"You Don't Know Jack" returns with new games in March

You can call it March. I call it "New Jack City."

Those of you like me who pine for the glory days of the "You Don't Know Jack" trivia game series will be pleased as punch to hear that "YDKJ" will return next month with a series of downloadable games.

I talked to Andy Poland about this on Thursday afternoon. He's been working with Jellyvision (the company behind the games) for more than a decade as sort of a Jack-(if you'll pardon the pun)-of-all-trades. He's played host for a couple of titles, written, even created music.

After letting new Jack releases lapse at the beginning of the millenium as Jellyvision focused more on software development, it seems that we're about to be in the middle of a full-force Jackaissance.

The rebirth started recently with the Daily DisOrDat offered at the YDKJ site.

It's a Flash-based offering that's coming every workday. By utilizing Flash, Poland said that they've not only been able to turn the game around quicker, they've been able to make it more current.

"'You Don't Know Jack' was always 'Where pop culture and high culture collide,'" Poland said. "We wanted to take it to where pop culture and current events collide."

Poland admits that the Daily DisOrDat was created "to kind of test the waters" to see what the reception would be for some fresh "Jack" offerings.

Apparently, that response has been positive.

Poland said that gamers should look for the series to make a return in March ... just not on store shelves. "YDKJ" will be returning as a Web-based Flash title that would likely be broken up into seven-question games that would be dispersed on a regular basis. Poland said that, as he understood it, they were scheduled to premiere on March 5.

Poland said that they would probably be single-player only and stressed that many of the details are still being finalized, including exactly how the game will be dispersed and how much fans will have to pay to play.

"The suits are figuring out how we’re actually going to fund the thing," Poland said. "Most likely going to cost the user something, a download fee or subscription fee or something. But it’s not going to be a lot, it's just going to be enough to make it worth our while."

Though it won't be in retail channels, Poland said that fans could expect the same quality as their other products.

"It’ll be pretty comparable to popping in a CD," he said.

Poland also addressed the possibility of "Jack" appearing on home consoles. He said that while the company is actively looking into it, there's nothing official to report as of yet.

Updates on all things Jack can be found at www.youdontknowjack.com.