The International House of Mojo

ScummVM, the program that lets you play SCUMM games (and also various other adventure games) on many a platform, has been updated!

For a more stable experience, head on over and download!

Entertainment Weekly has today posted some lovely footage of the opening level of Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. Check it out right here.

It doesn't look like TT Games are steering too far from the Lego Star Wars template, but there's definitely a lot of Indyness there, including spike traps and arrow-shooting statues. There's also a surprising amount of dark humour in the opening cutscene, with two of Indy's companions meeting unfortunate (but hilarious) ends.

Oh, and you get to see the iconic boulder chase too.

Gladius 2 is in development at LucasArts, or at least, it was at some point. Eurogamer is reporting that concept artist James Zhang, had entered both Gladius and "Gladius 2" on his "client list" of past and present projects, and uploaded some artwork to his website.

There were also some excellent character and spaceship sketches for Knights of the Old Republic 3, which have since been removed. You can probably find them archived elsewhere though.

GamePro took a look at Insecticide at GDC and wrote up a preview for it, which throws quite a bit of praise in the game's direction.

And you already knew this, but it's been announced that the DS version of the game has gone gold and is indeed slated for March 11, just as every retailer is claiming. Keep a close watch on the official web site for the status of the first PC digital download, which will be available "soon."

With the release of Chariots of the Dogs imminent, Telltale has put up a page for the episode which includes a trailer. There's also eight screenshots, and do enjoy the plot summary:

Bosco's vanished from the face of the Earth - literally! When Sam & Max manage to track him down, what they find is so mind boggling, you'll have to see it to believe it. Can the Freelance Police set things right, or will life as they know it fall victim to the capricious whims of T-H-E-M?

Watch the trailer!

Oodles of new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull publicity photos have been uncovered by some dedicated magazine-perusing fans such as those at the easily offended Harrison Ford Forums (scroll all the way through the thread), as well as those at The Raven, which you may know as the forum of TheRaider.net.

Some lovely stuff there!

As Sven_Q45 helpfully pointed out on our forum, Ron Gilbert has a lovely new interview over at Inc Gamers, who I admit I'd never heard of before today. They talk about DeathSpank, Penny Arcade Adventures, and some game with pirates and monkeys in that I'd also never heard of.

This is probably my favourite question and answer:

How do you think storytelling has improved in gaming over the years?

It hasn’t.

Honest to a fault, that man. Check it out.

Update: And as Kroms just as helpfully pointed out, Eurogamer's got one too. Now them I have heard of.

According to Bill Tiller, who's recently made a reappearance at the Autumn Moon forums, production is winding down on A Vampyre Story. The game is said to be in the "bug fixing and scripting" stage and Tiller is confident that the game will be released before summer.

It's unclear, however, exactly which territories will benefit from the game's initial launch, except of course Germany. Several other European countries have been negotiated but there are no dates for anybody as of yet. As for the North American release, Bill's comments are encouraging, but there's is apparently still no deal signed.

Be sure to rummage through the forum for all of Bill's recent posts for some new info, and of course keep your eye on The Pumpkin Post, which has proven much better than us at being on top of all things Autumn Moon. Also, I hear the site's traffic has increased exponentially and that women are intensely attracted to anyone who visits it. I don't want to draw any conclusions, but our advertising offer is clearly responsible because let's face it, you're not that good-looking.

Dateline Hollywood is reporting a fantastic new turn in the partnership between LEGO, TT Games and LucasArts, tapping into the AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) market.

Hollywood – Looking to expand its lineup of Lego-based videogames beyond those aimed at kids, LucasArts announced a series of new titles based on several of the year’s most acclaimed films, including numerous Oscar winners. "Lego There Will Be Blood," "Lego No County for Old Men," "Lego Juno" and "Lego Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days" will all come out later this year.

In addition, LucasArts announced it will be dipping into the Hollywood vaults to produce games with the adorable Lego aesthetic based on numerous classic films. They will include "Lego Fatal Attraction," "Lego Hotel Rwanda," "Lego Silence of the Lambs," and "Lego Annie Hall," which are in development for 2009 release.

Let's hope they also get the rights to "Lego Caligula".

Someone found a new official Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull poster. This one features Harrison Ford and - godammit - Shia LaBoeuf side by side. This is, obviously, not the final Drew Struzan poster, which is probably still a few months away and will likely feature the entire main cast (and will look something like this if we're lucky), but I figured you might want to check this one out anyway.

More from GDC: While hanging out on the show floor, Destructoid made it their business to interview Telltale's CTO Kevin Bruner. The interviewer had to summarize the conversation after the fact due to a tape recorder mishap (Nice going, Gabez), but the results are still quite great:

Can you give us any hints about the two new episodic franchises you'll be announcing in the near future?

The're big franchises, even bigger than Sam and Max. One will be on WiiWare. It's been great to start with relatively small licenses like Bone, then move up to Max, then to these two new ones.

Aw yeah.

So you couldn't make it to the big Mixnmojo get together meeting. But there’s no need to cry too hard, because at least you've got a jolly article to read about everything you've missed.

Just be sure to come next year!

Fed up with seeing the US flag and soldiers who don't like pointing guns at prisoners?

Well then, thankfully Empire Online's here to save the day!

High Windows Media Trailer

High Quicktime Trailer

Ahhh, that's better. And this trailer also clears up one horrifying rumour - that Europe wasn't getting Indiana Skull until June. Thankfully that's false. It may not be May 22nd, but it certainly maybe May, if we may.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has been demoed again at GDC (that's the Game Developer's Conference, and yes, I know we haven't mentioned it so far), and producer Haden Blackman spoke about it again. Thankfully not using the words "kicking ass with the Force".

Instead he talked about the perils of multiplatform development, and used it as his excuse for the lateness of the game.

The problem was, once LucasArts finally had enough PS3 dev kits to supply the staff members that required them, 360 development of The Force Unleashed was months ahead. Worse still, the 360-optimized early version of the game "didn't translate well" when ported onto the PS3, given the differences between the hardware architecture of the two consoles and the complexity of PS3 development. This led to more complications and pushed the simultaneous launch of The Force Unleashed back further.

Frankly I think LucasArts should have done what everyone else is doing - just release the 360 version first.

(Considering Haden then goes on to apologise for bugs in the demo, I think it's a pretty feeble excuse - I'd much rather he'd said 'the game was delayed because we wanted to make it as good as we can' rather than 'PS3 programming made us late')

At the end he briefly mentions how LucasArts considered making it in the Knights of the Old Republic universe or even a Wookiee game, before George Lucas, the master of dialogue, gave possibly the most ironic comment ever:

"I tell you guys about the importance of dialogue, and you pitch me a game with a hero that can't talk?!"

Remember all those wonderful screenshots? That oh-so-eccentric video? In fact, even LucasArts' own website? Well, it was all a lie. Indiana Jones 2007 never existed.

At least, according to a LucasArts source who spilled the beans to Eurogamer. They've only just started production. The last two years have been spent with the game just in pre-production, where it was massively sidelined by Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Guess they shouldn't have fired all their employees, then.

Apparently it's not even coming out this year now. Indiana Jones 2009 anyone?

At a GDC panel, the music and sound team behind Sam & Max talked about what the audio side of production is like on an episodic series. IGN wrote a little something on it, so go read it or you'll have ruined my birthday.

Pining because Edge magazine had a massive preview of Lego Indiana Jones but you don't live in the UK to read it? Now you know how us Brütal Legend/non-Game Informer fans feel.

Still, the internet is here to help. Edge probably had a feeling their exclusive preview would be ripped, scanned and read over the world - so happily they've done the sensible thing and just stuck it on their website instead. No eye-strain and badly folded pages here!

Yes, yes, yes, I know, CSI:Hard Evidence got there first. But downloadable Telltale games via Nintendo's WiiWare service? That's news!

Unfortunately this isn't Sam & Max, according to Telltale. Will it be one of their mysterious new licenses? Or will it just be more CSI? Stay tuned!

The Truth Will Be Revealed... Soon.

Last chance to send in your thoughts on Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders! Post them here... before it's too late!

Bill Tiller writes:

"I really want to get a good 2d artist and scripters who love adventure games, not some guy in Florida who is working on Madden 2009. I want real adventure game fans to work at the company. So I thought what better place than Mix'n' Mojo?"

The call is for a 3d Maya animator, a scripter who knows python, and a background illustrator who knows Photoshop. Fit the bill? Apply away! This could be the job you've been looking for all your life. Don't waste your time on Madden 2009 in Florida!

Tiller also mentioned that Autumn Moon are working on three games at the moment -- I suppose that means finishing A Vampyre Story and beginning the sequel, plus (maybe) a new original title. As Tiller said during our Christmas chat: "but that is the nature of the game business- you most always be looking to sign the next gig so you don't have a lulL or have lay anyone off"

Home of gaming essays galore, The Escapist magazine has posted a loving look at the continued appeal of The Secret of Monkey Island. If someone told me this guy handed it in as University coursework, I would believe them.

Finished? Good, then carry on to the our next news post by the lovable Jason. That's far more important.

Adventure Gamers reports from GDC that Telltale has been hiring up a storm as of late, including such big-name new employees as Mike Stemmle, Justin Chin, and Brett Tosti. Chin and Tosti will serve as Executive Producers for the company, and you actually already knew about them if you're one to keep a sharp eye on Telltale's team page.

Mike Stemmle, as you surely know, was co-project leader on Sam & Max Hit the Road and that dead game that never seems to get forgotten Sam & Max Freelance Police, among others back at LucasArts. This addition is a highly welcome and long overdue one (one can't help but wonder if the recent scale-down at Perpetual Entertainment, Mike's previous employer, had something to do with this), and Adventure Gamers confirms that he will be working as a designer on the Sam & Max series.

While this epic reunion is sure to excite you, AG also reports that Telltale's expansion will soon yield at least "two announced series" in the near future on multiple platforms. Full press release here. Finally, AG promises a brand new interview with Mike Stemmle of TelltaleArts very soon. Watch them closely.

Update: In other GDC news, check out the blog of "citizenmike" to learn about his experience at Telltale's Sam & Max party. More photos are available care of Joystiq.

There's a really interesting video over at EuroGamer, showing a trip to LucasArts and Skywalker Ranch, including interviews with employees and sneaky glimpses into the buildings themselves. Of the Star Wars games, we learn that Force Unleashed will contain plot revelations that will affect the Star Wars films (especially Episode IV), will also involve Princess Leia as a character, and that there will be a game based on the clone wars TV show, which made a grown man cry as well as swear. As for Indiana Jones: the story will be completely separate, but there will be a few nods and fore-shadowing between the (still untitled!) "2008 game" and the film.

There's a glimpse of all the LucasArts game boxes inside the ranch, alongside Indiana Jones and Star Wars props, including the Holy Grail, the original whip and some lightsabers. For more ranch snooping, take a gander at the time when we visited back in 2001. The memories last forever!!

Thanks to "That guy who used to make make a lot of MIDIs and stuff" for the news.

And in other Eurogamer Indy news, they've just released this little tidbit about Lego Indy. Four-player Co-op!!

(say that headline like this)

Okay, there have been a few scraps of news floating about the internet over the weekend, but we couldn't report on them because we were dead. Now we're freshly unearthed, let's get up to speed:

• Deck13 Interactive have released an English demo for Jack Keane, their next adventure after Ankh (the LucasArts-inspired game that Telltale helped out with and we cruelly overlooked). It seems to be a cross between Indiana Jones and Monkey Island, and if they pull that off it'll surely be great. The game's due out March 7th in Europe and April in the US, and Mojo will review it this time. Honest. Oh, and if their website is a bit slow, get the demo here instead.
  
• As jp-30 helpfully pointed out on our Lego Indiana Jones forum thread, there's a new preview for the game at MTV.com. You can play the Raiders monkey in the DS version!
  
• And if you want to keep track of all the Lego Indy previews to date, IndyJones.net now has a very nice Previews page, part of a massive update to the site I've started. I'll do a proper news post here when they're finished.
  
• Liked the Indy Trailer but thought it could be more old-school? This fan trailer's worth a look!

Anyone else got any others?

Man, that was a bit alarming. If you visited Mojo during the weekend you probably noticed that everything was very much broken. This was down to Mojo moving to a new dedicated server, which is much faster and should allow even more years of slowly taking over the web (or cheating death).

This might be a good time to remind you that Mojo has historically had a great hosted site community (see menu), and that if anyone's interested in becoming part of it with an intriguing site related to Mojo's target audience you're welcome to get in touch with us!

What is Mojo's target audience, you ask? Well, that's become somewhat muddy over the years. But our title sums it up pretty well:

"LucasArts, Telltale Games, Double Fine, Autumn Moon news, and more!

Recent additions to our hosted site community include the superb Pumpkin Post, and the Monkey Island Wiki.

Resources are essentially as much as you need, seeing as our bandwidth figures run into the terabytes. Exposure is guaranteed, thanks to the links you'll receive from our network of sites and access to the community headlines on Mojo's front page. Most importantly though, you get to help make Mojo the best community for fans of LucasArts and games developed by the guys who worked there!

You can get in touch with me if you're interested.

It has been revealed today that Bioware, makers of the original KOTOR are presently working on game #3 in the franchise. And it's not an MMO as had been rumoured often in the past.

No official announcement yet of course (other than we know they are doing something together). This is all credited to an unnamed "EA Analyst", so no counting your Bogas before they hatch.

Update: LucasArts and IGN have once again ground our dreams into the dust. LucasArts said:

We are working with BioWare. We've announced that we're working with the developer on a project, but it has nothing to do with Knights of the Old Republic.

So what the hell are they doing then?

This is a bit of fun: a Facebook group for ex-Lucas employees called "I Bet I Can find 10,000 Ex-Lucas Employees."

The group information explains more: "There's a lot of us around. And we know it! If you worked at one of the Lucas companies (Lucasfilm, ILM, LucasArts, THX, Lucas Learning, GLEF, etc) we want YOU! Okay, okay. Current employees can join, too, since you are all future-ex-Lucas employees anyway. :-)"

It's also interesting for the rest of us to snoop around, seeing what kind of things ex-LucasArts people get up to. Double Fine Productions, ay? Who knew!

Also in the news: we've added a second opinion to our Sam & Max review. If you have your own thoughts on what we've said, then we'd love to hear from you in the forums.

The long-discussed Cinematic Trailer for Insecticide is now showing at GameTrailers.

I'm getting really excited about this game, the more I see the more I likey. Definitely (especially seen in this trailer) got vibes of Beyond Good & Evil, Psychonauts and Grim Fandango, and yet I'm sure we'll be talking about games that have "an Insecticide vibe to them" in the future!

The Insecticide Trailer - the Second Best trailer out this week.

It's here!

Update! The trailer is now also available on the official site!

Update, again: If you want a speculation-filled mini-breakdown of the trailer, then Empire Online might be worth a gander.

Update, yet again: Oh, and if you want to discuss the trailer or the film or anything Indy IV related, here's the forum thread to do it!

Still not sure whether to get the latest Sam & Max episode? Then perhaps our review can help you make up your mind!

Zaarin stayed up all night playing episode three, tapping his thoughts mechnically onto a typewriter, then sending them by carrier pigeon to Castle Mojostein. After he had finished, he had but one request: "brrraaainss."

The dead are raving and it's up to Sam & Max to stop them! In other words, episode 3, Night of the Raving Dead, is now available for everyone!

Go on, shoo! Download it now!

For anyone who doubts my commitment to the cause of Indiana Jones...

Dark Horse Comics recently released a cover and a few scant details about the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comic book adaptation. The cover was, it must be said, fairly dull - featuring Indy, Shia LaBeouf with switchblade and sword, and some miscellaneous ruins.

However, they have just released a far superior alternate cover at ComingSoon.net, which could have been the one for Infernal Machine, until you take a closer look. It'd make a good film poster too. Drew, the gauntlet has been thrown!<:MORENEWS:>

Also now available, Italian magazine L'espresso have a new feature up on Indy IV. Unless you speak Italian you won't be able to read it, but there are three small new photos up in the feature. The last one is particularly hilarious.

The first review is up for Sam & Max: Night of the Raving Dead at Eurogamer, so check it out. Unless of course like me you want to remain totally unspoiled. Only tomorrow for us non-GameTappers!

Update: There's also a nice spoiler-laden review over at CHUD.

And a spoiler-free review at Talking About Games, a site we of course check daily.

Adventure Gamers has also posted their review.


The Norwegian site gamer.no has also posted a rather positive review here. In Norwegian.

Well, if a new Indy movie's fair game for Mojo, then so too is a new Star Wars movie, right? RIGHT?

As posted on starwars.com

A new era of Star Wars entertainment begins in 2008 when Star Wars: The Clone Wars, from creator George Lucas, premieres as an all-new feature film in August, followed by the television series debut in the fall...

Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes audiences on incredible new Star Wars adventures, combining the legendary storytelling of Lucasfilm with an eye-popping, signature animation style. Star Wars: The Clone Wars will open in North American theaters Friday, August 15. International release dates will be announced soon.

So, Peter Hirshman, how's about that Clone Wars era Star Wars space sim? Totally Games'd be up for it!

However, Larry Holland is still here and that's the important part, since he's the vision behind the series. Of the people that worked on any of the Star Wars games, only Larry, Robin, myself, and Kevin remain.

I'd love to work on another Star Wars space sim if the opportunity presented itself. But that is not for us to decide, unfortunately. The game market for space sims have dried up and with it the money.

Albert Mack
Lead Programmer, Totally Games

Huh, Peter? Huh? You know what you said before is bullshit.

You may remember when it was announced that Dark Horse Comics would be re-releasing their old Indiana Jones comic stories as well as some new work in a series of omnibuses in anticipation for the new movie. Despite a release date that claims to be four days away, the first of these books is now shipping from Amazon, and presumably everywhere else. Included in this volume is the comic adaptation of Fate of Atlantis. Although it is very loosely based on the game's plot and apparently has some spotty writing (you can check out ATMachine's detailed write-up on it here), any fan will find it worth reading. Also included in the collection is Thunder In The Orient, which features Sophia Hapgood.

The second volume, which is set to be released on June 25th., will feature the even more interesting Philosopher's Stone and Spear of Destiny stories, both of which were based on cancelled adventure games. Both titles were attempts at genuine sequels to Fate of Atlantis but multiple issues resulted in their demise, making the far more action oriented Infernal Machine the next installment in the archeologist's video game series. You can read about Iron Phoenix's (which spawned the Philosopher's Stone comic) troubled development in our database entry - ditto for Spear of Destiny. While the games themselves were killed, the stories lived on through the comic adaptations. Though there's good reason to assume that the adaptations are extremely loose and probably not representative of how the games would have been, they are nonetheless fascinating reads.

In any event, if you're a fan of Indiana Jones or comics, then you owe it to yourself to check out these new collections, which contain many long out-of-print stories!

There's a gigantic article in Vanity Fair, mostly about Force Unleashed. Indiana Jones gets the scantest mention.

Given the steep learning curve, Jim Ward is careful to downplay expectations about The Force Unleashed, but Hirschmann expects that the company?s growing understanding of Euphoria and D.M.M. will enable LucasArts to do even better work in subsequent games, such as the future Indiana Jones title.

There's already a rebuttal piece up on PCWorld.com.

That sort of narrowness or "asymmetric feature monomania" permeates gaming. Some hot new technology looks absolutely amazing, the design team hype is contagious, the media keeps the spin-top spinning, and then pfft...

The article was assembled pre-Ward resignation, obviously.

Yes, you already know that the Indy IV trailer is coming on Thursday 14th - Valentine's Day.

Now we know the exact time.

It will debut sometime during Good Morning America between 8am-9am, creating situations across the country a lot like that South Park episode. It will then be up on the Internet.

For the US, 9am. For us in GMT land, 5pm, Thursday.

It can only mean one thing... Monkey Island Online.

Or read the vague statement here and jump to your own outrageous conclusion!

Those Artistic Lucases already have a second online title planned that I've heard has nothing to do with Star Wars.

So you want to be a pirate, eh? You look more like a flooring inspector.


And even more recently,

Star Wars Galaxies will shut down within a year after the release of the new MMO. The Artistic Lucases think that they have the only IP that can pose a serious challenge World of Warcraft and find that the setting of KOTOR is too niche to be a threat. They apparently expect the new Star War MMO to have at least three million subscribers by the end of the first year.

A few Telltale related things you should probably know about, and would have by now if I'd felt like typing them before:

• A limited edition Sam & Max statue figure will be coming out courtesy of Symbiote Studios. For some mouth-watering concept drawings of what the final product will look like, check out their blog. No word yet on a release date.
  
• Telltale's going to WonderCon next week! If you plan on attending, or if you just like making yourself miserable, check out their extensive show plans.
  
• Telltale's been the feature of a few recent internet articles, including "Games Changers" in which Dan Connors is honored as a reshaper of the games business, a new interview with Steve Purcell from Finalboss, and a Q&A with Brendan Ferguson by Gametap about Night of the Raving Dead, out in two to three days!
  
• As the lovable Zaarin recently pointed out, Telltale's reprint of Surfin' the Highway is finally upon us. The paperback version is shipping now, whereas the limited edition hardcover is sadly due out "Spring 2008." Also, Steve Purcell seems to approve of the book.

Enjoy! Of course, you knew all this already if you are a frequenter of Telltale's web site, which you really should be, because they're on the ball with supplying their own coverage to an extent that negates the need for a fan site. Still, we're caught up now, I think.

As previously reported, the Indiana Jones 4 trailer will be attached to The Spiderwick Chronicles on February 14th (next Wednesday). For those of you uninterested in seeing Mark Waters' magnum opus on the silver screen or just not a resident of North America, the trailer will also be posted on the film's official site a day later.

Anyway, nothing you haven't already heard before, but this time it's confirmed, which is nice after all those past disappointments.

Oh, and John Hurt had a short chat with Empire magazine, and he still refuses to admit who he's playing...

Furthermore, the Indiana Jones official website has a lovely new featurette up focusing on Indy's Hat & Jacket. Wow, Harrison Ford's bald!

The eagerly awaited Lego Indiana Jones has been previewed by the UK's Edge Magazine, and we've got a juicy taste right here.

For me though, the most interesting fact revealed is the full title: Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. Now this is obviously so people don't feel short-changed when the buy it in June and discover it doesn't have any Crystal Skulls in it (although I'm prepared to bet there'll be a Bonus Level set then), but does this mean there might be a Lego Indy II somehow?

Update: Screenshots has been added. Groovy.

Telltale has released a new video for Sam & Max Episode 203 - Night of the Raving Dead (which I'm avoiding as I want to be as least spoiled as possible, so I can't tell you how undoubtedly great it is) as well as some excellent MP3s from the soundtrack (which I can listen to because music can't spoil anything - or can it?).

Check them out right here.

In the never-ending quest to keep our readers fully in the loop about upcoming exciting games, Mojo today brings you an exciting giganto-interview with Larry Ahern and Michael Levine at Crackpot Entertainment!

Now that the LucasArts-born team at Crackpot have nearly finished their eagerly-awaited first game Insecticide for PC and Nintendo DS, we thought it'd be a great time to ask them one or two (or quite a few) questions.

Disclaimer: Michael and Larry are not actually flies.

Additional: If that's not enough Insecticide for you, there's a really good preview of the DS version at DS Fanboy that really gets a good feel for how the game is going to play.

Now that you've done all that, isn't it about time you pre-ordered? Those art-books are still available, y'know.

That's right! The Sam & Max comic book Surfin' the Highway is finally available from Telltale Games in both a paperback and a limited hardcover edition!

Clicky!

It's Mojo's time of the month again - we need your thoughts on the next classic adventure game for use in our "Secret History of LucasArts Part Two" article. The question is, are you cool enough? Have your thoughts about Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders immortalized in our acclaimed article series, which critics are already touting as "more enjoyable than triple-bypass surgery," simply by sending them in before the month is over.

So grab your CashCard and be the tabloid reporter you never secretly wished you were in the "futuristic" year 1997 by revisiting Zak McKracken with Mojo. Plz?

If the revised release date on every online retailer is to be believed, Insecticide has been delayed yet again, and will not be arriving in February. The latest date is March 11th, so believe that if you want. This applies to the DS version - the PC release is unconfirmed but it is presumably coming only after its handheld counterpart.

Update: We've learned that the DS version is completely finished and gold, and the delay is just down to Gamecock trying to get it on the shelves. The PC version should hopefully be out in March too.

The good folks at Movieweb claim to have an exclusive picture of the fourth Indiana Jones movie's titular crystal skull (though it is presumably one of many). See it.

Does that skull look...otherworldly to you?

Update: The studio made Movieweb take down the image. However, you can still see it at IndyJones.net.

Cutting straight to the chase - Bill Tiller has updated the Autumn Moon Blog page with their current status.

It's mostly to do with the new staff members joining the team, but there is a quick encouraging paragraph about A Vampyre Story:

I want to give you all an update on what we are doing and give you some news. First, we are frantically working on all the bug fixes and scripting for AVS1. No firm release date yet but we are getting close and I'm thrilled with the progress.

Interesting how he refers to the game as AVS1, even though I know we've known that sequels are a dead cert. Anyway, I'm excited! And you should be too - A Vampyre Story is nearly here!

Since we all love a good pirate-themed painting here at Mojo, we were thrilled when Steve Purcell posted more from his collection!

It's somehow rare for the world of LucasArts to make it into the pages of Penny Arcade, the webcomic so incredible they even have their own videogame being made by Ron Gilbert, mostly because LucasArts haven't released a game in years.

But with new Force Unleashed videos come new easy shots of parody. I think this comic gets it spot on. It's quite moving, too.

If you want to see the occasionally great, occasionally incredibly silly video that inspired it, go here for a quick gameplay montage.

Now this is just plain conjecture here from that wholly reliable source, MTV.

But whatever, it's still a new picture of Indy from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And the speculation is that Indy's standing on some boxes from the warehouse seen at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. You can just about make out 'Top Secret - Do Not Open!' on the crate on Indy's left.

Now is Spielberg referencing Raiders, just teasing us with a fan-baiting image... or is the Ark going to reappear?

Also the other Empire photo of Cate Blanchett's Agent Spalko is now up too.

That's right! Jim Ward, our favourite head of LucasArts, has called it quits and president of Lucas Licensing, Howard Hoffman, is taking over temporarily.

Clicky!

Mojo was, of course, already aware of this. During the beta testing of our new super-secret MindReader-o-Matic?, we dug into the brain of Jim Ward and out popped the following:

This is so typical. The minute we manage to fine tune it to his brain waves, he quits. Oh well, does anyone know the frequency to Hoffman's thoughts?