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Until he let the domain expire, Wilmunder.com was the longstanding web presence of SCUMM Lord Aric Wilmunder. Today, the URL will finally work for you again…as somebody’s World of Warcraft site. That’s like a guy coming along and exhuming your loved one’s grave just so they could fill the hole with pog slammers instead.

Around ten years ago, Aric had started using his site to make the most constructive contribution to humanity since penicillin: uploading his irreplaceable treasure trove of LucasArts design documents. Fortunately, the stuff he did get around to posting seems to be preserved by snapshots, but he had so much more to offer that was meant to be on the way, like the Forge pitch documents, a proposed Star Trek SCUMM game, and even a Maniac Mansion II that was not Day of the Tentacle, which he held up at one point for Daniel Albu during their last interview:

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Aric, come back to us. Continue your noble work. Light a candle, rather than curse our darkness. ‘Cause I really wanna know how pissed the Meteor is.

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Much has been written and said about the sadly abandoned Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix from the mid-90s. In all that recorded history, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of Dave Grossman’s involvement.

Well, Daniel Albu has invited Dave for another round of Tech Talk, and it turns out that Dave was indeed briefly affiliated with – if not outright helming - Iron Phoenix during a transitional moment when an attempt was made to utilize FMV for the character animation, a gambit which you may remember Mike Levine speaking to Daniel about in a past interview. Anyway, the Iron Phoenix talk begins at 33:36, but why not enjoy the whole thing? There’s even a bit of Cavedog talk toward the end.


Source: Tech Talk

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As recently mentioned, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is basically all about Monkey Island, something StarWars.com has decided to double down on in a brand-spanking new story:

“I was taken aback to hear from Doug since it would have been decades since we had crossed paths at Lucasfilm,” Purcell tells StarWars.com. Purcell’s career has included creating the Eisner Award-winning Sam & Max franchise as well as work in games and animation, illustrating the cover art for the first two Monkey Island games and working on stories for Pixar including writing the screenplays for Brave as well as Cars on the Road. On the phone with Watts, Ford, and Skeleton Crew producer Chris Buongiorno, Purcell learned about the team’s influences for the latest Disney+ Star Wars series. “I wondered how they came up with my name to do a Star Wars piece and they mentioned my Monkey Island game covers for LucasArts. I hadn’t really done [anything] Star Wars themed besides my parody Sam & Max strips for the LucasArts newsletter, back in the day. What a pleasure and privilege it was being asked by this creative team to contribute something that ties into this fun, nutty and enthusiastic series.”

Well then! Go read the whole story.

Source: StarWars.com

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Despite what Remi would have you think, 2024 hasn’t quite come to an end, and neither has its collection of Daniel Albu interviews.

Two await your viewership. Below is a conversation with Greg Hammond, producer at LucasArts in the early 90s, followed by another with Yves Borckmans, a programmer whose principal LucasArts credit is Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.

At nearly five hours, Daniel boasts the latter to be his longest interview yet, but frankly, I don’t think he’s showing enough deference to the possibility that we are all merely subjects in the ongoing Daniel interview called life.



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It’s been a surprisingly vibrant year for Monkey Island fan games, but we can’t forget our history, so it’s nice timing that a complete playthrough of The Fate of Monkey Island has been uploaded to YouTube.

Too young to remember The Fate of Monkey Island? Built in 1999 by “Scurvyliver” using the then-ubiquitous Klik & Play game-making tool, it was considered the criterion example of fan games, mostly based on the following unique features:

  • It got finished

One-a dem dere “sidequels,” the game takes place during the events of Monkey Island 2 and helps fill in some backstory for Curse by depicting what the monkeys had to go through when LeChuck went into the amusement park business. Yes, the game sees you playing not as Guybrush, but as a monkey named Squinky. (Spielberg would approve.)

The success of the game led Survyliver to embark on a more ambitious sequel, complete with a SCUMM-like interface, but progress was halted when LucasArts cried copyright infringement. Obviously, it wasn’t the best look for the studio, but it’s impressive that they could take some time out of not bug-testing Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles to fire off the cease-and-desist. The scandal even reached the awareness of print media:

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While you can still download Fate (and for that matter, the abandoned sequel) and hope your modern operating system can fathom its charms, the following video may satisfy the requirements of those who wish to know their history without necessarily getting it stuck on their shoes.


Source: YouTube

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And that's because Harrison Ford made a special effort to praise the newest and shiniest Indy imitator, Troy Baker, for the voice actor's well-received performance in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

It all went down at the Game Awards a few days ago. You weren't cool enough to get an invitation, so let's set the coordinates on the Dial of Destiny...

Perhaps for the first time, not one but two Indiana Joneses have graced the stage together.

Yesterday evening at The Game Awards 2024 in Los Angeles, Bethesda’s director Todd Howard and actor Troy Baker arrived to present the award for Best Performance. Baker has recently taken on the role of our favorite archaeologist in the newly-released Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which premiered earlier this week. But as Howard playfully observed, in spite of all of Baker’s many celebrated roles in games (such as Joel Miller in The Last of Us), he has yet to take home a Best Performance win of his own. “They do give an award for best Indie game,” Howard then clarified, “and I think everybody here can agree, you make a great case for best Indy performance.”

Howard quickly added, however, that “there was another guy though…. I wonder what he thinks?” The iconic “Raiders March” was then heard as Harrison Ford himself entered from backstage to a standing ovation. “While you’re on your feet, let’s give a round of applause to these two guys for The Great Circle,” Ford told the audience. “I think this guy did a great job,” he added, pointing to Baker. “If I had known he was so good, I would’ve done it myself.”

If it's justice for Doug Lee you want...talk to Sternhart and Costa.

Source: Lucasfilm.com

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Vince Lee, whom even those practicing Star Wars ostracism probably know as the principal behind the pioneering Rebel Assault and its FMV engine, INSANE (leveraged also by such games as Full Throttle and Outlaws) is Daniel Albu’s latest subject:


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While Remi is still waiting for ChatGPT to spin up that Mojo review (it takes a lot of quarters these days), everyone else in the world has registered their thoughts, and there does seem to be a consensus that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the goods.

Accepting that as a given, I am pleased to see the property get the long-awaited comeback it has deserved after twenty-five baffling years serving an apparent agenda to strive for the ideal of being perfectly functional Tomb Raider/Uncharted knockoffs.

As you await the only judgment that Microsoft is worried about, you might care to follow the enthusiastic reaction on the forums or experience the superb soundtrack by the always dependable Gordy Haab. Walt Disney Records has made it available through Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and probably everywhere else you don’t prefer.

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You, and definitely not us, probably need to catch up on the two Tech Talk interviews since the session with Larry the O. First up is James ‘Purple’ Hamilton, playtester extraordinaire from LucasArts’ olden days:


Then there’s Elaine Marley herself, Alexandra Boyd, whose long-form chat with Cressup only awakened her appetite for streamed interviews rather than bedded it down.


We should also point out that Daniel’s past interviews with Mike Levine and Aric Wilmunder, which uncovered a number of new anecdotes about Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix, have done much to inspire a new article about the cancelled game by the folks at Time Extension.

Staying faithful to the theme of occasions gone unmarked, how about Steve Purcell busting out some hugely justifiable re-runs in honor of Thanksgiving, and now the yuletide season?

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You may recall that Limited Run Games threw in a plush hamster as part of their big honking collector’s package for Day of the Tentacle Remastered, but do you really think hamster perfection happens in the first iteration? Literally millions of hamsters had to be rejected to achieve what wound up in the hands of over-salaried fanatics, and one of those valuable hamsters-that-weren't is now up for auction on eBay.

It's part of the annual Winter Fundraiser for the Video Game History Foundation, so don’t be motivated only by the fact that owning this prototype with marginally different colors is absolutely essential to any well-appointed home – know also that it’s downright conscientious as well.

Thanks to Mojo founder Spaff for the heads up on this.

Source: eBay

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It's been a race car, a blimp, and a breakfast menu item, but this time they've really gone round the bend and saw fit to try to adapt Indiana Jones and the Great Circle into a video game.


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Look, I'm fresh out of commentary for all the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle marketing profligacy. It finally broke me. Take this and leave in peace:

Source: Twitter

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Wait, you think you’ve dived deep into Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, just because that last promotional video called itself a deep dive? Well, that makes you an idiot, because now there’s an episode of the Official Xbox Podcast called “Diving Deeper Into Indiana Jones and The Great Circle.” We’re hanging with the goddamned benthic organisms over here.


Source: Xbox Podcast

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Rightly fearful of a world where Escape from Monkey Island magazine coverage gets lost to the Mysts o'Tyme, our own Scummbuddy blew the dust bunnies off the scanner and preserved the feature story that graced the Sept. 2000 issue of Computer Games Magazine.

You may already be familiar with the cover of this issue, as it’s been universally acknowledged since the game came out to be objectively superior to the actual box art the geniuses in Marketing saw fit to approve in the end, but the preview itself by Cindy Yans is some proper journalism, and the pre-release quotes from Mike Stemmle and Sean Clark will take you back to those innocent, anticipatory days when we thought we had another classic coming our way.

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Keep Reading

Source: Mojo Forums

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There’s a lot going on, at far too rapid a clip, when it comes to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle for the front page to really keep up, but that’s why you’re such a devout follower of the forum thread. Let’s cover the highlights though, starting with a fifteen minute “gameplay deep dive” video Bethesda put out earlier in the week.


And if you thought the spared-no-expense marketing madness could only have peaked, the game’s latest promotional partner is here to say, “Hold my chemically-sweetened syrup.”

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”I see your taste in friends remains consistent.”

Further info on the IHOP tie-in, inclusive of a collectable drinking glass and a sweepstakes for Exclusive Prizes™, can be found here. I know what you're thinking: Where the heck was the ReMI-inspired breakfast menu?

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You’ve probably seen the news pop into your inbox already, but in case you haven’t – GOG has launched a certification program of sorts that promises to, and I quote:

The GOG Preservation Program ensures classic games remain playable on modern systems, even after their developers stopped supporting them. By maintaining these iconic titles, GOG helps you protect and relive the memories that shaped you, DRM-free and with dedicated tech support.

Well, then! I think we can all get behind the sentiment, though exactly what it means on a practical level is a bit foggy to me. I.e., will classic LucasArts titles still rely on the baked-in version of ScummVM?

Either way, included in the first batch of titles are Indiana Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis™, The Curse of Monkey Island™, and The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition.

News of EGA versions and – most importantly – Amiga games forthcoming, I’m sure.

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Another Tech Talk has arrived, this time with multifaceted audio engineer Larry the O, who worked at LucasArts around 1995-2003 on a bunch of Star Wars titles as well as Escape from Monkey Island. When you’re done listening to his stories, you might also check out his web site, Toys in the Attic.


Source: Tech Talk with Daniel Albu

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“I do see what causes some people to rate Grim Fandango so highly, and I definitely don’t think any less of them for doing so."

This sporting sentiment from Jimmy Maher gives you a decent idea of what you're in for in his latest entry at The Digital Antiquarian, dedicated to Tim Schafer’s 1998 classic. Fans of hot takes rejoice -- or does he speak for the silent majority? Whether you read it in outrage or validation, you know you’re always getting the good stuff over there.

Our CEO, who just happens to be the webmaster of The Grim Fandango Network, was last observed sharpening knives, but we’re sure it’s perfectly innocent.ceo

Source: The Digital Antiquarian

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In the SCUMM catalog, there are three early games that found themselves produced during a transitional era of graphics cards, where VGA (256-color) was most definitely around, but EGA (16-color) still had the dominant install base.

As a result, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Loom, and The Secret of Monkey Island initially shipped as EGA versions, but had their art retroactively redone (often within a year) in elitist fancy VGA form by other artists.

Over the years, the argument from purists that the EGA originals should be privileged has grown louder -- and also more tragic, as those most definitely don’t tend to be the versions offered by Lucasfilm. Regardless of individual preferences, for which there can be no right answer, the comparison is always interesting, and a typically Norwegian hero has made this inspection easier than ever.

Though he hasn’t gotten to Monkey 1 yet, you’ll have a lot of fun hovering your mouse over backgrounds from Indy 3 and Loom. Check out how much bigger that Sam & Max totem pole got in Indy’s office (and is that a subtle ode to the Great Monkey Head added to the top shelf there?), or how superior Loom was in its original form in every way. Above all, bow down before the one true Cobb:

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Source: SuperRune

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As promised, the month draws to a close with a whole bunch of new hands-on impressions of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. No really, there’s a lot of them. Too many, frankly. We’re a little insulted.

Here’s what I rounded up before my hand fell off. People seem to be liking it.

The game is out December 9th. Two weeks before you finish reading all of these, in other words.

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