Source: Telltale Blog
Articles
Since it's off-topic Saturday and Halloween, I felt the need to inform you of the fact that GOG is running a Halloween promotion which includes all three Gabriel Knight games for $2.99 each. Given that at least one of them is a stone cold classic, you should totally buy it if you haven't done so already.
On a more Mojo-related note, The Adventure Shop is having a sale of its own, and one of the titles impacted is A Vampyre Story, presently selling for $12.99. What with you being all excited about the game thanks to our recently restored review, you will surely be all over that!
Source: GOG.com
This time we have two Autumn Moon related features for you: Jason's A Vampyre Story review from 2008 and our second Bill Tiller interview from 2010, also by Jason. Tiller talks about the making of his then newly released second game, Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island; additional back story that didn't make it into the game; and sequels that unfortunately are yet to be released.
Telltale has made the deluxe edition of Jurassic Park: The Game available for pre-order from their web shop for $39.99, which is $10 off regular price.
The following is included in the deluxe edition:
- All four episodes of Jurassic Park: The Game for PC/Mac on disc
- A replica InGen staff ID badge as seen in the movie and game
- A replica of the movie brochure/map, updated to reflect what you'll see in the game
- A replica Jurassic Park staff patch (yes, it's wearable)
- An InGen Field Guide, packed to the brim with content welcoming you to the park
- Exclusive Limited Edition Packaging
- Exclusive access to digital content including the game soundtrack and behind the scenes videos
The game is set for release on November 15th and any buyers of the deluxe edition can also download it from the website.
Source: Telltale Games blog
As the second feature of our Autumn Moon themed series, we present to you the Bill Tiller chat from 2007. Tiller joined us on December 30th, 2007 in the #monkey-island IRC channel. This resulted in a two hour Q&A session that Gabez edited down to a more coherent format which is again available for you to read! For those that want to read every word typed, the complete chat log is also available in our media archive.
Man, how refreshing is it for us to be one day late on news?
1) Psychonauts Mac
2) Psychonauts Vault Viewer
3) Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster
4) Costume Quest PC
5) Iron Brigade: Rise of the Martian Bear
6) Double Fine Happy Action Theater
Some sites, including this one, mistakenly interpreted the "six products" thing to refer to six upcoming things, but that was not the case. Sorry for the confusion. To make it up to you, allow us to point you to these limited edition posters from the press event that you can buy.
International recession got you down? Tired of wasting your days at home, applying for menial jobs in the insurance industry? Looking to take your first step into the heady world of online video game journalism?
Then you should probably apply to Kotaku or something.
However...
If you like working long hours, are obsessed with LucasArts+*, and think money is for the Man, then perhaps we can work something out.
The Job: Contributing reviews for famous website Mixnmojo.com. You will be writing timely reviews of any games that we cannot review amongst the existing staff.
The Pay: Hahaha!
(No, seriously, there is no money.)
The Benefits: Guaranteed job in later life at Telltale Games! (See Jake Rodkin, Telarium et al.)**
You: Willing to purchase new games on day one! We do occasionally get review codes - especially for Telltale games - but they're never guaranteed. We're not asking you to buy every new game that comes out, because - hey - that's too expensive. If, however, you pick up a decent number of the latest LucasArts, Double Fine, Telltale and Autumn Moon titles already, then that's what we need.
Ownership of (or access to) a Kinect would also be considered as a valuable commodity. Who the hell even has one of those? (Except Remi, obviously.)
The Catch: See section 2, "The Pay". Also, there's a test:
If you think this is the job for you, then we want you to prove it to us. Write a 200 word (approx) review of any game in the Mojo database, and send it on to us at jobs@mixnmojo.com. Don't freak out - just write it however you feel comfortable, and see what we think. What's the worst that could happen?
*Basically any games covered by this site - see here for details.
**Job at Telltale Games is not guaranteed.
And we know that's you, so be sure to view the entries of previous years while you're at it.
Source: Phrenopolis
As Halloween is approaching, we'll be bringing back some of the features about the company most closely related to this holiday: Autumn Moon Entertainment. Since Bill Tiller quit LucasArts and founded his own company to make adventure games, Mojo has kept up with his actions. The first feature to return from the dusty Mojo archives is Gabez's interview with the man himself from 2007. Bill discusses his then upcoming game, A Vampyre Story, cancelled Full Throttle sequels (with images!), and takes Gabez out for an action filled lunch!
Oh, and if you're looking to catch up on all the latest press coverage for Jurassic Park, you could always turn to Telltale's convenient roundup.
This whole thing, though, has made me notice a certain pattern, and not for the first time. From the press release:
Created by famed developer Tim Shafer and Double Fine Productions Inc., “Double Fine Happy Action Theater” is a series of vibrant, exciting activities designed to activate gross motor skills, inspire imagination and entertain players of all ages, from preschoolers to grandparents.
Seriously, who is this "Tim Shafer" guy, and why does he always get mentioned alongside Tim Schafer? Is this a subtle way of telling us that Tim, much like Paul from The Beatles, isn't really Tim? Or is this guy's more involved in day-to-day Double Fine things than we know? Because - from the frequency of this mistake - it couldn't possibly be some sort of incompetence, could it?
Source: Eurogamer
The premise goes like this: nemesis and all-around poster boy for the evils of Monovision, Vlad, was defeated, but not before he had time to transfer his consciousness into his pet bear. And that did the obvious thing and ran to Mars in order to regroup and rebuild the forces of evil and what we presume is more red-tinged bad reality television.
Rise of the Martian Bear doesn't have a release date, though Double Fine told us it should be "soon." Like, really soon. Meanwhile, once you do get your hands on it, you'll bask in the wonder of new missions and an objective-oriented wave-based survival mode. Which is kind of hard, judging by the small bit we played last week.
Source: Joystiq
Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space - or Season Two, as it was once known - will be available on the PSN Store tomorrow. (Or today, for those of you who live in the futuristic world of Far East Asia.*) It's available for $19.99, or $29.99 for those of you who wish to get it packed with Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse. More here.
Personally, I recommend getting the game - or games, if you own neither. They're funny, well-realized gems, and can be wonderfully brilliant at times. They are perhaps superior to Hit the Road, and they are definitely superior to Sam and Max Save the World (or "Season One" for you purists). You probably don't want to miss out. I'm happy I didn't.
(*Not that you can buy the game, Far East Asians. It's going to be available in North America only. Power to the border-destroying internet, and all that.)
Source: Playstation Blog
It gets better. The press release, which is pretty funny, suggests that more PC ports aren't an impossibility. Interestingly, the funding for Double Fine's conversion of Costume Quest as well as the update of Psychonauts is due to funding from Dracogen, an investment company consisting of one dude that you would do well to keep your eye on.
And that's just one of the announcements Double Fine made at the event last night! We imagine any embargo on these new products - whether they be more PC ports, new DLC, or new games altogether (we've still a Ronzo game to become acquainted with) - will be lifted in a matter of days, so stay tuned, go buy all of Double Fine's new games, and sorry for not knowing any of this wonderful craziness was going on!
Thanks to Mojoer black_sheep for making us aware of this.
Has anyone been playing it? What do you think, if you have?
In other Double Fines news, Once Upon a Monster was released earlier this week, and we totally forgot to mention it. Anyone play it?
Source: Steam
NSFW, obviously.
Source: neurotech's albums
Replay Games, which earlier this year licenced the rights to the Leisure Suit Larry games and re-released the first one on their website, has announced that they're working on an HD remake of this very game. Larry creator Al Lowe has joined the team and the plan is to continue making original Larry adventures in 2012. If the remake proves successful they may also attempt to remake the rest of the series. The actual development is handled by Adventure-Mob.
When asked about Larry in today's world, Al said: “As a software salesman, I think Larry would feel right at home [in today's Internet age], and would stay current … at least with pornography.”
“Why the hell would Mojo bother with this?”, you may ask yourself. Well, Telltale Games is going to release another game in the King's Quest series, which we'll cover, and Al Lowe did the music for the second King's Quest and worked as a programmer on the third and fourth games.
Source: EGM
This week we were joined with The Tingler, albeit on a dodgy connection from China (apologies for the technical problems there!), and we also find out what happened to Gabriel after he dramatically exploded at the end of the last episode.
Also in this episode: a Cookchase News Round-up of the last week; a round-up of the last five months; settling a HOT TOPIC raging in our comments; e-mails from MarioColbert about meeting Tim Schafer; some exclusive news about Double Fine's plans to develop on the next version of the Wii; the etymology of 'dingbat'; the conclusion of the 'Impossible Sound Contest'; and thankyous and goodbyes.
Listen below, or go to our to download a higher quality copy. Listen to previous episodes here. Subscribe in iTunes here. Thanks to Roger 'Zaarin' Roger for editing and producing. The music at the end is 'La Nascita Della Cose Segrete' by Ludovico Einaudi.
For today, enjoy the suspect font choices of this Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island trailer:
This November, when the first episode of Jurassic Park is released, the iPad will be included in that list of platforms. And before the end of the year, the company will release another 13 iPad titles, including Sam & Max Beyond Time & Space and the first cases in Telltale's Law & Order game.
The article goes on to discuss the potential of the Google and Amazon tablet devices while assuring fans the Telltale's other platforms (meaning PC and consoles) will not be neglected as a side effect of the aggressive love affair with iOS. But I shouldn't give everything away.
Source: Gamasutra
Cracked, a site for anything humorous, has proclaimed that Pirates of the Caribbean was, indeed, a rip-off of Monkey Island. An excerpt:
The video game The Secret of Monkey Island came out in 1990 and follows the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood, a bumbling swashbuckler who must gather a crew of pirates to rescue the woman he loves while dealing with a mysterious supernatural curse. Sound familiar? That's also the plot of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, except Threepwood is called William Turner there. Both characters even dress alike.
Rip-off or not? Does anyone really care anymore? Either way, it's a fun little read anyway.
Source: Cracked
Download the patch, which may or may not blow up your computer, here.
Source: GOG Forums
As a sort of preview for the lecture, Gamasutra posted a five question interview with Grossman. It is unknown how much of the plot of next week's talk is spoiled here, so read at your own risk.
Source: Gamasutra