The release of A Vampyre Story is moving closer and one of the game's publishers, Focus Home Interactive, has released a new 90 second trailer showing off the game's various locations and characters.

You can either stream or download it from their site.

Of course you don't, but it is his birthday today, so make sure you wish him a good one.

A rather interesting article in Variety yesterday suggests that the delay in Brütal Legend getting a new publisher may be the result of intentional tomfoolery on the part of Activision:

While doing my reporting on "Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena" and "Ghostbusters" (info here), I checked in on everyone's favorite heavy metal action game starring Jack Black and, well, the news isn't great.

Sources close to the process confirmed that "Brutal Legend" hasn't been set up at a new publisher since, as I reported back in August, negotiations with MTV fell through.

Whatever the exact reasons, it seems that tensions are running high between Double Fine and Activision Blizzard as they try to make a deal with a new publisher.

I spoke to some sources on the Double Fine side and they said the problem isn't that other publishers aren't interested. They say it's that Activision Blizzard has been "an impediment" and that they're "blocking the process."

What the hell? It'd be nice of Double Fine and "good news" could be synonymous with each other some day. Read the rest here.

Adventure Gamers recently got a chance to sit down with Crimson Cow The Adventure Company and play through a build of A Vampyre Story and subsequently put together their thoughts into something Mojo doesn't do anymore: a preview.

Their impressions are of course positive, and will probably heighten your anticipation even more for this highly promising and long-awaited game.

Gameplay in A Vampyre Story is very conventional, but with a few tricks up its cloak. The game is entirely point-and-click, but makes use of the “verb coin” type of interface, where holding down the mouse button over a hotspot reveals use, talk, or examine options. There’s also an additional fly option, as Mona can turn into an adorable little bat herself at will, though this is used only for places Mona can’t reach by walking. Which is too bad, since she won’t run at all and walks very slowly. Fortunately, the space bar can be used to skip directly to her destination, plus skip dialogue. Conversation is carried out in straightforward dialogue trees that you’ll exhaust in their entirety, and while some responses provide player choice, the differences are mainly cosmetic. Many of the topics are non-essential, but you’ll want to click through everything just for laughs and background details.

There's a lot of new information scattered throughout the preview, which you should really read while waiting for November to roll around.

Yes, it seems like the second episode of the series which Ron Gilbert consulted on and which has such a long, shitty title that I can't be bothered to find out what it is, has been released.

So, err, here.

From an interview with Mike Stemmle by allgeektout:

What it coming up next for you?

Mike: Right now? Another cup of coffee. Afterwards, I’ll be pitching in to help wrap up Mark Darin’s zanier-than-a-drunken-bedbug fourth episode of SBCG4AP. Some time this week I’m scheduled to have a meeting to kick around some Sam & Max Season Three ideas that have been bubbling up from the urpy bowels of Telltale. After that it gets kinda hazy; I’m still trying to keep my options open for a possible congressional run in 2010…

You can read the rest of the interview here, and another one with Stemmle by Gamepro Arcade here. Or you can just visit Telltale's website, which regularly provides links to such interviews.

Dave Grossman -- of Telltale and LucasArts fame -- has added his new 2008 pumpkin to the fray up at phrenopolis.com

The new creation is, apparently, "inspired by some recent deconstruction and reconstruction at the old homestead." Take a look, if you dare!

The US Amazon page for A Vampyre Story has finally updated its placeholder AVS artwork with this, and the fact that it's identical to the German version (except with different publishers and layout) leads me to believe that it may very well be the cover art you'll see for the game when it hits store shelves. I like it, but I thought we were getting a Bill Eaken original? Still, these days we should count ourselves blessed if a graphic adventure box doesn't inspire reactions like this.

On a semi-related note, the official Crimson Cow forums are temporarily down, prepping for a " small relaunch to celebrate our next upcoming title, A Vampyre Story." So look out for that!

It's time like this that I really wish I were German: those in die vaterland can apparently order special Vampyre Story themed pizza.

The pizza comes with sweetcorn, pepperoni, jalapeño peppers, and what I can only assume to be human blood. Sounds delicious!

Thanks to the invaluable Sven_Q45 for this information.

If anyone ends up ordering one of these pizzas, please let us know the glorious reality is like!

The latest episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is available today on WiiWare as well as for the PC from Telltale's web site. Grab the individual episode for $8.95, or simply claim the episode as part of your season pass.

Rock on!

Creative risk!

I started making a Halloween theme for the site today, intending to put it up on Friday, but then I got too excited and decided to put it online now.

We can't possible compete with Telltale's Halloween Competition, but all the same, if you dress up as anything LucasArts+ related, send us a picture and we'll give you a big bag of invisible kudos.

In other news, I was on the excellent Department of Death web-site earlier on, in a bid to steal their delicious screenshots, and I saw news of a) playing Grim Fandango on the Wii, and b) this video of someone in a Manny Calavera mask playing "Manny and Meche" on the violin.

A big shout out to D.O.D. hosted site A Lift Underground for publicising our Secret History article series. If you've advertised Mix'n'mojo in any way, let us know, and we'll return the love.

Here is the new advertisement for the Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels Wii game. It is both incredibly irritating AND manages to show it as possibly the most boring fighting game ever made. Surely an impossible feat given that it's a lightsaber game being built ground-up for the Wii, exactly what most Star Wars (and Wii) fans wanted, but LucasArts have managed it.

As we recently learned, in addition to the standard version of the game, you will also have the option (in Germany, at least) of getting an uber ultimate ultra edition of A Vampyre Story for the low low price of EUR 59,95. Now I don't deal in European currency, but that strikes me as being more than a peanut or two.

Other than the cool box that Amazon.de just put up, a strictly English-speaking gent like myself would have a hard time telling you what else the special edition has to offer, but our online siblings at The Pumpkin Post have speculated based on some other guy's speculations that there will be Mona and Froderick figures included, as well as some sort of art book. Nice!

So how about that North American version?

Update: Thanks to Marcus for translating this! I'll just quote him:

"Inhalt der Special Edition:
* Das Spiel A Vampyre Story auf DVD-ROM (Deutsche & Englische Sprachausgabe)
* Original Mona de Lafitte & Froderick Figuren
* Gruzzle-Puzzle bestehend aus 77 Teilen
* Postkarte (Motiv: Untote Grüße aus Draxsylvanien)"

...so we have:
* the game itself (german and english talkie!)
* Figures of Mona and Froderick
* A 'scary puzzle' with 77 pieces
* A postcard

Telltale has just announced that Episode 3 of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, "Baddest of the Bands," will be hitting both WiiWare and Telltale's website on October 27th, this coming Monday. They've even provided a flyer for you to print out and litter your streets with as though your were a tall, dark figure promoting an autumn carnival.

Confirming what's been listed on a few online retailers, Crimson Cow producer Georg Hach has made a (German) post on the forums for the (German) site Adventure-Treff, in German, confirming November 17th as the game's new official release date. (We can only hope that's worldwide.)

According to The Pumpkin Post, Hach also explains that the German version will include English text and speech, and that the figures included in the special edition will look a lot better than the Amazon.de box (which will soon be replaced) suggests.

With the game due next month, those of you desperate for more adventure gaming in your Halloween may want to look into Telltale's Halloween contest, which closes on Tuesday. We would have told you before, but, you know.

LucasArts producer Tom Nichols recently talked to Eurogamer about Star Wars: the Old Republic, the upcoming MMO from LucasArts. Details on the game: Lucas is excited for it, he apparently really likes Star Wars Galaxies, and he hasn't played World of Warcraft.

That's like back-of-the-box info, right there.

But the real question: How long do you think it'll be until someone unlocks a Jedi this time?

In the crazy rumour department today, we have an addition to the Wikipedia article about the Strong Bad games naming the fourth episode Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective where apparently Strong Bad again will play the role of Dangeresque and Homestar Dangeresque Too.

Also, our secret sources tell us that episode three will be released on Monday. That's Monday in five days.

Hoho, right, as if. As if anyone is cool enough to get Sam and Max for free. But Telltale, they're awesome enough to give you a free episode of Sam and Max - the third episode of Season Two, The Night of the Raving Dead - if you buy an episode (or more!) of Strong Bad.

Not that you need it, of course! I mean, you have already bought every Sam and Max game, right? And the Strong Bad games? Because, you know, you're some kind of loser if you didn't. Your mother will disown you and you'll get fired from your job if you don't buy these games. And you get cooties. So if you have cooties, or lice, or whatever, just buy some games from Telltale and they'll go!

The Pumpkin Post is at it again, this time reporting that Bill Tiller's vampire game to end them all will be making its way onto the Macintosh courtesy of Virtual Programming.

Whoever thought we'd ever see that logo again? The port is said to be due before the year's up. Oh, and checking out Mac World's write-up of the announcement will give you the first look at one of the game's dialogue trees!

There's a report here on Gamespot regarding the PC KOTOR MMO "The Old Republic".

So, when's it going to be released?

"When the content and the quality is there, that's the sign we'll be ready to go," said Nichols. "We're gonna make sure we take the right amount of time to make sure it's awesome," seconded Muzyka. "At the same time, we're part of Electronic Arts, so we're committed to delivering a great experience for our fans, who are eager to play like we are."

When the possibility of a console version came up, the infamous wall of BioWare secrecy was raised. "The PC version is all we've talked about so far," was the most Zeschuk would say.

For more information, visit the official site: www.swtor.com.

Today Telltale continues its hilarious video series, Behind the Bad, which gives us a glimpse of the true, sometimes troubling behind-the-scenes story behind the production of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.

This is probably the only video you'll see this week of Strong Bad mocking the contents of Dave Grossman's desk, or Dan Connors acting like Michael Bluth, so do check it out!

It seems that every once in awhile Telltale adds yet another talent from the golden days of LucasArts to their ever-growing number. The latest is art director Derek Sakai, who worked on such games as The Curse of Monkey Island, Outlaws, and was the Lead Artist on Sam & Max: Freelance Police.

Between Telltale, Double Fine, and Autumn Moon, it seems like a staggeringly large number of the guys who brought us the top story games ever are back doing what they do best. And it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And that's not just the hamster I swallowed whole on a bet.

When I was your age, we didn't have all these video games that you play on your idiot boxes. Our TV was books - like that awesome LEC art book we reported about, the release of which is imminent.

How imminent? Well, as Sven_Q45 noted on the forums, Amazon.com has it up for pre-order, with a Nov. 26th release date. Seeing as two of the four placeholder cover images feature Guybrush Threepwood and Purple Tentacle, I think it's safe to say that the original titles will not be left out in the cold.

So forget the steep price and the possibility that LEC didn't do everything they could have. This 256 page beauty is a must-buy for any fan of LEC's older games. Go get it, now.

Yeah, blindingly obvious. But it's always fun to read that coming from the mouth of the president of the PC Gaming Alliance.

Videogamer.com is reporting that in an interview with Randy Stude, he slams LucasArts over the ridiculous excuses given for not releasing The Force Unleashed on PC given by LucasArts' Cameron Suey.

Stude said: "That's not an educated answer. In the last several years there have been at least 100 million PCs sold that have the capabilities or better of an Xbox 360. It's ridiculous to say that there's not enough audience for that game potentially and that it falls into this enthusiast extreme category when ported over to the PC. That's an uneducated response."

Of course, given that Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings uses he same engine as STFU, it's reasonable to conclude that PC owners will again be left out of LucasArts' plans.

Blog site Gone Is Gone posted a little piece recently about Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. I don't know how close they are to insider knowledge, but they managed to get hold of a few new screenshots which are now up in our gallery.

Now sit down and twiddle your fingers or whatever you do to pass the time. We're in for a loooong(er) wait.

I was going to let this one slip by, and leave it on Behind Mojo.

Gamasutra recently had the chance to ask John Riccitello - who some of you might know as EA's silver-haired chief executive - about whether or not EA would take a risk with Brütal Legend - and you all know what that is. His reply?

"I have seen it. I am well aware of what the game is. It’s a very significant creative risk. Sometimes significant creative risks end up being some of the world’s best products. Spore was also a significant creative risk. So was The Sims. Portal, BioShock. But so was Grim Fandango.”

This leaves things as ambiguous as ever. But does anyone get the feeling that he just insulted Tim Schafer?

More Maniac Mansion goodies in the works? Well, it's hardly likely. Most probably LucasArts just renewing an old trademark.

Read the full scoop at Kotaku, or peruse the thrilling Trademark application in all its glory here.

What chance a MMMMOG?

Just for our database. Thanks!

Crimson Cow has sent out seven new screenshots from the soon to be released (seems like I've been saying that for awhile now) A Vampyre Story to the media. Check 'em out in our screenshot gallery if you are so inclined and haven't already seen them on a site more diligent than us.

Also, as you might know if you're a regular visitor of the Mojo-hosted The Pumpkin Post, system specs for the game have been revealed. As expected, they're pretty modest, unlike, say, Gabez's mom. Oh man, he didn't even see that coming.

Update by Gabez: Hoho, Jason! (You're fired.) In other news, there is apparently a Special Edition of A Vampyre Story planned, to be released sometime in Germany. Thanks to Sven_Q45 for the tip-off.

And on it you can find links to Telltale-related pieces of internet that we're just too darn overworked to keep up with. These include a GDC video interview with Dave Grossman, an interview about Sam & Max on the Wii by Nintendojo, and a Gamespot preview of Strong Bad episode 3.

And to top it all off, the Telltale blog points out some Halloween themed artwork being posted by the late, great Steve Purcell. Hopefully no one ever suspects the truth, that Telltale is on our payroll.

They've been redecorating over at that other site and now they've launched a podcast where they thumb through (ho! ho!) games and stuff.

So if you've developed withdrawal symptoms while waiting for our second podcast, maybe this will help!

Shipping today after years of speculation and wishful thinking is the Wii port of Sam & Max: Season 1, developed by Telltale and published by The Adventure Company. You ought to be able to find this baby on North American store shelves this week, whereas international customers will have to wait just a bit longer.

If you were one of those people clamoring for seeing Sam & Max on the Wii someday, now's the time to put your money where your mouth is, and ensure that Season 2 gets the same treatment. Wait patiently for your pre-order to be fulfilled, or end your procrastination and buy now!

Oh, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is on home video today as well. As a direct result, Ray Winstone's "Jonesy! I'm gonna be alright." is now my Windows error sound.

While this isn't as bad news as the title makes it seem, Gamecock as a publisher no longer exists. According to Eurogamer they've been acquired by the slightly richer SouthPeak. They also point out:

The deal's likely to raise a few eyebrows; outspoken Gamecock boss Mike Wilson has often criticised companies releasing games in order to please investors, and SouthPeak became a public company earlier this year.

Hopefully this will mean Insecticide will get proper advertised release next time, or even - gasp - a boxed release. Heck, they might even grab Brütal Legend for all we know, if they're that happy to splash out.

EDIT: Neon_git on the forums noticed this too, and gave a link to Gamasutra who have a little bit more info on the deal. Thanks!

It's finally time for our Day of the Tentacle extravaganza article, written in piss and blood on a concrete wall, and then later typed up onto the internet for your viewing pleasure.

This month's instalment features Peter McConnell, art from Colin Panetta, and a computer game that's probably the funniest and cleverest thing you'll ever play. Check it check it check it.

To those it may concern (like my ten year old cousin), the two games based on this summer's The Clone Wars that LucasArts is putting out will be released on November 11th, also the DVD/Blu-ray street date for the film.

For those who missed it or simply had something better to pay attention to at the time, like the speed at which their front lawn was growing, the two games in question are The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels and The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance, the former being a Wii exclusive and the latter being a DS exclusive.

The only possibly notable thing about these releases is that Jedi Alliance is the first game to be developed by LucasArts' Singapore animation studio (the same folks responsible for the Clone Wars movie and TV series), and also the fact that the Wii MotionPlus was announced only after Lightsaber Duels could take advantage of it may have pissed off LEC or something.

Anyway. I just figured you might need something to read while your AVS pre-order was being processed.

With the release of A Vampyre Story being imminent (if all goes well it could be out as early as Halloween) Bill Tiller decided to drop by the Autumn Moon forum and give fans a status update:

Hi All Bill Tiller here,

Yes the game will be out very soon and relay depends on how quickly the game can be manufactured and shipped for the in store date, but it still could be Halloween. The hold up is making sure our low-end machines have good video performance for our FMVs. We want to make the FMV viewing experience a good one for those players who don’t have the latest high-end machines. That should be addressed soon, probably in the next ten days. But after that I don’t know how long it will take to actually get in stores.

Anyway I just wanted to let you know what the current hold up is. But other than and a few minor bugs we are pretty much done. We can now get back to full production on AVS 2 and our soon to be announce second project. That game will be announced by our other publisher once the game demo is more polished and we have a final title and graphic for the title. We had a generic name for it but the publisher wanted a name that was unique but still expressed the genre of the story. More on that I hope soon. But right now, mums the word.

But what I can say is that so far it looks really good and it has been so much easier getting this game and AVS2 going now that our engine is done, plus we hired some kick butt programmers, some of whom worked on the Force Unleashed Engine, to add features to our engine and to write tools to speed up our production time. I am amazed how fast a art gets modeled and scripted into the game so we can play it right away. These next two productions will go so much more smoothly. Our team is doing a fantastic job and really taking advantage of what they learned don AVS1. May hats of to them! Thanks guys.

Now that AVS is done for me I am going to find time to upgrade the graphics on the web site, starting with the front page. I wanted to do flash but no money in the budget for that this year, but it will get a new coat of paint.

Thanks all,
Bill Tiller

It's comforting to know that some of the talent behind The Force Unleashed that LEC showed the door to for their troubles have found a new home to contribute to the kind of story games their former company used to be famous for. Look out for A Vampyre Story to come out in what sounds like about a month.

According to Joystiq a Wii compilation is in the works featuring not only remade / enhanced versions of the Gamecube's Rogue Leader and Rebel Strike, but also the old N64 Rogue Squadron title.

If it pans out it'll be nice to get back in the cockpit again, even if it's Larry Holland's Star Wars Space Combat sims that are the real benchmark amongst fans.

The game you have all been waiting for, Fracture, an original LucasArts IP is out today for Xbox360 and PS3.

If you want more info on it, there's a LucasArts VIP area open to the public here. While there you can also check out VIP areas for Indiana Jones and The Force Unleashed.

You can get a Fracture demo for each platform via the usual channels.

Did anyone else know that you could set your language to "Pirate" in Facebook?

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.

Well, the wait will be on October 21 when LucasArts and BioWare formally unveil the gaming world's worst kept secret.



From the teaser postcard sent to a bunch of Game Sites (not including Mojo, one assumes) it is fairly obvious we're in store for a Loom MMO.

Joe D. has stormed ahead with his plan to add audible speech to Monkey Island 2, with this, his shiny new web-site, hosted by us!

There's a forum, and open auditions for voicing characters, and there's a picture, and a Wordpress. It's like the future!

You can also download something that does something that I don't understand, but go over to the new site and you can find out more.

Because something awesome happened at the Pumpkin Post today. It involved Vampyres and gameplay videos.

You should read the Pumpkin Post more often.

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 date when we'll all be able to play the next Strong Bad episode crawls closer and so Telltale has put up a video and a few screenshots here.

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;



There's an earlier speech-hack demo by jestar_jokin here.

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