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LucasArts To Re-Release Old Games Through Steam

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-fired-up-x-wing-on-dosbox-just-two-days-ago dept.

LucasArts today announced that they will soon be releasing games from their back catalog through Steam. The releases begin this Wednesday with a group of eight games, including Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, The Dig, LOOM, and Star Wars: Battlefront II. This is apparently just "the first round of releases," so we can doubtless expect to see more of their old games before long. Joystiq spoke with LucasArts CEO Darrell Rodriguez, who said the company is considering updated versions of the old games, depending on how well next week's launch of Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition goes. He also hinted at the possibility that some games could be ported to mobile gaming devices, such as the PSP Go and the iPhone.

27 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. Ballblazer? by oldspewey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What, no Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus, or Koronis RIft?

    --
    If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
  2. The Dig by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I loved that game. Wish they would port some of these over to consoles too.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  3. Worthless humans... by Verteiron · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'd love an updated version of Day of the Tentacle.

    That is all.

    --
    End of lesson. You may press the button.
  4. Expect lots of changes. by seeker_1us · · Score: 2, Funny

    Greedo will shoot first in the games.

  5. Still Waiting on KOTOR by k_187 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm still waiting on KOTOR to show up on steam. I missed it when it was new and the only way to get it now is in some bundle with 4 other games I don't care about. Seriously, it should be in the next round.

    --
    11 was a racehorse
    12 was 12
    1111 Race
    12112
  6. Bring back... by maino82 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Tie Fighter! Or any of the same ilk. Updated graphics would be nice, but it would totally be worth going out and buying a joystick if they brought the space sims back even in their original form.

    1. Re:Bring back... by TrippTDF · · Score: 2, Informative

      I completely agree... it's been ten years since a Star Wars simulation was released, and that's just too long! There's been a fair amount of homebrew work at updating the models for X-Wing: Alliance, but I think it's time to see another game built from the ground up taking advantage of newer hardware and internet play. And there is a ton of unexplored room with the first three episode's.

      I think there's a lot of room for a MMORPG that is just around a Star Wars space sim.

    2. Re:Bring back... by Fallingcow · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Careful what you wish for--a modern version would probably be released for consoles, too, and would therefor lack the deep controls that made those games what they were. Shield (and perhaps power management in general) would probably be totally gone, for one thing.

    3. Re:Bring back... by jollyreaper · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Tie Fighter is still one of my absolute favorite games of all time. Even as I upgraded my computer for years I'd make sure I could still play it somehow. Its also the only reason I have a joystick.

      So yes, I'd love to see it come back. I love Tie Fighters version of space combat.

      Get X-Wing Alliance. Seriously. It's the last of the Original Trilogy space games, or so LucasArts pledged when the nuTrilogy was coming out. All the yummy Tie Fighter goodness with a much better story! Worth playing.

      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
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      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    4. Re:Bring back... by Nimey · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Heh, that'd be the fourth rehash of TIE Fighter. First was the floppy MS-DOS version, then the CD-ROM MS-DOS "Collector's Edition", and then a Windows 9x version with 3D effects.

      I think X-Wing had the same number and types of re-releases.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    5. Re:Bring back... by xSauronx · · Score: 2, Interesting

      another vote for TIE Fighter, or X vs T. I played the bejesus out of TIE Fighter, X wing was good, but broadband wasnt quite available enough for me to enjoy X vs T

      I dont have a copy of any of those anymore, but Id gladly buy them if they got a revamp and were available as a set for a decent price

      --
      By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
  7. Nostalga by AdamBv1 · · Score: 3, Informative

    while everyone is feeling nostalgic about their old favorite LucasArts games i would like to point out http://www.gog.com/ for everyones old game pleasure. Lots of our old classic favorites at great prices, DRM free and even works on vista/7.

    1. Re:Nostalga by hedwards · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That may well be, but they won't be getting any of my money as a result. I'm absolutely unwilling to rent games via steam. The fact that they retain the right to deactivate the entire account should there be a violation of the terms or the account is broken into is sufficient to convince me not to do business with them.

      I'm not going to give them money when they can take all the items back without issuing a refund. I don't pirate games and I'll be damned if I have anything to do with software so crippled.

    2. Re:Nostalga by Chyeld · · Score: 2, Informative

      In the case of most of these 'old' games, there is zero DRM. You install the game and you can launch it from it's folder just as you could back in the old days. DRM, for the most part, is reserved for modern games.

    3. Re:Nostalga by Hadlock · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The only DRM for dosbox games over steam is the encryption used to send your CC# to Valve. You can take your /dosboxgame directory and play it in linux under dosbox there and it works just fine. Also all of Valve's games work just fine in offline mode. (i.e. Valve auth servers destroyed in a nuclear attack or---heaven forbid the internet goes down for a day). Steam has gone down repeatedly recently with all their steamcloud updates (particularly during major TF2 updates) and nobody notices that steam's not working until they stop getting random unlocks for an hour or two.
       
      So yes, Virginia, you can backup your precious $2.99 dosbox steam-bought games.

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
  8. Grim Fandango? by obarel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How can they not give this game the credit it deserves? One of the few games I almost cried when I finished it - it was the perfect game, I just didn't want it to end.

    1. Re:Grim Fandango? by scubamage · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Same thoughts here. Grim Fandango is an AMAZING game, quite possibly one of the greatest games ever made. Plus it was one of the very first games to use any sort of hardware acceleration, a pretty big deal in its time. I really hope they consider it.

  9. Re:And thank you TellTale Games... by Hatta · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm here waiting to purchase more NEW adventure games. Thanks for the back catalog re-releases and all, but I still have my old disks and they work great in ScummVM. The new Sam & Max has done pretty well, so how about coming out with some new titles?

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  10. Re:Let me be the first to say... by Dr+Caleb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Childhood memories, here I come."

    Dude, no. If you value those memories, don't. I would love to play 'Full Throttle' again.

    But, I got Novalogic's old pack on Steam last week. I though it would be fun to revisit Armoured Fist 3 and Commanche. It's brutal. They didn't change a thing about the games. 640X480 - hardcoded keyboard commands - NO instructions!

    I should have saved my $20 and fond memories.

    --
    "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
  11. Re:The End Of The Abandonware Golden Age? by CarAnalogy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Unlikely...

    The titles you see appearing in places like GOG and Steam are almost all well-known big titles by companies that still exist. This is only a very small part of what most abandonware websites offer. There's a huge number of great games that never gained any real following due to various reasons, or are owned by companies which no longer exist now.

    In short, the real meaning of "abandonware" is exactly what its name implies: software which can be considered abandoned, preferably because there is no (clear) copyright holder anymore.

    Then again, I can probably be considered biased, since I am webmaster of an abandonware site myself :)

  12. What I dont get... by Drakin020 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why not create games based on older models? I mean...Megaman 9 showed us that even legacy games are still desired by older generations.

    Rather that put thought into graphics and such, you could focus your minds on what makes the game fun, and such...

    Me personally, I'd LOVE to see another old school RPG game involving sprites and such.

    There is a market out there, and developers should take advantage of it.

    --
    The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
  13. Re:And thank you TellTale Games... by Briareos · · Score: 2, Informative

    What, like Tales of Monkey Island (aka "New Monkey Island") that comes out tomorrow?

    np: Tim Exile - I Saw The Weak Hand Fall (Listening Tree)

    --

    "I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole

  14. Re:Excited, but... by Fallingcow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Which, at least for the talkies, I don't think is insulting if they did a decent job setting up whatever compatibility mode or VM they're using.

    They'll probably just use DosBox like the other Dos-era Steam games do.

    I'll pick these things up for $2-$5 a pop on a bargain weekend. $10 is absurd--that's what they sold for in the bargain bin a couple years after they were released. This is many more years later, and they don't have to ship physical media. $5 is about right. Jesus, it's not like they're still trying to cover development costs on these old games--I don't think it's too much to ask that they not get greedy while taking their free money.

  15. Re:Let me be the first to say... by gad_zuki! · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >NO instructions!

    Thats really inexcusable. I find almost all the steam games I have bought dont have any instructions. How hard is it to load a pdf of the manual or deliver a real help file?

    Steam really has become a ghetto dumping ground for old borderline worthless titles.

  16. Re:Let me be the first to say... by Chyeld · · Score: 4, Informative

    Where have you looked?

    Remember, while Valve is doing the publishing, the developers are doing the packaging.

    Not all of the publishers (or Steam Users) realize that there is an option to let you link the manual to the game so that you can load it by right clicking the game entry. But even then, many of them have the manual avaliable on the actual game's store page if you look on the side bars.

  17. Re:Excited, but... by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hope they *do* use DOSBox. It's practically guaranteed that you'll be able to run those DOS games without any of Steam's DRM sitting on top of it. Just point your own DOSBox at the data files. I run XCOM: UFO Defense this way.

    Whatever one might say about Steam's DRM scheme and how it's supposed to work or not, I appreciate that I can sidestep the issue completely by running it in my own DOSBox install.

  18. Sigh, 'abandonware' means nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    There is nothing to clarify. No matter the tales you have heard - distributing abandonware is no less illegal than any other copyright violation. There is no gray area. It doesn't' matter if the game is available commercially or not.

    Abandonware means old software, nothing more. Plenty of companies still search for copyright violations of their "abandonware" (LucasArts and Cyan come to mind). There has never been a legal definition of abandonware and hopefully there never will be (it's time we stop the copyright/patent scheme altogether - small exemptions will just stall that process).