Leisure Suit Larry returns in HD!

[Laserschwert]

LucasArts started it, and Replay Games (teamed up with Al Lowe) will follow up with the beloved Sierra franchise:

THE BUZZ: Replay Games has announced it obtained the rights to the Leisure Suit Larry franchise, and will re-release the original series, as well as commence work on all new adventures, beginning in 2012, the year that marks the series’ 25th anniversary.

Replay Games founder and CEO Paul Trowe, and series creator Al Lowe, are teaming up to re-introducing gaming’s favorite lovable loser Larry.

The first project under the agreement will be an HD re-mastered version of the original, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, on every platform Replay can figure out how to port it onto, including: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, XBLA, PSN, On-Live, Steam. We’re pretty sure if an Atari 2600 enthusiast group got enough members to sign a petition, Lowe would personally code a version for them.

Should the re-make prove successful, the team is set to tackle the rest of the original series, games two-through-seven. Sadly, EGM has confirmed that the content for game four, Leisure Suite Larry 4: The Missing Floppies remains missing. However, Lowe won’t let that keep him from re-mastering it to Leisure Suite Larry 4: The Missing Digital Download HD.

The remakes will feature upgraded visuals, sound and control, while retaining the games’ signature puzzles and sense of humor.

Also, look for original Larry games to appear at some point in the future, though Trowe and Lowe aren’t sure when they will get the rest of the team sober enough to actually do the coding.

The Leisure Suit Larry series has seen better days. Recent installments changed the focus from lovable sleazeball Larry Laffer to his more pathetic, and less excusable nephew, Larry Lovage. The newer games focused more on the titillating aspects of the series, while foregoing what make Larry so popular in the first place: personality.

Specifically, Lowe’s personality.

Lowe, Larry’s creator and wingman, worked for Sierra On-Line during the heyday of point-and-click adventure games, when the company controlled the best computer properties out there, including King’s Quest, Space Quest and Gabriel Knight.

Larry’s return comes not just with Lowe’s approval, but with his participation. Word is Replay Games’ founder and CEO Paul Trowe actually kidnapped Lowe from his retirement community, shuffleboard stick still in hand, and brought him to his new cubicle. Lowe thinks the Jello isn’t as good, but at least he now has his own window.

In an exclusive conversation with EGM, Lowe said, “I’m overjoyed to see Larry released from his digital dungeon after all this time, and be placed in the hands of someone who understands him and wants to see him, brought back to the forefront by people who love him and understand him.”

Those unwashed hands belong to Trowe who worked with Sierra On-Line from it’s early beginnings (as a child prodigy/beta tester) through its golden years. Obtaining these properties has been a long-time goal of Trowe’s. He noted, “I’ve been trying to get the Larry rights for 10 years. I grew up in the Sierra family, starting beta-testing at 12 years old. To work with such amazing talent, like Al and Robertta is one of my life-long passions. These guys were way ahead of their time, and to be a part of this magic makes me really happy.”

When not soaking up Trowe’s adoration, Lowe is busy envisioning how Larry would react to modern times. “As a software salesman, I think Larry would feel right at home [in today's Internet age], and would stay current … at least with pornography,” Lowe said.

When asked if the Internet would make it easier for Larry to get a date, Lowe responded, “I can see Larry going on Match.com. I’d love to see that series of outtakes.”

Both Trowe and Lowe are excited about bringing the series to a whole new generation of relationship-challenged gamers. Trowe seems particularly pleased about, “…releasing Larry from the clutches of corporate America.” He elaborated, as if writing a press release, “Al and I are working very closely on this, to make sure every Larry game is the best. The remake of the original Leisure Suit Larry is going to kick so much ass, the entire world will have to play it standing up. And buy new pants. And a cushion. Seriously, we’re really excited about this.”

EGM’s TAKE: Some people think Leisure Suit Larry existed solely as an excuse to put sex and nudity in games, but the recent installments have showed that’s just not the case. We love Al Lowe’s sense of humor, and the quality of the puzzles and storytelling in the Larry series always kept us coming back. We are thrilled the series has landed back in the hands of Sierra vet Trowe and series creator Lowe, and we cannot wait to try both the remakes and any new games these guys might want to throw at us.

Source

[ThunderPeel2001]

Originally Posted by Laserschwert

LucasArts started it, and Replay Games (teamed up with Al Lowe) will follow up with the beloved Sierra franchise:

Actually Sierra started remastering their games years ago. This is actually the second remastering of Leisure Suit Larry. (The first one was in 1991.)

Original screenshot:


Same screen in 1991:

[Laserschwert]

Of course, how could I forget...

But I guess with its (planned) multi-platform HD release, this is going to be the Sierra-version of the MI-SEs.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Yep, I guess so.

[Blix]

Oh. My. God. I will definitely be getting a copy of this when it becomes available. I wonder how Al feels about the new project, he must be overjoyed that a company actually wants to bring LSL to its maxim of awesomeness rather than reduce it to nothing but an episode of South Park (*cough*VU Games*cough*)

[MusiclyInspired]

Al Lowe was apparently involved. Replay approached him. There was a news item about it some months ago.

[Threepwood42]

This excites me, I never got a chance to play these back in the day, seeing as most were made before I was born and I've never been able to get my hands on a copy.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Originally Posted by Threepwood42

This excites me, I never got a chance to play these back in the day, seeing as most were made before I was born and I've never been able to get my hands on a copy.

I wouldn't get your hopes up too high...

[MusiclyInspired]

About what? Its release? This is happening.

[Sven_Q45]

I´ve never played it.
So, I must get this!

It looks good too. Could be a new adventure.

[SyntheticGerbil]

I get the feeling these aren't coming out. I would rather them not anyway.

It would be weird to remake all of the games so that they have the style of LSL7. These screenshots look like a big mess to me because while the characters in the remake of 1 as well as 5 and 6 have a wonky style to them and Larry is malproportioned, his look is still a far cry from LSL7. Why not redo each game in it's respective style?

Basically I see it like this: LSL1 (original),2 and 3 are all more realistic depictions, while LSL1 (remake), 5 and 6 all share this gaudy loud look with rounded cartoon characters. LSL7 has the traditional animation look with even gaudier backgrounds.

The other major factor is that almost every Leisure Suit Larry game except 6, 7, and to some extent 5 has the major adventure game design flaws that are not friendly to new users. Monkey Island is a no brainer because there's no way to get stuck, no parser, no unfair deaths. I can't even see how you'd fix LSL 1-3 without major rewriting.

[jacuzi]

You can get stuck and die in MI1

[elTee]

I kind of know what SyntheticGerbil means. The LSL games were only really fun to me as archaic curios - not good games as such, but relics from the 80s, full of evolutionary dead ends (as with many Sierra games) that appealed to me in an academic sort of a way. Make new Larry games, sure, but re-releasing the old ones might not win the series any new fans I guess.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Originally Posted by jacuzi

You can get stuck and die in MI1

You could not get stuck in MI1, and the only way you could die was pretty much by choice. LSL is definitely from an older school of games (just like Maniac Mansion was).

[Thrik]

You can actually get stuck if you spend all your money in the grog machine.

[elTee]

Also if you find your way through the forest and get the treasure without purchasing the map first. You need the map to light the cannon once you're on the ship, right?

[jacuzi]

You can get stuck in MI1 if you add the wrong ingredients to the voodoo recipe to the pot in the wrong order. The spell will not work and you have no way to redo it without reloading the game.

[urluckyday]

Never played any of the LSL games...would this one be worth a shot?

[Jenni]

Originally Posted by elTee

Also if you find your way through the forest and get the treasure without purchasing the map first. You need the map to light the cannon once you're on the ship, right?

If you don't buy the map you just put in one of the brochures into the fire, and Guybrush says he might as well put the rest in the fire as well.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Originally Posted by jacuzi

You can get stuck in MI1 if you add the wrong ingredients to the voodoo recipe to the pot in the wrong order. The spell will not work and you have no way to redo it without reloading the game.

This is absolutely not true. (Unless you're talking about some obscure bug?)

[ThunderPeel2001]

Originally Posted by Thrik

You can actually get stuck if you spend all your money in the grog machine.

This sounds interesting... So you can't buy the map? I'm surprised there isn't some game logic around this. Sounds like a challenge!

[SyntheticGerbil]

Originally Posted by elTee

Also if you find your way through the forest and get the treasure without purchasing the map first. You need the map to light the cannon once you're on the ship, right?

Back from the dead!

You can get the fire to light the cannon by throwing business cards inside the stove though. I think Stan is forced to give you at least one along with the compass. Guybrush actually doesn't let you burn the brochures even though you only need one.

You definitely can't mess up the ingredients though. The first time I figured it out was just throwing everything in my inventory at once.

[Udvarnoky]

Originally Posted by SyntheticGerbil

Back from the dead!

You can get the fire to light the cannon by throwing business cards inside the stove though. I think Stan is forced to give you at least one along with the compass. Guybrush actually doesn't let you burn the brochures even though you only need one.

The T-shirts are burnable along with the business cards and the map.

[SyntheticGerbil]

Are those the items where you are not allowed to drop them in the pot and can burn them? I actually forgot.

Is the sword master t-shirt always forced? I know the buried one you don't even have to pick up. I should recall all of this, but I thought either dying under the dock or the pieces of eight in the Grog machine were the only ways to seriously get stuck.

[Udvarnoky]

I think you're right, although maybe someone will correct us. But yes, the Swordmaster T-shirt and the business cards are unavoidable inventory items, thus you will always have something that can become the flaming mass on the ship.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Yep. You always have some way off that ship.

[Samnmax221]

Originally Posted by elTee

I kind of know what SyntheticGerbil means. The LSL games were only really fun to me as archaic curios - not good games as such, but relics from the 80s, full of evolutionary dead ends (as with many Sierra games) that appealed to me in an academic sort of a way. Make new Larry games, sure, but re-releasing the old ones might not win the series any new fans I guess.

LSL still holds up quite a bit better than most of the Sierra catalog. If you gave somebody a remastered version of Kings Quest I without some massive reworkings to the mechanics, there's a good chance that they would start breaking things.

[Laserschwert]

Back it at Kickstarter NOW!!!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...rry-come-again

[Sven_Q45]

Backed $130.

($150 for Tim Schafer)

[Blix]

I really hope this happens, I've been a fan of the Larry games since the original Lounge Lizards for Commodore 64.

[Samnmax221]

All the kickstarting is starting to get to be a little much. I already gave Tim and Brian Fargo money. Now Replay and Jane Jensen crop up. It's questionable how much more money I want to throw at something that I won't have for a long time.

[MJ]

As much as I love the Leisure Suit Larry franchise, I'm bound to the mac. Since, at the moment, they're only developing PC, that counts me out of the kickstart pledge.

It worries me a bit as well that what, eight months since the announcement, they finally decide to put it on kickstarter... and they've still only got the one room to show for it.

[Samnmax221]

I'd hope that Al Lowe actually working on it now would mean that they're actually serious about doing something now.

[Rum Rogers]

Originally Posted by MJ

As much as I love the Leisure Suit Larry franchise, I'm bound to the mac. Since, at the moment, they're only developing PC, that counts me out of the kickstart pledge.

It worries me a bit as well that what, eight months since the announcement, they finally decide to put it on kickstarter... and they've still only got the one room to show for it.

Wrong! See FAQs:

What platforms do you guys intend to support?
OK, had a LONG ASS talk with the programmers and this is what we're able to give you guys with the $500k Kickstarter pledge. Ready? 1) PC 2) Mac 3) iPad 4) Android tablets. Once we surpass our $500k Kickstarter goal we can talk about additional rooms, more girls, Larry getting in to more trouble, and yes, even a version for you hardcore Linux users out there!!

[MJ]

Hmmm... how does that work? You get a download code for the platform of your choice? If you buy the 'physical copy' option, do you get a physical mac version?

This is the flaw of kickstarter - it's a 'throw everything at the wall and see what sells' option.

Of course, I'm just jealous because I'm in Australia and they won't let me post my campaign.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Here's the same screen from each of the versions, just for comparison...

[Rum Rogers]

Originally Posted by MJ

Hmmm... how does that work? You get a download code for the platform of your choice? If you buy the 'physical copy' option, do you get a physical mac version?

Heh, how it's gonna work is beyond me :P just wanted to inform you that there's no actual reason not to back the project (if the Mac version was your only problem, of course )

[Cyrus7]

Update #5: new rewards (T-shirts included) and the official forums: http://forums.replaygamesinc.com/

Hooray

[Rum Rogers]

Originally Posted by MJ

Hmmm... how does that work? You get a download code for the platform of your choice? If you buy the 'physical copy' option, do you get a physical mac version?

This is the flaw of kickstarter - it's a 'throw everything at the wall and see what sells' option.

Of course, I'm just jealous because I'm in Australia and they won't let me post my campaign.

Good news! They answered one of your questions
With my $15 pledge, can I receive my game on a Mac instead of PC?
Yes!! You can pick between PC - Steam, PC stand alone, or Mac stand alone. If you chose the Mac version, however, you can not get it through the AppStore. We will need to send you a link to download the Mac version directly to your computer.

[Sven_Q45]

At the moment it´s very bad about Larry and Jane Jensen.

Well I think even without kickstarter they make it! Pinkerton Road is a new studio not only a game and Larry was started before kickstarter.