LucasArts has begun the development of a new Sam & Max game. In the past, the talking dog and nervous rabbit were the stars in many humorous games from LucasArts. Here's the press release:

Sam & Max, interactive entertainment's most beloved canine and rabbit combo, hit the road again first quarter 2004 in a long awaited adventure comedy sequel for Windows PC from LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC. The follow up to the critically acclaimed 1993 adventure classic Sam & Max Hit the Road® will dispatch the Freelance Police into a wild world of screwy and vaguely quixotic missions. Each one will be jam packed with nerve-jangling action, brain-busting puzzles, and the kind of easygoing banter one might expect from a talking dog and a naked, hyperkinetic bunny.

Sam & Max are based upon the "Sam & Max Freelance Police" comic book series created by Steve Purcell. LucasArts' Michael Stemmle, co-director of the award-winning original game, will direct the sequel.

"Sam & Max Hit the Road is a classic and as close to being a signature game as any LucasArts has ever done," says Simon Jeffery, president of LucasArts. "The Sam & Max sequel, much like the recently announced Full Throttle® II, perfectly complements LucasArts' renowned adventure game legacy and lends further support to the company's commitment to investing in and developing more of our original properties."

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LucasArts has recently published a lot of new screenshots of the upcoming game The Clone Wars. Check the official page at LucasArts.com to see the 24 screenshots. You can also take a look at the boxes of the PlayStation 2 and GameCube game.

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There is already a new patch for the highly popular game Jedi Outcast. Today Raven releases Patch 1.04. You can download it at LucasArts' Jedi Outcast website. Here's the details:

LucasArts will be releasing the 1.04 update for Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast Thursday evening on their website at http://www.lucasarts.com/products/outcast/html/default.htm. Feel free to download and mirror it once it is available.
The update includes all of the fixes from 1.03, so if you don't have that update yet, this is the only one you'll need. A list of the changes in 1.03 can be found here: http://support.lucasarts.com/patches/jedioutcast.htm

The primary focus of 1.04 is multiplayer balance.

Some of the features/fixes include:

Multiplayer
----------- * Corrected issue which caused servers to crash in rare instances.

* Corrected issue causing damage not to ramp up and down properly when using the backstab move in light saber stance.

* Corrected bug allowing players to pivot while executing backstab moves in all stances. Players may no longer pivot when executing these moves.

* Fixed bug causing force pull to be unblockable by people with equal or greater pull rank.

* Adjusted ammo usage of the Imperial repeater alt-fire.

* Fixed bug allowing inventory items to be used in FFA saber challenges.

* Corrected an exploit which allowed players to fall from large heights at a slow rate.

* Corrected issue which caused pain sounds not to play properly when hit by opponents. Pain sounds should now be relative to the amount of damage taken.

New dedicated servers will also be released tomorrow. We'll send those out to all of the gaming file sites so you'll be able to get new servers set up immediately.

A few other notes on 1.04:

- Saved games are unaffected from 1.03

- Demos recorded using 1.03 are not compatible with 1.04

- Mod makers will have to update their mods to reflect new the IP protocol introduced in 1.04. This will be a minor adjustment to your existing mod stuffs.

- Once you upgrade to 1.04, only servers running version 1.04 will be visible in your in game browser. There may be a short period of time where there are few 1.04 servers to play on as server admins update to the new version.

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Remember the great CD-ROM Encyclopedia's Behind the Magic and Episode I Insider's Guide? Unfortunately there is no version scheduled for Attack of the Clones. This was confirmed by LucasArts itself. Hopefully someone will soon change his or her mind and give the order for a fourth version of the Magic series.
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Yesterday the Game Critics announced the Best of E3 2002. Neverwinter Nights won the first price, but Star Wars Galaxies won the Best On-line Multiplayer award.

For the second year in a row, LucasArts and Sony Online wowed those who made an off-floor pilgrimage to see the progress on Star Wars Galaxies. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game takes place in the Star Wars universe between the happenings in the Episodes 4 and 5 of the film saga (Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.) As with Sony Online’s Everquest, Galaxies will be a persistent world where, in this case, your character can interact with other budding bounty hunters or Jedi hopefuls. With all of the depth and trappings of the Lucas legend at their disposal, the developers could easily have thrust a rush job online and the faithful would have come. But based on the demonstration witnessed, it appears that the project is getting plenty of TLC -- evident from the fine tuning allowed in the character customization options to the realism of settings such as Jabba’s Palace. Whether gamers are searching for combat or they want to explore the eight or more planets expected initially, this is a Star Wars episode that has plenty of Force behind it.

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Today, LucasArts Entertainment Company celebrates its 20th birthday. Expect some interesting movies and articles from them the coming weeks. You can go to the special celebration page here.
Back in 1982 LucasFilm Games (the company's previous name) produced several Star Wars games for platforms as the Atari and the Commodore. From 1993, LucasArts began designing games for the PC, starting with the world-famous X-Wing.
Imagine: without LucasArts this very section would never have existed. Happy birthday, guys.

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