I don’t know about the rest of you, but the announcement that LucasArts was reviving some of their back catalog got me excited. After all, who didn’t love games like Star Wars Republic Commando and Battlefront II? In addition, there’s Tales of Monkey Island as a brand new title from Telltale Games.

If reading Eva’s impressions of Monkey Island got your interest up, I’ve got some good news for you.

FileFront now has the playable demo of Guybrush Threepwood’s triumphant return for you to download and try out. Simply click this link to head over and download the demo from FileFront’s fast, free servers.

I fully expect you all to come back here and tell us what you think of the demo. After all, that’s why we have the comments section.

While Guybrush Threepwood is returning in a new title and a relaunched classic later this week from Telltale Games and Lucasarts as Eva mentioned, today the big news was regarding the return of a number of classic Lucasarts Adventure games (The Dig and LOOM being the best news) and more than a few of their not-quite-as-old franchise action titles like Star Wars: Republic Commando, Star Wars Battlefront II and the various Indiana Jones titles are making their way to Valve’s digital distribution system, Steam on July 8th.

The complete annotated list includes:

• Armed and Dangerous™
• Indiana Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis
• Indiana Jones® and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
• LEGO® Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
• LOOM™
• Star Wars Battlefront® II
• Star Wars Republic Commando®
• Star Wars Starfighter™
• The Dig®
• Thrillville®: Off the Rails™

It definitely looks like Lucasarts is trying to recapture the the glory days of the company before it became the “bad” Star Wars game and LEGO tie-in company. The games will be released on the Xbox 360 via Live! as well.

There are a few more games I’d love to see make this list like the Maniac Mansion games, or Grim Fandango – by Tim Schafer – lately the mind behind Psychonauts and Brutal Legend.  Till then however I think I might just consider picking up another copy of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and LOOM.

LucasArts has gamers setting sale for Monkey Island in two new updates of this classic adventure series. Guybrush Threepwood is coming at you in new episodic adventures from the creative team behind Sam & Max and Strong Bad, Telltale. Gamers can enjoy Tales of Monkey Island in five months of brand new swashbuckling adventures for the PC and WiiWare

The word on the web on the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has turned out great for Money Island fans. gamers will get to meet all their favorite characters from the Secret of Money Island in there-imagined first adventure of Guybrush Threepwood with HD graphics and full voiceovers. Learn the art of insult sword fighting with Guybrush to a new musical score. The game will be out for the Xbox 360 and PC.

Get the full details on Tales of Monkey Island and the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition from the press release following the break. There’s also word of an easter egg included on the upcoming Wii version of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings.

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It seems that gamers are on a course to rediscover the long lost Secret of Monkey Island on the Xbox 360. This classic LucasArts point and click adventure game has recently been rated by the The German USK rating board for the console. There’s no indication of what makes this a Special Edition. Hopefully it involves some kind of voice or enhanced sound track.

Most likely the Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition will be an XBL Arcade title but if we’re lucky it’ll be packaged for retail. Here’s an old TV spot from the Sega CD version.

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According to many different sources speaking to GamesIndustry.biz this morning, it is being reported that Free Radical Design has closed down and an unknown number of staff and senior executives have left already. One staff member even went so far as to tell GI.biz that when they showed up for work the doors were locked and a note on the door told them to go to a nearby hotel for a meeting. Why did that make me giggle a little? Sorry, being gutter minded here.

While it is indeed sad news to hear of another gaming studio shutting its doors, where does this leave the “unnamed” LucasArts project they have been quietly working on despite the deal with LucasArts going down the toilet back in October? Supposedly, the game has been sent to Rebellion to be worked on instead, the game was Star Wars Battlefront III. If that is the case, it is a good move because Rebellion, as you all know, were the masterminds behind the very popular Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron. However, that is still rumor at this point like I said, so just keep your shirts on.

You may recall that during the past few months, stirrings around the internet have claimed that trouble had been brewing at Free Radical for quite some time, with even the assumption that many changes and lay-offs were to happen at any day thanks to the parting of ways with LucasArts and the flop known as Haze. All of this was subsequently denied by the company’s director Steve Ellis, who like most higher-ups dismissed the accusations as false:

“Nothing unusual is happening here. Projects end. New projects start. That’s how things have worked for nearly 10 years. TimeSplitters 4 and an unnamed project are both still in development [along with] other unannounced projects, which are in the process of being signed. We certainly won’t be laying off any staff today. Or, for that matter, any time in 2008. If something happens in 2009 I’m sure we’ll be prepared to comment – but from where I’m sitting, whatever happens is far more likely to be positive than negative.”

As of this post, all calls to the Free Radical offices were yet to be returned and no word on whether or not we can expect an official announcement or press release soon has been divulged either. But, Edge apparently has some inside information on what went down during the hotel meeting. You can view that after the break.

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Lucasarts has announced the release of some new DLC for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which features one new level and a handful of bizarre new costumes. The new level will have Vader’s Apprentice traveling to Coruscant to search for information about his father amongst the Jedi Temple ruins. Along the way though, he’ll of course encounter several Stormtroopers in need of a severe thrashing. The new costumes will allow you to wield a lightsaber as an assortment of Star Wars characters from Mace Windu to Jango Fett to even C3PO (which I still have trouble wrapping my head around).

You can check out more screenshots of the new DLC here.

Crimson Cow and Autumn Moon Entertainment have finally released the long awaited A Vampyre Story, created by ex-LucasArts employee Bill Tiller. Full of horror, humor and addictive gameplay (from what I saw in the demo) this point and click adventure starring new vampire Mona De Lafitte tells the tale of a starlet whose desire of singing at the Paris Opera over shadows the fact that she is trapped in a castle by a nefarious vampire.

A number of challenges await the elegant opera singer as she comes to terms with her new vampire nature and learns to harness the supernatural abilities she has acquired– these abilities will also influence the events in you game.

Visually, the game contains over 50 hand-painted locations, over 20 characters from the plain weird to humorously terrifying. Mona is also not alone, for she has a side-kick in the form of a witty and mischievous bat named Froderick who joins her on the quest to realize her dream. Helping her unravel over 20 hours of puzzles, this strange little bat provides a consistent flow of wise cracks and sinister jokes.

A Vampyre Story can be donwloaded digitally via GamersGate where the 3158MB download will cost you $29.99–or you can wait until it hits your local GameStop on December 2.

If you still have not played the demo, you can get it by hitting the badge below.

LucasArts would just like to say, “Wait! Don’t trade in your copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for sweet, sweet store credit just yet! We’ve got some cool new DLC on the way, including a whole new level!” Yes, LucasArts has now announced that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will in fact be getting some pretty sweet downloadable content in the form of some new characters, as well as a new single player campaign. The new characters will essentially be skins to use while you deal out death to wayward Stormtroopers, and will include the likes of Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Kit Fisto.

Those won’t really change the game up much, but the new level they have planned will. It will involve Vader’s Secret Apprentice traveling to a ruined Jedi Temple on Coruscant — presumably the one where Anakin killed the “younglings” in Episode III — to learn more about his father. The new level will function separate from the rest of the game in order for players to just jump right into it after downloading it. Executive producer, Haden Blackman, also hinted at the possibility of more levels in the future:

“We brainstormed a ton of locations. There’s easily another two dozen we could make into levels. This is a good way to continue the story. I wouldn’t rule out any future content on The Force Unleashed.”

That could certainly boost sales of the game, since as it stands, you easily complete the whole game in a solid rental period.

Via Kotaku

It’s Thursday, which means the PlayStation Store has been flooded with new downloadable games, demos, videos, and all sorts of other goodies. The headliner content for PlayStation 3 owners are two new demos: Mercenaries 2 and Fracture. Anyone who’s played Mercs 2 or read 1UP’s review can tell you the game is undeniably fun, but what about Fracture, LucasArts’ new shooter centered around destroying terrain? Give the demo a try, and then come back and see if you agree with Anthony Gallegos’ preview of the game from Leipzig.

PSP owners are in for a real treat compared with the usual slap in the face they see in the downloadable space — in addition to a demo and trailer of NBA 09, both Cube and PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient have been released for $10 each. These are the first two of six games being released on the PlayStation Store by D3 Publisher, with some classics like Dead Head Fred and Puzzle Quest still to come.

Much like this past weekend on Xbox Live, this upcoming weekend is a Double XP event in Call of Duty 4, and to celebrate the price of the Variety Map Pack has been cut in half from $10 to $5. Complimenting that is a new Rock Band album from Megadeth, and a ton of new videos from the AST Dew Tour. Hit up the PlayStation Blog for the full list of releases.

LucasArts announced today that they will release the official demo of their upcoming action game Fracture on Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network on Thursday, September 18. The demo will introduce players to the gameplay behind Terrain Deformation, a gameplay mechanic that allows for the creation of on-the-fly cover and geographic manipulation.

Developed in partnership with Chicago-based Day 1 Studios, Fracture takes place in the year 2161 in a United States plagued by disaster. Years of environmental neglect have split the nation in two and resulted in two conflicting ways of life. Survivors of the Atlantic Alliance have turned to cybernetics and technology, while the Pacifican States in the West have turned to stem cell research and genetic engineering for a better way of life. These two conflicting ideologies come to a head in a deadly civil war for not only the fate of the free world, but also the future of mankind itself.

In the demo, utilize the power of Terrain Deformation to create cover, solve puzzles and revolutionize battlefield tactics as you guide Atlantic Alliance soldier Jet Brody in his quest to quell the Pacifican uprising through an exciting single player campaign that begins in the now-dried-out San Francisco bay, and traverses the ravaged country.

When the game ships to retail you will also be able to test your mettle in multiplayer modes where action meets Terrain Deformation for 12-player battles in modes specifically built for Fracture and TD technology.

Fracture releases for Xbox 360 and the PS3 on October 7 in North America and on October 10 in Europe.