‘Not happy with what he did with The Force Awakens’
[Thanks to Dtoid community member Long John for the awesome video production work!]
So far, my favorite thing about Uncharted 4 is the semi-secret cameo from Monkey Island‘s Guybrush Threepwood. I didn’t think to ask Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert about that surprise piece of copyright infringement, as this interview predates the release of the latest Uncharted, but we did get to talk about some other enlightening ideas surrounding the ownership of his characters.
Through our discussion, I discovered thatThimbleweed Park, Ron’s current collaboration with classic Lucasfilm Gamesartist Gary Winnick, doesn’t just look like Maniac Mansion. It will also feature a “very large mansion… that will have some very familiar places.” That’s exciting news for Maniac Mansion fans, though it sounds a bit risky, given how Disneyowns the intellectual property.
Ron seems unafraid of that risk, or of Disney in general. Though he was quite polite about it, he was very clear in how he’s not a fan of what Disney and J.J. Abrams have done with Star Wars so far, and he’s not enthusiastic about the idea of what they might do with his characters either. SinceDisney is no longer developing games internally, I think the company would be wise to allow Ron and his team to make a new Monkey Island. Hopefully Disney isn’t too insulted by Ron’s dissatisfaction with The Force Awakens to make that deal.
At least he liked Lost.