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It's been a bumpy road to release for Brütal Legend. Tim Schafer's had to change publishers, deal with a pesky lawsuit, soldier through PR missteps and even handle some post-release DLC. This is all common knowledge, but in a lengthy postmortem at Gamasutra, Caroline Esmurdoc, executive producer at Double Fine, goes in depth on the development strategy for the title and talks about what went right and what went wrong in the creation of this rock gaming opus.

Double Fine adopted the Scrum method of agile software development for Brütal Legend, which allowed the company to create a renderer, terrain and a playable Eddie Riggs for Tim in a mere month. Content creation was fairly steady, Esmurdoc admitted, but around January of this year, the game's content jumped from the 2.5GB generated over three years to a massive 9GB, thanks to multiple teams unloading assets for the game simultaneously.

Esmurdoc also touched on the lawsuit, though she couldn't go into specifics beyond mentioning that the transition between publishers caused "internal unrest and morale dips among the team", and that Double Fine learned Activision would not be publishing Brutal Legend when the game was suspiciously absent from a list of the publisher's upcoming games. Double Fine then pursued a new publishing partner.

> CHECK CALENDAR

Your Hot Men of Activision calendar reveals that it's July ... 2009, of course. And wow, that Bobby Kotick must work out.

> PINCH CHEEK

You pinch your cheek so hard, you bruise it. Hey, that almost looks like facial hair, Mr. Manly Man!

> DOWNLOAD CLASSIC SIERRA GAMES OFF OF STEAM

What do you think this is? The 90s? Go shoot some space marines like a real man.


At least, that's how this scene would've played out only yesterday. While adventure games are seemingly in the middle of a resurgence in popularity – thanks in large part to LucasArts classics making their way to places like Steam and Xbox Live Arcade – the availability of Sierra's classic adventure games has been a slightly more complicated affair. Of course, they became the property of Activision Blizzard following last year's mega-merger wherein Activision had its sights set squarely on profit, not nostalgia.

In fact, when asked explicitly about the Sierra classics, an Activision rep told us: "We are retaining only those franchises that are a strong fit with our long-term strategy ... We will not publish any other titles that previously were part of the Vivendi Games portfolio and we are currently reviewing our options regarding those titles." Well, that review is apparently over and, after what we can only imagine was a great amount of deliberation – "can we make a rhythm game out of it?" – the "King's Quest Collection" and "Space Quest Collection" both find themselves on Steam for the more-than-fair price of $20 for each set ($15 if you buy before July 30). We could tell you about Aces of the Galaxy, TimeShift, and 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures – other Sierra back-catalog titles that are hitting the service today – but we really want to save our last paragraph for one very special message:

GIVE US THE QUEST FOR GLORY GAMES. That is all.

[Thanks, Jason]

Source – Activision Expands Catalog with Space Quest, King's Quest and More
Source – King's Quest Collection
Source – Space Quest Collection

Don't hold out hope for any upgraded remakes of Quest for Glory, at least none made with the knowledge of original designers Lori and Corey Cole. The husband and wife team told Destructoid that only once since the game was released in 1989 were they ever approached about a remake. Originally created by Sierra, the rights for all the Quest titles are under the control of Activision Blizzard, which stated late last year that it was "reviewing" its options about the Sierra adventure titles from the days of yore.

The Coles are interested in making more Quest for Glory games, but admit to not fully playing an adventure title since Monkey Island or the Indiana Jones series (they're into World of Warcraft). Although they'll be able to get an upgrade of Monkey Island soonish, it's worth mentioning that Telltale has been doing a good job of iterating the genre for a new generation.

GamePolitics reports that a 2002 lawsuit between Valve and Sierra regarding royalties is getting ugly. Activision -- which inherited the suit when it absorbed Sierra in 2008 -- was to pay Valve $2,391,932, as determined by an arbitration agreed to by both parties. Activison later challenged the award, saying that Valve was overpaid by $424,136.

Valve claims that the complaint was not officially submitted to the "contractually agreed audit and dispute process" and states that the auditor thus refused to consider it. So, what did Activision do? It paid $1,967,796. Yup, that's exactly $424,136 less than the awarded amount. Furthermore, Activision stated it would sue Valve if the company attempted to have the court confirm the total payment due.

Undaunted, Valve is now asking that the court award it the deficient payment and officially close the arbitration process, thus barring Activision from attempting to re-open it. More legal fireworks, it would seem, are about to ensue.

We reported earlier this month that Lost Cities had mysteriously disappeared from Xbox Live Arcade as recently as early March. We surmised at the time that the rights to the game could have been transferred to Activision during the merger with Vivendi (then parent of developer Sierra). As it turns out, according to Official Xbox Magazine (via GamerBytes), the Lost Cities license reverted back to the original licensor after the merger. Without the license to the Lost Cities brand, Activision can no longer sell it. So, that's it.

Incidentally, if you downloaded the trial version of Lost Cities before, you can still re-download it via your download history. The full version is inaccessible though, so you'll have to find someone who already has it if you want to play. Or you could always just pick up the card game and play it face-to-face if you think you can handle that kind of intensity.

Hopefully this gets to you before the inevitable cease-and-desist: right now, a site called Sarien (named after the antagonists in the original Space Quest) is offering a selection of vintage Sierra adventure games, playable right in your browser. If you've never known Leisure Suit Larry to be anything but a terrible minigame collection, you can check out the real game here, along with Police Quest, The Black Cauldron, and the first two wonderful Space Quest games.

As if a free, simple interface for enjoying these games weren't enough, Sarien adds a bizarre twist: (optional) multiplayer. When you go into a game, you'll be surrounded by identical avatars, all playing their own adventures. You can watch them explore and type commands (that's right, typing), or you can provide tips to your fellow players. It can be pretty disorienting to adventure game fans (and creators) but once you get used to the crowd, it's an interesting variation on these old games.

[Via What They Play, Offworld]

We've confirmed with Major Nelson that the now-aptly named Lost Cities has disappeared from Xbox Live Arcade. Apparently, not too many folks were actually looking for the game, as our inbox holds an overlooked tip about its missingness dating back to March 4th.

The game was published by Sierra last summer, but we presume that those rights transferred over to Activision Blizzard in "The Merger." Microsoft currently has no further details on why the game was pulled, though Major Nelson remarks that it's only the second game to be pulled from the service (the first being Yaris). In case you were wondering, this has nothing to do with poorly performing XBLA titles being delisted from XBLA, that program hasn't yet been implemented -- and likely never will.

[Thanks Josh and Jeremy]

He's defeated Sariens, foiled Sludge Vohaul and even uncovered a sinister plot by ScumSoft. Still, after all of that, little has been heard from mop-wielding hero Roger Wilco, star of Sierra's venerable Space Quest series, in well over a decade. And judging by images and a video posted by game designer Brett Johnson of a canceled seventh game in the franchise, it's a good thing.

The long-rumored sequel looked to sweep its PC roots under the rug, trading pointing and clicking for running and jumping as a 3D platformer for the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox. In fact, the game, which was being helmed by developer Escape Factory, bore little resemblance at all to the Space Quest that series fans had grown to love. Still, it's somewhat interesting to look at the Space Quest game that might have been, but like the Labion Terror Beast, it's best appreciated from a distance.

[Via superannuation]

Red Baron Arcade, originally scheduled for a September release last year, mysteriously disappeared once Activision Blizzard acquired Sierra Games. Six months later, the downloadable flight game makes a surprise return appearance.

Our impressions of the game from 2008 were rather lackluster, but the game may have improved quite a bit over the last few months. Update: The PlayStation.Blog's Jeff Rubenstein confirms the game will cost $9.99, and players will be able to experience a taste of the game in a playable demo.

See the game's original trailer after the break.

We fear that this deal will sell out in the time it takes for us to get the post up, but it's a risk we're going to have to take! Geometry Wars: Galaxies is Amazon's Deal of the Day, dropping for today only to ten damn dollars. In these harsh times, we understand that some of us can't drop even ten dollars on unexpected impulse purchases. If you are safely in possession of enough disposable income to bring some awesome shooty action home -- and if you've got plenty saved up -- you could do a lot worse than to throw a little bit of money towards some awesome portable shooty action!

Our post image is an encore from a previous Geo Wars sale post. Eric's image was just so perfect that we wanted to highlight it once again!

Prototype, better known as Crackdown + The Matrix + Superman seems to have a busted website that confronts you with an age gate, and then gives up all of its secrets like the wimpy kid during recess. It appears that these are images and videos they are assembling for a presentation at CES in January, but Happy Holidaze! You get it a few weeks early.

Check out the new images from the game in the gallery below, and there are four new videos waiting for you after the break. Just hurry and do it now before someone comes to their senses and flips the switch. Either this is a brilliant marketing ploy, or someone's asleep at the keyboard.


[Thanks Johnny Nobody]

In an industry perpetuated by sequels, we see plenty of gamers rabidly demanding new installments in their favorite series, whether it be the predictable Madden: Year Edition, Medal of Honor: Kill Some More Nazis, or Metal Gear Solid: Even Longer Cutscenes. Of course, there's also a vocal community crying out against the terrible process of franchise-milking, demanding fresh characters and fresher concepts. Every year there are a few surprisingly original titles from the big studios. This year EA has been surpringly generous with new IPs, publishing heavy-hitters like Mirror's Edge and Dead Space. In the past, we've gotten gems like Beyond Good & Evil and Zack & Wiki. Unfortunately, as we all know, new franchises mean new risks, and they don't always sell as well as they deserve.

Last generation, few games exemplified this tragic situation more than Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. Created by Swingin' Ape Studios, this wonderfully charming and surprisingly deep third-person shooter would be the developer's only project -- though they started work on the infamous Starcraft Ghost, they were eventually absorbed by Blizzard, and the game eventually disappeared. For whatever reason -- poor advertising, unappealing box art, or bad timing -- Metal Arms was overlooked by many a gamer. Those who gave it a chance discovered a lengthy quest chock full of hilarious characters, a genuinely original world, and a veritable ton of weapons, and that's why Glitch in the System is this week's game that's Born for Wii.

NEXT >>

Gallery: Born for Wii: Metal Arms

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Every week, Born for Wii digs into gaming's sordid past to unearth a new treasure fit for revival on the Nintendo Wii. Be sure to check out last week's entry in the series, Wario's Woods, and for more great titles that deserve your attention, take a look at Virtually Overlooked.

Atari recently caught the Ghostbusters game in its ghost trap, and has now revealed a release date for the title -- the once-shaky project will escape its Ecto-Containment Unit in June 2009! There's no word yet on which region that date is for, though Atari's press gathering is taking place in the UK, for what that's worth.

Who's excited, then? We noticed a few naysayers in the comments of our last Ghostbusters post, but the involvement of (Mushroom Men creator) Red Fly gives us confidence!

When your game's alone
With no publisher
Who you gonna call?
Ghostbusters! Atari!

For a while, the merging of Activision and Blizzard looked like it might spell a grisly end for the Ghostbusters game, but now HERO OF THE PEOPLE Atari has stepped in to save the day, confirming previous assurances from Dan Akroyd and Variety. Once caught in development limbo, Ghostbusters is now due to release in 2009, and will feature the film's original main cast and a storyline penned by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. We never imagined ourselves saying this, but let's all raise a glass to Phil Harrison.


[Via press release]