The International House of Mojo

All over the web gaming sites like Kotaku are reporting that LucasArts has been developing a motion controlled Star Wars game to use the Xbox360's newfangled Wiimote Project Natal Kinect capture hardware.

If you thought you looked like a knob waving the wiimote around like a lightsaber, this is gonna take it Over 9000!

I guess you could always grab a cucumber from the fridge and wave that around as a substitute.

UPDATE: Whoa boy. There's footage. Although it's as much video of someone playing the game as it would be if you taped yourself watching Star Wars and miming every scene in front of your television.

Fail indeed.

Source: Kotaku

Two days ago as part of some pre-E3 coverage, Gamespot shared their experience at getting some lengthy and exclusive hands-on time with The Old Republic, having played through six of the eight "professions" of the Star Wars MMO and learning a bunch of brand new gameplay details.

Being four pages long and including a nice video overview hosted by the project's lead writer Daniel Erickson straight from the show floor at EA Showcase London, the preview is a must read for anyone excited by The Old Republic, currently scheduled to release Spring 2011. Latest budget estimate: a lot.

Update: Here's another Gamespot video interview with Erickson from the same event.

Source: Gamespot

The new cinematic trailer for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is now available at GameTrailers, which looks impressive, but obviously the game itself won't look as good as it's on PC as well this time - and we all know PCs aren't as powerful as the mighty consoles.

UPDATE: IGN have a very brief gameplay trailer up too.

Source: GameTrailers

Being that they're ramping up on a "big project," the Asian division of Lucasfilm, Lucasfilm Singapore, is hiring up a storm, and in order to get the good word out a site called Animation Xpress has interviewed LEC recruiter Heather Brown, who talks about the various things going down at the studio. You might know that Lucasfilm Singapore has done the Clone Wars TV series, its spinoff games, and some handheld LEC ports like the iPhone release of the Monkey Island special editions. Now check out this bit from Brown:

Since one would assume that LEC would have a mind to make the iPhone release simultaneous to the others, and since we've already heard the July 7 date bandied about before, it's not the biggest stretch of the imagination to deduce that Monkey Island 2: Special Edition will be pretty assuredly dropping anchor on July 7th. Anyhow, we'll have final confirmation come LEC's E3 event in a few days; in the meantime, you can check out the game's pre-purchase page on Steam.

Oh, and if you are interested in all the exciting developments going on at LEC Singapore, send them a copy of your CV and cover letter, I guess.

Source: Animation Xpress

LucasArts has received their donations for the fourth and final voodoo doll ingredient: Something of the Dead, and now they've revealed the outcome:

It sounds like LEC has manufactured a few hundred of these cuddly Guybrush voodoo dolls and will be selling or giving them away at E3 and other "community events." I guess we'll just have to wait and see exactly what that means!

Source: Monkey Island Facebook page

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

Next up in LEC's request for voodoo doll ingredients on Facebook is number three: Something of the Body. The results might not be as entirely gross as you might expect, but then, I'd imagine we all had some lofty expectations.

Source: Monkey Island Facebook page

LEC's open call for candidates of the second voodoo doll ingredient has led to offerings both bizarre and numerous.

Source: Monkey Island Facebook Page

In the latest Spudvision blog entry, Steve Purcell shares a photograph of a superb piece of painted artwork he did for the back of the box of the enhanced releases of Maniac Mansion - a portrait of the Edison family, based loosely on an in-game sprite that can be found in the mansion's fourth floor den. One of Purcell's earliest assignments at LucasFilm Games, this is actually an image he's shared with the internet before, but since all our galleries are in hibernation you could very well find the reasonably large photograph of the framed painting, which is presently hung in Purcell's home, to be of value.

Source: Spudvision

A clip from a Tim Schafer documentary has been unearthed on Youtube:

The short clip features Schafer talking about Grim Fandango in front of a board of concept art, and, later, cruising in his flashy red sports car.

There is apparently a longer documentary that was created by Desmond Crisis, but attempts to contact Crisis and persuade him to release the full video have so far proved unfruitful.

Many thanks to Miguel Villasuso for finding this clip and directing me to it.

IGN are reporting that the position left when D-Rod unexpectedly left LucasArts has been filled by Paul Meegan.
Here's his Mobygames Profile if you'd like to check his pedigree.

Source: IGN

Last week, LucasArts released more Monkey Island 2: Special Edition character concept art, with the theme being "random NPCs." Check out the design process for the Phatt Island roulette dealer, the otologically-impaired Mad Marty, the Booty Island antique dealer, and Ralphie, longstanding member of the Gambler's Club.

In their latest bid to enthuse the fanbase, the Facebook page is currently calling for users to post images of the four ingredients of a voodoo doll, the first being Something of the Thread, and fans have certainly been productive. You can check out the various brassieres that have been shared thus far; apparently, the contributions will in some for be put to use during LEC's E3 presentation.

Source: Monkey Island Facebook page

Since we've never heard official word more specific than "Summer 2010" for the release of the anticipated special edition of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, it'll probably interest you to know that the game's official Playstation Network UK page alleges a release date of July 7th. Whether or not they actually know something we don't, or if they're just sharing their best guess is unclear, but what are we supposed to do? Not report it?

Source: PSN Games

Last week, LucasArts continued its Facebook tour of character concept art for Monkey Island 2: Special Edition with the Zombie Pirate LeChuck. You can see the evolution of his updated look, from the reference material to the initial sketches, sample grimaces, final concept and finished sprite.

This week's theme is apparently random characters, starting with the roulette dealer. Should we prove too lazy to be on top of each piece of art as it's dispersed (and given our track record, it's a safe bet), we'll definitely round 'em up at the end of the week.

Source: Monkey Island Facebook page

News has broken today that Sony Online and LucasArts are to launch a browser based MMO based on The Clone Wars, which is free to play, but additional content can be accessed if a subscription is purchased.

G4TV reports:

Read the full G4 article here.

Visit the official site here: www.clonewarsadventures.com

I guess kids who have outgrown Club Penguin need somewhere to play with their school friends online.

Source: G4TV

So you want a Lost adventure game made by LucasArts alumni eh? Sadly this isn't an actual game, but marvel at some enterprising young soul's gallery of pictures that imagines 'If LucasArts makes a Lost game in 1987'.

My favourite's Locke trying to open the hatch and commenting 'that doesn't seem to open'. After that point I don't get any of them.

Source: Kotaku

Gamepro has posted a rather extensive preview of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, a game whose predecessor's absurdly high sales made necessary, but is also probably going to be objectively awesome if you're a Star Wars fan (a species who I'm told accounts for a fair portion of the gene pool). My claim that the preview is "extensive" is justified by the fact that it's a two-page look at the game's development, replete with lots of quotes from the team and some scattered concept art, so do away with that leash altogether.

In other Star Wars game news, that other monolithic project, The Old Republic, which you probably don't need to be reminded is the Stars Wars MMO set in the KOTOR universe under development by Bioware that LEC is jointly producing with EA, is also in the news. For the second time, in this instance over at Gamasutra, the game is being touted as the most expensive project EA has ever funded. Apparently it's something they're really proud of.

Source: Gamepro

A trailer for the upcoming Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Special Edition has been released leaked let out into the wild by someone. You get to see a lot of things - it's a full seven minutes - including a little bit of the commentary. If I had to guess, it's the trailer that was supposed to debut the game at E3 in June.

Keep Reading

Source: YouTube

Avid Kotaku reader Threepwood4life has pointed us in the direction of a new interview with LucasArts' Craig Derrick, where he talks about the potential for new adventure games in the wake of the success of the Monkey Island revival.

You can read it for yourself of course, but the jist of it seems to be: 'if we make new adventure games, they will be a mixture of action and adventure.' Which I am cool with.

There's some more of the usual guff about Monkey Island 2: Special Edition in there too, so get your fill and make merry with delight.

Source: Kotaku

After a bit of foreplay, LucasArts has launched Unleashed2010.com, transforming a longtime splash page into something with a bit more to mess with. If you're one of the millions of people awaiting the game's launch later this year, go ahead and find out what those things are, because I didn't.

Source: Unleashed2010.com