Telltale Games

Amaterasu · 10/25/2007, 02:33 am

You all know Leisure Suit Larry. We can even call him one of the "rivals" for Sam & Max at that time... XD
Anyway, Al Lowe, the creator of Larry, cannot use any of the game or characters rights, since it all belongs to Sierra (and now Vivendi-Games). They released a new game for Larry, which was a poor failure. It was NOTHING like the original Larry.

I'm asking how can I save Larry? What can I do?!
TellTale games saved Sam & Max! was it the petition? money? LucasArts's good heart?
At the moment the rights will come back to Al, or some other company that would like to make a new REAL Larry game (there's still the script for the 8th game, "Lust in Space" I guess), i'm sure Al Lowe will love to do it, and i'm sure a lot of the original team will help.

How did TellTale save Sam & Max, and how can I save Larry?

Guybrush Threepwood · 10/25/2007, 02:45 am

Telltale saved Sam & Max because the rights expired from LucasArts and went back to Steve Purcell.

Harald B · 10/25/2007, 02:52 am

I'm afraid it was the fact that the license automatically reverted to Steve Purcell, though I could be dead wrong about that. Anyway, it's all about the money. Only big money can convince Sierra and LucasArts to make proper adventure games again and/or to allow licensed versions. There's a good chance they'll turn around if the adventure genre regains the mainstream popularity it once had, but until that time I don't see it happening.

LuigiHann · 10/25/2007, 08:47 am

This would be a different situation. Since Sierra is apparently still interested in making Larry games, the thing to do would be to petition them or something to hire Al Lowe as a consultant to make sure the games aren't crap.

Kaldire · 10/25/2007, 11:19 pm

According to al lowe vivendi has no future prospect for larry

sorry folks. The only reason companies like this keep the rights is for later box sets and junk. Even their new larry was known not to be "larry" its his cousin or something.. I couldnt play the game to long to figure it out.. I got a headache from how horrid it was.
Luigi.. sierra is not interested in larry..just fyi

On a bright side al said he would love to revive freddy P! and would always be open to doing another larry provided terms were right.. he just doesnt see it happening!

Email him and ask.. hes one of the few sierra crew to be very open. Has his own site too

PS he loves trains :P chooo chooooo

Amaterasu · 10/26/2007, 12:05 am

Al's answer to my mail about the rights:

Quote:

I don't own the rights to any of the games or characters I created for Sierra; they do. Or rather, Vivendi Games does since they own all the assets of what once was Sierra. And there's no chance they'll let me be involved with any project for them. <sigh>

I'd love it, but it's not going to happen. But all is not lost. Did you know I have a free daily joke email called CyberJoke 3000™? If you like, I can add you to my list. Maybe I can make you smile once a day.

he does make me smile everyday. i'm signed on cyberjoke3000 for like 4 years...
but these are just fake and temporary smiles. I can't believe someone who created Larry needs to sink down in a daily joke program!
he can make a LOT more people to smile by making Larry 8!

Is money the only answer?

LuigiHann · 10/26/2007, 03:38 am

My mistake, I thought Sierra was still trying to keep the series on life support without Lowe.

Nothing's stopping Al from moving on and making new games with new characters. No reason to keep living in the past. Dave Grossman did it. Tim Schaefer did it. Ron Gilbert is... doing something, I think.

"Free daily email joke" is pretty sad.

marsan · 10/26/2007, 08:35 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuigiHann

"Free daily email joke" is pretty sad.

Well, he is retired, just like Roberta Williams and Ken Williams. But he got a boiling brain, full of funny stuff, so it's a shame if he is not involved in making more games.

Anyway, vivendi games have no clue what they are going to use the Sierra brand for. They are a bunch of idiots who doesn't deserve to own the name Sierra. At least I still have the memories of a sweet past...

Silly Bob · 10/26/2007, 09:08 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuigiHann

My mistake, I thought Sierra was still trying to keep the series on life support without Lowe.

Nothing's stopping Al from moving on and making new games with new characters. No reason to keep living in the past. Dave Grossman did it. Tim Schaefer did it. Ron Gilbert is... doing something, I think.

"Free daily email joke" is pretty sad.

It seems to me that with all the re-releaeses, Vivendi is just about interested enough to keep gouging us for cash, but not interested enough to offer new content, I read a report a few weeks ago that they moving past their old IPs and trying to set up an entire new line, so no new games in any franchises, no Tribes, now SWAT, which is sad 'cause those series were pretty much the only reason I've paid any attention to them since Space Quest 7 got cancelled.

Also Ron Gilbert is working on Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1, which just gives me a whole new level of hope for that game.

Mel · 10/26/2007, 11:29 am

Aren't Sierra the ones publishing Brutal Legend?

**Jake** · 10/26/2007, 12:32 pm

Vivendi/Universal is publishing it under the Sierra label, which is just a brand they own.

Amaterasu · 10/27/2007, 04:35 am

do you think there's a chance telltale will buy larry and revive it with al lowe?
they revived sam and max with great success! why not do with other games as well?

LuigiHann · 10/27/2007, 04:56 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amaterasu

do you think there's a chance telltale will buy larry and revive it with al lowe?
they revived sam and max with great success! why not do with other games as well?

I said this before, but I'll be more specific.

Steve Purcell, the person, owns Sam & Max. He licensed the characters to LucasArts. LucasArts made one game, and planned to make a second, so the rights belonged to LucasArts for a set amount of time, even after the second game was canceled. When those rights expired, Steve Purcell was once again the sole owner of Sam & Max, and thus he and Telltale were easily able to make an agreement.

Al Lowe, the creator of Leisure Suit Larry, does not own any character rights. Since he created them for a Sierra game, Sierra owns all the rights to the series and characters. Vivendi/Universal bought Sierra, so now Larry belongs to them. Al Lowe may or may not still receive royalties for designing the character, but that'd be his only current connection to the series.

The point is, Telltale did not buy Sam & Max from LucasArts, mostly because LucasArts never owned Sam & Max. It would be a very different situation if they tried to get the rights to Leisure Suit Larry from Sierra. So while I can't say it's impossible, I can say it wouldn't be at all "like they did with Sam & Max." I therefore view it as quite unlikely, but I could be wrong on that guess.

Similar situations apply to other franchises like Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, which are still owned by LucasArts. Sam & Max was an oddball among them.

Kaldire · 10/31/2007, 03:40 am

Actually all IS not lost... according to AL...from what convos ive had with him, he stated that he would LOVE to do larry again.. so from here its not about retirement :P its about getting the rights..
Get enough fans to complain about rights to vivendi.. and one of two things will happen.
1. vivendi will give up the rights and say go for it (RIiiiight..)
2. viv will see there is still interest in the series and try to make another flop
3.. yes 3! Nothing will happen and thumbs will be sat on

I added #3 but hehe
As far as retired goes.. al talks alot about loving the idea of being involved in gaming again.. he just doesnt think he has a place anymore. Sad thing is most of that statement is right. He just needs to find what is left of his stuff that can be released and start there. Freddy P. Is less known so might be an easier low aim for him.

PS ken and roberta are REALLY retired.. ok? like boat.. middle o nowhere.. dogs with em..
Al is at home and ready to kick model train butt while waiting for something to fall in his lap... muahhaha. No he really isnt waiting but if we all feel that strongly about al's games lets get vivendi to knock rights over to him. See ya in 10 years?
Grr email congress!

Lol

Jay33e · 10/31/2007, 07:26 am

I'd LOVE to see another Larry game (7 was the best!)

But my sources tell me that another Larry game isn't in the works, and won't be for quite some time yet. They were working on another one (it was only known as Larry9) but the project was canceled either due to not enough interest or they encountered some problems, I forget.

I think it's great that Al wants to get back in the game, and if you ask me developers should be throwing money at him to work for them. But that's the trouble now days, unlike the 1990s where brilliant games where coming out left right and centre, now days though we get 2/3 every few years.

<<Note: the following comments go a bit off topic, but I wanted to rant.>>

One thing that does annoy me though are games like Resident Evil & Silent Hill. At the end of the day they are just all re-makes of each other. You might as well buy just one Resident evil and one Silent Hill and reply them over and over again. Its like this whole FEAR thing also, FEAR was brought by some company so the guys who made the first ones lost it. Anyone else would think 'Right, we've lost FEAR so lets make something 100% new, or lets go back and create another sequel to a classic (NOLF)' But no, they are making FEAR just under a different name. I mean what is the point? Who wants to own FEAR, then and a game that is almost identical just called something else?

I'm going to stop now as I could go on forever about this.

Joe2 · 12/26/2007, 08:45 pm

I think Al Lowe and a dude from Mindscape is starting up a new company or something. Hope it works out, because he was pretty brilliant.

Edit: Aw. Seems like they founded iBase and the company has been stalled on its premiere project. Also the co-founder is Ken Wegrzyn.

doom saber · 01/13/2008, 01:32 pm

Well, Leisure Suit Larry seems to be alive even at this age, so I wouldn't be concern whether or not Sierra will release more LSL titles simple because they ARE.

Case in point, the mobile version of Leisure Suit Larry Love for Sail was released on Sept. I have only played the demo on the website so far since I have to ask my mom to purchase the game for my cell (the last time I bought a cell game w/o asking her, she was a bit peeved.)

Anyway, from what I have seen from the demo, it plays like the old lsl games except it is played with a birds eye view, giving it a japanese "RPG feel" to it. Furthermore, the game is actually a loose remake or rather, a new game that happens to bare the same title that LSL7 has. The demo appears to be more faithful than MCL where there are appearances of Roberta Williams, Ken Williams, and even Al Lowe, himself (despite not working or knowing that the game actually came out months ago.)
Official site:
http://www.larry-mobile.com/

Also, it was mentioned on various sites that Artie Lang will be the voice of Big Al in an upcomming Larry game. With that said, I wouldn't worry much about the future of LSL in regards that the series is still kicking, but I do wonder if the future lsl titles will be any good.

From checking the reviews online, it seems to have above average reviews, which is 7-8 out of 10.

http://www.gamemobile.co.uk/leisures...oveforsail.htm
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Mobil...iew.asp?c=3172
http://www.mobilegamefaqs.com/review...+Love+for+Sail

doom saber · 01/13/2008, 01:38 pm

I think a more logical appoarch to all this is wishin that Lucasarts or Vivendi seeking Telltale games to make one of their games. I mean, Vivendi doesn't make their LSL games in house. Instead, they ask third part developers like High Voltage (who made Lsl MCL) to make their Larry games. Because Telltale is small and have made games for big name publishers in the past (ubisoft,) it would be keen if someone like Lucasarts or Vivendi to ask Telltale games to make an upcomming game for them.

LuigiHann · 01/17/2008, 06:53 am

*Cough* http://pc.ign.com/articles/846/846123p1.html

Harald B · 01/17/2008, 08:09 am

Nice! Seems they have Team17 working on it. Can't wait to see how that'll work out..

10/25/2007, 02:45 am	#2
Guybrush Threepwood You fight like a cow! Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: England Posts: 2,228	Telltale saved Sam & Max because the rights expired from LucasArts and went back to Steve Purcell. __________________ Sign here for Bone 3! (with 701+ signatures!)

10/25/2007, 08:47 am	#4
LuigiHann Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,659	This would be a different situation. Since Sierra is apparently still interested in making Larry games, the thing to do would be to petition them or something to hire Al Lowe as a consultant to make sure the games aren't crap. __________________ "I think it's the idea that counts, not the actual method. As long as you set out to cause a horrible death through insects eating the person, you're good." - apenpaap

10/26/2007, 03:38 am	#7
LuigiHann Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,659	My mistake, I thought Sierra was still trying to keep the series on life support without Lowe. Nothing's stopping Al from moving on and making new games with new characters. No reason to keep living in the past. Dave Grossman did it. Tim Schaefer did it. Ron Gilbert is... doing something, I think. "Free daily email joke" is pretty sad. __________________ "I think it's the idea that counts, not the actual method. As long as you set out to cause a horrible death through insects eating the person, you're good." - apenpaap

10/26/2007, 11:29 am	#10
Mel Rowr! Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Ohio Posts: 834	Aren't Sierra the ones publishing Brutal Legend? __________________ “I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.” - Ann Lamott http://hikergirl.tumblr.com

10/31/2007, 07:26 am	#15
Jay33e Monkey!! Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: England Posts: 71	I'd LOVE to see another Larry game (7 was the best!) But my sources tell me that another Larry game isn't in the works, and won't be for quite some time yet. They were working on another one (it was only known as Larry9) but the project was canceled either due to not enough interest or they encountered some problems, I forget. I think it's great that Al wants to get back in the game, and if you ask me developers should be throwing money at him to work for them. But that's the trouble now days, unlike the 1990s where brilliant games where coming out left right and centre, now days though we get 2/3 every few years. <<Note: the following comments go a bit off topic, but I wanted to rant.>> One thing that does annoy me though are games like Resident Evil & Silent Hill. At the end of the day they are just all re-makes of each other. You might as well buy just one Resident evil and one Silent Hill and reply them over and over again. Its like this whole FEAR thing also, FEAR was brought by some company so the guys who made the first ones lost it. Anyone else would think 'Right, we've lost FEAR so lets make something 100% new, or lets go back and create another sequel to a classic (NOLF)' But no, they are making FEAR just under a different name. I mean what is the point? Who wants to own FEAR, then and a game that is almost identical just called something else? I'm going to stop now as I could go on forever about this. __________________ You crack me up little buddy....

10/25/2007, 02:52 am	#3
Harald B Egregious Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 1,449	I'm afraid it was the fact that the license automatically reverted to Steve Purcell, though I could be dead wrong about that. Anyway, it's all about the money. Only big money can convince Sierra and LucasArts to make proper adventure games again and/or to allow licensed versions. There's a good chance they'll turn around if the adventure genre regains the mainstream popularity it once had, but until that time I don't see it happening. __________________ although we do still have a time machine, so I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility. Forgot what T.H.E.M. stands for? Need the lyrics to the War Song? Visit the Sam & Max wiki!

10/25/2007, 11:19 pm	#5
Kaldire Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Sacramento California Posts: 886	According to al lowe vivendi has no future prospect for larry sorry folks. The only reason companies like this keep the rights is for later box sets and junk. Even their new larry was known not to be "larry" its his cousin or something.. I couldnt play the game to long to figure it out.. I got a headache from how horrid it was. Luigi.. sierra is not interested in larry..just fyi On a bright side al said he would love to revive freddy P! and would always be open to doing another larry provided terms were right.. he just doesnt see it happening! Email him and ask.. hes one of the few sierra crew to be very open. Has his own site too PS he loves trains :P chooo chooooo

10/26/2007, 12:32 pm	#11
Jake Telltale Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 5,843	Vivendi/Universal is publishing it under the Sierra label, which is just a brand they own.

10/31/2007, 03:40 am	#14
Kaldire Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Sacramento California Posts: 886	Actually all IS not lost... according to AL...from what convos ive had with him, he stated that he would LOVE to do larry again.. so from here its not about retirement :P its about getting the rights.. Get enough fans to complain about rights to vivendi.. and one of two things will happen. 1. vivendi will give up the rights and say go for it (RIiiiight..) 2. viv will see there is still interest in the series and try to make another flop 3.. yes 3! Nothing will happen and thumbs will be sat on I added #3 but hehe As far as retired goes.. al talks alot about loving the idea of being involved in gaming again.. he just doesnt think he has a place anymore. Sad thing is most of that statement is right. He just needs to find what is left of his stuff that can be released and start there. Freddy P. Is less known so might be an easier low aim for him. PS ken and roberta are REALLY retired.. ok? like boat.. middle o nowhere.. dogs with em.. Al is at home and ready to kick model train butt while waiting for something to fall in his lap... muahhaha. No he really isnt waiting but if we all feel that strongly about al's games lets get vivendi to knock rights over to him. See ya in 10 years? Grr email congress! Lol

12/26/2007, 08:45 pm	#16
Joe2 Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 46	I think Al Lowe and a dude from Mindscape is starting up a new company or something. Hope it works out, because he was pretty brilliant. Edit: Aw. Seems like they founded iBase and the company has been stalled on its premiere project. Also the co-founder is Ken Wegrzyn. Last edited by Joe2; 12/26/2007 at 08:50 pm.

01/13/2008, 01:32 pm	#17
doom saber Coffee addict Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Bay Area(Alameda), California Posts: 809	Well, Leisure Suit Larry seems to be alive even at this age, so I wouldn't be concern whether or not Sierra will release more LSL titles simple because they ARE. Case in point, the mobile version of Leisure Suit Larry Love for Sail was released on Sept. I have only played the demo on the website so far since I have to ask my mom to purchase the game for my cell (the last time I bought a cell game w/o asking her, she was a bit peeved.) Anyway, from what I have seen from the demo, it plays like the old lsl games except it is played with a birds eye view, giving it a japanese "RPG feel" to it. Furthermore, the game is actually a loose remake or rather, a new game that happens to bare the same title that LSL7 has. The demo appears to be more faithful than MCL where there are appearances of Roberta Williams, Ken Williams, and even Al Lowe, himself (despite not working or knowing that the game actually came out months ago.) Official site: http://www.larry-mobile.com/ Also, it was mentioned on various sites that Artie Lang will be the voice of Big Al in an upcomming Larry game. With that said, I wouldn't worry much about the future of LSL in regards that the series is still kicking, but I do wonder if the future lsl titles will be any good. From checking the reviews online, it seems to have above average reviews, which is 7-8 out of 10. http://www.gamemobile.co.uk/leisures...oveforsail.htm http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Mobil...iew.asp?c=3172 http://www.mobilegamefaqs.com/review...+Love+for+Sail __________________ "Omae wa mō shindeiru"- Kenshiro Kasumi from Fist of the Northstar

01/13/2008, 01:38 pm	#18
doom saber Coffee addict Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Bay Area(Alameda), California Posts: 809	I think a more logical appoarch to all this is wishin that Lucasarts or Vivendi seeking Telltale games to make one of their games. I mean, Vivendi doesn't make their LSL games in house. Instead, they ask third part developers like High Voltage (who made Lsl MCL) to make their Larry games. Because Telltale is small and have made games for big name publishers in the past (ubisoft,) it would be keen if someone like Lucasarts or Vivendi to ask Telltale games to make an upcomming game for them. __________________ "Omae wa mō shindeiru"- Kenshiro Kasumi from Fist of the Northstar

01/17/2008, 06:53 am	#19
LuigiHann Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,659	Cough http://pc.ign.com/articles/846/846123p1.html __________________ "I think it's the idea that counts, not the actual method. As long as you set out to cause a horrible death through insects eating the person, you're good." - apenpaap

01/17/2008, 08:09 am	#20
Harald B Egregious Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 1,449	Nice! Seems they have Team17 working on it. Can't wait to see how that'll work out.. __________________ although we do still have a time machine, so I wouldn't completely rule out the possibility. Forgot what T.H.E.M. stands for? Need the lyrics to the War Song? Visit the Sam & Max wiki!

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search