The International House of Mojo

It is being widely reported that high-profile LucasArts employee Clint Hocking (Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Far Cry 2) has left LucasArts.

What this means for the unannounced project he was working on is anyone's guess, but given LucasArts' track record we can probably expect a wave of redundancies to follow.

1up has published an exaltation of the iMUSE system, particular its pioneering use in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. And it's hard to discount the truth the writer arrives at with this statement:

You probably don't need any education about iMUSE, but read the article anyway.

Source: 1up

The Walking Dead Episode 2: Starved for Help is out now on Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360.

The release dates for the other systems have been announced as well. On Friday, June 29, the game will be available to gamers on the PlayStation 3 through the PlayStation Network in North America, as well as on PC and Mac worldwide.

Update: It's out on PSN and PC/Mac at the Telltale Games store and on Steam now too.

I'll give the word to GOG.com as they can explain this much better than me:

Like most GOG releases, the games include several extras, like the Sam & Max soundtracks, and developer commentaries.

Source: GOG.com

Source: GameFront

I mean, there's apparently several. There's this replica of the game's intro made, natch, by some German dude:

And there's this one, too:

Source: Youtube

Bill Tiller revealed today that he's still working on a video for a future Kickstarter to fund the prequel A Vampyre Story: Year One. The plan is to launch it in September.

He also posted an image of a prop that will feature in the video:

Source: Bill's twitter

Here's the press release:

No idea what this game is? We mentioned it once awhile back - it is a graphic adventure game headed up by Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island team member Gene Mocsy, who apparently struck out on his own with Irresponsible Games after work dried up at Autumn Moon. The connections to that studio do not end with Mocsy - Pedro Macedo Camacho is handling the score, and Bill Tiller may have contributed some artwork. Might be one to keep an eye out for.

Our previous poll asked how much money you pledged towards getting a new adventure game from Double Fine and the results are in:

How much did you donate to Double Fine Adventure?
$100 or more, because my walls are naked!		36
$30 or more for the HD goodness and sweet aural stimuli!		33
$15 or more, because I want access!		26
Nothing, because what's a Double Fine?		4
$250 or more so I can have artwork covered in scribbles!		2
$150,000 or more. The DOTT triangle will be mine!		2
$1000 or more, because a mini portrait is a babe magnet!		1
$1, because I'm cheap!		0
$5000 or more. I want sweet DF artwork!		0
$10,000 or more, because I'm a rich bastid that wants to meet my heroes!		0
Total votes		104

The most popular amount is $100, followed with just three less pledging $30. Four of you don't know what a Double Fine is (or you're a smart ass) and only one rich bastard pledged a thousand!

Now that we're all done being excited over the results, it's time for a new poll! Which Double Fine game are you looking forward to the most? The so far titled Double Fine Adventure, the recently announced The Cave, or Happy Action Theater 2?

Rock, Paper, Shotgun did a two part interview with Ron Gilbert a few days ago. The two part interview covered The Cave, what he learned from his previous games, and more.

Read part one here and part two here.

The Escapist has a preview from E3 of the next episode of The Walking Dead. They got to see the first twenty minutes of the episode, so beware that it is full of spoilers. It does show that the choices in the first episode effects this one and that there are even more choices in this episode, so The Walking Dead's branching storyline continues to branch, leaving even more possibilities and reasons to play through the game multiple times.

Source: The Escapist

Source: GameTrailers.com

If you're not aware, Paul Trowe of Replay Games (the company who started the Leisure Suit Larry kickstarter) sent out a message to the press that he wanted to sue Wisecrack games for using Al Lowe's name and the Leisure Suit Larry name on their kickstarter. Al Lowe reponded to the message saying that he didn't intend to sue and that he gave his permission to use his name and wishes Wisecrack Games luck on Sam Suede.

However, some posters on the Adventure Gamers forums have dug up something rather concerning. According to this post by Adventure Gamers poster supaplex, a person called "gamespygeek" has been trolling the Sierra related kickstarters. There is a profile on Myspace also under the name gamespygeek that looks like Paul Trowe. Additionally, the name on the Myspace page "Jiminy Drambuie" is friends with Paul Trowe on Facebook, and both Paul Trowe and Jiminy Drambuie are listed as living in Austin, TX.

Also, an Adventure Gamers forum user by the name of Siddhi noted some similarites between Gamespygeek's trolls and Paul Trowe's own posts.

Gamespygeek wrote on SpaceVenture kickstarter:

I don’t know who the heck this guy Chris Pope is, but I believe in Scott & Mark and their ability to make a game after all these years. I originally dropped my pledge to $1.00 because of the technical screw ups but I don’t think that’s The Two Guys’s fault…I blame that on the Chris guy…he’s leading this effort.

Paul Trowe wrote:

Ask them why they didn’t join up with the folks at Replay Games to create Sierra 2.0 and instead chose some guy they’ve never heard of, Chris Pope, to run a company they don’t own.

All of this evidence does seem like Paul Trowe, or a friend of Paul Trowe, is trying to sabotage other Sierra related kickstarters. And if that is indeed the case, it's incredibly poor sportsmanship and reflects poorly upon Replay Games.

Update: The gamespygeek myspace page has been removed. I had anticipated that might happen, so I saved an image of the page, which can be viewed here.

Source: Youtube

Sam Suede in Undercover Exposure, a comedy adventure game by Wisecrack Games and coded by Wizarbox (Grey Matter and So Blonde), is now on Kickstarter. It has a game design that was created by Al Lowe (creator of Leisure Suit Larry) and Ken Wegrzyn of Wisecrack Games in 2006, and still remains in tact. Al Lowe is no longer involved in the project, and he stresses that his comedy writing is not present, but his game design is still present.

That said, Steve Ince (formerly of Revolution Software (he was director of the first three games in the Broken Sword series), and creator of Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso and So Blonde) is involved, so the comedy factor should be handled very well. He also did the art design of the games he worked on, and was the art designer of Beneath a Steel Sky. So, the game is in capable hands.

Like the other adventure projects on Kickstarter, there are multiple tiers to choose from, each with their own goodies, including a physical copy of the game at $125, along with the game bible and an art book. So, if you like comedy adventure games, choose a pledge tier at the Sam Suede kickstarter

Gamespy wanted to know what Ron Gilbert's favorite memories from the productions of Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Freddi Fish were. That was around the time they asked him. Will you read his responses, or just let it slip?

Source: Gamespy

... and it has the potential not to suck? Maybe?

More news will be released at E3, but with keywords like "bounty hunter", "mature", and "action adventure" we will give 1313 the benefit of the doubt. For now. Go read the press release and make up your own mind.

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