It is a time for rejoicing in North America. The fourth installment of the monkey island series is in stores exclusively in north america today. Although I've only had it for a few hours, I've got to say it's great, even better than I thought it would be. In the next little bit you'll be hearing a lot about EMI, but don't give it away for the people that don't have it, or havn't beaten it. And for all those people that are stuck, or just are to lazy to figure out the puzzles, I'll make a walkthrough in the next few weeks.
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It is a time for rejoicing in North America. The fourth installment of the monkey island series is in stores exclusively in north america today. Although I've only had it for a few hours, I've got to say it's great, even better than I thought it would be. In the next little bit you'll be hearing a lot about EMI, but don't give it away for the people that don't have it, or havn't beaten it. And for all those people that are stuck, or just are to lazy to figure out the puzzles, I'll make a walkthrough in the next few weeks.
GamesDomain has posted what may be the first full EMI review (versus all the other ones we've seen which have been demo reviews or "previews," often of just select portions of the game). Here's what they say about EMI going 3D, for instance:
Fear not, however! LucasArts has done an outstanding job of retaining the original flavor of Monkey Island (mmmm? the taste of monkeys!). The incorporation of 3D graphics enhances gameplay without becoming obtrusive. There's no way you'll mistake Escape from Monkey Island for a first person shooter. In fact, in many ways you won't even notice that it's in 3D as much of the screen remains a static, cartoon backdrop. The key difference graphically is that the characters' features, particularly in close-ups, are rendered exquisitely in 3D.If spoilers aren't your thing I'd recommend passing this review up, as it contains plot points and jokes galore, but if you're still on the fence about purchasing EMI you should definately take a look.
Source: dabomb765
Ok Here are a few Release dates for Escape From Monkey Island. Those of you lucky enough to be living in the USA will get EMI first, on Nov 6th. The UK gets it's shipments on Nov 17th, and Spain gets theirs on the 24th. The Spanish date might reflect the rest of Europe, but I'm not sure. If you know of any other dates, please post them as comments.
As if there wasn't enough EMI news! Andy Mishler has informed us that the Amazon.com EMI screenshot section has updated with what appears to be either the back of the EMI box or possibly an inside front cover flap. The image depicts Guybrush doing some sort of kung fu action stance, proclaiming "Now in Srurvy Inducing 3D!" below his feet (Also: note the much rumored "monkey4.lucasarts.com" URL is printed on this back cover image, but it still doesn't point to the EMI site). Also, as is standard with MI boxes, the back contains an excerpt from the Memoirs of Guybrush Threepwood, the Monkey Island years. Andy also pointed out that Amazon has updated their cover to reflect the slight change in Guybrush's face, the new slogan at the bottom (which to the horror of many is written in ... comic sans) and a note saying the game includes a "free Quick Path walkthrough from Prima Games." Pictures are included below for your browsing convenience.
Source: Andy Mishler
The LucasArts Insider #3 email newsletter just arrived (for many, some get it a day late it seems), containing some great news. Most notable in the news is that Escape From Monkey Island has gone gold! (For those who don't know, "gold" is short for "golden master," the term used for the copy of the software completely ready to go off for duplication) The newsletter continues, saying EMI is "Expected in stores the week of November 6th!" So there you have it!
A Source that has yet to be confirmed has told us that LucasArts has announced Escape from Monkey Island as gone gold. I personally dont see anything about it anywhere so dont go believing it quite yet. This 'rumour' could be based on the fact that some game stores say they will have it in on Nov 6th, 2 weeks before scheduled release. More to come shortly - I think we might have heard a little more about this if it were true, but we shall see..
Source: Doug Tabacco
The Monkey Center has landed an Interview with none other than Dominic Armato, The fantastic voice actor of Guybrush Threepwood.
I'd give my right arm, or at least some other substantial appendage, to be able to do the voice for the first two games in the series. I was a huge MI fan long before CMI was even being considered, and I'd love to hear them voiced... especially if I'm doing the voices :-)LucasArts take note of the above please!
The Fantatic EMI site Escapemi.com has posted a general Monkey Island strategy guide. This guide attempts to explain to beginners how to play the games successfully.
When it comes to strategy in adventure games, one must remember: walk-throughs are not the way to go. Granted walk-throughs may solve a puzzle that you have been working hard on for hours, but the problem with walk- throughs is that they are very addictiveYou can read the guide here
Source: EscapeMI.com
There is another preview of Escape from monkey Island up online, this time though it's a MAC preview on macnn.com. You can read it here
Update: I have just learned that this is infact not a preview, but rather an entry in their databse of Mac games. I've also learned that coming soon to their site will be an interesting exclusive EMI Mac feature, so stay tuned!
The Clearly Unofficial MI Website has put together a collection of all the (known) characters in EMI along with all their characters. Along with a few you may not have seen before! Be sure to check it out!
The site GameFileFormats.com has published a program with which you can view the background pictures from Escape from Monkey Island. With this he managed to extract a picture of "Timmy's House": a strange and simple picture made in paint or someting. Some of you may have seen this before when someone in #MI managed to get a screenshot of it when his demo crashed.
The picture found resembles very closley the picture found in CMI with Scumm Revisited which you can see here. "What is it with hiding such lame things inside these games that makes you all so happy?" you might ask... Well: they make us laugh!
Another EMI demo review has popped up at GamersPulse.com. The most of it has been said before, and it goes down well with the reviewer who finishes the review with a statement i think we all have on our minds;
p.s. and all I could think through the whole demo was how cool Sam and Max would look in a 3D game of their own. (hint, hint Lucasarts).Hint hint indeed LucasArts!
We've had a bit of news here from Frightener - I'll let him explain:
For the next 48 hours, Compuexpert is offering adventure gamers the jewel case version of Grim Fandango for $9.90. Limited supplies and a limit of one per customer, grab your copy now! As of this post there's 43 hours left to take advantage of this offer!
http://www.compuexpert.com/html/productinfo/grimfandango.shtml
This a deal if ever I heard one!
Source: Frightener
I've updated the Things to try page of our EMI Demo review with all the stuff posted about earlier, and some more updated stuff including how to play the .lab movie files. Once again i got all the info From The ScummBar!
Whilst we are on the subject of EMI (which we are a lot at the moment..) may I just remind you that there are only 3 more days left in which to sign the EMI Soundtrack petition! Go! Go! Go!
I was sent this hilarious picture of a slight bug in the EMI Demo by 'wormy'. In it we see that the Demolition expert has shrunken to the size of a cat capice? I'm not sure how this kind of thing can occur, but it's funny none the less!
If you have any more funnny EMI pics, send 'em in to me!
News reaches me that the just released Escape from Monkey Island Demo has some great tweaks. As well as the reported fact that you can rename the .lab music files in /music to .mp3 and play them, there are a whole bunch of cool things you can edit!
Undocumented Hotkeys:
Strg+M -Movement Modes
Alt+Q -Exit-Menu
Alt+X -Exit-Menu
O -Open the Map
Command line options of "monkey4.exe":
-cd -start EMI without the launcher
-t -write the "Escape From Monkey Island Dialog Transcript" to
"efmidialog.htm"
-fps -??? (frames per second)
-cdf -???
-l -??? (error)
-w -window mode
-gl -OpenGL mode
The Scummbar has a whole load more on the site including the nicely named 'mario mode'! Thanks to all who contributed that news!
If you are Spanish or French or speak either of those languages then you'll be pleased to know that a version of the Demo is now available for download that has been translated for you.
Spanish : small | medium | large
French versions can be found on puissancepc.com
French: small | medium | large
The file sizes of the demos are 35mb, 81mb and 119.mb, Thanks to Claudio and Vincent for the news
Source: The Scummbar