The International House of Mojo

The testing period for ResidualVM 0.2.0 is now here. They need people to test Myst III and Grim Fandango for the latest release. If you want to help, pick up or compile the latest daily build on the platform of your choice. Play through the game, without skipping dialog, and without updating ResidualVM during your entire play through.

If you find any bugs, submit them to the ResidualVM issue tracker. Then report whether you were able to complete the game and any bugs you might have found on their forums.

While playing the Costume Quest series, did you ever wish that the collectable creepy treat cards that the kids used for powers to battle their opponents could be collected in real life? Well, now you're in luck, because Double Fine has created Creepy Treat Combat: The Card Game.

You can purchase cards at $6 a piece for 10 random cards (containing 8 common cards and 2 rare cards) or in a 4 pack deal for $20. Then you can use them to battle your friends. For those out there who want to collect them all, there are 45 cards in total.

This would have been sure to have been a hit for the Christmas shopping season, if I wasn't weeks late in reporting it. But, hey, that fits right in with the spirit of Mojo. Happy holidays everyone!

It seems that Dave Grossman joining Reactive Studios brought some interesting changes to their Codename Cygnus interactive audio adventure.

The latest update for iOS and Android brings a new mission to their spy drama, Holiday Party. It's the first story designed by Dave Grossman, and it makes many changes to make the series less linear, and more interactive. According to their blog it adds multiple choices for paths through the plot, leading to three different endings.

The best part is it's free to download. You just have to download the app, and you can download and jump right into this episode. You don't have to purchase the rest of the episodes to play this one. It's a nice holiday treat from Reactive Studios and Dave Grossman, and is a sample of the experimental ideas that Dave Grossman is going to be bringing to the table during his tenure at Reactive.

Turns out it's just that you're not giving the later sequels enough credit.

Every decade or so it's necessary to write an article delving into the "meaning" behind Monkey Island just to remind you of how stale the topic really is. Today comes my contribution to this tradition of over-analysis, but my "twist" is arguing that picking over the subtext of the first two games only casts the post-Ron installments in a more favorable light.

I'm just a merchant of controversy these days, aren't I?

Thanks to Remi for the header image.

Updated by me, because apparently Jason, Jennifer, Zaarin, and whoever else works here these days have been too lazy to do so ¬¬… It's Minecraft: Story Mode. Yes. I'm underwhelmed too.

"Super secret surprise announcements before the holiday break? Maaaaaybe. ...hashtag #subtle!," tweeted TTG's Job Stauffer mysteriously, teasingly followed up with ,"Well, kids... You see... When two game developers love each other VERY much... and they get together...". I'm sure all Telltale forum dwellers are sharpening their pencils, getting ready to write love poems about whatever comes next, already.

Anyway! In mere hours the announcement will be made, and we're all excited to see what TTG, Disney, and Double Fine will do with Full Throttle what will come next.

In an unprecedented streak of Mojo features, we spit out a review of "Zer0 Sum", the first episode of Tales from the Borderlands. I know, right? Updates? Reviews almost on time? It's a Festivus miracle!

Join in on these historical events by reading the review.

More maniacs have joined the team for Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick's Thimbleweed Park.

The first is Ken Macklin, who designed the cover for Maniac Mansion. He will be doing the cover for Thimbleweed Park as well.

Secondly, is the creator of Zak McKracken, David Fox. He worked on Maniac Mansion as well, doing most of the SCUMM scripting for the game, and is apparently the one we have to thank for the hamster in the microwave joke.

So if you haven't backed yet, or want to move up a pledge tier, now's the perfect time to head over to the kickstarter and back the game.

Polygon was able to prod Tim a bit about the recently announced Day of the Tentacle remake, which is still in its earliest phases but which he promises will remain 2D. Beyond assurances of faithfulness, we'll just have to wait to learn what this upgrade will really look or sound like (while wondering what the LEC Singapore sweat shop kids came up with first).

When asked about the business side of securing the license in the first place, Tim describes a situation that really makes me hopeful for the future.

Perhaps Tim's dream of revisiting all the old adventures is a bit too good to be true, but still, it's hard to imagine the future of these games ever being more bright, or for a better group of custodians to be assigned their preservation than Schafer's studio. Hopefully those fans strategically positioned at Disney stick around long enough for Double Fine to keep going through the catalog.

Source: Polygon

Hopefully it appears for you below. I understand that our faultless embedding technology doesn't serve everyone equally well, so you can alternatively make the pilgrimage to Youtube.

Oh dear, I do believe I'm getting the vapors!

During the keynote of something called the "Playstation Experience", Double Fine announced a few minor things. One is that Grim Fandango Remastered will come out on January 27th (previously known as "early 2015"). The second is that the complete Broken Age is headed to PS4 and Vita once Act II makes it to Steam.

Oh, they also threw in that they're making a special edition of Day of the Tentacle. No big deal.

While we wait for details on that, here's a new look at Grim Remastered.

Source: Shacknews

We've already told you about the crazy Disney World motion-sensor card-collecting treasure hunt game known as Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, being that it was worked on by CMI bigwigs Jonathan Ackley and Larry Ahern and all.

But now their work is being covered by Fortune, so you can finally take it seriously. Ackley gets interviewed as part of an examination of this growing ambition theme parks seem to be having to become video games. And you'd never forgive me if I kept it secret.

Source: Fortune

Though they unquestionably achieved all the reach they could ever hope to by talking with Mojo, Ron and Gary are doing the polite thing by promoting their absurdly successful Kickstarter for Thimbleweed Park elsewhere as well.

See what Gamasutra was able to wrangle from the duo before checking out IGN's interview for comparison. Then feel bad for both of them when you re-read our own.