[Venkman]

Originally Posted by rtrooney

It is a dead issue because the rights to the franchise are not currently for sale. I will grant, that they may be some time in the future.

In the interest of meaningful discussion, perhaps the title of the thread might be changed to "What would it take/cost Telltale to acquire the rights to the LSL franchise?" Getting the whole thing would allow them to do eposodic adventures, and even a full-blown, self-contained adventure if they wanted. And they could hire whatever talent, Al, Josh, et al, they wanted to help design/direct/produce the game.

Has anyone even contacted Telltale to guage their interest? Or is this LSL license purchase agreement going to be forced upon them by those who want to see it happen?

I. too, would enjoy seeing some well-done sequels. LSL would be one of them. As would the aforementioned GK sequels.

Josh and I tried to think out an FPFP sequel, but the franchise owner at that time, Vivendi, wouldn't talk about it. (Actually it may have been the CCC predecessor of Vivendi. As I said previously, it's hard to keep track.)

And that's what's makes me cynical about the thread. Until you have an owner that is willing to even discuss the selling/leasing of the material, why bother continuing the conversation?

I'd much rather be in a conversation that is going "somewhere."

I was recently in contact with a designer of one of the classic old Sierra series. They were interested in reviving their franchise and had been in talks with Activision/Blizzard - I assume it was early this year or late last year. Activision was willing to sell the rights back for a large six figure sum (too much for the developers). The license in question was one of the least well-known Sierra series, so the rights for something like Leisure Suit Larry, if even for sale, would be astronomical. Still, if you had a million or so I bet you could get your hands on FPFP, assuming the situation at A/B is still the same (I don't know the most recent news).

I disagree with the people who say that Leisure Suit Larry is not a big enough license for Telltale to bother with. I'd say that before the Sam & Max revival it was probably among the 3 most well-known adventure game series. If you asked any random non-gamer if they'd heard of Leisure Suit Larry and/or Sam & Max (before either series was revived in the 00's), I guarantee LSL would have had by far more name recognition. LSL did seep its way into mainstream popular culture at least a little bit and was a Jeopardy question, which is way more than you can say for I think literally any other adventure game series.

Despite the fact that the recent LSL games are crap, they probably still help the license rather than hurt it by giving it at least SOME exposure.

[rtrooney]

Originally Posted by Venkman

The license in question was one of the least well-known Sierra series, so the rights for something like Leisure Suit Larry, if even for sale, would be astronomical. Still, if you had a million or so I bet you could get your hands on FPFP.

We estimated the Vivendi cost to be $500,000. Which was/is a lot of money for a game that had an audience, (at the time,) that could only play on a 486 machine. The developers of the recently-issued, (last year or two,) Al Emmo left the door open for a sequel. But the door was shut by sales that didn't live up to expectations. Their conclusion was that the market for an Old-West adventure wasn't what they hoped. Truthfully, aside from FPFP, Dust and Al Emmo, I can't think of any Old-West adventure games that have had any degree of success.

Originally Posted by Venkman

If you asked any random non-gamer if they'd heard of Leisure Suit Larry and/or Sam & Max (before either series was revived in the 00's), I guarantee LSL would have had by far more name recognition.

Absolutely true.

Originally Posted by Venkman

Despite the fact that the recent LSL games are crap, they probably still help the license rather than hurt it by giving it at least SOME exposure.

Despite what a prior poster posted, there are those that think there is no such thing a bad PR. In this case, I would agree. If nothing else, it has kept the LSL franchise in public view.

[Venkman]

I was thinking about the Leisure Suit Larry license, and I think that it is quite likely THE most valuable adventure game license even today. The only other competitors are obviously Monkey Island and Sam & Max, but I'm pretty convinced that LSL is still worth more.

What I'm saying is that if a bunch of adventure game licenses were auctioned off, LSL should fetch the highest price if the bidders are thinking rationally. And yes that's even considering the fact that Monkey Island is somewhat in the spotlight at the moment while LSL's current incarnations are mocked and reviled. LSL just has so much potential upside. I feel like MI and S&M are still niche despite getting a lot of Internet publicity - they still aren't known to the masses. A phenomenal LSL game is going to destroy an equally good MI game in sales.

[Ash]

Didn't Codemasters inherit the IP when they acquired Box Office Bust?

They must want to do something with the property.

[3rdFloor]

Originally Posted by Ash

Didn't Codemasters inherit the IP when they acquired Box Office Bust?

Perhaps they were simply granted a license to develop the game for Activision? I'm not sure but my best guess is that the new merged empire must still be the rightful owner of Mr. Laffer and his relatives.

[Ash]

Originally Posted by DeadWolf

Perhaps they were simply granted a license to develop the game for Activision? I'm not sure but my best guess is that the new merged empire must still be the rightful owner of Mr. Laffer and his relatives.

Nope. Team17 developed the game for Vivendi. Activision didn't want it, so they sold it off to Codemasters. I assume Codies got the whole IP, since the LSL Collection isn't up on Steam despite the fact that the King's Quest and Space Quest ones are.

[3rdFloor]

Originally Posted by Ash

Nope. Team17 developed the game for Vivendi. Activision didn't want it, so they sold it off to Codemasters. I assume Codies got the whole IP, since the LSL Collection isn't up on Steam despite the fact that the King's Quest and Space Quest ones are.

Interesting. I wonder what will happen next.

[rtrooney]

Originally Posted by Venkman

I was thinking about the Leisure Suit Larry license, and I think that it is quite likely THE most valuable adventure game license even today.

Certainly one of the top four or five. I think the Gabriel Knight franchise, Tex Murphy, as well as Monkey Island cerainly rank in the same general echelon. Not sure about Sam & Max.

One franchise that has not been mentioned is Wallace and Grommit. Yes, Telltale did an eposidic adventure. But I think it was generally agreed that the game didn't reach its potential until the final episode. Now there is a franchise with a cult following in film world that might easily translate to a full-storied game. (If done right!)

[thejobloshow]

Nah. Let's move on.

I'm the biggest Larry fan, have everything including the German only Leisure Suit Larry Mini-Games collection they released in conjunction with Magna Cum Laude but that ship has sailed.

To quote Al Lowe, "I've been spoiled". If there's going to be a Larry game, I want Al to be involved, I want Neil Ross back as the narrator and Jan Rabson as the voice of Larry and I want the story to start where Love for Sail left off in the style Lowe said he wanted.

Spoiler:

Leisure Suit Larry 8: Lust in Space.

If you can muster all that together than maybe but I think we should let sleeping dogs lie.

EDIT: And the fact that Larry is now owned by this British company, Codemasters? Al will never be involved in any future incarnations of Lar-Lar.

[Little Writer]

I've played my share of Larry games in my time. The original "Land of the Lounge Lizards" was one of the first games I ever played. I never even finished "Looking for love". I didn't really enjoy "Passionate Patti". Never got my hands on LSL5. I had a great time with "Shape up or Slip out", but I never really felt the need to pick up "Love for Sail".

I'm still undecided about these games. They can be fun, but sometimes they just can't wrench a smile out of me. It's a different kind of humor for which you really have to be in the mood, as far as I'm concerned.

Reviving it again? I think I'd pass.

[CrimsonBlue]

How can you not like LSL3? The atmosphere and music in that game is fantastic, and one of my favourite adventure games of all time. I get misty eyed every time I start up a new game, with the wonderful music playing in the background.

As a matter of fact, the music was one of my favourite aspects of the Larry games.

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by Little Writer

I'm still undecided about these games. They can be fun, but sometimes they just can't wrench a smile out of me. It's a different kind of humor for which you really have to be in the mood, as far as I'm concerned.

Video games hardly ever make me laugh. I usually find the attempts at humor to be pretty painful. I feel the same way for most movies and television (a notable exception is Arrested Development), so it may well be that a lot of games really are hilarious and that it's just tough for a work of art to make me personally laugh. But I doubt it.

That being said, I still love many "funny" games, LSL included. You can enjoy them without actually finding them funny. There is plenty of adventuring to be had in LSL - just picture them as really solid adventure games with a lighthearted setting. "Humor" does become bothersome with games like the Telltale Sam & Max, where in my opinion there is much too much dialogue to sit through. If you find it funny, maybe you love sitting through that dialogue, but I don't think any video game writer is good enough to carry a game with lots of talking.

Originally Posted by CrimsonBlue

How can you not like LSL3? The atmosphere and music in that game is fantastic, and one of my favourite adventure games of all time. I get misty eyed every time I start up a new game, with the wonderful music playing in the background.

As a matter of fact, the music was one of my favourite aspects of the Larry games.

Yea LSL3 is amazing, great music.

[rtrooney]

Originally Posted by thejobloshow

If you can muster all that together than maybe but I think we should let sleeping dogs lie.

Read http://forums.adventuregamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22057&highlight=Josho

[thejobloshow]

Originally Posted by rtrooney

Read http://forums.adventuregamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22057&highlight=Josho

I already knew some of this having interviewed Sierra people a few years back and I know how Josh feels - but, let it be known that even in that structure, Al Lowe still had a pretty big involvement in the Larry sequels. It was nothing like say, King's Quest 8, where Roberta Williams would rock up once a month asking "Is my game finished yet?"

[Josho]

Originally Posted by thejobloshow

Let it be known that even in that structure, Al Lowe still had a pretty big involvement in the Larry sequels.

You're absolutely right. I think I even said that Al was more involved than the other "name" designers who used ghostwriters.

On the other hand, I thought it was telling that when Freddy came out, it was given a capsule review in Newsweek that said something like, "Al Lowe has found his truest voice yet." I really had to laugh.

Josh