There has been a lot of talk online lately about an upcoming article in Computer Games magazine"s December issue previewing a new Leisure Suit Larry game from Sierra called Magna Cum Laude. (See below for what may be the issue"s cover.)
There has also been a lot of discussion on Blue"s News, Sierra Gamers, Fark, and LarryLives.com, among others.
- Since I"ve started receiving a lot of email about this topic, I thought it would be more efficient for me to explain everything I know here, instead of individual responses. So here goes.
Sierra has had a game under development for over a year, intended for a release date of late 2004. Magna Cum Laude is a working title.
I learned about the Computer Games article when I was interviewed for a "sidebar" (a small article that runs beside a larger article). Obviously, I won"t share any of my comments until their issue hits the streets. Even though the CG article was written by Josh Mandel, a good friend and my co-designer on Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist, I have not read it and do not expect to read it until its publish date, which I have heard is November 11th.
As to the many emails I"ve received stating, "They can"t do this to you" and "It"s your character" etc. I"d like to say this: my contract with Sierra was for "work for hire" and all rights to the characters and stories I created remained the property of Sierra. They have the right to do with those characters as they wish.
As of today, October 20, 2003, I have had nothing to do with the game, but, as always, I would still enjoy working on any Larry game, if Sierra feels I have something to contribute.