Joystiq

"We have the plans in our back pocket and if things go extremely well, we'll roll out those plans and put them into action."

While these ten titles are straight ports – so no Steam Achievements, and no fancy new graphics and sound a la Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition – LucasArts is considering enhanced versions of other titles, though "a lot of it will ultimately depend on the commercial success of Monkey Island Special Edition," we're told. "We have the plans in our back pocket and if things go extremely well, we'll roll out those plans and put them into action. Whether it's Maniac, Day of the Tentacle, or Grim." And those releases may come to other digital distribution platforms – much of that strategy will be determined by the success of this latest initiative. Without Steam (or a competent alternative!) what chance is there of Mac support? Rodriguez says, "We're definitely looking into that as well. We're looking at partners for potentially porting some stuff over to Mac, and figuring out the right distribution channel as well."

When asked about the possibility of portable ports, notably the iPhone or PSP Go, Rodriguez noted, "On iPhone, you know Apple's policy that we can't talk about a release until it's ready to release. But it would make sense that we would do something like that if we were to go in that direction ... wink wink, nod, nod." As for PSP Go, he told us, "We've seen it and we're definitely investigating PSP Go. We've got our Singapore office, which does the majority of our handheld titles, and they're playing with it right now, seeing what we can do."

For LucasArts, this represents a radical shift in tone from the company that (in)famously canceled development of Sam & Max: Freelance Police just five years ago, before laying off the entire adventure gaming development team. Many of those expats regrouped under the new banner of Telltale Games ... the very same Telltale Games that's currently kicking off the next ten days of LucasArts adventure gaming with Tales of Monkey Island. Rodriguez told us, "I'm a huge fan of Grim Fandango and Maniac Mansion and all the old adventure titles, and it's definitely something that's part of our heritage." By the looks of things, that's not just lip service.