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Lucas Arts Entertainment
By Chris Fleming
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LUCAS ARTS WAS ORIGINALLY FOUNDED IN 1982
by the acclaimed filmmaker, George Lucas. During these
first few years, LucasArts began developing several software entertainment titles
that were published by other companies. The company goal of LucasArts at this time
became clear, according to the web site, "...to provide an interactive element
to his [George Lucas] vision of a state-of-the-art, multi-faceted entertainment company."
Since its creation, LucasArts has been branching out into a number of projects. In
1987, along with its entertainment area growing, it started to become involved with
educational multimedia. The first project was a joint venture, with the National
Geographic Society and the California State Department of Education and marked the
development of GTV (Geographic TV). This was an interactive multimedia program that
taught American history to students. Two installments have been added subsequent
to the original program. The "Planetary Manager" and "The People"
programs.
During 1988, with two RPGs (Role Playing Games) released, and a WWII flight sim,
"Battlehawks," the year was off to a good start. In educational programs,
LucasArts began, "Life Story: The Race for the Double Helix." This was
a multimedia program teaching the structure of DNA to students, featuring actor Jeff
Goldblum as one of the star characters. This program was developed alongside with
Apple Computers Multimedia Lab, the Smithsonian Institute and Adrian Malone Productions.
In 1992, the program was completed and released to schools nation wide. "Life
Story" gained notoriety in its teaching abilities, and won a gold medal in the
1989 International Film and Television Festival in New York.
In 1989, a pivotal moment in gaming industry was about to take place. The release
of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" was the first time that LucasArts
created a game based upon a Lucasfilm. This would be a trend that would follow several
other titles in the future, not only for LucasArts, but for other companies as well.
Along with several other game title releases this year, LucasArts teamed up with
Apple Computers, the Marin Community Foundation and the San Rafael School District
to create the "Mac Magic" program. In this, an eighth grade class were
given computers with laserdisc players and video cameras, and asked to create multimedia
research and autobiographical projects. The "Mac Magic" program was brought
into classrooms across the United States, and earned a "Daily Point of Light"
award from President George Bush for its educational accomplishments.
Through 1990, to 1991, LucasArts released more titles, further establishing the company
as a major competitor within the gaming industry. In 1991, joining with Visa USA,
"Choices & Decisions: Taking Charge of Your Life" was created. This
was a multimedia program teaching high-risk students, the basics of financial management.
In this program, actress Tracey Gold from "Growing Pains" and Alfonso Ribeiro
from "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" starred in the interactive environment.
In this program, the students acted as financial advisors for the characters concerning
jobs, college, investments and living on their own.
1992 introduced LucasArts first CD-ROM package, which had "The Secret of Monkey
Island," "Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe," and the full voice version
of the previously released, "Loom." For educational material, "Treasury
of Literature-Tiger Tales" was released with the help from Harcourt, Brace &
Jovanovich. This program encourages reading skills for grades one through six and
complements books released by HBJ.
From 1993 on, LucasArts continued to release big hit titles such as; "X-Wing,"
"Sam & Max Hit the Road," "Tie Fighter," "Full Throttle,"
the controversial "AfterLife," "Jedi Knight," "Grim Fandango"
and more recently, "Star Wars: Force Commander."
With the release of the numerous titles over the years, LucasArts has been expanding
its production by creating software for a multitude of platforms. Since IBM is the
most common platform in home computer, the majority of its software is released with
that particular market in mind. However, they have also been releasing titles in
education and entertainment for the Macintosh, Nintendo, and Sony Playstation.
From its humble beginnings in1982, the "design philosophy" of LucasArts,
is heavily influenced from its well known movie history. With strong story telling
and complex plot twists, eye-popping graphics, intense ear shocking sound and cutting
edge technology, is what gives this company its edge in todays' industry.
LucasArts is currently one of three companies within the Lucas family. The other
two companies are; Lucas Digital Ltd. which is made up of Industrial Light &
Magic, and SkywalkerSound. Lucasfilm Ltd. helps to create George Lucas's film and
television projects along side of Lucasfilm Licensing and THX.
Chris Fleming was
born on January 3rd, 1974 in the small town of Trail, British Columbia. Growing up,
his family moved and traveled often, seeing many wondrous things around the world.
Currently he is attending S.A.I.T. studying in the two-year program of Multimedia.
Source list
Http://www.lucasarts.com/
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