It seems that the North American release of Sam & Max: Season 1 for the Wii will not be gracing store shelves this week, as initially reported, but rather next week, due to a "manufacturing delay". Ah well, only one week.
Remember that pre-ordering from Gamestop gets you that bonus disc.
Update: I've just been emailed with a "Hey I need to join to watch this". This seems to be the case...except that, for some reason, I was able to watch the video without joining the first time. Anyone have any idea on what's going on? Can anyone post the video on YouTube, too?
So, as you may have noticed, our Day of the Tentacle Secret History article is falling a bit behind, for reasons not worth going into. But enough about Dan Pettit. The slight postponement of the DOTT article (which is coming very soon!) hasn't stopped progress on the Sam & Max Hit the Road one, which we're now accepting Reading Opinions for! Don't be like us and delay - send me your stuff now!
The most metal fansite in the history of metal fansites reports that Tim Schafer has been interviewed by the nice folks over at GamersWithJobs. The interview spans everything from Monkey Island to some details on Brütal Legend. But it looks like what Jason has been saying for a while now: the Legend will not arrive this year. And I say good. Inject it with more awesome, Double Fine.
Well, not an official release. But TheJoe is looking for voice-actor volunteers to add voice audio to Monkey Island 2 using a tool called 'ScummSpeaks'.
You can read more in the threads here at LucasForums or here at ScummVM's Forums. The latter one has input from the author of ScummSpeaks, jestar_jokin and you can see his short 'proof of concept' demonstration here;
The Pumpkin Post has noticed the existence of a preview for A Vampyre Story by the German site Adventure-Treff, who were able to play through the first two "Chapters" of the game. (Monkey Island type structure?) You can see the Google translated version here, and you'll also want to be checking out the sixteen new screenshots that are included.
DLC Brings You Luke Skywalker Into Force Unleashed Posted by Kroms | Source: Wired | Comments: 9
Luke Skywalker, that guy from that one movie, will make an appearance in Force Unleashed via Downloadable Content, according to Wired (who, in turn, credit IGN). There will be two packs of DLC, one that features classic characters like Luke and Obi Wan Kenobi; the other one will add one new mission to the game.
Does this mean that Luke has travelled back in time, slept with some woman who then gave birth to Darth Vader, thus making Darth Vader and Luke have a hell of a weird father-son relationship? Did I just totally spoil Empire Strikes Back for you? And did I just totally rip-off Futurama? The answer: probably revealed along with the release dates and price tags for this extra content.
Well I don't know about you, but I'm bored, so come along and let's see what we can go steal from The Pumpkin Post.
Hmm, what's this? Crimson Cow released some music tracks from the game on the official German site? And look at this, almost as if he knew I was going to swipe them, Haggis even provided direct links to the tracks. Bless his heart.
Sounds like a rather "big" score, don't you think? Also, why didn't anyone tell me that sad music boxes were going to be a component of this game? My anticipation just shot through the roof.
It's a slow news week so we report to you... wired and every other gaming website in the world is writing up that over 1.5 million people (but no PC gamers, naturally) have unleashed their paychecks and pocket money on STFU during its first week of release.
Congratulations all round to the LucasArts marketing department.
In other tangentially related news, TT Games who have brought you LEGO incarnations of your favourite LucasFilm movies (and 'Attack of the Clones') have just released LEGO Batman in the US with other territories following around October 10.
News from Sunday, September 21, 2008
It's Brutal! It's Legendary! And It's Here! Posted by Kroms | Comments: 7
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Step right up, step right up, and witness the second greatest fansite you'll see in years! It's enormous! It's magnificent! It's spectacular, and it has the critics go wild! Ladies and gentlemen, you've endured the delays and waited with patience, and so, withour further ado, it is my pleasure to bring to you...Brutal! The Legendary Fansite!. (Admission free for a limited time only.)
Large applause to Thrik, ladies and gentlemen!
Isn't it a little late for that, doctor? Posted by Jason | Comments: 5
Hey, you. This is the last week to send in your reader opinion about Day of the Tentacle. So quit putting it off you slackers.
Remember, you wouldn't just be wasting your time on some disposal internet fluff! This is history we're making here. Think of the article as a time capsule where your thoughts will be preserved and enjoyed for years to come. Future generations are in your debt.
So it seems that the rumours about LucasArts re-unveiling Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings this week were false. Oh well, hopefully next week. Or month, or year...
Whatever, but we do have new news on the tie-in novel written by Rob McGregor, who confirms the title once more (fancy doing it too LucasArts?). Some bright spark at TheRaider.net's forum emailed him and received this response:
Thanks for your kind words about my Indy novels. I do have another one coming out, but not until next year. It's related to the sixth generation of the Indiana Jones computer game. Game and novel have the same title -- Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings -- and somewhat similar story lines. My novel was completed months ago and was originally scheduled to come out at the time of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But production on the game was delayed. The current publication date is Fall of '09...
So does that mean we're not getting the game until late 2009?
Penny Arcade be havin' anot'er plain with t' land-goose in... actually, I'll just talk English.
Penny Arcade have made a comic about Fracture, the new game from LucasArts, and it's a hoot (the comic, not the game -- tho' the game might be good too).
In other news, Metallus from the planet Molton Elements has sent word that MSNBC have picked their five favourite pirates in computer games, and Guybrush Threepwood ends up in spot five, though I'm sure it's a chronological list.
Mr Brush is popular in the article's comments page, despite, apparently, having a difficult name to pronounce.
As someone once said to someone: "it's French, honey. It's pronounced Gay-brush."
Yarh you blue-faced poopey pansy: it be th' time dhat t' mighty ship Nightligh' be setting sail fer anot'er darnchy adven're -- man t' sails 'n' swab t' decks or I be confabulating yer tidy wives till t' jill of t' hens be knocking on yer door!
Gander and cribbin at t' new episode of Beneath Monkey Island, and listen again to t' beforehard episodes at t' mainspray.
Designers and artists once worked at LucasArts during its prime are worshipped as almost demigods by classic adventure game fans. In consequence, expectations are very high for A Vampyre Story to revive the spirit of classic LucasArts adventures. How do you deal with such high expectations of your work?
Well, let’s be realistic; adventures are a good solid market, but they have suffered a bit from the variety of genres out now that weren’t there 12 years ago. So consequently the sales and budgets have been affected. So if people expect us to have the same size and scope of Grim Fandango or Curse of Monkey Island, it just isn’t going to happen on half or 1/3 of those game budgets. But on the other hand 3d makes creating assets go a lot faster and look better. So some things will be better than those old games and some things won’t. That’s just the reality of today’s market place. And that is fine; we just have to take that into consideration when making our production plan. And if the game sells really well then who knows? Maybe we will be back to selling the same number of units we did in the mid to late nineties, and the next game can be even bigger.
As far as the design and humor go I just stick to the hope that my training under Brian Moriarty, Hal Barwood, Larry Ahern, Jonathan Ackley, Sean Clark, Peter Chan and Bill Eaken pay off. I’m pretty sure it will. I don’t know how it will measure up to those classic titles, but I think we have created a really fun game that people will enjoy.
About the wee bit of fame we get, I enjoy it because generally I am a shy person and am a little nervous meeting new people. But when I meet LucasArts fans they already seem to like me so I am not so nervous, which is a nice change. Though I could still make a bad impression but I am at least not as nervous about it. But trust me I am so full of insecurities that I’m pretty sure no amount of fame will ever go to my head. I’m just happy people are looking forward to my game and like what they see so far because I want to keep making it for them. It’s sort of like I have a bargain with the fans: I will work my ass off and do my best to make a fun, beautiful adventure game for you, if you just buy the game and help me pay the bills. It’s a good deal for me and the fans I think.
Much is learned, and there's even some new artwork in there, so there's really no defendable reason for you to not be there by now.