The International House of Mojo

GameSpy.com has written a preview for the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. Their impressions of the game up to this point seem very positive, admitting that the quality of some of the previous Indy titles has been questionable. Here's a highlight concerning the game's characters:

Wu Han, Indy's ally who dies in the restaurant during Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, is there to lend a hand. Mei Ying, a stunning secret agent, tangles with Dr. Jones in more ways than one; both characters are going after the mirror of dreams and after some initial confusion find themselves attracted to each other. Equally alluring, but far less friendly, are the Feng twins -- a sexy pair of sisters that are out to kill Indy.

Read the full preview here.

We've reported several times in the past about a new 2D point and click graphic adventure called Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths, which was being developed by a small Italian company.

Many previews have compared this game to the LucasArts graphic adventures of years past. Now that the game has been released, those comparisons have carried over into the reviews. Our friends over at Adventure Gamers have posted their own review and discuss these very influences. Here's a quote:

Tony Tough wears the influence of Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max Hit the Road on its sleeves, borrowing heavily from each, even including a purple tentacle in the park's souvenir shop. The cartoonish style of graphics is perfect, and each area and character is drawn with imagination and life. Every part of the game is just gorgeous to look at; nothing is ever dull or bland.

Adventure Gamers gives this game 4 out of 5 stars, so if you long for the old fashion days of graphic adventures, you'll probably want to check this out. Tony Tough can be purchased via links on their official website.

Many of you should remember that a while back, a group of people decided to build a sequel to the much loved Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. That project was awash with beautiful screenshots, ideas and promise. The site sadly became a lost myth rather like the plot behind the games themselves.

But now, They Return! No longer called 'Indy Project' but 'Amberfish Arts', they have re-surfaced to take on the world once more

"We have renamed the team following an important decision to extend our range of possible projects beyond a single Indy-related fan game. Amberfish Arts may quite possibly become the label for an entire series of fan games and other projects. Right now, however, we are fully concentrating on FoA2.

There are some new screenshots and some news of progress. Here are a selection of background pictures from the game, with more sketches, renders, old art and new on The Amberfish Arts website! w00t!

Source: Ultimate Indiana Jones site

Marek of Adventure Gamers once again saves the day by pointing out that GameSpot.com has released a bunch of new screenshots that should spark the interest of any LucasArts fan.

First, check out these 18 nice screenshots for the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. Interesting to see Indy fighting Chinese women.

Then check out these 14 sweet new screenshots for Hal Barwood's new game, RTX Red Rock. Hmm, has EZ Wheeler changed his outfit's color combination? All these screens look really cool, so be sure to give 'em a look.

Update (Jake) : These screens are from the press event LucasArts held earlier today for Indy, RTX, and Knights of the Old Republic. I'll be posting some guaranteed-interesting hands-on impressions sometime tomorrow.

Source: Voodoo Extreme

You can find even more goodies now at the LEC 20th Anniversary Site. First, the History of LucasArts articles have expanded to cover the 1995-1998 years and discusses games like Full Throttle, The Dig, The Curse of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and oh yeah, Star Wars.

Be sure to also read the updated Flashbacks section for amusing stories about Fate of Atlantis character animations and being dissed by CMI's Gary Coleman. The Flashbacks also contain an interesting memory of how the LucasArts art department reacted to the news that they were going full 3D.

Finally, check out this really cool pencil animation from Outlaws as well as the original trailer for Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. The fun never stops at LucasArts.com!

Disappointed that Mojo failed to notice, Marek points out that the LEC 20th Anniversary Site has published an interview with long time employee Mike Stemmle. You probably know Mike best as the co-designer of Sam and Max Hit the Road and Escape From Monkey Island.

He's currently working as director and designer on a new Sam and Max game, whose working title appears to be The As Yet Untitled Sam & Max? Funtime Extravaganza. Here is what Mike has to say about all that:

I'm working with Steve Purcell on the design for the all-new, butt-kickin' Sam and Max adventure game, which is poised to pounce like a caffeinated panther onto the crippled wildebeest of the gaming market in early 2004. Even as I type, our little corner of the building is abuzz with the scribbling of concept artists, the clickety-clacking of engine builders, the furrowed brows of mini-game designers, and the manly giggles of plot developers. It's a lot of fun.

Ah to be a fly on the wall in that building, eh? Click here for the full interview.

Everyone's very least favorite site, Listen To Me has interviewed Remi, webmaster of the SCUMM Bar. If you want to know what Remi realllly thinks about things (allegedly), you should go Listen To Remi. Strikethrough is comedy always.

Though we missed it out of post-Halloween laziness, LucasArts posted their usual Friday update. This week the highlight is the impressive opening cutscene to Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, which looks like it might be a pretty fun game (if you go in for that action thing... which you should).

And, as usual, there's some cool new art on the 20th Anniversary site. This week we're treated to a background piece from the introduction to Day of the Tentacle.

The lucky bastards over at Xbox IGN recently got some hands-on time with a pre release version of Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. Here's a quote from the article:

Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is looking good in some places while lacking in others. The Indy model bears a resemblance to Mr. Ford (think Buffy from her last game), but some of the environments and animations could use a little work. The camera also tends to get a little wild at times, but is still manageable. The audio side is faring a little better, with a voice that sounds like a good Harrison Ford impersonator. You'll occasionally hear a sly remark from Indy, much like the one-liners used in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, though maybe not quite as witty. The music is also coming along nicely with what sounds like a game-altered version of the classic John Williams score.

The feature also includes several new screenshots, so be sure to take a look.

PC Gamer has posted another of their frequent "Best 100 PC games of all time" lists, chronicling, well, the best games of all time. As usual, a number of LucasArts adventure classics have made the list. Here they are:

9. Grim Fandango
27. Monkey Island 2
44. Day of the Tentacle
47. Sam & Max Hit the Road

Obviously the second half of the list is superfluous and not worth reading.

Source: The SCUMM Bar

JBRAA's Mojo Art site, a large gallery of Lucas-related fan art and some other goodies, has put up their October gallery which featuers 12 new images. Some of the new art is Monkey Island related, while some is Star Wars. Give it a look.

Captain Mystery has returned to rouse your rabble, or whatever, in his latest editorial, "Why the Onslaught of Star Wars Games Ain't a Bad Thing." As usual, the Cap'n is telling all of you to shut up because you are all stupid, so you'd better go read the article and start posting angry comments at him!

The editorial is actually about how hating on LucasArts for making lots of Star Wars games is a fairly self-defeating thing to do. M. Mystery claims that the heaps of money generated from the heaps of Star Wars titles is what gives you the small pile of riskier, not-Star Wars titles, like Grim Fandango. Again, it's here! Click!

Do you love crazy and demented pumpkin carvings? Then dare to step into... THE PUMPKIN HOUSE OF HORRORS! *cue lightning and insane evil laughter*

Every year around Halloween, former LucasArts graphic adventure writer/programmer Dave Grossman creates some very cool pumpkin carvings and posts them on his website. This year's mad designs are entitled "Hair Dryer on Reverse" and "Well, it's sort of a long story..."

I strongly urge you to check these out! My personal favorites from years past are "Vomit Pumpkin" and "Missionary in Trouble."

Our friends over at World of Monkey Island have provided the fan community with more artistic goodness. Page 18 and 19 of Paco Vink's The secret of Monkey Island online comic book have been posted in the past week. In case you're unfamiliar with the comic, read our previous news post... because I'm too lazy to repeat myself.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to name your first born child after a LucasArts related character? No? Erm, uh, yeah, me neither. I was just checking.

Still, for a funny look into the subject, check out this online comic! Thanks to Marek for the link.

Update (Jake): Observant readers (and news updaters) could have caught this link in Thursday's Calm Before the Storm.

The wishfully controversial Church of Tim (no longer unnamed), has uploaded a wide variety of AIM Buddy Icons (or forum avatars if that's more your thing).

The icons are themed around Tim Schafer's games at LucasArts (DOTT, Full Throttle, Grim), Psychonauts, Double Fine jokes (dead and living rats, insane manatees), and some other things you might like. Fun times.

LucasArts.com updated once again, this time showing a new trailer for The Clone Wars. You can also now take part in a new Bounty Hunter contest and view this new screenshot from Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb.

And finally, under the 20th Anniversary page, you can view this scan of The Adventurer from the Fall of 1993. This cover features a Star Wars poster parody with Day of the Tentacle characters. Wow, I've long since forgotten about that cover.

After all the talk of Quick & Easy, ScummVM, VDMSound, and other obscurely familiar names "guaranteed" to help you play your old SCUMM games, some people are wondering if anyone can actually figure any of that stuff out!

Fortunately everyone's favorite SCUMM Bar, The SCUMM Bar, has written an article called "Get Those Old Games Working Again!" describing just how all of the recent SCUMM tools work and how they can benefit you! Confused people go read now.

Also, has anyone noticed that the SCUMM Bar guys use that image of Guybrush chained up in his underwear a little too frequently?

LucasArts has once again updated the concept art gallery on the 20th Anniversary site, this time with yet another lovely Monkey 2 background painting. Today we're treated to Captain Dread's ship docked at Scabb Island.

Yesterday, we mentioned that a SCUMM-like 2D graphic adventure called Tony Tough and the Night of the Roasted Moth just went gold and will be in stores on October 31st. Today, Adventure Gamers posted an interview with the game's developers and further discussed its ties to the old LucasArts graphic adventures. Here's a quote regarding whether or not the point and click genre is dead:

That?s really up to the gamers, but I believe I?ve heard more than once people saying that Monkey Island 4 wasn?t as good as the third or even the second episode. We believe what makes an adventure game a blockbuster aren?t necessarily the fancy 3D graphics or astonishing fx, but, rather, a great plot and a good dose of humour.

The interview goes on to mention that Tony Tough drew inspiration from Escape from Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, and Sam and Max Hit the Road. You can find the game's official website here.