Business, Game Design, Gamer Culture
Who would have thought that video games about Legos would be so successful? Well, it doesn’t hurt that they rode the coattails of popular franchises. Lately, it seems that any franchise to become Lego-ized is made into a game. Could LEGO even look to video games themselves as a source for LEGO video games? I certainly hope not, but if they did…
After six long weeks, a new gaming juggernaut has knocked GTA IV from its lofty perch at the top of the UK sales charts. What game finally had enough juice to take out the fastest-selling game in recorded history? Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, of course! Who would have expected anything different? As the old saying goes, show me a bunch of plastic toys with no logical link to computer gaming reenacting 20-year-old movies and I’ll show you the best selling game in the United Kingdom!
Despite Lucasfilms’ epic blockbusters, LucasArts has been an epic failure of late. Like their beloved Indiana Jones, LucasArts’ jobs have begun to leave the U.S. and travel to places like India in hopes of “fortune and glory.” Unlike good old Indie, however, these jobs aren’t going global for a noble cause. LucasArts decided to lay off about 100 of their employees in favor of outsourcing this month, proving that all the LEGO games in the world couldn’t save them from suffering the same fate as so many other companies in recent history.
