The International House of Mojo

Always encouraging to see a good LucasArts title selling well, and LEGO Star Wars: The Original Trilogy has done just that, taking the top spot on gaming charts worldwide and shifting a staggering 1.1 million units in its first week of release.

You'll never have so much fun playing in that Galaxy Far, Far Away as you will in this LEGOised version. Taking all the humourous elements that made the first LEGO Star Wars (prequel story) such a surprise hit and further refining the special moves, bonuses, and vehicle aspects has made a brilliant concept even better.

Developers Traveller's Tales are reportedly now working on a LEGO Batman game.

Source: Google News

Now you can be the one making Star Wars games and judging current marketplace realities! But this time, it's in Europe!

At least, that's where the interviews are. If you live in London, Paris or the fair city of Scotland then you can apply for a job by filling out an exciting form over on this page.

But there's more... LucasArts have released an interesting video showing footage from the new internally developed Indiana Jones and Star Wars games, plus lots of people with weird facial hair, plus promise of new original games to be coming out "in the next couple of years".

Great news. Still a month out from the release of the new LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy videogame, and already a PC demo has been released.

The demo takes place on the sprawling Tatooine Mos Eisley level and allows you to take control of Luke, Ben, Han, Chewie, R2 and 3PO (plus anybody else if you get to the end and unlock freeplay mode).

There's nothing quite like spinning donuts in your landspeeder and knocking pedestrians flying. GTA Star Wars anyone? Without the hookers of course.

Anyway, it's a 460MB download, available at all the usual places. If you don't know any usual places, try here.

In a blitz of Press Releases reprinting, LucasArts has announced a parnership with Day1 Studios, creators of MechAssault.

There is an interview with LucasArts' Peter Hirschmann at Gamespot detailing the new project;

...Indeed, Day 1 president Denny Thorley told GameSpot that the deal with LucasArts was partially inspired by Mercenaries, LucasArts' non-Star Wars-related collaboration with Pandemic Studios. That game won widespread critical acclaim for its innovative gameplay...

Apparently this is not a Star Wars game, so don't expect some AT-AT / AT-ST simulator just yet.

Source: Google News

The September issue of Edge magazine has an article about LucasArts, and the cover sports some really cool drawings of various LucasArts game characters throughout the ages. Try to spot them all when you see it in this Adventure Gamers forum thread. Apparently though the article itself has nothing to do with the old LucasArts games.

Source: AG Forums

Ever wanted to paint your wall with motifs from Day of the Tentacle? Sure you haven't, but now you can learn how to do it. The whole story is in some strange language, but I'm sure the pictures should help you along.

Dan Connors of Telltale Games quoted from this Game Informer article;

GI: A lot of those LucasArts franchises are still very popular ? you spoke about Day of the Tentacle. Is there a chance you?ll be able to wrangle a few more of those away for more episodes? Are you working on that at all?

Connors: It?s definitely on our minds and it?s definitely something we think about. Maybe I can give you more information a while from now. It?s definitely something that makes good sense to everybody. For them it?s the same thing. For them it?s "What?s the business model? What?s the retail model?" It?s not their type of game ? it?s not Star Wars, it?s not with the movie, with the lightsaber ? an action game. When trying to do the two things at the same time it makes it challenging. They?ve been trying to figure out the right solution, and hopefully Telltale is part of it.

Monkey Island 5a, 5b, 5c...etc ahoy!

(Of course the article actually namechecks Day of the Tentacle, and co-writer / designer of that title, Dave Grossman, works at Telltale these days).

Source: Game Informer

It's typical - you wait around for years for some new Monkey Island music and then loads comes along at once.

Firstly we have a cover of the Phatt Island music by a band called Neskimos, discovered by MorteTheSkull on the Monkey Island forums.

They're a metal band, and that might be a little heavy and distorted for your taste (plus it's live so the quality isn't as good as it could be) but I think it's pretty good! The track will apparently appear in studio recording form on their upcoming album "NESkimo Brutality."

Whilst I was revealing this news to the fan community, however, Zaarin told me that Press Play on Tape (a 'Commodore 64 Revival Band') had been quietly touring the globe playing Monkey Island tunes themselves. I went to their website to investigate, where I found a video of the band playing the Monkey Island theme and LeChuck theme in London.

But wait! There's more! Over at Amiga Remix Zaarin unearthed yet more Monkey Island covers by PPOT.

We are surely spoiling you! Go download you fools, before father time catches up with you.

Source: LucasForums

Press Release (truncated):

Lucasfilm Animation Singapore Announces New Handheld Games Group and Digital Artist Group Units to Be Added to Singapore Studio

-- With CG Animated Television Series Already in Development, Singapore-Based Studio Begins Aggressive Recruiting and Hiring for New Units

Lucasfilm Animation Singapore, which opened its doors for business in October 2005, announced that it is expanding the size and scope of the studio to include a newly-formed Handheld Games Group to work together with LucasArts in the U.S., and a Digital Artists Group to work alongside Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for the production of visual effects work.

"We're thrilled to be already expanding on the work being created at our Singapore studio," said Christian Kubsch, General Manager of Lucasfilm Animation Singapore. "We've already hired more than 60 employees from 20 different countries for our animated television series. The new hiring effort for our Handheld Games Group and Digital Artists Group will expand our palette of talent even further and allows us to work with our colleagues in the U.S. at LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic. It's a very exciting time."

So, there you go. Slightly more information in the full press release that you can read here.

Source: Business Wire

In perhaps Bono's first appearance in Mojo news, the U2 singer has become embroiled in controversy over funding of games developers Bioware/Pandemic.

SPIN.com: While Bono is usually touted for his advocacy and relief work, the singer has recently come under fire for his involvement in a video game that depicts a war-torn Venezuela. According to the New York Post, a private equity firm that Bono established invested $300 million in Pandemic Studios, which made the game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. In the game, the player takes on the role of a mercenary sent to a "war-torn world" where a "power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply," according to Pandemic.

Among the groups speaking out about the matter is the Venezuela Solidarity Network, which is made up of more than 50 U.S.-based organizations. They've asked Bono to halt production of the game, saying it "is designed to demean the Venezuelan people, to undermine the democratically elected government of Venezuela." The group noted that the game might be used as a recruiting tool since it is aimed at teens and "20-something males, the same target market for military recruiting."

Of course LucasArts published the first Mercenaries game which probably sparked similar outrage from North Korea but didn't have a tenouous link to a famous pop star to give the story any legs.

Despite LucasArts President Jim Ward publically saying that Mercenaries is the sort of non-Star Wars IP they're going to spin into a franchise, it seems the deal soured and Bioware/Pandemic are currently shopping for another publisher. LucasArts are probably pretty thankful right now that they're not caught up in this, freeing up valuable resources to develop more Star Wars games.

Source: Google news

Early reports indicate that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest has had the highest opening day ever, earning approximately $55.5 million yesterday. Hmm...this movie opens bigger than Star Wars Episode III, and LucasArts has this comedic, supernatural pirate game license on its hands. No, wait, they'd better hold off until 2015, because right now they have all these original ideas to focus their attention on.

Update: Weekend earnings has been estimated to be $132 million, easily beating Spider-Man's previous record of $115 million.

LucasArts' Product Development VP Peter Hirschmann (remember him?) has filled out a survey on Next-Generation revealing such deep secrets as;

1. I'm currently working on...
?projects being made by the best people in the business.

2. My favorite part of the working day is...
?when I get to play something fun.

3. The three brands that I most adore are...
?Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Pixar.

4. When I was 12 years old I most loved to...
?think about what it would be like to talk to a girl.

You think you can handle the rest of these shocking revelations? Click here if you dare.

Source: Next Generation

On my daily trawl across the internet looking for information about Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest I came across this great report on the premiere of the movie.

What makes this one so cool? This video. It's Johnny Depp riding the updated Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, and you get to see some of the cool new animatics they've come up with. And, so that I can pass this off as Mojo news, you get to see the dog/jail/bone scene which is in the original Pirates movie, and some game LucasArts made back in the day. Day of the Tentacle or something.

Anyway the movie is out in like two weeks so clear your schedules and prepare for another elTee debunking of the "they ripped off Monkey Island!" forum thread. 5000 words? You got it.

(Although, I think this time there seem to be a hell of a lot more similarities than last time, and I'm not the only one - but then again I was the first one to go all mental saying that it would be Monkey Island: The Movie last time - until I actually saw the movie. Here, educate yourself.)

Source: IESB.net

LucasArts big cheese Jim Ward recently told UK's MCV that business practices as recently seen by EA are inexcuseable.

"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. As a result we're successful on a revenue and a bottom line basis."

Yes, it all makes perfect sense from a marketing standpoint, just so long as buggy, unfinished games aren't being foistered on the public.

Source: MCV

Issue one hundred and sixty-nine (??) of PC Zone is out in the UK, and contains much that will be of interest to readers of the Mojo.

Like, for instance, their belated Bone review! Sixty seven per cent they gave it, though it should be noted that their rating system is more harsh than most; fifty per cent is average, not mediocre, and a score of sixty seven is thus not embarrassing in the least. In fact, Dreamfall got the very same score on the opposite page.

Also included is a piece about the LucasArts logo, though writer Will Porter seems to have been overcome with nostalgia before he?d had a chance to say anything meaningful. Marry me!

Oh, and before I forget: the most interesting piece of news from the magazine! Psychonauts won "funniest game ever" with a landslide victory. Check out their forum post and have your say with a vote.



Also: Telltale's CSI game was given 62%, and is reportedly at number 12 on the sales charts.

Maybe it's old news. I'm sure some of you out there are already aware of this secret little FTP site loitering out the back of the LucasArts servers. So this news item is for the rest of us!

And what's in this FTP site you may ask? Ohh, only (by the looks of the filenames, I haven't personally downloaded and tested them yet);

Slideshows (these appear to simply be in-game images for press) of Rebel Assault, Full Throttle, The Dig, and Dark Forces.

Demos of Escape from Monkey Island, Afterlife, TIE Fighter, Loom, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Indiana Jones' Desktop Adventures, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, X-Wing, Yoda Stories, Outlaws, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Shadows of the Empire, Mysteries of the Sith, and Curse of Monkey Island.

But wait. There's more...

For you neglected Mac owners;

Demos of Afterlife, Dark Forces, Racer, Sam & Max and X-Wing.

Of course you may need scummVM and / or DOSbox or VDMsound (if you don't know of them, try google) to get some of the older demos to behave on newer computers, but there's something there for everyone over this weekend, surely?

What? You want to rape and pillage the LucasArts' FTP server even further? Well, OK then, just this once. Here are some in-game movies you can download. Now, be off with you! Yarrr!

Oh, and big thanks to Vengance1003 from the Jedi Council Games Forum for the tipoff.

Source: Vengance1003

It seems that some bright spark called Neil Millstone has ported ScummVM to the Nintendo dual-screen thingamy. You can see a video of Sam & Max working on the device here, and you can download the port here. Apparently the touch screen part can be used to move the pointer in the game, which is pretty cool.

Update: Oops, this is actually old news, though I'm at least the Sam & Max video is new. (Thanks Haggis!)

And speaking of Sam & Max: if you don?t already, you should really read the Telltale blogs. There?s a good one about reactions to the new game (apparently some people didn?t already know about it!) as well as a report from e3, showing off some awesome looking posters.

Source: ThunderPeel2001

Penny Arcade have given some thoughts on the games at e3, including the new Indiana Jones. Here?s what they thought:

This was the year of procedurally generated content. Every other developer was telling me how instead of having artists and animators create a game for me they figured out a way to make a computer do it. They seem to think this is better but Indiana Jones is a great example of why it?s not. Instead of animating Indy they essentially taught him how to behave and react to his surroundings. They said this was better because it means you?ll never see the same canned animation over and over. What it means is that I see different stupid looking animations all the time though. I?m not sure that?s an improvement. I?ll take God of Wars beautifully animated special moves over Indy looking like some kind of retarded marionette any day.

To be honest, I'm finding myself agree with them. I don?t want to judge Indy before it's released, but I just hope that enough thought has gone into the characters, plot, style, dialogue, music and atmosphere than have gone into the physics engine. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Thanks to a tipoff from mixnmojo reader jtacomis we can hear LucasArts boss Jim Ward publically declare how old television IP such as 'Bewitched' or 'Dukes of Hazzard' sucks when remade for the modern movie audience, which is why the old LucasArts IP such as Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle will stay dead and buried "until at least 2015".

Uhhh. What now?

Watch for yourself.

Source: G4

When some IGN hack at E3 asked some LucasArts lackeys if they had ever considered making a Wii lightsaber combat game, the devs shuffled their feet and may have winked. Possibly.

[Sources] At the end of the demonstration questions were raised about the possibility of such a game, garnering knowing smiles from the room of LucasArts employees. Comments of "We are looking into it" were heard from members of their staff as ideas for the game were discussed among the people in the room.

This is obviously irrefutable proof that LucasArts are developing a Wiisaber game. And better yet you can do your part to ensure that the game does not suck.

Source: Google news