LucasArts to Release Older Games on Steam

Lucas fans rejoice! LucasArts is releasing 10 of their older games via Steam on July 8th, including a few adventure gaming classics. Among the games to be released are classic adventure titles The Dig, Loom, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

At this time, there isn’t any information about game pricing and Steam has yet to be updated to include any of the games. A full list of the games being released is as follows:

Loom
The Dig
Star Wars Battlefront II
Star Wars Republic Commando
Star Wars Starfighter
LEGO Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Armed and Dangerous
Thrillville: Off the Rails

Let’s hope this is the beginning and not just a one-time deal. It would be great to see Sam & Max, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango make an appearance.

Animator’s Resume Leaks New LEGO Games Info

While it’s a given that the job market is pretty rough right now and it’s a smart move to update that dusty old resume, it probably not the best idea to tell everyone with an internet connection that you’re working on a couple of top secret projects for your current employer. Still, as discovered this morning by GamesIndustry.biz, that seems to be exactly what an animator with developer Traveler’s Tales has done, unintentionally blowing the whistle on a number of upcoming releases from the company.

Charlotte Parker, the animator in question, maintains a portfolio of her work online and recently updated the Curriculum Vitae portion of her site to include her most recent works. Unfortunately for Traveler’s Tales, a number of the games she’s listed herself as currently working on have not yet been announced by the developer or its parent company, Warner Bros. Interactive. Oops.

According to the CV, Parker has apparently been working at TT Games since March of 2007, working as a cutscene animator for LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, and LEGO Batman: The Videogame. The CV also lists her credits as “currently working as a Cutscene Animator on LEGO Harry Potter & LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which are both in the early stages of production.” Of course, until now, neither of these two games has existed as anything more than rumor outside of the walls to TT Games or Warner Bros.

Even more interesting than the leak of the two games currently in development, though, is Parker’s claim that she has “also recently been working on In-Game animation for the upcoming Hobbit Demo using Motion Capture Data in Motionbuilder, to be presented to Peter Jackson as a pitch for obtaining the license to the upcoming Hobbit films.” With the news this morning that the video game rights to Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies has reverted back to Warner from EA, it’s hard to imagine Warner and Traveler’s Tales passing up the chance to give Frodo, Gandalf, and the rest of the Fellowship the LEGO treatment.

While gamers might be happy to get some sort of confirmation about the forthcoming games, it’s probably safe to assume that Warner and Traveler’s Tales are probably none too happy about having their big, secret games leaked online. While direct links to the CV have since been removed from Parker’s front page, the actual CV itself was still live on the site as of this morning. Hopefully, her posting of the resume online won’t lead to Parker needing it sooner than she anticipated.

[UPDATE: As of around 10:30a EST Friday, the CV Section of Parker's site has been edited, removing all mention of the projects in development and the pitch presentation to Peter Jackson.]