LucasArts Classic Adventure Games on Steam

LucasArts and Valve announced today a new initiative to bring classic adventure games in the LucasArts catalog to Steam. Much loved titles such as Loom, The Dig and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis will be available tomorrow on Steam.

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The announcement was being teased throughout the day yesterday on LucasArts’ twitter, and now there are a few extra facts being shared there as well. Firstly, this first batch of 10 games is “just a start”, and there will be more to come. Apparently each title has been reworked to run in Windows XP and Vista, and those that previously required SCUMMVM or DosBox to work, now won’t. They are now self-running executables that will work in modern-day video resolutions with switchable full-screen and windowed modes. The physical DRM that came with the games back in the day in the form of cardboard inserts, like the Grail Diary, will now come digitally in the package.

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In related news, the first episode of Telltale’s new five-part Tales of Monkey Island series is about to drop, with the website taking last-minute pre-orders. Later this month the special edition of Secret of Monkey Island will launch, a re-imagined makeover of the original game with high-resolution graphics and a remastered score.

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Mo’ Monkey Island

Lightning just struck in the form of Telltale’s all-new episodic series, Tales of Monkey Island. Now sporting a spotless track record and a tremendous presence in the adventure gaming marketplace, Telltale were able to license the franchise from the smouldering ruins of LEC. We couldn’t be happier that the new series also paves the way for the imminent return of Michael Z. Land, the creator of the magnificent iMuse, as well as of Dominic Armato, the one and only voice of Guybrush Threepwood.

Here’s what Ron Gilbert has to say of the situation:

This next year is going to be very interesting.  Ron Gilbert, Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer all have games coming out.  Someone check the scriptures.  Might be a good time to start hording canned goods. 1)http://grumpygamer.com/8280380

Canned goods aside, that’s not nearly all; Telltale’s series is further complemented by LucasArts’ new, self-revised “Special Edition” version of the original Secret of Monkey Island.

This new rendition, then, contains hand-painted HD graphics and re-mastered, re-recorded audio; It also gives you the ability, if you so desire, to switch between the new “Special Edition” and a “Classic Mode”, which allows you to play the game as it always was.

Sounds good? Yes! My only concern for the Special Edition project – cries and whispers of rehashing aside – is that, frankly speaking, the 1080i Guybrush looks like a twat.

Who would have thought?

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Wallace & Gromit Demo

Telltale Games is letting us know the Wallace & Gromit Grand Adventures demo is now (exclusively, at the time of writing) available at Yahoo and FilePlanet. After an admittedly brief play-through, as the short demo is only really designed to acquaint new players with the generic mechanics of the adventure game genre, I still found myself surprised enough!

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Telltale Takes Marketing Turn, Offers Free Swag Again

I’ll be a tattletale and let you know that Telltale is at it once again, furiously handing out free copies of their products. This time around you get to choose, too, between Sam and Max: Ice Station Santa and Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3.

The catch? Sign up to the mailing list. For once your multi-account e-mail hell is good for something, since I know you are already registered, ha!

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