The International House of Mojo

Monkey Island/Deathspank creator Ron Gilbert will be keynoting at PAX this year. What he will keynote about, and whether or not we can get a good transcript of said keynote, is a bit of a mystery at the moment. Still, Ron Gilbert! He had his name on the front of the Monkey Island box and everything.

Remember that Kombo Breaker web site? Nor do I, but they've recently launched a podcast episode with our friends and companions at TTG, Mike Stemmle and Emily Mort... Morgt... Morganti.

I mean, really, stop reading this, and go listen!

So on the 7th, we get Tales of Monkey Island - then, a week later it's The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.

Well, at least if this is to be believed. Thanks to Nickelstein over on our forum for pointing this out.

As many of you have mentioned, releasing the Special Edition after TMI seems like a bad move on LucasArts' part. The game is clearly ready to roll, and it's a digital distribution so... what's the wait?

But LucasArts are experts on the adventure game marketplace, and I can't even figure out what time the sun sets on Melee Island. So we'll wait and see on this one, I suppose...

But yeah, let's not end this on a sour note: the preliminary report is that MI:SE will be available from the 15th of July, and that is awesome.

Igor Hardy, comic creator and omelette eater, is making an adventure game! It's called "Frantic Franko: A Bergzwerg Gone Berserk" and he's just released a demo, which you can download on his web-site.

Igor would sure love some feedback, so if the game takes your fancy and you have a play with it, be sure to let him know what you think. Igor would also like some play-testers for the main game, so get in touch through his web-site or the comments here, if that interests you.

It even has gameplay footage!

In related news: Schafer and crew say "Hi, thanks for joining the awesome Facebook group."

In unrelated news: If you browse the Mojo forums you'll notice that some of you awesome readers are posting the Monkey Island Q&A's Telltale are doing on their special Monkey Island forums/Facebook. I'd link but I can't find them right now, but either way you should check them out.

Out of blue, from Microsoft to you: MONKEY ISLAND: SPECIAL EDITION - the E3 Preview Video.

You weren't expecting the actual game, were you? Still plenty of time for Marketplace Realities yet...

Of note is the fact that they chose to use an image made by LucasForums member parabolee, rather than any official artwork. The Mojo lawyers are considering the legal impact of sending an ironic 'cease and desist' letter to LucasArts as we speak.

Check it all out here.

On the lucas forums, user parabolee has pointed out that GameSetWatch has a nice overview article about the Monkey Island series. Tales of Monkey Island also gets a mention, as do Laserschwert's massive posters.

It’s a gorgeous looking game, though. Not just for something that’s almost 18 years old – it is genuinely stunning. I’m glad they never released it in EGA form, and really, it’s quite possible that they weren’t able to technically – the level of detail probably relies on things like, you know, more than 16 colours.

If you're looking for that second link that's identical to the first link that we at Mojo tend to post after the quote, here it is.

Want to see the final Brütal Legend cover art in hi-res? Then you'll want to be heading over to Kotaku.

Quite brütal, if I may be so bold. Let's just hope that Double Fine's second consecutive lack of explosions doesn't hurt them again.

Adventuregamers has a brand new Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island preview, and an interview with Bill Tiller.

the idea of Ghost Pirates came from an idea we bandied about at LucasArts to play three different Monkey Island characters in one game, to see the adventure through their eyes.

Go read it.

Want to see the TMI chapter screen?

Spoil ahead then!

And don't tell me you didn't hum the chapter tune too.

Now let's all tell Jake to clean his desk. (I assume it's his desk.)

Continuing our unstoppable onslaught of articles in your face, we give you... a new Wallace and Gromit review!

In. Your. Face.

A few days back Mark Darin, the Co-Lead Designer for Tales of Monkey Island, held a Q&A session on the Facebook wall of the Monkey Island Adventures page. It's buried now, and a bit of a jumble, so head on over to the Telltale forums where member tomo_cjt has cleaned it up and edited out the dross and posted it for your reading pleasure.

Tingler Updates: To save making another similar post, Eurogamer have an interview with Dave Grossman about the game, with a few new screenshots!

Of particular note is why Tim Schafer's not involved (apparently Ron's involvement caused some legal problems) and Dave's surprised "no comment" when asked if they would be doing an Indiana Jones game...

Remember the days when we updated features at Mojo about once every two years? Those days are apparently long gone, what with another review, this time of the Xbox 360 version of Sam & Max: Season One: Save the World.

Oh just read it.

The International House of Mojo pulls out another e3 article!

In this last one, Jeff Moeller tells us about Lego Indy 2 and the usual line of Star Wars games, which you may or may not care about. Also included are some fairly awesome Monkey Island t-shirts.

Check it.

Yesterday was the long-awaited release of Sam & Max: Season 1 (now dubbed Sam & Max Save the World to make it a bit less creepy to general gamers). The whole thing can be purchased for 1600 Microsoft Points, and perks of this version include hi-def visuals, widescreen support (also added to the Wii release but still not for PC) and achievements. I'm not sure what kind of control system it uses, whether it's been converted to something similar to Wallace & Gromit or if they've just left it point 'n click on a controller, like CSI: Hard Evidence or the Nintendo port of Maniac Mansion.

Sam & Max: Season 2 (now under the moniker Sam & Max Through Time and Space) will also make it to Xbox Live at some undisclosed time, and its retail releases for PC and Wii are still expected to be out by the year's end at the hands of Atari (taking over from Dreamcatcher/JoWood with Season 1).

Although the digital version was thought to be kaput, it seems that North American players will finally be able to check out Mata Hari, the latest Falstein/Barwood collaboration, without the fuss of importing. Adventure Gamers reports that publisher Viva Media will be making Mata Hari available next month (no more specific date is offered) to us North American folk. Oh and also, this release of the game apparently extends the name with a cheesy subtitle, transforming the game into Mata Hari: Betrayal is only a Kiss Away.

It is unclear if this means a retail release or a digital one, although judging by the press release I'm guessing the former. The game is listed at a quite reasonable $19.99 price, so here's hoping those meh German reviews were being too harsh. Mojo itself will have a review up not obscenely long after the North American release.

It seems kind of obligatory to post about this. Ever since Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released, there have been rumors about a possible fifth Indy film. No surprise, as there are always going to be rumors - you might recall mumblings about Indy4 since the release of Last Crusade. But in the past week things have started to get a little bit more convincing. As our friends at TheRaider.net have pointed out, son of Indiana Jones Shia LaBeouf said the following while interviewing about the upcoming Transformers sequel:

Steven [Spielberg] just said that he cracked the story on it before I left and I think they're gearing that up.

Then there's another quote by producer Frank Marshall which states that while there is not yet a script (which of course means anything could happen), there is an active effort going on to get the project greenlit.

Personally, I would welcome Indiana Jones 5, and I was among the most deeply disappointed with the character's latest cinematic outing. It's just that these guys are all really old, and Ford probably only has one left in him, so why not? It's not like they can damage the series any more than they have, and I suspect after returning to Indy after such a long hiatus, Spielberg might actually be in the groove of fun summer escapism again and be able deliver a satisfying Indy flick that serves as a proper farewell to the iconic hero. We'll see, of course.

As The Pumpkin Post will tell you, Ghost Pirates publisher dtp has put up a teaser site for the game. At the moment it's got nothing to offer but some pirate jokes, but hey, at least it exists.

There's also apparently some new concept art among this stash, hosted by GamersHell, most significantly a big image of the main cast. And as long as you're in a Tiller mood, you may appreciate a reminder about that AVS artbook that's for sale.

In little under an hour people at LucasArts will play the special edition of The Secret of Monkey Island over at Justin.tv

Clicky!

Update: Complete video: part 1, 2, 3, 4.

It's stating the bleeding obvious, but it's always nice to read in print on screen. Telltale's Dan Connors reveals to Videogamer.com that they have their eyes on other LucasArts franchises for future new episodic adventures.

When asked if Day of the Tentacle was feasible, Connors replied: “I would say feasible is a good word.”

“To me I always think of the big three as, and maybe it’s just because of when I was playing and when I was first starting at LucasArts, I always think of Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island as the big three franchises," Connors told us. "Having access to Steve and access to Dave Grossman and everything else… I really love Day of the Tentacle.

“Although I wanted to do, and my ideas always get shot down, but I wanted to see, like a 32-year-old Hoagie, or Bernard, Hoagie and Laverne all grown up with jobs and what not. But we’ll see if that gets any traction.”

Neat!

UPDATE: Want it?

According to LucasArts' Brooks Brown, via Kotaku:

"If this sells, there's no one at this company who doesn't want to do these games. It's a matter of showing that there's interest and this market is alive and get people as excited as possible about Monkey Island Special Edition to show that these things can make it."

So, simply put: if Monkey Island Special Edition sells, we get more special editions. Nothing is planned right now, but they do want to do it. If that "marketplace realities" thing is false, LucasArts will continue making adventure games.

Someone hold back Bad Asp.

The long rumored Wii Star Wars: Rogue Squadron game source code looks to have been stolen and hidden in a shell company. The San Rafael branch of Factor 5 filed for bankruptcy recently, owing lots of money to lots of people, including $4 million to LucasArts and $0.9million to their former employees.

You can read all the sordid details here on Nintendo World Report.

There's been far too many Brütal Legend newsposts cropping around the globe (thanks EA!) for one website to cover it all. Mojo's been mostly keeping to the bigger news, but if you're a total Legend crack addict then the Community Tracker on Brutal! should do you good. It's run by a bunch of trained sea-monkeys, who are catching pretty much anything news-worthy and posting about it.

There's also been a lot of awards-related news and community-related stuff over at Twitter, posted by the Official Brütal Legend Twitter Bird. They've recently asked you lot to get their Facebook fans up to 1000, which you should do as it makes the page official. Go forth and show the mighty numbers of Mixnmojo*!

*Don't embarrass us. Join up. Everyone likes a metal head.

Update: O.M.G.! Ronnie James Dio (the guy who did this) has been dropped from the game. But you shouldn't let that break your heart, because he has been replaced by noneother than Tim Curry. Yes, that Tim Curry. He's not always Metal, but goddamn it's Tim Curry (he makes a hell of an evil cardinal too). You shut your mouth. As Tim Schafer has said:

"Ronnie James Dio is an amazing singer and truly one of the great figures of Metal, but as the character of Doviculus evolved, we realized that Tim Curry was a better fit for the part. Anyone who has seen his amazing performance as the Lord of Darkness in the movie Legend knows why we cast him in the role of Doviculus, Emperor of the Tainted Coil."

You listen to Tim Schafer, punk.

Jesse Harlin, the main man behind the new music in The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has kindly answered some questions, as asked by Laserschwert.

There's loads of insightful insights to be had, including a few references to this humble domain and its hosted sites.

Read all about it!

The latest episode of Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures, "Muzzled!" is out today, and if you're a season subscriber you've already got an e-mail informing you to grab the episode, but, if not, then it's a good thing I was here.

Brütal Legend just set a Guinness world record, for number of people air guitaring. I won't say anymore. This is all kinds of awesome.

Had you already pre-ordered Tales of Monkey Island you'd have access to the Pirates Private Club and you'd already know this. But seeing that you don't, you might just want to check out Bay Area Sound's Facebook page and have a look at some pictures of the voice recordings of episode 2 of TMI.

In amongst all the jizz and hoo-har of Monkey Island fever, you might have forgotten that Indiana Jones has got a new game coming out as well. It's called "Fate of Atlantis Wii Port" and it has a free "Staff of Kings" game bundled with it as well.

Actually, I tell a lie: Staff of Kings is the main game, and apparently it's rather good.

We (myself, SurplusGamer, Tingler and Jason) made a new podcast, all about Monkey Island: share and enjoy!

This time the pod cast is 100% less amateurish, but still retains all the fun and hi-jinx that you either love or hate.

A big thanks to Zaarin for mixing this up, and for everyone who contributed their voice.

Or in the Official Xbox Magazine's podcast that is. Run over to their site or check out the MP3 directly (might want to jump to about 21:21) and hear Dom gush about his first Monkey Island experience on his SEGA.

But yeah, why are you still reading? Go!

For the first time, Sam & Max are coming to Xbox Live. Possibly using the Wallace & Gromit control style, Sam & Max Season One (now known as Sam & Max Save The World) will be available June 17th.

It's seems as if all six episodes are going to be released together, like they were on Wii. There will be added Achievements, HD support, and foreign language subtitles. And the world saw that it was good.

We knew about this yesterday, but for some reason we didn't get round to posting about it. So thanks to Glokidd for reminding us!

So we know what Ronzo thinks about the new and re-imagined Monkey Island games, and Dave Grossman is obviously the man behind TMI. But what does the third of the original Monkey Island design team think? You know... Tim Schafer... God.

Well, in a nice long interview with Joystiq, he says...

I'm excited that you can play the original one again. Dave is doing the new episodes, Dave Grossman. Other than Ron, there's probably no one else that should really be doing that. I'm really happy about that.

So there you go, you are allowed to like the games now. Read the whole interview as it's pretty entertaining.

Telltale has announced that Muzzled, the third episode of Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, will be released next week on June 16th.

Monty Muzzle, a newcomer in town, is holding a grand fundraiser to rebuild the local dog shelter. Gromit soon realizes that Muzzle's intentions aren't exactly charitable and he must foil the huckster's plot to save the town's investment and rescue his canine friends.

Have questions about the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition? Well, join up and become a fan of the game on Facebook, and you can post questions for an official Q&A. The answers will start appearing at 3pm PST today, so hurry up!

Update by Thrik: All over now. Check out Thunderpeel's transcript on the Mixmojo forum.

You'll be pleased to hear that Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis has been released on Wii for the first time today. As a bonus, it comes bundled with Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, Indy's first new gaming adventure in six years.

To celebrate, the latest edition of LucasArts Insider (yes, it's still going) has been mailed out. I only presume LucasArts are mocking us, as this was the picture they used.

Unfortunately I promised not to mock LucasArts ever again after last Monday, so I'll stop for now.

Develop Mag have a huge interview with Telltale CEO Dan Connors, in which he expresses an interest in the Dr Who license (among others - Young Ones or Spinal Tap anyone!?)

"We do get emails from people asking us to make a Doctor Who series," Connors says. "Maybe if we can get a channel into the UK with Wallace & Gromit we could talk business with the BBC, that would be really good for us."

You can read the whole lovely article (at the start of the BETA section) online here.

Captain Kidd and his crew were on the high seas when they were attacked by Blackbeard, their arch enemy.

The first shot by Blackbeard's gunners took off Kidd's forward mast. The second shot splintered the center mast, and the third desintegrated the rear mast.

Panic stricken, one of Kidd's men asked what they should do.

"We have no choice but to surrender", replied the pirate. "He's using weapons of mast destruction!"

Bill Tiller at Autumn Moon has just posted a great blog detailing how he came to conceive Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island. He shares tidbits of developing Monkey Island games at LucasArts and he reacts to the Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition and Telltale's Tales of Monkey Island.

But the cool thing is the fans REALLY win here no matter how or why the MI games got made. Fans get Secret of MI with sound, voice and new take at the old graphics, they get an episodic down loadable game with real time environments from Tell Tale, and in January they’ll get a retail CD, full game, with hand painted backgrounds in the CMI style, but with a whole new story line and new characters, and you get to play ghosts and switch between three main characters. So as a huge MI fan I consider this a win, win, win! I hope other Monkey fans do too.

Yes we do, Bill, yes we do. May you springboard your own marketing plan from the publicity wave that the LucasArts & Telltale Monkey Island games will generate!

For the full blog, click, click, click...

A review of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings has already appeared online. Reviewed by the most trusted of gaming critics, The Alabama Local News, the game gets an A+ rating. The excessive praise in this rather odd article makes the reviewer hard to take seriously:

I'll go out on a limb and declare the following: This is the best Wii release of the year so far, and certainly the best game I personally have played on this system. It's entertaining, it's dynamic and it mixes Wii technology with a fantastic storyline. In the words of Indiana Jones, there is "fortune and glory" in this game.

I'm sure the game is good, but, the best Wii game of all time? Possible hyperbole going on here. Staff of Kings hits American stores in two days, on June 6th. Look for Mojo's own, non-paid-off review not long after that.

After a semi-competent attempt to discuss Insecticide, Mojo makes another reckless venture into the realm of podcasting with this diamond of a listen (93.3 MB), recorded this past Sunday. Gabez, The Tingler, Zaarin and myself log onto Skype to discuss several Mojo topics as well as the then upcoming E3. Hilarious ironies include our relentless cynicism regarding the possibility of anything Monkey Island related being announced at the expo. Hindsight is 20/20, guys.

If you can get past the pervasive awkwardness, shoddy sound quality, and the fact that people (me) constantly talk over others because everyone else was just an extremely distant whisper before Zaarin cranked up the volume in the editing, we hope you enjoy the podcast. Do leave feedback below!

Update: MP3 version now available!

Adventuregamers has posted a lovely preview of the Monkey Island remake.

A release date hasn’t been confirmed yet, but they’re aiming for this summer, as close as possible to Tales of Monkey Island’s debut on July 7th. Despite my begging and pleading and deft use of “Maniac-Mansion-Special-Edition-Coming-Soon-Says-What?”, LucasArts wouldn’t confirm or deny any future updates of their key adventure franchises. On the other hand, they made it clear they love the old adventures as much as the rest of us, even going so far as to say they went to work for LucasArts because of games like Monkey Island, so if this first new revival proves to be financially and critically successful, they’d be happy to bring back even more.

Off you go, then...

Update: Our own preview is now up!

ATMachine reports that Activision has taken the rather baffling step of suing Double Fine to stop the release of Brütal Legend. Eh, what?

Apparently Activision thinks it still has a valid contract to release the game -- which I'm pretty sure they said they had no plans on releasing -- and... It can be assumed they want some or all of the $15 million they claim to have invested in the game back, but really? Seriously?

What has the world come with, what with new Monkey Island games and EA looking to be the good guy?

Update: Tim Schafer: "Hey, if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it. Oh great, now Beyoncé is going to sue me too."

(Post edited because, as Tingler pointed-out, the lawsuit's already been reported.)

I won't let you feel too down about the lawsuit, so here's a Flickr account Tim Schafer created for you ground-walkers, full of E3. Brütal Legend has also been nominated for a couple of Best of E3 awards, specifically from IGN and 1UP.

They've also posted photos of the real-life Tenacious D guitar, which has a little Jack Black doing a little Kyle Gass at the bottom there, the Tenacious D members pretending to be 2HB or the Tenacious D members flying naked through the sky. Depends on who you ask/what you want to see/your own personal sex fantasy (you can sing that sentence). The guitar is going to be given to a person chosen from the Brutal Legend mailing list, provided they live in America (as the official rules say).

PS: Good luck Double Fine!

This is probably the most exciting e3 event ever, and Mojo has a man at the front-line, Jeff Moeller, to report on everything that's going on! Booyah!

Jeff met up with David Grossman and Emily Morganti to ask all the pressing questions about Telltale Texas Hold'em Tales of Monkey Island. Check it out.

Look out for more hot e3 coverage coming soon!

(Note: it wouldn't be "Classic Mojo" without some technical errors at the same time as important news, and so, naturally, the gallery thumbnails have failed. Dan Pettit is thought to be the cause.)

Update: Jeff has written up his first impressions of the game, which you can now read in the article.

Jump over to Spudvision and you will not only see a sketch of the original Secret of Monkey Island cover, but also learn that Purcell will document the creation of the brand new Tales of Monkey Island cover on the same blog. Which is really quite cool.

It's where the booze is at.

There's footage from Tim Schafer's E3 presentation, the new Brütal Thoughts with Jack Black, and of course the spanking new trailer. Unfortunately we missed reminding you about the Twitter Tim Schafer interview, but you can read a transcript.

If you've been screaming bloody murder over the new Monkey Island games' art-style, well you can now rest your fears. Watch this gameplay video. It's completely, 100% Monkey Island. Then watch the stage demo! And how cool is it that the advertisement at the beginning is about Brutal Legend?

Personally I still would like it if they went in a more CMI-ish direction with the art style, but I have to admit the Telltale team have done a pretty good job with what they have. I've bought it. So should you.

You've got to check out this guy's Secret of Monkey Island tattoos. He posting the work-in-progress in this adventuregamers thread.

I just hope he gets a talking tattoo on his chest in due course. And that he updates Guybrush's haircut to look more like the Special Edition version, or the kids probably won't recognise him.

So, with Tales of Monkey Island announced we now have two supernatural pirate themed graphic adventure games headed by LucasArts veterans in the pipeline. That other one, Autumn Moon's Ghost Pirates of Voojo Island (which for those just joining us is has gorgeous illustrated backgrounds and is in the vein of CMI and A Vampyre Story), has some new screenshots out which you can see over at Adventure Gamers and not here since our galleries are all screwed up.

I say "new," when most if not all (I can't be bothered to check) of these screens come from the magazine scans from awhile back, but this is at least the first time they're available in any kind of reasonable resolution, so check them out!

First, if you're reading this on Mojo, go here for the rest of the update to make (more) sense.

Well, it's not quite 2015, but The SCUMM Bar is back. I mean, like, really back. Not just for pretend or April's Fools or wanting your money or anything like that. We have relaunched the longest running Monkey Island mainly as a Tales of Monkey Island and The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition resource site, but plan to expand it quite a bit in the future.

So, what's new? First, the news section. Instead of just posting the same news Mojo is posting, which is slightly redundant, we are now literally posting Mojo's news, by hooking into their news system. If you want to post a comment, you will be taken to Mojo and will have to sign up for an account there to post.

"But what's the point of reading The SCUMM Bar then?!" you may ask. There are plenty of reasons! First, we have put together some large, and ever growing, resource sites for Tales of Monkey Island and Special Edition. And look over on the right there (you're reading this at The SCUMM Bar, right?) -- you can see the latest updates from the Telltale blog, as well as the latest Google News updates for Monkey Island. Want a Monkey Island specific RSS feed? You got it! And... Well, we're keeping it small to start of with, but some fairly major features will be launched over the next week.

Anyway -- The SCUMM Bar is rocking it again. Just pretend like we never left!

So ever since LucasArts flashed the Monkey card and sent us down on our knees, and smiled as we proclaimed/begged forgiveness for almost every atrocity of the last nine years, and now that the make-up sex has happened, you may be wondering what the future may be holding for you. Well, developmag have nailed an interview with Darrell Rodriguez, current President of LucasArts, which should clear things up a little.

Knock yourself out.

That most excellent of websites, Adventure Gamers, has previewed the first episode of The Tales of Monkey Island (although those of you who do not want to know any plot details should probably avoid going in). A snippet, to make the wait that much more unbearable:

Though I only saw a fraction of the first episode, I can confirm without hesitation that this is a Monkey Island game. The jokes are Monkey Island jokes. The situations are Monkey Island situations. I laughed more during this demo than I have in any single adventure game (or episode) I’ve played in the last few years.

Update: Gamespot preview, with obligatory (somewhat minor) spoiler warning.

Update: Dave Grossman is interviewed about Monkey Island 6 (that's what they're calling it). On a personal level, I do hope they make the (mentioned-in-passing) a Monkey Island 5 in the Curse of Monkey Island/Vampyre Story vein, but adjust the art style accordingly. I love Telltale's work, and am very excited for Monkey Island, but personally am not sure if the Telltale Engine is right for this particular franchise.

Want to see the Brütal Legend footage they showed at the Microsoft conference, without having to actually see the conference? Go crazy. May I suggest a second pair of pants though?

Then sacrifice a virgin to the marketing gods who did this.

Finally, in continuing the day-old tradition of old favourites appearing on clothing: Manny Calavera shoes.

Update: You can now watch the whole thing, you bunch of ungrateful scallywags (except you jp-30, you're cool), minus Tim Schafer introducing it the way he did in the previous link. It's amazing, by the way, so you better be paying attention.

Update: Oh man. Watch Tim Schafer talk about the game, but be wary of a lot of spoilers, first fifteen minutes of the game actually. It's ridiculously awesome, by the way, and pretty hilarious. The game is apparently playable on the show floor, too.

The Raider is reporting that the finished novelization of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings has been cancelled.

The book [written by Indy veteran Rob MacGregor] and the game were originally scheduled to come out in June of 2008, simultaneously with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Both were pushed back to the fall of '08, then June '09 as the Indy operation underwent a shake-up.
After that, the game and book were pushed back yet another year to June of '10. But then the ambitious plans for a new Indy game platform were dropped, and the new video game was moved back to June '09.

What a debacle.

Just quickly, a new trailer that debuted at E3 has gone up for the forthcoming LucasArts / Bioware Star Wars MMO 'The Old Republic'.

It's pretty good, and now that we all love LucasArts again, you might like to take a look.

So, Mixnmojo was actually able to report the announcement of Monkey Island 5, and not as a brilliant April Fool's joke. Clearly, LEC has to be applauded. But is their recent respect for their back catalog a one-time thing, or a sign of things to come?

The answer can probably be found in LEC's Monkey Island press release, a document you should read if for no other reason than that you actually exist in a world where you can read a Monkey Island 5 press release. A paragraph of particular note:

These efforts are just the start of LucasArts' new mission to revitalize its deep portfolio of beloved gaming franchises. In addition to these Monkey Island projects, LucasArts recently revealed that the classic adventure game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (originally released in 1992) is included as an unlockable bonus in the Wii version of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, set to be released on June 9. Additional announcements are forthcoming.

I know I should know better than to so quickly let LucasArts back into my life after all those betrayals, but damn if she isn't looking smoking hot in that lingerie.

So we're all excited about the new Monkey Island game as well as the Special Edition, enough so that LucasArts wants to cash in on it.

T-shirts, a poster, and buttons... Did somebody fast forward to 2015?

Go buy!

Unlikely as it seems, this time the rumours were true. Lucasarts has announced Monkey Island remastered for Xbox Live and PC.

Even more exciting though is the button on the bottom right of the page 'Telltale continues the adventure'. It looks like the other rumours were true and Telltale's new game is...Monkey Island. Telltale's site is down right now, so expect confirmation and updates in a bit.

Update by Remi: Some more info on the remake: will be this summer, with updated graphics, re-recorded music, and voice overs. (Although you can also play the original version, and seamlessly swap versions during gameplay.)

There are some videos and screenshots on the official web site, and apparently some old names are involved, including Dominic Armato as the voice of Guybrush.

And yes, apparently Telltale is... Producing it? Possibly?

More news will probably be updated here as we get it. For now check out the official site.

Tales of Monkey Island: Telltale will apparently be behind the brand spanking new Monkey Island series: Tales of Monkey Island, which will be released for the Wii and PC. Sorry, I think I just peed my pants.

Also, there's brand new TMI trailer. And Ron Gilbert has posted his thoughts on the original SMI, and has revealed he was involved in the brainstorming. Oh, and Dominic Armato is doing the voice. Grab a behind-the-scenes look!

Want to see Gamespot interview Double Fine Lead Designer Erik Robson about Brutal Legend? You'll never guess what this link leads to.

Then there was this video premiere for the game that appeared on SpikeTV a few nights ago. It turns out this exclusive, which is now up on GameTrailers, is actually a portion from one of the game's early cutscenes. View at your own risk.