Two new BTTF interviews to report. The first is this Italian one, the Google translated version being here.
Second is an interview with AJ LoCascio, the voice of Marty, by Alternative Magazine Online. Can its brevity be forgiven by its closing promise of more to come?
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
Word on the street is that the aforementioned Back to the Future Facebook game includes concept art for George McFly, Biff, and a character named Kid Tannen in the high score segment of the tutorial.
"But wait!" you cry. "I'm just like Jason and have no interest in loading a Facebook application just to see some small glimpses of concept art!" And that's where the the good old boys at the Telltale forums once again deliver: check it out.
Of course, actually playing Blitz Through Time is the only way you're going to hear the lines of recorded line that are allegedly scattered within. Also, Telltale's Alan Johnson reveals that some new BTTF assets will be released on the pre-order forum come tomorrow. Good thing you pre-ordered!
Source: Telltale Forums
If you're on that "Facebook" thing, you can now try Back to the Future: Blitz Through Time, a promo game for the forthcoming Back to the Future. The game is pretty much Bejeweled clone which I'm sure was a clone of something else before that, but now we're splitting hairs.
Anyway.
There's a new video at GameTrailers for Poker Night at the Inventory wherein Sean Vanaman explains exactly what The Inventory is. Also, he says "The Wizard."
Source: GameTrailers
Having already refreshed us from the well of Freelance Police concept art, Steve Purcell now offers us a new scrap from the table of the equally canceled Sam & Max Plunge Through Space. The piece shared is an incredibly cool design of the Desoto converted for space travel. He writes:
Sam & Max's custom space-traveling modified DeSoto from the game/movie concept "Sam & Max Plunge Through Space." One of my favorite aspects of the PC game design for the Desoto controls; every key on the keyboard would have a function, however bizarre. Acrylic 8X10.
PC version? I guess it wasn't going to be Xbox-exclusive after all. Oh, well, no use crying about it now. Not that we'll stop you.
Source: Spudvision
On the official Sam & Max blog, Steve Purcell has shared some unseen concept art of Gytgo, an imported organic Gameboy-type thing that would have found its way into Sam's inventory in Freelance Police and been used to replay unlocked minigames. (You can see his in-game representation here.)
As an added bonus, Purcell has pasted some dialog from the game which includes a song that Gytgo would have sang, and revealing Sam and Max's differing opinions regarding the device's need to be summarily destroyed.
Source: Spudvsion
You've pre-ordered it, and now you have the opportunity to learn a thing or two about it. Yes, IGN has the official, full length trailer for Poker Night at the Inventory to complement their new preview. Telltale's proper web site will be launching soon, as will the game itself - in November (you know, the month we're currently in), to be somewhat exact!
All of the above is summarized in, and stolen from, a Telltale forum thread thread by Jake, so feel free to read about it there, too.
Source: IGN
You can find a long and excellent interview with Telltale CEO Dan Connors at gamesTM right about now. The subject of the hour is definitely Back to the Future, but the status of other Telltale licenses is addressed as well:
Moving on to Telltale’s other works, how well would you say Puzzle Agent did? Would you consider the Pilot Program a success?
Puzzle Agent we’re super excited about. It’s really resonated well with people and is doing super well on iPad. We’re also bringing it out on consoles as well. I think you’ll continue to see a lot of products coming out from Telltale that are different in concept. Poker Night At The Inventory is the next thing we have coming out in that vein and we’ll look and see how people respond to that but Puzzle Agent I would say has been a great success for us.
Does that success mean more Nelson Tethers games or more Pilot Program games?
Definitely more Pilot games. From a Nelson Tethers standpoint we’ve just got to sit down and think about what it takes to make the next one and put it through a green light process and see when we can get it done by.
How about more Monkey Island?
Well Tales went great for us as well. From our perspective telling the story over five episodes and being able to work with those characters, to work with classic characters like Guybrush and Elaine while also introducing our own characters like Morgan and Winslow was a great experience for the studio and a great opportunity to do a Telltale game that resonated with people. We loved it, it’s been successful on every channel it released on, as have the LucasArts remakes of the first two games. So the sheer love that people have for that franchise was immediately obvious and clear. So we’d love to do more, we still have details that need to be worked out with LucasArts in order to get it done and none of those details have been addressed yet. They recently changed management over there and I think they’re working on their strategy for where they want to go in the future. As soon as that gets sorted out we’ll certainly bring it up with them again.
That's a lot of text! But not as much as you can find in the whole interview.
Source: gamesTM
European fans have been clamoring for a full year for localized versions of Tales of Monkey Island, and at least one sector of that populace can now color themselves appeased. According to our friends (or at the very least good acquaintances) at Adventure-Treff, today the game has made its way to German stores by the hands of Daedalic Entertainment, the same folks behind this year's popular cult adventure The Whispered World which, like A Vampyre Story, only made it outside the womb after a brutal first trimester with Bad Brain Entertainment.
German fans, as if they haven't already beaten the game eighteen times already, will be happy to know that Norman Matt reprises his role from CMI and EMI as the German Guybrush. Furthermore, the release is available in a full-sized, limited edition box, just to make the rest of us envious.
Source: Adventure-Treff
I kid, of course, but when it comes to Star Wars and CSI, one has to be an ass to validate their Mojoness to the public. After much ballyhooing over the last year and a half, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II ships today for, well, pretty much everything except that NES you converted your toaster oven into (Well, and PSP, but that hardly counts now - Tingler). Percentage of the considerable revenue which will be used by LEC to fund re-releases of legacy titles: 0.0%. Oh, and if you're planning on buying the game and you frequent this place, chances are one of the main selling points is the Guybursh Threepwood skin, so you'll no doubt appreciate Kotaku's cheat sheet for unlocking it.
Also in stores today is Ubisoft's CSI: Fatal Conspiracy, the fourth game in the series developed by Telltale. You can find it for PC, Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3. Mojo's review copy came in the mail today, so you won't have to wait too long with breath of the bated variety for our ever-valuable thoughts.
Telltale Games has updated their Back to the Future minisite, and put the game up for pre-order (PC/Mac) for $24.95. This gets you all 5 episodes, a free copy of Puzzle Agent and Telltale will donate $1 of it to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, plus you get access to the 'BTTF Insider' forum. No word yet if And there will be the usual free DVD that Telltale put out once their series' wrap up.
The initial platforms are PC/Mac, iPad and PS3 (release dates & prices for the iPad & PS3 will be revealed at a later time).
Watch out for the game trailer on December 2. Someone who pays more attention than me claims on the Telltale Forums that their games tend to launch the Tuesday following the trailer release. Make of that what you will.
UPDATE BY TINGLER: If you're still on the fence about pre-ordering, go here to get a free copy of Episode 1 when it becomes available. You'll lose out on the pre-order bonuses, but it might give you the incentive to order the rest.
Source: Telltale Games
GameTrailers has just posted Part I of an exclusive and ongoing behind-the-scenes look at Telltale's Back to the Future games. Included are interviews with Bob Gale, Christopher Lloyd, Dennis Lenart and Julian Kwasneski. You'll also be able to catch a glimpse of Doc's character model while Lloyd records some dialog. I'll leave it to you guys to determine how well the "all natural overhaul" the Doc sprung for in the interim between the first two movies is holding up.
The video concludes with the following text: "Tune in to Spike TV December 2nd for the World Premiere Trailer!" A trailer in December would put the first episode's release a bit later than some of the more optimistic dates that people were speculating, but it's still pretty clear that EVEN THOSE OF US WITHOUT TIME MACHINES won't have long to wait to get these games.
And a reminder: For those of us in the US, the first of the two theatrical showings of Back to the Future in celebration of the 25th anniversary is tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. One other thing I'll slip in for its Telltale relevance is the fact that CSI: Fatal Conspiracy will be out this Tuesday, October 26th. We'll have a review up for it soon.
JP Update: Part 2 is up, and Marty's voice actor is revealed. Brave casting choice, Telltale.
JP Update 2: And now part 3 is up. See concept art for Young Doc and Einstein the dog and learn a few more details about what's in store.
Source: GameTrailers
Did you know that Larry Ahern's Flickr has a ton of rad stuff on it? Take, for instance, his concept art for Moonglow and Chester, two cut characters from Day of the Tentacle. In an ode to its predecessor, DOTT was originally going to allow you to select two kids to join Bernard out of a pool of five (Razor from the original game rounding out the choices), but the idea was dropped for the complexity it would have added.
There's a ton of other great art to be found in Ahern's photostream, including some rare art from DOTT, Full Throttle, The Dig, CMI, Insecticide, and more. I'm not willing to swear on a Book of Patterns that we've never posted about this at some point in history, but it's definitely worth a look just the same.
Source: Larry Ahern's Flickr
There's a new Dave Grossman interview on the web today, by the folks over at This is My Joystick!.
“As for where it’s going now, I see a shift from puzzle games with story to story games with puzzles, if that makes sense? The story and characters, which were probably always the most compelling part of the experience anyway, take center stage, and the challenge offered to the player is whatever best supports the moment and the scene at hand, instead of whatever makes the designer look clever. The games are also often being made less lengthy and more accessible, to fit with the busy lives of modern players.”
You can find all the questions Dave was fielded about all things Telltale and - as an added bonus - his answers to them as well in the whole interview.
Source: This Is My Joystick!
If you've heard about the upcoming Back to the Future video game and are anxious to take it for a spin then you're in luck. Included in this set is a small promo sheet that includes a unique code to download - for free - the first of five episodes of Telltale Games' Back to the Future game for PC or Mac.
Source: The HD Room
Christopher Lloyd has just completed his first voice recording session for Telltale Games' Back to the Future series.
You can see more shots and get the lowdown from the Telltale Blog.
Update: From James Arnold Taylor's facebook page: "I had a fantastic session for the Back to the Future game today. Can't say anymore than that, but it will be a great game! The story is awesome!".
I guess that's Marty sewn up (and a perfect choice to sub for Fox in my opinion), though I'm still hoping for a small MJF cameo.
Source: Telltale Games
With the immortal Talk Like a Pirate Day making port this Sunday, a few pirate themed games that you may or may not be obsessed with are being subjected to some righteous discounts. Exhibit A is digital vendor GamersGate, which is including Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island and Tales of Monkey Island in its week-long sale in honor of the holiday, marking down the games to $9.99 and $13.98 respectively.
When it comes to a Telltale season though, you're really better off going straight to the source, and wouldn't you know it, the seafaring wastrels have seen fit to get in on the action by hawking Tales for a truly irresponsible $4.99 from now until September 20th. Elsewhere in the orbit of Things You Can Have Telltale Charge Your Credit Card For, they will be unlocking Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space (formerly known as Sam & Max: Season 2) as part of that Great Adventure Bundle offer.
I'd like to abstain from indulging too much in piratey patter until Sunday, but it's sufficient to observe that these deals be a bounty worthy of Blackbeard himself, or would be if you didn't already own of all these games ten times over. You do, right?
Coming soon: Mojo news posts that aren't easily interpreted as thinly disguised marketing jabber for video game distribution corporations.
