The International House of Mojo

Am I the only one who realised these reviews are judge quite quickly. I'm looking foward to this adventure game, but it seems that anything that is NOT adventure is NOT good... according to these previews in my opinion.

See my posts :D

Well I think there's a difference there. On the one hand, you have someone (me) getting excited about a game because of the story, the art style, the first-hand demo experience, the people working on it, and the great amount of potential to make a good game. On the other hand, you have someone claiming that we're immediately dismissing everything else that isn't an adventure game.

It's one thing to get excited about something because of the qualities we saw, while it's something else to automatically say a game is going to suck just because it doesn't fit into a preferred genre.

Well you're not the only one who has said that lately. I'm curious, though. Can you tell me why you feel this way?

I have to disagree, though. I don't know if I'd consider Psychonauts, RTX Red Rock, or Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb to be adventure games. Action/adventures are something different to me. But still, I've honestly liked all of those games. If you look at my review of Bounty Hunter, I'm also looking forward to that game as well. It could be fun.

Going back, I've also given positive reviews to games like Star Wars Starfighter, Jedi Starfighter, and Jedi Outcast. We've also published positive reviews of Galactic Battlegrounds and Rogue Leader. Those aren't adventure games, surely.

In the end, I don't deny that we tend to focus more of our attention on adventure games. We're LucasArts adventure game fans first, and I'm not ashamed of that. But I'm more than willing to give other games a chance, and I believe we've made a pretty good effort in that respect.

But if you feel you have good reason to say we judge non-adventure games too harshly, I'd honestly be interested in why you feel that way. :)

Yeah, we're not closet-adventure gamers! We're proud that we're different! Adventure gamer pride! :}P

Them normal folk just don't get it: we had to work a lot to get where we are, to acquire this superiority over all other forms of game-playing life, to claim that adventure games are for smart folk while 3D-shoot-to-kill games are for Americans. We have the right to our pointless bigotry. :}P

LOL! Nice one... :-)

Hey, is it just me or has anyone else noticed that Lucasarts is revealing itself...?

No, I don't mean like that! Can you imagine Simon Jeffery revealing himself...? Urgh! Basically, the banner for Jedi Outcast not only has the Gamecube logo but the PS2 one and it hasn't yet been announced for PS2...

Error or "error"? Either way it's a big mistake! LOL Sorry... :-)

Thanks =)

Just letting the curious know that I talked to Tim Schafer about the above comment and it's not him (that means that it's an impostor). I admit that I even fell for it (and may have even sent them mojomessage), but that person has nothing to do with the real Tim. That's all.

then it's a bad joke.... man. but 1.5 years ago i wrote an email to jonathan ackely at stargazy and got a long fine reply... that makes me still happy.

PS i hope that FAKE-tim is going to stop this... evil bastard

I hate to say it, but was it not obvious? Why would Tim Schafer pop in and only say hi? Would he not plug his new game or something along those lines...? A solitary hi doesn't really do anything.

I think it's quite funny... :-)

Was that really Tim Schafer?!
Mr. Schafer we admire your work! Thanks!


(now I'll just wait until these words burn into my screen - then i'll go out and show it to my friends... haha. Wait, I have no friends except for that beer bottle throwing guy at the bus stop. Anyway- he'll love it.)

http://www.psychonauts.com/
This is Rockabilly "metal". The United States' Midwest trying its best to sound like metal. Nonetheless, it's the best rockabilly I ever heard. Play one song and immediately you'll get the feeling you're in a bar in the middle of nowhere.

IGN has an E3 video of Psychonauts and a small trailer that can be downloaded here.

but we already saw that ... seems it's two times the same video - dargh. anyway. great.

Does Tim believe in god? For if he doesn't I'll make a cult in his honour. I mean honestly... If he is not a creative genius, he is a hellova producer to assemble a mob of such, i.e. creative geniuses. Oh, and if you're skeptick, I have experience in making churches; the Agnostic Holy Church of Hallowed George Carlin (AHCOHGC) is -- you guessed it -- my creation. Yea-hm... All one has to do pretty much is make a silly little chant, write some guidelines, be very annoying in seeking new membership, ask everyone for repentance, and sell indulgences... Then, with that money build a very, very tall and as cold a building in which to hang out on Sundays and compare clothes. I think I have something going on here...

where may i sign? i want in... I want to join ya churches, buddy. (sentence tm and (c) me)

"There is only one Tim and Kingzjester is his prophet," repeat that after me... (insincere apologies to all offended)

I really like the critic. How can you know for sure that "This game can only be classified as an overwhelming action adventure console game." ?

Because the levels are huge in scope and and unique in design (also the game itself sounds long), it has 3D platforming action like Zelda Ocarina of Time or Mario 64 (basic examples), it has very strong characters story and puzzles like good adventure games should, and its out only on a console. Tht sounds like an overwhelming action adventure console game to me.

Uh huh. Logically, the question that follows is, how do you know that "the levels are huge in scope and and unique in design and that it has very strong characters, story and puzzles" ?

..especially when all those things were "in the demo level that we saw". The interview you wrote is the worst kind of hype. I mean, the whole game can be extremely dumb, despite all this hype.

Argh, of course I meant that it's the best kind of hype, it's just not realistic !! Look at Unreal ! What a lot of hype, and then it was generally considered horrible when it was released.

... maybe you don't know who these guys are and what they've done before. not todays "LucasArts" made a lot of brilliant games once (but the name still sells fine)... - THEY made these games (a bunch of them, at least). Once they were LucasArts... Now they are Doublefine.

So there is something really cool in development. Down there on this site someone answered me concerning the current position of steven chen...

"You'll be glad to know that Steve Chen is the lead level designer on Psychonauts :) Expect some great levels!" ... I am! I do! That's not just great news but also an OMEN for some really GREAT levels. Of course the game could be bad ...
... but this chance is as big as the chance to be hit by a thunder and become the half-human and half-car TurboTwen (tm). And wouldn't that be cool??

"... maybe you don't know who these guys are and what they've done before."

I do know.

"So there is something really cool in development."

Necessarily there isn't. And the game can be cool and great looking, but really dumb after a few days. Why can't Tim Schafer fail ? The game CAN be brilliant, but it can as well be bad, but the point is, that THE REVIEWER ALREADY SAID THAT THE GAME WILL BE BRILLIANT, ALTHOUGH NO-ONE CAN BE CERTAIN OF IT !!!!!

"THE REVIEWER ALREADY SAID THAT THE GAME WILL BE BRILLIANT, ALTHOUGH NO-ONE CAN BE CERTAIN OF IT !!!!!"

Where did I say it was going to be brilliant? The only reason I used the term "overwhelming" is because there's a lot to take in on this game in terms of story and gameplay ideas. I think it has a lot of potential, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's undoubtedly brilliant this early.

I checked my English-Finnish dictionary for the word 'overwhelming'. The dictionary is probably wrong, because that was the idea I got... Next time I open my mouth, remind me not to say anything.

I find the Adventure Gamers' review of Psychonauts nicer. Perhaps its language isn't so fancy so that I can understand it !

Who are you "arghing" it? I agree with you. I think it could be touch of "over-hype" a la Phantom Menace in the grand scheme of things...

I was defending it being compared to a game which is quoted as "The Greatest Game of All Time" - Zelda:OoT of course...

Whereas Monkey Island should be quoted as "The Funniest Game of All Time". I HATE it when games like Conker's Bad Fur Day come along and spoil humour with purile language. Ok, I've gone a bit off the subject there, so I'll shut up... :-

*i'm arghing to myself :D*

Sorry, I hate to be picky but are you describing Zelda: OoT as a "basic example" of Psychonauts or is it a base example as in "this is what it is sort of like but not quite".

I won't have anything bad said about my baby... LOL ;-)

absolutely correct

Well, as good as the game MAY be, I'm not going to be buying an Xbox. For one reason, it's too big to fit through my front door. Only kidding... No, I mean. I love Tim Schafer and all but having an Xbox stands for everything I don't stand for.

If he decides to port it to the PC or Gamecube, I'll be happy. Until then, it's just a game I'll have to miss...

... hey, cool attitude! I guess I can't support Microsoft, aswell, but there are a lot of ways to play the game ... just rent the x-box or lend it from someone who bought it.

i think there's a chance that this game comes to PC or gamecube. There are nearly no "just on X-Box" games. They don't have developers who make games exclusively for the X-Box. (Microsoft releases are normally planned for X-Box and PC) They don't have things like Rare-Games or the new Resident Evil Series or Zelda ... Sega is developing for Nintendo now and some titles are coming exclusively to the Gamecube.

Hooray for Nintendo! (as usual)

Halo was "Only on XBox" but PC and Mac ports are coming out... so you never know.

Halo IS coming out on the PC. It's been confirmed as having an August/September release date. I presume this is to coincide with the release of the "exciting new" Halo 2. And I thought Nintendo was the only console maker to rape franchises...? :-)

I would hold out so much hope that Psychonauts does make it to the PC. At the moment, this could be the case as the Xbox is falling behind severely in the market. At the moment, I could see it going the way of the sadly underrated Dreamcast.

This would mean that any "X-clusives" would eventually wend their way over to the PC. As the console and the PC are so closely linked, it is obvious that ports may be natural as long as Double Fine do not sign their lives away to the Devil... I mean, Bill Gates. I mean, look at the Xbox line-up! Apart from Midtown 3 or any other mediocre "first party" games (as if Micrsoft could EVER program a game and make it fun...), all the other games planned are either PC ports or planned to be ported to the PC.

To misquote a fine actress of the bygone era: "Help us Tim Schafer, you're our only hope...!" :-p

Seriously though...
I think that won't happen. There hasn't been ONE word about the PC/Mac version since two weeks after the X-Box version, only thing beyond that I have heard is Halo2... which after seeing the ending of Halo... makes me cry even more. They will rape it so badly. *sigh*

A PC port is quite possible, but when they say "Exclusive for Xbox" I think that means exclusive on console level. I'd be surprised if they did a GC or PS2 port.

Hold on... I haven't actually heard of it being "X-clusive". Is it actually confirmed as being Xbox-only on the console level...?

Has Double Fine become 2nd Party to Microsoft when I wasn't looking or do they just enjoy working on PC hardware so much that it was the only option...?

BTW, all computer retailers still have Halo on their release list and this is amended every month. This means there still is hope for a PC version but if its anything like the PC port of an originally PC-based FPS, Red Faction, then I hold out little hope. I'm a bit nosy and ask every time I buy a game... :-)

Microsoft is publishing the game, hence why I don't see it being released for GameCube and/or PS2.

God damn them...

Why didn't Lucasarts offer to publish it? They must still be chumy with ol' Tim. THEN they could have got it onto all platforms, or at least a few more...

I don't want people to think that this has been one long rant against other consoles but I have made my mind up. I don't want to pressure people into making their mind up.

I mean, most people on here are PC owners. I am too but I enjoy the different atmosphere of console gaming. Whichever console you buy, there will always be a few special games for it... except the Xbox of course. Sorry... Can't help myself. It's just SOOOO BIGGGGG! :-)

Thanks for this fine Psychonauts Preview! I should think about getting an X-Box ( ... and I'm loyal to Nintendo!! but Tim Shafer IS a reason).

When you take a look at these Concept Artworks (Peter Chan!) you can tell that some of the guys who create this game know how to hold a pencil and how to use it! Unfortunately they don't have enough of those artists at LucasArts... or at least they don't use these talents for the games. Just have a look at those fishy smurfvillages (thanks Kingzjester for this definition) in EMI. Argh. And Full Throttle 2 looks not great - it seems that it's happening again! ... the characters in the Preview Video just look funny - never cool.

BTW
for those of you who think that Jedi Outcast is a cool Jedi Knight Sequel... It's not. The levels are so boring!! If you want to know how you make a good level then have a look at Jedi Knight and Mysteries of the Sith and Indy and the Infernal Machine ... and furthermore you should take a look at the Steven Chen video on the official LEC site for Infernal machine.

You'll be glad to know that Steve Chen is the lead level designer on Psychonauts :) Expect some great levels!

wow!! it's getting better and better!!! just great!

oh,i almost forgot:
Peter McConnell, Clint Bajakian, Peter Chan, Chris Brown, Tim Shafer ...

<"Everyone left Lucas ... at the same time and now they're all freelance, " Tim said with a grin, "so now they're available again.">

YES!!!!!! That's the best news since month ... no, since YEARS!!!!!!

That's what I've been waiting for! Now we just need news concerning brilliant people like Jonathan Ackley, Michael Land, Hal Barwood etc. ... then Spaff renames Mixnmojo to "Ex-LucasArts News" and then it's just like it was some years ago. Brilliant Games. Positive News. **Sniff**

I didn't realize that was news.

Anyhow, isn't Hal still working at LucasArts? Does anyone who's kept a close eye on these new projects know if he's working on any of them? The Indy project would seem logical yet if it's being developed at Collective...?

the news is that it's 100% clear that a number of them is working together on a new project - i'm always afraid that those who left lucasarts have to work at snuckeys or for some cheesy company just to make money.

Hal Barwood? He's working at RTX isn't he?

I didn't know that ... noone told me :)
... then RTX is on my list. thanks.
someone should make a site where the current projects of those who are still at LEC and those who left are listed. When the project is unknown someone will have to call him/her via phone :)

I didn't know that ... nobody told me :)
... then RTX is on my list.

yeah, RTX is indeed by mr Hal!

Hal Barwood kicks ass!!! He should take over all adventure game production at Lucasarts...

Okay, maybe that was a BIT too far but I love Fate of Atlantis... :-)

wow!