The International House of Mojo

Evan Dickens has written a great new feature for Adventure Gamers having to do with how fans (over)react to upcoming adventure titles. This one hits painfully close to home, folks, but it's all in good fun. Have a read!

In an unrelated (no, really!) bit of news, some of our dedicated fans have been having trouble accessing the mojo forums. That's because the forums.mixnmojo.com subdomain doesn't work at the moment. To get to the forums, click on this whining sound effect: *whine*

According to this story on IGNCube, the next Indiana Jones game, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, could be headed to the Nintendo Gamecube. The title was originally announced only for XBox, PS2 and PC.

Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb is an action/adventure which takes place immediately before Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is being developed by LucasArts by game studio The Collective set for a Fall 2002 release. You can read our preview of Emperor's Tomb here.

John Delaney, artist for such comic books as Justice League and Dexter's Lab, takes the time to draw various characters at the request of his fans. A poll is set up every week to determine what character John will draw next. In this week's poll, Demon Pirate LeChuck makes the list, so click here to vote! Registration is required, though.

Source: chrisc3po

CaptainDread has informed us that LucasRadio is back, hopefully for good. LucasRadio is a SHOUTcast streaming audio broadcast that plays various kinds of LucasArts related music and remixes. However, there are also the occassional weird Star Wars parody songs as well. In theory, the broadcast should run 24/7, but you never know about these things. Give a listen!

LucasArts.com has been updated with some new goodies. First, there is a trailer for RTX Red Rock, showing off some of the cinematics and in-game footage. Second, check out this sweet new Indy screen, which shows Dr. Jones just before he smacks the sense into some guy. And finally, if you're really looking for something to do, you can check out this concept art on the 20th Anniversary site for Star Wars Starfighter. It's pretty boring, though.

Update: QueZTone points out that in the company store, you can now find this t-shirt featuring the "Heroes for a Next Generation." Here's your one and only chance to wear a shirt with both Indiana Jones and Ben from Full Throttle on it. Of course, those of you living outside the US may be out of luck on this one.

Chris Purvis, one of the programmers on The Curse of Monkey Island and Grim Fandango, has been interviewed by our very own SCUMM Bar. The interview is very interesting, and includes lots o' inside information. Here's an example:

I would really like to have gotten a chance to work more on The Magic Box (working title) which was an original adventure game Larry and Jonathan were doing after they finished CMI. I started working on it right after we finished Grim Fandango. It was Randy and Michele from Monkey 4 plus myself doing all the programming, and I really was having a good time working with them on it. But Jonathan ended up leaving, and the project ended up cancelled.

Be sure to read the full interview, and be sure to keep an eye out for a question at the end of the interview submitted by yours truly, which seemed to freak Chris out a bit.

Tim Schafer updated the Double Fine News for the second time in one day! In this bonus post, Tim informs us that his new game Psychonauts is on the cover of the Official Xbox Magazine (well, sorta), updates us on the rat situation, casually drops his new catch phrase, and more. Give it a look-see.

As Adventure Gamers is reporting and as many sources have been telling us for the past few months, it seems that Infinite Machine is dead. The company, founded by Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight designer Justin Chin, faced many problems with the publication of their Xbox game entitled New Legends. It seems likely that these issues combined with the less-than-wonderful sales of this title caused the company to dissolve.

The real tragedy here is that Infinite Machine was in production of a new Sam and Max action adventure. This will certainly cause fans to wonder if that project is also dead, or whether a company like LucasArts will develop the game on their own. Only time will tell.

Here is some news that many of you may find interesting. In our recent visit to San Francisco, Tim Schafer informed us that a few of his fellow employees work on an independent comic in their spare time entitled Hickee.

Among the people who work on this comic are Joe White, Graham Anable, Dave Bogan, and Razmig Mavillian (whose name "Raz" is being used for the main character in Psychonauts). All of these guys worked at LucasArts on such classics as The Curse of Monkey Island, Outlaws, and Grim Fandango. But that's not all! Two fellows named Nathan Stapley and Scott Campbell also work on the comic and are currently employed at Double Fine Productions.

If you're a big fan of comics and witty writing, you might want to check this out. You can find out more information on Hickee at this website, which also houses Graham's own comic called Grickle. Or, you can read an interview with these guy and view pictures here.

LucasArts.com has been updated, featuring this new screenshot from the upcoming RTX Red Rock. The screen shows our hero EZ Wheeler encountring some unlucky skeleton. I wonder if his name is Bob.

Our good friend Marek over at Adventure Gamers has published a great interview with Hal Barwood, director of the upcoming action/adventure console title from LucasArts entitled RTX Red Rock. In the interview, Hal discusses that project as well as his previous games like Fate of Atlantis and Infernal Machine. Here's a quote from Hal about RTX:

I felt an urge to do some science fiction. I'm a Mars nut. I believe in heroes...and villains. As much contrast as possible. I like the idea of sending the player up against a group of strange and daunting space aliens that have their own purposes, and also their own weaknesses. I like the idea of getting into the game with a vague notion of the victory conditions (reconquer our colony on Mars), and also discovering, little by little, the deeper currents that run through the story.

Be sure to read the full interview, or else you will be killed by a lava monster.

Aaron Giles, a former LucasArts employee who made many Mac ports of classic LucasArts games, has updated his website with a special Sam and Max treat. Back when Aaron had just completed his Mac port of Sam & Max Hit the Road, some fan sent in this piece of fan art with their order. Hilarious and yet oh-so-true. Thanks to Aric Wilmunder for the heads up!

In the usual LucasArts.com Friday updates, long time fans of the company can sure find a lot to get excited about. It seems that LucasArts is finally getting around to celebrating its 20th anniversary properly. First, in the LucasArts Theatre, you can view QuickTime clips of cutscenes from the original Full Throttle. Not bad, although they do seem to suffer from some interlace problems.

Next, in the History Section, you can read about the early years of the company between 1982 and 1989. The feature is not unlike our own Wilmunder Memoirs, and will continue to be updated to cover the 1990-1994 years.

Don't miss the 20th Anniversary Art Gallery, where you can find some never-before-seen treasures. First, there is this amazing high-res scan of the Monkey Island 2 map, a piece of concept art from Grim Fandango, and another Peter Chan concept scan from Full Throttle!

After that, you can read an interview with Jon Knoles, who served as game designer for many Star Wars games and is currently directing Bounty Hunter. The interviews continue next month with a profile of Fate of Atlantis and RTX Red Rock designer Hal Barwood.

And finally *phew*, check out the Flashback section with a few favorite memories of some LucasArts employees. The stories include finding bugs in such classics as Grim Fandango and Fate of Atlantis. These are really interesting and remind us of the many late nights these guys have to put up with.

So there you have it. It's great to see LucasArts opening up again and taking a look at its previous products and their employees. It reminds me of the old days of The Adventurer, and I hope they keep this up.

In Dave Grossman's weekly poetry e-mail list, he has informed his readers of his new website, www.phrenopolis.com. Dave, as you probably know, was a writer on the first two Monkey Island games, co-project leader on Day of the Tentacle, and continues to write for children's adventure games like Moop and Dreadly and Ollo.

On Dave's website, you can read his weekly poetry, look at some of his crazy artistic projects, and more importantly, you can buy Dave a cup of coffee via Paypal! And we all know how those game designers thrive on coffee. But wait! There's more! In the future, Phrenopolis will be the place where you can buy Dave's upcoming book, Ode to the Stuff in the Sink. That should be available in the fall, but make sure you stop by in the meantime!

More Indy news comes today in the form of an interview with Nate Schaumberg, lead producer on Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb.

GameSpy: Tell us about the storyline of this game. When does it take place (before or after the last motion picture)?

Nate: Indiana Jones and the Emperors Tomb takes place in pre WWII 1935. In the Indy timeframe, this is just prior to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Where Temple of Doom begins in China, our game ends in China.

The interview covers two gamespy pages and gives a bit more insight to the upcoming adventure! It also has a fair share of lovely Indy screen-shots for those people who just like to look at the pretty pictures.

Source: ShackNews

Once upon a time, Roko Zaper and Rob Diaz-Marino set out to record the music from Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis using a high fidelity soundfont. The original intention? To sell it of course!

But their plan was foiled when they failed to get the permission from LucasArts and Mr Zaper disappeared. So instead, 42 mp3s, spaced over 2 CDs have been posted for all to download! Woo-Yay!

The Kickstand is back! With a new look, new content, and a new "engine" *no pun intended* (no really) called Kick?, make sure to check out The Kickstand for all your Full Throttle needs.

Double Fine's official homepage has been updated yet again by Tim Schafer. However, this time, Tim does discuss his upcoming Psychonauts title... sort of. But more importantly, Tim continues to tell the saga about the office rodent problem. Check it out!

Orson Scott Card, probably best known to you guys as the dialogue writer for the LucasArts graphic adventure The Dig, has gone on record to say that he hated Attack of the Clones. Mr. Card writes a weekly review column for The Rhinoceros Times, and in his July edition, he discusses the difference between Men in Black II and Episode II. Here's a quote:

... Attack of the Clones is a wretched waste of time and money - the filmmakers' and ours - while MIIB pays off exactly as well as it should. And it doesn't try to give us a bogus religion in the process.

Why the difference? MIIB has a good script and a director who knows how to get the best out of his actors."

Hear that? That's the sound of Orson Scott Card being blacklisted from all future Lucas projects! Just kidding... ?

Source: TheForce.net

Our own hosted site, The Monkey Island Art Connection, has published a new interview with Curse of Monkey Island lead background artist, Bill Tiller. In the interview, Bill discusses fan art, other LucasArts employees, what he's doing now, and the possibility of making his own 2D graphic adventures. You can find the entire interview here at Geocities. Don't worry... it should change locations soon.