The International House of Mojo

While we're still a little wary around these parts when it comes to Star Wars games - too many burnt fingers, too many broken hearts - we are at least vaguely interested in the 'big new game' Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. However, what we really want is that lightsaber game on the Wii. Up until now, TFU has only been confirmed for 360, PS3, PSP and, um, DS.

Good news, then! Because LucasArts has apparently revealed to gaming website CVG that TFU is indeed coming to the Wii, along with all the Wiimote-waving we want.

"Wii is a great platform for The Force Unleashed, because the console's motion-oriented controllers really bring the game to life," said Jimmy Jim Jimjimjim Ward. "We've worked hard to make the Wii version of the game unique in order to truly let you unleash the Force." That's good to know, especially as the game's being developed for Wii by Krome Studios and not LucasArts.

Still, motion-controlled lightsabers, being evil, a storyline bridging the movies... and a multiplayer mode to boot, apparently. Can Mojo step up to Cautiously Optimistic now? Yes, I know it means changing the bulb.

Source: CVG

Because he'd apparently rather post it there than here, ATMachine started a thread over at the Adventure Gamers forums documenting some discrepancies between footage of LEC adventures he found while scouring the Internet Archive versus the final product.

For example, what's up with the Lucasfilm logo looking different in the Last Crusade promo? What's the deal with there evidently once being a 256 color North American disk version of Loom? And how come that inventory item got cut from DOTT? If you're a fan of ATM's web site (and let's face it, we all are) you'll surely enjoy his latest work.

The speculation turned out to be correct, there is a LEGO Indiana Jones game in the works (as indeed are physical LEGO Indiana Jones sets).

Reported by theforce.net:
Probably the biggest new to come from the Lucasfilm presentation is that we can expect a Lego: Indiana Jones video game in the summer of 2008. Comic-Con fans in attendance were then treated to the first ever glimpse of the trailer for the game.

Considering the LEGO sets will be Nazi-less according to inside info, it will be interesting to see what enemies the game uses in the Raiders & Last Crusade levels. Strange it's only covering the first 3 movies, and not the new one.

New minisite with trailer here

Update by Jason: Just in case this is significant to anybody, the press release for the LEGO game confirms that the, erm, live action Indy game will take place "a year after The Last Crusade." You know, for any of you who were waiting to peg it in the appropriate place on the Indy timeline, or something.

Source: theforce.net

Kotaku has a lovely picture of the LucasArts cabinet being displayed at Comic-Con. Possibly holding a copy of every LucasArts / LucasFilm Games game ever made.

I guess if you haven't really got anything new to show at a nerd convention, old (albiet lovely) boxes will probably do the trick. At the least it shows LucasArts know their old IP actually exists. Here's that link again.

Source: Kotaku

This past January Gamasutra held a huge and wonderful interview with former LucasArts artist Mike Ebert that you should really check out. Ebert did art work on such graphic adventures as the NES version of Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. But he is best known as the project leader of Zombies Ate My Neighbors, the extremely fun top-down co-op game for SNES and Genesis.

Among the article's wealth of previously unknown tidbits and general goodness is that Ebert and fellow LucasArts employee Kalani Streicher were on the team of the Loom sequel before its cancellation. Who knew?! Also, apparently one of Zombies' bonus levels features Steve Purcell dressed up as Indy. I really need to look for that.

?I don?t think we were actually supposed to put George Lucas in the game,? muses Ebert, ?but we did, and just didn?t tell anyone. It was so easy to make levels for Z.A.M.N. that one day for fun, I just made the floor plan of our offices. The credit level then grew out of that. Originally it was a little more gory, but Nintendo didn?t like severed heads in the game.?

?In the end the design worked very pretty well,? Ebert says. ?We managed to get just about everything into that game that we could squeeze onto the cartridge. Looking back I wish we hadn?t hidden the flamethrower so well. Most people don?t even know there is one in the game. I wish we had more focus testing on the product too. Most of all I wish Lucasfilm had published the game themselves. The publishing deal Lucas had with Konami earned us very little royalties.?

The game was released on SNES and Genesis in 1993 to rave reviews. ?I think it?s the best reviewed game I?ve ever worked on,? Ebert notes. ?The project went so smoothly we were green lighted for Metal Warriors almost immediately. I?d like to see a DS or Wii downloadable version of Z.A.M.N, but last time someone talked to LucasArts about it, they were like ?We made that game???

It's funny Ebert should mention the game for a Virtual Console release, since that was supposedly going to happen at some point in the future. Anyway, the interview contains tons of great info about Ebert's time at LucasArts and what he's up to now, and there's really no help for you if you don't decide to read it.

Source: Gamasutra

There's a new interview with LucasArts president Jim Ward up the San Jose Mercury News site.

"George is always on us about this,""It's like, `Guys, you're showing me great technology, and then you go and try to wrap a story around it. And the story's really thin, and then it's not fun. Forget the tech for a second. I assume you'll be able to figure out the tech. Come in with a great story.' "

And why is George on about this after all these years?

Update: Keith Stuart, a UK Guardian Games blogger has also commented on these utterances from Big Jim, and severely laid the smack down. Well worth a read, in fact, one wonders if Keith is a Mojo reader himself...

Source: San Jose Mercury News

For those still interested in LucasArts games, GameTrailers has kindly given us a look at the new E3 trailer and a video interview for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which you can see right here in both SD and HD forms. It seems very Jedi Knight, and as much as it pains me to admit it, it is actually looking quite good. But then again, so did Bounty Hunter. And Force Commander. And Sam & Max Freelance Police. Still, they can't screw this one up... can they?

If that's not your thing, maybe Thrillville 2: Off The Rails might prove to be diverting. Find the videos here.

Still no more Indy videos unfortunately, save perhaps this one here. I've got a bet on with Gabez that LucasArts are going to forget about making an original Indy story and instead make the official Indy IV film tie-in game. Anyone with me?

Source: GameTrailers

When the LucasArts/Day 1 Studios collaborative effort Fracture was officially announced a few months ago, LucasArts showed off an early demo to all the major game sites (except Mojo). Now, they've give Gamespot an exclusive, more in-depth look at the title, with potentially interesting results. I'm not sure why they'd give a lightweight like Gamespot an exclusive over their longtime loyal fan site, but on an unrelated note you may want to check out our old preview of Gladius, recently restored by Gabez.

Long story short, the piece offers a bit more detail on the whole civil war backstory, some hints at how the ability to alter terrain may be used to solve puzzles, and a glimpse at the game's array of explosive weapons. Try not to get too excited.

Jim Ward, with hey hey, my, my EA vice president Neil Young discuss movies and games in this gamasutra interview.

[Newsweek's N'Gai] Croal asked Ward if, because it's important for film games to hit the movie's day and date, if it doesn't make them a "second-class citizen to the movie", to which he disagreed.

"Our company looks at it from an integrated media perspective," he said, "We have revenue coming from the movie, from the game, from VFX, from sound ? so all of that matters to us, and all of it?s got to happen."

"What you?re suggesting is the wrong way to look at it, because that?s a very siloed approach. Going over budget and coming out later isn?t going to help me, it?ll diminish the return! We do shift games and push them back. But when you have a game tied to a media event across an entire company, that?s really important.

Read the rest at the link above.

Source: Gamasutra

I got nothing. The Man Room does.

Update: You could also check out the press release.

After a year or so of wild speculation, Big Jim Ward finally made a formal announcement as reported on Gamasutra.

Responding to a question about what it would take for LucasArts to produce a lightsaber game on Wii, Ward said that the concept is "in place." He added: "We're all over that, and internally we have already played a lightsaber game on the Wii. It's a lot of fun, and we'll get there."

But this may not be the Wii lightsaber game you're imagining, as the blurb for the LEGO Star Wars game for the Wii states "Wii: Motion-sensitive inputs give you exciting new ways to control your LEGO Star Wars characters."

Source: Gamasutra

Germany-based videogame soundtrack website synSONIQ has always been a good online shop to buy various gaming CDs, including such treats as Peter McConnell's excellent Grim Fandango soundtrack CD and Michael Land's rare soundtrack for The Dig. They've unfortunately been out of stock of many goodies for a long time...

... that is until now! They've recently opened up an eBay store, and surprise surprise look what they've got: this and this.

I know it's in German, but it's all self explanatory. And yes, "Weltweit" does mean "Worldwide".

Act now, as this may be your last chance to own a piece of rare LucasArts tat. Or admittedly you could just download them here if you're feeling cheap. You dastard.

From the same guy who brought you the latest Monkey Island 5 rumor comes this infinitely more believable report that LucasArts' upcoming You-Are-Darth-Vader's-Apprentice game will have a version for Nintendo's latest console. LucasArts has yet to develop a Wii game and has never officially announced any plan to do so, unless you count the hints at the oft-speculated Wiimote lightsaber game. Whatever the company's first Wii project turns out to be, I'm sure we can all agree that it's to test the waters for that point 'n click Loom sequel.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is currently scheduled for release on virtually every current system except the Wii sometime next Spring. Should this rumor be confirmed in any official capacity, I'm sure you'll be able to learn it from a site that cares, and then here a bit later.

You may recall that people have been imagining a Wii based Star Wars lightsaber game ever since the first Wiimote was waggled about.

The rumor has resurfaced again recently due to a quote sandwiched between news of a Pirates of the Carribean Wii game on Fin24;

The head of the LucasArts, the game division for "Star Wars" series creator George Lucas, told AFP a Wii game that lets players wield virtual light sabers is on the horizon.

Pretty vague, but that hasn't stopped the news spreading around the webisphere, as you'd expect.

Source: fin24

LucasArts has announced Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga this fall for Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, and DS. As you might have guessed this is a compilation package of the two immensely popular Lego Star Wars games.

According to Traveller's Tales, the guys who are responsible for the compilation, there will be some extra features in these versions to make them more than just the two games repackaged. This includes "new characters, features, and levels," and the DS version is said to be a new game altogether, done from scratch. I know even some of you "I hope LucasArts gets cancer" folk dug the Lego games, so maybe this is news that doesn't suck.

This weekend is the 30th birthday of Star Wars, and the 25th birthday of LucasArts is also happening (or possibly: has happened ? nobody really knows).

To celebrate, IGN?s weekly "AFK" podcast is all about the films and the history of LucasArts. They spend a lot of time being nostalgic about Star Wars, but get onto adventure games at the 29 minute mark.

"Oh God, yeah, I do love this genre," says a woman. "And I know it?s dead right now, but, uh, but I love um... Grim Fandango, has to be, hands down, the BEST LucasArts adventure game..."

"Glottis rules," interrupts a husky male voice.

"I?m sorry!?"

"Glottis. Glottis rules."

"Oh yeah, I know," drools the woman. "I love Glottis.?

She then goes on to to describe Manny as a "half-dead detective."

If you want to give the whole thing a listen, head over to the IGN AFK page.

Source: Glo-Kidd

The often sometimes accurate CHUD has got a few rumors on the next Indiana Jones film. (If they're true they're definitely spoilers, so be warned.) Take everything that's said about the movie with a grain of salt, but there's also this:

Interestingly, there have been rumors of a video game tie in being released next year with the title Indiana Jones and the Staff of Moses; I checked with other sources and while I can?t confirm anything, this seems to be a stand-alone adventure and does not reflect the title or storyline of Indiana Jones IV.

This is the first we've heard of a title for the new game, but it does at least correlate with the extremely limited info we have on the story, which will feature a mystery of "biblical proportions." I don't know where he got the title from, but I'd say it's only probably fake, rather than assuredly.

Update: I've learned that Indiana Jones and the Staff of Moses is the name of an old work of fan fiction (notable enough, apparently, to be adapted into a fan comic) which kind of throws doubt on the veracity of this leak. Still though!

So, okay, you've finally learned our sinister secret, which is that we intentionally hold back news items from you so that we can opportunely "discover" them on subsequent slow news days.

When Fracture was announced, more than just Gamespot previewed the demo that LucasArts had to show off. There was also this one by Atomic, which is an informatively frank look at the game and is, if you get perverse pleasure out of it, somewhat critical.

When you're done with that, head on over to Gamespy's impressions. And I guess you could check out what IGN has to say as well. And GameShark. And 1up. And what have you got against ActionTrip anyway? I hope you're a little more civil toward TeamXbox and GameInformer. All of these are potentially worth reading and contain classic quotes by Mojo favorites Jim Ward and Peter Hirschman.

While it seems pretty unlikely that Fracture is going to actually deliver on the "depth" of storyline and characters that LucasArts refuses to stop boasting of it, it's pretty obvious that the game will be, at the very least, fun to play. At this point having anything lower than an apathetic stance toward it is considered gratuitous.

In a surprise move, LucasArts is to release a new game in 2007. A part of their ongoing Battlefront series. And you won't be playing it unless you're a PSP owner.

The new game is Star Wars Battlefront?: Renegade Squadron? and you can read the press release here.

Source: LucasArts

Well, to release Fracture, more accurately. As Mojo reported a month back the game takes place during a future US Civil War. West Coast vs East Coast. I'd have thought the 2 coasts would have teamed up against the middle States myself.

Here's the expected Big Jimming;

"Exciting new intellectual properties serve a vital role to the growth of LucasArts," said Jim Ward, president of LucasArts. "Fracture represents the next step in this company initiative, complete with the intriguing story and compelling characters audiences expect of a LucasArts release."

And for all the rest of the details and trailer and what-not, jump on over to the game's official website: terraindeformation.com

Update by Udvarnoky: Gamespot has a preview of the game up.

Source: LucasArts