iPad owners can finally play "The Depths", the third episode of Jurassic Park: The Game, as it is now available at the iTunes store.
The rest of the platforms that Jurassic Park: The Game runs on received all of the episodes at once, but Telltale decided to release the iPad version on their usual monthly schedule of one episode per month. iPad users can stop worrying about playing catch up soon though. This is the penultimate episode, meaning only one episode still remains.
Sam & Max is hitting iOS. No no, don't be silly, we're not finally seeing the completion of The Devil's Playhouse nearly two years later, but rather episode one of Beyond Time and Space.
"What makes this version so special?!", you may cry. Well, there's a "Whack-da-Ratz" competitive minigame... And there's a soundboard... Soundboards are fun, right?
Really, though, Beyond Time and Space was a great season, so pick it up if you want to enjoy it on your favorite iOS device. It'll be the best $7 you ever spent.
In case you didn't catch this: Law & Order: Legacies is now available for the PC and Mac. The first episodes are, of course, already out on iOS. So hey. Choices!
Having played a bit of the first episode, I can say it's not a bad game, if you don't mind rather... simplistic... game mechanisms. We'll have a review soon. (-Ish.)
Remember Sam & Max Hit the Road and Curse of Monkey Island? Kind of? Well, now's your chance to be reminded about the two games's awesomeness. No, not by playing them yourself -- how 2011 is that?! -- but by watching 1UP play them for you.
The site has a "lunch break" feature, apparently, where they play classic games while streaming the experience live. You can also ask them questions about what the hell's going on.
Tune in tomorrow, the 25th, at 1pm for Sam & Max and the 26th for Curse.
The reviews so far have been mixed to negative, which means it's probably one of Lucas' better efforts of the last two decades.
Popular games website Giant Bomb have put up a new QuickLook video, centering on Double Fine's new game, Happy Action Theatre. The video features Tim Schafer and someone dressed in a hotdog suit, don't you know.
QuickLook videos are GiantBomb's lovely way of showing you gameplay, and the games covered range from relative unknowns to big blockbusters. The Happy Action Theatre video shows a variety of levels, and gives a good idea of the kind of gameplay on offer here - minus, I think, Tim Schafer and a hotdog suit.
Source: GiantBomb
It's kind of amazing how many years of mileage the rumor mill has gotten out of Star Wars: Battlefront III, a sequel which is shaping up to have a damn near The Dig level of cyclical false starts.
A third installment in the hugely popular shooter franchise would seem a no-brainer, and indeed it was reported to have been being worked on a number of times by a number of different parties (on various occasions, rumors held that the contract was given to Free Radical, Rebellion, and even original Battlefront developer Pandemic), but the project never seemed able to gain any traction for whatever reason. I guess when a studio goes into transition as hyperactively as LEC does, it's more than the little games that suffer. Or maybe the game was just never turning out good, who knows.
Anyhow, the neverending story has entered a new chapter, or did a few weeks ago when everyone besides us reported on it. The latest developer associated with Battlefront III is Spark Unlimited, who turned in a Call of Duty installment several years back. Here's the evidence, as reported by Game Informer:
There are only two real pieces of evidence that have lead people to believe that Spark Unlimited is working on Star Wars: Battlefront 3. One, on its website Spark Unlimited lists in its job section that, "We are in production on an unannounced high-profile, popular game sequel for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC release." The other piece of evidence, is that it simply isn't flat out denying that Battlefront 3 is the title it is working on, on twitter. Every inquiry is met with a, "you'll have ask Lucas Arts about its franchises, we're just a developer, not publisher," response.
Source: Game Informer
The production of the movie version of Bone, based on the celebrated Jeff Smith comic saga that Telltale was adapting before they weren't, looks to finally be starting in earnest soon now that a director has been signed. It is Australian director P.J. Hogan, best known for the 2003 live action take on Peter Pan. Its screenwriter is Patrick Sean Smith, a fellow with a number of television credits who'll be making his first foray into features with this project.
As previously known, the animated film will be produced by Lin Pictures and Animal Logic (of Happy Feet fame), with Warner Bros. holding the comics' film rights. There are no details on whether or not the adaptation will consist of multiple films, which was discussed at one point, but this news would certainly suggest that things are moving forward.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
ArsTechnica have published an article, entitled Maniac Tentacle Mindbenders, which discusses how "How ScummVM's unpaid coders kept adventure gaming alive" (as opposed to the paid coders, those worthless hacks).
ScummVM, as you may know, is a program that allows you to run certain old school adventure games on a variety of modern machines and consoles, from your fancy new PC to your PSP. It's a lovely piece of software (open source and released under the GPL, I might add; if you think you can contribute, go wild), and it's nice to see a full-length article talk about it. It's so nice I'm going to link you twice.
Source: ArsTechnica
And it is February 1st.
In other words, it is time to get that Kinect out of storage, as it look like this game could be fun. Joystiq has a good preview up of it.
Source: Tim's Twitter
You'd never know it (unless you're already subscribed to their podcast RSS feed) but Double Fine keeps releasing new episodes of their podcast, and not telling anyone about it.
The latest episode (number five, no less!) features Steven Dengler, the "shady-but-benevolent" investment partner who personally funded the Costume Quest PC and Psychonauts Mac releases.
Keep abreast of new episodes by entering the following URL into your favourite podcast/RSS software (or just by visiting it in your browser):
But don't let Tim Schafer know I told you.
Source: DoubleFine.com
It's a new year, so probably about time for a new poll. This time we're asking our Mojo readers about their gaming systems... Just what hardware is the discerning Adventure Game fan packing in 2012?
As for "Which of Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight games is your favorite?", all is finally revealed below! (Well, kind of... Iron Brigade has only just been released in Europe, and Once Upon A Monster isn't even on the list -- but, er, never mind!)
| Which of Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight games is your favorite? | ||
|---|---|---|
| I am ashamed that I haven't played any yet | 19 | |
| Costume Quest/Grubbins on Ice | 11 | |
| Stacking/The Lost Hobo King | 11 | |
| Trenched (for those who've been allowed to play it) | 0 | |
| Total votes | 41 | |
After being delayed since June, Trenched Iron Brigade has finally been released on the XBox 360 in Europe... or, it was on six weeks ago.
Along with this release, the US version of the game has been given an update. It's no longer known as Iron Brigade Trenched, but has been renamed to Trenched Iron Brigade, so that multiplayer can be enjoyed internationally.
As a reward for fans tolerating all these shenanigans, Double Fine have added a new Survival game mode and new Loot for free, as part of the patch!
And as an extra bonus, a new Iron Brigade T-shirt has been revealed in the Double Fine Store.
Still no release date for the "Rise of the Martian Bear" DLC, though!
Source: DoubleFine
... and it took us less than five months to do so!
In the unlikely event you haven't played The Baconing and are still wondering if you should, you can read our review of the Ron Gilbert-less sequel now. (That's all.)
The clever chaps at ResidualVM (the 3D sister to ScummVM) have finally discovered the reason for the missing dialogue at the end of Grim Fandango. As it turns out it wasn't a design choice, it was a simple bug...
A bug so buried that apparently not even Tim Schafer was aware of its existence:
"I had no idea that there was a bug in Grim that caused a critical dialog not to play! :O! But these guys fixed it."
The bug is now fixed for players using the latest version of ResidualVM to play Grim Fandango.
Source: ResidualVM.org
Here's some wild and cool news for you. So, Japanese rhythm-game extraordinaire Masaya Matsuura (perhaps best known for the ahead-of-its-time PaRappa the Rapper for the PS1) is working on a Kinect-based XBLA game called Haunt. The description I've read makes it sound like a sort of first-person Luigi's Mansion, wherein the player navigates a goofy haunted house with the aid of a flashlight.
The main NPC of the game, which is to release "soon," was already voiced when Masaya and co. bore witness to Tim's charismatic hosting of the GDC Choice Awards and everything changed. Reports Joystiq:
"He's very, very interesting for it," Masaya said when asked about Schafer's participation. Apparently the main character's voice had already been recorded, but after hearing Schafer's speech at a GDC "Choice Awards" ceremony, the Nana-OnSha folks reconsidered. "We talked about 'maybe something is missed,' still," Matsuura said. "And one day you told me about how Tim would be a good voiceover actor," he added to Tanner.
Tanner said that Tim's time was understandably constrained, being the head of another game studio and all, but the team "managed to squeeze him in nonetheless ... a couple of afternoons and we were pretty much done." Tanner also pointed out that Haunt isn't exactly a serious endeavor, and Schafer's "passé humor" was perfect for the role.
Source: Joystiq
A bleak report on the status of A Vampyre Story 2: A Bat's Tale has been making the rounds, and while it's not super-revealing if you read Mojo it does bring the source of the project's ailments into a bit more focus. While updating PC release dates, German game site GBase contacted Bill Tiller for a more accurate target for the trouble sequel. Here's the translated response they received that's been spreading across the internet:
AVS2 got 30% done. Then due to a couple of game companies that failed to do what they the said they would with our engine they ran us over budget and so neither AME or Crimson Cow had the money to finish it. So Crimson Cow has the rights to do it, and they have tried to get it funded a few times and are trying now, but so far no luck. So call it on hold. It could be cancelled soon though. I'm not sure.
A few sites are jumping on Bill's case for describing the game as been 30% complete when earlier he apparently estimated it at 40%, but that seems kind of pedantic. Bottom line is that while both the developer and the holder of the publishing rights would like to see A Vampyre Story 2 made, its fate is predicated on the materialization of an investor, and there's possibly a closing window of opportunity (else why the threat of cancellation?). Any takers?
Source: GBase
As is tradition, Steve drew the grateful world a holiday card starring the indomitable Freelance Police. From the Sam & Max blog:
I especially like the city burning outside. Note that this year is the 25th anniversary of Sam & Max. If you're anything like me and I know I am, you can probably think of some great ways for Purcell/Telltale/LucasArts to commemorate the occasion, but just work up a good belch and you'll feel better.
Source: Sam & Max Blog
Thanks to Igor Hardy, occasionally known as "Ascovel", for the two stories below.
Firstly, Peter McConnell - a former LucasArts composer who was responsible for the Grim Fandango soundtrack, the Psychonauts soundtrack, and many others - was interviewed by Alternative Magazine Online. Seeing that Peter is known to lesser mortals as "Peter goddamn McConnell", you really ought to read the interview. I wish I could, but my current internet speed, thanks to some ISP-related mix-ups, isn't allowing anything to load.
That same speed problem isn't allowing me to view this interview, again with a former LucasArts person. This time it's with Mark Soderwall, who worked on The Force Unleashed. What little I've been to see of that seemed interesting.
You should give them both a look and tell what you think.
Source: Alternative Magazine Online
In a recent blog entry on Gamasutra, Noah Falstein speaks of news that should interest you. He, along with three other folk from LucasArts' earliest days - Chip Morningstar, Randy Farmer, and Gary Winnick - have founded a new company called Suddenly Social, "a start-up that is part game development studio, part platform as a service company." Their Board of Advisors apparently includes Randy Breen. (!!)
Sometime this month will see the release of their first game, Bad Pets, an iPhone project which is apparently akin to an eight-player rock, paper scissors with weapon-brandishing puppies and kittens. Check out their web site for more info.
Source: Gamasutra