May it weigh heavy on his conscience!
You should read the whole thread, which includes this reply to an inquiry about a CMI remaster:
COMI remaster is tricky. I looked into it years ago (as some have mentioned before) but I was always more interested in what we could do with Maniac Mansion first. Haven’t given up that idea quite yet.
I know Craig doesn't mean to be cruel, but tell it to the lacerations on my beleaguered heart.
Source: Twitter
Though no timetable has been offered, the innuendo from Skunkape has been strong that they will be following up their remaster of Sam & Max Save the World with similar treatments of the other two Telltale seasons.
Well, the implicit became explicit a few days ago when Skunkape shared this glimpse from episode 201 just in time for Christmas:
The North Pole is sure looking good in HD. Can the same be said of Stinky's Diner, Easter Island, the Stuttgart castle, the mariachis' spaceship and Hell itself? Hopefully 2021 holds the answer.
Source: Twitter
Well, we’d like to let you all enjoy your Christmas in peace, but people refuse to stop putting out these unspeakably awesome Double Fine videos to report on. Looking to put Santa to shame, the documentarians at NoClip have gifted us with a real doozy – a comprehensive history of Double Fine in Tim’s own words, larded with rare home video footage of the larval days of studio.
There’s too much good stuff here to try and single one moment out in an attempt to sell you on the fifty minute investment; you’re just going to have to place your faith in me and watch the whole thing. The stretch about the LucasArts remasters does have one horrifying moment where Tim points out that the fragile SCSI drives they recovered the original Grim Fandango assets from were gotten to just in time (what the heck does that mean for the older stuff?), but otherwise this tour of Double Fine’s first twenty years will leave you smiling.
Source: NoClip
Double Fine has stuffed the stocking with the following holiday greeting slash Psychonauts 2 update. It offers all kinds of nuggets about the sequel while revealing that development has hit an exciting milestone: the game will be undergoing content lock as the year draws to a close and is firmly entering the polish phase. We made it!
Want more? How about IGN’s lengthy new interview with Tim?
We were all sixteen years younger the last time a Psychonauts game was this close to shipping. This occasion is not only awesome, but rare, so enjoy it! And in case we don't see ya, Happy Holidays from all of here at House of Mojo!
Source: Youtube
An update to Sam & Max Save the World: Remastered has just been published to address some minor bugs, and the good folks at Skunkape have, in light of growing interest, used the release of this patch as an opportunity to write up a blow-by-blow of dang near all observable differences between the remaster and the 2006-2007 original. In doing so they've laid to rest a few misconceptions, but mostly just further expose how much thought went into their fastidious upgrade of Sam & Max's post-LucasArts debut.
Be among the cool kids and read the lowdown while you wait for your update to download. There's also a brief new promo that shows off several pullquotes from the game's more laudatory reviews thus far. Mojo's rave was excluded, but you've gotta grade them on a curve on that one: After the heat Skunkape attracted from up to four pre-adolescents over "censorship" concerns, one can only imagine what kind of hell quoting a known CMI denigrator like Remi would have raised. Look, if he weren't so handsome, we wouldn't put up with him either.
Source: Steam
It seems we didn't actually cover the first one, but quiet you.
Mike Levine's second update of the dev blog delves a bit into the team's process in devising the gameplay mechanics of a Sam & Max VR title from a graphic adventure starting point, then offers something of a synopsis:
It’s 2021 … and Sam & Max have been doing this a long time now. Sam has convinced Max to begrudgingly begin taking on new cadets to train for the next generation of Freelance Police. After putting you through some basic aptitude tests (i.e. making Sam coffee, nuking Max’s Lunch, or clearing out cockroaches from their closet), they take you over to an old abandoned amusement park on the outskirts of town. Sam & Max have “retrofitted” Capn Aquabear’s FunTime Park into a set of death defying (and life affirming) challenges the player must make their way through. Players will tackle the “Courses” in the 3 parts, and be graded on their performance. A passing grade will unlock the next section. But as usual, “life” gets in the way. Real crimes are taking place that cannot be ignored. And as you earn Sam & Max’s trust (ok mainly Sam’s), they will take you with them out into the real world, to solve crimes, thwart bad guys, and tell you where to get the best pedicure. Amazingly, the skills you have been honing in the Park come in handy as you take on the city’s seedier elements. Everything is going just swimmingly as you approach your big graduation day. But nothing is ever that simple for Sam & Max, is it? And you are now along for the ride! We don’t want to spoil all the goods here, so I will just end this here before I give away too much.
Finally, we're given another piece of concept art from the Capn Aquabear’s FunTime Park, which seems like it will be serving as something of a hub throughout the game. Hey, you had me at Peter Chan:
Source: HappyGiant
The reaction to William Eaken's header art for that loopy Sam & Max 2 article was predictably positive, but it has been brought to our attention that Laserschwert poster enthusiasts at large would be even merrier if they could also get a "clean" version of the art without the title and dialog bubbles.
Well, despite conflicting reports about how well behaved you've been this year, we set our elves to the task, and they've emerged from the Photoshop mines with the goods. It's almost enough to make us feel like heels about paying them in Planet Threepwood coupons.
Risk taking Mojo down and simply click here to grab the image while Remi figures out how much cruelty will need to be inflicted on his stylesheets to add it as a second download link at the top of the feature. It's the best Festivus ever!
Thanks again to William Eaken for the brilliant art.
I remember a time when Mixnmojo was spammed every day by overzealous fans wanting—nay, demanding and petitioning—Telltale Games to recast Sam and Max with "Hit the Road" actors Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson. With at least one fan still obsessing about this and refusing to let 1993 go, and my suspecting that nostalgia is a more potent, opinion-altering drug than most prepackaged powder you'll score on a corner, I went to find a Sam and Max voice comparison video on YouTube and pulled the highest rated comment: "tinkler was a great voice for max bc he perfectly conveyed his personality in his dialogue, but kasten/boat was also great during the rest of telltale's series. for sam, i cant see anyone else besides nowlin playing him after the telltale games, he really hit the nail on the head with his emphasis and emotion when it was needed, especially during season 3."
Ah, how the tables turn. Or how strong a thing nostalgia is. It's almost as if the Internet loves to whine for nothing. But does this illustration of the concept of "opinions" mean the Internet will move on? Of course not! But since pettiness is the order of the day, I'll point out that the real point of this post is that being proven right really is the most potent drug of all.
Source: YouTube
Sixteen years after Maniac Mansion Deluxe, another LucasArts oldie has received a fan remake of astonishing care – the oldie, it could be argued. The decade-long labor of love Fractalus is now available for Windows, MacOS and Linux, and it’s probably as fine example of this sort of thing that comes along. May I present my first witness: the project lead of the 1984 original?
If that’s not enough to make you download the game, I’m not sure what else can be done for ya. Highest marks to the Australian enthusiast who apparently masterminded this. One wonders: is the Land Down Under to Rescue on Fractalus! what Germany is to the SCUMM games?
Source: Luke's software and design.
What’s interesting about the looming Monkey Island anthology set is that for all the hullabaloo about its extras and packaging, there’s still a bit of mystery about what actual game files we are going to find on that USB stick.
Right now, the only legally obtainable versions of the first two games are the special editions, while Curse comes bundled with ScummVM when you buy it on GOG or Steam, so that it’ll run on modern versions of Windows. But will Limited Run Games version include the original versions as well? This question rates a little higher than trivia, since the original game files for Monkey 1 and Monkey 2 have technically not been in legal circulation since whatever the last compilation was LucasArts put out prior to the SEs. And the original executables – which ScummVM replaces – would be necessary if you wanted to go Full Authenticity and run the game in DOSBox or a vintage PC. (We know you kooks are out there.)
So, what do we know? Here’s what Limited Run Games is saying on the subject at the moment, taken from their product description:
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge, The Curse of Monkey Island, Escape from Monkey Island, and Tales of Monkey Island will all be included as DRM-free installs/executables for modern Windows platforms. We will also be working to include fresh archives of original Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2 releases on various older platforms. Usage of these archived versions will be at the owner's discretion. We can't yet guarantee which older formats will be included, but hope to confirm soon.
Fingers crossed, but that’s promising verbiage! I’m also excited by the suggestion (if I’m reading it right, anyway) that The Curse of Monkey Island will run on a native interpreter rather than ScummVM -- which runs the game fine, but doesn’t seem to support its use of iMUSE correctly. At least for me.
The outrageous boxed set from Limited Run Games will continue to be available for pre-order until January 31st. Keep saving up those wooden nickels.
A lot has been written about Sam & Max: Freelance Police (2004) over the years. It would hardly seem to have gotten more relevant during that time, and many would reasonably argue that there isn’t much left to say on the subject.
We disagreed, and what’s more decided that we were the only ones qualified to prove our conviction that the history of Sam & Max 2 had not yet fully and satisfactorily been entered into public record. We accomplished this show of respect to a heady subject by - literally, according to some definitions - writing the book on it. Weep for our priorities and cozy up next to the fireplace with our indefensible digital tome, The Unabridged History of Sam & Max 2: A Mixnmojo Memoir.
The most unwieldy article Mixnmojo has ever published has been a long time coming. Hindsight tells us that the cancellation of Sam & Max 2 is the major event in The Mojo Histories™, and the theory was that the definitive account of the project’s life, death and legacy could only be written this far out and by the site that, for better or for worse, it had the most impact on.
This was a job too important to be left to the professionals, who would have left out the strikethrough humor and Dan Pettit references. Nevertheless, we did bamboozle William Eaken into crafting us professional-grade header art, and you’ll want to be downloading that (link inside) in its full-resolution glory because: my word. And in case you die of natural causes before reaching the appendix, I should point out here that all the new interviews we conducted for the article have been organized as a separate feature for convenience.
Yes, the fact that there is an appendix should raise some red flags. It took a minute to put this monstrosity together (At one point, this was meant to be a tenth anniversary article, then we punted to the fifteenth anniversary before giving up on a pretty number altogether), and at the outset no one could have predicted it would ultimately clock in at this biblical word count, but the important thing is that Mojo’s equivalent of The Aeneid is now here and available for your consumption. And unlike that hack Virgil, we finished what we started.
Now leave us alone, would you?
If, like me, you find endless franchising exhausting, or the need for the movie-going, TV-loving public to remain forever in its collective childhood unnerving, allow me to present Disney's sequel-, spin-off-, reboot-infested vision of hell.
Source: Deadline
That's soon. But it kind of has to be, doesn't it? The announcement was made by Kathleen Kennedy during today's Disney investor conference whatsit.
Join me in hoping that Lucasfilm has made its first accurate projection for this project, and that Harrison Ford's saga can go out on a high note.
Source: Collider
Put me squarely in the camp that contends social media has been a net negative for the species, but some flowers bloom even in darkness. The following thread proves that Twitter can claim to have produced at least one (1) neat thing, as it chronicles the Monkey 1 team’s real-time epiphany of what Mark Ferrari’s inspiration for Melee town might have been:
Another plagiarism exposed mystery solved!
Source: Twitter
It's true! Head over to Gamasutra for the press release. I am particularly happy about Wallace & Gromit, an understated gem that represented an important transition point in Telltale's gameplay style, and which the more skeptical among us feared was permanently condemned to licensing hell.
Who wants to be the studio to acquire - and finish - the Bone games? Gabez's never launched hosted site is still waiting to be justified.
Source: Gamasutra
From Twitter:
Derrick's "Uh..." should strike fear into the heart of Netflix. For if we know one thing about The Dig, it's that it is Lucasfilm's most jealously protected trademark. Or are you forgetting a certain precedent in which Digg.com, the briefly relevant news aggregator, was accused of trademark infringement for sounding too close to the name of an old adventure game? A reminder of the legal argument:
"THE DIGG mark is confusingly similar in sound, meaning, and appearance to the Opposer's THE DIG mark," reads the LucasFilm Notice of Opposition document filed last month in San Francisco. "The Applicant's registration and use of the DIGG Mark would likely create confusion, mistake, or deception in the minds of prospective purchasers as to the origin or source of the Opposer's Goods associated with THE DIG Mark."
There's a deadly asteroid on the way all right -- it's called the Business and Legal Affairs team. Heck, those guys wield such power, you could hardly be blamed for wanting to join their ranks yourself. Someday you could be the one issuing takedowns of Fate of Atlantis fan sequels!
Source: Twitter
If you've wanted to buy the Monkey Island 30th Anniversary Anthology from Limited Run Games, pre-orders started about two minutes ago and will end January 31st, 2021, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time (US). It's got the games! It's got a behind-the-scenes book! It's got a statue! It's got a $174.99 price tag. If that sounds appealing to you, get pre-ordering, as this is a limited run (hey, that's the company's name!).
Source: Limited Run Games
It just doesn’t stop.
You’ve read our review and likely already purchased the game, so what’s next? It’s time to purchase the soundtrack, courtesy (of course) of Jared Emerson-Johnson! The 82(!) track album is available for $10, or as part of a 15%-off bundle with the game. Get it/them from: GOG (where it’s listed for $5.49), Steam, or Bandcamp. And yes, the new tracks and FLACs are included.
Remember, remember the 2nd of December as the day Mojo posted a timely review. For the Switch, even, because we’re down with what the kids use.
Run and read our official Sam & Max Save the World Remastered review right now should you against all odds be on the fence about getting it. Read. It’s good for you.
If you're that one person who reads Mixnmojo, wants to play every Walking Dead game Telltale put out, and have yet to buy a single one, you're in luck: every game in the studio's arguably most famous series is available in one HD'd packaged for about 50% off everywhere. The biggest discount (at 55%) is available at Fanatical, which sets you back $22.49 and about 30 to 40 hours of (emotionally devastating, life and death choice-based) fun. Similar deals are available at other websites, but Fanatical's is the cheapest I've found.
The package includes behind-the-scenes stuff, dynamic lighting/art touch-ups to previous seasons carried over from the final one, and seasons one, two, A New Frontier (season three), The Final Season, the "miniseries" Michonne, and the "400 Days" DLC.
Source: Fanatical
Deadline reports that casting for the upcoming Willow series is well underway, with talks taking place with Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals), Cailee Spaeny (The Craft: Legacy) and Erin Kellyman (Solo: A Star Wars Story) to play female leads on the entertainment programme. There's also this:
According to circulated casting information for the series, it revolves around a group on a mission to save a kidnapped prince. The members of the team include Dove (Bamber), whose backstory resembles that of Willow from the movie. Dove is an unassuming kitchen maid who proves she is the “chosen one” as she embarks on the journey. She is joined by Kit (Spaeny), the princess whose twin brother was abducted. She is destined to be a leader and ultimately the queen. Kellyman plays Jade, a servant who is Kit’s best friend and moral compass. She is on her way to becoming the best young warrior in the kingdom. Also part of the group is a guy who echoes Val Kilmer’s character in the movie. A thief and liar, he joins the quest in exchange for getting out of prison.
It sounds as derivative as one would hope from this brand! Hopefully they don't blow the opportunity to make another NES game.
Source: Deadline
