Leisure Suit Larry : Magna Cum Laude : des screenshots et quelques infos

Comme nous vous l'annoncions , la célèbre série de jeux Leisure Suit Larry est sur le point d'avoir une suite.

Surprise, ce huitième épisode ne mettra pas en scène Larry Laffer mais son neveu, le sûrement bien nommé Larry Lovage. Comme son oncle, c'est un loser complet : petit, à moitié chauve, plutôt moche et une incompétence totale avec les femmes. Le bonhomme, étudiant à l'Université, passe les trois-quart de sa vie enfermé dans sa chambre, et l'autre quart à se faire jeter par les filles. Et un jour, sa vie bascule... acculé au mur de la déchéance, Larry, entendant parler d'une émission télé-réalité ayant pour sujet les rendez-vous amoureux ("a reality TV dating show") passant sur son campus, se reprend et jette ses dernières forces dans la recherche de l'amour, histoire de gagner non seulement une femme, mais aussi le jeu.

Voilà pour l'histoire. Côté background, les développeurs disent s'être inspirés des films American Pie et Mary à tout prix, tout en gardant bien évidemment l'esprit de la série. Pour la technique, un coup d'oeil sur les screenshots suffit à voir que l'on passe de la 2D à la 3D pour, peut-être, notre plus grand bonheur.

Sortie prévue courant 2004, tandis qu'une vidéo vous attend sur FileShack (enregistrement obligatoire).

LOS ANGELES, CA (October 28, 2003) - Vivendi Universal Games announced today that the next installment in the best-selling Leisure Suit LarryTM franchise, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude is scheduled for release on next-generation consoles and the PC in late 2004.

The Leisure Suit Larry videogame franchise began in 1987 with The Land of the Lounge Lizards, the first of seven games in the series. Since then, the Leisure Suit Larry games have sold more than 35 millions of units worldwide and its games are considered collector items.

"For years, gamers worldwide have begged us to create another Leisure Suit Larry game, so it gives me great pleasure to finally reveal the new installment in the series," said Luc Vanhal, VU Games' North American President & COO. "Thanks to the hard work of the game's designers at VU Games and High Voltage Software, Magna Cum Laude will build upon the popularity of the PC franchise and extend the Leisure Suit Larry experience to console gamers."

"Inspired by films like American Pie and There's Something About Mary, the game is packed full of outrageous humor and raucous game-play," said Philip O'Neil, SVP Sales & Marketing, Vivendi Universal Games. "We have captured the distinctive style and feel of the original series, while taking the humor and visuals to a level that hasn't been seen before. With all these ingredients combined we are sure it will please old and new fans alike."

Developed by High Voltage Software, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude is the coming of age story about Larry Lovage, nephew of Larry Laffer, the series' original lovable loser. In Magna Cum Laude,. Lovage, starts as a pathetic loser enrolled at Community College who spends most of his time in his dorm room, occasionally gets outor on campus striking out with women. (There's 3 uses of the word "loser" in the previous 2 sentences; having looked many a time for alternates myself, here's a few in the same vein: dud, incompetent, loafer, ne'er-do-well, nobody, underachiever, washout) , but finds that things always go horribly wrong. After hearing about a reality TV dating show visiting his college campus, he resolves to revitalize his life and win. Over the course of the game, Larry sets out on an epic a search for love (or its equivalent) and finds that things don't always go as planned.

"Our team has been having a lot of fun bringing Leisure Suit Larry back, but it's a daunting challenge because we know that - meeting the high expectations are going to be sky highassociated with this license is an exciting challenge," said Josh VanVeld, Producer, High Voltage Software, Inc. "We're confident that Larry will make a huge splash when he comes to consoles and the PC next Fall."

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude is the subject of a cover story in Computer Games Magazine and a feature story in Game Informer's December 2003 issue, both available on newsstands nationwide in early November.