The International House of Mojo

And they're ever so-faithful to the comic of the same name. Will Penny Arcade Adventures be awesome? Oh, yes, yes indeed: My hype-o-meter is going off the charts. And my chart's pretty, pretty big. Ladies, I am talking to you.

Source: CVG

The GameTrailers Star Wars gaming retrospective has now unleashed its Second Episode, which you can watch here.

It follow the early days of the NES, the Super Star Wars series, the other arcade games... then for some bizarre reason jumps right ahead to GBA and then Lego Star Wars II. Presumably this is all to cover just games directly based on the original trilogy. That doesn't explain Apprentice of the Force or Flight of the Falcon however.

Have you ever seen Darth Vader turn into a giant fat-faced scorpion? A JVC platformer that doesn't mention the Dark Lord of the Sith at all? LucasArts not being mentioned either? You will do... you will do!

If you were to head over to the official Indiana Jones web site you could watch the first TV spot for the film. The 25-second clip doesn't showcase any new footage except for a brief exchange between Indy and Shia at the very beginning, where the adventurous archaeologist tells off the arrogant little punk when he attempts to tell the man his business. Presumably the TV spot cuts the scene off just before Indy shoots a hole through LaBeouf's forehead and he subsequently gets skewered by a renegade, airborne sawfish, has an anvil dropped on his head, and somehow collapses backwards into an open manhole filled with crocodiles.

In any event, check out the TV spot!

So far, you, loyal Schaferists, have helped Double Fine fight it through the terrors of CCP, the battles of Lionhead, the cunning Napoleon that was SEGA. And now, it is your final battle. Ladies and gents, go out now and vote for Doublefine as they go head-to-head with the world's most notorious: Valve. The very same Valve that has literally never shipped a game on time. Crush them.

Source: The Escapist

Mr. Capel has written an editorial "rant" on LucasArt's treatment of the new Indiana Jones contraption.

The article describes the game's strange history, looks to possible sources behind the mystery, and concludes that it is "a whole smoke and mirrors act."

A very rum business indeed.

Rejoice, worshippers of Tycho and Gabe. The specifications hath arrived for Macintosh, but no word yet on much else. Or am I wrong? See for yourself!. You can also play it on Linux. And all you need is a semi-good PC/Mac and a trivial $19.95! Pilgrims, rejoice!

Update: Here's the complete list of specs, supplied by Wired.

There is a new interview on Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness with one Joel DeYoung, Hothead extraordinaire, courtesy of Gamezone. Everyone say thank you to Gamezone and promise you won't ever, ever, ever tell her she has a big nose next time. Even though she does. Totally.

Update: Bless her. Bless her big, loving heart. Lady Gamezone has once again proved to be awesome, for she has brought you another interview on Penny Arcade: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, but this time regarding the audio. Bless her, for she must love you all so very very much for interviewing about things that have "touched the hearts of millions".

Source: Gamezone

Telltale has put up their official page for the fifth and final episode of Sam & Max: Season 2, which is indeed titled What's New, Beezlebub? Check out the plot outline, which confirms what the ending of Chariots of the Dogs hinted, that Sam & Max will be visiting the bowels of Hell:

Judgment day is at hand, and it's time for a showdown with the guy downstairs to bargain for Bosco's soul. But in the corporate wasteland known as Hell, not even the Freelance Police are safe from eternal damnation. Can Sam & Max fight free from Satan's grasp, or have they reached the end of the line?

The page includes all the usual good stuff, including a great trailer, and some screenshots and concept art. See it all!

Ho ho ho, Christmas has come early this year! Thank you, Schafer Claus!

Well, no, Tim Schafer has nothing to do with the fan-made PS3 Psychonauts themes (except create Psychonauts), but you should check them out.

A recent post at the official Crimson Cow forums indicates that A Vampyre Story will not be released in the month previously suggested. Here's the translated version of the relevant portion of the original German text.

A Vampyre Story but will no longer appear in May ... A new date, I still can not mention, except: This year!

At this rate maybe we'll get that highly appropriate Halloweeen release after all.

Update by Kroms: Be sure to also check-out the new, official forums.

Gamasutra is reporting that Ron Gilbert's point and click adventures are being ported to the Wii by Majesco.

The titles currently announced for the Wii include back catalog CD-ROM games originally released throughout the 1990s, including Freddi Fish in Kelp Seed Mystery, Pajama Sam in Don't Fear the Dark and Spy Fox in Dry Cereal, updated to utilize the Wii Remote for their point-and-click gameplay.

Interestingly, a majority of Humongous titles were created using the SCUMM engine, the same employed by LucasArts for nearly all of its classic point and click adventures like Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle, suggesting these new titles will be using a newly created Wii version of the widely ported ScummVM software.

Does this increase the chances of a similar deal with the LucasArts back catalogue?

Magic 8 Ball says "Unlikely".

Source: Gamasutra

Adventure Gamers have a new interview up at their site with Ron Gilbert and Joel De Young of Hothead Games. One of those two you may have heard of before this news article.

They talk about both Penny Arcade Adventures and DeathSpank, which is still just in the early stages of development so don't get too excited yet guys, we've got a long wait. Interestingly though, AG refer to DS as 'Legend of Zelda meets Monkey Island', rather than the usual 'Diablo meets Monkey Island'. I know which one I'd prefer.

Here's a quote about Penny Arcade Adventures in case you're incapable of clicking:

AG: The people who visit our site are obviously into traditional adventures. Can you speak to how much of the game is story-based and how much of it is combat?

JdY: It's definitely a combination of the two. It's hard just putting into a percentage, but you might say it's half and half. It's definitely something we have tried to integrate from the beginning, so that as you are working your way through the adventure game itself you are unveiling the story. The different battles are integrated into the story, but also act as sort of soft gates. You have to have your characters leveled up sufficiently to be able to make it through certain enemies.

Check it ouuuuuuut.

Have a very pleasant Easter, everyone.

We -- meaning Tingler and I -- got our filthy weasel paws onto a copy of The Incredible Adventures of Lego Indiana Jones and have written up some thoughts for you to see. The game should be pretty good. If you want an idea of what it might be like, go read.

There's a new Insecticide trailer out. I'm not sure if it's for the DS version (even if the description says it is) because I can't find a version that isn't HD, which my primitive stone-age laptop can't handle. And we all know that when you try to run more than 1 MB on a stone-age laptop, it explodes, so I'd be creating nuclear armageddon by downloading the 388.31 MB trailer, but you can see it for yourself.

Update: Thanks to Maratanos for pointing this out and preventing the outbreak of the apocalypse, here's the trailer on lower-res courtesy of Game Trailers. You've saved the world, Maratanos! I'd reward you but I'm sure you saving the planet is reward enough.

Source: Gamer's Hell

A little cat whispered in me ear that the title for the season finale is What's New, Beelzebub?

Sounds like it'll take place in a tropical paradise to me!

Have you ever heard of Swarm? It's the working title of a video game in development by Hothead Games, which you all know to be the cradle of Ron Gilbert's Evil (tm). We had no reason to report on it before, but now that we do I should urge you all to go check out what little info there is on the game, including a delicious Pixar-like trailer. I'm not sure if Ronzo's "Creative Director" position means he has a hand in this game - and I'm sure his hands are full with Penny Arcade and Deathspank, and even Ronzo only has two hands and three eyeballs - but it's really worth checking-out. Head over to the game's official page as well.

JP Update: More Hothead news with a lovely big interview with Joel DeYoung and Ron Gilbert over at Adventure Gamers. No "Swarm" but plenty of Penny Arcade and Deathspank

There was never a rumour or a report that Brütal Legend, the latest offering of awesome from Double Fine, would be delayed, and yet here I am saying it won't be. Is it really worth posting about? Have I lost my mind?

Why, yes, and yes, but I don't see how my psychotic urges are relevant. What I'm trying to say is that even though some Sierra titles will probably not get released, Brütal Legend is not among them. In case you were wondering. Like me. For if Brütal Legend were among them Activision should put the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose.

Source: Gaming Today

As pointed out by the superb Pumpkin Post, a Crimson Cow producer named Georg Hach has posted on the official A Vampyre Story forums that he thinks the prospects of the game expanding beyond the PC are good indeed:

We'd LOVE to do console ports of "A Vampyre Story". But right now, none are in production. This really depends on how well the game will be received on PC. But since I strongly believe that A Vampyre Story will be the best selling adventure game in 2008, I would not worry so much about it. For me, the question is "when" rather then "if".

The minimum system req's are not yet final, but you will be able to play it on a very moderate PC. We'll release more info on that when we get closer to the release.

Could we see Mona on the Wii/Xbox 360/PS3? Time will tell!

This is kind of weird, especially since we just got a report that Paramount is prepping a new Indy4 trailer for next month, but Yahoo is saying that we're going to get a second trailer this week. Kinda peculiar, but hey, I'm not complaining if it's true.

Update: Empire Magazine got in touch with LucasFilm and apparently the news is incorrect. The next trailer is still a month or so away. Honestly, not too surprising.

This is cool - Double Fine's own Scott Campbell, the mastermind behind the original Double Fine comic has his artwork featured in the DVD release for The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.

If you haven't seen the movie - well, why not? Oh, right, because of its extremely limited release. Well fair enough. But it's a great movie! If, apparently, a little inaccurate.

Anyway, Scott's cool artwork can be seen here.

What do you mean, 'not good enough?' FFS. Okay, well how about this: Scott C. Will be in LA on the 22nd of March to sign copies of the DVD. Or, as Tim pointed out, "Psychonauts. Or your bus pass. Or your backfat. He loves all of those things."

For the record, my personal high score on Donkey Kong is 133900. This is a high score ;

Source: Double Fine Action News

Also from EIEIO 2008 was a new trailer for the PC version of Insecticide. You can see it over at The Girl Gamer. (It's the first of the two videos.) It's pretty cool.

Chariots of the Dogs has been released today on Gametap's client, with its Telltale release of course being tomorrow. There have apparently been some download issues that I'm not sure have been corrected yet, but while waiting you could always check out Adventure Gamers' glowing five star review, and Gamespy's love for the game as well.

Update: I had no problems downloading the game off the client, so it would seem everything's been hammered out.

Update No. 2 by The Tingler: In case you want more proof that reviews always boil down to someone's opinion, and that opinion usually differs from other people's, Eurogamer's review is now up, and it's not quite so glowing.

Update 3 by Kroms: Yesterday's tomorrow is today's today and anyone who bought the game from Telltale should be able to play it.

Update 4: Mojo's own review is now up, again proving update 2 true!

Gamecock Media Group recently held their "EIEIO" event, and while there, DS Fanboy had a little chat with Larry Ahern of Crackpot Entertainment. Larry reveals a few interesting facts including that Insecticide was at one point being developed as a TV series. Give it a look!

Insecticide is currently out for the DS and will be coming...soon...to the PC as a "bi-sodic" download. Having completed the DS version I can vouch for the game's greatness, but it's pretty clear that the PC version is going to be where it's at, what with the infinitely more detailed environments and spoken in-game dialogue. Keep a close eye on the game's official web site, where the claim that the first half of PC version will be released in "Feb '08" will hopefully be soon replaced.

Gametrailers.com has lovingly compiled a 13 minute retrospective movie; part 1 of a series covering the history of Star Wars video games.

This is just the first episode showing the very early years (Atari 2600, original Arcade games), so plenty more to come. The next installment is due in two weeks.

Well worth checking out. How many of those games have you played?

Source: gametrailers

In rather a surprise announcement (or rather reminder) at the ShoWest convention during a quick chat about Star Wars: The Clone Wars (animated movie and series, not awful game), George Lucas gave an interview with ComingSoon.net about his first original film since the early 90s, entitled Red Tails.

Read a brief preview of the interview here.

Red Tails will tell the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all African-American pilot squad that flew during World War II. And to balance the seriousness of this update, wibble blibble plip plop plap.

Update: Ahhh, that's better, I thought the world was coming to an end then. George talks to Empire about Star Wars. Animated Clone Wars and the upcoming live TV series.

Now, you remember The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Lucas' last TV series? You know how they, despite being quite enjoyable, very rarely made any attempt to do anything that made us love the movies so much? Well:

The live action show doesn't have any of the characters from the movies. It takes place at the same time, between episodes three and four, but it doesn't have anything to do with the Skywalkers. You kind of hear about the Emperor, and it takes place in that world, but it's like you have the TV show 24 and the TV show The Wire; they're in the same place but they're two completely different things."

So, no Emperor, no Darth Vader, no Yoda, no Obi-Wan Kenobi, no Luke, no Leia, no Han Solo, no Jabba The Hutt, Boba Fett etc. Feel those Young Indy flashbacks yet?

UPDATE: That ComingSoon interview is now viewable for your reading pleasure. There's a little of Red Tails and Lucas' films post-Sith, but it's mostly about The Clone Wars animated series.

For extra fun value, why not imagine George Lucas' words being said by a Star Wars character? Darth Vader's pretty good.

In case you're the kind of person who doesn't read the huge, blaring, black headline, Steve Purcell has been interviewed by Toon Zone about the awesome Sam and Max, the Animated Series.

The interview includes the expression "screaming blue heck," the sentence "suggested making Max a girl," and every reason why you should demand a second, third, fourth and fifth season of the Animated Series, and another thirty or so years of unrelenting Sam and Max delight from Telltale.

Source: Toon Zone

If you haven't heard of Drew Struzan, shame on you. Probably the finest movie poster artist of all time, he's so good it's very hard to tell that his posters are hand-drawn and don't use photographs like every other movie poster out there.

StarWars.com has a very nice interview with the man behind the Star Wars and Indiana Jones posters, showing all his work on the two series including the excellent Infernal Machine and Emperor's Tomb covers. Although they don't really mention them, and the brilliant IM cover sadly gets relegated to an advert.

Well, it's finally happened. It's ugly, so look it up at your own risk.

Chariots of the Dogs is now available for non-Gametappers from Telltale's site. Go download!

Hey gang! Remi Olsen is so totally hip. WTF he's doing here with you wasters I'll never know!!

ANYWHO, as everyone knows, Remi has this really mega wicked pod-cast that you can watch and it will make you go "HAHA" and spit milk out of your ears.

And the magical link to the magical land of LucasArts+? Remi's wearing a Grim Fandango t-shirt!

They're available from this site. Go buy buy buy until LucasArts legal sends their legal team to shut the whole operation down.

Update! The t-shirts are back in stock and cost £12. If LucasArts isn't going to cash in on their old property then other people might as well!

That's really all there is to say. Just let the preview do the talking.

A few reviews for Insecticide are already out, and are unfortunately quite average so far. IGN, Nintendo Power, and Game Informer give the game a 7.0, 6.5, and 5.75 respectively. The IGN review, the only one of those available online, summarizes their thoughts on the game thusly:

Have you ever wished your graphic adventure games had a little more action? Or that your platformers required a bit more puzzle solving? Well, Insecticide is here, kind of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of point-and-click and action games. Unfortunately, only one of these elements turned out well. While the investigative segments of the game are a blast from the past, the platforming and combat are clunky and frustrating.

The good news is that it's still early in the game, and that the complaints may not be as much a factor for those without a general adversity to combining adventure and action elements as literally as the game seems to. Plus, the upcoming PC version should surely do something to address the cited control issues and "drab" visuals. So we'll see I guess! Also, be sure to look out for our own review of the DS version soonish.

I know you have it marked on twelve different calenders and that you've been camping-out at your local gamestore for three weeks now, and that this is completely unnecessary because you're so excited about this a small hospital staff are continuously walking around you and reviving you as your blood vessels blow-up with excitement and drown you in a pool of blood, but it feels like I have to: Insecticide, the cradle of all that is awesome, is released.

Plus, I'm pretty sure I don't have to remind you again that it is mathematically and scientifically proven by world-renowned scientists in Zürich that this game will make you the most desirable chunk of male (or female, if that's what you want) since Casanova himself, do I?

Update: Larry Ahern has set this straight, saying that:
1. As Mojo previously reported, the DS version of Insecticide was finished and handed in to the publishers a while ago, so this delay is all down to Gamecock, and 2. the PC version should be available "soonish," which is becoming a trend. Thanks Larry!

Several Mojo staffers have had their preorders shipped already, so the DS version's definitely around - let's just hope it's in the shops too!

With the long-awaited teaser trailer for Indiana Jones 4 premiering this past Valentine's Day (and going on to become the most watched trailer in Paramount's history), there was some doubt that we would get another one seeing as the film's release is so close. However, IESB.net reports that Paramount is putting together a second trailer for the movie that should release in "mid to late April."

The article also mentions the interesting fact that the movie will be distributed on a whopping 12,000 prints, the biggest release ever for the studio.

A DVD release for the it's-not-nearly-as-good-as-the-comic-but-still-mostly-watchable Sam & Max animated series from FOX Kids circa 1997 has been a long time coming, but it is now finally upon us in what is by all accounts a stellar package from Shout! Factory (not that we expected any less).

On a related note, Telltale has updated their store with some new items including the DVD, as well as introducing some new product bundles.

So, you'll be buying it now then?

There is for your enjoyment a relatively recent preview for Brütal Legend written by PSX Extreme. Since details for the game are hard to come by, the new information that the preview has to offer is definitely worth checking out.

Most bizarrely, the preview lists the game as coming out in Summer of 2008, but, you'd have to be a far more optimistic man than I to believe something like that. Anyway, read the latest on Brütal Legend!

You remember how we secretly knew about Jim Ward leaving LucasArts before the news official broke, because someone with a LucasArts IP address got to the site through Googling "Jim Ward quit LucasArts"?

Well, a few days ago, a LucasArts IP address got to the site through Googling "Jim Ward LucasArts Fired"!

A LucasArts spokesperson issued the following statement: "huh? Fired? Who told you that? Oh, er... I mean... that's not true! Ward was our wonderful leader!! We have no internal fragmantasion here! The fact that we're working on a game called Fracture is complete coincidence!"

"Coincidence"? Or all part of...

Yes, we only put up the Zak article a short while ago, but it's already time for us to start collecting reader opinions for the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade article.

I've gotta say, I've been pretty disappointed with the turnout for this part of the articles so far. Surely more than six non staffers have something to say about a LucasArts adventure game on mixnmojo.com? That's why you're going to do me proud this time around and restore my faith in you. It's also only fair to mention that I have a handy list of every registered member of the site, and if you fail to send your own submission, we're just going to write one for you, and our version may or may not include inaccurate descriptions of your weight and sexual preferences. Just a little heads up.

Anyway, now's the time to start replaying Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in preparation for the best article ever written about the game that's going to be published by Mojo next month. Did I mention that you should really send in your reader opinions?

If you've ever wondered what would happen if Tim Schafer had to face-off with a robot bear using a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, today's your lucky day.

A whole bunch-of other designers had to face-off with said bear as well, three of which are LucasArts+ (Mike Stemmle, Steve Purcell and Ronzo).

Source: Joystiq

oh yes

Source: USA Today

You will remember our first backward gaze into the forest of quondam LucasArts; now look again at the second part of LucasArts' Secret History as we return to Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders.

The game is twenty years old this year: what can it say to us about the past? What can we say to it about the future?

(Thanks again to Dan Lee for the awesome art work.)

How this gold has slipped by unnoticed by Mojo since October last year I'll never know. Huge thanks to Thunderpeel2001 in the forums for the tipoff.

Source: Thunderpeel2001

You probably know Jeff Smith's "Bone" as a critically acclaimed and long running independent comic that Telltale Games started adapting into episodic adventure games a few years ago before moving on, but according to The Hollywood Reporter we can expect to see Fone and his cousins on the big screen at some point in the future.

The article reports that Warner Bros. has acquired the rights for a Bone film adaptation, for which Jeff Smith will serve as executive producer. It's also mentioned that the powers-that-be have yet to decide whether the adaptation will be animated or live action. The fact that this even has to be discussed kind of worries me, but I'm sure whatever happens it'll turn out better than that molested Nickelodeon TV version would have!

It's also unclear whether or not this will have a negative impact on Telltale's chances for getting the rights to adapt future Bone game episodes, but then, their desire to pursue such an endeavor is equally unclear.

Update by Kroms: There's an unrelenting snow-storm outside that's the cause of my extreme boredom; but in a case of my boredom becoming your (possibly sick, twisted, sadistic) pleasure, I was moping around enough to find a short, amateur but fantastic animation of Out from Boneville. It was drawn frame-by-frame, to wonderful results. There's a taste of what Bone could be as a cartoon, right there.

The Escapist have a pretty good preview of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, with some new info on the game and the general workings behind Hothead Games. There are very minor spoilers, though, so beware. (I should also probably point-out that Ron Gilbert has worked on neither Sam and Max Hit the Road or Full Throttle, even if the article says he has.)

Speaking of Hothead, have you seen Penny Arcade's Gabe fan-art of Deathspank? Also, I wonder if you've seen Steve Purcell's various pirate paintings? More specifically, his take on Guybrush. Pretty awesome, huh?

Oh, and speaking of awesomness, might I suggest you control yourself and not shower your monitor with kisses, even if they're displaying the awesomness I've linked to? Drat, is it too late all ready? Oh well, it's happened to the best of us.

Source: The Escapist

Mojo is never one to gossip, but linking to gossip is probably permissible when it's about Jim Ward and the current state of play at LucasArts.

Someone claiming to have insider knowledge, possibly a LucasArts employee, has been 'telling it like it is' on the gamasutra site. Better still GameSetWatch has a good roundup of the claims.

But one thing is for sure, Jim Ward was in a no win situation from the start, trying to meet unrealistic expectations - young team and some of the worst tools in the industry to work with. He chose kick ass games over selling out early on a game that was half done. It will be too bad that he will not be with LucasArts to reap the rewards of a job well done. The Force Unleashed will be a stellar success (aka won't suck) because of Jim Ward.

Bring us those games that will KICK. OUR. ASS... LukickAss games.

Source: Game Set Watch

While it's been hinted at several times before, more confirmation that Telltale intends bringing Sam & Max to the Wii (and are fairly close to signing the deal that will allow them to begin development) was posted today on the Telltale Forums by Emily Morganti.

Though obvioulsy Telltale are still not ready to 'officially announce anything' at this stage.

Source: Telltale Games

IGN have a short but good video of developer's commentary on Insecticide, a sort-of Behind-the-Scenes thing with Larry Ahern and Mike Levine. Don't forget that if you buy that game you'll be at least ten times cooler, plus the secret desire of every girl who walks by you.

Source: IGN

Nuts, Kroms got there just before I did. Still, his post was more about the release date of Lego Indy than the Play.com Live event, so I'll leave this post up.

Do you live in the UK, fancy going to Wembley Stadium next weekend (15-16th), have six pounds and don't mind long waits and the duo of an irritating twat and a girl who doesn't know where the shoulder buttons are on a gamepad? Then good news! You can play Lego Indiana Jones next week!

UK store website Play.com are having a big gaming bash at London's Wembley Stadium next weekend, trying to give the UK their own equivalent of E3 (where so many have tried and failed). Tickets are £6 per person (£3 for children), but annoyingly are only valid for four hours. Although I don't know how they'll stop Morning patrons from staying. Maybe there are tracking devices in the tickets, or mini-explosives...

Besides Lego Indy, also on show (hopefully playable) will be Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Lego Batman, Soul Calibur IV, Ghostbusters: The Game and Tom Baker. Yes, I realise the last two don't have anything to do with Mojo and the last one isn't even a game, but it's Tom Baker! And Ghostbusters, guys!

If you're looking for a reason to get drunk but can't find one, be overjoyed that I'm reporting that Eurogamer is reporting that a Top Secret Source is reporting that the Golden Day On Which LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures gets released is indeed June 6th. Activision have yet to confirm or deny anything though, so don't drown yourself in champagne just yet.

All of this according to the Eurogamer article I shamelessly stole from.

Source: Eurogamer

Australian Gamer's 'Yug' has had a hands-on preview of the Wii version of The Force Unleashed. The game is being built from the ground up using a different engine to the LucasArts' Xbox360 & PS3 versions.

The wiimote motions control the swing of your lightsaber – horizontal movement makes a horizontal swing, vertical movement make a vertical slash, and thrusting the wiimote forward will make your onscreen character do likewise. Although it took a bit of calibration to get the stabbing motion down, the rest of it felt great, with your movements represented on the screen almost instantaneously.

The nunchuck controls your force powers, and this is where the real fun part of the game is. Swinging the nunchuck does a standard Force push, while holding C will shoot bolts of lightning out of your hands. When an object (or character) is highlighted, you can press Z and pick them up, then use the joystick to move them around. From this position you can either hammer the nunchuck down to slam the object into the ground, or let go of Z to send it flying off in whatever direction you were moving it in.

Check out the article & screenshots here.

Source: Australian Gamer

The ever helpful Kroms sends word that the first Insecticide review has come in. It's 65% from Nintendo Power, which isn't too hot... but it's only one review, and I'm not sure I trust it anyway. And even if the game is a bit flawed, the premise, design style, originality and influences will still make this a must-play game for any LucasArts fan.

We'll have a review ourselves, as soon as possible. Then we'll see just who is the real power in these waters...

Telltale has just put up a gameplay video from Chariots of the Dogs where Sam & Max find a familiar secret service agent guarding their closet.

You can also check out Gametap's trailer for the episode, which may contain mild spoilers, right here.

If you've recently wandered over to the placeholder page for brutallegend.net, you may have noticed a few changes. Most importantly, the site now purports to launch in "early March" and now has a name: "Brutal! The Legendary Fan Site."

So keep your eye on it. Whatever it is Thrik's up to, it's sure to be Brutal.

Head on over to our hosted Autumn Moon site, the Pumpkin Post for some very exciting news which seems to indicate that everyone, everywhere will be able to purchase A Vampyre Story on its release date in May.

March... April... May! That's not so far away!

Source: Pumpkin Post

The Lego Indiana Jones box art is now available for your viewing pleasure at CVG, which explains the logo plastered over the bottom.



There's also a new preview up by NGamer magazine, which will presumably be in the next issue of the mag but was just so cool they couldn't wait to share it.

The Escapist magazine really has a thing for writing articles on the classic LucasArts Adventures, something we should do once in a while. Anyway, after their look at Monkey Island a couple of months ago, they've now posted a similar article about Grim Fandango.

The general theme of this month's issue is Why Great Games Sometimes Flop In Sales, something that GF and Psychonauts know all too well... sniff. Anyway, check it out.

What looks to bee two new Ron Gilbert interviews have been posted at Joystiq. However it may just be one big interview divided into two episodes in a barely concealed bandwagon-jumping fashion. A DeathSpank episode and a Penny Arcade episode.

How far ahead are you planning DeathSpank in terms of number of episodes? Have you figured it out yet?

We're gonna do a million episodes.

A million?

One million.

Thanks to fco at the Telltale Forums for the heads-up.

Update by Gabez: Kroms electronic-mailed me to point out a further peice of JoyStiq Ron Gilbert good-times reading. In this episode, Ronzo gives a solution to an adventure game puzzle! Hilarity!

Source: Joystiq

Before you yell and scream 'nooo!!!' before running off to explain how Han shot first and how this episode of South Park was the greatest ever, let me just clarify that Spielberg and Lucas are not tinkering with the films themselves. Phew.

However, from the company that can release new Star Wars DVDs every year, we present the Special Edition Indy Trilogy, available in a box-set... or separately. Huh?

This a real kick in the face to everyone who bought the previous trilogy DVD box-set (like, everyone), and what was wrong with that big Making Of documentary on it? That was pretty definitive, I thought.

Still, at least there is some Indy IV content on Last Crusade and the Lego Indy demo, but as the film will be out a week later and the game the week after that, is there any point to these DVDs?

As you can probably tell, I'm not a fan of this idea. But what do you guys think?

Some highly dedicated Spaniards have been working on an impressive series of articles about canceled adventure games, and the latest installment (English version) details the history of Full Throttle 2, which as you may know involved two distinct attempts: Payback and Hell on Wheels.

The excellent article does a fantastic job of giving you some in-depth history of the failed project, including quotes from Bill Tiller and behind-the-scenes details that have not previously been talked about. On top of that, some newly unearthed concept art is included. Check it out.

Thanks to reader Diduz for the heads up!

Source: Adventure y CIA

As suggested in the previous post, IndyJones.net is now fully up-to-date! Hooray!

It's been a personal mission of mine over the last month or so to make IndyJones live up to its tagline 'The Number One Source for Indiana Jones Gaming!' I now think we're there!

Here's the full list of updates I've added to the site:

• Added Last Crusade Info & Music Pages. Last Crusade is getting on a bit now, but is still one of the major Indy Games. It deserves some respect!
  
• Added Emperor's Tomb Reviews and Music Pages, Updated Emperor's Tomb Info page. Been a long time coming, but now Emperor's Tomb is fully updated. The Music page is the most worthwhile addition, as there isn't anything like it on the net. Now you can enjoy Clint Bajakian's last and greatest Indiana Jones soundtrack!
  
• Added Lego Indy & 2008 Previews Pages. Now you can keep up with all the latest previews for the upcoming Indy games on one handy site!
  
• Updated Lego Indy and 2008 Facts pages. Now we know a lot more about both, whether Facts or Rumours! Any notable videos have been put on these pages too.
  
• More Images added to Lego Indy. We'll keep on adding any good ones as they come out.
  
• Added 'Hidden Room 2', 'An artist's signature' and Images to Infernal Machine Trivia page. Well, I didn't know about the Close Encounters room until recently!
  
• Added Infernal Machine Music page. This is the big one, but I've talked about enough in the post below! The only one of its kind!
  
• Updated Desktop Adventures page. Added Info and box-art for the runt of the 90s Indy litter.
  
• Added Greatest Adventures page. The lovechild of Super Star Wars and Indiana Jones finally gets its own page.
  
• Updated Fan Games to include Last Crusade 2. Whether any of these games will be released or not is another matter.
  
• Added Revenge of Ancients page. The first ever Indy adventure game gets a page!
  
• Added Cancelled Games page. A detailed page for all the Indy games that didn't quite make it. Well, did you know the Spear of Destiny actually exists, was actually captured by the Nazis, actually presented to Adolf Hitler and actually now sits in a museum in Vienna?

I'm sure more will come, but that's enough for now I think! Enjoy!

IndyJones.net has been updated once again, and I'm particularly excited about this one. I'll do a list of all the updates once they're finished (which will be shortly), but this one is particularly interesting: the Soundtrack for the PC version of Indiana Jones & The Infernal Machine!

While Zaarin has posted instructions on how to rip the music from the game, it is a very time-consuming process. Luckily for you guys I had a lot of time on my hands recently (unemployment, laziness, etc)!

Unfortunately, due to the legal wrangling that lost the brilliant LucasArts Soundtracks the Indy soundtracks, IndyJones has omitted any tracks that contain the copyrighted Raiders March, aka Indy Theme. The same goes for the incredible Emperor's Tomb soundtrack, with the exception of one track that was released by LucasArts themselves. The MIDI stylings of Fate of Atlantis and Last Crusade however are unaffected. And I'll stop saying 'soundtrack' now.

Source: IndyJones

If by 204 I mean three, but still, that's a lot. First one's from IGN who have the most to say about the game including some descriptions of the beginning.

GameDaily also has a few things to say, but not much. The same goes for the first look by Gametap, the game's co-publisher.

And that's all I got.