Lucasarts - Monkey Island 5 for reals?

So, apparently, Lucasarts are due to announce a brand new game title, which goes "back to their roots". With new president Daryll Rodriguez, who is said to be a huge adventure game fan, i'm putting my money on a brand new original Monkey Island title. The reason for this? Simples, both Lucasarts and telltale have created Monkey Island mania recently. LA have released the Mi:SE and telltale are weening us back on guybrush's teet with Tales. We are hooked and i think it's a no-brainer that LA will make a bundle on this as they've started the renaissance of adventure gaming and MI is hot property at the moment.

All the old titles have been made available via Steam downloads and we are all feeling the point and click nostalgia. We've got the fever, and they can finally make a profit on this once dying genre. Not only that but these games we love so much are finding new homes on an increasing amount of platforms. The Wii's wand system supports point and click interface and we've already seen games like Broken Sword and Zack and Wiki, which not only appeal to existing fans but are drawing in a new audience. Combine that with telltales contribution of their titles to WiiWare and we can see it an obvious choice to cater for an all new title from LA. MI:SE has been released on XBOX LIVE so, again, console gamers are getting sucked into the world of pointing and clicking, it can only be a good thing!

There's no better way to kick off the resurgence of adventure games than an all new MI title, it's the logical choice. We get what we've dreamed off for the last 10 years since the release of the last "true" Monkey Island, and Lucasarts make a bundle by cashing in on Guybrush fever. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to cash in on this, i'm just saying that now it's profitable, it will happen sooner or later.

Even if this big announcement that's got me so excited isn't Monkey Island 5, it's going to be awesome either way as we could be getting an all new adventure game altogether, or maybe Grim Fandango 2?

Your thoughts?


http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episode-222-gametrailers-tv/55677
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Comments

  • edited September 2009
    Announcing a Monkey Island 5 while Tales is going on would be weird.
    My (easy) bet is on Lucidity. ;)
  • edited September 2009
    I wonder what people expect from a LA Monkey Island. I don't think anyone who ever had a significant role in one of the previous titles still works there. Also those who can't warm up to Tales can't look forward to anything involving Ron Gilbert or (for those CMI fans) Bill Tiller.
    That, and I found SoMI:SE quite dreadful and couldn't bring myself to finish it. No problem replaying the original over and over again though.
  • edited September 2009
    back to their roots, all the way back to their first star wars game.
  • edited September 2009
    MI2: Special Edition?
  • edited September 2009
    Lucidity does seem to be a front runner, i just hope it isn't confined to one platform. In fact, i just hope it's a return to the old school and we get a game that harks back to the good old days of 2d cartoon style animation.

    If it's a Star Wars game, i'll be thoroughly gutted.
  • edited September 2009
    Almost certainly Lucidity.
  • edited September 2009
    Huh, why would LA make another Monkey Island game, when we have offical (and great) one from Telltale?
    I do hope the "yet-to-be-announced" game will be something completely new (Lucidity?).
    To be frank, I'd rather see Telltale deal with their past golden licences (Day of the Tentacle, etc.), as they have already proved they can handle them the best way possible.. while LA.. let's just say, I hope they still possess enough talent and will to return to their old glory..
  • edited September 2009
    Paintbrush wrote: »
    Huh, why would LA make another Monkey Island game, when we have offical (and great) one from Telltale?
    I do hope the "yet-to-be-announced" game will be something completely new (Lucidity?).
    To be frank, I'd rather see Telltale deal with their past golden licences (Day of the Tentacle, etc.), as they have already proved they can handle them the best way possible.

    I think they are, and i do beleive everyone who was on the original will be helping out, I only say this because while I was at pax, one of the LA team was out smoking, and he said that SMI sold very well, and that they had a suprise in hold for us...so I guess that means MI5 or they're re-releasing Le chucks revenge and Curse in a bundle.
  • edited September 2009
    Yay! Full Throttle 2! :)

    Maybe.
  • edited September 2009
    Paintbrush wrote: »
    Huh, why would LA make another Monkey Island game, when we have offical (and great) one from Telltale?
    I do hope the "yet-to-be-announced" game will be something completely new (Lucidity?).
    To be frank, I'd rather see Telltale deal with their past golden licences (Day of the Tentacle, etc.), as they have already proved they can handle them the best way possible.. while LA.. let's just say, I hope they still possess enough talent and will to return to their old glory..

    I'd love to see telltale do something with titles like DOTT but, rather than the episodic format, i'd prefer a full game we can play from start to finish, something i can really get my teeth into. I can't help be feel slightly put off by the current format, they tend to be far to easy to complete, just as you start to get into it you've finished it and then your left waiting for the next chapter. Even with an untouched full season at hand, it still seems a little disjointed, and that magic that made the older titles so appealing has been lost.

    I fired up scummvm last night and started on DOTT, which i haven't touched in years, and i was hooked straight away. Not having played this in a long while i'd forgotten the narrative of the game and alot of the puzzles, i just fell straight back into it. It seems hard to keep the flow with episodes as opposed to a full game.

    Tales is a massive improvement on Sam & Max, but there's still something about it that's missing and i can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe i'm just growing out of games but, saying that, i can sit and play the old point and click titles until the cows come home.
  • edited September 2009
    Yeah, i would love Maniac Mansion 3 if they would get the idea to do it! ^^
  • edited September 2009
    syrup wrote: »
    So, apparently, Lucasarts are due to announce a brand new game title, which goes "back to their roots".

    i think that their real roots are represented by titles like zak, loom or maniac and not monkey!
  • edited September 2009
    I dont see the point, it will just be another lackluster attempt

    If they actually went back to their roots, and brought gilbert back to make HIS game

    Then it might be worth getting excited about, but it aint going to happen

    but then again, i wont be happy unless they go back to the scumm engine
  • edited September 2009
    That game would be Monkey Island 6, though. Not 5. And revealed so soon after Tales? Nah.

    I'd like to see them try their hands at creating brand new adventure game series.
  • edited September 2009
    according to their tweet

    RT @geoffkeighley: LucasArts will announce a brand-new original game on this week's GTTV - with first footage. More details soon. (watch it)

    Brand new original game

    so it wont be MI i guess
  • edited September 2009
    If they had of said "Brand New IP" then you would be right Hamzie (I'm not saying you wrong, we all know it Lucidity) but "brand-new original game" does not rule out a sequel.
  • edited September 2009
    Absolutely everything points to the announcement being Ludicity.
  • edited September 2009
    Are all the blurry images in that announcement trailer from SMI:SE?
  • edited September 2009
    Since it seems everyone knows about Ludicity, I bet it will be a new game, I am hoping for MI2:SE
  • edited September 2009
    I think a fifth official release depends if Monkey Islands fan base can be EXPANDED at this time.
    Lucas Arts doesn't care that much about its nostalgic fans right now, it wants to suck in the masses and make a profit.

    A fifth title with today's technology would be costly, and while they are encouraging diversity by re-leasing the first game that is most likely because Tales is releasing a new current title and are one of the lead, if not the lead contributor of recent adventure games for old and new audiences.
  • edited September 2009
    Cirkapris wrote: »
    Yeah, i would love Maniac Mansion 3 if they would get the idea to do it! ^^

    I concur! :D
  • edited September 2009
    An MI2:SE would be great, but i think its about time for either a brand new game with new characters or a new and original story of an existing title. It would be interesting to see what they've done with lucidity if that's what they're going to announce but, as mentioned, people are already aware that this is in development and considering this is supposed to be a super secret that they're unveiling i'd hope we get something unexpected.
  • edited September 2009
    Hmm having now seen the XBLA achievements page for Lucidity, Im not sure this the "Back to their roots" game after all.

    The gamestrailer video shows lots of adventure game snippets, none of which have things like "damage". It sounds like a platform game to me too, could this be classed as LA "roots"?
  • edited September 2009
    I don't think Lucas Arts believes in new OLD adventure games anymore, they are probably trying something different. Fate of Atlantis and Last Crusade both had fighting and keyboard movements in them too and that was during the golden days of Lucas Arts.

    So if the game had both genre elements it wouldn't be a historical oddity.

    It's discouraging that there's evidence of different genres but it's encouraging that Lucas Arts has done it before.
  • edited September 2009
    I thought it was going to be MI2:SE until I read the "brand new" bit. Now I'm even starting to wonder if it's even a sequel to anything. It could be the beginning of something completely different.

    However perhaps by saying "back to their roots" they are suggesting that it's going to be something based on a classic. So I just don't know.

    I know that Maniac Mansion was the beginning of SCUMM, but wasn't Labyrinth their first proper "adventure" type game? I could be wrong of course. But maybe it'll be something to do with that.
  • edited September 2009
    Hmm what's this lucidity thing everyone is hoping for ?

    EDIT : okay, don't bother answering, i did a search and the info wasn't hard to get...
    Seems likely that's what coming indeed.
    For some reason i'm not all excited by the few i've reard about it, maybe when more stuff is revealed...
    All i hope for them is to get back, not necessilly to any of their old franchise, but to this "hey, what if we did some stuff NOT related to star wars and actually tried to make great games no matter what they're about" attitude they seemed to have years ago.
  • edited September 2009
    What's not "for reals" about Tales? In terms of Monkey Island, LucasArts is just a NAME now. It was halfway to just being a name when Curse came about, and now I don't think ANYBODY with connections to the franchise works there. Telltale's game is more "for reals" than any LucasArts game could be.
  • edited September 2009
    Hmm having now seen the XBLA achievements page for Lucidity, Im not sure this the "Back to their roots" game after all.

    The gamestrailer video shows lots of adventure game snippets, none of which have things like "damage". It sounds like a platform game to me too, could this be classed as LA "roots"?
    It's a puzzle-platformer like Braid. The emphasis is probably on using your platforming abilities and items to solve puzzles, rather than quick reflexes and all that.

    Anyway, they said that the game would be a new IP, so even if it isn't Lucidity (which it is)...it won't be a sequel to anything we've seen before.
  • edited September 2009
    It seems like the way Keighley said it means it's a new IP completely. I think the going back to roots parts indicates adventure games though. I just don't think it will be a Monkey Island game.

    And frankly, I'm okay with that. I don't have a lot of confidence that the current LucasArts could pull off something like that, especially after all the founding talent has moved on.
  • edited September 2009
    That game would be Monkey Island 6, though. Not 5. And revealed so soon after Tales? Nah.

    I'd like to see them try their hands at creating brand new adventure game series.

    No... it would be Monkey Island 5... not 6.... Tales of MI is NOT MI5... TellTale games stated this multiple times.

    to be more precise... Tales of Monkey Island plays some time AFTER Money Island 5
  • edited September 2009
    jortlaban wrote: »
    No... it would be Monkey Island 5... not 6.... Tales of MI is NOT MI5... TellTale games stated this multiple times.

    to be more precise... Tales of Monkey Island plays some time AFTER Money Island 5

    Isn't there already a thread on this?

    I'm too lazy to look it up.
  • edited September 2009
    looking at the trailer


    http://www.gametrailers.com/video/ep...ilers-tv/55677


    It seems like it is monkey island, see the images...look at the new designed pirates behind them...

    My guess would be monkey 5...

    But it sounds like maybe a new maniac mansion...that would be a return to the roots, and if you think of it a new version of the original one, could have so many new options inside the house...would be a good way of starting over...
  • edited September 2009
    'back to roots' could just mean that they're gonna do it in traditional 2d animation, not necessarily a wink to any specific franchise.
  • edited September 2009
    FIGULS wrote: »
    looking at the trailer


    http://www.gametrailers.com/video/ep...ilers-tv/55677


    It seems like it is monkey island, see the images...look at the new designed pirates behind them...

    My guess would be monkey 5...

    But it sounds like maybe a new maniac mansion...that would be a return to the roots, and if you think of it a new version of the original one, could have so many new options inside the house...would be a good way of starting over...

    The images you see in the background and that are blurred are all MI:SE concepts.
  • edited September 2009
    oppps yeah!!! sorry!:p

    But lucidity doesnt look that classic or back to their roots...

    I would like it to be maniac mansion a new version, or maniac 3...my guess would be the first...
  • edited September 2009
    I didn't get when it is supposed to be announced, by the way...
    I heard "Tuesday" in the video but without any date... Would that be next tuesday then ?
  • edited September 2009
    I'm guessing by 'back to their roots' they just mean they're trying to create an original and interesting new IP like they used to do, rather than making an adventure game in their old style. And I'm fine with that - the snippets of Lucidity I've seen look artful and creative, whatever the genre.

    Incidentally people are being almost embarrassingly literal minded with this whole 'Tales isn't really MI5' thing.
  • edited September 2009
    I hope it is a new adventure ip. I'm hoping they release Monkey Island 2 SE next year, so they have time to make it as good as the game deserves.
  • edited September 2009
    It's an adventure game. If weren't, GT TV would not have used all those DOTT, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango clips at the beginning (plus the MI:SE art). The fact they used blurred MI:SE art when mentioning the "brand new, original game," has me leaning toward Monkey Island. But it might just be for hype.
    I didn't get when it is supposed to be announced, by the way...
    I heard "Tuesday" in the video but without any date... Would that be next tuesday then ?

    No, it said Thursday at 12:30, but no date. So it's probably next Thursday.
  • edited September 2009
    It's today, there is a counter on the gametrailers page.
    13 hours and 21 minutes to go.
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