The International House of Mojo

Everyone knows that LucasArts has been producing games with fantastic soundtracks for almost 15 years, but has only ever released a small handful of them on actual CD's, leaving obsessive soundtrack-grubbing fiends out in the cold.

The new "LucasArts Soundtracks" website, hosted by the Scumm Bar, aims to fill the holes left in our hearts, and music collections, by the lack of soundtrack CD's for classic titles. They've created soundtracks for Sam & Max Hit the Road, Fate of Atlantis, the four Monkey Island games, and more. Check it out.

This just in from Ronda Scott, the official LucasArts Community Relations lady: today is Ronda Scott's birthday! Ronda is the excellent person who helps Mojo get the screenshots and interviews and news that we run from LucasArts. So be sure to wish her a happy birthday so that she will continue to talk to us.

On TheForce.net this weekend is an artwork-filled description-ridden in-depth look at the upcoming Wrath Unleashed. Anyone interested in unleashing their wrath should be already reading it, though strangely it seems like you might want a general grasp of what Wrath is about before reading the preview.

For more on Wrath Unleashed check out DJG's hands-on impressions in our writeup or the official Wrath website.

Acccording to this post on theforce.net's forums, the latest EGM claims that next month they'll have a huge blowout feature on "Star Wars: Battlefront." Also, LucasFilm recently registered "starwarsbattlefront.com."

The TFN post continues, mentioning recent rumors posted on IGN and friends (which I admittedly can't find) that a Battlefield 1942-esque online Star Wars game is in development for PS2, and suggests (probably correctly) that Star Wars: Battlefront is what those rumors refer to. Thanks to jp-30 in our forums for the tip.

We'd like to wish a happy Thanksgiving to all our readers in the states... and a happy Novembertime to everyone else, especially if "Novembertime" exists. Thanksgiving celebrations or no, nobody can deny the joys of turkey gobbling in midi form! At Mojo everybody goes home happy.

Theres a new Armed & Dangerous trailer up at the official site, showcasing the game's uniquely extreme aresnal, funky TV show style. Unfortunately, LucasArts was extremely rude and built the video trailer into the Armed & Dangerous flash site, so I can't give you a direct link, and modem users are out of luck on saving a local copy. There's a Windows Media version at GameSpot.

This video is damn good, though, and we highly encourage viewing it in whatever way possible.

CShutt pointed me to this thread over at Something Awful, where some dude writes about having the chance to check out some voice recording for Sam & Max Freelance Police. A quote:

While it was just line for line, some notes on the content of the first part.

• There's a couple mini games - one called "Wasp Darts" another has something to do with bumper cars.
• TONS of hilarious jokes in here, lots of monty python referances, some movie spoofs ("Our couch is like a box of chocolates," Max sputters)
• A "west side story"ish sequence, Max and Sam start their own gang.
• A hostage situation with a series of demands that must be met!

Sounds interesting, if it's actually true. ? ? Check out some more info here all of which should be considered highly unofficial. (There is, however, a small sound clip recorded by the voice of Sam for the poster's voice mail)

If anyone's been wanting to get a closer look at that Sam & Max Freelance Police trailer that came out at E3, a nice high-res high-framerate version is now online at LucasFiles (this is the trailer that came on the Armed & Dangerous preview disc, and has already appeared on a few other sites, but now it's up just for you!).

Also, if you were considering downloading the Secret Weapons Over Normandy PC demo, but were too pissed off at GameSpy and FilePlanet's nutty download procedures to do it, that is now mirrored on LucasFiles as well, minus the hassle. Hooray!

Though I think it's a few days (weeks?) old now, we seem to have missed this interview on Games Domain with Armed & Dangerous producer Aaron Loeb. Here's a good quote:

"A lot of third-person shooters focus on stealth and fighting one or two people at a time. The over-the-top element of Armed & Dangerous, in which you face hundreds of enemies at once, really is different, we think. The other element is that we were working with LucasArts to rekindle the spirit of fun that was in their classic adventure games, with a modern twist of serious, heavy-duty action."

All this and more can be found in the full interview at Games Domain. More info about Armed & Dangerous can be found here on the Mojo game page.

Source: JBRAA

According to a release LucasArts just sent out, people who beat all of Secret Weapons Over Normandy's Campaign missions will be able to fly both X-Wings and TIE Fighters in the game's Instant Action mode (Although not both at the same time, unless you're very coordinated indeed). People with consoles also get to use them in multiplayer games. No word yet on the comparative firepower of a WWII-era fighter and a blaster-armed X-Wing.

Gabe of Penny Arcade fame is mad as hell, and it's all because of those dirty, dirty people over at LucasArts. (Okay, so maybe they aren't really all that dirty.) In his news rant at the bottom of Penny-Arcade.com, the online gaming comic artist lashes out at LucasArts for choosing to make recycled Star Wars titles as opposed to creating games based in the Expanded Universe. Here's a quote. It's rant-tastic!

"You want to know the reason I never talked about Rebel Strike? Because I only played the first couple of levels before I was sick of it. I love Star Wars but Jesus Christopher Christ, there are other stories to tell. I have shot down all the tie fighters I want to shoot down. I don?t want to shoot down another one. I don?t care if it?s a tie interceptor, I?m done. Why not take this opportunity to introduce the casual Star Wars fans as you call them to the wonders of the [Expanded Universe]?"

Check the link and scroll down to read the rant in full.

This is a week or so old, but I need to post something on Mojo before they take away my snack bar privileges...again. In case you didn't know already, Knights of the Old Republic is now available for PC, and to celebrate this, LFNetwork's center for hot KOTOR action, StarWarsKnights.com, has a shiny new design. So if you're an RPG fan like I'm not, or even if you're not, like I am, check out The New SWK.com for the latest on Knights.

The funny/crazy/infamous online gaming comic Penny Arcade has written up a brief impression of LucasArts' Gladius. What does Tycho think? Well, he starts out by saying, "I think they did a pretty good job", so you know it can't be too bad. Check out this link to read the whole paragraph consisting of Gladius goodness.

There's also some good interesting Star Wars musing about the Expanded Universe going on both in today's comic and in the rest of the news posts as well.

After three or four years without the ability to search our news archives, we've received a lot of emails telling us we're idiots. Well, you can all shut up now, because the news post archive is now fully searchable! (If you're wondering how to get to that link normally, look at the bottom of this page, or at the bottom of any news comments page)

The other nice addition added tonignt is that when you click on the name of a news updater (or a user who has posted a comment), you'll actually be able to email them. Up until an hour ago, the usernames just linked to nowhere. Oops.

Thanks to tabacco for getting the search script up and running.

Earlier it was reported that Secret Weapons Over Normandy would be receiving a fully orchestral score. It did. Now it seems LucasArts has taken it one step further, and will be releasing a soundtrack CD. According to this report on Music 4 Games, the soundtrack is a 2 disc set, with one CD containing the score, and a second CD of bonus material type stuff. The soundtrack will be available around December 9th, and can be ordered now from La-La Land Records.

As most people know, it is nearly impossible to find copies of Sam & Max comic books. Even the bundled "Surfin the Highway" archival collection that was released in the late 90's is tough to come by these days. But really, how rare is it? Well, according to Amazon.com, the book's worth the "low price" of $150. If ever anything deserved a "holy jumpin' mother of God in a sidecar with chocolate jimmies and a lobster bib," this is it. Yeesh.

Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker has re-uploaded his game guide and walkthrough site for the classic Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade adventure game, and in addition to the old Last Crusade site, he's added a new section dedicated to helping you through Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Check it out at indyguide.mixnmojo.com.

Anyone out there already in posession of, or looking to buy Secret Weapons Over Normandy should be interested to know that the first downloadable SWON content has been made available via XBox Live, the XBox online network. The downloadable bonuses include two planes (Vought F4U Corsair Fighter and P-40E "Kittyhawk") and a new paintjob skin for one of the existing planes.

It sounds like LucasArts and Totally Games plan on continuing to dump bonus content into this game via Live over the coming months, so that's probably worth checking out. I'd personally love a plane with Max's gaping tooth-filled maw painted on the nose, but you know. More on the new XBox Live content can be found at the official SWON website.

GameSpot has run part three of their continuing developer diary series for Armed & Dangerous. This week's entry talks about the amount of work that goes into each bit of a game, and tracks one line of dialogue from it's inception in a bar one night to it's fully post-processed appearance in the game.

Honestly, now that I've made a game, I am convinced it's impossible. ... Making games is like the Road Runner cartoons. When Wile E. Coyote runs off a cliff and doesn't fall because he hasn't realized it's impossible for him to run in midair, he's a video game developer. As long as you don't look down and realize you're doomed to fall, you can keep running.

You can find part 1 of the diary here, and part two here. Note that part 2 is written by official captain of awesome (and official Armed & Dangerous complainer), Dan Pettit.

Anyone with an XBox should have already picked up this month's Official XBox Magazine, whose coverdisc contains a playable Armed & Dangerous demo. For the rest of us, IGN has uploaded five gameplay videos for you to take a look at. Says the Scumm Bar's RemiO about the A&D demo: "This is the most addictive, funny, pure fun game I've played in ages, reminiscent of those old Amiga games where gameplay and originality took the front seat to flashy graphics."

A new release has come and gone, and with it, a first batch of reviews. This time, the critics take a look at Secret Weapons Over Normandy. Here we go...<:MORENEWS:>

GameSpy gives the title 4 out of 5 stars, saying that "Normandy is the opposite of realistic in too many ways to count, and that's what makes it fun... everything is geared toward ease of play and the thrill of conflict." GameSpy also praises the game's level design and live orchestral score.

Gaming Age gives the new Larry Holland game a B+. "In short," the reviewer writes, "Secret Weapons Over Normandy looks very good, it's just not a graphical powerhouse. It looks more like an old WWII movie than a summer blockbuster, which fits perfectly... The story is interesting, well told and serves as the perfect excuse to get into the cockpit of the era's most famous aircraft."

IGN gives the game a reasonable 8.0 out of 10. "First and foremost," the four-page article states, "Secret Weapons attempts to bridge the gap between historical accuracy and arcade sensibility... LucasArts can realize much higher returns on their investment development with the PS2 and Xbox versions and it's apparent that that's the target for this game."

Secret Weapons Over Normandy is in stores now for the PC, PS2, and Xbox.

Whilst we've been away there have been no sites on the Internet (except maybe this one) to point at the blatherings of Mr. Schafer over at Double Fine Action News. This week: Tim gets naked whilst ranting about serif fonts and shows us his dancing liver!

That's what it was like. I would say that everybody was laughing at me, except nobody said nothing, which can only mean one thing: nobody is reading the Double Fine Action News.

Prove him wrong... Wasn't he making a game of some sort at one point? RELEASE IT ALREADY!

LucasArts has announced that it is running one monster of a contest on behalf of Knights of the Old Republic.

First prize is a some-expenses-paid trip to California to tour the LucasArts building and have your likeness put into a game. For those of you who always wanted to play a part as Guybrush?s sister or Stormtrooper #2859, this may be your chance. Other prizes include an Alienware PC, a replica of Obi-Wan?s lightsaber, and LucasArts games.

Click here to enter the contest. And as for those of you living outside the US and/or are under the age of 18, you?re once again out of luck.

* The possibility of playing Guybrush?s sister or some stormtrooper is pure speculation on my part.

I'm not really here, I'm dead... Let me explain: I was about to help, but then a night dwelling rabbit shot me... Erm, I fell into... a kind of... pit. Yes, pit. A pit filled with... flaming... Erm, zombie-spiders?... And I... I... I... I was too lazy, bored and busy to help rebuild (save) Mojo. I Admit it!!

I guess there's only so many times a man can rebuild Teh Mojo before he can't be bothered any more. It's true what Jake said though, tears of joy were indeed shed.

Welcome back again then Mojo. "Triple Ulimate?" thanks to all you cheeky folk who got it back online. I will now skulk off into the corner and wait for some kind of random, but never the less amusing, mildly related LucasArts Tidbit? to post.

Well, we sure have been gone for a while. Sorry about that. And while we were gone, a ton of things have happened in the world o' LucasArts, good and bad. Here are some of the major events in no particular order:<:MORENEWS:>

• Hal Barwood's RTX Red Rock was released, earning mostly negative reviews and poor sales.


• Hal Barwood left LucasArts shortly after.


• The eagerly anticipated Star Wars Galaxies was released. Reviews were mixed and the launch was a little dicey, but the future could be bright for this online thingy.


• Knights of the Old Republic was released to rave reviews and phenomenal sales. Rumors of a sequel have already begun.


• LucasArts PR guy Tom Sarris left the company. So long, Tom.


• Full Throttle 2: Hell on Wheels was cancelled. LucasArts President Simon Jeffery stated that the company didn't want to risk disappointing fans of the original.


• Simon Jeffery surprised us all by turning in his rather sudden resignation. LucasArts PR stated that Simon wishes to return to his friends and family in England, although it's all very fishy...


• Rogue Leader: Rebel Strike was released for Gamecube, getting mostly positive reviews.


• Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy was released for PC and seems to be doing pretty well. Expect the Xbox version in stores next week.


• Gladius came out for the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. Reviews have been fairly positive so far.


• Secret Weapons Over Normandy went gold.


• Armed and Dangerous went gold.


• I bought a new plant for my desk at work

Well there ya go. I'm sure I've missed some things, but those are the major events that I can think up at the moment. Feel free to drop a comment and add to the list.

Those theorizing that Mojo is in fact cursed may be on to something. Yes, less than a day of uptime and the server decided it would do a nice faceplant for about 6 hours. Lovely. To celebrate this, the first ever downtime since the last one, I have compiled a brief list of downtime-related posts which have appeared on Mojo over the years...

Here's from when Mojo 7 opened following a 2 or 3 week delay in 2000, this gem is the first sign of life after our 4 month vacation in '01-'02, and finally this now lie-filled post was the last post from Mojo 8 to survive the hacker attack. Ahh, dreams of downtime, MojoMessenger, and folder-tab navigation...

Good God. Five months. Five. It's always right in the middle of our E3 coverage, too, isn't it? Mojo is at the top of it's game, actually managing to provide daily feature stories and news updates when --blip-- all is deleted.

But fear not. We've wasted some no time in getting back to you with an all new site featuring some additions you won't hate! First off, if you don't have a user account, we suggest signing up. After that, you have no choice but to check out the gigantic Game Database, featuring a lot of information you didn't know you wanted to know. Maybe top it off with a visit to the new good news archive, dating back to 2000 (AKA "Mojo 7"). We'll be adding more games, walkthroughs, and in-jokes to the game database, as well as a searchable news archive, in the coming weeks!

Also, don't miss our interview with Grim Fandango and Psychonauts composer Peter McConnell, and our review of Jedi Academy. And finally, if you're incredibly bored, you can find out who's online reading the site. We'll be heaping more content on in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Ultimate awesome X-Treme thanks to DJG, Remi, tabacco, and Metallus for helping get all the code and content prepared! Triple ultimate thanks to Spaff for saying he was going to cry tears of joy upon viewing the half-completed site. ?

We've done what none thought possible: Mixnmojo got a Star Wars gaming fan to write the review of a Star Wars game. Yes, LFNetwork's Boba Rhett has written us up a nice review of Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. It's a good honest review that deserves your patronage, so you'd best be off, then.

Okay, so we actually did this interview back in May at E3, but we're running it now! Peter McConnell, composer behind the soundtracks to Grim Fandango and Full Throttle agreed to talk to us about his upcoming game scores. Unfortunately for us (and him), one of the two was Full Throttle 2. Fortunately for everyone, the other upcoming McConnell score is Psychonauts. Check it out for McConnell goodness and a few bonus MP3's.

Bgbennyboy has come out of self-imposed-Internet-exile to release a new version of ScummVM Quick & Easy, his popular ScummVM front-end for those who don't want to deal with managing their ScummVM config files and such themselves.

New bits in this version include support for ScummVM's new graphic and sound modes, the ability to jump to various points in the game via (gratuitously annotated) boot paramaters, and more. Check it out at Quick & Easy.

Since Mojo's clearly not back yet (though we promise it will return!), we haven't exactly been doing our job of keeping everyone up to date with previews of upcoming LEC titles. However, there are nice previews of Armed & Dangerous here, and Wrath Unleashed here. Both are worth checking out, as both of those games look like they could be good and fun in their own sort of off-beat ways. Also, Armed & Dangerous's official site has been given a face lift, featuring quality comedy marketing copy.

The reviews are in, and it seems like Gladius may have somewhat shaken off the curse of the poorly reviewed LucasArts in-house titles.

In its review, GameSpot gives a score of 8.7 and states that "Gladius is not just a great game but, in certain ways, a pioneering one." Games Domain gives the title a 4 out of 5 rating and warns that "late nights await its purchasers." PlayStation Magazine also gives the game 4 out of 5 stars and states, "A ridiculous concept? Yes. But also fun and engrossing."

The only negative review thus far seems to be from GameTab, still giving the title a 3.0 on a scale of 5. The reviewer acknowledges that the game has strong graphics and sound, but feels that the maladjusted controls and storytelling make the game "an unforgiving trip into gladiator lore." Now we just have to see how the game does financially, eh?