"LucasArts' Secret History" - Pt 14: Escape From Monkey Island
 

Looks like Mixnmojo is aiming to go through and do a fairly epic retrospective on each of LucasArts' old games, in chronological order. You can see the first article, on Maniac Mansion here. It's surely familiar ground for some, but they've doing a pretty exhaustive job, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series!

And before anyone gets all uppity about the title of the article series, I'm sure that "LucasArts' Secret History" is meant to be wholly tongue-in-cheek, given how the company presents itself these days.

Part 1: Maniac Mansion
January 30, 2008

Part 2: Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
March 9, 2008

Part 3: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
April 22, 2008

Part 4: Loom
May 30, 2008

Part 5: The Secret of Monkey Island
June 30, 2008

Part 6: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
August 4, 2008

Part 7: Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
September 1, 2008

Part 8: Day of the Tentacle
October 13, 2008

Part 9: Sam & Max Hit the Road
December 8, 2008

Part 10: Full Throttle
March 7, 2009

Part 11: The Dig
March 30, 2009

Part 12: The Curse of Monkey Island
May 26, 2009

Part 13: Grim Fandango
August 30, 2009

Part 14: Escape From Monkey Island
February 23, 2010

Thanks for that, that was an interesting read. Be sure to inform us again when the next article is done.

Fantastic article, thanx a lot for informing us - it sure was a very enjoyable read :)

Good read.

Maniac Mansion is still one of my very favorite Lucas Arts games. It was my first PC adventure game and I played the hell out of it when I was a kid. The first adventure games I played were Shadowgate and Deja Vu on the NES.

I didn't really get into the adventure genre as a whole until playing Kings Quest 6 a couple years later, though.

Nice. I will enjoy reading these.:D

They've just posted the second part of the series, an in-depth look at Zak McKracken.

The next one in the series, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure, should be up by next weekend.

Does anyone have a source for this factoid posted before the Maniac Mansion article? Did he say this in an interview or something?

"Jim Ward, the current president of LucasArts, sees these old games as embarrassing baggage rather than a legacy to build on"

It's not a quote from Ward, and I don't think it was the intention to insinuate that it was.

It insinuates that he believes that, though. I'm just curious if that's based on stuff he's said or written, or if the article is just trying to make him look like a bad guy.

I think it's mostly based on the way Ward would quickly steer off the topic of 'ye olde great games' very quickly whenever he was interviewed, saying things like "we can make better games than those games!" Since he's been in power LucasArts haven't released ANY games, and now he's left, so he was wrong!

Also, all other publishers like nothing more than to milk their old games to death. A brain-dead simpleton could've worked out that sticking any of the old games on the DS for example would mean a load of money for very little effort. But not LucasArts, oh no.

That is why we say LucasArts see their old games as embarrassing baggage!

Is the third review ready yet?

Pretty much, we're just waiting on some new 'cover art' and some interviews. This weekend it should be up.

I guess I'm just being picky, but I don't like the idea of putting words in people's mouths. For all we know, they've done a cost-benefit analysis and found importing old adventure games to the DS would work... (it would be cool if they put them up on the WiiWare service)...

I don't want to defend LucasArts either. They're a stupid, one-dimensional company that can't seem to make anything non-Star Wars related these days... I guess just because they're dumb, doesn't necessarily mean they're "embarrassed" by the old games. That just seems a little too strongly worded for me. I doubt anybody there wishes they never existed...

That's enough out of me... I'll shut up now...

I think it's just a bit of fun, but LucasArts obviously don't care about their old games otherwise they would re-release them and get some money from them.

Hell, if you want some proof, check this out. They don't even have Emperor's Tomb in there! A whole page dedicated to Indiana Jones games on six different platforms and there's only one preorder in there! Or this might be even better. Not even Republic Commando!

What i don't understand is, is how/why certain LucasArts' classics were re-released back in 2006. :crazy: The Curse of Monkey Island, Escape from Monkey Island, The Dig, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Sam & Max Hit the Road were all the ones i think. LucasArts must have re-released them right? I mean, who else would? And if they did then why, means they're so ashamed of their early games.

Either way it is a shame that they feel this way about their previous games. Their newer games will never have the same quality as their classics. At least back then they could think of original characters/ideas/stories. Now it's just the same franchise over and over again. The only 2 games i'm looking forward to from them are the new Indiana Jones games.

Other companies have rights to foreign (i.e. non-US) distribution of LucasArts' back catalog, so they get to decide when to release them. There has been as yet no US re-release of the old LucasArts adventures.

Oh, right. I've said it before but it'd be cool if they re-released all their older ones (Monkey Island 1 & 2, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis etc.) in a dvd case. Either way, the ones that were re-released need to be re-released again because they've suddenly become rare-ish again only after a couple of years. CMI was going for something like 12-13 quid, now it's going for £30+ through amazon marketplace.

I (and most non-LucasArts game companies) would've thought a really sensible thing to do would've been to re-release at the very least the Indiana Jones games, perhaps in a nice box-set. You know, with the movie out, Indy popular again, and with just a Lego retread of the first three films coming out? Even a budget release of Emperor's Tomb? Make you some money, guys? Lots of it? Guys?

Yeah, that's pretty dumb. Especially with so many options for releasing stuff now. Online. Xbox Live. Steam. Etc. Etc.