The International House of Mojo

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.

Just a quick note to mention that the Mojo Forums have (finally) reached 10,000 posts. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, read, posted, and made things happen. Keep it up!

LFNetwork graphic designer TheJackal has whipped up a nice new design for the latest board to be featured at LucasForums: LEC's 20th Anniversary! This new section contains several forums for discussing current titles, classics, and future releases from LEC, as well as a forum for giving LEC some feedback (careful, they might read it). Check it out!

There's no way to put this in a news post so I'm just going to make this update a big blockquote:

Feast your eyes on this monstrosity: Click Here

Looking at it I feel like a perverted psycho, but it is hilarious (I should consult my psychiatrist about that first though)...

Now that I have this, I want to make a sort of a Tim Schafer bullshit fan site, but as a Tim-oriented religion. I call it:... well, I still don't have a name for the religion, and I could make a concours as soon as I can make a website around the picture... As I see it now, the main aspect of the website will be a messageboard with a bio of Our Beloved God... With hymns and a fake Paypal way of paying for indulgences... Whaddayathink?

That was from Kingzjester. Enjoy! (heh)

Do you love Adventuregamer!? We know you do. Well then, You'll certainly love this page! Everyone in the world loves Marek Bronstring, and now you must too.

On a side note, this page was made by the same person as the Dom Fanclub (coming soon to Mojo)... nice. I'm glad I never got one made, that's all I can say! And no that isn't an excuse to suddenly make one.. be warned!

Update (Jake): The Dom Fanclub's coming to Mojo? Heheh.

AdventureGamers is actively seeking new staff writers for their site! If you're interested in becoming a member of their team, inquire within. Here's an excerpt from the application page:

Adventure Gamers is now open for new writers! If you would like to contribute to our site, this is your chance to apply for the position of staff writer. We are looking for people who can write interesting, witty and concise articles on adventure games.

Sound good? Just make sure you submit a sample article and contact information before the 20th of August.

Nightlight Productions has cranked out another installment to the radio drama series, Tierra de los Muertos! Give it a listen here. 8 of 12 has decided to keep the first part online for a little while longer, so for those that missed it, you can check out part one here.

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.

Just a quick note to let you know that gaming news site Shacknews has added Full Throttle to their list of reader-reviewable games. Reading and writing reader reviews is somewhat silly, but its a fun time-passer and sometimes interesting to hear different peoples takes on old (and new) titles. The Shack has some other LEC classics like CMI, EMI, and Sam & Max up for review if you're interested.

Adventure Gamers has republished their preview from July 2000 of Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths. As you may remember, Tony Tough is an old fashion 2D point 'n click graphic adventure from publisher Got Game Entertainment and is being compared to the old LucasArts classics. Adventure Gamers discusses this as well, and here's a quote:

Had it not been for the Italian speech still in place in the demo and the occasional clumsy translation in the subtitles, I could've swore I was playing some unreleased LucasArts title from a couple of years back - Tony Tough is that much reminiscent of some of LucasArts' older adventures. The meter-long protagonist wears oversized glasses and looks a little like Wally from the Monkey Island series. The overall graphics style is pretty wacky and supports the game's cartoon atmosphere.

An English version of Tony Tough will be available in North America sometime soon.

Guybrush is currently getting absolutely whipped by Ryo at the GameFAQs character vote. It's not hopeless yet, though. Get on over there and vote for our favorite pirate.

Voting ends at Midnight MST tonight, so hurry up! Let's show them what this community can do.

The Monkey Island Art Connection, a well loved MI fan art and media site, is sort of alive again after dying about a month ago. Well, they're nowhere near fully set up, but you can at least view everyone's artwork. Go visit and show your support.

Grim Fandango Network's hosted site Nightlight Productions has put the first episode of their original radio show, Tierra de los Muertos, online. TDLM is set in a land very very similar to that of Grim Fandango, but features all new characters and an original plot. Here's the scoop:

Welcome to Tierra de los Muertos, the Land of the Dead. A place of transition between the Living World, and the Underworld. It is here that a new soul has just made the transition, and a mortal has been found.

The presence of a mortal in the Land of the Dead is unheard of. He is proclaimed the chosen one, the one person prophesised to lead the people to the Gates of the Afterlife, to which he alone holds the key.

The series is 10 parts long, and is updated every week. Anyone interested in Grim Fandango, classic radio dramas, or fan creations should definitely give it a listen.

The Brim Stone Beach Club has interviewed Wally Wingert, known around here as the voice of Herman Toothrot in EMI. Mr. Wingert talks about recording EMI, his other voiceover work at LEC and more.

Also revealed in the interview is the fact that Dustin Diamond (the voice of Screech in Saved by the Bell) is a Monkey Island fan. Neat!

For the 4th of July celebration, CaliGirl has posted mini interviews with Gaming Companies [Activision, iD, Westwood, to name a few], Clans, Known Gamers, and most importantly of course, Web Gurus. In the web gurus category is LFNetwork's Big Daddy, Don "Aristotle" McPartland. Check it out @ CaliGirl.net

Somewhat early news, but I refuse to be 5 minutes too late to post a new article again.

Game help supersite GameFAQs.com is having a contest pitting various game characters against one another in a popularity sudden death vote-off.. and next Wednesday, our favorite pirate Guybrush will square off against Shenmue's Ryo Hazuki. For me, it's a tough choice, them being the main characters of easily my 2 favorite games series of all time, but for you, the choice should be obvious.

If Guybrush wins, he'll likely be up against Tomb Raider's Lara Croft, and we certainly can't have him losing there, can we?

If you'd like, take a look at the full contest bracket here.

Mojo would like to extend a big (belated) birthday greeting to Ian Biggar, known to many in the community as Skyfox. For those who unfamiliar with the name, he's the founder of The SCUMM Bar, one of the largest and longest-running Monkey Island websites out there. So go leave him a message (or 25) already!

There's a new poll up at the official LucasArts website related to the the LEC 20th Anniversary theme. This time around, LucasArts.com asks: When did you first play a LucasArts game?

I remember my first LucasArts gaming experience fondly. The year was 1992, and I stumbled upon the work of genius that is none other than Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for Super NES. From then on, I was hooked.

The Dominic Armato Fanclub, a gathering of fans for the Guybrush Threepwood voice actor, has been experiencing some server issues. Hopefully it will be sorted out soon, but if you need your Dom fix now, you can temporarily find it here. Go on and bask in its Domness.

Everyone's favorite mysterious column writer is back in his new article, Just Because You Can't Play, Doesn't Make It Bad - Why Console Only Ain?t Worth Complaining About. In this article, el capit?n takes his right hand and promptly slaps in the face those who complain about LEC possibly releasing games exclusively for the console. (Hey even I'm guilty of this one.) ;) Here's a clip:

That's a quote following the now-defunct rumors about Full Throttle II being made only for consoles, with no PC version in the planning. You know something? That's not bad news.

It's an interesting read so make sure to head over to The SCUMM Bar and read it.