The International House of Mojo

The eagerly awaited Lego Indiana Jones has been previewed by the UK's Edge Magazine, and we've got a juicy taste right here.

For me though, the most interesting fact revealed is the full title: Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. Now this is obviously so people don't feel short-changed when the buy it in June and discover it doesn't have any Crystal Skulls in it (although I'm prepared to bet there'll be a Bonus Level set then), but does this mean there might be a Lego Indy II somehow?

Update: Screenshots has been added. Groovy.

It's somehow rare for the world of LucasArts to make it into the pages of Penny Arcade, the webcomic so incredible they even have their own videogame being made by Ron Gilbert, mostly because LucasArts haven't released a game in years.

But with new Force Unleashed videos come new easy shots of parody. I think this comic gets it spot on. It's quite moving, too.

If you want to see the occasionally great, occasionally incredibly silly video that inspired it, go here for a quick gameplay montage.

That's right! Jim Ward, our favourite head of LucasArts, has called it quits and president of Lucas Licensing, Howard Hoffman, is taking over temporarily.

Clicky!

Mojo was, of course, already aware of this. During the beta testing of our new super-secret MindReader-o-Matic?, we dug into the brain of Jim Ward and out popped the following:

This is so typical. The minute we manage to fine tune it to his brain waves, he quits. Oh well, does anyone know the frequency to Hoffman's thoughts?

Pardon the mess... it's all those brain donors.

If you were to click here or look over to the right you will see the thing we at Mojo have been dying to show you for about a month now - some awesome art by Dan Lee! While that in itself is really enough to cover us for any new content for at least a year or so, we decided to make an article to go along with the art - the promised Maniac Mansion extravaganza that kicks off Mojo's new articles series, "LucasArts' Secret History."

The article contains a brand-spanking new review for the game, as well as some hopefully time-wasting bonus material we were able to scrounge up. Hope you guys like it! And remember, we'll be doing this for every LucasArts adventure game down the line on a (probably) monthly basis. Think of it as episodic articles - we're just like Telltale, only more furry and less 3D.

Next month we'll be doing Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, and like last time I encourage all of you to prepare by playing the game again, or for the first time. C'mon, you get to shred a goldfish in a garbage disposal. What kind of fool wouldn't want to play a game that let's you do that?

You may be familiar with the internet rumor resource Surfer Girl. Well, since we haven't heard anything about LucasArts' Indiana Jones game (the non-LEGO one) since, oh, E3 2006, let's just for fun see what an unofficial source has to say on the matter. The following bits are taken from the site's frequent news entries:

11/14/07
-Indiana Jones has "a brand new development team on board" and is "back on track." I now understand why someone who was working on the title was a bit nervous when I talked about it with them a few months back.

12/25/07
-A2M is working on Indiana Jones for people who cannot stand to play consoles with the number three in the name--DS/Wii/PS2/PSP.

12-26-07
-The current version of Indiana Jones has pretty much nothing in common with what was seen in the E3 06 trailer. The version where Indy is Ali rhythmic taps of the A button is no more and a signature, announced feature or two may have disappeared.
-A2M's Indiana Jones title, which has had a far mroe stable development, follows same plot its big next-gen siblings, but in an alternate universe sort of way. Waggle-lovers shan't worry, Wii is the lead SKU for the title.

"A new team?" "Back on track?" "Nervous" team member? Stripped features? Also, this is the first we've heard about the 3rd party ports to all the platforms that aren't 360 and PS3, but it's not surprising either considering it's in line with how The Force Unleashed is being handled. Anyway, you may find some more stuff over there while you keep waiting for LucasArts to say anything official about the game. Should give you plenty of time.

Game Informer, which you'll remember also gave us the first look at Br?tal Legend, has now turned its magic eye to look at Lego Indiana Jones.

If you're in the United States of America, then the magazine should already be available at newstands. Inside are four pages of new screenshots and information, some of which has been divulged by the cheery elves at The Raider.net.

It looks pretty sweet!

Update: Scans of the article in question are now up on TheRaider.net's message forum. One interesting point is that unlike Lego Star Wars, all the guns in the game will have limited ammo - so much like in Emperor's Tomb Indy will be doing more brawling than shooting. Cool! Brawling with Lego!

Theforce.net is reporting that LucasArts' The Force Unleashed, originally slated for November 2007 release, then Spring 2008, has been pushed back further still to wintery June 2008.

Let's recap Jim Ward from 2005;

"There's an attitude in this industry that says in order to make a great game, it takes whatever time it takes and it takes whatever money it takes, and that 'that's okay," Ward claimed. "Well it's not okay ? it's wrong. It's not okay in other entertainment businesses. In other businesses it's big trouble... When you have EA failing to bring Superman out with the movie, that's inexcusable. Moving games like Medal of Honor and Godfather out of the fourth quarter -? that's the old way of thinking and you can't do that any more... We've adopted new philosophies at LucasArts which, frankly, the whole industry should adopt. We make kick-ass games, but on time and on budget. Failure on any one of those three points is failure for the project. We are very serious about that strategy and we're able to deliver on it."

But to be fair, the push-back may well be for marketing purposes, perhaps to piggy-back the game's launch with the Clone Wars animated TV series?

Source: theforce.net

IGN is reporting the death of Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, 43, a former employee of LucasArts, whose credits include Zombies Ate My Neighbours, Big Sky Trooper, Dark Forces, Rebel Assault, Shadows of the Empire and Rogue Squadron.

Mojo extends its condolences to Mark's wife, children, extended family and friends. :(

Source: IGN

Fracture, which you may recall as the only original game in LucasArts' (3rd party) pipeline, was recently previewed by Gamespot, who were able to get some time with a new level from the game. Check it out, if you care dare.

Up until now no confirmed platforms for LEGO Indiana Jones had been revealed. Today Microsoft announced that LEGO Indiana Jones is definitely PC bound, so that's good news for those of us that won't be playing The Force Unleashed, Fracture Unleashed or (in all likelihood) Indiana Jones 2007 2008 Unleashed.

Source: Next Generation

It seems that LucasArts president Jim Ward will be one of the guest speakers at the 2008 D.I.C.E. Summit, at least according to Gaming Nexus. Well, them and the official D.I.C.E. site.

What will everyone's favorite LucasArts president with the name Jim Ward have to say? Find out at this year's D.I.C.E. which will be held February 5-8. Go here for more details.

Ron's lovely blog at Grumpy Gamer has a YouTube video of a recent interview with the Monkey Master for a German videogaming show - although don't panic, it's in English (and there's a nice shot of the Mix 'N' Mojo wheel too!).

A lot of stuff we've heard before but some interesting stuff came out - particularly Ronny G's statement that working with LucasArts to make another Monkey Island game "is not outside the realm of extreme possibility". Personally I just enjoyed the presenter shouting "What is the Secret?!" down the phone in anguish.

Oh, and there's some hints as to Ron's next project. He describes it as "kind of an adventure melded with a Diablo-style role-playing game", which he's apparently making with the help of Double Fine. Well, a desk at Double Fine at least. It's a comedy, and going to be Telltale-style episodic too (although he does mention "pitching it to publishers", which I thought was the whole reason NOT to be episodic).

Check it out! (Although being honest the main reason I'm posting this is to see the Xmas version of the Ron Gilbert News avatar)

Source: Grumpy Gamer

You like the Indy IV poster by Drew Struzan so much you want to marry it, huh? Then good news! The Star Wars Shop has it available now!

Blu-Tack it to your wall and pretend that Indy and a Giant Skull actually want to hang out with you!

While you're at it, buy the T-Shirt too! C'mon guys, we all know if we don't buy all this stuff and support LucasFilm we'll never get those Star Wars Prequel Special Editions (with 10% more Jar-Jar) we've always wanted!

After cruelly skipping a review of Lego Star Wars II, Mojo makes up for lost time and reviews both games in one neat package called Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for that spangly hard-to-get toy called the Nintendo Wii. What is it with me and reviewing previously released and reviewed games in one big collection? Check out the review and then unleash your Wiimotes on a terrified battle droid.

Oh, and there's a special guest in this review. No, it's not Gabez.

Recently Microsft issued a new backwards compatibility update for the Xbox 360, and a few LucasArts Xbox games made the list. Now you can enjoy Armed and Dangerous, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb,
Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, and Thrillville all over again.

Check out the full list here.

Online everywhere (including here) today are the first three official photos from Indiana Jones and the Male Reproductive Organs. They all look fantastic, especially if you pretend that's Sophia Hapgood (or anyone else really) instead of Shia LaBeouf beside our favorite archaeologist. That second picture in particular is awesome - Harrison Ford looks no worse for the wear.

Ironically, while this movie that no one thought would ever get made is at the height of post-production, the Indiana Jones video game that has supposedly been in production for like five years is being treated by LucasArts as if it doesn't exist. Remember the last time we heard anything about Indy's next-gen adventure? Yeah, it was E3 2006, when LucasArts was talking about how Euphoria is going to replace air as what we need to breathe. I know that the game was quietly delayed until around the release of the movie, but geeze, some acknowledgment of its existence after a year and a half would be nice. But anyway.

Update: Someone has posted on Youtube what may be about fifteen seconds of footage from the upcoming Indy 4 teaser trailer (most likely to be attached to National Treasure 2) but the quality's so bad it could just as easily be the end cutscene of Freelance Police. Still, if you're curious. Erm yeah fake

Ex-LucasFim Gamer Douglas Crockford details the toning down of Maniac Mansion for the NES.

The mansion contains a number of arcade video games. One was called KILL THRILL. The name had to be changed. Doug Glen, our Director of Marketing, suggested that we change it to MUFF DIVER, which I thought was a pretty good idea. Unfortunately, I later became aware of the NES Game Standards Policy, which stated in part:

Nintendo will not approve NES cartridges...with sexually suggestive or explicit content

Yikes, MUFF DIVER had to be changed again. In order to minimize the impact on the artwork, I needed to substitute MUFF with another four letter word that was less suggestive that could make sense with DIVER. We settled on the word TUNA.

You'll be wanting to read the whole story here. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll probably not dive for tuna.

Update: Turns out this is a near 15 year old article that's been picked up on today by various sources for some reason. Still worth a read or a re-read though!

Source: Crockford.com

LucasArts have just released this press release. Read and then come back.

The long and short of it is, despite now having been bought by EA and still being tied to SEGA for their Sonic RPG, LucasArts and BioWare are now working together on an "interactive entertainment product" that will be announced at a later date.

In my mind, this can only mean one of two possibilities - Knights of the Old Republic 3 or, possibly more likely, the long-rumoured KOTOR MMORPG. Either way, this is great news. Right?

Jim Ward (remember him?) had this to say about BioWare:

"LucasArts has a deep commitment to developing compelling stories and characters for the unique medium of interactive entertainment, and we have been searching for a developer that shares this value. We found this in BioWare.
Through our previous collaborations, we know that BioWare has an impressive ability to blend gripping stories with technological advancements, and we believe that our upcoming product will deliver an experience that will span the traditional boundaries of video game entertainment."

At least he mentioned videogames once. I mean, "interactive entertainment"?

Greg Zeschuk, president of Bioware, had this to say:

"The collaboration with LucasArts allows us to combine our passion for creating high quality and innovative experiences with those of a company dedicated to bringing only the finest games to market."

I wonder if he's played Star Wars: Bounty Hunter? Still, BioWare and LucasArts... we have a new hope on our hands here.

Source: LucasArts

How did we miss this? This is like missing International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Last Saturday, October 13th, was International Monkey Island Music Day. Kotaku remembered, as did the founder of the feast Ron Gilbert, but Mojo forgot.

We promise we will never ever let you down ever again. Well, for at least a year anyway.

Think Lego Indiana Jones won't be playable until sometime next year?

Think again. Looks like we'll be whippin' Lego-style come 6th (US) & 9th (Europe) November as Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga has Lego Indy as an unlockable character! Check out GameTrailers' two movies for proof, here and here.

And we thought a whip would be no match for Droidekas...