The International House of Mojo

And now time for some that really interests me, seeing as how I don't have an Xbox.

The press machine seems to be revving up for the PC version of Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. Both IGN and GameSpot have written previews for the non-console port, complete with new screenshots. Here's a quote from GameSpot concerning the keyboard and mouse controls:

Fortunately, the PC version of the game will use an intuitive first-person shooter control scheme in which you will move using the W, A, S, and D keys and attack using the left and right mouse buttons. You will be able to block incoming attacks by pressing the shift key, which will also automatically lock onto a specific enemy and let Indy focus his attacks. As you might expect from his many motion-picture adventures, Indy fights like a brawler, though pressing both mouse buttons also lets him grab his enemies, then shove them back against walls or even toss them off of ledges.

Sounds like fun. And if anyone has an Xbox they'd be willing to donate... we'll talk later. Thanks to Daniel Clarke for the links!

A side note for all those interested. Forbes Magazine has published their list of the World's Richest People of 2003. This year, it seems that George Lucas is the 113th richest person in the world with a net worth of $3 billion.

Gee, with that kind of loot, you'd think he might spring for an original graphic adventure every now and then! Oh well, such is business.

Lots of new (and early) updates from LucasArts.com yesterday evening. First, you can check out the Knights of the Old Repbulic page for a profile on a new character by the name of Canderous Ordo.

Then, stop by the Ask LucasArts section if you want to find out how the Xbox port of The Clone Wars will be different from the Gamecube and PS2 versions. (Hint: Xbox Live)

There is a new screenshot of the week as well from Gladius. This shot seems to demonstrate the game's interface during the battle sequences.

And finally, the RTX Red Rock page has been updated to include audio clips of one-liners from the main characters. You adventure gamers may want to pay particular attention to Boris Dezurov, as his voice seems to be quite familiar beneath that Russian accent. Yarr!

On a side note, there is still no official word from LucasArts concerning the rumored cancellation of the RTX Red Rock Gamecube port, but we were told to expect more info "soon."

Everyone's favorite captain, Captain Mystery, is back with his latest SCUMM Bar editorial. The captain is notorious around the Monkey Island sites for whining about fan art, whining about sequel gossip, whining about whiners, and, in his latest installment, whining about Monkey Island fans who hang out in #monkey-island on IRC (on the Gamesnet network, irc.gamesnet.net). Here's a clip:

My unforeseen absence can be put down to the fact I came third in Remi's sub-standard popularity contest poll a few weeks or months ago, with less than 20 per cent of you saying my articles were the best on this site. Naturally, this hammer blow to my ego caused me to sequester myself in a small cave, sobbing into my crumpled code wheel and reminiscing for the days when jokes about losing them were funny. You know what I mean. Yeah, 1992.

All ten of you who read this site and regularly visit #monkey-island are hopefully dreadfully offended dreadfully amused. Now go read the rest of the story.

World of Monkey Island has posted page 21 of Paco Vink's Secret of Monkey Island online comic. This page features the moment when Guybrush meets Elaine just after he attempts to steal her idol. Good times!

Over at the Mixnmojo Forums, a contest has just sprung up to see who can design the best new logo (and matching desktop icon) for bgbennyboy's killer app, LEC Quick & Easy. For those who don't know, LEC Q+E is a lifesaver for people trying to run classic LucasArts adventure titles in the newer Windows NT-based operating systems (namely, Windows 2000 and XP), with full sound and music.

The winner of this contest will get a whole lot of forum credits (the number keeps climbing!) for use at the LucasForums store, a game donated by Gabez, and quite possibly other neat junk.

To post your design, or to see the current entries, check out this thread. Go on, win the respect of forum mongers everywhere!

News has been a bit slow, but luckily for us Gamespy have posted an interview with Rick Watters, The Collective's producer responsible for Indiana Jones and the Emperors Tomb.

GameSpy: And ? "Snakes? Why does it have to be snakes?"

Rick Watters: We get to explore some of the other nuances of Indy's character in this game as well.

Read more of Watters' choice answers on Gamespy. Alternativley, depending on laziness, make them up yourself.

As pointed out by Royal Fool in the Adventure Gamers Forums, LucasArts has removed all mention of the Gamecube from the RTX Red Rock site and press release stuff (to prove that I'm not crazy, here's the old RTX site with the GC logo).

Hopefully the Gamecube release is only delayed and not cancelled (the recent RTX preview at Gamespot said the Gamecube release was lagging behind), but it's a disappointing rumor to us Gamecube owners nontheless.

Update: LEC says more info on whats up with the Gamecube version will be coming soon, so we still have no idea what's up. :)

For some reason, my local newspaper in Dallas, Texas ran an article on the recent groundbreaking for the new Presidio complex in San Francisco.

This new complex, as you probably know, will house the recent merger of LucasArts, Skywalker Sound, ILM, and more. The article also seems to state that the venture will be called Letterman Digital Arts Ltd.. Does that mean that this will be the new name for LucasArts?

Here is the picture that ran for the article, in case you are at all interested.

Here are a couple of new old features that were deemed salvageable by, well, me. They are both from the Mojo 6 era, which occurred from early-ish 2000 to late-ish 2000. Now, if you'll follow me, let's step forward... INTO THE PAST!

Today's Offering:

Rebel Assault II Review, by DJG

E3 Expo 2000 Coverage, by Jake

Check them out, and please, don't judge the authors by their apparent giddiness/friendliness/optimism. In the three years it's been since these articles were written, they've both outgrown those troublesome traits. For instance, Jake is entirely baffled as to how he was ever so enthused over anything, ever. Read on, and beware.

LucasArts.com updated its RTX Red Rock page yesterday. The update includes five new screenshots, which as always, look quite impressive. There's also a bunch of really cool concept art in the gallery now as well. Find them all right here.

GameSpot recently checked in on the latest build of Hal Barwood's RTX Red Rock. The article discusses various aspects of the action adventure like vehicles and the Tron-like part of the game where you help IRIS in her cyberworld. Here's a quote:

The game's graphics are slowly coming together. While the visual quality of the game has always been pretty high, the game's frame rate has been pretty inconsistent. The latest build included more effects and showed off a variety of new areas in the game. The frame rate wasn't quite as inconsistent as before, despite the new additions, which is a good sign.

If you have a GameSpot Complete Account (which sadly, I do not), you can also check out the new video interviews with producer Reeve Thompson and view gameplay footage. Anyone with an account wanna share their impressions on the videos?

Don't you love how the polls on this site are entirely arbitrary in both content and duration? I sure do, and that's why its time for a brand new one. This time around we're simply asking: Who's the real man? Be on your toes, as spelling is important, unless of course you pick our lovable mystery person.

The previous poll, the one about the three-headed guy, ended (predictably) with Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert taking up the other two heads, leaving you in the middle to piss all three of your pants while you drool over yourself in fanboyishness. Should have voted for the Dan.

Gilles from theraider.net pointed out that a couple of the the long-rumored (long rumored?) Gladius action figures have appeared in photo form on this crazy action figure website, along with a clip from a press release.

Of course, this being Mojo and whatnot, I guess I'm obligated to ask where the Full Throttle, Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Grim Fandango, and most importantly Mixnmojo Staff action figures are?! For now, enjoy Gladius figures.

Wow.. our first on-time-review of a game ever! Surely a time for celebration! Yes, after a weekend of gaming, Lemonhead has thrown out this superb look at the new Indiana Jones action title for the Xbox. Here' a snippet:

After a spectacular intro sequence giving a brief insight into what you may expect to find in Emperor?s Tomb, you?re dropped straight into the action on just another treasure hunt (which Indy invariably finds himself in at the beginning of every movie) for the lost idol of Kouru Wato. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this particular artefact is located in a deep recess, under the ruins of a lost temple in the tropical wilderness.

We certainly had a fun time playing this title! Read it here, adventure fans!

GameSpy.com has published a rather glowing review of Xbox's Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. The reviewer scores the game at 82 out of 100, complimenting the game's story, music, and fighting style. Here's a quote:

Fans of the Indiana Jones movies and fans of great action beat-'em-up video games should absolutely take Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb for a spin. It might be some time until the Xbox sees another adventure that's this enjoyable again.

Read the full review here.

Source: Some Old Guy

LucasArts.com has updated its Gladius product spotlight. This time, new concept art has been added, featuring some really freaky animals. Find them here.

Adventure Gamers has interviewed Dave Grossman, asking him about his past, present, future, and of course, The Secret of Monkey Island:

Who came up with the highly controversial ending to MI2? What do you have to say to those who hate it so much?

I blame society.

Check out the whole interview along with some stolen Mojo photographs at Adventure Gamers!

The Dutch television program Gammo has raised itself just slightly above other pulp gaming television by doing a 'refresh' review of Full Throttle. I caught a rerun of the program last night, but the item may be posted on their website soon.

Full Throttle was run either in SCUMMvm or the new Entertainment Pack edition and looked absolutely beautiful on the TV screen. Ignorant as they may be, Gammo called Full Throttle a special game because it's about bikers who are 'real American characters', and said there were no aliens, knights, beasts or other fantastical characters. I guess they didn't remember the Cave Fish -- or the futuristic hover cars!

Blahhh! Everyone's favorite SCUMM Bar, The SCUMM Bar has a brand new highly-addictive time-waster: Virtual Insult Swordfighting. Match wits with the pirate greats (well, really just with the web server). It's pretty fun, and (sadly) keeps you coming back for more and more.

The fine folk over at Nightlight Productions are still looking for voice actors for their radio-drama project, Beneath Monkey Island (please see this news post for details).

8 of 12, Nightlight's founder and project leader, has informed me that they are still wanting to get more people to send in audition recordings, especially from women who are interested in doing the voice for Carla, the Sword Master of M?l?e Island?.

He also mentioned that this role would be a major one in Beneath Monkey Island - Carla would be co-starring with Guybrush in this story. So, if there are any women out there who are at all curious about getting involved with this project, please try out!

Find out the details about auditioning at the Nightlight Productions website. Get funky now.

Bah, sorry it took so long to get the final Mojo7 features converted, but there was an extreme bout of laziness on the part of resident slave, Metallus, as well as some other priorities which pushed feature conversion to the backburner.

But, do we care? HA! These excuses were, of course, unacceptible, and he has since been confined to the underground Mixnmojo catacombs (available only on disks 22, 36, and 114), not to be released until this year's E3 Expo.

Speaking of E3, Look! The final features are all from E3 2001:

E3 2001: Day 1 - Game Previews

E3 2001: Day 2 - More Game Previews

E3 2001: Day 3 - Disneyland Madness

E3 2001: Day 4 - Interview with Simon Jeffery

I hope you enjoy these, for poor Metallus's sake. Be sure to stay tuned for some new articles coming to Mojo in the next week or two. In addition to that, keep your eyes peeled for some possible Mojo6-era reviews and articles bubbling to the surface. Until next time, Huz Webmonkey out.

PS: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!

Though it's probably old news (see?), game industry site Gamasutra has a profile, interview, and small portfolio up for Bill Tiller. The interview includes some fun facts? like this:

Upon graduating from the Cal Arts character animation program, LucasArts offered me a job on Steven Spielberg's The Dig. I should have run the other direction! Just kidding...sort of. That was one hell of project to cut my teeth on. It got better pretty quickly. I got to film some "Star Wars" video for Rebel Assault. I think I was the first person since George finished those lame "Ewok Adventures" to actually shoot new "official" Star Wars footage.

Those who already have a free account (or those interested in the wonderfully long sign-up process) should definitely give it a look.

Source: Ourselves?

IGN has published one of the first reviews for Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, giving the game 6.1 out of 10.

The main complaints seem to be too much emphasis on action instead of puzzles, some flawed game design, AI glitches, and Indy himself being a little out of character. IGN's high points for the game include great music and voice acting, a decent story, and some fun gameplay. Here's a quote:

The final score doesn't quite match my overall enjoyment of the game, but again, the muck-ups and nearly non-existent puzzle elements hurt a lot. This isn't a game you'll play twice, but anyone looking for a dozen mindless hours of action and platforming should at least rent Indy. It's worth a look at least to see if it's worthy of your money. A good rental, but not really the best $50 investment you could make.

More reviews should be released in the near future, so hopefully we'll get a better idea of the game's quality. Check out the full review, but only if you have an IGN Insider account.

Update: If you're looking for another opinion, Team XBox gave Emperor's Tomb an overall 4.2 out of 5 (including a 4.7 out of 5 rating on Gameplay) in their review.

Last week, GameSpot checked in on LucasArts' Gladius to see how production was going. Seemingly impressed by what they saw, the article points out some of the more promising aspects of this RPG.

... while combat is obviously a core element of the game, Gladius will be a multifaceted package. Like any RPG worth its item sack, Gladius will offer a strong narrative, character development, side quests, and even some exploration. The game's story will be told through two narratives: one that focuses on Ursula, the daughter of a barbarian king, and another that focuses on Valens, the son of a great gladiator.

The article also goes on to discuss the battle system as well as who will be providing voice overs for the characters. Mmmm, Linda Cardellini...

LucasArts.com was updated on Friday, although the only thing that seems to have changed is the featured screenshot. This week's shot is taken from what may be a soon-to-be-announced expansion pack, RTX Rodeo Roundup. It shows EZ "Tex" Wheeler riding a bucking mechanical spider. Ride and rope 'em, space cowboy!

Also, I'm drunk.

In addition to the previous online chat with CMI lead artist Bill Tiller, Brimstone Beach Club has once again contacted Bill to ask a few questions that didn't make their way into the chat event.

Among them are very interesting gems of info concerning the setting of his new game, why he may or may not be back to work on Monkey Island 5, and the actual secrets of Monkey Island. Very interesting stuff, so I demand that you go read the answers now!

Anti-murder groups across the globe such as Amnesty International and the BBC cried out in outrage today at the latest update on Double Fine Action News.

The update, featuring new art by Double Fine owner, Tim Schafer, was described by the man himself as "an attempted suicide by our mascot" after being disgraced in a recent vote for it being on the back of the California state quarter. However, US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld considers it to be a direct threat to the prosperity of the country and has officially raised the threat level to Red, or danger clear and imminent. A search for Tim has begun, and Rumsfeld is certain that he is "Either in the US, another country, or dead."

We'll have more as it develops.

The official Gladius homepage has been updated with even more goodies. Among them are new models, more equipment, and a new Team Note from the lead game tester. Here's a quote:

"Is 600 battles too many?" Rob asked. We sat in a small meeting room where the design team and I could discuss Gladius' details. At first, I thought Rob was kidding. So, naturally, I laughed.

An uncomfortable silence followed. No one else laughed. Rob just looked at me with that confident yet questioning look on his face. He was serious. Feeling like I had just made a complete fool of myself, I thought, "600 battles! This game is going to rock!"

Rock on!

Double Fine Action News updates with some finger-pointing and random sourness due to a misfortunate quarter design poll. Seems like double-headed babies were beaten by DNA. *weep*

(I believe this is my first news post. Hello world!)

Nightlight Productions, the crazies behind the radio series Tierra de Los Muertos and Lost Cause: There's No Hope! are at it again. This time, they're searching for voice talent among the Monkey Island fan community for a new project: Beneath Monkey Island. They are holding auditions now, so check out the site for details!

LucasArts.com announced today that Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb has gone gold and launched a new website. The site now contains such goodies as desktop wallpaper, a TV commercial, and two tracks from the amazing live orchestral score written by Clint Bajakian. Woohoo!

Also, if you didn't catch it the first time it appeared, be sure to read our interview with Clint concerning his work with a live orchestra for this game. The results really speak for themselves.

Look for the Xbox version in stores on February 25th with the PC version available on March 18th and the PS2 port sometime in May.

YES! after over a year without cooking with your favourite british webpimp, he has returned with a valentines lurve special! This episode features Spaff cooking a Tuna bake from a recipe by Tom Sarris, Director of Public Relations at LucasArts, and best friend of Mojo!

It may not be valentines day until tomorrow, but this should give you plenty of time to organise the meal that you should blatantly cook for your beloved one! Now go and cook!

TheForce.net points to an article in The Salt Lake Tribune concerning the growing use of celebrity voices in video games. The article mentions many titles, including LucasArts' Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. Here's a quote:

[John Knoles' Bounty Hunter] was a chance for actor Temuera Morrison to expand on his character, a favorite among "Star Wars" fans.

"In the movie, he had four lines," Knoles said. "In the game, he's the star."

Fascinating, eh? Read the article for more examples.

Source: TheForce.net

Ready for some Norwegian humor? Don't have a clue what Norwegian humor could be? Then check out the latest Double Fine news update for some very amusing pictures and words concerning Psychonauts, naked ladies, a Norwegian store, and a tragic fire.

And on a personal note, I think that may be the first and only time I'll ever use the word "Norwegian" in three consecutive sentences. Oops, make that four. Oi!

As mentioned yesterday (and a couple weeks back), LucasArts is putting some extra effort into the manual (and hopefully the game) for Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. Last night they were kind enough to send us four scans out of the manual for us to check out, so check them out.

As mentioned by Pedgey and a couple others in the comments earlier, it's unknown as to whether or not people outside the US (especially non-English versions) will be receiving anything resembling this particular book, but we're checking on it. For now enjoy some very nice Indy graphic design, and maybe get a little insight into the game:

IGN XBox has an Emperor's Tomb "designer diary" of a slightly different type. The journal is by Gregory Harsh, the graphic designer responsible for the game's manual, made to look like Indy's journal. After getting a sneak peek earlier this month (shh) I have to say that it's pretty nice looking, as anticipated (see our previous report). The IGN story includes some details you'll find if you dig through the book, as well as some pictures of the manual itself. Some bits of the article are a little shady, especially the opening:

Console game manuals have a history of sucking. PC games often have nice packaging and great, in-depth manuals filled with extra goodies that don't necessarily pertain to gameplay. But in the console world, manuals are often in black-and-white and sometimes fail to even cover all gameplay aspects.

When was the last time a PC game had nice pack-in goodies and a manual superior to that of a console game? Like ten years ago maybe. I haven't seen an amazing full-color full-size PC manual in years, while nearly every console manual I own is full color, and about 150% the size of my PC ones. That aside, it's a very interesting worthwhile read especially for Indy fans (and fans of nice game pack-in stuff), so check it out. It's not even an "insider" story!

The official Gladius homepage was updated recently. The site now contains a new scroll concerning the history of the imperial conquest, a map tour, and a few new screenshots. Head over to LucasArts.com to check 'em out.

Aaron over at The Indy Experience.com has written up some tidbits from the Official Xbox Magazine concerning Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. The magazine supposedly contains new screenshots, an Xbox demo of the game, and other various bits of information. Here's some of it:

The in-game cinemas are backed by a professionally-recorded score and move smoothly into the game (thanks largely to their use of the regular game engine). Voice-overs are brilliant and truly admirable. Indy's gravelly voice is provided by David Esch, who has been the voice double for Harrison Ford in the past, and he acquits himself perfectly here.

Check out theindyexperience.com for a detailed report.

The Double Fine Action News page has once again been updated, this time by Schafer himself, who has apparently eradicated any self-aware entities from the news page:

Oh, and also, for some reason, this news page has become self-aware, and has evolved into a omniscient, super-evil, cosmos-strangling, overlord of invisible tyranny. I think this also has something to do with Netscape. Or maybe something went wrong with the cascading style sheets. Anyway, it's all over. The evil old page has been removed and isolated here. Whoops! Don't look at it, or you'll become enslaved again. Just stay here on this page, delete your cookies, and you should be fine.

And of course, since Tim is updating the page now, and not the self aware Action News, the promised screenshots were only sort of delivered. What is there is not to miss though, you'll never see it in XBN.

(If you are looking for Psychonauts screenshots, look no further than here, here, here, here, and here)

After a bit too much planning and a surprisingly quick development time, we're proud to announce some brand spankin' new Monkey Island Discussion Forums on LucasForums. These forums now serve as Mojo's Monkey Island forum, as well as the official forum for the SCUMM Bar, Brimstone Beach Club, and EscapeMI.com. Of course, any other MI sites or communities are free to use them as well.

The lovely art at the top was painted by none other than Dan Lee, so be sure to thank him somehow, as it looks amazing. Go talk. Now.

For those of you who missed the chat/Q&A session with Bill Tiller on #brimstone yesterday, the Brimstone Beach Club now has a log of the event, color-coded and everything. Check it out by clicking here!

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, George Lucas broke ground yesterday during a ceremony for the building of the Letterman Digital Arts facility.

The new campus, as you may have seen us mention before, will be the future offices for the newly merged Lucas companies. This includes ILM, Skywalker Sound, and LucasArts. The 850,000-square-foot project will house 2,500 workers and should be completed in 2005. Here's a quote from George at the ceremony:

"San Francisco's always had a quality of filmmaking that most people haven't been able to recognize, we always get shoved under the title 'Hollywood,"' Lucas said. "I think this will begin to put a stake in the ground for San Francisco as a filmmaking community, as a creator of world cinema."

You may have already seen these, but Mixnmojo took pictures last July of the future LucasArts home following a press event. Woohoo for extensive journalistic coverage.

Source: TheForce.net

Bill Tiller, the lead background artist on Curse of Monkey Island and art director on Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine will be appearing on IRC this Saturday at 8pm GMT, care of the Brimstone Beach Club. The chat will take place in #brimstone on the server irc.gamesnet.net. For more information, check out the BSBC.

The chat's just ended now. For those who missed it, a log will soon be up on the Brimstone site.

Adventure Developers has put up Tip 21, the final note in the series of tips for game-making, written by Bill Tiller and Larry Ahern, who have worked on a number of LucasArts games in years past. And what is that final, and therefore most important tip of all, you ask? Isn't it obvious? To Have Fun.

Worthplaying.com has some new screens from Emperor's Tomb showing off some seedy looking rooms and seedy looking women. Maybe that's not what's really going on but none of the screenshots have captions. Go take a look.

Source: Marek

Now that LucasArts has posted the final feature list for Galaxies, many people are noticing that a couple really big features from the original lists are strangely absent. Galaxies producer Haden Blackman (a.k.a. "Shug_Ninx") has written a lengthy post in the Galaxies forum discussing why each feature was cut, and when they'll be re-added with patches.

It has just been announced on LucasArts.com that The Clone Wars is going to be released for Xbox Live this spring, confirming what we previously reported. Apparently this means that you will be able to compete against eight other players in the game while communicating through voice chat. Click here to read about all of the Xbox specific features.

JBRAA points out that a Canadian technology website has published an interview with Bob Donatucci, a Collective enviornmental artist who worked on Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. The interview is a bit on the long side, primarilly discussing his history of being an architect and teaching himself computer graphics. However, here is a fairly interesting highlight:

Donatucci realizes that his job is a kid's dream. When he was beginning to design the Indiana Jones game, his studio sent him to Disneyland to photograph the rides and displays.

"I must have ridden the Pirates of the Caribbean ride five times," says Donatucci with a smile, as he absently runs his fingers along his fedora.

I can identify... well, except for the part about wearing a fedora. If you've got some time to kill, you can read the whole interview if you really want to.

The official website for Star Wars Galaxies has been updated to provide the definitive list of features for the title as well as a complete list of professions you can take up within the online world. Additionally, there's also a nice Flash animation that shows you how the game's user interface is going to work. Mmmm, Galaxies...

In the March issue of GMR magazine, there is a small article written on page 19 about Tim Schafer and his new company, Double Fine Productions. The article doesn't really contain any new information other than the fact that Tim eats breakfast and wears pants. Still, it might be worth taking a look at. Thanks to Pirateking for the scan!

Are you depressed because you live in Europe and couldn't get your hands on a copy of Dave Grossman's book, Ode to the Stuff in the Sink? Well cheer up, because Dave's website now accept orders from over 40 different countries!

But wait, there's more. The website now offers five illustrated Christmas stories by Dave for only $2. With titles like The Happy Lump of Coal and A Gift from Satan, how can you resist? The answer is: you can't.

Stop by Dave's online store to find out more and place your order. God bless you, little hoverdrawer.

LucasArts.com updated again this Friday. This weekly update included a few PC screenshots for Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, information on how the Gladius combat system works, and a look at the Sith troopers found in Knights of the Old Republic. Unfortunately, it looks like we didn't get to see any Indy orchestral score clips in January after all...

The venerable Quick & Easy toolset has received a massive overhaul, boasting two new programs, and updates to the existing three. The Quick & Easy software, written by Mojo help forum admin bgbennyboy, is a series of tools designed to help people get their old LucasArts games up and running on newer OS's.

Available for download include updated versions of LucasArts Quick & Easy, ScummVM Quick & Easy, and CMI Launcher, and the two new tools: Entertainment Pack Launcher, and CMI Launcher - Coin Edition (see screenshot below for CMI Launcher Coin). For details about what each of these programs does, check out the Q&E website.

LucasArts' recent console release, Star Wars: The Clone Wars was initially released on the GameCube and PlayStation 2, with no indication that it would be ported any other systems. However, after searching for 'Lucasarts' on Amazon.com, I found an entry for an Xbox version of Clone Wars, which is, according to the page, slated for release on March 27th of this year. Is it true? I guess we'll have to wait and see what the official-types have to say.

A very important news scoop here. Apparently the fat skeleton dude from that one cutscene in CMI is not content with his CMI cameo alone, or even with his numerous appearances in our polls, and is kicking off a film career with a bit part in the upcoming Pirates of the Carribean movie. You can see him and his taller, slightly thinner pal, in the concept art recently put up on the POTC website, or in the screenshots below.

Source: World of MI

Interested in the amateur/homemade adventure scene? If so you should check out Underground, a full new section of Adventure Gamers dedicated entirely to coverage of the amateur freeware adventure scene. Featured in their initial installment of articles is Adventure Architect Part 5 featuring some art by Monkey Island community artist Dan Lee. Check out this and more at Underground.