This marks the first time I've felt genuinely saddened by the shutdown of a game studio. LucasArts made some of the best games I played as a kid, it's a shame they couldn't follow up their legacy in recent years. :(
Eh. I was more disappointed when Westwood bit the dust. In all honesty, LucasArts was long, long past it's golden era.
Though I'm currently playing through Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis on my way to and from work, on my phone, via SCUMM. I'll always be grateful for that.
It's funny/tragic just how much better the Fate of Atlantis' story was than Indiana Jones 4. They could have just made that into a movie and it would have been amazing.
>> it's a shame they couldn't follow up their legacy in recent years.
Agreed, but it's worth keeping in mind that "recent years" in this case means over a decade. LucasArts pumped out hordes of sub-par games, quickly shoe-horning various game paradigms into the star wars universe.
As much as I feel nostalgic towards the hey-day of old, the article is spot on in pointing out that all their recent greats (KOTOR, etc.) were developed externally. If I were in Disney's shoes, I might have made much the same call, alas. Either that or take a gamble on a radical re-vitalization campaign, which is dicey in today's game market.
The space fighter genre seems to be lost. I did some research a few years ago trying to understand what happened. Not enough market demand was the answer. The same goes for Mech games and flight sims. We live in a cold world some days :(
I miss them too. I make up for it playing the X series[1] and Freespace mods[2]. X series is more like a single player Eve (also has lots of mods like Freespace), while Freespace is more like X-Wing/Tie Fighter. There's even a Star Wars mod for Freespace (might be one for X, but have not checked).
I understand your feelings. But keep in mind that the PEOPLE who made those games are LONG GONE. The NAME of the company is still there, and I understand why you're attached to it as I am too, but the people who made those special games have been gone for years.
As hard as it is, don't attach those great memories to the COMPANY, but rather the people who had the vision to make them.
If you need to remove your attachment, play the Kinect version of Star Wars.
And for one person there: Karma. It takes a long time but it does come back to bite you. Now you know the price of those 6am flights you booked.
untog|13 years ago
Though I'm currently playing through Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis on my way to and from work, on my phone, via SCUMM. I'll always be grateful for that.
Lewisham|13 years ago
doktrin|13 years ago
Agreed, but it's worth keeping in mind that "recent years" in this case means over a decade. LucasArts pumped out hordes of sub-par games, quickly shoe-horning various game paradigms into the star wars universe.
As much as I feel nostalgic towards the hey-day of old, the article is spot on in pointing out that all their recent greats (KOTOR, etc.) were developed externally. If I were in Disney's shoes, I might have made much the same call, alas. Either that or take a gamble on a radical re-vitalization campaign, which is dicey in today's game market.
spangborn|13 years ago
throwaway1979|13 years ago
DerekL|13 years ago
yareally|13 years ago
[1] http://store.steampowered.com/app/2820/
[2] http://www.gog.com/news/freespace_2_open_source_code_project...
Macsenour|13 years ago
As hard as it is, don't attach those great memories to the COMPANY, but rather the people who had the vision to make them.
If you need to remove your attachment, play the Kinect version of Star Wars.
And for one person there: Karma. It takes a long time but it does come back to bite you. Now you know the price of those 6am flights you booked.
laureny|13 years ago
Er... no. That's superstition.
It's simply not real.