The International House of Mojo

LucasArts has announced that if you buy the Force Unleashed 2 (Electric Boogaloo) special Collector's Edition for Xbox 360 or PS3, you will receive a special Starkiller skin for your player character.

Specifically, it transforms you from Galen Marek, the Sith Apprentice known as Starkiller, into Deak Starkiller, elder brother of Luke Starkiller, from a very early draft of the A New Hope script. As part of the deal, you get an option to use Deak's signature yellow lightsaber.

The character design is based on a mildly famous production painting by Ralph McQuarrie, the grand old man of Star Wars concept art, which depicts Deak dueling Darth Vader aboard the Rebel Blockade Runner. Yes, Deak was the person Luke had to rescue in this draft, not Leia--a good thing it was changed, I'd say.

Preordering the STFU2 Collector's Edition can be done through that infamous spawn of Satan, GameStop. No, I won't link to them. But if you want this edition, you probably should visit them and preorder, due to its limited numbers. Again, this special version is available only for Xbox 360 and PS3.

Source: Twitter

In their latest blog post, Telltale have announced that the third episode of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, They Stole Max's Brain! will be available on June 22nd, two Tuesdays from now. They've coupled the announcement with three new screenshots showing Sam in various states of rage. Players of the season via the PSN (the North American ones, anyhow) will be happy to know that the PS3 version will release simultaneous to the PC/Mac version, while the international PS3 and iPad versions will hit at an unspecified date soon after.

Source: Telltale

So our erstwhile staff member Kroms has found a brand new DeathSpank trailer. However, someone else had to post about it, because the other staffers unanimously voted to exile him forever from our Ultra Tippity Top Secret Mojo Newsroom after the incident with the giraffe, three melons, and a snorkel.

More linkage.

UPDATE: Kroms says, "Be sure to check out these four gameplay videos on the same site. Plus this video, and this other one, and this one too, on 1UP."

To which I say, "Man, we never should've exiled you. More work for us."

That's right. If you happen to be a seasoned adventurer (or a novice one, either will do) seeking to test your swashbuckling mettle against a new and perilous challenge, ask yourself: Do you have the stomach to enter the legendary long-lost Tomb of Sammun-Mak? Do you dare risk the curse of the ancient Pharaohs? Do you possess the sheer courage and nerves of steel required to plumb its deadly horrors and reach the fabled treasure within?

Well wonder no more! Now you can find out what you're made of, as Telltale have just released Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse episode 2, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak, now available for PC and Mac! Grab it here.

Here's the obligatory second link. Don't let the ancient mummy's curse befall you in your mad dash to the download page.

Some sad news: Heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio, who as you may remember was the first choice to play arch-villain Doviculus in Brütal Legend, has died of stomach cancer at age 67.

Dio is most famous for replacing Ozzy Osbourne as lead singer of the band Black Sabbath after the latter left rather acrimoniously.

Ultimately Dio was dropped, somewhat suddenly and unceremoniously, from Brütal Legend, and his character was recast with Tim Curry. Speculation that this was done to get Ozzy to agree to appear in the game remains unsubstantiated.

Our most heartfelt Mojo condolences go out to Mr. Dio's widow and other family members. He will be forever remembered as "that guy who was almost in a really awesome Tim Schafer game." (You're fired. -Ed)

Source: CNN

That's right. In a nigh-undisturbed, dusty GameSpot warehouse, diligent archivists have recently unearthed tantalizing clips of footage from a long thought-to-be-lost silent video game, Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse, Episode 2: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak! Makes that Metropolis restoration look like peanuts in comparison.

Well, go and check it out. It's only so often such a priceless piece of video game history is rediscovered.

(Actually, the trailer is hardly long-lost, but who cares? It makes a good news post, and admirably sets the mood for the game. Which looks awesomely old-timey, don't you know.)

Source: Telltale Forums

On the official Monkey Island Facebook page, LEC has followed up their gradual releases of MI2: Special Edition screenshots (by the way, I don't think we mentioned the last two on the front page) with some gradually released character concepts. You can see Herman Toothrot's transformation from 1991 sprite to 2010 sketch, but you'll no doubt be most interested in the various passes they made at Guybrush's revamp (v1, v2, v3, v4) before landing on the final version, especially with regard to his age and similarities to his CMI counterpart.

Update by ATMachine: V5 Guybrush can now be found at Kotaku. For those who've been having trouble viewing the previous Guybrush concepts, the link also contains color-corrected versions of those, which should alleviate the problem. Be sure to right-click on and "View" the images to see them full size!

Source: Monkey Island Facebook

For those of you Monkey Island fans who have been freaking out that Dominic Armato, THE voice of Guybrush Threepwood, has not yet been confirmed as reprising his role in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Special Edition, worry no more.

LucasArts' MISE producer Craig Derrick has revealed on his Twitter feed that Dom is indeed on board for MI2:SE, and that his Luke Skywalker impression is top-notch.

(Yes, the tweet is from April 2. Shut up. Mojo is as timely as ever.)

Also of note is the background to Derrick's Twitter page. It would seem to be a MI2:SE character there!

Possibly the image is related to a comment Derrick made in the recent Gamespot interview with him, Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman:

"CD: Be nice guys [i.e., Gilbert, Schafer, and Grossman]. Remember, we did fix Guybrush's hair and put a very flattering caricature of each of you in the game."

Interesting.

And if you get the reference in the title of this post, you are far, far too much of a Star Wars nerd for your own good.

That ever-so-respectable paragon of games journalism, GameSpot, has posted a short video preview of the developer commentary in the upcoming Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Special Edition. Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, and Dave Grossman are all featured, so if their banter here is any indication, the audio commentary will be a laugh riot.

Accompanying the video is a two-page interview of the trio, who also let current LucasArts SE producer Craig Derrick get in on the question-answering fun. Finally, we get to find out where Ron Gilbert's LEGO pirate ship went!

As you probably know, Ron Gilbert joined the Canadian based developer Hothead Games as the company's Creative Director around two years ago. Although the veteran designer publicly began his role serving as a "consultant" on the Penny Arcade episodes, it seemed that his primary reason for joining the company's ranks was to see his latest brainchild, DeathSpank, come to fruition after the studio signed on as its publisher. This is more or less confirmed by today's Grumpy Gamer blog post, where Ron reveals that he has ended his term at Hothead as production on the game is wrapping:

Roll on DeathSpank, and best of luck to Ron in his future endeavors, which hopefully includes making video games at a slightly less relaxed pace.

Source: Grumpy Gamer