The International House of Mojo

A set of giant, high-resolution icons for ScummVM/Lucasarts games have been released. Author Thanius offers them for download as both png's and standard windows icons. Further icons are still being added so keep an eye on this forum thread for future updates.

Vista users will also want to check out the Sam and Max icons offered on the Telltale forums.

Source: ScummVM Forums

Gametrailers has put up a brief gameplay video of the DS version of the action/adventure Insecticide, showing Chrys gunning and platforming it up while wacky things happen on the lower screen.

Definitely an interesting peak that makes me want to see more. It also makes me wonder how similar the PC and DS versions (the latter exclusively featuring a multiplayer mode) will be.

That loveable wizard ATMachine has updated his web-site with a possible Pirates of the Caribbean reference found in The Curse of Monkey Island. If you?ve played the game, you may remember that there is a portrait of a women in the Goodsoup Hotel bar. Well, that?s almost probably perhaps a take on a similar portrait in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Read more on this forum thread, or see extra pictures, plus evidence of another reference the picture has to Marcel Duchamp and Dadaism, on ATMachine?s excellent website.

Source: A.G. Forums

Part three of Nightlight Production?s radio play Beneath Monkey Island has now been released. In this thrilling instalment, Karl and Guybrush continue on their voyage to Monkey Island, while LeChuck hatches a nefarious plan with his henchman, Number Two.

Listen to the current episode, and past episodes, over at Nightlight.

Scumm VM got an update yesterday, and now supports more games, including Sierra's Space Quest I & II and King's Quest I-III. There have also been numerous fixes and improvements to what happens behind the scenes; read the details over on the official site.

If you didn?t already know, Scumm VM lets people run old adventure games (primarily the LucasArts titles) with ease and a minimum of fuss, on any machine, whether it be old or new. Sound and graphical improvement are also available.

Do we care about Ankh? I'm really not sure. We haven't mentioned it often, as despite having some connection to LucasArts (Telltale helped BHV Deck13 out a bit with the first game) they more fall into the category of 'general adventure news' that we usually leave to the obsessives.

Then this bit of news caught my eye: Ankh is heading to the Nintendo DS. There have been adventures on the DS before, but this is the first time a humorous LucasArts-imitation-style one has appeared on the console.

Maybe if this is some sort of success, we might hold out some hope for... other possibilities?

UPDATE: Speaking of Adventure Gamers, they coincidentally put an interview with Jan Klose of Deck13 today.

And if their next game isn't "inspired by" Monkey Island then I'm Jojo's uncle.

Source: BHV

Germany-based videogame soundtrack website synSONIQ has always been a good online shop to buy various gaming CDs, including such treats as Peter McConnell's excellent Grim Fandango soundtrack CD and Michael Land's rare soundtrack for The Dig. They've unfortunately been out of stock of many goodies for a long time...

... that is until now! They've recently opened up an eBay store, and surprise surprise look what they've got: this and this.

I know it's in German, but it's all self explanatory. And yes, "Weltweit" does mean "Worldwide".

Act now, as this may be your last chance to own a piece of rare LucasArts tat. Or admittedly you could just download them here if you're feeling cheap. You dastard.

We?re a bit late with this (sorry), but yesterday was Bart Robert?s birthday.

In other news, we?ve been updating our galleries with some new magazine scans. The first is from Edge magazine, coming from the issue that had all the LucasArts characters on the front cover. I saw it in the library the other day and scanned it up. It?s a very pro-LucasArts piece, but does have some good information, and lots of coverage of the old days.



The second lots of scans are from the gamedeveloper magazine, from the issue that has Sam & Max on the cover. It was handed out for free at GDC. The article itself is very good, covering the Sam & Max episodes from an industry inside perspective.



Incidentally, can anyone remember reading this magazine scan? I found it in the magazines gallery, but I don't think it's been posted about before:



I also scanned in an advert for LucasArts employment that I got somewhere at GDC.

Okay, not quite that earth-shattering. In reality (I hate living there, spoils all the fun), Capcom are bringing a game called Treasure Island Z to the console known as Wii. It's a humorous piratey point n' click adventure game. Sound familiar? Oh, and a monkey follows you around. And the main villain's a talking skull (just look at that picture with this playing in the background, you'll get the idea).

Of course it's also cel-shaded, which brings to mind Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker as well. Nevertheless, even without the Monkey Island/Zelda vibe it's still a point n' click adventure coming out on the Wii, which is a very good thing indeed. Let's hope Capcom make good on this promising beginning. Okay, vaguely possibly interesting beginning.

In non-Telltale games news, Adventure Gamers is reporting a new adventure based on the famous WW1 femme-fatale spy Mata Hari is in the works, being designed and written by a pair of well known ex-LucasArts employees

The story and game design for Mata Hari are provided by Hal Barwood and Noah Falstein, who are no strangers to the genre, having been involved in the Indiana Jones games The Fate of Atlantis and The Last Crusade with LucasArts many years ago. The actual development of the game is being done by the Hanover-based 4Head Studios.

The game is slated for a first quarter release in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with the rest of the world to follow.

Source: Adventure Gamers

How many Telltale interviews can we post news about in a single day? The answer is three!

This one comes from the San Francisco Chronicle, and you can see it here. Watch Steve Purcell be cool, Emily be all laid back and relaxed, and Dave talk about episodic gaming, not blinking. He has no time to blink. He has to make more games! And possibly a weekly poem too.

Tim Schafer and Scott Campbell are also present. "I like the APE show," says Tim with a smile.

Conclusion: the next Double Fine game will be about apes... as in monkeys... as in Monkey Island!

Source: Telltale blog

The latest Sam & Max Machinima short "Artichoke" is now up properly over at Telltale's site. I can't recommend it highly enough, as the ending honestly made me shoot milk out my nose for the first time ever. Hooray!

Also on the same page, Telltale has a few new Bone-related goodies. Most notably, however, are the new Soundtrack CD covers made by regular (and incredibly talented) Mojo forumite Laserschwert, who of course is the proud creator of the wonderful LucasArts Soundtracks site. Good on yer mon!

The LucasArts classics line that we reported being released in the UK last December has made its way (with a slight cover-art variation to accomodate the classification labels) to Australia and New Zealand.

The games run straight from the CD, no installation necessary, and run in Win 98SE, ME, 2000 and XP. There is a graphics filter applied on the SCUMM games to soften the jaggies.

Titles in this series include;

- Sam & Max Hit the Road
- Full Throttle
- The Dig
- Grim Fandango
- The Curse of Monkey Island
- Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight + Mysteries of the Sith
- Star Wars Episode 1 Racer

NZ based Gaming store GamePlanet is selling them for NZ$15 (US$10.50) and yes, they do ship internationally.

It seems that the LucasLegal team are up in arms that people using the site digg.com could be getting it confused with a 12 year old point and click adventure game. They have opposed the request by Digg to trademark its name.

"THE DIGG mark is confusingly similar in sound, meaning, and appearance to the Opposer's THE DIG mark," reads the LucasFilm Notice of Opposition document filed last month in San Francisco. "The Applicant's registration and use of the DIGG Mark would likely create confusion, mistake, or deception in the minds of prospective purchasers as to the origin or source of the Opposer's Goods associated with THE DIG Mark."

The source of this story is here on Slippery Brick. You may be able to read the legal papers directly here at U.S. Patent and Trademark Office site, though the link appears down at present. The link was provided by Forbes.com.

Source: Slippery Brick

Way back when, Jake made us aware of three startup companies that were comprised of some former LucasArts employees. One was called Autumn Moon, another Telltale, and the third Pileated Pictures. As it wasn't specifically a games company, Pileated didn't receive much coverage from us (though it did aid Autumn Moon in putting together a technology demo for A Vampyre Story within the last year).

The folks behind Pileated decided to start a games company called Crackpot Entertainment and are working on an action adventure game called Insecticide, due out by the end of the year! Totally rad! Marek Bronstring put together a very informative interview with the company that is a must read. Enjoy this snippet which reveals some of the team:

The announcement suggests that more than one industry veteran is involved. Who else is on the team?

I can announce here for the first time that Larry Ahern, lead designer of The Curse of Monkey Island and lead artist/animator on games such as Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and Sam & Max Hit the Road, is co-lead designer and art director of Insecticide. In addition, Peter Chan has done the bulk of the concept work for this game and been a huge influence who I cannot credit enough. Dave Grossman also worked with us in the early days to develop the characters and the world. Jacob Stephens, who worked with us at Lucas then worked at Nihilistic, is our lead level designer and our real secret weapon on the project. Everybody involved deserves tremendous credit. This has truly been a team effort. Many other LucasArts vets are also involved, including Anson Jew (concept art), Peter McConnell (music), Julian Kwasneski (Sound FX) and others.

Larry Ahern, baby. Seriously, read the entirety of Adventure Gamers' exclusive (and awesome) interview to learn more about this great sounding new title, and after you've done so you can probably find something more stupid to do than visit the newly launched official site for Insecticide.

Time to make a new company icon.

Wow, we were so caught up with Sam & Max that we completely forgot all about Monkey Island! Whoops!

Luckily, The SCUMM Bar The World Of Monkey Island has got our backs covered. Check out their main page for exciting news about YouTube piano videos, and Ronzo's World of Warcraft guild!

Also, Steve Purcell is selling a great piece of Monkey Island 2 artwork on eBay. Anyone want to lend me a grand?

The guys behind the forthcoming fangame Zak McKracken Between Time and Space delayed their game's release until early 2007 because the lead developer took a pilgrimage to California to meet original Zak McKraken writer / programmer David Fox and get his blessing.

Kind of like climbing the sacred mountain to commune with the gods before descending with a new dispensation for mankind. Or something like that.

If you can read German, then this account of the pilgrimage will be more meaningful. The rest of us can just look at the lovely photos.

Source: zak2.org

The one-time publisher of Autumn Moon's A Vampyre Story and one-time pursuer of the rights to Sam and Max: Freelance Police, Bad-Brain entertainment has closed up shop.

CEO Wolfgang Keirdorf has left a departing message on Adventure-Treff (in german);

(Translated excerpt): "People who think I haven't done my best to make this a success must ask themselves the following question: How many of you would've spent your entire capital and three years of your life on a dream?"

While there's no doubt Mr Kierdorf's intentions were all good, his methods and way he conducted himself publically did show room for improvement.

You'll be wanting to buy the last remaining Orgastic-4 cafepress merch before that disappears too.

Source: Adventure-Treff

Ben Gorman brings word that a Scandinavian newspaper called Verden's Gang has thrown some love in Psychonauts and Sam & Max's direction.

First Psychonauts, which presumably was released throughout continental Europe this year, was named "best platformer", edging out games like the brilliant New Super Mario Bros. and LocoRoco.

Sam & Max: Culture Shock didn't win as such, but was named a runner up after Dreamfall in the adventure category. Little surprise there, seeing that Dreamfall is a Scandinavian game.

Congrats to both Double Fine and Telltale!

It would seem I am the only person with the sense of devotion, or the free time, to update Mojo.

Gametap recently added two titles from each of Humongous Entertainment's old graphic adventure game series for children, Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish and Putt-Putt, to their library. As you already know, Humongous Entertainment was the successful (and now defunct) kids game company that Ron Gilbert founded some years back. Their point 'n click adventures used a form of the SCUMM engine (hence their compatibility with SCUMMVM), and some of the earlier Pajama Sam titles were worked on by none other than Dave Grossman. The general consensus on the series seems to be that the earlier ones were great, and the later ones (not published by Humongous) less so.

But you all knew that. I however haven't played more than a bit of one of the games long ago, and so can't comment on their quality or the chronological position of the installments that Gametap is offering, but if you have Gametap you should obviously play them. I think these are the earlier ones from each license. Someone with actual facts or sufficient knowledge of these titles should correct me in the comments. Anywho, here's the list:

Pajama Sam's Sockworks
Pajama Sam Games To Play On Any Day
Freddi Fish and Luther's Water Worries
Freddi Fish And The Case Of The Missing Kelp Seeds
Putt-Putt Travels Through Time
Putt-Putt Joins the Circus


Update: More Humongous titles have been added to Gametap's library.