The International House of Mojo

Friendly reminder: Given the studio's uncertain future, you may want to re-download your past Telltale orders while their servers still hum. Simply head over to https://telltale.com/account/games, log in to your old account, and archive your collection.

The word on the street is that Telltale had recently updated their older titles to be DRM-free. I'm hearing that this is true for all their games from Telltale Texas Hold'em through The Walking Dead: Season 1. While I can't personally vouch for whether this is true in the case of every one of those titles, it certainly has been true for all the oldies I've tried so far. (By the way, turns out Sam & Max: Season 1 is still pretty great.)

Obviously, this only applies if you purchased your games directly through Telltale rather than some other outlet. (And if that outlet was GameTap, you're probably too embarrassed to admit it.) So if you're not one of those poor dopes, get those installers now and worry about when you're going to use them later.

Since Telltale ate its gun last Friday, social media has seen a lot of heartfelt reminiscing from the quasi-late studio’s ex-employees and collaborators, among them Jake, Bay Area Sound, and voice actress Melissa Hutchison. Today, via Facebook, Steve Purcell has added his voice to the eulogy with the following statement:

It’s hard to disagree with his view -- Telltale did right by Sam & Max. And while it would have been nice to have seen more games starring them since 2010 (cripes, has it been that long?), there’s no denying that under Telltale’s stewardship, we got a ton of great Sam & Max content following ten years of nada. That resurgence came not just in the form of the games, but in the Surfin’ the Highway and animated series re-releases, killer schwag and other assorted paraphernalia. Man, remember the old Telltale Store? The one that used to: sell stuff?

Speaking of which: Steve, if you're reading this, any chance of re-issuing that old Desoto T-shirt? My 2006 incarnation and I do not have shirt sizes in common.

Source: Twin Galaxies

Couldn't happen to a more deserving company.

Polygon brings word that -- shock, awe, and surprise -- former TTG employees aren't exactly happy about how layoffs went down at the company, and are ready to fight back.

Vernie Roberts has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of former TTG employees, which boils down to the company being legally required to notify its staff of mass-layoffs sixty days in advance. As opposed to sixty minutes, which I can only assume was TTG's understanding. Should the plaintiffs win, they are entitled to full backpay.

I think we can all agree they at least already have won in The Court of Mojo, which really is what counts for their souls, albeit not their wallets.

For more details, check out Polygon's article.

This all while CEO Pete Hawley re-assures us all that Telltale is not shutting down. We are all waiting with baited breath for his version of The Wolf Among Us, Part 2.

Source: Polygon via Kroms to elTee

While the enduring characters keep an eye out for a new game developer to license themselves to, Sam & Max have been busying themselves with being made into collectible toys. As a loyal reader of Mojo, you already knew this.

Today, Boss Fight Studio (the company manufacturing the collectibles) has offered a first look at the design. They stress that the below rendering is a work-in-progress, but it's surely the kinda progress I can get behind:

Source: Facebook

The Telltale videos keep coming. The newest is unconfirmed footage from Telltale's canceled Stranger Things title.

You can view the video here.

This footage is not confirmed to be authentic, but it's certainly in Telltale's style and gives a good idea of what a Telltale Stranger Things might have looked like.

Jake Rodkin tweeted news that he created an Old Telltale Games YouTube Channel, where he's uploading Telltale videos that never made it to YouTube.

So far, the extras from the Sam & Max DVDs and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People are available.

On a related note, I'm still working on archiving the old Telltale Games websites. That archival process definitely has a different mood now than when I started back in late Spring.

Update: Going through this YouTube channel made me remember my TelltaleFan YouTube Channel. Here's what's on it:

In May 2010, Telltale set up a telephone number for the third season of Sam & Max, The Devil's Playhouse in New York at 1-516-vis-ion-1. If you called it (it's defunct now), you got this message.

In the Wallace & Gromit Muzzled episode data, there were files of audio bloopers. Using the Sam & Max bloopers reel as a template, I made a video of these bloopers.

The Back to the Future: The Game trailer

And just for fun, a silly video I made of Sam & Max meeting Doc Brown from Back to the Future.

Former LucasFilm Games developer David Fox is hosting a slew of Zak McKracken & LucasArts activities at the Cervignano Film Fest this weekend. There may even be is a livestream on at this very moment (Saturday 22 September 20:00 – 23:00 CEST or 11am-2pm PDT). The video of his LucasArts presentation from the day before will also be available soon.

Keep Reading

Source: Twitter

The good news is The Walking Dead’s last season will be completed; the bad news is that will be the end of it. Reliable sources have told Mojo Telltale is closing down, and that all other projects will remain unfinished. We will return with more.

Update: Apparently a team of 25 have been retained to finish up the now ironically named The Walking Dead, while the rest of the staff was laid off without severance. Classy, Telltale. What will happen with the company is uncertain. Shut 100% down? Be a clearing house for outsourced development in name only? Only yesterday, they announced they would publish Stranded Deep on October 9th, so who knows what’s going on there . . .

Update #2: Telltale has made it official, and thus Mojo has outlived LEC and TTG. Somebody keep an eye on Double Fine.

Update #3: The rumor train has it that Netflix canceled their deal with TTG, thus ending development of Stranger Things and whatever Minecraft: Story Mode would have looked like on the platform. Apparently that dried up TTG’s funds. #rumormonger

Update #4: Newest rumor has it Minecraft on Netflix is what the skeleton crew is finishing, which means the Walking Dead tetralogy will end with episode two of season four. I don’t even know anymore.

Source: elTee

Kroms thinks we forgot to post about Talk Like A Pirate Day. P'shaw.

Talking like pirates is so passé. Today's Pepperoni Pizza Day, but since didn't have enough pirates, we present a new holiday:

Pepperoni Pirate Day

You're welcome.

Got an old Xbox 360 Brütal Legend disc laying around? Well, for god's sake, pick it up and put it in your Xbox One, which now is backward compatible with the game. And then play the damn thing.

(That's all I got.)

First, Grim Fandango and Broken Age are out on the Switch, so go grab them if you can’t get enough Tim and/or beauty in your life. The latter (and I assume the former) is available for $14.99.

Poker Night 2, meanwhile, is not available anymore. In an unusually un-cheerful message, Telltale states: "Poker Night 2 has been withdrawn from sale on digital platforms due to the expiration of our digital distribution agreement. We currently do not have any plans to renew this agreement." You can still download the game if you already own it.

(I have no clue which license expired, but I like to pretend it’s Sam & Max.)

Finally, for more Tim, check out (in the sage words of AlfredJ, our exclusive source) "this Reddit biography video thing." I haven’t watched it, but apparently there is a shot of Curse of Monkey Island forty-four seconds in, so consider that official word of Double Fine’s next re-master. Watch.

Update! OK, so Grim isn't technically out yet, but it will be. Someday.

So here’s a story that literally opens with the name "James Spafford," our benevolent founder who embarrassingly forgets to mention Mojo in it. We aren’t bitter, though, and will gladly link to Polygon’s write-up on the Double Fine summer camp, where the $10,000-Psychonauts 2-backers, company employees, and Double Fine forum moderators rubbed shoulders for three days. We can only assume our invitation got lost in the mail, although one of our infrequent collaborators did attend as a member of the latter group.

(Wait, am I coming across as bitter?)

Every Double Fine and Psychonauts fan should run over and read the story right now, because why the hell not?

Source: Polygon