sale here and there-- I couldn't find a good link. I did, however, find that Revolution (who makes these games) has released Lure of the Temptress along with Beneath a Steel Sky.
Beneath a Steel Sky and Flight of the Amazon Queen for download from ScummVM. Also, re-coded cutscenes for Broken Sword I and II to get the video working in ScumMVM.
Broken Sword I and II for sale from sold-out.co.uk. Says they ship worldwide.
There's also an amazingly good port of Broken Sword I for the GBA. If you have a GBA, I highly recommend it-- it's really well done.
Farm it out to some cheap developers for completion and release it anyways! Sheesh...
It looks cool! I loved the original game...
Or skimp on the packaging and release it as budget ware. COME ON LUCASFARTS!
In Cold Blood for $15.
Maybe Lucasarts should resurrect the project after they get some real artists.
If I were a LucasArts investor, I would be sorely disappointed. Not because of any particular affinity for Sam and Max (or Full Throttle), but because this doesn't make sense financially.
Think for a moment: I've spent huge amounts on development, pre-marketing, and general hype. The cost from this point to actual production is equal to or less than (most likely less than) what I've already spent. Even if I think no one will buy the product, it makes more sense to release it and hope to recoup some funds from sales, rather than flush the whole venture down the toilet! What LucasArts is dong isn't just poor business sense: It's sabotage!
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
(For some reason, the last part of that post doesn't seem to display properly...
Are you straight?
Are you white?
Join the Straight White Association and stuff. It'll make you cool.
Well, you obviously don't know much about the whole retail business and software publishing. It COSTS money to put a product on store shelves. Literally. Stores charge for their shelf space.
It's also more expensive to do low number runs of CD-roms, jewel cases, manuals and boxes.
And finally, stores won't commit to buying X amount of your product unless you can guarantee certain sales figures, and also back it up with a commitment to Y amount of advertising dollars spent.
OH and did I mention that store chains will also return unbought product and expect a REFUND? Yep.
this is the 21st century. They could just sell it on their website. Put a few ads on some strategic websites, and you'll probably do alright. There are much smaller software houses selling that way, and doing alright, without nearly as much hype abound as lucasarts has.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
An Open Letter to LucasArts:
Dear LucasArts,
Fuck you.
Sincerely,
Jon
Email is cheap. Send SNAIL MAIL
d .php?t =2399
L ette r.html
i ness -envelope.htm
Send the mail to
Mike Nelson, Acting General Manager and VP of Operations
LucasArts
P.O. Box 10307
San Rafael, CA 94912
I recommend strongly, however, that you word your letter in a somewhat professional fashion. That means using proper grammer, spellchecking, punctuation, full words (never use 'u' for 'you', etc) and an appropriate letter format, either block or indent style. Even if you wish to keep the tone of your letter negative (as I did), avoid profanity.
You can see one of the later revisions of the letter that I sent at this URL:
http://forums.adventuregamers.com/showthrea
(note that the final letter that went out is slightly different, though not available online).
You can find examples of the proper formatting for business letters at
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Business
Be sure to include your address at the top (as indicated) and your full name at the bottom.
You can find examples of the proper formatting for envelopes at
http://jobsearchtech.about.com/library/bl-bus
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
Best link i could make of the quote, also... Skittlebrau
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Info here.
The fact of the matter is that if you played SMB 2 you didn't miss anything. The game was actually quite popular in its Doki Doki Panic form in Japan, and Nintendo bought the title from a client developer and repurposed it into a Mario game. SMB2 is identical to DDP except for the use of different sorts of main characters (Mario folks as opposed to a family in DDP.)
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
There is an online petition to complete this game. Only just over 8000 signatures yet, but maybe it can be slashdotted.
oops. I was trying, man, I was trying. Despite all my reposting, I still managed to miss a good one!!