Sam and Max 2 Cancelled! (Not Anymore)

[modgeulator]

I don't think anyone's posted this yet, there's an online petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/LACOSAM/petition.html

Already up to 1900+ signatures at time of writing!

[m0ds]

Maaaaaaaan.

[Migs]

Yay, an Internet petition!  These ALWAYS work!

[Rincewind]

Well, this didn't exactly make my day...
I'll just say "poo" and then send a mail and sign that petition...

This was my only game on the "Professional Games That I look Forward To In A Close Future"-list... Dang.

[LGM]

Aw darn! Now another overly-hyped game that would've ended up an MI4 incident has been cancelled.

Dear me! Somebody call the doctor!

Not to be a vindictive asshole or anything, but everyone complained how Lucasarts ruined the MI series with MI4. Maybe SAM2 was turning to crap, and they didn't want another MI4 incident. Maybe they have researchers that scrounge forums for customer feedback that isn't given to them directly, and they see how we respond to their games (and by we, I mean, yes, fanboys.) Maybe one of us is a mole for Lucasarts. Who knows!?

For all we know, this could be for the good of Lucasarts. Lucasarts might have wanted to save themselves from suffering through poor sales from a game that would probably ruin the first game's reputation and spark lots of complaints and more boycotting.

Or I could be wrong and the sales team at Lucasarts are a bunch of stupid morons, who knows. Just trying not to be bias, so don't flame me.

[Tarison]

This is more than disappointing, though if they're going to ONLY publish Star Wars, then can they at least throw us an SW adventure game?

[Gonzo]

LGM, nobody can be sure either way whether it was going to be a lukewarm fan reaction or not. But a lot were agreed the new Sam And Max looked wonderful in the trailer. I'd have loved the chance to play it. I love the characters and the Sam And Max 'world', and from the trailer I was quite confident we were in for a treat. I could tell the humour was intact from all the dialogue and little details there. The art in the newer screenshots looked terrific.

This might have hidden serious problems with the actual game, but LucasArts, in the little they've said, haven't said there's anything wrong with the game. They blame the market, they simply don't think it will sell. When they were honest enough to tell us that Full Throttle 2 just wasn't very good and would have disappointed everyone, why would they make excuses for Sam And Max 2? I think SAM2 would have rocked, even though it's more painful to think that.

And quality aside, one of the big things with this is that the fanbase was excited that it was coming out so soon this year (it was actually scheduled for SPRING before it was cancelled, so it would have been very soon allegedly). LucasArts have just dismissed our anticipations, and seemingly abandoned adventures, with a frankly insulting few sentences that don't explain much.

[James Kay]

LucasArts have just dismissed our anticipations, and seemingly abandoned adventures, with a frankly insulting few sentences that don't explain much.

God bless PR, eh?

And why shouldn't they blame the market? The same market that made The Matrix profitable. The same market that buys the same crap over and over and over while a scant 1900-odd people would love to have paid for a new adventure games, in todays numbers that is laughable.

Face it, peeps. You lot are a dying breed.
Focus your attention not on letters of complaint but on your growing amateur adventure scene, which will give birth to far more interesting games than one over-hyped and very probably ultimately dissapointing title.

[Sylpher]

"After careful evaluation of current market place realities and underlying economic considerations..."

Or to slim it down even more.

"...current market place..."

I'm not sure when S&M:FP started production but lets just pretend Lucasarts said "Hey lets make a sequel to Sam & Max!" 1 year ago to this day. Screw it, I will even stretch and say it was 2 years ago to this day.

Monday, March 4th 2002.

The "current market place" was a whole hell of alot like it was right now. All the major consoles had been released. Computer hardware hasn't exactly had an extreme leap in any way. FPS were still pretty dominent. What exactly took place that Lucasarts 2 years before now (again made up date) thought creating this game was a good idea and now it suddenly isn't?

I mean did RPG's suddenly have a huge explosion of popularity I am unaware of over the last few months and people are starting to make shirts like..

"Oh man.. I was so ready to buy bagallons of adventure games but now that I have these 'RPGs' I will never touch them again"

Or did Lucasarts just suddenly realize adventure games aren't popular? Like they just woke up a couple days ago and went "What the shit? People aren't all up on pointing and clicking??? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN???"

I mean who is running the evaluation department over there? Do they make short speaches to the suits between naps and snacks?

I don't know.. The reasoning doesn't sit well with one little Sylpher.

[MrColossal]

Who are the ad wizards that came up with that one?!

[Matt Wilson]

Oh, please. Lucasarts is owned by George Lucas. Since when is money a factor for them?

Sam and Max 2 wasn't a bastardization of the Sam and Max universe, strange as it may seem. Full Throttle 2 was a total mess on all fronts, but noone had any concern about S&M2 at all. It was nothing but praise from everyone.

It wouldn't have been EMI all over again.

[MrColossal]

why do you say full throttle 2 would have been horrible?

you have no idea. because it wasn't a strict adventure game? that's a huge guess you just made. because it didn't look good? it was early production art, you show me a game that looks amazing from the first few models they throw into an engine.

and how do you know what was going on with the sam and max 2 game? it could have been horrible.

[Matt Wilson]

There was nothing conceptually wrong with Full Throttle 2, much like I don't mind the concept behind the new Leisure Suit Larry game. It was simply too ambitious.

The model designs were also too exaggerated and cartoony for the Full Throttle universe. The FT models were meant to have exaggerations but not not as severe as FT2 had conceptualized. It's like if they remodelled Justice League to look like.. Powerpuff Girls.

[MrColossal]

don't you think it was the other way around?

3d Ben looks more detailed and more rounded than 2d Ben. 2d Ben is total cartoon with a lantern jaw that just won't quit.

oh well, doesn't matter in the slightest.

i really didn't like the look of 3d sam and max at all. but again, doesn't matter

[Yak@Work (LFL)]

This news came as a rather jarring blow to me, as well.  My first reaction was write them a meanderingly whacked-out letter. Fortunately, I curtailed the impulse as it probably wouldn't be great for my current career.  

I agree on many points, particularly that LA should just rename itself Starwars Gamez or revert to LEC.  

I don't believe, however, the all the blame lies with LucasArts.  The adventure game genre's been dying for years.  Remember The Longest Journey? When it was released, it was done utterly rebelling against the current trend in gaming.  Sales weren't great compared to the other games on the market, but they were respectable considering the limited audience.  At least LucasArts were going to give it an honest shot.  They asked themselves which games they could expand upon and deliver to their fans.  They put in some serious time, manhours and cash, until they reached the financial point of no return. At that point, the marketing department did their job and cancelled the project before it became a monetary black hole.

I would've preferred both titled FT2 & S&M2 not be in 3D but even so, I mourn their demise.  We can at least be thankful that they didn't try to convert the project into Sam and Max: The FPS. Maybe it's a cue to start preaching the gospel a little more.  If you've got a buddy or relative who could potentially be interested in adventure games if given a chance, figure out which one they might like (The Dig, King's Quest, S&M, Full Throttle, Space Quest, et al) and bug 'em until they're hooked.

[Gonzo]

This has really stirred up a lot of hatred for LucasArts, to the extent this website has turned up: http://wwhs.fangames.co.uk/art.html. They have 'hate mail', 'hate art', even hate music - my favourite image is here.

[cpage]

Okay I totally agree that killing this game was the worst idea they have had .. BUT....
1. why are you people saying that FT2 was going to be horrible.... was there a demo i didnt know about or are you just basing your "educated" oppinions on what you saw like you are a god and have no reason to try a game before you judge.
2. I happened to have really enjoyed MI4 and I just want to know what everyone has against it?
So there was a change in direction... its better then staying predictable
and in its own right it was a great game!   I bet if lucas had released it under a different name, changed the characters a bit most of you would have given it praise and said "hooray for lucasarts they are still making adventures"
3. Maybe one of the problems with releasing an adventure game at this point is all in the fans..? I mean it seems to me that adventure fans as a whole are just getting more and more stubborn. companies make these games specificly for fans like us and what do most of us do?    BITCH and say "its not as cool/creative as it used to be".

I too sent LA a e-mail about SM2
but people who boycott them might be the reason they suck so much now.
The fans of the shitty star wars games must be coming back for more repeatedly. so they get more of the same. causing this vicious cycle.
If we stayed true to our games maybe they'd see us as part of the market again.

thats just what I think

-Chris

[DGMacphee]

So, much controversy over a game.

Oh well -- at least the game won't end up a Frontier: First Encounters, or a Battlecruiser 3000AD, or a Daikatana.

[James Kay]

This has really stirred up a lot of hatred for LucasArts, to the extent this website has turned up: http://wwhs.fangames.co.uk/art.html. They have 'hate mail', 'hate art', even hate music - my favourite image is here.

Wow, some people really have too much spare time and need to lay off the coffee!

Seeing the 3D S&M again, it's been a while, it has come to my attention that the models do indeed look very ropey, especially Sam.

My informed conclusion: game was in a bad state, LEC decided it was not worth pouring more money into it to make it presentable, PR makes a badly worded press statement naming some arbitrary reason which happens to get a lot of people riled up.

[CoffeeBob]

The only thing I say is...
DAMN LUCASARTS CANCELLING!
Is that better ? Sorry if I made myself look like an angry n00b, but I was looking forward to that game as much as I was looking forward to Sonic Heroes when I saw the first screens. I was looking forward to S&M2 even more! :'(