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Disney Closes LucasArts
An anonymous reader sends news that Disney is closing LucasArts. The game studio has been around since 1982, and brought us classics such as Labyrinth, The Secret of Monkey Island, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and Star Wars: Battlefront. They also published Star Wars: Galaxies, Knights of the Old Republic, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. The company held a meeting today informing employees of the layoffs. "In some ways, the news is not a surprise. LucasArts had seemed directionless in recent years. The company's core business of games based on the Star Wars license have been largely disappointing in both quality and sales. While the company had some success with games like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and the Battlefront series, both of those franchises seemed to have died on the vine. The cancellation of Star Wars Battlefront III was particularly ugly, which led to nasty public fingerpointing between LucasArts and developer Free Radical. ... LucasArt's other big franchise, Indiana Jones, has failed to make much of a dent in games in recent years, with the exception of Traveller's Tales LEGO Indiana Jones series that, once again, was not developed by LucasArts. Meanwhile, series like Uncharted and Tomb Raider, which are both heavily influenced by the Indiana Jones films, have thrived." If only they hadn't abandoned the X-Wing series of games. I would have bought a new one of those in a heartbeat. Update: 04/04 18:09 GMT by T : Dice.com's news service (Dice.com is the corporate parent of Slashdot) mentions one small silver lining for those employees who stuck it out to the end: the best kind of parting gift. "Soon after the acquisition, a number of people departed LucasArts, deciding the time was right to head out in search of a new job. Many others remained, encouraged to hang on as long as they could by talk of generous severance packages. Sources among those laid off say the packages were, indeed, generous."
Noooo!
I am a subscriber. Will the servers shutdown?
http://saveie6.com/
Sad day. Everyone be sure to raise a grog in their honor.
It's now a redundant (meaning duplicated) department. This does not mean the games will stop, it means that they will be made by Disney.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
When there's fingerpointing and one of the two dies suddenly...
the other guy wins, right?
Finger pointing followed by death usually implies force lightning.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
I hope that at least Disney tries to get money from me by releasing HD versions of TIE and XWing as LucasArts did with Monkey Island
No mention of Grim Fandango in the list of classics?
The hidden story here is this: if your core business is not making computer games, and you decide to have an in-house team to do the games, keep in mind that these people are not driven as hard as they would be on the open market where the game is their only product.
When a team is in house, the customer are the other divisions of the company who need to be "satisfied" by what looks like a good project; this is a layer removed from the customer, who actually determines if the product succeeds by buying it or not.
This is the same reason people make fun of government employees. There's no quality-end-result motivation; the real job is to work the job, and to keep taking money for doing whatever it is hasn't gotten them fired yet.
Now other developers can buy into the star wars license and make good games without the license holder holding back out of fear of competition. Waiting for someone to license and start production on a good star wars mmo.
Disagreeing with you does not make me a troll.
IIRC, there's this classic Loom.
They should outsource to Rockstar Games. GTA set in a Star Wars universe could be fun.
I would have paid full price in a heartbeat for a new X-Wing series and a season Pass for the first 4 major DLCs.
What a cash cow that could be - selling E-Wings or Pirate Frankenfighters for .99 and eventually tying everything back to an MMO. LucasArts should never have ignored the fan's outcry for the past decade for a new reboot of that series on modern desktops.
I would just hope they would make sure not to piece it up too badly, as many games are these days... but the X-Wing series would have been a natural for the trend. Major DLC to add new missions and fleets would be a no-brainer.
In the past, I just got the sweater into the dryer, and in the future I'm just now getting the hamster of the freezer! DON'T PULL THE PLUG! I WANT TO BEAT THE EVIL TENTACLE! PLEEEASE!
I grow a massive boner when I fantasize about a new X-Wing [vs Tie Fighter] game. That's the only game I've ever used a DOS emulator to play.
That way I can always shoot first.
Hopefully, the games can still be made. Disney paid for the IP, I hope it wasn't just to make movies.
The Lucasarts that produced all those legendary games was already long gone. Did they still even have their own internal development studio? I am not sure. They seemed to be more on the publishing side of things for the past decade.
Regarding Star Wars titles, Knights of the Old Republic was great, part 2 was clearly rushed and unfinished, but still very enjoyable. Somebody (not EA) should put some effort into a part 3 (and not involve EA in any way whatsoever) and I'd buy that! (Did I mention I wouldn't buy it if EA had anything to do with it?)
LucasArts hasn't *created* anything in nearly a decade. It's been a licensing wing of Lucas for years, and Disney's being financially smart to roll it into their other licenses. However, it's a strong name in the gaming industry for a reason, and for historical reasons, they'd have done better to keep the name while rolling it into another division.
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
I am going to take business advice from a person who can't actually read and hasn't got a clue about the company he is talking about?
For your information, Lucasarts THRIVED when it developed games internally, it was when they outsourced development that the rot set in. So... the history of Lucasarts 100% invalidates your rant and proofs you are a silly person nobody should listen too.
You must be a Romney voter because logic just doesn't exist for you does it? It is generally accepted that first party titles for consoles are the must haves, the once of most reliable high quality.
You can spot the downfall of Lucasarts when during the opening graphics of X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter between the iconic logo's, there was a silly little bi-plane animation of a the 3rd party studio that got involved. And while the game offered some intresting new features, it just couldn't hold a candle to the solid quality of its ancestors. Some more disasters followed until the company was reduced to ordering totally unrelated companies to produce mods for other peoples games.
Inhouse = Solid quality and must buy titles each and everyone of them
Outsourced = meh
You might make fun of government employees, while you pay a fortune to save the privately run industries like the car and banking industries saying Romney was cheated because people like the editors of financial news papers just didn't get his policies and recommended right wingers vote for a left wing black guy.
Oh and to get back on topic, the only GOOD Disney game, was an inhouse title as well, Stunt Island. Google it, it was amazing for its time and is still unique.
In reality, in house means putting the interest of the company, YOUR company first and the intrests of your company are the customers. For 3rd party developers, the customer is the publisher NOT the plebs in the shops.
Just see what happened to Bioware when it stopped being a publisher and had to dance to EA's tune instead of listening to customers.
Hell, all the most respected studio's are those who develop their own games. Unreal, Id, Blizzard etc etc. It is the publishing houses and their slave companies that everyone looks down upon.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Just Google Stunt Island, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunt_Island
That was Disney. They make more then shovel ware movie license games. Well, they used to. Same as Lucasarts really.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I can't remember from my pirate classes with Guybrush Threepwood what the correct insult is for this story... anyone? Maybe, I hear the end of Lucas Arts is near, I hope Disney gets skunk mucus in its ear.
I bought x-wing when it first came out, but ended up abandoning it due to the poor targeting graphics. The target would turn a dark red, and like many males I have red/green colorblindness, which caused the targeted object to pretty much disappear. Had they left the object brightly lit and put a bracket around it, like Wing Commander or Comanche, I would have been more interested. I liked the degree of control of your ship's resources (something nobody else had at the time) and really wanted to like the game, but my wife got tired of standing behind me saying "Left. A little more. Too far. Go down. Down to the right. No, up." (Helping me play the game, you juveniles.) The experience was frustrating enough that I didn't bother with the rest of the series. And so, my feeling of loss at LucasArts going away is at best abstract.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Jar-Jar vs. tie-fighter
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Jar-Jar Dance Revolution
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For me, they'll always be the firm that produced incredible Atari 800 games, Ballblazer, Behind Jedi Lines and The Eidelon. Fractal games in 1982, Hell yeah!
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
They should outsource to Rockstar Games. GTA set in a Star Wars universe could be fun.
Grand Theft Android? I might buy that.
(T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
I remember absolutely loving Day of the Tentacle.
I had always hoped they would bring out more such games.
I can't say I'm surprised at this announcement. Really, what has LucasArts done in at least 10+ years that has been good?
They used to be known for not only their movie-related games, but also creative original ones like Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, etc. But they stopped doing all of that when Episode 1-3 came out. At that point it was just a string of shovelware Starwars games. Even their once successful space-sim games like Xwing and TIE Fighter were abandoned.
Can you imagine how awesome a modern Starwars space-sim game would be that featured massively multiplayer battles? MAG showed that you can successfully do 256 players in an FPS environment, so the same should be feasible for Xwing as well. Even some of the Commander-type things MAG did might be possible to actually have someone command the ISD or MonCal Cruisers, etc.
Such a wasted opportunity.
Totally agree. I never had much free dough, back in the day. But I scrimped and saved to buy each X-Wing game as it was released. I'd also buy a new flight stick - as I'd worn the last one out playing the previous versions.
with free electric sheep!
I would mod you up if I could. But I can't.
That's not Picasso, that's Kandinsky!
disney produced some ok stuff back in the day.. experimental even.
now I'm just wondering why the fuck lucasarts is referred to as a games studio in this article when they haven't been a games studio in ages? a games studio makes games.. a publishing company publishes and a middleman just skims money from the deal because they own the ip. now there was a time in the nineties when lucasarts was the developer and someone else was the publisher but lucasarts switched that around about the time lucasarts stopped being a seal of a decent game, so in recent lucasarts releases lucasarts is the publisher and the developer is some random development house they outsourced some slave work to and got slave quality shit as games in return..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Hopefully, the games can still be made. Disney paid for the IP, I hope it wasn't just to make movies.
lucasarts hadn't been actually making any games in years .. disney will still license the ip or produce games - that much is certain. they just don't need a bunch of suits sitting in an office labeled lucasarts. lucasarts track record for the past 10 years is publisher, publisher, publisher and the development houses they chose to make the games almost all were never heard no history development houses they paid bottom dollar for.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Close the GAME SUBSIDIARY of LucasArt, LucasArt is still alive.
Did they seriously just post some assorted Lucas Arts titles and not include Maniac Mansion UR COMING WITH ME, CRATER-HEAD!!
GTS - Grand Theft Speeder
Well, Knights of the Old Republic was a RPG using a modified version of the D&D 2nd edition rule set, not an action-adventure game. And since Rockstar is known for their sandbox games, and KOTOR wasn't even slightly sandbox in style, with planets roughly the size of a high school gymnasium, I'd say the similarities between KOTOR and the GTA games are pretty much limited to the fact that they're both third-person 3D.
Also, since Rockstar doesn't generally produce RPGs, they wouldn't be my first choice to reboot the series.
Sean Daugherty "I have walked in Eternity -- and Eternity weeps."
my favorite game to ever come out of LucasArts: Sam and Max Hit the Road (TIE Fighter vs X-Wing was a close second).
It would be the biggest space sim in years. But that doesn't make it a hit. People today don't want realistic controls, they want an FPS in space. Make a real X-Wing sequel, and people would hate it for its difficulty. Make a watered down X-Wing, and the people who remember the original would hate it.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Or Grand Theft Anakin!
Tomorrow is another day...
LucasArts and LucasFilm was the best entertrainment when I was young: Indiana Jones films and games (Indiana Jones and fate of Atlantis), Monkey Island, TIE Fighter etc.
But they really kind of "died" after late 1990s. The new Star Wars and Indiana Jones films/games just didn't have the quality of the old times (or maybe I just became old).
Sad news. It would be great if Disney open sourced the X-Wing and Tie Fighter code... :-O
GTA set in a Star Wars universe could be fun.
I was going to make a joke involving the Hot Coffee incident, Natalie Portman as Padme, and hot grits, but I decided that was way too much nerdiness for one post.
So I'm simply going to say that I'd prefer vice versa, Star Wars set in a GTA universe.
Large outside levels... curved walls... it was cutting edge... and one of my favorite games
Surely you meant GTAT-AT.
How appropriate, you fight like a cow.
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Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Or Grand Theft Anakin!
Or you could be Anakin, just like in the film, mowing down Sand People and Jedi.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Enjoy these LucasArts and Origin games, for they will not be around forever. Take on the Kilrathi and Empire until your joystick breaks. Finish all the side objectives and keep all your wingmen alive. Get the better soundcard and CDROM drive to enjoy Day of the Tentacles with full voice support. And you can never have too many Death Star trench runs so buy Rebel Assault.
All I asked for was an undated to today's standard in graphics Tie Fighter. And you can't even do that. One of the richest trove of made for video games universes in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones and somehow you fuck it up and can't stay in business. I don't understand. They should be a juggernaut in the Video Game world.
"I don't which is worse, that everyone has a price, or that the price is always so low"--Hobbes
I'm dating myself but I blame X-Wing for my bad college freshman grades. We would play the game on a my room mates 66 Mhz 486DX2. The sound was OK but the music was crap so we just put in a Star Wars CD and turned it up.
The energy management was such a great part of the game. Double Front my ass! Put all power into the engines and bob and weave.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
with free electric sheep!
Just like my dreams.
"All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
Buy indie games direct from developers through GOG or Steam. It's win-win-win-lose (for big studio make-nothings like EA). Consolidation of the big players only cements the indie inroads. Like the music industry, they sealed their own fate long ago and can only acquire, not create, products of value.
"All these years believing you're the signified monkey, only to find out you're just a big hunk of nobody cares."
I've posted a nostalgic look back at LucasArts. They were a client of my game testing company and I also was a member of the press during their most creative years. I remember these guys well. You can find the post at http://slashcomment.com/entertainment/good-bye-lucasarts/
They should have flipped that around. Release an updated X-Wing, with multiplayer, and eventually tie it into an MMO like Galaxies. It might have led to a more successful launch for SWG had they used this game as a pre-cursor to build up a solid online fanbase before-hand.
If Disney can release the original Star Wars movies without the plot changes it will be welcome.
I am still trying to forget the prequels even happened.
Phil
Laugh, it's good for you!
the music, which used iMuse, was actually great if you ran it to an outboard midi GM module (I used my Roland D5 keyboard at the time, which worked as it was compatible-ish with the MT-32 a lot of games back then supported), it was also awesome since it was midi it would seamlessly switch between "quiet" and "battle", I was really sad when games switched from that tech to CD tracks as the switch in that case it's a heck of a lot more noticeable.
With the available quality of virtual instruments nowadays I am a bit miffed that more games don't go for stems and mix things on the fly vs having fully produced tracks.
-- the cake is a lie
You pay even if the games suck? Sure, they can make them but then they might suck. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I'm dating myself
Welcome to slashdot.
We would play the game on a my room mates 66 Mhz 486DX2.
66 MHz? Luxury! Why in my day... etc etc.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Better be good with that trigger finger if you get that six star wanted level, no way you're outrunning those fracking Snow Speeders and their damned grappling lines - they're taking you down every time.
Oh man. I was even planning to play through The Dig this weekend for fun and nostalgia sake. And now, this news about Lucasarts closing comes though... Looks like this weekend's gaming session will also be a memorial play-through as well.
if ($question !~ m/bb|[^b]{2}/i) { die(); }
you go to see the next disney bambifier idiotic film, or you put disney channel, and so on.
We all knew this would happen. Alas, we did it anyway.
Will only buy if Larry Holland is on board. Will only buy if it has strong single player. Will only buy if you stand no chance without proper flight controls.
The original floppy version of X-Wing included a legendary frustrating mission. You were protecting a couple of freighters in an A-Wing(my least favorite craft) against a couple of waves of TIE Bombers. Who launched and launched and launched torpedoes. It's been 20 years since but I still remember the feeling of accomplishment after I finished that one. Sniped torpedoes ot of the air, hammered out my concussion missiles and went at the bombers with my measly two lasers, full shields to bow and hell rode in after me.
It took me 2 days to get this one right.
The mission got nerfed in the subsequent re-releases.
20 minutes into the future
CH Flightstick. You needed one. If you couldn't reconfigure your shields, energy levels(to weapon, engines and shields), switch between laser fire modes, didn't know your ion cannon from your concusion missile and couldn't read your radar then you were toast. Although(oh heresy) I still prefer the Wing commander radar display.
In which case Sir might perhaps Rebel Assault? Many distinguished gentlemen with deficient aptitude prefer that offering. It can be controlled by a game pad, no special skills required.
20 minutes into the future
I really liked Rebellion... but I had a list of complaints about it longer than my arm that needed "fixing" to make the game what it should have been. I have no idea any more what those complaints were, but I don't think any of it was overly complicated to fix. They just needed a few good beta testers to point out the problems, then fix them. It could have been a much better game.
Don't get me wrong. I love the X-wing series. I don't think they're suited for todays mass audience though. Reconfiguring your energy levels on the fly is a bit much for todays gamers that can't even handle health paks.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
The point is this: when a larger corporate entity, whose business is not the making of software, then has an in-house department that makes that software, it will not follow market demands but will be obedient to management, who are one step removed from market demands.
The point isn't "develop their own games" if they are a games company; it's a non-games company developing games internally.
That was clear in the original message, but you either missed it or don't care. Judging by your angry and incoherent post, you're looking for an excuse to be offended and righteously angry. I hope you get that chip off your shoulder; living like that has never worked for me or anyone I know.
I hope they at least release X-Wing and TIE Fighter on Steam before shutting down. To this day TIE Fighter is still one of my favorite games.
You missed out on TIE Fighter.
Don't get me wrong. I love the X-wing series. I don't think they're suited for todays mass audience though. Reconfiguring your energy levels on the fly is a bit much for todays gamers that can't even handle health paks.
The current euphemism for this is "streamlining". We still call it "you kids suck". Every time I see somebody taking a couple of rockets to the face, dive behind a chest-high wall and emerge 10 seconds later right as rain I die a little bit inside. Halo ruined health management and Half-life ruined what used to be open shooters.
Not that the FPS genre was worth anything to begin with. First we had those shooting ducks shooting galleries. They were shareware. Then they thought "let's let the ducks move to and fro as well". And then they let the player move to and fro. And then we got multiplayer so the ducks were people who shot back. The whole thing had not too much depth to begin with and even that got taken away.
Now everybody makes those highly scripted regen health death-to-the-brown-people shooterthings. But at least they have a story. Handily presented in QTEs. Don't stand over there or you will be summarily exected for triggering the QTE in the wrong sequence.
You are propably right. A shooting duck's brain propably wouldn't be able to handle redirecting all power from the shield to overtake that imperial bastard/rebel scum and would write an angry email to the internet.
20 minutes into the future
Thank you for trying but:
The primary product is film, not games.
Disney should sell the rights to the X-Wing / Tie Fighter engine to CCP Games to be integrated into Eve Online. I think a joystick driven fast-twitch interface would do that game a lot of good.