The International House of Mojo

Results from the reader polls:

Best News Headline of 2008

• LucasArts says 'STFU' to new site (jp) - 5 votes (17.24%)
• "I'm...in the middle of a war," says Dave Grossman (Kroms) - 5 votes (17.24%)
• "PC not for the chop", Suey (jp) - 9 votes (32.14%)
• Intimidating competition looms, Mojo arms Destructomatic T-47 (Jason) - 1 vote (3.57%)
• We hit you because we love you (Mr Manager) - 5 votes (17.24%)
• They spelled "vampire" wrong lol (Jason) - 3 votes (10.71%)
• That is Gross, Man (Jason) - 1 votes (3.57%)

Headlines continue to be a hotly contested battleground for Mixnmojo news writers. The most controversial one this year was "Tim Schafer kills himself," by Kroms, covering an article in which a fictional alter-ego of Schafer was killed in a role-play situation. Afer a few concerned comments along the lines of "I had a heart-attack when I saw this in my RSS," the offending title was replaced with something less sensational, and Kroms was promptly fired.

Most anticipated game of 2009

• Brutal Legend - 18 votes (40.91%)
• Sam and Max Season Three - 12 votes (27.27%)
• Wallace and Grommit's Grand Adventures - 7 votes (15.91%)
• A Vampyre Story 2 - 5 votes (11.36%)
• Insecticide Part 2 - 1 vote (2.27%)
• Deathspank - 1 vote (2.27%)

Personally I'm not too psyched about Brutal Legend (or Burning Legend as LucasArts like to call it), but that's only because I know my 1986 laptop computer won't be able to run it. Ah, to have an Xbox 360!

Best (Active) Hosted Site of 2008

• The Pumpkin Post - 9 votes (39.13%)
• Brutal: The Legendary Fansite - 4 votes (17.39%)
• The Monkey Island Speech Project - 2 votes (8.70%)
• Soundtrack Island - 4 votes (17.39%)
• Quick and Easy Software - 2 votes (8.70%)
• Nightlight Productions - 2 votes (8.70%)
• he SCUMM Bar - 0 votes (0%)

2008's been a great year for hosted sites. I think The Pumpkin Post won because it's so consistently updated, often with exclusives -- but of course all of our hosted sites deserve a pat on the back and a free pint of Grog.

Best Behind Mojo Post

• L∅st in translati∅n (Igor Hardy) - 2 votes (8.70%)
• Mojo in Georgian Times (Gabez) - 6 votes (26.09%)
• The power of The Loom (Gabez) - 2 votes (8.70%)
• All too obvious (jp-30) - 1 vote (4.35%)
• Herge's Adventures of Tingler (elTee) - 8 votes (34.78%)
• Almost Forgotten (Gabez) - 1 vote (4.35%)
• Not Youtube (Gabez) - 1 vote (4.35%)
• As Requested (Gabez) - 1 vote (4.35%)
• The Man: The Legend (Gabez) - 0 votes (0%)
• Homage (Gabez) - 1 vote (4.35%)

ElTee's entry was pure genius, and I'm glad it won! Hopefully we'll see the sequel in 2009. Incidentally, if you don't know what "Behind Mojo" refers to, you might want to take a closer look at the main page...

Best release of 2008

• Sam and Max Season 2 - 18 votes (52.94%)
• A Vampyre Story - 7 votes (20.59%)
• Strongbad's Awesome Game for Cool People - 2 votes (5.88%)
• Rogue Traders: The Story of LucasArts - 5 votes (14.71%)
• The Force Unleashed - 0 votes (0%)
• Lego Indiana Jones - 1 vote (2.94%)
• Insecticide - 1 vote (2.94%)

I thought of making a dirty joke about releases, but then thought better of it. Sam and Max's landslide victory is a little surprising, but it's certainly notundeserved. Well done Telltale!

Best Spelling Mistake/Typo of 2008

• LucasArts' new business stragedy" (Gabez, 2007 review) - 7 votes (25.00%)
• "Rouge Leaders" (Gabez) - 18 votes (64.29%)
• "Rob Grant" (instead of Rob Smith: Gabez, Xmas Contest) - 3 votes (10.71%)

Honestly, Rouge still looks more correct than Rogue tome! Stand by for more accidental hilarity in 2009.

Best Beard of 2008

• Bill Tiller - 3 votes (6.98%)
• Tim Schafer - 16 votes (37.21%)
• Jake Rodkin - 12 votes (27.91%)
• Remi Olsen - 0 votes (0%)
• jp-30 - 0 votes (0%)
• Spaff's Bum fluff - 2 votes (4.65%)
• Glokidd - 5 votes (11.63%)
• Neon Git - 5 votes (11.63%)
• Ascoval- 0 votes (0%)

Another hotly contested battleground: and there was stiff competition from all sides. My personal vote would be for Neon Git, who seems to have a different beard for every day of the week -- but you cannot deny the manly sex appeal of Jake and Schafer's beards. Woof!

2008 was...

• A great year - 8 votes (30.77%)
• A good year - 7 votes (26.92%)
• An okay year - 7 votes (26.92%)
• A bad year - 3 votes (11.54%)
• A terribleyear - 1 vote (3.85%)

Most people seemed to like it, which is good, I suppose. Ceerainly it was a good year for LucasArts fans, if not for the world at large! But then what year is good?

Best News Post of 2008

• Jim Ward quits - 12 votes (42.86%)
• LSD is grand - 13 votes (46.43%)
• Vampyre Story Pizza - 2 votes (7.14%)
• SCUMM Bar charges - 1 vote (3.57%)

elTee's LSD newspost had to be taken down after some complaints that it was unrelated (or some such bullshit). I myself have eat an LSD with breakfast every day, and find it most pleasuable, especially when combined with kippers and toast.

Best Secret History of 2008

• Maniac Mansion - 1 vote (3.13%)
• Zak McKracken - 2 votes (6.25%)
• Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade - 3 votes (9.38%)
• Loom - 2 votes (6.25%)
• The Secret of Monkey Island - 5 votes (15.63%)
• Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - 4 votes (12.50%)
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - 4 votes (12.50%)
• The Day of the Tentacle - 4 votes (12.50%)
• Sam and Max: Hit the Road - 7 votes (21.88%)

This poll proves what I had suspected: that, roughly speaking, our Secret History articles are getting better and better every time! Thanks for reading them, and look out for more in the new year.

Best feature of 2008

• Christmas Contest - 1 vote (4.55%)
• Future Tense - 5 votes (22.73%)
• Indiana Jones Game Chat - 3 votes (13.64%)
• Indiana Jones and the Smoke and Mirrors Act - 3 votes (13.64%)
• Mojo Does Cardiff - 3 votes (13.64%)
• Lego Indiana Jones Preview - 0 votes (0%)
• Crackpot Interview - 3 votes (13.64%)
• Insecticide Podcast - 3 votes (13.64%)
• Free advertisment banners for fan-sites - 1 vote (4.55%)

This was very surprising -- but I'm glad that some people liked Future Tense. It was written quite quickly, and was intended to get people talking, more than anything else (and certainly did that: with 53 comments!). Responses were largely mixed, though, with one Telltale employee calling it "morbid."