The International House of Mojo

In a surprise move, Telltale's website actually mentioned their newest Law & Order release. Law & Order: Legacies has now concluded it's 7 episode run on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Now iOS players can discover the link that ties the season's cases together, as Episode 7: Resolution is now available to purchase (or to play immediately if you own the multi-pack bundle) from within the universal Law & Order: Legacies application.

There is no news on when the last two episodes will be available for PC and Mac.

Update: Telltale hasn't updated their blog with the news, but episodes 6 and 7 are now out on PC and Mac as well. So now all supported platforms have access to the complete Law & Order: Legacies series.

Mass Effect 3, the latest RPG-ish game from popular developer Bioware, got released this March. The game's ending - a cop-out that marred an otherwise brilliant, meticulously crafted saga about space and the aliens humanity would someday alternatively blow up and sleep with - caused a slight implosion on some parts of the internet, prompting several thousand users to campaign to "Retake Mass Effect". These protesters have donated to charity in the name of the cause, but have also asked for the game's ending to be changed.

This is where it gets relevant. PC Gamer decided to ask several game writers and designers what they think of this, and whether Bioware should or should not comply to what these fans want. Of relevance to Mixnmojo are Chuck Jordan (The Curse of Monkey Island, The Devil's Playhouse), Dave Grossman (Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Day of the Tentacle) and Gary Whitta (The Walking Dead), and of slightly more tangential relevance is Steve Gaynor (Idle Thumbs, Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den). All interviewees provide interesting answers, and the article is worth a read.

Source: PC Gamer

A site called Dual Pixels is claiming to have a line on the titles that will appear on the eShop service for the Wii U (the upcoming Nintendo console) when the system launches toward the end of the year. Among the titles they list is Telltale's The Walking Dead. Telltale establishing a presence on the console seems plausible enough to me considering that they're everywhere else, but time will tell if this particular rumor proves accurate.

In other Telltale news, the company would totally love to be acquired by Disney. Learn this and other lurid secrets in this interview with Dan Connors that ran on Gamasutra earlier this week.

Source: Dual Pixels

Grim Fandango Deluxe, the fan project to update the graphics of Grim Fandango, has taken a step forward, releasing an early prototype.

For the first time, fans can actually play with a hi-res version of Manny for themselves, although there are still many bugs to be ironed out (Manny's facial animations are missing).

You can download a file that allows you to see the new model ingame for yourself here:

The Official Grim Fandango Deluxe Blog

Source: GrimFandangoDeluxe Blog

Don't watch if you don't like spoilers!

Update: You're too late! It's gone!

Source: YouTube

Preorders for The Walking Dead are now possible at Telltale's website. As usual with their preorders, you will get 10% off the regular price (US $22.49 vs US $24.99) and get access to an exclusive preorder forum where you can get discuss the game with the development team before release.

But for this preorder period, Telltale is having a contest. Everyone who preorders the game or (for the mandatory 'no purchase necessary' requirement) sends a postcard to Telltale before the 4/23/12, will be entered into a chance to become one of the undead in the game. The winner will appear in episode 4 first as a human, then as a member of the undead. Up to four others will become a member of the undead horde, seen shambling around in the game (or perhaps eating an unfortunate victim).

For your chance to become part of the walking dead, preorder here.

Jump to the nine minute mark. Thoughts?

In our continuing quest to report on two week old news, here is a two-part interview Tim Schafer did with The PA Report a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks to reader Nojan for notifying us of this.

Clicky and more clicky!

Source: The PA Report

Do you remember Marius Fietzek, the German adventure aficionado who won our hearts, not to mention a Telltale internship, along with his cohort Thorsten Fietzek with those "I Wonder What Happens in Tales of Monkey Island" flash videos? He's back to secure another dream job using another unconventional portfolio woven from the fabric of awesome.

Sensing that the success of Double Fine's Kickstarter campaign would translate into a need for new hires, Marius has submitted a resume to Tim Schafer's studio - an interactive one, taking the form of a brief, Monkey Island-cognizant flash adventure game (playable here) in which you're a Double Fine HR goon named Clark who is interviewing Marius, his skill set revealed via dialog tree.

Marius' method is brilliant, and functions either intentionally or unintentionally as homage to the very same technique Tim Schafer himself employed when he sent a resume to Lucasfilm Games in the form of a text adventure game depicting the happy ending to his job search. Hopefully Marius' creativity pays off - he seems to only be after a brief internship, and unlike Schafer he has the advantage of not inadvertently revealing to his prospective employer that he pirated one of their games. I don't know what happens next, but I hope someone will make a speculative flash video shedding light on the subject. I want this to get so meta that it consumes itself helplessly into a black hole.

Source: In-game

Telltale partnered up with its real friends at IGN to unveil this teaser trailer for The Walking Dead:

Kinda feels like an interface-less gameplay clip from one of their CSI games. Possibly to compensate for the relative scarcity of media they've dispersed for the project thus far, Telltale is promising to follow up this tease with a more revealing "debut trailer" come Monday, while you're still bristling from whatever's going to happen in Sunday's season finale of the TV show.

Clicky!

Update: If you missed it, you can watch the final 12 minutes here. (Thanks to Jones Jr for sharing the link.)

The final total raised (including money from premium backers) was: 3,446,371! Woo!

Source: Ustream

In a final (final) update, DoubleFine invites fans and backers to watch the last minutes together:

They also ask that you don't keep refreshing the Kickstarter page in the final two hours, so the site doesn't go down again.

Finally, Tim has posted one last video. This time on how to donate if you're not American or don't have a credit card:

Here's the link you need if you want to donate: http://www.bit.ly/DoubleKick

Update: THEY DID IT! THEY HIT $3 MILLION!

Source: Kickstarter.com

It's hard to believe that it's been 33 days since the news of Double Fine's Kickstarter Campaign eclipsed news of notch possibly funding Psychonauts 2... but here we are! A mere day away from production officially starting on the first Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert adventure game in over a decade!

With only 24 hours to go, the funding total stands tantalizingly close to the $3 million mark ($2,874,158 million at the time of writing), and you can't help but wonder: Will they hit $3 million?

Time will tell, but one thing's for sure: This is your last chance to Tweet, Blog, Facebook about the campaign, or to increase your funding to the most you can afford!

So get to it! : http://www.tinyurl.com/DoubleKick

Whatever happens, it's been a fun ride so far, and it's only the beginning!

Update: Tim Schafer has posted details on how to become a backer if you don't have a Credit Card. His instructions can be found here! Hurry!

Source: Kickstarter.com

The technology news website VentureBeat has unearthed shocking photos of what Tim Schafer is really doing with the unexpected extra Kickstarter money...

Eagle-eyed readers will the whiteboard in the background, displaying Schafer's plans to cut costs on the project: "Hire orphans = cheaper".

And that's just the tip of the iceberg... See the rest of the photos at VentureBeat's article.

Reminder: Only 50 hours left to go if you still wish to support Double Fine Adventure!

Source: VentureBeat.com

In an interview with Eurogamer, Tim made an interesting comment about how he intends to balance nostalgia and freshness with the Double Fine Adventure Project:

Here's why I find this interesting: I have a hard time believing that, had Tim followed up Grim Fandango immediately with an adventure game, it would have been a 2D point 'n clicker as Double Fine Adventure has been described from day one. If you look at Tim's projects up to Grim Fandango, you can see a relatively natural progression to the interface-free, direct control scheme of that game that Tim was never slow to defend. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Tim from 1998 would have told you that the idea of making his next adventure game in 2D and point 'n click would have represented taking a step backwards. Certainly, the Double Fine Adventure is a cede to tradition in some pretty specific ways, not just in the fact that it's a graphic adventure.

Which is no problem with me. The idea of Tim revisiting this sort of game is irresistible, welcome (to no fewer than 73,856 and counting!), and I'm sure something he genuinely came around to being passionate about during the fifteen years it's been since he's played in his original sandbox. Nonetheless, it'll be very interesting to see how much the team looks back as they craft an experience that is "fresh and modern."

Source: Eurogamer

In what's likely to be the final update before the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter Campaign ends on Tuesday 13 March, Tim Schafer has announced several additional rewards for backers of the game.

$100 pledges will now get the following additional rewards:

A "Collector's Edition" of the game in an Old Skool Cardboard Box™, just like a real adventure game!

A neato "Double Fine Adventure" t-shirt.

Both of which are exclusive to Kickstarter backers. Plus the existing rewards: Your name in the game's credits, a "Double Fine Adventure" poster (suitable for framing), and a DVD/Bluray of the finished documentary... all of which are also exclusive to the Kickstarter Campaign (well, not the documentary).

And, of course, $100 backers also get all the previous reward tiers, too:

A PDF version of the book of the game (with artwork, scripts, secrets, and more).

The game soundtrack.

Documentary soundtrack.

Exclusive access to the Beta on Steam.

Access to the video series, and access the private discussion community.

*pant*

In short: It seems Double Fine would like you to consider $100 to be the coolest amount to donate...

Unless of course you've got $500, in which case they'd like to let you know that Tim is personally signing all copies of the Hardcover version of the book.

With only 60 hours left to donate, now is the time to help make history!

Source: Kickstarter.com

Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space Episode 3: Night of the Raving Dead is now available on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad from the iTunes Store.

Just two more episodes are left until the second season of Sam & Max is complete on iOS.

Skip to 00:51.

If you've played either of Autumn Moon Entertainment's two games, A Vampyre Story and Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, you know that their composer, Pedro Macedo Camacho, is a name that already belongs in the pantheon of great adventure game maestros, worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Land or McConnell. The collaborations between his music and Bill Tiller's gorgeous illustrations, hopefully to be continued, have resulted, in the estimation of this humble poetry reader, in some of the most captivating game scenes in the past several years.

That would be why we kidnapped Pedro from his birthplace of Portugal, locked him in a castle dungeon. beset him with a series of prying questions, and tortured the answers out of him for your amusement. Tortured him, that is, with the instrument of love.

Behold the exhaustive interview we pieced together from what Pedro managed to enunciate between screams and blood-gurgling, the responses covering everything from his time in music school to the way he landed the Vampyre gig to how his future stubbornly refuses to show any signs of dimming.

Unfortunately, Pedro ate a fatal amount of manifestly inedible Skink Toes and Eau d'Mojo we offered him after the ordeal as a peace offering, and he passed away soon after. Still, why not lift your spirits to the treble clef and go read our interview with the late, great Pedro Macedo Camacho that was one-and-a-half years* in the making?

*No, that's literally the case.

First, Telltale has uploaded another episode of Playing Dead, their video diary-thingy covering The Walking Dead. There's also a Q+A, so check it out.

Also, Stacking is available for the PC through Steam. For cheap -- $7 for a limited time.

Reddit's "Ask Tim Schafer Anything" event has come and gone, but the answers to the questions are still there to read.

Double Fine has also posted up 10 videos where Tim responds to the questions, which cover both his LucasArts games and his Double Fine games, as well as those games at Double Fine which were led by others.

Find out what adventure games inspired Tim Schafer's career, what Tim Schafer's favorite puzzles are in his games, how Tim felt about the sales of his LucasArts games, what didn't end up in the games he made, how he felt about Sierra, and much more.

See the answers for yourself in video form right here and even more answers in text form here.

The long-awaited and long-rumored release of the Indiana Jones movies in high definition is officially coming this fall.

The package will contain all four films and what seems will largely be recycled extras. Here's Paramount's official blurb:

"A few new surprises" makes it sound as though the volume of extras not already released will be minimal, but from what has been reported about the Raiders restoration, which has been screened to a privileged few, the movies themselves are gonna look like a million bucks, and that's the main thing.

Update by ???: The big question is, will the CGI jeep from the recent HDTV broadcasts be included? Will we have another jeepgate?

Source: Indiana Jones

With banana peeling skills like these, you know they'll make a great adventure game!

Source: YouTube

The Double Fine Kickstarter (now at over $2.3 million and counting) page has been updated again, this time by 2 Player Productions, the team who's making the documentary about the project.

They said the documentary will be like their Penny Arcade series. Each month they will release a 10-20 minute or more video that sums up that month's development progress. They also will be making more specific videos that will focus on the "nuts and bolts of the development progress".

The documentary will have original music by Terrence Lee, who composed the music for the indie game Dust Force.

Also, there will be an "Ask Tim Schafer Anything" event on Reddit on Sunday, March 4th, from 1pm to 3pm PST where you can Ask Tim Schafer questions and he will answer them.

The Double Fine Adventure documentary is in it's beginning stages now, and the first video will be out before the end of the month.

But for the meantime, they have released a blooper reel of Tim Schafer's pitch video to give their update that Tim Schafer flavor.

Double Fine registered a trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Office called "The Cave" for "computer game software and video game software."

GameSpot confirmed with Double Fine that it has nothing to do with the Double Fine Adventure:

"While we can't comment on unannounced projects, we can say that Double Fine's Kickstarter-funded adventure game has not been started, designed, or even imagined yet. No trademarks have been filed on its behalf."

There's been some suggestions that it might be the game Ron Gilbert is working on with Double Fine, but really, it's anyone's guess what The Cave really is. Hopefully it has a better fate than LucasArts' Handsome Halibut.

Source: GameSpot

An editorial published on Gamasutra today ruminates on the effectiveness of the absence of voice acting in certain games. The author was apparently inspired to write the piece when she replayed Loom recently. Evidently having grown up with the original EGA version, she was surprised to find that the version found on Steam is in fact the Talkie VGA version, the existence of which she was unfamiliar with. Outrage, and the article, ensued.

Not that LucasArts gives a flying monkey bladder, but for me this reinforces the importance of having both the original and "enhanced" versions of Loom available because they are such different experiences. While the voicework in the Loom update was quality, the game's dialog had to be re-written, and the close-up art had to be struck, in order to accommodate technical limitations of the time. It is unclear if the new script, at least partially (but possibly mostly) rewritten by Orson Scott Card, even involved creator Brian Moriarty at all. Plus there's a legitimate argument to be made that Mark Ferrari's original, brilliant, and ingeniously animated 16-color EGA backgrounds justifies the respect of being perpetually offered as an option, rather than replaced.

Source: Gamasutra