Haggis Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Hot off the presses, Jim Ward is calling it quits, because of 'personal reasons'. Now maybe we won't have to wait until 2015 after all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clone2727 Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Hot off the presses, Jim Ward is calling it quits, because of 'personal reasons'. Now maybe we won't have to wait until 2015 after all? Bah, beat me to it See here as well. Now that he's gone, we can't keep all those "Big Jim" is watching pictures anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven_Q45 Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 I have circulated this "good" news. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Oh no!!!!!!! Oh, well. Bye, Jim! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samnmax221 Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Now that he's gone, we can't keep all those "Big Jim" is watching pictures anymore Now you need pictures of the new guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabez Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 It's a shame we didn't run this story as a rumour when we first came across it -- but then I suppose that Jim Ward should be able to control when the news gets out. And I didn't agree with Ward's business "stagedy," but I'm sure that he's a good enough guy really, who did what he thought was right. I wonder if his sucessor will be very different, though? We'll just have to wait and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Udvarnoky Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I hope his successor doesn't take over both of Ward's previous positions. Why can't we have a person whose job is solely to be the President of LucasArts? Senior Vice President of LucasFilm doesn't seem like an insignificant side job. Even for the most competent person I don't like the idea of the LucasArts prez only being able to devote himself halfway. We need someone who can put their entire focus on the company. The acting president is Howard Roffman, who is also the "President of Lucas Licensing." He's only president in the interim, but man, how about one gigantic job per person? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Ah well, it seems like Ward was an ok guy, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urluckyday Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I bet he was a nice guy, but he threw the creativity of the company out the window... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Did Jim initiate the mass layoffs, or was that Mike Nelson, the interim VP after Simon Jeffries left? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven_Q45 Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I don´t know. I only know that Mike Nelson was the (stupid) man behind the cancellation of Sam and Max 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Damn you Mike Nelson!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remi Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I'm fairly certain Nelson in some way or other initiated the layoffs. (In all fairness, it probably wasn't his decision alone.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Udvarnoky Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Yeah I think Jim Ward came into power in the middle of all the layoffs, when the "get rid of everybody and start from scratch" mentality was already set in motion. I'm sure Jim is a nice guy, and we know he's a good businessman, and he's more than partly responsible for the fact that the company is in good financial shape, but it's hard for me to like a LucasArts president who has no respect for the company's legacy, and who's willing to deteriorate brand name to keep things safe. Of course, Hoffman (yet another Lucasfilm exec) may not be any better, but just because someone's worse than Ward doesn't mean Ward was good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 but it's hard for me to like a LucasArts president who has no respect for the company's legacy, and who's willing to deteriorate brand name to keep things safe. Compare this to the music industry - say Sony / SonyBMG. They'd never stop producing, for example, Michael Jackson Thriller CDs, the classics will always keep selling. Especially when on the 20th anniversary, and now the 25th anniversary they repackage the album with a couple of new bonus tracks and new artwork. And of course they re-release it on new media (UMD, Minidisc, digital download) too. They keep selling to collectors, plus people who have lost or worn out their old copies, and of course to a whole new audience. It baffles me that LucasArts (and many other gaming publishers, to be fair) don't treat their back-catalogue with the same reverence as a continual source of income as music or movie companies do. This is especially odd when Activision have been releasing WinXP / Vista compatible versions of the LEC Classics for the past couple of years outside the USA, and an open source emulator shows that the Scumm games can run on handheld devices. Wake up and smell the money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I don't know. Sierra tried something similar once, I believe. They started to redo their early games in glorious high res graphics... but amazingly the fan reaction was BAD. So much so that they stopped doing any more. I'd love to believe that they could do a Grim Fandango Deluxe and really make it worth my while... but I just know they **** something up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 I'm not talking about remaking / enhancing the games though. Grim, Sam & Max, The Dig, Full Throttle etc have all been repackaged and rereleased by activision in the last few years outside the USA. XP / Vista compatible. If anything was to be tweaked, and the source code still exists, it would be to remove the dead ends from the FM Towns version of Zak McKraken (and maybe Last Crusade though that may need a graphic overhaul to be saleable). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven_Q45 Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 XP / Vista compatible. Yes only compatible, but technically the same! The enhanced FM-Towns versions are very fine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urluckyday Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Are these re-released versions legit? Why weren't they released in the US? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Yes they're legit. http://www.mixnmojo.com/php/news/showfile.php?id=2247&category=lucasartsnews As to why... it must be because Activision are clever and LucasArts are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elTee Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 It's to do with publishers. I don't know the full story of the American releases - do LucasArts publish themselves? - but in Europe at least Activision have control over LucasArts IP. This basically means that the decision to re-release the games wasn't made by LucasArts, although they still obviously get their money from sales. You can still buy them in retail stores here in the UK, and they're common on Amazon (.co.uk) and eBay of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Udvarnoky Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Yes, LucasArts publishes their own games in the US, which means that, as you noted, they can take no credit for the re-releases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven_Q45 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 do LucasArts publish themselves? Good question! And I thought EVERYBODY, who play LA games know that! Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPeel2001 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 The re-releases didn't exactly set the world alight over here. In fact I don't know anyone who bought one: They're very old games, and games don't generally age well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 I bought maybe 30 copies across the range for $10 each, put them on NZ's equivalent of eBay for $25 each and sold the lot very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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