The International House of Mojo

Bill Tiller, the lead background artist on Curse of Monkey Island and art director on Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine will be appearing on IRC this Saturday at 8pm GMT, care of the Brimstone Beach Club. The chat will take place in #brimstone on the server irc.gamesnet.net. For more information, check out the BSBC.

The chat's just ended now. For those who missed it, a log will soon be up on the Brimstone site.

Adventure Developers has put up Tip 21, the final note in the series of tips for game-making, written by Bill Tiller and Larry Ahern, who have worked on a number of LucasArts games in years past. And what is that final, and therefore most important tip of all, you ask? Isn't it obvious? To Have Fun.

The venerable Quick & Easy toolset has received a massive overhaul, boasting two new programs, and updates to the existing three. The Quick & Easy software, written by Mojo help forum admin bgbennyboy, is a series of tools designed to help people get their old LucasArts games up and running on newer OS's.

Available for download include updated versions of LucasArts Quick & Easy, ScummVM Quick & Easy, and CMI Launcher, and the two new tools: Entertainment Pack Launcher, and CMI Launcher - Coin Edition (see screenshot below for CMI Launcher Coin). For details about what each of these programs does, check out the Q&E website.

Interested in the amateur/homemade adventure scene? If so you should check out Underground, a full new section of Adventure Gamers dedicated entirely to coverage of the amateur freeware adventure scene. Featured in their initial installment of articles is Adventure Architect Part 5 featuring some art by Monkey Island community artist Dan Lee. Check out this and more at Underground.

World of Monkey Island has published page 20 of Paco Vink's Secret of Monkey Island online comic. As usual, the new page looks great, even if it is missing the part about the gophers and a yak. Go look right now!

The wait is over. Mini-MI Legend's reign of terror has come to an end with the launch of the fifth version of The Legend of Monkey Island. The site sports a great new design by the webmaster, Blondebeard, as well as a couple of new sections, and many more on the way. What are you waiting for? Journey to the site where every visit is an adventure!

Juztyn has sent word that his LFNetwork site, the popular SWGalaxies.net has been redesigned. And he's not lying! Although similar, the site sports a nice, clean new layout (done by Kedri) and random image captures from the upcoming game now decorate the top portion of the site. Fun!

The Legend of Monkey Island, a large info and community center on the network, has been stripped down to mini-form to make way for...erm, something. According to the site, there are only one or two days remaining until...well, something will happen, I suppose. It's all very exciting, so make sure to keep an eye on Mini MI Legend. Word.

Mixnmojo's own iMuse Island music community website has posted an extensive review of The Best of LucasArts Original Soundtracks CD. The review tells you exactly what to expect from the soundtrack, so if you can't decide on whether or not you want to buy it... then you really should stop being so cheap. Live a little, man. But be sure to read the review regardless.

Source: The SCUMM Bar

So, it seems LucasForums has been down for more than a day now, eh? You're probably wondering what's going on. Here's how it breaks down: Basically, LucasForums is in the process of moving to its own, more powerful server. And it's for real this time.

This will mean better loading speed for many Mojo/LFN sites that had shared bandwidth and server space with this bloated-but-lovable community site. It also means that some (possibly) sorely missed forum features such as the search function, the option to put images in signatures, and others may make a triumphant return in the near future.

As of this very moment, the LFNetwork webjedis/monkeys are hard at work getting this sucker configured, and are ironing out the final snags and bugs. Although the downtime has been a bit longer than predicted, we're expecting LucasForums to be back up and running within the next day. Apologies for the interruption in service!

Update: Yar.. it be back! Go visit!

Anyone out there who's vaguely, even remotely interested in the upcoming massivly-multiplayer online game Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided should check out SW Galaxies' latest feature. It's a weekly newsletter, put together for those of us who might not be motivated enough to keep up with SWG-related news or the daily goings on in the SWG community scene. This newsletter, which will appear every Saturday, will roll up the latest game/community news into one big helping, so be sure to check it out over 'ere.

Sam & Max.net, former host of The Unofficial Sam & Max Website and Snuckey's, has consolidated into one big site, which mysteriously just resembles The Unofficial Sam & Max Website, and bears no resemblence at all to Snuckey's.

"Fear not, loyal citizens," said Metallus, self-titled co-webmaster of Samandmax.net, "all of the features you enjoyed on Snuckey's such as... well... Mercatfat's episode reviews will certainly be appearing on the new site."

Check out the renovated Unofficial Sam & Max Website for an all new Christmas card painting by Steve Purcell, some video clips from the Sam & Max TV series, Purcell Pixar updates, and more.

Around this time every year, someone in the #monkey-island chat room (now located on irc.gamesnet.net) puts together a little survey asking about the funniest moment in the chat room, who the most annoying member is, and many other weird questions. The results of the survey are often amusing and a great way to waste time when you should be doing something more productive.

If you're a current or former regular of #monkey-island, be sure to stop by and fill out the survey at this location.

LucasArts issued a press release today concerning the recently launched LucasFiles, which is run by the LFNetwork. The press release summarizes the purpose of LucasFiles and quotes LucasArts President Simon Jeffery on how much he loves us all. God bless us, every one. Click below to read the full press release.<:MORENEWS:>

NEW WEB SITE FOR POSTING OF LUCASARTS INSPIRED GAME MODS LAUNCHED BY LFNETWORK.COM FAN SITE

Officially Sanctioned Site, www.lucasfiles.com, Offers Fans Location to Create and Post Modifications of LucasArts Titles

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. -- December 11, 2002 -- Fans who create game modifications (mods) based upon characters and elements in titles by LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC can now post their works on the Internet at LucasFiles, which can be found at www.lucasfiles.com. The new site, created by Lucas Fan Network (LFN), www.lfnetwork.com, an independent collection of web sites dedicated to LucasArts and its games, is an exclusive and sanctioned online location offering a variety of mods inspired by LucasArts titles. The LucasFiles database also hosts unique fan produced content, levels, and an array of other media.

"LucasArts is grateful to the Lucas Fan Network, whose enthusiastic and very dedicated members have created a distinctive online destination for fans of our games to showcase and share their creations with others," says Simon Jeffery, president of LucasArts. "The fan community is incredibly important to LucasArts and this site will provide them with a variety of ways to continue to celebrate their passion for the company and its games." LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software worldwide.

Based in San Rafael, Calif., as well as on the Internet at www.lucasarts.com, LucasArts is one of five companies in the Lucas group which include Lucasfilm Ltd., Lucas Digital Ltd. LLC, Lucas Licensing Ltd., and Lucas Online. Lucasfilm is one of the leading film and entertainment companies in the world. Lucasfilm's businesses include George Lucas' film and television production and distribution activities. Lucas Digital, which consists of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound, provides visual effects and audio post-production services to the entertainment industry. Lucas Licensing is responsible for the merchandising of all Lucasfilm's film and television properties. Lucas Online is a digital destination for entertainment, education, reference and e-commerce for Lucasfilm's intellectual properties and business units.

Grand Flamingo sends word that the Grim Fandango Network has officially switched over to their new domain name: www.GrimFandango.net. GFN is home to several of the best Grim Fandango information and multimedia web sites and is also the sponsor of the IRC channel #gfnetwork@irc.gamesnet.net.

ZeroXcape, the founder of GFN, had this to say about the domain change: "Since early 1998, we have been trying to obtain this web address. Fortunately for us, everyone else seems to have lost interest!"

The current webmaster and overlord of GFN, Metallus, clarified, "We tried to have the domain launch correspond with our 4th birthday celebration, which was July 15th of this year... Well, at least we got it out before the site's next half-birthday."

ZeroXcape later went on to brag that GFN turns five this summer which makes it eligible for ScummVM support in the near future!

[ Visit The Grim Fandango Network ]

Anyone who doesn't know what IRC stands for should probably ignore this post.

Okay then, the rest of you, listen up. #monkey-island, the official unofficial Mixnmojo/Monkey Island IRC channel, is facing some technical difficulties due to malicious attacks on the host network, DALnet.

Because of this, the channel has been temporarily relocated to another IRC network, Axenet. (perhaps permanently) moved to the GamesNET IRC network. If you've got an IRC client, click here to connect to the new location.

I've monkeyed around with ScummVM 0.3.0 (released yesterday, see story) and taken some screenshots, especially of the user interface, which is new to this release (and will hopefully make it easier for everyone to use ScummVM to play their old games).

Not only does ScummVM let you play many LucasArts classics on modern computers (including Windows, Mac, Linux and some oddballs like PocketPC and Dreamcast), but it supports many newer sound and video settings not found in the original versions, and lets you run games full screen or in a window. Take a look:

• ScummVM Main Menu (Double-Sized Video Mode, Windowed)
• Save/Load ("Advanced MAME" Video Mode)
• In-Game Settings (Advanced MAME, "Full Screen")
• Add New Game Screen 1
• Add New Game Screen 2
• Zak McKracken (Normal Video Mode, with IRC sneak attack)
• Sam & Max (Advanced MAME)
• Day of the Tentacle ("SuperEagle" Video Mode)
• Sam & Max (Super 2X Antialiased Video Mode)

If none of those descriptions in parentheses make any sense to you, fear not. First, just look at the screenshots, because they're pretty cool, and second, check out the ScummVM Website, the ReadMe, and most importantly the download page.

Jake called me from his car and said I should update Mojo saying that ScummVM has released 0.3.0b, and that he'll be home later (after a movie) to put up screenshots and write more about it or something.

To make your very own screenshots, go here and download ScummVM! I hear it even has instructions!

He won't tell me what movie he's going to see because he thinks I'll put it in the post. Hah.

Source: Jake in his car

Like it or lump it, The LFNetwork's massive online community, LucasForums, is celebrating the completion of its first year in existence.

I'd just like to give a special thanks to everyone from the Mojo community who made the effort to check it out. As many of you probably recall, LucasForums arrived during a pretty tough time in Mixnmojo history. We were all still reeling from the three months of downtime, and there were many adjustments that Mojo readers were put through.

Anyway, we are really grateful to those of you who stuck with it, and even dared to venture outside of the Mojo forums. So, thanks again!

The SCUMM Bar has reviewed the recently released Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths, exploring whether or not it will appeal to Monkey Island fans. As reported earlier, Tony Tough is a LucasArts-esque point and click graphic adventure developed by an Italian game company. Here's a snippet from the review:

The plot won't set the world on fire, the the puzzle might have no logic what so ever at times, the visuals are a mixed bag and the whole game might just be one big LEC rip-off, but that's all secondary because of two things: One ? Tony Tough is a very likable character in a sad, funny sort of way, very much like Guybrush Threepwood in CMI, and two - the humor, while somewhat predictable at times, is really funny in a silly sort of way. Add this together, and you have a game that is just pure fun to play.

Tony Tough is in stores now for PC.