Jason noticed that more than the average number of folks were logged into the Mojo admin Slack channel at once, so he seized the opportunity to revive a time-honored, zero-effort manner of generating feature content that had long fallen out of fashion: reprinted chat logs!
Watch as Jason calculatedly initiates a discussion about the Psychonauts 2 trailer, and thrill as the unknowingly exploited Mojo representatives proceed to talk past each other and go on all sorts of whimsical tangents. Simply let sit for a few minutes and Presto! A brand new Mojo feature, ready to be copy/pasted for the enjoyment of the readership.
Staffers who participated in this conversation include: Jason, Remi, Zaarin, Bennyboy and elTee.
jason [1:29 PM]
Since we have a gang here. How about that Psychonauts 2 trailer?
Bennyboy [1:31 PM]
It looks bloody great
remi [1:31 PM]
Is this your attempt to get your Slack article going?
jason [1:31 PM]
(Yes)
remi [1:31 PM]
Because bravo on the sneakiness if so.
With that said, yes, I agree with Benzo, though some of the animation looks a bit stiff, still.
jason [1:31 PM]
First off, can we acknowledge how fucked up it is that it has been 13.5 years since the first game?
Because the abject fucked upness of that situation cannot be overstated.
elTee [1:32 PM]
17.5 years since we first heard of it, then?
Bennyboy [1:32 PM]
hahaha
remi [1:32 PM]
Hee, yes.
Good grief.
The parallel now being that it's the only thing left for Mojo to cover.
jason [1:33 PM]
I still fondly remember when the big trailer for the original dropped. End of summer or early autumn 2004, after Majesco picked it up.
Bennyboy [1:33 PM]
Hey come on now, there's always more Willow
jason [1:33 PM]
(To their ruin.)
Bennyboy [1:33 PM]
That was ace
remi [1:33 PM]
Willow AND Larry.
jason [1:34 PM]
I particularly cherish the memory of Jake reacting disapprovingly to the trailer's "fake Beetlejuice music".
remi [1:34 PM]
But yeah, kudos on DF for apparently making at least the trailer look even more bizarre than the first game.
jason [1:35 PM]
Marketing Psychonauts is way different now than it was in 2005. It is a successful brand, even though it took years to become so.
At the time they clearly struggled with how to pitch it.
Bennyboy [1:35 PM]
I really hope it doesnt have a million and one pickups. My main memory of Psychonauts is of loads of different types of pickups, cards and god knows what else
remi [1:35 PM]
I recall Tim saying something along the lines of "People LOVE collecting stuff."
Which went a bit far.
Bennyboy [1:36 PM]
The vaults were brilliant but I remember cards and arrowheads and some other stuff?
remi [1:36 PM]
Emotional Baggage was ingenious, though.
Bennyboy [1:36 PM]
Yes!
jason [1:36 PM]
I am still mystified that people reacted to the Meat Circus like it was the hardest thing ever.
For sure, the flaming nets were frustrating.
remi [1:36 PM]
The cards and combining shit to get arrowheads or whatever was tedious.
I didn't think the Meat Circus was that bad.
jason [1:37 PM]
But Super Mario Sunshine made Psychonauts look like a cakewalk.
zaarin [1:37 PM]
I ran around the camp for 3 minutes.
remi [1:37 PM]
Oh man, the camp was great, though, when you got into it.
jason [1:38 PM]
Roderick from the Idle Thumbs forum opines, "Feels like a perfectly fine retread of the old structure, except now in the Motherlobe Psychonauts headquarters instead of a summer camp."
Feels like a premature criticism. ¬
But yes, Whispering Rock seems to be gone.
zaarin [1:39 PM]
After those 3 minutes, I turned it off to play some more later. That was a degade ago
jason [1:39 PM]
(Except for the real life one that Double Fine invites the privileged few to.)
remi [1:39 PM]
I remember seeing this and wishing EMI had looked more like it.
jason [1:39 PM]
(Spaff could not give us the hookup?)
remi [1:40 PM]
The new HQ looks to be the camp substitute.
jason [1:40 PM]
(As far as unforgivable betrayals go, that is Shakespearean grade.)
remi [1:40 PM]
The characters look pretty intriguing, in the same was as the first game.
jason [1:41 PM]
It will be interesting to see how they make the new hub as interesting as Whispering Rock.
Summer camp is such a part of the identity of the first game.
remi [1:42 PM]
They did do the recreation (as a prototype, I know), so who knows, maybe it'll make a comeback.
jason [1:42 PM]
I did notice Dr. Loboto in the trailer.
So I guess nobody dies in this universe.
remi [1:43 PM]
Hey-o!
jason [1:43 PM]
(Yes, I am baiting a certain irascible madfucker in our readership.)
remi [1:44 PM]
Good, because I need more death threats.
Bennyboy [1:44 PM]
Mojo has a readership beyond the people in here?
remi [1:44 PM]
Yes.
Rum Rogers and AlfredJ.
Bennyboy [1:44 PM]
hahaha
jason [1:44 PM]
Hmm...my sources tell me Dr. Loboto was in Rhombus of Ruin.
remi [1:44 PM]
And what I assume is a slew of Russian and Chinese bots.
jason [1:45 PM]
I wouldn't know, being that it is a VR exclusive.
remi [1:45 PM]
Rhombus of Ruin, which Jennifer was supposed to review. ¬
jason [1:45 PM]
Again, Double Fine catering to the privileged.
remi [1:45 PM]
Sadly she caught on to Mojo's work ethics.
jason [1:46 PM]
But at some point I will sit down and watch a playthrough of it, so I can enjoy it as a machinima.
remi [1:46 PM]
It was short from what I remember hearing.
Never occurred to me to just YouTube it.
jason [1:46 PM]
Did McConnell score that?
remi [1:46 PM]
I want to say "no."
Going by memory, again.
jason [1:46 PM]
I know he is back for Psychonauts 2.
remi [1:46 PM]
I think it was the other guy DF uses.
Bennyboy [1:46 PM]
Wikipedia says yes, so of course thats definitive
jason [1:47 PM]
Which, cannot wait for that.
remi [1:47 PM]
Yeah.
Ahh
Wikipedia -- I'll just go with it.
Was the OST one of the funding rewards?
jason [1:48 PM]
Maybe we could interview McConnell. I was reminded that Jake and...Metallus, maybe? did so ahead of the first game. And got mp3s.
This was way ahead of release, too. Prior to Microsoft dropping it.
remi [1:49 PM]
We have those somewhere available for download, right?
jason [1:49 PM]
Point being, there is precedent for McConnell giving us mp3s. It is only meet that the tradition continue.
Well.
Once upon a clock stroke, we did.
remi [1:50 PM]
We have the files, I'm almost positive.
Make yourself useful and put them up.
jason [1:50 PM]
We do, but I had no way of preserving that when I recently translated the article to MojoX as part of my Resurrect The Old Features initiative.
remi [1:51 PM]
I'll add them, god.
jason [1:51 PM]
(Coming for New Year, I hope.)
remi [1:51 PM]
Hmm, the new characters do look intriguing.
I'd hope they would add some of the old campers, too, though.
jason [1:51 PM]
The character designs are great.
remi [1:52 PM]
Yeah, it feels like an oddly true to the source sequel, in a good way.
jason [1:53 PM]
Can't wait. Here is how excited I am: I intend to play it.
An uncommon resort for me at my age.
Bennyboy [1:53 PM]
hahaha yes, for me too
remi [1:54 PM]
Good, the two of you can do competing reviews.
I lowered myself to reviewing Batman.
I have paid my dues.
Bennyboy [1:54 PM]
Jesus yes you did
remi [1:54 PM]
BOTH of them.
jason [1:55 PM]
I want to write the review now based on my imagination, put it in a drawer, then publish it when the game comes out, and see who notices.
remi [1:55 PM]
Our readers will.
So yeah, nobody.
jason [1:55 PM]
It is an approach Mojo has perfected.
remi [1:55 PM]
Let's put Gabez on it.
jason [1:56 PM]
Let's pretend Gabez isn't dead
remi [1:56 PM]
Do it in Gabez's voice.
Bennyboy [1:56 PM]
"Great music, plays really well, spoiled by some annoying bugs" - mark my words
jason [1:56 PM]
Hee.
remi [1:56 PM]
Hee
Bennyboy [1:56 PM]
Gabez is all about Arthurian literature now or something
remi [1:56 PM]
Basically the Psychonauts 1 review, then.
Bennyboy [1:56 PM]
heh yes
jason [1:56 PM]
Already more integrity than many of Mojo's published reviews.
I guess Player 2 Productions is doing a documentary for this as well?
remi [1:56 PM]
I do believe so.
If it's as awkward as the Broken Age one, I'm all over it.
jason [1:57 PM]
They have to surpass the cheesy G4TV one done for the original game.
Bennyboy [1:57 PM]
I loved the Broken Age one
remi [1:57 PM]
It was great,
jason [1:57 PM]
Which I must admit was well done and kind of ahead of it's time. I taped it at the time. As someone about to graduate high school.
remi [1:57 PM]
Watching Tim's descent into madness.
jason [1:58 PM]
Yeah the Broken Age one is fantastic.
Bennyboy [1:58 PM]
HappyHappyHappyEverythinggoestoshitGamereleasedMoreshit*Bitchingfromeveryoneonsteam
It was great to watch though :~
jason [1:58 PM]
I feel like I got my Kickstarter money's worth with that doc alone.
remi [1:59 PM]
The whole blu-ray set is great.
jason [1:59 PM]
Do you guys remember all the crazy marketing stuff for the first Psychonauts?
The web banners, the TV spots, the million dollar sweepstakes that was cancelled under dubious circumstances.
remi [1:59 PM]
I remember the ill-advised TV commercials which admittedly, in hindsight, were way ahead of their time.
Bennyboy [2:00 PM]
There were tv commercials? I had no idea
elTee [2:00 PM]
I remember jack black at some award show wearing a t shirt?
jason [2:00 PM]
There was also wild footage from the wrap party where people were shoving a microphone in front of Tim's dad.
Bennyboy [2:00 PM]
I thought it was just farted into the world with minimal marketing
remi [2:00 PM]
That was before Brutal Legend, Jack Black.
jason [2:00 PM]
The marketing was not minimal, but it was misjudged.
elTee [2:00 PM]
oh yeah
jason [2:00 PM]
Oh yeah, the Brutal Legend campaign was just ridiculous.
remi [2:00 PM]
I mean, advertising a game as an artsy indie production by an auteur wasn't exactly common in 2005.
(As proven by the sales numbers.)
jason [2:01 PM]
You had Tim on Jimmy Fallon. Jack Black on Kimmel in character as Eddie Riggs
That awful/amazing SpikeTV Video Game Award show that Tim entered in on a chariot or whatever?
remi [2:02 PM]
Black's in Psychonauts 2, too, right?
elTee [2:02 PM]
fucking hell, I remember when tim went on late night I thought I had lost my mind
it was so... improbable
jason [2:02 PM]
I believe. He has become Double Fine's De Niro.
remi [2:03 PM]
I though I had lost my mind when Jack Black was parading around in Double Fine t-shirts, before we knew about his involvement in Brutal.
jason [2:03 PM]
He was a fan before Brutal happened, I believe.
remi [2:04 PM]
He was, but that was definitely after he took the role.
elTee [2:04 PM]
a big stoner playing a game called psychonauts, that sounds unlikely
remi [2:04 PM]
Hee
jason [2:05 PM]
Anybody mind if I turn our Psychonauts 2 trailer reaction into an article?
remi [2:05 PM]
Yes, but do it anyway.
Conversation took place on December 14, 2018
Header art by Remi
Apology from Spaff: Still pending