The International House of Mojo

In what is a gloriously lovely early Christmas present from the folks at GameTap, PC owning Double Fine fans who mysteriously don't own at least two copies of The Excellent Game Psychonauts can now play the entire game for free until December 31st! If you are a member of that minority or just fancy playing said Excellent Game again, head over to this address now!

It all seems quite easy, and unlike the paid games such as Sam & Max it looks as if this wonderful freebie isn't just confined to the Americas, so anyone in the world can now access The Excellent Game. For free. Woo!

Update by Jason: Moreover, let's say you want the PC version of Psychonauts boxed, but don't want to pay anywhere near an appropriate price for it. Amazon's got you covered by selling the game for a measly $7.97. If you haven't played this game by now, you truly ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Recently Microsft issued a new backwards compatibility update for the Xbox 360, and a few LucasArts Xbox games made the list. Now you can enjoy Armed and Dangerous, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb,
Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, and Thrillville all over again.

Check out the full list here.

Adventure Europe, that web site that you kind of don't hate, is hosting its third annual Adventure Developers Online Conference. For those who haven't checked this out in the past it's basically a forum where certain adventure developers are given a subforum where fans can ask them questions during scheduled time blocks - full schedule here.

The Mojo-relevant participants are Autumn Moon (whose timeblock starts like, right now, so go talk to Bill Tiller) and Noah Falstein, who's going to be there to discuss Mata Hari on Friday between 17:00 - 19:00 GMT. Also on Saturday all the forums will be re-opened for some final discussions by any developers who elect to come back. You might also want to check out the discussions from 2006 and 2005, in which Telltale had also participated. So yeah.

Online everywhere (including here) today are the first three official photos from Indiana Jones and the Male Reproductive Organs. They all look fantastic, especially if you pretend that's Sophia Hapgood (or anyone else really) instead of Shia LaBeouf beside our favorite archaeologist. That second picture in particular is awesome - Harrison Ford looks no worse for the wear.

Ironically, while this movie that no one thought would ever get made is at the height of post-production, the Indiana Jones video game that has supposedly been in production for like five years is being treated by LucasArts as if it doesn't exist. Remember the last time we heard anything about Indy's next-gen adventure? Yeah, it was E3 2006, when LucasArts was talking about how Euphoria is going to replace air as what we need to breathe. I know that the game was quietly delayed until around the release of the movie, but geeze, some acknowledgment of its existence after a year and a half would be nice. But anyway.

Update: Someone has posted on Youtube what may be about fifteen seconds of footage from the upcoming Indy 4 teaser trailer (most likely to be attached to National Treasure 2) but the quality's so bad it could just as easily be the end cutscene of Freelance Police. Still, if you're curious. Erm yeah fake

So you're hipper than hell because you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch and play old LucasArts adventures. Well imagine how hip you'd be if you could play those LucasArts classics on your iPhone. And now you can! There's more information and a compatibility on the ScummVM Wiki, but sufficient to say, most all the classics are fully playable.

More about how to install the sucker right here.

Slipperybrick is reporting a new 3rd party (non LucasFilm produced) lightsaber remote attachment for the Wii.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is headed to the Wii next Spring, but in the meantime you can get your Star Wars fix with this new lightsaber attachment. You can get it now from Play.com.

A few features are a power up/down effect for saber glow. It can also be dimmed down. It sports 22 ultra-bright LEDs and an on/off switch. You?ll need 3 AA cells to keep it lit. These are scheduled to ship later this very month. $31 is all it takes to be a very happy Jedi.

Should be great fun to use with the Wii version of LEGO Star Wars.

Source: Slippery Brick

Kotaku have burped up an old interview with Larry Ahern and Jonathan Ackley, the husband and wife genius team behind the classic adventure game from the days of Yore, The Curse of Monkey Island. Kotaku have added a narrative gloss to the interview in the style of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Also in the news this week: Dominic Armadillo, voice of Guybrush Threepwood, had his birthday on Sunday. Many happy returns!

Source: World of Warcraft, or whatever

Oh man, the site got burned! We think the problem was something to do with Remi's plumbing -- water leaked and it got into the main server, or something -- but he's had a man around and the whole situation is fixed, apparently. The trouble is that it's winter and the water freezes very easily, and a lot of Remi's pipes go around the outside of his house, so -- we'll see. Fingers crossed, guys.

This is actually relatively old news, but since I don't keep up with 360 headlines as much as someone who owns the console, I feel I deserve forgiveness. Microsoft is soon to add a feature to the Xbox 360 that will allow users to download original Xbox games to the console for the price of $15 apiece.

Among the first batch of games, available December 4th, is a little gem called Psychonauts. It's hard to imagine that anyone can excuse themselves from having never played the game at this point.

As usual, Brian Ward is keeping fans in the know about the upcoming DVD release of Sam & Max the animated series. He's most recently provided a finalized list of extra features that the set will include:

That exclusive "Hyperkinetic Bonus Disc" now officially includes...

-A COMIC-CONversation With Steve Purcell!!!
-3 Animated Shorts Originally Seen on FOX Kids
-Sam & Max: Our Bewildering Universe - An original short written and co-directed by Steve Purcell
-Telling The Tale Of Telltale Games - A look at Telltale Games with co-founder Dan Connors, design director Dave Grossman and technical artist Daniel Herrera
-Sam & Max: Ice Station Santa Playable Demo by Telltale Games
-Original Series Bible by Steve Purcell
-Original Concept Art Gallery

Not bad, if I do say so myself. And I do. Hope you guys agree when you pick the box set up in '08. March-ish.

Read more at the Telltale forum thread.

GameTrailers must have some sort of shady dealing going on with Crackpot, 'cause another Insecticide trailer is now up there.

This one shows a mix of DS gameplay and PC cutscenes, and is actually looking pretty good. It includes Chrys (forgotten her name have you?) infiltrating an ocean liner, fighting giant spiders, and talking to a bug in a seedy diner - which was the interesting part for me, as this is the first indication of adventure-like gameplay we've seen.

We'll be reviewing the game when it turns up in January. I'm sure GameTrailers will have several more tantalizing videos up before that happens though.

According to the very end of this video:

the Wii version of CSI: Hard Evidence is coming in January '08, not before the year's end as previously reported. Rats.

Also, if you go to Ubisoft's official site the Wii box art has the "Nintendo Wi-fi" logo on the top left. What the hell is up with that? Surely a mistake right?

Do you remember the days when there seemed to be new Monkey Island fan music released every day, created through a labour of love by budding musicians? Of course you do, and you loved them. A good piece of fan music almost magically manages to induce both nostalgia and the enjoyment of something new.

Those days have made a short-lived return with the release of some Psychonauts fan music that's appeared on OverClocked ReMix, a site that has routinely hosted great fan music for all manner of games over the years. Yes, there're even a Monkey Island section.

The fan music in question is primarily a remix of the background to the Sasha's Mind level, but also works some of the main Psychonauts theme into there. Cool stuff!

Gamespot got to play some of the DS version of Insecticide, and they've written up their thoughts here. As in, here.

There's also apparently a pretty nice preview for Insecticide in either the current or previous issue of Game Informer. Probably worth a look.

Anyway. Insecticide.

After yesterday's Gametap release, Ice Station Santa can now be purchased from Telltale's website.

Like last time, you can buy each episode individually or get the entire season and save a bit of money.

Why are you still reading this? Go get it now.

Who knows if this will end up being a good sale or not? Congratulations though to the guys who founded Traveller's Tales & Giant Interactive (now TT Games), creators of the wonderful LEGO Star Wars series who have just sold the company to Warner Brothers.

The purchase of TT Games is said to have no effect on the company's current relationships with LEGO, Star Wars and Indiana Jones property holder LucasArts, or Guinness World Records, which has granted the company the rights to develop and publish games based on its yearly record book. As previously announced, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will handle the publishing of LEGO Batman, which is being developed for "next-generation and current generation platforms and the PC.

Full article here on Shacknews.

Source: Shacknews

I don't know if GameTrailers has been slipping Crackpot some notes in a briefcase, but there's a new trailer for Insecticide now up. In SD or flashy-pantsy HD. And still there's no story or dialogue, just a few shots of the main character shooting things. It's looking a mite better since last time though.

Oh, and January 8th has been confirmed as the release date for the DS version.

Still, I think they could do with some lessons in how to make a cool trailer. We haven't seen much story or coolness since that first trailer. Maybe this would help.

On the same day as the release, what the hell? We give Telltale some love in the Ice Station Santa review, which you probably won't care about anyway as you're bound to buy the game regardless of what we have to say. Asses.

Also, in another unprecedented turn of event, we give it a lower score than Adventure Gamers did. It's like we actually have integrity!

Woo! Won't have a chance to really play it until tonight, but based on the opening sequence alone the game gets five stars.

Those without Gametap need only survive for another 24 hours, which might be spent scouring the net for some first reviews or expressing your excitement on Telltale's web site, which will soon have new store items to go along with the season premiere. They seem to already have Hard Evidence available.

Playboy magazine held a pretty sweet interview with Tim Schafer of which checking out is encouraged. Although the questions were apparently asked before Br?tal Legend was announced, the article is pretty lengthy and has some good stuff. Good stuff, man.

You might be tempted to turn off your computer and go to sleep after all that reading, but if you do you'll miss this second, even longer interview with Tim by the guys at IGN Australia. Let's take a look at what's going on in there:

IGN AU: Are you worried about the ESRB at all?

Tim Schafer: Oh I'm not worried about them at all. They're going to hate it. I mean, mostly we're just making it to our own personal tastes. I mean, I feel, personally, that you can't make a game with a broad axe in it and not have a decapitation. I feel almost like, that would be a bug. Technically speaking. But I think if you do it with a sense of humour, and you do it over the top, I think it's still kind of light hearted. On the medieval battlefield, chopping someone's head off with an axe is different than beating a hooker to death with a pipe, y'know... I think that fantasy violence can be done in a way that feels - it sounds strange to think that chopping someone's head off can be light hearted, but I think it can be done, as any Monty Python fan would know.

There's also a bunch of new screenshots and concept art scattered throughout so you'd pretty much have to be a huge idiot to not already be there.

As you may know if you frequent the Telltale forums, Brian Ward, a producer on Shout! Factory's DVD release of the short-lived Sam & Max cartoon show, has been keeping fans current on the status of the release. Most recently he's posted a sneak peek at the cover art:



woot.

Some people, obviously not including me, still haven't played TellTale's excellent Sam and Max adventures. Shame on you!

But today I have good news. Episode 4 (Abe Lincoln Must Die) - which I am told is the best episode of the series which is easily the best episode of the series is available free, just for YOU, you loser who hasn't played it yet.

Of course, this may spoil the plot being the fourth of six episodes. I don't really know can't remember. But it's free! And like anything that's free on the Internet, you will lap it up like stray cats.

Download or die hard.

Update: Disregard this, I am blind. Go here.

Source: FileFront.com

For Monkey Island web sites that aren't The SCUMM Bar, existing is a common thing. World of MI, in a display of incontrovertible activity, even posted an interview with the man himself yesterday two days ago. Highlights of the interview include Ron's veiled assertions that he invented episodic gaming:

With Hulabee you had the concept of selling games online and then download each chapter. Something Telltale is currently doing successfully with the new Sam & Max and the Jeff Smith Bone games. Would it be something you are still interested in doing? Or are you already way ahead and thinking of new ways.

I love episodic. When I left Lucasfilm back in '92 my original idea was to do episodic adventure games (mailed out on floppies!). That idea morphed into going the smaller adventure games for kids.

Read it all, and be glad.

Bad news people. Zack & Wiki: Quest For Barbaros' Treasure has been delayed in Europe. I know, you're all devastated.

The first question that came to your mind was probably "Why, God? Why?!" The second was probably "Wait a minute... what the hell does this game have to do with Mojo?"

Basically this game is an adventure game for the Wii featuring pirates, monkeys, humour, cel-shading and fiendish puzzles. It is best described as Monkey Island meets Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It's been getting some excellent reviews too. Oh, and there's an evil talking skull. What more do you want?

Anyway, it's now coming out in Europe in January 2008. Well, I'm interested...

Today Abe Lincoln's appearance on the penny is one cent inaccurate as Telltale has decided to release episode four of Sam & Max: Season 1 for FREE to everybody! (Gametap has also recently made the episode part of their batch of freebies.) Telltale has accordingly adjusted the price of Season 1 to $29.99, putting it in line with the retail version. You can check out 1up's brief Q&A with Telltale regarding the move here.

This brilliant bit of promotion is sure to get a few more gamers introduced to Season 1. For the rest of us, Season 2 premieres in just four days (three for Gametappers)!

Ex-LucasFim Gamer Douglas Crockford details the toning down of Maniac Mansion for the NES.

The mansion contains a number of arcade video games. One was called KILL THRILL. The name had to be changed. Doug Glen, our Director of Marketing, suggested that we change it to MUFF DIVER, which I thought was a pretty good idea. Unfortunately, I later became aware of the NES Game Standards Policy, which stated in part:

Nintendo will not approve NES cartridges...with sexually suggestive or explicit content

Yikes, MUFF DIVER had to be changed again. In order to minimize the impact on the artwork, I needed to substitute MUFF with another four letter word that was less suggestive that could make sense with DIVER. We settled on the word TUNA.

You'll be wanting to read the whole story here. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll probably not dive for tuna.

Update: Turns out this is a near 15 year old article that's been picked up on today by various sources for some reason. Still worth a read or a re-read though!

Source: Crockford.com

Who's birthday mayest it be today? Why, tis Master Smith's, of NightlightTown!

Best wishes to ye, young squire.

Quick & Easy Week [kwik and ee-zee week] adjective, quick and easy weekier, quick and easy weekiest, adverb, noun

-noun
1. The week where bgbennyboy updates his menagerie of programs that help you hack/run LucasArts games, or brings out a completely new tool ? one update or new tool a day.
2. A very lazy week.

Monday: An update to the Grim Fandango launcher!

Tuesday: Rip music in all the Telltale games... in Vista!

Wednesday: A new and improved Telltale Speech Extractor. Handy!

Thursday: A Psychonauts Saved Game Editor. Why get to Rank 100 the hard way when you can just type it in?

Friday: New Curse of Monkey Island set-up and improved launcher

Saturday: New Escape from Monkey Island set-up and updated launcher

Sunday: Improved USB Disk Ejector

Remember! If you have used any of these tools, and found them helpful, please consider making a donation. Benny does all of this out of the kindess of his own heart, and also he loves money.

According to a certain Internet source, today is Bill Tiller's birthday! He will be three hundred and seventy seven ? practically a baby in Vampire years.

Everyone wish him a happy birthday or you'll get no Vampyre Story!

The official Indiana Jones site is reporting that filming for Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was completed on October 11th (hey, mine and Sean "Young Indy" Flanery's birthday!).

To celebrate the site has had a bit of a spruce-up, with new features including a wrap party video (alongside all the other 7 videos) and some new wallpapers. There's a lot of room for new stuff too, with 'Coming Soon' tags on new pages for Community, Games and Marshall College (a quiz page?). Have a look!