Indiana Jones and The Emperor's Tomb

 It belongs in my game list!

Lara Croft is a very influential member in the pantheon of gaming. Not the first female protagonist by any stretch of the imagination (I believe that goes to Samus, though I may be wrong) and I don't believe she is the second either. (Zelda from Zelda's Adventure predates her by at least 5 years, although that game was hot trash so we may choose not to count that as an entry.) But still she blazed a path forward for adventure games, presentation and grand globetrotting adventure. I don't know if there was a game which sold the premise of seeing the unseen sights around the our planet's furthest reaches quite as well as Tomb Raider did for it's time. But for all of it's influential medals, Tomb Raider is itself a facsimile. A shadow of a property so famous that it has readily eclipsed the genre it was meant to pay homage to and instead evolved into a roaring, rearing revolution all of it's own. (George Lucas had a habit of being part of projects like that, huh. Just not with 'Strange Magic'. Poor 'Strange Magic'.) Of course, I'm talking about Indiana Jones.

All this time we've known that Lara was at least partly Indiana Jones gender-swapped fan fiction, but in the way we like to in the gaming universe, we accepted her fully as our version of the popular hero. The movies had Indie, we had Lara, an equal split. (Until Nathan Drake showed up to tilt the balance once more, but he's getting a heavily miscast movie in a few months anyway. The balance will correct itself.) But what if I told you that, somewhere along the way, unbeknownst to the annals of time, this delicate cold war slipped further towards the gaming camp with the release of an Indiana Jones game? No, I'm not talking about the crappy 'adventure' titles which were nothing more than reskinned Star Wars bargain bucket time wasters, I mean a real game. One with an original storyline, gameplay, graphics and no legal way to play it in this age because PS2 era game preservation is a myth? Well then I'd be no doubt talking about 'Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb'. (Because I haven't played 'The Infernal Machine'. Oh, I guess there's 'LEGO Indiana Jones' too)

When I was a kid, I was a big fan of the Indiana Jones movies and they still all hold a solid place in my nostalgia even if I perhaps haven't seen them too recently. Don't know if that umbilical link is enough to drag me to the theatres for yet another Jones outing, but it's enough that I'll at least watch some reviews to see if it's trash or not when it does come out. But back in the infantile years, oh boy I was all about the broad chinned, handsome, Nazi-bashing, 'archaeologist', who may or may not have had a fling with one of his students. (Pretty sure you get your teacher's licence revoked for that, bud.) As such it was only fitting that when an Indiana Jones game fell out of the pits of Lucasarts, I would be just as all over that game as I would be for the latest Army Men game, or a new Crash Bandicoot. Actually, in truth I think I may have received the game in one of those 'borrow but never return' type deals that used to be possible back in the physical age, but considering that the lender in such a case would have been my older Brother, I'm going to claim recollection-ambivalence on that.

Indiana Jones and The Emperor's Tomb was everything that I wanted the original Tomb Raiders to be. (So, crucially, not overtly frustrating) It was a unique story that delved into scouring the tombs of ancient China in search of a way to snatch a dangerous artefact or some such. There was globetrotting adventures, plenty of platforming pitfalls, boss puzzle rooms, genuine tension-filled scenes, and a perfect rendition of the Indiana Jones theme itself. (A theme I cannot, for stupid private reasons, hear repeated for extended periods in my own time. I cannot justify why.) What's more, the game had a sort of greatest-hits approach to borrowing concepts from the three films and turning them into games. From shooting at Nazi planes to making it through corridors of swinging death blades, you can tell that the people on this project were the sort who loved the films and really just wanted to 'play' them. Only we still lived in an age of middling artistic respect back then, so they made something different and unique instead of some awful adaptation.

One detail about the game I always remember and laud is the robust feeling of the combat mechanics, not so much the shooting (2004 wasn't the year we figured all of that out yet) but the crunchy punching moments. I'm sure that rose tinted veils have utterly blurred my perception on this, but I remember finding it really satisfying to get into the big hand-to-hand brawls with thugs atop ancient sandstone ruins, or decking a courtyard full of grey uniforms just outside a Nazi castle. (I may be conflating memories with Wolfenstein, but I'm almost certain there was a Nazi castle level) Seeing as how important a bout of fisticuffs was to the Indie character, nailing that was a big step to getting a game feeling right, although I guess I shouldn't be surprised how well a studio as provenly competent as Lucasarts was at nailing the basics. (So thanks for taking that away from the industry, Disney.)

Of course there are the problem moments that any game nearing it's twentieth birthday is going to have on modern audiences, just because that's the way that we can mark the evolution of the industry. (Unless we're talking about Snake Eater. That game will continue to be quality ahead of it's age in a hundred years when it's picked from the ruins of our doomed civilisation by the knobbly grey digits of Alpha Centurians!) And of course I'm talking about the game's attempt to mimic the famous boulder scene from the first movie. Yes, they do it. And yes, it's literally just a copy and paste from those awful Crash Bandicoot chase levels where the camera is fixed in some unhelpful angle and the player is forced to run away and make precise jumps whilst lacking actionable depth perception. Of all the many practices we've lost over the years, this gimmick of action adventure games is one who's passing I loudly celebrate. May it never return to our lands- and of course 'Crash 4: It's about time' has five of them...

What remains a shame is that we never had the chance to have any more Indie games, especially when this one alone proved how good such games could have been. I know I joked about stepping on Lara's boot toes, but I really think there was space for more historical, pulpy, action games about everyone's favourite academic in the gaming space. Heck, if anyone proved that it was Naughty Dog with the aforementioned Uncharted games, which charitably did exactly the same thing that Indiana Jones does with the only real twist being- it's modern now. Seriously, the characters of Nathan Drake and Indiana Jones are almost identical and the only shift might be that Drake is generally more rounded out in who he becomes, but that's more of a narrative style choice. Indiana is designed to be this iconic, almost mythical figure that can't really change else he'll stop being him, whilst Drake is designed to be at least a little bit of a breathing character, so human adaptation comes more naturally. 

Over the years there have been talks of some new Indiana Jones game, there was even one which made it to the advertising stage in the time of the Nintendo Wii, and in fact that game actually released. It was called 'The Staff of Kings'. Unfortunately, in one of the most bizarre occurrences I think I've ever heard of in the gaming world, that advertised game for the PS3 and 360 was never finished, but the ports for the lower gen versions of the game technically were. So you can play the inferior, unfinished lower gen versions of the game but not the prime version that was meant to show all the cutting edge tech like environmental reaction and destruction. How weird. Now, with another Indie game being worked on by Bethesda of all people, we can rest in the knowledge that maybe a good Indiana Jones title might come to the people who have been deprived since 2004. Unless... unless I lied to you earlier, and in 2018 Lucasarts reached into their vaults and pulled the Emperor's Tomb out to sell on GOG and Steam! Hell yeah, you can buy it now for a pittance and I would absolutely recommend it! (Thank Lucas for small miracles...)

What the heck is Star Wars: Hunters?

 That's not a hypothetical. Literally: What is this game?

Oh, what a wonderous and magical time it is to be a Star Wars fan! We're being treated to the greatest game ever made in our subgenre, again, and our near future will be graced with a sequel to the surprisingly solid Jedi: Fallen Order, that is confirmed to be in the works. And what's this? I'm hearing that there is another game which recently got a trailer? Huh? I'm hearing that this isn't even an announcement, but an expansion upon a game that was revealed all the way back in February? That doesn't sound right... I don't know any Star Wars game that was kicking around from back then. Let me look up a little bit about his... hmm, it's called 'Hunters', kay, it's coming 2022, kay, and it's for the Nintendo Switch? Like- only on the Switch? No, wait it's coming to Mobile as we- oh, for the love of the force. Is this more licenced mobile trash which is getting ported to the Switch in order to feign legitimacy? (Damn it, Lucasarts, you were doing so well!)

I admit to being a bit sceptical when I first saw the trailer for 'Star Wars: Hunters' swipe across my holofeed, but that has abated slightly after watching the footage. Now it's replaced my genuine confusion, because I have no idea what this game is. Taking place on a planet that looks exactly like Mos Eisley on Tatooine but I'm assured is not, the trailer is a purely cinematic animated affair showcasing a whole slew of brand new unique characters doing nothing more than trying to kill each other whilst showing off their 'stark personalities'. And the problems, as a Star Wars fan, start there; because I can't even identify what era any of this is meant to be in. You've got a Sith lady and a Wookie warrior, which implies Old Republic stuff. (or maybe 'High Republic', I don't know I haven't read any of it) But then you've got some small dude riding around in a Droideka, which is solidly Clone Wars, and then a Stormtrooper, which is Galactic Civil war. I know that to a non-fan it must sound like I'm picking through straws in search of a needle but I'm just trying to convey how confused and non-informative every inch of this trailer was. (I now know it's meant to be set after episode 6, but that was not made clear from the footage at all)

A problem not at all helped by the fact that there was no Gameplay. Something that is totally groan-worthy when we're talking about a proper console or PC game just kicking off it's marketing cycle, but when we're talking about a mobile game, it's downright suspicious. Too many times have Mobile games been fitted with utterly nonsensical or uninformative marketing material that is simply there to dazzle and lure the curious in. Sure, the danger isn't quite as ever-present when we're talking about a licenced Star Wars product, (Lucasarts aren't going to retexture Lily's Garden and feed that to us) but I still sense a set-up to a bait-and-switch and/or disappointment. At the very least, it contributes to keeping the true nature of this game utterly secret which seems bizarre considering the publisher went so far as to commission a decent quality CGI action-fest to achieve nothing more than what the twenty second title drop did a few months back.

And hanging back on that trailer a bit; it really is only average. Footage like this has but a single purpose achieved through a handful of digestible goals, to spark interest through excitement and wow moments, keeping the viewer on the edge of their seat, and dropping them in the narrative of the skit so that they aren't pondering how they're learning nothing about the real game. What we ended up with, however, is just an incredibly basic action narrative with no surprises up it's sleeve, no peril to it's sequences, no memorable 'wow' moments to linger with me and no significant creative passion behind it. The most creative element are the character designs which were probably shipped to this trailer studio to work with, they bought nothing but the bare minimum on their end. Compare this with another Star Wars trailer which was doing the exact same thing, (advertising a game through misleading cinematics that absolutely did not represent the gameplay itself) such as The Old Republic teasers, and there really is no comparison. One set of works had a heart inside of it, this one does not.

You might be looking at everything I've said thusfar and rightly point out: Wait a minute, you haven't spoken about the game yet. And you would be exactly right because I would love to focus on the actual building blocks of this title if they were at all clear to me. From the context clues of the trailer, colourful characters, fighting in an arena, working in teams, being broadcast, predictably squaring up on opposite ends of the screen at the end of the footage, one might deduce this is a MOBA. But a MOBA would surely court a cast of legacy and established characters to draw in crowds, not a team of contextually-confused newbies. Additionally, I feel like the Star Wars universe would make a bad fit for a MOBA, but then I suppose I would have felt the same about the Pokémon brand, and we all now know how wrong I would have been there.

But this is the sort of speculation I shouldn't need to be doing, because one of the key tenets of marketing is giving people a clue what it is that they're buying. How can you play upon their expectations and build a fort of false expectations if they have literally no foundation from which to lay the first bricks? Better question, why are companies now days finding it such an affront to tag a genre to their product?  ('The Wayward Realms' say hello) I've scoured the Internet and trying to pin down some idea of what this game is feels like detective work. One source calls it an 'arena game' (which I guess is snippet of a genre if you think about it), the official website says its third person (which is evidenced in the screenshots, but doesn't really explain what the gameplay is shaped up as) and the whole thing is definitely going to be free-to-play; (to make room for MTX) so is this their very own Overwatch-like game? (If not, then Battleborn proved it could very much still be a MOBA)

The team behind this enigma of a game, Zynga, also happen to be the monsters behind that mythical tragedy of game we call 'Farmville', which means that whatever this game ends up being it'll likely also be a vehicle for microtransactions and addictive loops. That first bullet point is at the very least a guarantee, the latter depends on how solid the game itself ends up once it's constructed. Oh, and before you start wondering if their morals as a company might guide them to respect the venerated Star Wars licence they've been granted and make something worthy of it; these guys created a Game of Thrones themed slot machine game... so don't hold your breath. This will be an arena game that slobbers after your wallet, that we know, the only variable is if they'll do enough to earn it. 

Since the EA stranglehold on Star Wars games has loosened, we're going to be getting more trash like this filling up the airwaves between the real marvels of gaming, as anyone with a half profitable-sounding idea is given the thumbs-up go ahead. But to be honest, I'd much rather be in this state of roulette regarding which new Star Wars project is good, then the dry expanse with years of 'Star-Wars-less' pining like we were in when EA held exclusivity. You've got to take the bad with the good, and the suspiciously obscured with the tantalisingly promising. But hey, maybe 'Star Wars: Hunters' is a really cool and unique idea, worthy of existence and opening up unexplored avenues of the Star Wars mythos, and the team have just decided to advertise none of that because their marketing team is actually insane. (Crazier things have happened, but I'm putting my expectations very low for now.)  

We'll Never guess who's making Star Wars now...

 Is it everyone?

A while back I covered the grand revival of Lucasarts, now widely known as Lucas Film Games, but I didn't get a chance to mention the immediate fallout of that reveal. As it turns out I made one mistake and one correct note from that blog; first I implied that Lucas Film Games was a new studio which is wrong, that's just the working name of Lucasarts, and second I thought this announcement was moot because EA still had exclusivity rights. And that was spot on: they do. As it turns out this is actually just a moment for studios to announce the products that they're working on for that date when the exclusivity deal runs out in 2023, which I personally would think is a little bit of a breach, this means Disney has been selling the licence before the cut-off date, but I don't have Disney's lawyers so that's not an argument I would ever take to court. (Nor is it an accusation, by-the-by. In fact, just to head off any potential or theoretical recourse in the extremely unlikely scenario this comes back to bite me; Everything I said is legally a joke.)

But disregarding how obnoxious it is to be told about games that won't be coming for at least two years time, (Like I'll even still be around to play them) what's life without a little bit of anticipation for the future? Still and dull, so let's talk. "About what?", you may ask; well for one we can talk about the announcement that one studio coming around to making a Star Wars game is none other than Ubisoft. The company who briefly lost their spot as the biggest European game-studio for a while last year. (Needless to say, I think they won it back.) Now Ubisoft's history with Star Wars games isn't nearly as eclectic as you would imagine given the size of the studio, but I'd imagine it was a situation of never knowing what you have until it's gone. Ubisoft didn't want to make a bunch of Star Wars games when the license was free, but the second the veil of exclusivity dropped the jealousy began to mount. How does that Jackson 5 song go? "Someone picked you from the bunch, one glance was all it took; now it's much too late for me to take a second look"

Ubisoft must have been itching to get a Star Wars game under their belt if they're announcing this far out. They only usually do that when they've misjudged the scale of their project (Watch Dogs Legion) or leaked the details of their next game the second after the last one came out. (Every Assassin's Creed game ever. Including the next one, apparently it's going to be in India) Heck, they didn't even do us the common courtesy of showing us a teaser reel so we may be able to even wonder about what the game could be. They could be making anything from an MMO, to a party based RPG to a long-awaited sequel to Super Bombad Racing. (Hyper Bombad Racing, anyone?) What we do know is that the game will have an open world and will be story driven; well considering what this studio considers to be a 'story', literally any genre of game is on the table. This could a moisture farm simulator with those tags, way to give me literally nothing to work off, guys.

I guess I can look at their back catalogue of Star Wars games for inspiration. Let me see, 'Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice of the Force'? Never heard of it, and that's a horrible title. 'Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith?' I played the love out of that game, wow. But at the end of the day it's still just a movie tie-in so there's not a lot to go on. Hmm... then we have 'Lethal Allia-'. Wait, Ubisoft made 'Lethal Alliance'!? Man, I cannot tell you how much time I put into playing Lethal Alliance back in the day, that was my PSP jam! It was a 'fill in the gap' story which told of this Twi'lek Rebel and her pet droid as they singlehandedly fought everyone from the Black Sun to the Imperials on this mad cap quest to... oh... steal the plans to the Death Star... Yeah, guess that's not canon no more. (Fair enough. I bet there's at least 5 different 'Legends' stories that tell conflicting accounts about how those plans were nicked. In fact, I'm fairly certain the original 'Star Wars Battlefront 2' had one.) So maybe this new Ubisoft plan won't have the confidence to be a fresh story and might similarly lean on the weight of established lore. My guess is something Sequel Trilogy related, probably another stupid nonsensical branch of the emperor's plans. (Yes, they are nonsensical. If Sheev's Operation Cinder existed to ensure the Empire doesn't outlive him, which is a dumb and unbecoming motive anyway, why did he also have a resurrection plan in the works? You either have everyone die with you or come back 7 days later, you can't have it both ways!)

Aside from Ubisoft, not many have come out to celebrate their new found Disney employment. I've heard that Star Wars 1313 has been picked up yet again, which seems a bit 'too little too late' in my eyes, but I guess there's still some people out there who thinks that 'Uncharted with Star Wars skins' looks good. But there is actually one more announcement out of this, only this one isn't so much an announcement. You see, here we have one of those 'sources' that's typically some fellow with just enough confidence to make wild accusations but not enough to share their name for credibility. However, I'm not going to look a gift-horse for conversation starters in the mouth, so though I find the thing very suspect, I suppose we can talk about the apparent leak that there's another 'Knights of the Old Republic' game on the horizon.

"Great Scott, another Kotor? But that's like your favourite RPG of all time, you must be thrilled!" I'm dubious, and that's because the so-called source who shared this has made it known with the most idiotic caveat I've ever heard. "You'll never guess who". Oh, that's not me challenging you or anything, that's the big scoop. Kotor 3 is in development and 'we'll never guess who' is making it. What- what do you mean we won't guess? Ain't you supposed to tell us!? What sort of playground crap is this? They're literally flaunting their position of knowledge over us. Great, you know about as much as a low-level executive in Disney's tech branch- but that knowledge is useless if it isn't shared. Or else, you're useless if it isn't shared! I won't lie to you and say that I didn't laugh when I first saw this headline, but I also can't understand it either. Are we really taking the word of someone who refuses to offer up even the slightest ounce of accountability? 'I can't name a studio; what if they come out and vehemently deny the rumours? Then my reputation's shot!' Meh.

Though it makes a nice fantasy, I will admit. Thinking about where Knights of the Old Republic 3 might fit into the canon that Disney has laid out. (First it'd probably start with a Kylo Ren plagiarism lawsuit, cause that man blatantly ripped off Darth Revan's helmet design) Thinking about Kotor 3 wasn't even on my mind during the announcement of the impending licence release, and that might be because for this whole ten years the actual studio who made the original were in possession of the licence but just... did nothing with it. That's right, Bioware, under EA, chose to excrete Anthem all over our waiting hands instead of a new Kotor. Thanks bunches, team. We feel so blessed. Guess it makes sense, if we are to believe out suspiciously vague informant, for a potential sequel to be far away from Bioware altogether. In all honesty I don't really trust them to make a new game. I'd better trust Larian, but they're busy... oh, maybe Obsidian! They did Kotor 2!

Right now everyone and their mother is deciding on who this 'mystery studio' is that's making the thing, and I'm calling it a losers game right now. We don't even have proof the rumour is real, so I refuse to water it until such a time exists. Although I will share the funniest rumour on the topic that I heard; Apparently some people think CDPR are doing it. Really? You think they have the time to go around and make a brand new RPG whilst putting out the dumpster fire in front of them? Maybe they took on the job before Cyberpunk's release, but if they did that would literally be the single dumbest move I heard a AAA studio make in... oh... let's say the past twelve hours. Yet I suppose now no guess is a bad guess in the marketplace of ramblers, so I pass the buck to you. I say Obsidian, who do you think this mystery studio is that's handling the theoretical third Kotor game. Right guesses win bragging rights.

Lucasarts is back?

 I thought you died alone, a long long time ago.

Disney. How do you face up to a corporate giant as powerful and unscrupulous as 'family friendly' as them? These are the sorts of people who will brutally crush anybody they could perceive as a mild hinderance, but they get away with it all either due to that faux happy face and welcoming arms, or just the sheer fact that they own every single property you used to love as a child so there's no defying them. By their word, storied studios will die without a second thought, and under their dark necrotic magiks studios can be resurrected against all the holy laws of man. Thus was true this week past when these literal studio murderers reached into their graveyards to drag out Lucasarts' battered and slain body, and after their Frankenstein-esque experiments, the thing was reborn as this unrecognisable monster known only as 'Lucasfilm Games'. Wait, Lucasfilm games? Seriously? What, you guys weren't allowed to call it Lucasarts again? Did you get pulled up 5 seconds before the announcement and couldn't fit in a brainstorming session? What the heck is a 'film game'? We making nothing but David Cage sequels here, or what's going on?

But yes, barring the absolutely atrocious name, Lucasarts are been reborn under the Disney banner a mere... 9 years after her murder. Oh and yes, before ya'll start; I know that under all technicalities the Lucasarts brand was never actually killed off. (Which makes it even weirder why they didn't just build up that studio. There's gotta be some contract stuff we don't know about.) But let's be honest here, gutting a promising studio by cancelling all their projects, firing 99% of the staff and turning a company that used to be on the cutting edge of development into a licenser; that's as close to studio murder as I can see. And now they've turned around and invoked her name to their own ends in an effort to ride this train of Star Wars revitalisation to glory. Nevermind the fact that, just going by pure statistics, at least 1/4 of the 20 new Star Wars projects they announced are probably going to fall flat on their face, meaning that unless the other 3/4 picks up serious slack, this Lucasfilm games experiment could go the way of the last company. (Afterall, we know how Disney's crack team of problem solvers deal with the most minor of inconveniences "Kill it with fire.")

Let me be frank for a second; I will not commend Disney for this move, because even at it's most basic they are missing the point of why killing of Lucasarts was so hurtful in the first place. Essentially Disney, at the time of the Star Wars acquisition, had but dipped their toes into the video game market and they bristled when they realised it wasn't a money printing machine; they actually had to put in work and make good games with mass appeal. As the dinosaurs that they are, rather than put in the work to get ahead of this burgeoning industry and install themselves in it as a powerplayer; Disney just said "it's too hard" threw in the towel and gave up. And after buying Lucasarts, a studio renowned for it's ability to make new and innovative products, they thought that the best move would be to fire everyone and kill it off rather than make use of the literally gift horse they'd just bought for their stable. (Are you starting to pick up on the way I don't particularly like Disney yet? I'm pretty subtle about it, you might not have noticed.)

Now they're realising that they were missing on literally stupid amounts of money and are slowly turning themselves around like the mile long ship that Disney encapsulates. But at the end of the day, is this all that Lucasarts ever was? Were they just a vehicle for George Lucas properties to be transferred into the gaming world, a creator of endless Star Wars games? Of course not, they were innovators! Look at their contributions to the, since stagnated, world of 'Point and click'! Ever heard of 'The Secret of Money Island?', literally one of the most famous Point and clicks of all time? That was them. How about 'Grim Fandango', the game which started the legacy of Tim Schafer even before he founded Double Fine? That was them. Day of the Tentacle, a lesser known classic that's just as brilliant? Lucasarts. And yes, a bevy of Star Wars games among them, but even then there they weren't slackers. Force Unleashed was responsible for real steps forward in ragdoll technology, and their contributions to the wider gaming world merely grow for there.

But all that means nothing now. Today their image and brand merely exists as a face for Disney who are still too cowardly to put their own face on front of their games unless it doesn't do well. Is that a promotion from simple licenser? I guess so, although we haven't really gotten confirmation whether this is actually the new form of Lucasarts or if they just stole the legacy of that studio in order to make a new company, so I can't even award Disney that slight praise just yet. At the very least this announcement could herald something positive; perhaps even an end to the tyrannical 10 year saga of Star Wars games that are published solely by EA. A decision which has cut down on the nearly yearly release of Star Wars games before the deal by about 300 percent. But as I don't believe that deal has technically run it's course just yet, I suppose we won't be celebrating liberation from that empire anytime soon. So in that case, why bother announce this at all?

Oh that's right, in order to precede the Bethesda announcement. That's right, Bethesda, makers of those RPG franchises you used to like, are teaming up with MachineGames (If you can even call it 'teaming up' considering that they already work exclusively with Bethesda) in order to make an Indiana Jones game. And I am... conflicted. On one hand, I still remember how much I loved 'Indiana Jones and the Emperors Tomb', but that was literally in the PS2 days, I'm not really sitting here with a candle in my window anymore. There was another game for the Wii, but by all accounts that was nothing to write home about. So now we've just got another game to coincide with the ramp up of marketing around this franchise that, rumour is, Disney wants to reboot. Call me a cynic, but I just ain't all that excited.

I mean sure, maybe once upon time merely hearing the Bethesda name would be enough to light a fire on my tail, but we live in enlightened times. They're handing this off to MachineGames, and even that has me a little confused. Those guys who, up until now, have focused on first person satirical action? Is Indiana Jones going to be a first person game? Would that work? Maybe, but something tells me that without getting to look at a digital recreation of Harrison Ford, (or, possibly, the next actor they bring in for this alleged reboot) selling the adventure might be hard. And it doesn't even make any sense conceptually. The fantasy isn't to replace Indiana Jones, we want to be him; so at least let us look at the guy. Yeah, there's no way this is going to be first person, I'm working myself up over nothing... probably.

Somehow it seems wrong to revive Lucasarts for an Indiana Jones video game, but I suppose it does send the message that this new 'Lucasfilm Games' isn't going to be a onetrick pony. (Although, given that they appear to be a pure licenser, maybe they will be anyway) Also, not the biggest fan of the 'absolutely nothing' teaser trailer approach to announcing games; I thought we outgrew that 5 years ago, but Disney and Bethesda are nothing if not behind the times. (They deserve each other) In my heart of hearts I want to look at this and nod my head that good fortunes are coming from this decision, and maybe they will be. Heck, perhaps Lucasfilm Games will slowly grow into independency once more and become a force for positive growth in videogame technology once again. Or maybe not, I dunno. At least I can say that all the ingredients seem to be there for a potentially cool game. (But experience says that'll just make it all the more heart-breaking when everything goes down the drain.)