The International House of Mojo

Excited about the new Monkey Island 2: Special Edition? Then show it!

The latest poll on Lucasforums is asking "how do you feel about the Monkey Island 2 Special Edition?" and (at the time of writing) "meh" is tied with "excited!!"

Vote here if you want to show the Star Wars people that they're missing out.

A new LucasCast podcast -- number 16 -- has been made available. This week, the Lucas fans talk about Lucasforums, their favourite LucasArts games, and penises. They also mention our pathetic little podcast!

Download the latest LucasCast here, and discuss the show in the forums.

Through some clever molding and a lot of time, sculpture artist Iain Reekie has created what we all desire: Grim Fandango action figures. The Manny figure comes complete with skeleton bird and sausages Robert Frost, while Glottis looks straight out of a Tim Burton animation.

Not available in stores unfortunately, as that would prove God existed and so therefore he wouldn't. QED.

Source: Iain Reekie's website

You’d think that one day they’d learn, but no – The SCUMM Bar is at it again. It would seem that the same site that lied about shutting down back in 2004 just to get Tim Schafer to write something on their forum feels it didn’t rack up quite enough mortal sins upon its soul. In its latest act of supreme class, the inactive Monkey Island fansite is now extorting money from its oft-manipulated readers, insinuating that it will re-open its doors after three years once sufficient Paypal donations are made.

What a damn shame.

The Escapist magazine really has a thing for writing articles on the classic LucasArts Adventures, something we should do once in a while. Anyway, after their look at Monkey Island a couple of months ago, they've now posted a similar article about Grim Fandango.

The general theme of this month's issue is Why Great Games Sometimes Flop In Sales, something that GF and Psychonauts know all too well... sniff. Anyway, check it out.

LFNetwork's got a new network satellite for all you kids who are excited for LucasArts' and Pandemic Studios' upcoming title, Star Wars: Battlefront. It's called, well, SWBattlefront.Net, and...err...you should visit it right now...for news and game info, as well as miscellaneous rumor-mongering on their new discussion forums. SWBattlefront.Net!! (!!!!)

This is a week or so old, but I need to post something on Mojo before they take away my snack bar privileges...again. In case you didn't know already, Knights of the Old Republic is now available for PC, and to celebrate this, LFNetwork's center for hot KOTOR action, StarWarsKnights.com, has a shiny new design. So if you're an RPG fan like I'm not, or even if you're not, like I am, check out The New SWK.com for the latest on Knights.

After a bit too much planning and a surprisingly quick development time, we're proud to announce some brand spankin' new Monkey Island Discussion Forums on LucasForums. These forums now serve as Mojo's Monkey Island forum, as well as the official forum for the SCUMM Bar, Brimstone Beach Club, and EscapeMI.com. Of course, any other MI sites or communities are free to use them as well.

The lovely art at the top was painted by none other than Dan Lee, so be sure to thank him somehow, as it looks amazing. Go talk. Now.

Juztyn has sent word that his LFNetwork site, the popular SWGalaxies.net has been redesigned. And he's not lying! Although similar, the site sports a nice, clean new layout (done by Kedri) and random image captures from the upcoming game now decorate the top portion of the site. Fun!

So, it seems LucasForums has been down for more than a day now, eh? You're probably wondering what's going on. Here's how it breaks down: Basically, LucasForums is in the process of moving to its own, more powerful server. And it's for real this time.

This will mean better loading speed for many Mojo/LFN sites that had shared bandwidth and server space with this bloated-but-lovable community site. It also means that some (possibly) sorely missed forum features such as the search function, the option to put images in signatures, and others may make a triumphant return in the near future.

As of this very moment, the LFNetwork webjedis/monkeys are hard at work getting this sucker configured, and are ironing out the final snags and bugs. Although the downtime has been a bit longer than predicted, we're expecting LucasForums to be back up and running within the next day. Apologies for the interruption in service!

Update: Yar.. it be back! Go visit!

Anyone out there who's vaguely, even remotely interested in the upcoming massivly-multiplayer online game Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided should check out SW Galaxies' latest feature. It's a weekly newsletter, put together for those of us who might not be motivated enough to keep up with SWG-related news or the daily goings on in the SWG community scene. This newsletter, which will appear every Saturday, will roll up the latest game/community news into one big helping, so be sure to check it out over 'ere.

Around this time every year, someone in the #monkey-island chat room (now located on irc.gamesnet.net) puts together a little survey asking about the funniest moment in the chat room, who the most annoying member is, and many other weird questions. The results of the survey are often amusing and a great way to waste time when you should be doing something more productive.

If you're a current or former regular of #monkey-island, be sure to stop by and fill out the survey at this location.

LucasArts issued a press release today concerning the recently launched LucasFiles, which is run by the LFNetwork. The press release summarizes the purpose of LucasFiles and quotes LucasArts President Simon Jeffery on how much he loves us all. God bless us, every one. Click below to read the full press release.<:MORENEWS:>

NEW WEB SITE FOR POSTING OF LUCASARTS INSPIRED GAME MODS LAUNCHED BY LFNETWORK.COM FAN SITE

Officially Sanctioned Site, www.lucasfiles.com, Offers Fans Location to Create and Post Modifications of LucasArts Titles

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- December 11, 2002 -- Fans who create game modifications (mods) based upon characters and elements in titles by LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC can now post their works on the Internet at LucasFiles, which can be found at www.lucasfiles.com. The new site, created by Lucas Fan Network (LFN), www.lfnetwork.com, an independent collection of web sites dedicated to LucasArts and its games, is an exclusive and sanctioned online location offering a variety of mods inspired by LucasArts titles. The LucasFiles database also hosts unique fan produced content, levels, and an array of other media.

"LucasArts is grateful to the Lucas Fan Network, whose enthusiastic and very dedicated members have created a distinctive online destination for fans of our games to showcase and share their creations with others," says Simon Jeffery, president of LucasArts. "The fan community is incredibly important to LucasArts and this site will provide them with a variety of ways to continue to celebrate their passion for the company and its games." LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software worldwide.

Based in San Rafael, Calif., as well as on the Internet at www.lucasarts.com, LucasArts is one of five companies in the Lucas group which include Lucasfilm Ltd., Lucas Digital Ltd. LLC, Lucas Licensing Ltd., and Lucas Online. Lucasfilm is one of the leading film and entertainment companies in the world. Lucasfilm's businesses include George Lucas' film and television production and distribution activities. Lucas Digital, which consists of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound, provides visual effects and audio post-production services to the entertainment industry. Lucas Licensing is responsible for the merchandising of all Lucasfilm's film and television properties. Lucas Online is a digital destination for entertainment, education, reference and e-commerce for Lucasfilm's intellectual properties and business units.

Grand Flamingo sends word that the Grim Fandango Network has officially switched over to their new domain name: www.GrimFandango.net. GFN is home to several of the best Grim Fandango information and multimedia web sites and is also the sponsor of the IRC channel #gfnetwork@irc.gamesnet.net.

ZeroXcape, the founder of GFN, had this to say about the domain change: "Since early 1998, we have been trying to obtain this web address. Fortunately for us, everyone else seems to have lost interest!"

The current webmaster and overlord of GFN, Metallus, clarified, "We tried to have the domain launch correspond with our 4th birthday celebration, which was July 15th of this year... Well, at least we got it out before the site's next half-birthday."

ZeroXcape later went on to brag that GFN turns five this summer which makes it eligible for ScummVM support in the near future!

[ Visit The Grim Fandango Network ]

Like it or lump it, The LFNetwork's massive online community, LucasForums, is celebrating the completion of its first year in existence.

I'd just like to give a special thanks to everyone from the Mojo community who made the effort to check it out. As many of you probably recall, LucasForums arrived during a pretty tough time in Mixnmojo history. We were all still reeling from the three months of downtime, and there were many adjustments that Mojo readers were put through.

Anyway, we are really grateful to those of you who stuck with it, and even dared to venture outside of the Mojo forums. So, thanks again!

LucasArts' latest PC hit, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, has gained quite a following among the mod community since it's release in the spring. A lot of high-quality maps and player models have been made and released by fans, but we haven't heard much from the larger projects, those teams aiming to make whole new games and missions for JK2. Finally, gamers are starting to see the results from some of the more ambitious modification projects.

One of these projects is a total conversion mod, which is an attempt to bring the LEC classic Dark Forces into the three-dimensional world. Darth_Linux, the project leader for the "Dark Forces" mod, has announced that a playable demo, featuring the first level of Dark Forces, "Secret Base", is now available for download from their site.

I just got through playing it, and I'm very impressed with the quality! If you've got Jedi Knight 2, be sure to check it out here.

Source: JediKnightii.net

Like the whole MMORPG scene? It seems that network site SWGalaxies.net was named the Exceptional Fan Site of the Month by the November Issue of the official Star Wars Galaxies Newsletter. (deep breath)

The staff at SWG.net has been adding a steady flow of content as they await the launch of Galaxies. If you are interesting in getting involved with the community early on, there are several opportunities available including the Player Association system, site registration, and the Community forums. If you are already a member of LucasForums via this web site, you are already registered!

[ Visit Star Wars Galaxies.net ]

Yes, we all hate the ringing phone ad that's been making the rounds, too. We're working on getting it the hell out of here. Hopefully it will leave soon for good. Apologies for the torture.

Do you like Galactic Battlegrounds? I mean REALLY like it? Then check out our friends over at Galactic Battles.com for an exclusive Q&A with LucasArts director Garry Gaber. Here's how it works: Stop by LucasForums, sign in, and ask your question. The moderator will then select various questions and present them to Garry in an interview. Note that you have to be a LucasForums member, but hell, you should be one already anyway! You wouldn't want to miss out on all the community fun, would you? Check it out.

As many of you noticed, LucasForums suffered its worst outtage in quite some time these past couple days. Thanks to DJG (as usual), they are back up and running, narrowly avoiding a third straight day of downtime. So go post already!

An additional note to Mixnmojo (and LFN) hosted webmasters: Your FTP accounts should be working again as well. Sorry for the inconvenience.