The International House of Mojo

It's not April 1st, you're not still asleep, and we're not kidding. A movie based on LucasArts SNES classic Zombies Ate My Neighbours is in development.

A script has been written by newcomer John Darko, and is described as "Superbad + Zombieland + Home Alone". It's a coming-of-age comedy, with zombies. And yes, protagonists Zeke and Julie still feature.

While the film's producers are still seeking both finances and the rights from Konami, apparently "things are going well and it's coming together". Wonder if it'll have tentacles in it? Hell, I'd pay just to see the giant baby.

Source: First Showing

The next Lego game from our friends at TT Games is once again relevant to our news and is looking quite superb, so we can happily say that Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is coming out 25th March. It was originally due out 18th February, but has been delayed for some unexplained reason.

I personally think that it's more than coincidence that this new release date coincides with the launch of the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo's brand new handheld console. Being one of the only good games in a short launch line-up for an inevitably popular console will mean that people will flock to it (I know I will), but not if they've already bought it on other systems.

The game will be on every platform barring the dead PS2 (so PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, Wii, DS and 3DS), and I'm still waiting for them to notice that an iPhone version would be incredibly popular too. We'll try to have a review up around then.

Source: Gamershell

In a move that will likely invite the consternation of actual LEGO blocks, the upcoming LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will apparently be receiving a version for Nintendo's hotly anticipated 3DS platform, release details for which were not-so-incidentally announced today. The third installment of Traveler's Tales block-building take on the Star Wars franchise appeared in this list of confirmed 3DS games, but I have no idea whether or not it's a launch title.

And you naysayers thought LucasArts wasn't up to anything.

Source: Gamasutra

Here's a head-scratcher to start off your day with: when someone says "Monkey Island" to you, do you think of: a) monkeys, b) pirates, or c) pornography? Because this is the internet, someone, somewhere, thought "pornography" and then, perhaps because the internet just wasn't weird enough, "tetris".

All of which leads us to this, The Secret of Spunky Island, a tetris parody of the original Monkey Island game plus a dash of porn. If you've ever wanted to see Bob the ghost get it on with Guybrush but have been afraid to ask, click here.

Hey, Mojo cookie pirate points to anyone who can think of lines from Monkey Island you're likely to hear in a porno. Post them in a comments.

Source: 1UP

Rejoice fellow brick-and-mortar gaming emporium browsers! Barely a year and a half after Tales of Monkey Island was released on that new-fangled accursed web-net thing, publisher Lace Mamba Global have announced that they're bringing the entire game to shop shelves everywhere!

To prove it they and Telltale have released a really snazzy trailer for the series. The first thing you might notice is that Earl Boen is playing LeChuck in Episode 1, which Telltale (I believe) still haven't patched into the online PC version.

TMI will be in your local game store (actually, do those even still exist?) on 25th March, although only on PC and only in Europe. A proper full-graphics Wii release would be most welcome, guys. Still, that's all five Monkey Islands now available in shops at last! Okay, not all at the same time. If they were though, that would be the best game shop in the world.

Source: GameTrailers

Of course I care - the talk is going to be about Maniac Mansion. On his blog, Ron reports that he has been invited by Game Forum Germany to hop a plane over to the country where adventure gamers flow like wine to speak on the topic of his choice. The topic will be the making of the first SCUMM game, the first game to feature a can of Pepsi and, perhaps most influentially, the first game to deal with the taboo subject of death by sexually aggressive tentacle:

Ron also mentions his anticipation for visiting the home of the frankfurter for the first time since his days of doing international pimping for Total Annihilation as well as his discovery of some LEGO Maniac Mansion fan art, so you should probably make your head less emulative of a tuna and read his words.

(To at least one willing German who will be in attendance: Please record his words as well.)

Source: Grumpy Gamer

The Escapist's Brendan Main has written a comprehensive article about Grim Fandango.

You might like to read the whole piece?

Source: The Escapist

It's been a long time since we've had any Indiana Jones news at all, let alone Indy gaming news! Fortunately that ends right now, as fans once again show that if the people in charge don't care, just bloody do it yourself!

First off is Screen 7 and Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth, who are promising an exciting year - hopefully culminating in a release! Their new year surprise is a revised demo, featuring an updated game engine and a small Easter Egg. Let's just say it involves a mysterious ring and someone who might know about it! They're also promising a new mini-adventure, entitled Indiana Jones and the Valley of the Kings. Let's hope for great things, since the demo is arguably more impressive than even Fate of Atlantis!

The second fan project is Binary Legends with Indiana Jones and the Seven Cities of Gold, who have just released their first demo.

We wish both projects luck, and we can only hope that LucasArts are inspired by their efforts that they stop f***ing around and give us some Indiana Jones news from them too. If not, I think these two are enough to get excited about for now!

The National Film Registry, that one thing Congress is good for, announced the twenty five films it has selected for inclusion for the year 2010. Of the list of inductees, the one that seems to be headlining all of today's news write-ups is none other than the very first talkie - I speak of course of the German expressionistic masterpiece The Empire Strikes Back. Who could forget the pulse-pounding sequence where the shark is blown up with a tank of compressed air?

You can see the whole list here, although I think it's easy to see why Empire, which boasts arguably Bogart's greatest performance, is getting all the attention.

Source: Library of Congress

The madness of Steam's wallet-emptying Holiday Sale is now upon us! Let's check out the games you should be interested in.

1. 50% OFF The LucasArts Catalogue. Tightly doesn't include The Force Unleashed II. You'd think they actually didn't want the game to sell.

2. 73% OFF The Telltale Holiday Pack. Includes Sam & Max Seasons 2 and 3, Puzzle Agent and Poker Night. Not sure what makes them holiday games (barring Ice Station Santa and the fact that there's a lot of snow in Puzzle Agent), but it's a good deal nonetheless!

3. 33% OFF DeathSpank and 25% OFF DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue. These games are already great for the price (they're huge and lots of fun), now they're on sale despite only being out recently (TOV only came out three weeks ago!). THAT is how you get people to buy your new game, LucasArts.

4. 90% OFF The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom. That's 39-49 pence for a great puzzle game. What's this got to do with us? It's a storybook puzzler similar to LucasArts' Lucidity, and reportedly (by us, though I can't find it now) the teams of both games maintained a close relationship throughout development.

5. 50% OFF Time Gentlemen, Please + Ben There, Dan That. Two genuinely funny comedic adventures purposefully done in the style of LucasArts adventures, with a Use Partner gameplay mechanic lovingly ripped off from Sam & Max Hit The Road. Buy. The first game's free if you want to try it first though. The second game has Nazi robot dinosaurs.

6. 50% OFF Mata Hari. An adventure made with assistance from the Fate of Atlantis Dream Team of Hal Barwood and Noah Falstein. Flawed, but good for this price.

7. 50% OFF Jolly Rover. Another great comedy adventure that's obviously strongly influenced by (and with plenty of references to) LucasArts, specifically Monkey Island. If you're pining for the days of quality funny adventures from LucasArts (if not, why are you reading this site?), Jolly Rover and Time Gentlemen Please are essential purchases.

BONUS SALE: While it's not part of the Steam sale, seeing as Autumn Moon or their publisher have an irrational fear of hot water vapour, A Vampyre Story is £7.49/$9.99 at Games For Windows.

Source: Steam

Did you know that The Collective, the developer behind Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, was so keen on making a sequel to their 2003 Indy game that they took the initiative of prototyping one? Along with a few models, former employee Peter Han has the following to share:

Thanks a lot, The Past.

Source: TheRaider.net forums

The folks at GameSpy have put up a nice little preview of them playing The Old Republic as Jedi. Just enough to make you water at the mouth. I'm not really an MMO player, but this game has me genuinely interested. Even if it is just World of Warcraft with HK-47 a Star Wars touch...

I'm torn between the different classes available to take. My mind tells me one of the Jedi classes, but I fear too many will flock to that. Maybe I should be a smuggler. Hopefully will end up better than Han.

Source: GameSpy

"Unboxing" videos are inexplicably all the rage these days, but what if they were in 1993? Kotaku finds out, traveling back in time to unbox a copy of Day of the Tentacle!

But it's not the one with the triangular box, so they fail.

Source: Kotaku

Remember that DLC for STFU2 (aka Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 to those who haven't followed Mojo much)? Well, here's a clip from it. I wished Jar Jar was really in that AT-ST.

Source: Kotaku

I mean, I think the headline says it all.

Go look and think of what could have been.

Source: Spudvision

Ever wanted to pretend you were an underpaid QA tester at LucasArts circa 1991? Ron Gilbert has got you covered with these scans of the Monkey Island 2 bug report. The best part of it is definitely the legend of bug classes on the bottom left.

Source: Grumpy Gamer

LucasArts, some company that put itself back into our collective hearts last year but is now trying its hardest to not stay there, has laid off an undisclosed number of employees. This depressing news comes, even more depressingly, from that eternal spring of fine journalism IGN.

According to the company, the "minor" layoff will not affect any future or current projects. You may take that promise with as much salt as you desire. I don't blame you.

Tingler Updates: Kotaku have a response from a LucasArts rep, and they confirm some layoffs.

Hmm. I believe they also said that after the previous round of layoffs, right before the rep confirmed that the next-gen Indiana Jones was still coming and "looked amazing".

Kroms updates: Thanks to Jeff from the comments for pointing out this Gamasutra story, which indicates the layoff may include up to 50 people. Duke Nukem co-creator George Broussard claims the laid-off employees were working on an unannounced project.

Source: IGN

That's right, STFU2 (aka Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2) will have DLC which has Starkiller going to the forest moon of Endor... and killing Ewoks.

Now let's see some screenshots of Guybrush killing Ewoks! That's really the only thing I thought of when I saw this...

Source: IGN (via Kotaku)

A few days back, the Tales of MI.net blog made the commendable effort to compile a fairly complete list of all Monkey Island fangames, past and present, legally suppressed and otherwise, download links included!

Most of these I've never heard of before, but I will say that I'm looking forward to playing Fate of Monkey Island 1 and 2 again. Relive some memories and remind yourself of why the reputation of the Monkey Island fanbase as being the best around is well-deserved.

Source: Tales of MI.net

Steve Purcell continues digging up canceled Sam & Max game concept art to our grateful delight. Today we get another piece from Plunge Through Space:

Delicious.

Source: The Official Sam & Max Blog