LucasArts joining forces with Free Radical

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Aug 23rd 2006 at 6:30PM }

LucasArts, longtime custodians of secrets pertaining to primate islands, have announced their intention to work with the timesplitting folks at Free Radical on a brand new game. Slated for next-generation consoles, the as yet undisclosed title will benefit from the combined efforts of two experienced studios. Peter Hirschmann of LucasArts labels the agreement as a good idea, since Free Radical "has always been about titles with great gameplay and innovative design." [Opposites attract quip here.]

With Raven Software spending most of their time reading comic books these days, it might not seem outlandish to suggest that the mystery game here could be a new entry in the Jedi Knight franchise -- to be more precise, Dark Forces 5: Jedi Knight 4: Jedi Outcast 3: Jedi Academy 2: Jedi Colon. Then again, it could be an entirely new IP. Just as well, since the only other idea we can muster is a first-person shooter starring a despondent Bobbin "Are you my mother?" Threadbare.

Tags: Free Radical, FreeRadical, Galaxies, Haze, Loom, LucasArts, Monkey Island, MonkeyIsland, Star Wars, StarWars, TimeSplitters

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Yamen @ Aug 23rd 2006 6:45PM

Actually, I think this could be a pretty great match-up. Free Radical has rather consistantly made quality games, and I'm anxious to see what they'd do with a Star Wars license.

Sub @ Aug 23rd 2006 6:46PM

Oh please God let it be another Jedi Knight game.

mitch @ Aug 23rd 2006 6:54PM

For a second, I thought that they announced the making of another Monkey Island game -- my heart skipped a beat, and I nearly had a stroke.

Then I realized it's something else. Now I need to go cry myself to sleep.

Steve @ Aug 23rd 2006 7:01PM

Here's a suggestion that Joystiq obviously didn't think of. If you use some logic:

1) Free Radical loves Nintendo (really, they do - their publishers didn't want to put Timesplitters on the Gamecube, but Free Radical insisted to the point of putting in extracurricular work just to finish the Gamecube build). As much of the Free Radical team made Goldeneye and Perfect Dark under Rare (Dr. Doak, their prez!) they still have good ties with Nintendo. They feel kind of bad that Haze is built with an engine that would take too much work to downscale for the Wii, and have indicated that they want to work on a Wii game in the near future.

2) LucasArts recently stated, at Comic Con, that they were working on a Wii game involving lightsabers. I'm sure it hadn't even gotten past the preliminary planning stages at that point. This announcment may be a complete coincidence, or it may be that LucasArts contracted Free Radical to make this game because of their good experience with Nintendo hardware - in particular, the Gamecube. Since the Wii kit is based off a Gamecube kit, they could get the game done quicker than LucasArts' own development teams could. Am I off base or do I have something here?

Dr.Swiss @ Aug 23rd 2006 7:05PM

No, Steve, I agree with you. I remember reading articles about that as well, how Free Radical wanted to have good ties with Nintendo even after Haze wasn't coming to it.
I still play TS3 on my cube almost everyday, but FarCry might become my new TS once the wii hits the shelves. :P

POOL'S CLOSED @ Aug 23rd 2006 8:40PM

Lucasarts still fails at life for not making another Monkey Island. I mean COME ON!! Do we really need another Star Wars game?

Jules @ Aug 30th 2006 3:29AM

Oh wow that link to Loom brought back so many memories. I don't remember if I completed it or not but I do remember sailing out into the ocean whilst there's a hurricane or something :)......

back on subject though...i'm not the biggest fan of star wars games but a lightsabre game would be cool. I think we do need a another monkey island/simon the sorceror game a bit more than we need more star wars games.