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Ron Puts “A Little Something” on Ice; His Next Game To Be Released “in the next few months”

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And that’s about it, really – Ron’s RPG game (which we for some reason decided should be called A Little Something) has been put on hold while something else is tossed in the fryer.

We fully expect Return to Monkey Island 2 to be announced soon are excited to see what comes next.

03 Dec, 2024 in M by Rémi
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You may recall that Limited Run Games threw in a plush hamster as part of their big honking collector’s package for Day of the Tentacle Remastered, but do you really think hamster perfection happens in the first iteration? Literally millions of hamsters had to be rejected to achieve what wound up in the hands of over-salaried fanatics, and one of those valuable hamsters-that-weren't is now up for auction on eBay.

It's part of the annual Winter Fundraiser for the Video Game History Foundation, so don’t be motivated only by the fact that owning this prototype with marginally different colors is absolutely essential to any well-appointed home – know also that it’s downright conscientious as well.

Thanks to Mojo founder Spaff for the heads up on this.

Source: eBay

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You might have noticed that for the last fourteen years or so (but who’s counting?), turning more than one page back on front page news led to Mojo generously pulling the totality of the news archive, leading to browser crashes and rumoredly the occasional homicide. It’s just the kind of unadvertised fun you don’t get from regular web sites, aimed at the flavorless mainstream.

Well, Remi decided that the fun’s over, so he just fixed it, which I’m guessing took all of eight seconds. It’s almost sad to reflect that Mojo is otherwise rock solid and literally devoid of issues to fix. What do we even have to chase now?

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As mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter – you do subscribe to The Adventurer, don’t you? – Laura Cress sat down for a Q&A with Bill Tiller to talk A Vampire Story: A Bat’s Tale, AI in the gaming industry, etc.

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Give it a watch like the libertine you surely are. (After you subscribe to The Adventurer.)

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It's been a race car, a blimp, and a breakfast menu item, but this time they've really gone round the bend and saw fit to try to adapt Indiana Jones and the Great Circle into a video game.

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Look, I'm fresh out of commentary for all the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle marketing profligacy. It finally broke me. Take this and leave in peace:

Source: Twitter

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Wait, you think you’ve dived deep into Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, just because that last promotional video called itself a deep dive? Well, that makes you an idiot, because now there’s an episode of the Official Xbox Podcast called “Diving Deeper Into Indiana Jones and The Great Circle.” We’re hanging with the goddamned benthic organisms over here.

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Source: Xbox Podcast

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You might not know it, judging by the sales figures, but Star Wars Outlaws released earlier this year to sort-of good reviews. The "open world action adventure" game was published by Ubisoft, initially on their own platform and now, in an act of defeated hubris, on Steam, where, among other updates, disliked "obligatory stealth" sections have been nixed. So, you know, if you care about the latest entry in a 50-year-old franchise, pew pew pew away.

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… nauts. Psychonauts 2 to be specific. Or, to be even more specific, Peter McConnell’s “Lady Luctopus” theme from Psychonauts 2, performed during “The Sound of Gaming” concert. November 23rd, 4 pm at MediaCityUK, Salford. Give me a break; it’s been a long day – just read Tim’s Bluesky post about it:

Run over to BBC to get yourself a basically free £6.50 ticket.

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Adventure Game Hotspot keeps the A Vampyre Story: A Bat’s Tale coverage coming, following up their earlier interview with a podcast. The featured guests are Šarūnas Ledas and Žilvinas Ledas – the brothers behind Tag of Joy, who are co-developing the game with Autumn Moon. Bill, to be fair, has a lot of drawing to do.

Though the episode runs an hour and a half, the AVS2 substance seems to be concentrated in the first thirty minutes. Listen, we command you.

Source: Adventure Game Hotspot

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Rightly fearful of a world where Escape from Monkey Island magazine coverage gets lost to the Mysts o'Tyme, our own Scummbuddy blew the dust bunnies off the scanner and preserved the feature story that graced the Sept. 2000 issue of Computer Games Magazine.

You may already be familiar with the cover of this issue, as it’s been universally acknowledged since the game came out to be objectively superior to the actual box art the geniuses in Marketing saw fit to approve in the end, but the preview itself by Cindy Yans is some proper journalism, and the pre-release quotes from Mike Stemmle and Sean Clark will take you back to those innocent, anticipatory days when we thought we had another classic coming our way.

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Source: Mojo Forums

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There’s a lot going on, at far too rapid a clip, when it comes to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle for the front page to really keep up, but that’s why you’re such a devout follower of the forum thread. Let’s cover the highlights though, starting with a fifteen minute “gameplay deep dive” video Bethesda put out earlier in the week.

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And if you thought the spared-no-expense marketing madness could only have peaked, the game’s latest promotional partner is here to say, “Hold my chemically-sweetened syrup.”

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”I see your taste in friends remains consistent.”

Further info on the IHOP tie-in, inclusive of a collectable drinking glass and a sweepstakes for Exclusive Prizes™, can be found here. I know what you're thinking: Where the heck was the ReMI-inspired breakfast menu?

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You’ve probably seen the news pop into your inbox already, but in case you haven’t – GOG has launched a certification program of sorts that promises to, and I quote:

The GOG Preservation Program ensures classic games remain playable on modern systems, even after their developers stopped supporting them. By maintaining these iconic titles, GOG helps you protect and relive the memories that shaped you, DRM-free and with dedicated tech support.

Well, then! I think we can all get behind the sentiment, though exactly what it means on a practical level is a bit foggy to me. I.e., will classic LucasArts titles still rely on the baked-in version of ScummVM?

Either way, included in the first batch of titles are Indiana Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis™, The Curse of Monkey Island™, and The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition.

News of EGA versions and – most importantly – Amiga games forthcoming, I’m sure.

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You spoke, and Disney listened. Ron Howard’s 1988 opus Willow is heading to 4K Blu-ray December 10th.

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You can get the full specs over at The Digital Bits. As for the short-lived but beloved television series, it appears that Disney really did perform the ritual that exiled its spirit into oblivion. These things happen.

Source: The Digital Bits

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Another Tech Talk has arrived, this time with multifaceted audio engineer Larry the O, who worked at LucasArts around 1995-2003 on a bunch of Star Wars titles as well as Escape from Monkey Island. When you’re done listening to his stories, you might also check out his web site, Toys in the Attic.

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Source: Tech Talk with Daniel Albu

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“I do see what causes some people to rate Grim Fandango so highly, and I definitely don’t think any less of them for doing so."

This sporting sentiment from Jimmy Maher gives you a decent idea of what you're in for in his latest entry at The Digital Antiquarian, dedicated to Tim Schafer’s 1998 classic. Fans of hot takes rejoice -- or does he speak for the silent majority? Whether you read it in outrage or validation, you know you’re always getting the good stuff over there.

Our CEO, who just happens to be the webmaster of The Grim Fandango Network, was last observed sharpening knives, but we’re sure it’s perfectly innocent.ceo

Source: The Digital Antiquarian

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No, not that Adventurer – this Adventurer. You know the one. The newsletter we unleashed with a roar and then kind of forgot about because of a shiny object that flew by. (The CEO has taken an unhealthy interest in Duke Nukem Forever, for example.) Anyway – it’s back and you should subscribe…

… because we’re totally gonna keep it going this time, maybe. Hell, even if we did drop the ball, the worst thing that would happen is that you’d receive fewer emails. Which is kind of a bonus.

So, don’t be a butt – subscribe!

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In the SCUMM catalog, there are three early games that found themselves produced during a transitional era of graphics cards, where VGA (256-color) was most definitely around, but EGA (16-color) still had the dominant install base.

As a result, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Loom, and The Secret of Monkey Island initially shipped as EGA versions, but had their art retroactively redone (often within a year) in elitist fancy VGA form by other artists.

Over the years, the argument from purists that the EGA originals should be privileged has grown louder -- and also more tragic, as those most definitely don’t tend to be the versions offered by Lucasfilm. Regardless of individual preferences, for which there can be no right answer, the comparison is always interesting, and a typically Norwegian hero has made this inspection easier than ever.

Though he hasn’t gotten to Monkey 1 yet, you’ll have a lot of fun hovering your mouse over backgrounds from Indy 3 and Loom. Check out how much bigger that Sam & Max totem pole got in Indy’s office (and is that a subtle ode to the Great Monkey Head added to the top shelf there?), or how superior Loom was in its original form in every way. Above all, bow down before the one true Cobb:

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Source: SuperRune

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We’re a good twenty years past the heyday of Monkey Island fan games, but you can only really contain the disease, never cure it. The latest confirmed case comes out of Italy. Behold The Booze of Monkey Island:

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I mean, it sure doesn’t look like something that was slapped together over a lunch break. Go forth and download before the LucasLegal of 2001 somehow catches wind.

Source: Bean Adventure Agency

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As promised, the month draws to a close with a whole bunch of new hands-on impressions of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. No really, there’s a lot of them. Too many, frankly. We’re a little insulted.

Here’s what I rounded up before my hand fell off. People seem to be liking it.

The game is out December 9th. Two weeks before you finish reading all of these, in other words.

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