Lucasarts and XBOX SHOWCASE
05/13/2001 4:55:55 AM MDT Albuquerque, Nm
By Dustin D. Brand; Owner AMO
Lucasarts is bringing back memories for me, and I thought I'd share.
Lucasarts is coming back with a bang. They've been hard at work for the past 2 years on several new titles, some for the PC as I remember the originals, some for Sony's Playstation 2, and many for the upcoming XBOX from Microsoft.
A bit of history... When I was 14, I played the original "Monkey Island", back in 1993. What an enjoyment, lasting at least 40 hours of intense mind thought and fun puzzles. I easily grew very fond of Lucasarts games from that point on. I played and owned "Day of the Tentacle", "Sam and Max", and really enjoyed "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis" which lasted me near 50 hours at least. I'm explaining here a side of Lucasarts many probably don't remember with all the fame George Lucas received from Star Wars.
Lucasarts started making games in the home, and for the PC, the best of which were these puzzle adventure games with which they built their standing on. I am happy to see Lucasarts branching out into more gaming territory, like gaming systems other than the PC.
Eł is coming up here in less than a week, and leading up to this, Lucasarts has been announcing and revealing many new games. I was happy to see the 4th rendition of "Monkey Island" coming, but am waiting for the PC version since it is being released on the Sony Playstation 2 first.
The hit adventure series on PC now comes to the PlayStation 2!
An original cinematic story full of drama, sociopathic parrots and a villain with a sinister agenda!
Dozens of lusciously rendered backgrounds!
Hundreds of puzzles to challenge all wannabe pirates er, adventurers!
Jokes! Puns! Insults! And more monkeys than you can shake a voodoo doll at!
Microsoft whom just purchased the gaming company Ensemble who makes the popular Age of Empires™ series, has teamed up with Lucasarts and built an RTS game based on Star Wars and for the PC.
Called Star Wars Galactic Battleground, this Lucasarts PC title is unlike any of their others and is scheduled for release in Winter of 2001.
Click for larger image
Lucasarts didn't stop there and announced 2 other games before Eł. The 2 XBOX titles announced thus far are StarFighter Special Edition, and ObiWan.
View the Lucasarts Graphics Comparison
View the Lucasarts Graphics Comparison
When Lucasarts makes a game, they make it, it's just that simple. While Lucasarts does license the popular "Star Wars" name to other game developer companies, in house Lucasarts' games are unlike those from the developers whom they license the "Star Wars" title to. The games mentioned above are 100% Lucasarts games, created by Lucasarts, and published by Lucasarts, and they are no doubt the best when they come from Lucasarts.
Now Lucasarts makes the best Star Wars games, but they also have a strong track record for Adventure/Puzzle games. One problem Lucasarts has had is they don't have the time to make every Star Wars game, and because of the demand for games that carry the Star Wars name and theme, often times they don't do the work on these other "Star Wars" games, and merely lend a helping hand in publishing the game, while another developer company actually makes the game. With Lucasarts' own track record as a guide, they alone make their own best selling titles, not other parties "coding" and putting together Lucasarts themed games which they in turn publish.
Such is the case with Lucasarts title "Rogue Leader"
View the Lucasarts Graphics Comparison
In terms of Graphic power, this "Rogue Leader" game is simply not up to the par of other Lucasarts in house Star Wars games, or even the Monkey Island Playstation 2 title above. Now I'm not making an opinion here, it's facts as usual with me. All of these images have been provided by Lucasarts themselves. This Lucasarts game, Rogue Leader is not made by Lucasarts, but another company whom is making this game for Nintendo, and will be shown this coming week at e3 in Los Angeles.
Star Wars Racer Revenge (PlayStation 2)
View the Lucasarts Graphics Comparison
If you havn't already, view my Lucasarts Graphics Comparison. I used images provided to myself by Lucasarts to showcase their talent over the other developers whom they license "Star Wars" to, using Rogue Leader as the base comparison. I'm happy that Lucasarts is still going strong, but I'd really like to see more of the Indiana Jones and Monkey Island or Sam and Max or Day of the Tentacle games. My jaw dropped when Lucasarts told me about Monkey Island 4 on the PS2, now when the PC or XBOX title comes I'll be excited to play the game. Next stop is a new Indiana Jones adventure. Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds currently on the PC, and slated for a possible stop on the XBOX looks like major fun too.
Man, I need a vacation this Winter...
10/11/01 Tuesday October 11th, 2001 XBOX Launch Date...< PREDICTION
Ontogony Recapitulates Phylogony...
<___The Dustman___> out <:msg recv>
Microsoft XBOX Web-Site
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