The International House of Mojo

In last weeks Deathspank: The Baconing news post we said that release dates for the Xbox 360 and pc were unknown. They've now moved from unknown to imminent, with both versions released today.

Savvy gamers can still get 20% off if they buy it on Steam before the launch. Hurry though, there's only 3 hours left at the time of writing.

Source: Steam

Last week we discussed the work being done on Grim Fandango by a group of highly intelligent and attractive LucasArts fans, who were fiddling behind the hood of the game, to enhance the graphics.

Since Daniel thinks a mega-byte is something you get from a large mosquito, and the last game Gabriel played was Koronis Rift on the Atari 800, we decided to get an expert on the show to tell us more details; and nobody is more expert than Thunderpeel, who is one of the main people behind the project, and who has recently established an exciting blog giving details and advertising progress!

This week's show also contains two new jingles, Roger's thoughts on the Hector games, (published by Telltale), and, of course, a weekly round-up of the news.

Listen below, or go to our to download a higher quality copy. Subscribe in iTunes here. Thanks to Roger 'Zaarin' Roger for editing and producing.

The trailer for the PlayStation 2 version of Escape from Monkey Island teaches you how to become a pirate in five easy steps.

Hold on to your butts and gettaloadda this minute's worth of dino action from Jurassic Park: The Game courtesy of IGN.

Source: IGN

Our latest hosted site reports that Lace Mamba's retail release of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse is released and making UK shelves a bit more irreverent. The releases in other European territories "are expected to follow shortly if they’re not already out."

Source: Sam & Max.co.uk

We finally have some good news for those of you who have missed having a Sam & Max fansite that is regularly updated after the demise of The Unofficial Sam & Max. Please welcome our newest hosted site: Sam & max.co.uk! Here you can find the latest Sam & Max related news, fan art, write-ups on the games, wallpapers, and more!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Source: The Inquirer

The Xbox 360 disc for Jurassic Park is no longer an anomaly. Telltale issued two press releases today announcing that they will be publishing retail releases of Back to the Future: The Game for Playstation 3 and Wii in October. This is the first time the series will be available for Wii in any form; it is currently available through the PSN. I also believe that these and Jurassic Park will mark Telltale's first self-published retail console releases. The CSI and Sam & Max discs were published by Ubisoft and JoWood/Atari respectively.

In the announcement, Telltale also boasts the statistic that Back to the Future has generated over one million downloads on PC alone.

So how are you celebrating the 30th anniversary of Indiana Jones? 'Cause if you haven't made a poster-sized map pinpointing every artifact he's ever found - that's including the movies, games, novels and comic books - then you're clearly not this guy, who accomplished this feat with funding from the Adirondack ComicFest. This effort was also "authorized through Lucasfilm," if you wanted to know.

Fortunately, all of the artist's 255 prints - the proceeds of which went to American Disabled Veterans - have sold out, sparing you considerable temptation, but apparently there are going to be some on sale at the Adirondack ComicFest, should you be attending.

Source: MattBusch.com

Telltale has announced that episode two of the Hector trilogy, Senseless Acts of Justice, will be available as of tomorrow, August 25th, for PC, Mac, and iPad! You can buy it as part of the whole season for $19.99 or, if you've already bought the first episode, upgrade to the full season for $9.99.

Wonder what this episode will be about? There will be a "twisted trail of meat", it'll be twice as long as the first episode, and you'll have to play as Lambert.

We've also added three new images to the game's gallery.

The traditional Telltale disc release is now available for Back to the Future: The Game. Season subscribers can order their DVD for the price of shipping, or you can splurge on the Deluxe Edition that contains some Case File-esque tangible goodies. While they were at it, Telltale added two new pieces of BTTF merchandise to their store.

Check out the Telltale blog post for the full details.

Source: Telltale Blog

In the comments of the previous news post, which now merits a follow-up, Kroms made note of a LucasArts tweet which said, "It should be noted that we're hiring for a number of positions and games, including @clicknothing 's." To clarify for my Mom, @clicknothing is Clint Hocking's Twitter name.

Indeed, a quick glance at the open positions at LucasArts would lead you to believe that in addition to an open-world RPG, they're working on an action/adventure title, a first person shooter title, and an aerial combat title. Could even one of these not be a Star Wars game? The "Secret Weapons" series is certainly due for a new installment, or perhaps the flight sim could be a game based on Red Tails, the first Lucasfilm feature without Star Wars in the name since Radioland Murders (1994).

Source: LEC Twitter

According to LucasFilm's jobs page, LucasArts is apparently hard at work on an "open-world RPG". This slightly vague term could encompass anything from DeathSpank to Oblivion, but will still be a wildly more ambitious title than anything we really expected from LucasArts. They're damn hard to make, require a lot of development time, and plenty of committed staff. It'll be cancelled, in other words. Nevertheless, the requirement "passion for making and playing innovative games" does inspire hope in me at least.

Oh, and Ron Gilbert should totally call his autobiography "From DeathSpank To Oblivion".

Source: LucasArts (via Eurogamer)

Joystiq (the site most famous for not being able to spell joystick) reports that IGN is reporting that Jurassic Park: The Game is coming on November 15th. The big is news is that all four episodes will be available at the same time. Xbox 360 will have to buy the game on disc while PC and PS3 gamers can download the episodes.

There also may or may not be an iPad version. Eventually.

Source: joystiq.com

That happened a few days ago, but we're telling you about it now. You'll take these belated images and like it, mister:

Source: Telltale Blog

This week the XIVth Cook Chase podcast contains an alarming new jingle, covers the recent voting poll, and responds to a tweet from LucasArts/Telltale designer Dave Grossman, in which he admits he's a regular listener to one podcast because we mentioned his poetry!

We also burp some thoughts up about Costume Quest, Stacking, and DeathSpank, before engaging in a surpisingly serious discussion about the adventure game genre. We'd love to hear your thoughts on these topics, so please comment on this post or send an Internet Letter to podcast@mixnmojo.com.

Listen below, or go to our to download a higher quality copy. Subscribe in iTunes here. Thanks to Roger 'Zaarin' Roger for editing and producing. More information about the exciting high-res project for Grim Fandango (mentioned in the episode) can be found here.

It's a fifty-five level feeding frenzy of prime cut creature features!

More than a year has passed since Telltale released episode one of The Devil's Playhouse for the iPad and now, finally they're set to release... Beyond Time and Space?

Yes, the follow up to episode one of season three will, apparently, be all of season two. Go figure. Apparently it will be localized, though, so that might be good?

Read more about Telltale and their iPad plans.

Source: Gamespot

Hey, what do you know? Europeans will be allowed to play Trenched too. Sort of. It'll be called Iron Brigade but should otherwise remain identical. Look for it "this September".

What do we think about it? It probably depends on who you ask, but read the Mojo review all the same.

And finally, we ask, in our new poll, Which of Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight games is your favorite? It's just a Double Fine day today!

As for where you'd rather live...

Where would you like to live?
Rubacava. Kill me now!		13
America, Sam and Max style!		11
I need my rest. Puerto Pollo it is.		8
Scabb, where a pirate can be a pirate.		7
The island of the Weavers in Loom.		2
Other (leave a comment)		2
Wherever Full Throttle is set looks like fun.		1
Inside people's minds.		1
Cocytus, the planet in The Dig, looked good to me!		0
The mansion in Maniac Mansion.		0
Total votes		45

The Ron Gilbert-less third DeathSpank's PSN release date has been revealed. You can pick up (virtually) The Baconing on August 30th. The game is part of Sony's PSN PLAY program which means that if you pre-order it before the 25th, a PS3 theme is included along with an extra companion named Roesha: One Bad Mutha. There's also a 20% rebate for plus subscribers.

Release dates for the Xbox 360 and PC are still unknown at this point

Source: RPGamer

The XIIIth Cook Chase podcast this week comes out of the burning rubble of London, the capital city of Broken Britain, which last week (when the podcast was recorded) was full of rioting. We report from inside the looting, discussing the most important issues of the day, such as: 'how bad is Escape from Monkey Island?', and 'what is your favourite LucasArts soundtrack?'

Gabriel and Dan play around with shiny new equipment (with alarming results!) and continue our latest homoerotic feature, 'getting to know you'.

Listen below, or go to our to download a higher quality copy. Thanks to Zaarin for editing and producing. Paul Franzen's blog (mentioned in the episode) can be found here.

Unspooling this week is the best of all the A Vampyre Story trailers, largely because it drops the narrator and just shows off the game's gorgeousness.

Telltale has released a new version of Puzzle Agent 2 for iOS devices which includes the following fixes:

• Now supports 3G devices and newer
• Puzzle controls & usabiilty significantly improved
• Voice skipping fixed
• Cutscene graphics improved
• Performance enhancements and other minor bug fixes

They've also lowered the prices of the iOS versions of both games for one week. Puzzle Agent can now be had for $0.99 while the sequel costs $2.99.

Source: TTG blog

Ron Gilbert bestows the inaugural "Honorary Trailblazer" award to Tim Schafer at the 2010 Indiecade.

iTunes subscription is finally available again for our new podcasts. No more do you have to listen to old and mouldy ones from the Mojo 9 days in your Apple-originated contraption. Just subscribe and never worry about missing our latest musings again!

The XIIth Cook Chase podcast this week features another guest star: Milkman/John N/A/Nojan from IRAN! We set up a satellite link directly into his cave, where he talked about how LucasArts games are received in the Middle East.

We also launch a new feature ('Getting to Know You'), discuss the new screenshots from Telltale's Walking the Dead (is that what it's called?), and look back on the Back to the Future series. With a perspective from IRAN!

Listen below, or go to our to download a higher quality copy. Thanks to Zaarin for editing it together. The review of BttF Nojan refers to can be found here.

A few weeks back over at Nintendojo, a place of "Nintendo news, analysis and musings," a few paragraphs were devoted to Maniac Manson for the NES. Read them, won't you?

Source: Nintendojo