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The LEC twitter feed - a great place to steal from! (Updated with iPhone news) 10 Jul, 2009 / Comments: 21

By Jason


The LEC twitter feed is sort of like Mojo's little brother in that we both learned how to fish together, have the same blood type, and are both the sexual offspring of our mother and father. But also though, we tend to post about a lot of the same things. Look at all the news they pointed out that we would have done ourselves if they hadn't have been so happy to do our work for us:
  • There's an excellent (and possibly the first?) official LucasArts podcast with the sound guys of MI:SE, including the legendary Darragh O'Farrell (voice director on The Dig, CMI and EMI, and the guy who cast Dom!). The discussion is great, and includes an amusing anecdote about snatching Earl Boen despite his retirement in Hawaii.
  • Ron did a write-up about the general awesome insanity that's going on with LEC's old games.
  • The Dig apparently made the cut of some list of great game locations.
I wonder if LEC is enjoying the newfound delights that come out of, you know, having an active relationship with its fanbase.

JP Update: LucasArts don't want your money. They're giving away free codes for the SCUMM games on Steam via Twitter (and other channels). They've also provided an iPhone Monkey Island wallpaper, "No reason. Wink wink nod nod".
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21 Comments

  • Capn_Nacho on 11 Jul, 2009, 03:36…
    I'm all but done hating on the SE. I've come to realize that even if there are things I don't like about it, it is great, great news that a new version of such a classic game is finally being made available, with some of the aspects which may have aged a bit less gracefully updated for a generation more obsessed with resolution than gameplay.

    But, and this is the last thing I'll say before I get my hands on the game myself on Wednesday; what the hell is up with that LeChuck design!? Were they even trying? No offense, Lucasarts guys, I love you again, but it's just all over the place.
  • Glo_kidd on 11 Jul, 2009, 06:01…
    hear hear on everything up to the lechuck critisism. i personally think he looks pretty badass :)

    I am very curious as to how the handle his windmill punches and the ending overall like lechucks classic demise replay and whatnot

    weeee! cant wait till wednesday :D this is so cool
  • TheJoe on 10 Jul, 2009, 23:26…
    I have definitely not the @joedaviso that they keep talking about.
  • Radogol on 10 Jul, 2009, 22:58…
    Speaking of LucasArts twitter, this Joe Davison guy really pisses me off. I suppose he started the speech project beacuse he wanted to get a Monkey Island talkie, but now that we're offically getting one, he's acting all butthurt. Not only is that bad PR for the speech project, it also sends LucasArts a message that even with all they've done so far to rejuvenate old brands, they still should suck a fart and no one cares. Gah! Stop acting like a child.
  • TheJoe on 10 Jul, 2009, 23:27…
    I give up.
  • Radogol on 10 Jul, 2009, 23:41…
    Please don't.
  • TheJoe on 10 Jul, 2009, 23:52…
    Don't what? I don't run the Speech Project anymore if that's what you mean. I'm _not_ complaining about the Special Edition AT ALL. Sure, it's a little disconcerting that it's coming out NOW and stealing the Speech Project's thunder, but that's all. I was overreacting to the Steam thing, mostly as a bit of a joke. Because I'm anti-Steam and we were all expecting a GOG release. I'm pissed off more with LA now they've gone and shouted about me from the rooftops, because I get people like you saying things like this. Worst of all I get Twitter followers, which is just... *shivers*. The only thing that's wrong with the Special Edition is how they've completely messed up the art style and disabled voice on the "Classic View". That's ALL.
  • Radogol on 11 Jul, 2009, 00:40…
    Please don't give up. It was a message of love, not related to anything in particular.
  • TheJoe on 11 Jul, 2009, 00:00…
    Also I refuse to talk anymore about this.
  • neon_git on 11 Jul, 2009, 00:27…
    Don't give up on the speach project, it's really cool.
  • Izzy on 11 Jul, 2009, 04:51…
    To be honest there really isn't a point to continuing the Speech Project. I don't want to be mean or anything but its true. Its pointless now.
  • jp-30 on 11 Jul, 2009, 05:32…
    Not pointless if you want voices with the classic graphics.

    But a better project direction might be to hack the SE so that the official new voices (and music) plays with the classic graphics.
  • Izzy on 11 Jul, 2009, 12:13…
    Well there isn't alot of motivation for the Speech Project to continue.
  • Radogol on 11 Jul, 2009, 12:39…
    Which is a shame, because it's always unfortunate when creativity of any kind is being extinguished. I wonder if they could perhaps turn their efforts to other unvoiced games. Maniac Mansion for example, Zak McKracken, or Last Crusade would sure benefit a lot from richer audio. Someone could even remix all the tunes if at all possible, especially because these games are pre-iMuse.

    Joe, would it be doable with the tool you made?

    I don't know about Maniac Mansion, but I think we can safely assume there won't be The Last Crusade special edition anytime soon.
  • TheJoe on 11 Jul, 2009, 14:00…
    I didn't make ScummSpeaks - jestarjokin.net did.

    And unfortunately, Monkey Island is only possible to voice because it uses a newer SCUMM engine with support for voice, added first in one of the Indy adventures. If it's possible to port Maniac Mansion to the SCUMM version used in Monkey Island, then we can add voice. But until someone releases the source code for SCUMM I don't see that happening.

    Bearing in mind also that support for extra playable characters seemed to have been lost from SCUMMv2 onwards when it wasn't needed any more (correct me if I'm wrong). So even if we did port Maniac Mansion to a later SCUMM we'd need to figure out how to readd this support.

    jp-30: The SE apparently still uses SCUMM, the question is, what version of SCUMM and what kind of file-sctructure. If it's still like the Monkey Island CD version with .000 files and all sorts, speech will more than likely work.

    neon_git: I did give up. I don't run the Speech Project anymore. I gave it to David Rogers, who has apparently given it over to Cornelius Huber.
  • Izzy on 11 Jul, 2009, 16:21…
    I think it uses SCUMM from The Dig
  • TheJoe on 11 Jul, 2009, 18:44…
    I have no idea how the .BUNs work, so if that's the case then I don't know if speech will be possible.
  • JohnGreenArt on 10 Jul, 2009, 18:00…
    The latest tweet nigh upon confirms the MI:SE will be on iPhone.
  • Huz on 10 Jul, 2009, 11:39…
    The list of great game locations is tragically incomplete without mentioning Another World.
  • neon_git on 10 Jul, 2009, 05:46…
    Ohh, the podcast is well worth a listen. There's more details on the Earl Boen situation in there.
  • Glo_kidd on 10 Jul, 2009, 07:18…
    The podcast is gold :) hearing Brook Brown's monkey island story totally reminded me of how my brother and i play the games way back when. The enthusiasm they show is so great :D

    Im actually a little overwhelmed atm :D if someone told me before e3 that we'd be where we find ourselves now with 2 MI projects with the seriously real prospect of great new things i think i probably would have called them a mean-spirited jackass for trying to get my hopes up for such an unlikely thing.

    It feels pretty damn good to be an adventure fan right now :)