What happened to Lucas Arts?

With everyone talking about Star Wars Ep III, I asked myself, “What happened to Lucas Arts?” Many will probably say that nothing happened to them, they are still a successful video game producer. However take a closer look. Lucas Arts use to create unique games that were not only interesting but games that made you think to solve problems. They not only created these unique situations but created unique characters with a sense of humor. Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Same and Max, Full Throttle, The Dig, Grim Fandango, the list goes on.

However, it seems that all the games that are coming out now are either first person, third person or the occasional strategy. To top it off 9 out of 10 of every game is centered on the Star Wars universe. Now granted, Lucas Arts was created by George Lucas, but how many games do we really need of light sabers and blasters. Granted, I love Star Wars as much as the next 20 something youth, but I don’t need a dozen different video game perspectives of Attack of the Clones.

What ever happened to Sam, Bernard or Manny. Sure I could just simply replay the games, but it’s not the same. These games are a dying breed, especially in the eyes of Lucas Arts. And I see this other places too. It’s either a first person shooter or an RPG or an amalgamation of both. I look at the gaming industry and I’m not seeing anything new, or innovative. I see better graphics and larger plot holes, not new games.

E! A! Sports! We own the Game!

As far as sports games go, for the past decade EA Sports has led the pack. Any gamer on any given day has quoted the now famous phrase that has opened their games back to the SNES days. “It’s in the Game”

The last year has brought on competition in the realm of video game football between EA Sports Madden and the ESPN 2K series. Though at face value these games were very similar the differences remain. ESPN offered more of a 'Sims' feel to your team with custom ability in non football areas, where as Madden was a very true Football sim. However the largest difference, ESPN was half the price from Madden’s.

Sales showed that EA Sports were starting to loose the position of top dog in the video game industry. And like most companies faced with the dilemma of coming up short of a superior product, they bought the rights to be the exclusive distributor of the NFL franchise and its players for video games.

Though I found this disturbing and kind of cheap, I did mark it up as a strategic maneuver. Granted for the next five years the name Madden and Video Game football will be synonymous, but how is that different from now. People don’t say, “Want to play some football?” It’s “Lets sneak in some Madden before I have to do something of value in the day.”

However this week, EA sports also purchased the gaming rights for College football. So now EA Sports has grown to spread their empire across to the collegiate level (by the way, college football is when they play for the game and not money, hoping to one day play for the money)

Though I’ve never been a fan of college football for several reasons, I find this maneuver by EA Sports to confuse and worry me. Granted EA puts out a quality product, but what will be the future of sports gaming. Will my FIFA franchise be safe? Will EA sports capitalize on non sports gaming franchises, such as Ford? Will EA Sports be the only ones allowed to feature a Ford car in their games? I don’t believe EA Sports in anyway will be the downfall of video game sports or spread its empire to grasp and choke the gaming industry, but I am intrigued on what will be next. EA Sports! It’s in the Exclusive Rights!

First for now

So I set up my first blog posting. Lets see where this goes.