The International House of Mojo

According to a press release on XBoxAddict.com, TDK and Disney will create a new video game based on the popular Disney ride, Pirates of the Caribbean. LucasArts will probably not be involved, so why would would you possibly be interested? Because Pirates of the Caribbean was the major inspiration behind the Monkey Island series, so it will be interesting to see how the two games compare. Here's a quote from the press release:

"We are pleased to be bringing these incredible Disney theme park attractions to life in the world of interactive games," said Vincent Bitetti, chief executive officer, TDK Mediactive. "As we look to 2003 and beyond to be the `sweet spot? for our industry, `Haunted Mansion? and `Pirates of the Caribbean? theatrical releases will be incredible events with which to launch the game titles on a worldwide basis."

I suppose this may mean that the game will directly tie into the theatrical film we reported about in June and indirectly on the actual ride. Thanks to Scummbuddy for the news!

EBGames.com seems to have obtained the box art for the upcoming Gamecube title, The Clone Wars, which you can view here. Very nice looking box art, I must say. The site also says that the game will ship on September 18th, although that could certainly change.

Source: TheForce.net

In what could possibly be a new series on DoubleFine.com, Tim Schafer has written The Double Fine Coffee Status Report. Click here to find out how today's coffee tastes in the Double Fine Productions offices, where programmers and artists work bug-eyed on the upcoming Psychonauts title.

Is it me, or do these creative gaming types have an unusual dependency on coffee? I know I've seen Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer talk about it many times... maybe coffee is like a liquid muse that gives you heart problems.

Despite the American holiday this week, LucasArts.com has been updated with some new goodies. First up on the menu this evening are five new screenshots from the upcoming PS2, XBox, and PC title, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb.

For seconds, LucasArts has put up its first 20th Anniversary merchandise at the company store. No, it's not a key ring. It's a coffee mug for $12.95! Of course, since LucasArts doesn't ship internationally, those of you living outside the US and Canada may be out of luck.

And finally, there's a new poll that I'm sure you all will want to take part in. The new poll asks which original classic LEC game is your personal favorite. Who knows, maybe now Zak McKracken will finally get the attention he deserves!

Can't get enough of those Game Boy Advanced Star Wars games? Well I don't care for them either, but I'm sure someone out there likes them. Anyway, THQ issued a press release announcing a new Episode II game entitled Star Wars: Episode II The New Droid Army. The game features a new story in which Anakin must stop Count Dooku from creating a new, more destructive droid army. Look for that title in November of 2002. Thanks to our friend Marek over at Adventure Gamers for this news!

LucasArts.com continues in their tradition of Friday updates. This time, they have released five new screenshots for the upcoming PS2 and Gamecube title, Star Wars Bounty Hunter. I must say that these new screenshots are quite impressive. Check 'em out.

Wired News has published an article entitled, "Making Those Games Sound Right." The article discusses the combination of the LucasArts sound department and Skywalker sound to create, you guessed it, sounds for the upcoming Bounty Hunter game. The site features some interesting tidbits and even some pictures from the recording sessions. Here's a quote:

Jeff Kliment leans against the wall of the tiny control room of the audio effects lab, listening to the sound of gravel crunching under the feet of Montross, the villain in LucasArts' upcoming video game, Bounty Hunter.

"Uh, tell him we can hear his pants," Kliment says to Larry Oppenheim, the man recording the footsteps.

Make sure you read the full article!

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.

It would seem that on Monday, LucasFilm announced that it will expand THX into car audio systems and video game consoles. The newly formed independent company will be an extension of the current THX company, which provides sound standards for motion pictures. Perhaps this will cause LucasArts' strong support for game audio to evolve in new ways, eh? It will be interesting to see how this technology will be used to enhance future titles.

Source: Internet Movie Database

LucasArts' official website has been updated today, kicking off the celebration of the company's 20th anniversary. At the 20th anniversary site, you will find a video montage of all the LEC logo uses through the years, an article about how the LEC logo "Gold Guy" was created, and a Shockwave trivia game.

Additionally, the Ask LucasArts section includes the question, "What was the first game developed by LucasArts?" Stop by the site for all of the fun! Weeeee! Thanks to QueZTone for the notice.

Update: You can look at the entire 3D Gallery by heading over here. Sadly no 3d rendered ghost galleons, but plenty of spiffy SW thingies and the dude from RTX :)

In today's announcement of the Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2002, Psychonauts deservingly earned the award for Best Original Game. Here's a quote from one of the many critics who loved the preview for this upcoming title:

Tim Schafer is a man so creative that we?re almost inclined to kick him out of the gaming industry. Why? The bottom line is that he makes everyone else?s games look so damn derivative.

How true. Big congrats to Tim Schafer, the Psychonauts team, Double Fine Productions, and hell, even Microsoft for a great job!

The winners of the Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2002 were announced today, which are voted on by editors from nearly 40 leading outlets that cover games. Star Wars Galaxies walked away with the award for Best Online Multiplayer. Here's a quote:

With all of the depth and trappings of the Lucas legend at their disposal, the developers could easily have thrust a rush job online and the faithful would have come. But based on the demonstration witnessed, it appears that the project is getting plenty of TLC -- evident from the fine tuning allowed in the character customization options to the realism of settings such as Jabba?s Palace. Whether gamers are searching for combat or they want to explore the eight or more planets expected initially, this is a Star Wars episode that has plenty of Force behind it.

Congrats to LucasArts and Sony!

Continuing our comprehensive coverage of Monday Money Madness? (yawn), The PR Newswire has released this report from Activision on the success of Raven's recent titles. Of course, Jedi Outcast was a major part of this, and here's what the article had to say about all that:

Additionally, LucasArts Entertainment Company's Star Wars? Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast(TM), which was also developed by Activision's Raven Software, and is published by Activision internationally, continues to be a top-10 selling title in the U.S., U.K. and Australia since its initial launch in late March. Star Wars [Dark Forces III] Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast was the #3 best-selling PC game in the U.S. in revenue for the week of May 26 - June 1, 2002, the #7 selling PC game in the U.K. for the week of June 8, 2002 and the #5 PC title in Australia for the week ending June 6, 2002.

Yes, this is the most exciting news we have today. You can go about your business.

Source: TheForce.net

According to BusinessWire.com, the PlayStation 2 sequel Jedi Starfighter was number three on the chart for Top 10 Renting Game Titles For the Week Ending June 9, 2002. For that week, Jedi Starfighter earned $130,000 giving a total earning of more than $2 million. More money to help fund original and/or adventure games, I hope. Be sure to read our Jedi Starfighter review while you're at it.

Source: TheForce.net

Lycos has published an interesting article entitled, "Online Gaming: The Future is When?" This news item discusses the status of online gaming, the successes, the failures, the problems, and the potential. LucasArts' first online adventure, Star Wars Galaxies is mentioned. Here's a quote from the article:

Online gaming is far more difficult than just slapping together a cool world. In the mid-'90s, 150 games were put into production, according to DFC analysts. Of those, only a tiny fraction ever made it to retail, and only one, Ultima Online, made a dent in the commercial marketplace.

About $300 million was essentially thrown out the window in the grand pursuit of the mighty online game at the end of the '90s.

While Galaxies is only mentioned in passing, it's a very interesting read and reminds us why game publishers are so apprehensive about making something original and risky. There's a lot of money to be lost. Take a look.

Sometimes things go wrong and the day just owns you. Seems like something like that was up at LucasArts yesterday, as the E3 "game trailer mix" video, along with the rest of Friday's update, came out in the middle of the night. Regardless, the E3 game montage video is up in two different sizes at LucasArts.com.

Of special note are the first bits of direct-feed video from Full Throttle II and RTX Red Rock, though all the footage looks pretty nice! Music... possibly questionable.

The E3 page also contains the good press and awards that each new LEC game got at the show this year.

Also of note in the Friday update is the beginning of LucasArts' 20th Anniversary celebration. The zaniness starts June 20th with "a special video celebrating the LucasArts logo animations through the years."

It occured to us earlier today that we've never (to my knowledge) uploaded a version of the crazy E3 Psychonauts teaser video with a working soundtrack. If you haven't seen it yet with audio, you've seriously missed out, and need to get this immediately! Here is the file:

Psychonauts Trailer - AVI 23.4 MB

It's recommended that you right click the link and choose "Save As..." to prevent it from messing up. Also, apologies if the server is slow for anyone.

For those who still don't know, Psychonauts is the latest game from the creator of Grim Fandango and Full Throttle, Tim Schafer, and his new company Double Fine Productions. You can read our first impressions of Psychonauts here.

IGNCube has interviewed LucasArts game producer, Reeve Thompson about his and Hal Barwood's upcoming 3D action/adventure, RTX Red Rock. Sadly the article is locked by IGN unless you pay for their Insider service (which I do actually recommend), but here's a question from it:

IGN: We understand that NASA had a big influence on the game itself. How far did that influence reach?

Thompson: We've tried to infuse a sense of realism in RTX Red Rock... this is a world that might exist someday, and we want it to feel that way. For that reason we've spent a lot of time looking at NASA plans and designs, and use them as inspiration for almost everything we're designing.

Of course we have to imagine 100 years have passed, but overall we want people to recognize some of the visual elements of the game. We've also spent a lot of time thinking about how people would live on Mars, and what the lives of the colonists would be like. You'll find details in the game, like ceilings painted to look like Earth's sky, or pictures of Earth's forests, that we believe future colonists on Mars would like to have around.

The rest of the interview discusses why RTX is different than, say, Tomb Raider (some differences given include the ability to control crazy little robots, not to mention the fact that they're trying to have an actual story within RTX), and about Eugene's special abilities.

Worth reading if you already have an Insider account, but don't feel too worried if you can't see it. Hopefully we'll get our own interview with some RTX people sometime in the near future.

LucasArts.com continues its long string of Friday updates, this time giving some attention to RTX Red Rock. The product spotlight for this new Hal Barwood title has been updated to include five new concept art images. The new art includes some mine drilling items and a tough-looking woman that may lead to some jealousy from IRIS. Check it out.

Well, maybe not everybody. Or maybe so, it's hard to say. Anyway, GameSpot has ranked this future Tim Schafer title #4 on its "Top Xbox Games" E3 list. As you may know, we kind of snuck in to the GameSpot private preview of this title, but it's nice to see that they were also able to recognize the potential of this game. Here's a glimpse:

With the abundance of games blaring at us from all corners of the E3 show floor, it takes something special to stand out. Psychonauts caught our attention because of its quirky gameplay and unique premise.

Be sure to check out their view on this game.