Telltale games has kindly release eight cracking Jared Emerson-Johnson MP3's from the first three Wallace & Gromit episodes, free to download from the Telltale site.

Help yourself.

We kid you not.

JP Update: Via Twitter: It's also out now in all PAL regions.

According to VideoGamer.com, Tales of Monkey Island has exceeded Telltale's expectations and become their strongest performing title yet.

Dan Connors on phone:

“Unfortunately I can’t get into the specific numbers, [...] but I would definitely say it’s our strongest performing franchise to date. We’re pretty excited. It was number one on Steam for a few days. It did really well. It’s been our best performing title from our side as well.”

The fourth (and final!) episode of this season of Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures, "The Bogey Man", has been released. Any game with kilts is a game worth buying, so get going.

While they seem to have removed the game's individual product page, the Mata Hari/Sherlock Holmes combo is now in-stock and shipping from Amazon. I doubt $19.99 is any more than the game would be sold for individually, so if you're interested in the game go buy.

In stupefying news, Telltale have surprised us all in announcing the date for Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures Episode 4: The Bogey Man, the final episode of the four-part series of four, is... Wednesday 29th July!

Tomorrow!!

Hooray! Just, um, don't expect a review or anything just yet...

UPDATE by SurplusGamer: In other not-so-imminent release news, some guy called 'Jake' or something has stated on the Telltale forums that we can expect Chapter 2 of Tales of Monkey Island 'a bit further into the month than that (August 9th), for sure.' He later added:

It's the double-edged sword of game development and releasing. People say they'd like us to take a little more time to give the games a bit more love, and then are sad when we say it will be coming out a little later than they guessed it would.

Fair 'nuff.

If you've been wanting to grab some of that Tales of Monkey Island music, here's your chance. Benzo has updated the Telltale Music Extractor to support the game as well as Wallace and Gromit.

Legend tells of an unused MI1 theme somewhere in Tales too. Go explore!

Gamespot have posted 2 lovely pieces of concept art, reported to be from the 2nd Tales of Monkey Island episode The Seige of Spinner Cay. You can see them here.

And while at Gamespot, you may like to see some footage from the Telltale booth (with Will Armstrong) at Comic-Con, where minor spoilers on the plot of "Spinner Cay" are revealed, plus a look at the 4th Wallace & Gromit episode.

A video on Youtube showing off the upcoming avatar marketplace on Xbox Live, has revealed that fans with too much money to burn can buy 3D-ified objects from the game for their avatars. Every objects is sold separately so anyone who wants a full collection has to cough up many an MS point.

Hooray!

Apparently the Hal Barwood/Noah Falstein-advised Mata Hari is now out in US stores, although GameStop haven't heard of it and Amazon are only offering that double pack with a Sherlock Holmes game, and that doesn't ship for "1 to 3 weeks" (Amazon slang for "out of stock").

If you want it though, Direct2Drive may be your best bet as GamersGate have it for a frankly ridiculous price.

The Force Unleashed is expanding with more downloadable content including a Tatooine level, and a new retail version "Ultimate Sith Edition" (STFU USE). I guess that makes the original release the "Penultimate Sith Edition".

Also, fans of Star Wars videogaming will be thrilled to learn that The Force Unleashed is soon to conform with every other Star Wars videogame ever made by including a Hoth level;

...the Secret Apprentice is sent to the planet Hoth on a crusade to crush the Rebellion once and for all. While on Hoth, players face Luke Skywalker himself while visiting iconic locations seen in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.

You can read the full press release here.

Update: From LucasArts Twitter feed; "...you PC and Mac people who won't stop writing? TFU is coming out for you guys now!"

Although there hasn't been any real update, per say, I've noticed that some of today's write-ups have some interesting statements surrounding the legal dispute between Double Fine and Activision over Brutal Legend that weren't included in the Gamespot write-up. Regarding Activision's complaint that Double Fine's delays drove up the game's budget from $8 million to $15 million, for example, the developer says this:

The Tim Schafer-led San Francisco developer's response includes the allegation that these delays were due to changes Vivendi itself requested prior to the publisher's merger with Activision, like securing vocal talent such as Jack Black and expanding the single-player mode.

Additionally:

"Now that we've found a publisher and the game is getting sensational coverage, they want to stop its release," Double Fine COO Caroline Esmurdoc wrote in an official statement.

She added: "Double Fine's countersuit is a demonstration of our intention to fight for this game — Activision will not kill Brutal Legend.'"

That's from Gamasutra. And then there's a fascinating quote from Activision:

Activision said in a statement that Double Fine's claims are "meritless and, in fact, Activision has every intention of exercising its legal right as Brutal Legend's publisher to release the game."

That one from Washington Examiner. Make of all this what you will!

More Stirring by The Tingler: Apparently Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings developer A2M don't like Activision either. Don't blame them.

We previously posted about the existence of Lucidity,some puzzle game LEC is said to be making for the XBLA - a title that sounds pretty weird for the company, and in a good way. Today, Joystiq, who posted the original news on the game, has now posted what they claim to be the first, leaked screenshot from the largely mysterious (and still not officially acknowledged) game.

Interesting stuff, to say the least.

Remember when Gabez proclaimed that Monkey Island was hip? Well, apparently he was ahead of his time, as the Special Edition is now available in the iPhone App Store for $8.

While I haven't tried it yet, it comes with both the new music and voice over, as well as the "classic" edition. The interface is, obviously, a bit different, but hey... True point and click!

Now run out and be hip like Gabez, and play Monkey Island on your iPhone.

As you all know, after threatening to do so several months back, Activision sued Double Fine over the rights to Brutal Legend, which they maintain they still own. Today Gamespot reports that Double Fine has fought back with a countersuit, claiming that Activision is specifically trying to hurt the developer (whose existence depends on the game's successful launch) and of unlawful business practices. Interestingly, Double Fine states that Activision cancelled Brutal Legend after a failed attempt to convert the game into a Guitar Hero sequel:

While they may fight for a limited amount of shelf space and consumer dollars, the music-themed action game Brutal Legend and the rhythm game Guitar Hero don't compete in the same genre. However, Double Fine's suit says that Activision canceled the studio's game after an aborted attempt to convert it into a Guitar Hero sequel.

According to the report, the hearing for Activision's motion to prevent Brutal Legend's release is scheduled for July 30. For their part, EA maintains that the scheduled released date (Rocktober 13th for North America and Rocktober 16th for all other territories) is still on.

There have been vague rumblings about it for a little while now but now it has been unleashed: the Treasure Hunting game for Tales of Monkey Island. Here, say Telltale, is how it works:

Until the end of the season, we'll be releasing maps on various locations on the web, which can be used within Tales of Monkey Island to uncover some cool Monkey Island extras.

Once you discover a new treasure map, open up the first chapter of Tales of Monkey Island--Launch of the Screaming Narwhal (it works on the demo, too!)--and select "Treasure Hunt" from the game menu. Guybrush will arrive in the jungles of Flotsam Island, where you can have him start searching for the X. Once you find it, you'll be awarded some swag back at telltalegames.com

Such prizes apparently may range from wallpapers to even discount codes and other, yet to be announced stuff. There have been hints on the forums that the treasure hunt will become more involved as time goes on, too, and that the fun has only just started.

Sounds like a pretty neat extra! Find out more here.

Jaap has told me that Joqstiq says that Big Download has reported that The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is number one on the latest Steam revenue charts.

This bodes well for Monkey Island 2: Special Edition!

Want a model of Eddie Riggs to go alongside your Guybrush/LeChuck battle? Of course you do!

Only 1000 of these models are being made, and right now EA aren't revealing how you get one. They just say to keep an eye on the Twitter feed and the Brütal Legend website. Mysterious!

Surplus Gamer, AKA Mr Coloumb, AKA "that guy from the podcasts," wrote up some thoughts on the control system argument, currently raging its way across the barren plains of the Internet, like a microcosm of the Iraq war.

For those who don't know, some people are angry at Telltale for forgoing the hallowed point 'n' click control system in the latest Monkey Island game. These people, says Mr Gamer, are wrong.

Kotaku are reporting that LucasArts are planning on making "several world exclusive announcements" at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego, next Friday. Since they're planning the announcements for the Star Wars Spectacular keynote address, I'd expect them to be related to that franchise.

Personally I'm betting on Star Wars Battlefront III, although if Imperial Commando turns up it'll blow my mind. Force Unleashed II is also a possibility.

They'll also be showing off Krome's Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, TT Games' Lego Indiana Jones II and Bioware's The Old Republic.

UPDATE: Apparently The Force Unleashed's just had some new mysterious achievements added, making it look like one of the announcements could be another downloadable map for the game in the form of Jabba's Palace.

Trying to keep up with all the Brütal Legend-related news is like a goddamn marathon and I will submit it as a candidate for a future sport at the Olympics. Strangely, that's actually a very good thing.

Anyway: Brütal Thoughts With Jack Black IV is out, involving some nice axe-related gameplay at the end. And if you go see the movie Brüno (and I hear it's good), you'll see a certain trailer play before the main feature starts.

Every Monday on Twitter is a Metal Monday (#metalmonday), and every Wednesday is a Not Metal Wednesday (#notmetalwednesday), that day of the week where you can make even Limp Bizkit look like Black Sabbath.

And finally, a discussion with Music Director Emily Ridgway on The Music of Brütal Legend.

Yahoo! Games hosts the exclusive first look at CSI: Deadly Intent with a trailer and some first screenshots. Take a look.

You may remember Symbiote Studios from such statues as Sam & Max: Freelance Police? Or maybe from when they kierdorfed LucasArts?

Well in this case it actually worked. They are now producing a Monkey Island statue.



There's simply too much Monkey Island goodness going on right now, I fear I'm going to pop.

Full details here.

Update: It's now available to pre-order at starwarsshop.com.

Mojo is again casting pods in your face! This time the participants are Jason, SurplusGamer, Tingler, and from time to time me as I may or may not have drunk too much wine to be able to keep up.

Now, go pod your ears off.

Additional note by Tingler: The topic is Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1, so if you haven't played that yet DO SO. Good, now you can listen without fear of spoilers. We also discuss the recent Steam releases and what we'd like to see.

Oh, and I apologise for occasionally making your ears bleed.

Well, here's something I never expected to say: The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has been released for XBLA and PC. Oh my! You should totally buy it and then check out Eurogamer's lovely review. Congratulations to Lucas for finally doing a proper special edition.

Don't forget to buy the game. 1000 Mojo Cookie Pirate points to anyone who posts a photo of their copy of the game in the comments.

Telltale Games are giving fans the chance to get a line of dialogue and a credit in a future episode of Tales of Monkey Island.

The rules are simple: just invent a line of dialogue accusing Guybrush of some sort of wrongdoing (like 'Yar! He shivered me timbers!') and submit it to this page here. Users will then vote on entries in four rounds across as many weeks, before a winner is finally announced.

You'd best gird yer mind and sharpen yer loins for this one; there's bound to be plenty of competition.

After sitting out a round with the latest release (a poorly received game based on the TV show's NY spinoff), Telltale will be developing a new CSI game for Ubisoft with the original Las Vegas cast once again - CSI: Deadly Intent. Ubisoft has a product page for the game which lists the Wii and Nintendo DS as platforms; the write-up by Adventure Gamers states that there will be a PC version as well. The publisher lists a date of October 20th for the title.

A formal announcement is unlikely to be far behind. It'll be interesting to note if Telltale is behind that DS port, as it would be the company's first foray on that platform.

Update: My bad. AG states that Other Ocean Interactive is developing the DS version.

So we all suspected it was coming but now it's official: Murray the Skull, fan favourite of the post-Gilbert Monkey Islands is to make a return in a future chapter of Tales of Monkey Island.

Voice actor Denny Delk himself twet-- twot... did some sort of Twitter thing about it, and it was later confirmed by Telltale thusly:

Bwahahahahaha! Murray confirmed! RT @dennydelk Getting excited about reprising Murray for the new Monkey Island game.

So there you have it! Give us yer best Bwahahas to celebrate!

According to Nintendo Life Tales of Monkey Island: Ep 1 should be released tomorrow, 13 July on Wiiware for North America. Consider it a rumor until you hear it direct from Telltale or Nintendo themselves though.

Let's hope it's true and the PAL release follows quickly on Friday 17 July! Yeah, so Nintendo Life reported a piece of IGN guesswork. Heh. Still hoping for a PAL region release this Friday though...

There have been not-so-subtle hints of a Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition release on iPhone floating around for a while now but now it seems like an almost-certainty.

LucasArts had this to say on Twitter:

http://twitpic.com/9wgwq - For our Monkey fans - an iPhone sized wallpaper. No reason. Wink wink nod nod

This isn't the first time such things have been hinted at. Destructoid have the lowdown here.

The LEC twitter feed is sort of like Mojo's little brother in that we both learned how to fish together, have the same blood type, and are both the sexual offspring of our mother and father. But also though, we tend to post about a lot of the same things. Look at all the news they pointed out that we would have done ourselves if they hadn't have been so happy to do our work for us:

• There's an excellent (and possibly the first?) official LucasArts podcast with the sound guys of MI:SE, including the legendary Darragh O'Farrell (voice director on The Dig, CMI and EMI, and the guy who cast Dom!). The discussion is great, and includes an amusing anecdote about snatching Earl Boen despite his retirement in Hawaii.
  
• Ron did a write-up about the general awesome insanity that's going on with LEC's old games.
  
• The Dig apparently made the cut of some list of great game locations.

I wonder if LEC is enjoying the newfound delights that come out of, you know, having an active relationship with its fanbase.

JP Update: LucasArts don't want your money. They're giving away free codes for the SCUMM games on Steam via Twitter (and other channels). They've also provided an iPhone Monkey Island wallpaper, "No reason. Wink wink nod nod".

It looks like a bonus Monkey Island minigame "Guybrush's Treasure Hunt" is set to be released / unlocked by Telltale Games.

Its existence first popped up at the end of the Screaming Narwhal demo, as evidenced in this thread on the Telltale Games forum.

You probably already know that The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition will be released for PC and XBLA next Wednesday, July 15th. But a recent twitter by LEC also reveals the price point: $9.99 on Steam and 800 Microsoft Points on XBLA. (I think other distribution channels will carry the PC version, but I don't know which.)

Between this and the reasonable prices for the Steam heritage adventure releases, it's good to know that LEC is doing right by its customers. I imagine it will pay off for them.

We're really late getting on this, but it's interesting enough to make a post about. You may recall that last summer, select titles from the early Humongous adventure catalog (which were SCUMM-powered) were ported to the Wii last summer by Atari, the current owner of those properties. Some of you joked that Atari should just bundle ScummVM with those games so that they wouldn't have to update them themselves, and apparently Atari felt the same way, because that's precisely what they did.

As ScummVM is under GPL, it is actually free to use as Atari did, but they didn't even bother to credit the program's usage, leading to a legal situation between them and the ScummVM guys. The hilarity (well, I'm sure those two parties don't find it particularly funny) is documented here.

In other ScummVM news, some of you might have been wondering if the news Steam releases will be compatible with the emulator. Sev of ScummVM has addresed that in his blog as well. The short story is that it would be easy enough to make them compatible, but they're holding off in case LEC decides to develop their own ports for other platforms, and to nurture the possibility of cooperation between the two parties.

If you were to look in the comments of the previously reported interview with Dave Grossman on Gamasutra, you would find the following comment by Noah Falstein:

Hey Dave, if you want to team up to tackle a Dig 1-A complete with your Citadel Beast, let me know.

Just passing the message along, Dave.

There are apparently some people who would like to see LEC port their SCUMM games to the iPod. The last time LEC was confronted on the issue, their response was of the "can't confirm or deny" variety. Well, in sniffing around under the hood of his newly purchased copy of Last Crusade on Steam, resident resource file ravager bgbennyboy found the following string inside the game's executable:

c:HeritageSCUMMiPodSCUMMTechRetailIndyCrusadeIndyCrusade_Retail.pdb

Well now.

It was announced, and now it's here. Available on Steam are ten games from LEC's back catalogue. The graphic adventures on offer are Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Loom (Talkie), Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and The Dig. All four of these are being sold at an incredibly reasonable $4.99 a pop. The sales of these releases and next week's Monkey Island: Special Edition will be a very large factor in how much LEC will continue to invest in its old IPs.

So if you were ever pissed at LEC for abandoning their old properties, you need to do your part to show them that it's a good thing that they're changing their ways. We're aware that most of you probably own most of the classic adventures, but if there are any that you don't, or any that you acquired through suspect channels, then don't be an idiot - now's the time to score that copy and show your support. Between these, TMI and the Special Edition, LEC is investing a lot in the possibility of reviving their classics - if they're disappointed in the result of testing the waters, you don't want to be the one to blame.

The other games include Star Wars Starfighter, Star Wars Republic Commando, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, Armed & Dangerous, Star Wars Battlefront II, and Thrillville: Off the Rails. Additional Steam releases of this sort are forthcoming and will be announced on LEC's twitter feed, so keep an eye on it.

Update: Look at the good example benny has set for you, observed by elTee.

Okay, I know you're all excited by something or other that I must have missed, but if you can tear yourself away from that for a few seconds you may be intrigued by the news that LucasArts is apparently developing a brand new game for XBLA!

Early details sound intriguing. The game is called Lucidity starring a character called Sofi. It seems it's all about manipulating the side-scrolling environment so that Sofi (who the player doesn't directly control) can successfully move around it.

Apart from that, we don't know anything - Joystiq broke the story and the source seems reliable but official word on this is yet to appear. Thanks to Destructoid for the heads-up!

Guess what? The first [fifth of a] new Monkey Island game in nine years is now available. Yes available, to download right now from Telltale's web site. The launch was a slightly troubled one that caused unprecedented traffic on Telltale's humble site and saw throngs of rabid fans acting completely nuts. (The most noteworthy moment of it all was best buddy LEC came to Telltale's defense in their twitter feed.)

But such details are boring now, as the game is out, and it is the time for rejoicing. Oh, and for your convenience, on the off chance that The SCUMM Bar's and our own reviews aren't sufficient for you, I've compiled a large (but by no means complete) list of reviews, in no particular order of importance or credibility. The critical response has been quite positive overall:

• guardian.co.uk - 4/5
  
• Joystiq - Positive (no score)
  
• Team Teabag - 10/10
  
• gamezine.co.uk - 9/10 (and probably just The Tingler reviewing for another site ¬¬)
  
• bit-tech.net - 8/10
  
• DarkZero - 9/10
  
• 4 color rebellion - 8/10
  
• VideoGamer.com - 6/10
  
• Strategy Informer - 8.5/10
  
• TopTenReviews - Positive (no score)
  
• Endsights - 9/10
  
• N-Philes - Positive (no score)
  
• WindDamage - Positive (no score)
  
• Adventure Classic Gaming - Positive (no score)
  
• IncGamers - 7.6/10
  
• Koku Gamer - 8/10
  
• Vooks - 9/10
  
• Loading Reality - 8/10
  
• PerezStart - 8.5/10
  
• Total Gaming Network - 8.5/10
  
• PAL Gaming Network - 8/10
  
• LucasNews - 4/5
  
• Digital Spy - Positive (no score)
  
• Infendo - Positive (no score)
  
• GameOctane - Positive (no score)
  
• NowGamer - 9/10
  
• The Geeky Rewind - Positive (no score)
  
• Shacknews - Reserved (no score)
  
• Adventure Gamers - 3.5/5
  
• The Next Level - 4.5/5
  
• Talesofmi.net - 5/5
  

Assuming you're not one of the infinite number of obscure, two-bit bloggers who for some reason was able to get an advance review copy of the game, I suggest you get playing, ye swabs!

I'm sure most of you are impatiently waiting for Telltale to iron out the technical hiccups they seem to facing in launching, well, "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal" (and fear not, I'm sure they'll prevail against Dan Pettit's army of hackers in the end), but in the meantime you may want to check out this lengthy Gamasutra interview with Dave Grossman about Monkey Island held by none other than Chris Remo. It's worth your time, and we both know you've no shortage of it.

The young, hip Mojo had its say, and now old grandpa SCUMM Bar follows suit. Hint: the reviews are pretty similar, down to not having a score.

But screw reading this, go read the review!

UPDATE by Chris: Elsewhere Deep in the Internet, occasional Mojo podcaster and long-time IRC stalker MrCoulomb/SurplusGamer has a nice Q&A session with Mike Stemmle about the game.


UPDATE by SurplusGamer: Gee, thanks. Only about a million weeks late, there ;)
(You could've told us! - Chris)
(I can't believe how late the mail passed at my house day. Ridiculous. - Jason)

Our review for the first chapter in Tales of Monkey Island is now online, which means that you can soon download and play the game for yourself (if you can't already).

I decided not to give this review a score because scores are silly. Mojo has, for the moment, assumed a 5/5 score, which should hopefully be edited out providing our technology enables us to do so.

Joystiq learned an interesting detail from LucasArts about Last Crusade's inclusion in the batch of first ten oldies that will be appearing on Steam this Wednesday: it is a version never seen before.

LucasArts tells us that the version of The Last Crusade that will be put on Steam is a "previously unreleased version" with "even more bugfixes" than the original CD-ROM re-release, along with a "Tandy 1000 sound engine."

The implication I get is that this is not some spruced up version LEC just threw together, but is rather an unreleased port from back in the day. (There were a couple of those, though I'm hazy on exactly what they all were.) Could this be a "vaporware" American equivalent of the in-all-ways-superior FM-Towns version? ATMachine, I'm looking at you.

The article also confirms that the version of Loom will be the Talkie version (yay for the voicework and better graphics, nay for the truncated dialog and the scrapped character close-ups from the EGA original), and that the Book of Patterns and Grail Diary (physical documents that were packaged with Loom and Last Crusade respectively) will be included in PDF form. Although it's easy enough to find online, I wonder if they'll include Loom's wonderful audio prologue as well?

"SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – July 6, 2009 – Fans have asked and LucasArts has delivered! Today the company announced a new initiative in its effort to revive itsclassic and beloved franchises by making its games available for the first time ever asdigital downloads online.

In this first round of releases, ten fan-favorite LucasArts PC games will be made available Wednesday, July 8 on Steam®, Valve Corporation's delivery and management platform for the PC. Scheduled for release are classic adventure titles like LOOM and The Dig and hit action games including Star Wars Battlefront II and Star Wars Republic Commando.

The complete list of games to be released on July 8 via Steam includes:

• Armed and Dangerous
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
• LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
• LOOM
• Star Wars Battlefront II
• Star Wars Republic Commando
• Star Wars Starfighter
• The Dig
• Thrillville: Off the Rails

"This effort is going to make it possible to introduce a whole new generation of gamers to LucasArts' classic games," said Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts. "It also gives more people a chance to play our games by making them available long after they’ve disappeared from store shelves. We hope our fans are as excited as we are about our plans and we can’t wait to share what's coming next. This is just the beginning. "This series of launches continues LucasArts' new mission to revitalize its deep portfolio of beloved gaming franchises."

Read the whole press release here, and keep updated on the details with LucasArt's twitter.

The press release also confirms the Special Edition will be released July 15th on XBLA and Steam.

Update: Darrell Rodriguez had had a few words with joystiq.

And the reason I'm telling you is that this is the last day you have to get a new Monkey Island game with Steve Purcell cover art, which is an exclusive pre-order bonus. Put your order in if you haven't already.

The Guardian interviews Dave Grossman about Tales of Monkey Island, which is launching Tuesday. Dave explains the lack of PlayStation love so far

There are a lot of logistics involved in episodic development, so in order to keep ourselves sane, we still prefer to lead on only one console for the initial run of a series (it's not uncommon for us to run it on another platform later on). They're all good channels, so we like to spread the joy around a little bit. Wii seems like a great platform for this; also we've already got two other series currently running on XBLA (Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures and Sam & Max Save the World), and our engine doesn't run on the Playstation yet, so the choice was easy.

The full interview can be read here.

Jan "Laserschwert" Hofmeister recently got his crusty talons on the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition soundtrack, and wrote up his thoughts over here.

We're hitting Monkey Mania here at Mojo Mansion!

According to their Twitter feed, LucasArts are plotting something interesting that will be revealed Monday.

Amazing news coming Monday! Super excited! You have no idea how tough it is not to start yelling about it! But it's secret! Until Monday!

They go on to say: "it is awesome news for our old school fans", "something I was asking for since before I worked at LucasArts", "It doesn't have to do with any specific intellectual property", "nothing to do with new IP", and "Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion 2?".

Not new IP, not any specific game or series, but something old-school fans will enjoy and is long overdue? Methinks re-release combo packs are coming soon... or maybe a full-scale assault on GOG perhaps?

Listen To Me, the place to go for inane rants, has put up their first part in a retrospecticus on the Monkey Island series.

Clicky for much nostalgia talk and some anal rape!

So Steve Purcell's sent some exclusive* photos of a very much work-in-progress Monkey Island cover that you should check out. He's also posted some Monkey Island related-art over at his blog, stuff from a way back.

In sadder news, what has been (for me) the face of Telltale is leaving the company: Goodbye, Emily, and good luck in your writing career.

*to Telltale

Mojo's spy network has just found out that Gabez has a secret, second identity as a black, Canadian rapper.

Who'd have thunk it? Yo.

Here's something fun for the sane among you Tim Schafer fanatics: tomorrow, July 2nd, at 4PM BST (British Summer Time), you will get to submit some Brütal Legend/life and philosophy-related questions to Tim Schafer, courtesy of the nice chaps over at Eurogamer. Unfortunately for the crazier among you, there'll be a moderator who'll pick the questions that Mr. Schafer's asked.

It all goes down tomorrow, in this many hours (bookmark that site, it's incredibly useful). 100 Mojo Cookie Pirate points* to the first person who makes him laugh.

*points not actually worth anything, possibly non-existant.

Update: It's live! Don't forget to register and submit your questions! Go go go!

You should check-out this somewhat spoilerific Brütal Legend walkthrough, narrated by Tim Schafer.

Part One, Two.

Don't forget to submit your questions to Mr. Schafer in a few hours.

Although the North American release of Mata Hari was finally and thankfully announced to be published by Viva Media, no release date was attached to it other than the promise of it coming out "this month." Well, a product page on Amazon of a bundle including Mata Hari and some Sherlock Holmes game alleges the rather near release date of July 14th.

The price of this bundle is listed at the quite cheap $19.99, which makes one wonder how much Mata Hari (now with cover art that does not recall Leisure Suit Larry) will go for riding solo. Surely even an underwhelming Falstein/Barwood effort is worth such trifling change?

Telltale has released three new screenshots from the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island, which you can check out in the occasionally not broken Mojo gallery. Sweet.

While it was never more than an ongoing rumour, the rumour about that rumour is that the Wii version of Brütal Legend has been cancelled due to quality and technical issues. Anyone who's ever played the PS2 version of Psychonauts should being saying "fair enough".

This is all according to Destructoid. Apparently the port was in development at EA's own studios, but that's a big "was" now.

I don't really mind this... as long as there's a PC version coming. Yes, I'm still banging that drum and I'll be doing it waaaay past Rocktober I suspect.

You should probably just not watch this as the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island comes out a mere seven days from now, but those of you who want to plunder the spoilerific surprises of (I assume to be) the game's opening sequence can follow this link to Gamespot's exclusive video footage of it. Don't watch this.

Yarr!

Update: It's no longer quite so exclusive, with Telltale putting it up on their blog in handy Youtube form.