Once upon a time, LucasArts was known for more than games based on Star Wars and Indiana Jones. They also had several beloved original titles, including The Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion.

Ah, Maniac Mansion. Not growing up in a household with a PC, my exposure to Maniac Mansion came in the form of an NES game which was heavily promoted by Nintendo Power, though others say that it remains inferior to the original. It even gained a bizarre live-action spin-off TV show on the Family Channel. And then, for the longest time... silence.

Until now.

Don't call it a comeback, but Lucasfilm has filed new trademarks for Maniac Mansion, its classic 1987 adventure game. The trademark filing was extremely (extremely) expansive, ranging from goods like "read-along children's books" to services like "providing news programming in the field of entertainment relating to science fiction over an electronic network." Relevant to our interests, the new mark also references "computer game software and video game software." -- Kotaku

This doesn't necessarily mean that LucasArts will use the license for something anytime soon; they could merely be trying to reassert that it's their license. Nonetheless, one can hope for a crumb as small as a Virtual Console release, which is perhaps more advisable than holding one's breath for a full-blown relaunch of the franchise.

Though one is left to wonder what the tentacles, or killing Ed's hamster, would look like in HD.