The International House of Mojo

So reveals this interview with Tim that Giant Bomb published yesterday.Do not settle for that snippet! It's an excellent interview.

Source: Giant Bomb

Not much has been said about what exactly the Double Fine Adventure will be, except that it will be a point and click adventure game made by a small team at Double Fine led by Tim Schafer and with input from Ron Gilbert.

But now we know in what dimension the game will be created. And that dimension is two! That's right, not only will it be a point and click adventure game, it will be a 2D point and click adventure game! A game like that by Tim Schafer featuring input from Ron Gilbert hasn't happened since Day of the Tentacle in 1993!

So what are you waiting for! Support the Double Fine Adventure today! If you've already supported it, then choose a higher tier of support!

Update (February 14, 2012): This is another bit of scraps scrounged from twitter about the game, but we'll take it. Especially since it's a great Valentine's day present full of sweet lovin' sweet music for your ears: Tim Schafer wants music by Peter McConnell for the Double Fine Adventure! So, here's hoping Mr. McConnell takes him up on the offer, as it would make the game have so much more of that old school feel we hear so much about.

Hookshot Inc., a newly-launched website from a group of known game reviewers (congratulations to them and good luck!), interviewed Tim Schafer this past Saturday. In the interview he talks about the Kickstarter-funded Double Fine Adventure game, the possible Notch-funded Psychonauts 2, the Mixnmojo-funded Monkey Island 6 (no) and a bunch of other things you should read the interview to know about. Here's a choice quote:

I can't wait.

Source: Hookshot, Inc.

Not content in raising the budget for their new game in 8 hours and 11 minutes, and then breaking the Kickstarter records for most amount raised in a short timeframe, and then breaking the number of backers for one project, Double Fine have hit another milestone: Raising $1 million in less than 24 hours!

We can only speculate what this might mean for the finished game, but if money keeps pouring in, could we reach a budget large enough to create a game approaching the size and scope of one of LucasArts's classics? We can only hope.

Where will it end? With 32 days left to go, it's too early for anyone to tell!

Haven't pledged any money yet? Go take a look at the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter page, and make sure you watch the video!

Source: Kickstarter.com

Thought you were done with surreal Double Fine news for the week? Yeah, well, you're suffering from a malady we in the medical profession like to refer to as "confusion," because Double Fine just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new graphic adventure game. From the project site, which includes important information about how this all works:

The goal is $400,000 dollars, which is probably how much it costs to keep the Old Republic servers humming over a weekend. So, were you one of those people bitching when Tim "sold out" to the allure of the ample bossomed action/adventure? Tell your kids that community college is the more logical choice these days anyway and make this happen. The rewards offered for major contributions are rather awesome even if they're out of your reach, but pledge whatever amount you can and enjoy the company of the aggressively sensuous people listed here.

jp edit: $400,000 in half a day. We have a Schafer/Gilbert point & click adventure game! Now, let's up the funds to get iOS versions and the London Philharmonic...

Source: Kickstarter

In what is quickly becoming known as the most exciting news story in all of history, Notch has Tweeted an apparent interest in making Psychonauts 2 episodic!

Earlier today, he posted: "Let's split it up in episodes! Episodic gaming is the future!"

Whether he was serious or not remains to be seen. He's also cautioned the world to, "please don't get your hopes too high yet. Everything is extremely vague!"

Far too late for that, Mr Persson!

Source: @Notch

Disregard that last news update. Someone has taken the bait.

In honour of it being Charles Dickens's 200th birthday - a man who spent his 58 years on Earth creating as many babies as he created novels - popular indie guy Notch, head of developer Mojang and creator of popular game Minecraft, said the following words to Tim Schafer over Twitter: "Let's make Psychonauts 2 happen."

And then Steven Dracogen, who brought you Stacking and Costume Quest to PC, was like, "I'm in." And I was like, "Woah". And then maybe I screamed like those girls at Ed Sullivan's show when The Beatles came on. Skip to 1:35 in that video. That was so totally me.

This normally wouldn't be news-worthy, except for two reasons: Rock Paper Shotgun's confused question about whether or not to post the story, which makes a Mojo news update actually more timely than someone else's for once (Professionalism ho!); and Notch's reply, where he says he is serious (and calls Psychonauts "Tim's baby").

So! Would you like a Psychonauts sequel? It'd be interesting to see any Psychonauts-related work coming-out - doubly so since people like Erik Wolpaw (who wrote 20-30% of the dialogue) and Scott Campbell (the art director) have since left Double Fine.

Source: Twitter

The chicken that represents internet interviews with Tim Schafer has laid another egg. While not as gigantic as the recent Gamasutra one (in the sense that it isn't five pages long), Digital Spy can still lay claim to a compelling gab session with The Shafe, as no one has ever called him.
Here's the part of the article that has naturally spread like a rash since its publication:Go vote for quality using your eyes!

Source: Digital Spy

Hot off the heels of the release of Double Fine Happy Action Theater, the first Double Fine project since Brutal Legend on which Tim has served as the lead, Gamaustra has published a feature interview with the man about all things Double Fine. It's huge and great and informative, and what's more, it's a huge. Here, have a free sample from Schafer's thoughts on developing for Kinect: Consume the full five page spread like the smorgasbord of heart-healthy sustenance that it is.

Source: Gamasutra

Double Fine Happy Action Theater? Released! Trenched Iron Brigade: Rise of the Martian Bear DLC? Also released! Today! Right now! I mean, my lord, get on your Xbox and download them both!

Update: And if that wasn't enough for you, then PC fans will be pleased to hear that Steam is offering 50% off their "Double Fine Pack" -- Today only! That includes Costume Quest (with the Grubbins on Ice DLC) and the updated version of Psychonauts for your PC. Half price!

Link: 50% Off The Double Fine Pack

Popular games website Giant Bomb have put up a new QuickLook video, centering on Double Fine's new game, Happy Action Theatre. The video features Tim Schafer and someone dressed in a hotdog suit, don't you know.

QuickLook videos are GiantBomb's lovely way of showing you gameplay, and the games covered range from relative unknowns to big blockbusters. The Happy Action Theatre video shows a variety of levels, and gives a good idea of the kind of gameplay on offer here - minus, I think, Tim Schafer and a hotdog suit.

Source: GiantBomb

And it is February 1st.

In other words, it is time to get that Kinect out of storage, as it look like this game could be fun. Joystiq has a good preview up of it.

Source: Tim's Twitter

You'd never know it (unless you're already subscribed to their podcast RSS feed) but Double Fine keeps releasing new episodes of their podcast, and not telling anyone about it.

The latest episode (number five, no less!) features Steven Dengler, the "shady-but-benevolent" investment partner who personally funded the Costume Quest PC and Psychonauts Mac releases.

Keep abreast of new episodes by entering the following URL into your favourite podcast/RSS software (or just by visiting it in your browser):

http://www.doublefine.com/rss/ActionCast/

But don't let Tim Schafer know I told you.

Source: DoubleFine.com

It's a new year, so probably about time for a new poll. This time we're asking our Mojo readers about their gaming systems... Just what hardware is the discerning Adventure Game fan packing in 2012?

As for "Which of Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight games is your favorite?", all is finally revealed below! (Well, kind of... Iron Brigade has only just been released in Europe, and Once Upon A Monster isn't even on the list -- but, er, never mind!)

Which of Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight games is your favorite?
I am ashamed that I haven't played any yet		19
Costume Quest/Grubbins on Ice		11
Stacking/The Lost Hobo King		11
Trenched (for those who've been allowed to play it)		0
Total votes		41

After being delayed since June, Trenched Iron Brigade has finally been released on the XBox 360 in Europe... or, it was on six weeks ago.

Along with this release, the US version of the game has been given an update. It's no longer known as Iron Brigade Trenched, but has been renamed to Trenched Iron Brigade, so that multiplayer can be enjoyed internationally.

As a reward for fans tolerating all these shenanigans, Double Fine have added a new Survival game mode and new Loot for free, as part of the patch!

And as an extra bonus, a new Iron Brigade T-shirt has been revealed in the Double Fine Store.

Still no release date for the "Rise of the Martian Bear" DLC, though!

Source: DoubleFine

Here's some wild and cool news for you. So, Japanese rhythm-game extraordinaire Masaya Matsuura (perhaps best known for the ahead-of-its-time PaRappa the Rapper for the PS1) is working on a Kinect-based XBLA game called Haunt. The description I've read makes it sound like a sort of first-person Luigi's Mansion, wherein the player navigates a goofy haunted house with the aid of a flashlight.

The main NPC of the game, which is to release "soon," was already voiced when Masaya and co. bore witness to Tim's charismatic hosting of the GDC Choice Awards and everything changed. Reports Joystiq:

Hopefully Tim can parlay this into a career on Broadway. Until then, cool gig, Tim!

Source: Joystiq

Looking for an inconvenient and expensive way to occupy your time next March, but your normally stratospheric excitement level for the Game Developers Conference hasn't quite hit critical mass yet? The ante may have just been upped now that Double Fine's Nathan Martz is scheduled to give a lecture at next year's GDC called "Fun for Everyone: Lessons in Accessible Design from Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster."

There is currently no word on how Jason intends to elegantly conclude this news post.

Source: GDC

In his acceptance video for X-Play's Best Downloadable Game Award (Double Fine was nominated for both Stacking and Iron Brigade, with the former taking home the gold), Tim reveals that Stacking is coming to PC. No word on a release date, but surely Tim describing the PC version as a "seductive idea" while speaking for a doll is enough to hold you over until that information comes to light.

Now they just need to port Iron Brigade to PC so that I can play it. I reckon there will be a little bit of a struggle in putting Once Upon a Monster on Steam, though.

Source: G4TV

Want to know what game Ron is working on at Double Fine? Then get in line, but in the meantime check out two pieces of character concept art he's put up on his blog along with this:

The concept art looks rather Nathan Martz-y Stapley-ish (but is actually the work of Derek Brand).

Source: Grumpy Gamer