The International House of Mojo

The lovable GameCloud has thrown up a mighty interview with everybody's favourite Steve Purcell, asking him about all manner of things related to recently-revived Sam & Max.

"Of course it was disappointing [for LucasArts to cancel Freelance Police]. It came as a big surprise but I never had the chance to react because the fans did it for me. The outrage and solidarity that they showed was an amazing thing to behold. I'd never want to cross those folks."

You see? At least somebody appreciates your efforts. To enjoy this and many more questions, be sure to read the entire feature.

According to a tipoff on the Telltale Games forum, they are due to appear on Monday 21 November at the Adventure Europe's Developer Conference to partake in a chat session via messageboard.

The schedule has them slotted in Monday 21st November 21:00 until 23:00 GMT alongside Herculean Effort, Himalaya Studios/AGDI, and Totem Games.

The big question is whether Bad-Brain's Wolfgang Kierdorf will be putting in an appearance to dazzle us all with some more (made-up) on the spot news. So far it looks like we're out of luck on that front.

Update: The chat's now over, but you can read all the questions and answers here.

If you thought that J?rn and Vogel were impressive then get a load of this: a hardcore gaming granny who plays Psychonauts (and just about every other game ever)! Check out her blog, this video showing her controlling Razputin in hospital and this video introducing her 1337 skills. It?s impressive (and hilarious) stuff.

But if you just can?t get enough of J?rn and Vogel then JBRAA has been awesome and uploaded some more uber adventure gaming frenzies onto Mojo Art. Go check them out here and watch in awed amazement. In fact, whilst we?re on the subject check out Pure Pwnage too. It doesn?t have anything to do with LucasArts, but it is damn funny.

To all hardcore gamers out there: Mojo salutes you.

And on an unrelated but no less significant note, MJ has update Nightlight Productions with part three of his side-splitting Star Wars radio parody. Go give it a listen!

With the opening of the new Vampyre Story forums some details about the game have emerged or, at least, been confirmed. Here?s a low-down:

There will definitely be a PC version, and the game might also be released on PS2, Xbox PSP or DS.

The controls will be point and click on the PC but full control on any console versions that might get made.

Autumn Moon are still at the pre-production stage working on the ?characters designs, scripts, puzzles designs, rough backgrounds, colour scripts, 2D mock ups, and technology tests, etc.? as well as still looking for a decent publisher.

No release date has been given, but Bill Tiller is really hoping for the game to be finished in 2006. Fingers crossed!

The game will be 3D but ?not in the way you think?; the plan is to utilise multilane camera technology that places 2D painted backdrops on 3D planes, giving the detail of 2D but the depth of 3D. The characters will all be full 3D on top of that.

Naturally these details may yet change as Vampyre Story moves into full production, but for the moment at least we have an idea about what Autumn Moon are aiming for. Read more and keep up to date via the gothic-tastic forums.

Comments: 3

Ron "Grumpy" Gilbert has emerged from his brief blogging hiatus to link to this, a video of some guy playing 12 SCUMM adventure games in 24 hours. Here?s a quote from a recent interview of the uber-gamer:

"I don't want to make the people think I'm a freak,? says Vogel, about his evident immersion in game culture, ?but when you're listening to music from fifteen-year-old games and painting pictures of Guybrush, Day of the Tentacle and so on, you pretty much have to love that shit, don't you??

I seem to remember a similar video where two other people completed some old LucasArts games in a set time, but that might just be the gin talking. Or not? Answers on a postcard please.

Hey guess what? Tim Schafer?s totally working on a new game!

The news isn?t really that surprising seeing as he?s finished with Psychonauts and it?s kind of his job to make games, but, still, it?s good to have the news confirmed. Action style.

Oh, and Tim?s also getting married to "a lady", but the details of the wedding are so secret that not even the highly trained elite Mojo spies know anything about it. But it?s cool news anyway.

It?s celebration time!

Adventure Gamers has put up a huge, four page interview with Dan Connors and Kevin Bruner of Telltale Games. Topics of discussion include Bone, Sam & Max, and CSI. It's a totally awesome interview, and as a bonus you get some concept art from Bone: The Great Cow Race, and even the first screenshot! Reading is good for you.

I recently found out that Hamilton Camp, best known around these parts as the voice behind the characters Malcolm Corley and Father Torque from Full Throttle, died early last month. View his IMDB filmography for more information.

A few news updates today:

As previously reported, Plunder 3d appeared in December's PC Zone. The Tingler has helpfully scanned in the article. See this forum thread for more.

Defying critics, expectations and Duke Nukem Forever comparisions, the new ScummVM Website has finally appeared. Go have a look.

A new version of the self-explanatory tool Psychonauts Explorer has been released. New in this version is partial support for the PS2 version, a new search tool and a bunch of bugfixes and enhancements. More details are available here.

Now available for download is an updated version of Telltale's debut adventure Out from Boneville. Features of this new version include a different trial version (the demo is now the first 30 minutes of the game rather than ending after the locust chase), the option to skip mini-games, and the correction of some compatibility issues. This update notably addresses complaints/suggestions that fans have had with the game.

And good news for people who haven't bought the game yet: Adventure Gamers is hosting a contest where five lucky winners will get a free download of Out from Boneville. Even cooler, just for entering the contest you'll get 15% off the purchase of a Telltale game until year's end. Not sure what you're waiting for.

Yep. The page is little more than an FAQ to get you salivating, but still! Known facts such as Steve Purcell's involvement and a 2006 release are re-stated there, but there's also the hint that Sam & Max content will not be limited to games, which is cool-sounding. And to top it all off, Purcell will be publishing serialized Sam & Max comic adventures on the web! Now is the time to retract your suicide pacts.

Oh yeah, and Telltale also offers the colorized Scholastic editions of the first two Bone books at their store now.

(Sam & Max)

Telltale has been busy. In addition to the next installment of Bone, and preliminary work on Sam & Max, according to a press release posted on VE3D, Telltale has been working with Ubisoft to create the next game based on the popular television series CSI, titled CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder.

Developed by Telltale Games, CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder will continue the authentic experience of Ubisoft's popular CSI video games. Players will work alongside Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows and the rest of the original Las Vegas cast to help solve intense cases and investigate crimes using cutting-edge techniques and real-world forensic equipment. CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder(tm) improves upon the successful core design concepts of previous CSI games, featuring an all-new, real-time 3D engine, enriched character interactions and animations, and longer, more immersive stories.

As far as I know this game will be released as a retail title - you know, a full game sold on a store shelf - but we should probably be hearing (and seeing) more of it soon on Telltale's (and Ubisoft's) website. It's nice to see Telltale working on some larger projects as well as their episodic/comedy comic book titles.

In a new article by Next Generation, Telltale CTO Kevin Bruner talks about the company's business model and while it's mostly more of the same the company's future prospects are really exciting:

Looking a few years down the road, Bruner has big plans for the company and for properties that are ignored in today's market. "I hope we're bringing out a new game every month on a number of different franchises and making the television metaphor really work. We want to be a channel like HBO or Bravo and really seeing licenses that don't play well right now in the game space, find a home at Telltale.

The article also states the company is currently made up of 20 people, and will expand to 30 to meet the demands of working on the Sam & Max game alongside Bone episode 2. You read now.

Thanks to jp-30 for finding the article

The Plunder 3D team have added weapons to their Monkey Island inspired Unreal Tournament mod, and, yes, you will be able to throw Murray at chickens to make them explode.

What?s more, top UK gaming magazine PC Zone featured Plunder 3D in their December issue, saying that it looks "fairly intriguing" and printing a couple of the lush screenshots. I?m without a scanner at the moment, but if some dedicated Mojo reader wants to scan-it-up then I?m sure it would be appreciated (I?m looking at you, Tingler!)

Telltale has lowered the price of Telltale Texas Hold'em from $19.99 to $12.99, so if you were interested in the game but held off purchasing, now might be a good time to get it.

Also, if you checked your October Telltale newsletter (which you should all be subscribed to) Telltale says this: "We'll have news to share on the site next week, which will be certain to interest many of you!"

I wonder if it will have to do with Sam & Max a Theodore Dudebrough surfing game?

With Psychonauts finally reaching Europe in November, Edge has posted a short q&a with Tim Schafer. The closest we come to groundbreaking news is that his next project is currently in the "prototyping and design" phase. That could be a good thing. (Even more importantly, he's an Arrested Development fan!)

For something completely unrelated: is that a Secret of Monkey Island box on the new Star Wars Episode III DVD? elTee thinks he saw one in the cabinet behind George Lucas during the interviews before the deleted scenes. Cue the conspiracy theories.

Hosted by Adventure Europe, the Autumn Moon Entertainment forums are now open. Read Bill Tiller's opening post that promises some Gallery updates in the near future, and be filled with mirth. Talk about A Vampyre Story already!