The International House of Mojo

You probably already know that The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition will be released for PC and XBLA next Wednesday, July 15th. But a recent twitter by LEC also reveals the price point: $9.99 on Steam and 800 Microsoft Points on XBLA. (I think other distribution channels will carry the PC version, but I don't know which.)

Between this and the reasonable prices for the Steam heritage adventure releases, it's good to know that LEC is doing right by its customers. I imagine it will pay off for them.

There are apparently some people who would like to see LEC port their SCUMM games to the iPod. The last time LEC was confronted on the issue, their response was of the "can't confirm or deny" variety. Well, in sniffing around under the hood of his newly purchased copy of Last Crusade on Steam, resident resource file ravager bgbennyboy found the following string inside the game's executable:

c:HeritageSCUMMiPodSCUMMTechRetailIndyCrusadeIndyCrusade_Retail.pdb

Well now.

It was announced, and now it's here. Available on Steam are ten games from LEC's back catalogue. The graphic adventures on offer are Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Loom (Talkie), Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and The Dig. All four of these are being sold at an incredibly reasonable $4.99 a pop. The sales of these releases and next week's Monkey Island: Special Edition will be a very large factor in how much LEC will continue to invest in its old IPs.

So if you were ever pissed at LEC for abandoning their old properties, you need to do your part to show them that it's a good thing that they're changing their ways. We're aware that most of you probably own most of the classic adventures, but if there are any that you don't, or any that you acquired through suspect channels, then don't be an idiot - now's the time to score that copy and show your support. Between these, TMI and the Special Edition, LEC is investing a lot in the possibility of reviving their classics - if they're disappointed in the result of testing the waters, you don't want to be the one to blame.

The other games include Star Wars Starfighter, Star Wars Republic Commando, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, Armed & Dangerous, Star Wars Battlefront II, and Thrillville: Off the Rails. Additional Steam releases of this sort are forthcoming and will be announced on LEC's twitter feed, so keep an eye on it.

Update: Look at the good example benny has set for you, observed by elTee.

Okay, I know you're all excited by something or other that I must have missed, but if you can tear yourself away from that for a few seconds you may be intrigued by the news that LucasArts is apparently developing a brand new game for XBLA!

Early details sound intriguing. The game is called Lucidity starring a character called Sofi. It seems it's all about manipulating the side-scrolling environment so that Sofi (who the player doesn't directly control) can successfully move around it.

Apart from that, we don't know anything - Joystiq broke the story and the source seems reliable but official word on this is yet to appear. Thanks to Destructoid for the heads-up!

Source: Destructoid

Joystiq learned an interesting detail from LucasArts about Last Crusade's inclusion in the batch of first ten oldies that will be appearing on Steam this Wednesday: it is a version never seen before.

LucasArts tells us that the version of The Last Crusade that will be put on Steam is a "previously unreleased version" with "even more bugfixes" than the original CD-ROM re-release, along with a "Tandy 1000 sound engine."

The implication I get is that this is not some spruced up version LEC just threw together, but is rather an unreleased port from back in the day. (There were a couple of those, though I'm hazy on exactly what they all were.) Could this be a "vaporware" American equivalent of the in-all-ways-superior FM-Towns version? ATMachine, I'm looking at you.

The article also confirms that the version of Loom will be the Talkie version (yay for the voicework and better graphics, nay for the truncated dialog and the scrapped character close-ups from the EGA original), and that the Book of Patterns and Grail Diary (physical documents that were packaged with Loom and Last Crusade respectively) will be included in PDF form. Although it's easy enough to find online, I wonder if they'll include Loom's wonderful audio prologue as well?

"SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – July 6, 2009 – Fans have asked and LucasArts has delivered! Today the company announced a new initiative in its effort to revive itsclassic and beloved franchises by making its games available for the first time ever asdigital downloads online.

In this first round of releases, ten fan-favorite LucasArts PC games will be made available Wednesday, July 8 on Steam®, Valve Corporation's delivery and management platform for the PC. Scheduled for release are classic adventure titles like LOOM and The Dig and hit action games including Star Wars Battlefront II and Star Wars Republic Commando.

The complete list of games to be released on July 8 via Steam includes:

• Armed and Dangerous
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
• LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
• LOOM
• Star Wars Battlefront II
• Star Wars Republic Commando
• Star Wars Starfighter
• The Dig
• Thrillville: Off the Rails

"This effort is going to make it possible to introduce a whole new generation of gamers to LucasArts' classic games," said Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts. "It also gives more people a chance to play our games by making them available long after they’ve disappeared from store shelves. We hope our fans are as excited as we are about our plans and we can’t wait to share what's coming next. This is just the beginning. "This series of launches continues LucasArts' new mission to revitalize its deep portfolio of beloved gaming franchises."

Read the whole press release here, and keep updated on the details with LucasArt's twitter.

The press release also confirms the Special Edition will be released July 15th on XBLA and Steam.

Update: Darrell Rodriguez had had a few words with joystiq.

Source: LEC Twitter

According to their Twitter feed, LucasArts are plotting something interesting that will be revealed Monday.

Amazing news coming Monday! Super excited! You have no idea how tough it is not to start yelling about it! But it's secret! Until Monday!

They go on to say: "it is awesome news for our old school fans", "something I was asking for since before I worked at LucasArts", "It doesn't have to do with any specific intellectual property", "nothing to do with new IP", and "Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion 2?".

Not new IP, not any specific game or series, but something old-school fans will enjoy and is long overdue? Methinks re-release combo packs are coming soon... or maybe a full-scale assault on GOG perhaps?

Source: bgbennyboy

So on the 7th, we get Tales of Monkey Island - then, a week later it's The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.

Well, at least if this is to be believed. Thanks to Nickelstein over on our forum for pointing this out.

As many of you have mentioned, releasing the Special Edition after TMI seems like a bad move on LucasArts' part. The game is clearly ready to roll, and it's a digital distribution so... what's the wait?

But LucasArts are experts on the adventure game marketplace, and I can't even figure out what time the sun sets on Melee Island. So we'll wait and see on this one, I suppose...

But yeah, let's not end this on a sour note: the preliminary report is that MI:SE will be available from the 15th of July, and that is awesome.

Source: Nickelstein / 1UP

Out of blue, from Microsoft to you: MONKEY ISLAND: SPECIAL EDITION - the E3 Preview Video.

You weren't expecting the actual game, were you? Still plenty of time for Marketplace Realities yet...

Of note is the fact that they chose to use an image made by LucasForums member parabolee, rather than any official artwork. The Mojo lawyers are considering the legal impact of sending an ironic 'cease and desist' letter to LucasArts as we speak.

Check it all out here.

Source: xgfx

On the lucas forums, user parabolee has pointed out that GameSetWatch has a nice overview article about the Monkey Island series. Tales of Monkey Island also gets a mention, as do Laserschwert's massive posters.

It’s a gorgeous looking game, though. Not just for something that’s almost 18 years old – it is genuinely stunning. I’m glad they never released it in EGA form, and really, it’s quite possible that they weren’t able to technically – the level of detail probably relies on things like, you know, more than 16 colours.

If you're looking for that second link that's identical to the first link that we at Mojo tend to post after the quote, here it is.

Source: Game Set Watch

The International House of Mojo pulls out another e3 article!

In this last one, Jeff Moeller tells us about Lego Indy 2 and the usual line of Star Wars games, which you may or may not care about. Also included are some fairly awesome Monkey Island t-shirts.

Check it.

In little under an hour people at LucasArts will play the special edition of The Secret of Monkey Island over at Justin.tv

Clicky!

Update: Complete video: part 1, 2, 3, 4.

UPDATE: Want it?

Source: Joystiq

According to LucasArts' Brooks Brown, via Kotaku:

"If this sells, there's no one at this company who doesn't want to do these games. It's a matter of showing that there's interest and this market is alive and get people as excited as possible about Monkey Island Special Edition to show that these things can make it."

So, simply put: if Monkey Island Special Edition sells, we get more special editions. Nothing is planned right now, but they do want to do it. If that "marketplace realities" thing is false, LucasArts will continue making adventure games.

Someone hold back Bad Asp.

Source: Kotaku

The long rumored Wii Star Wars: Rogue Squadron game source code looks to have been stolen and hidden in a shell company. The San Rafael branch of Factor 5 filed for bankruptcy recently, owing lots of money to lots of people, including $4 million to LucasArts and $0.9million to their former employees.

You can read all the sordid details here on Nintendo World Report.

Source: Nintendo World Report

Jesse Harlin, the main man behind the new music in The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has kindly answered some questions, as asked by Laserschwert.

There's loads of insightful insights to be had, including a few references to this humble domain and its hosted sites.

Read all about it!

Had you already pre-ordered Tales of Monkey Island you'd have access to the Pirates Private Club and you'd already know this. But seeing that you don't, you might just want to check out Bay Area Sound's Facebook page and have a look at some pictures of the voice recordings of episode 2 of TMI.

In amongst all the jizz and hoo-har of Monkey Island fever, you might have forgotten that Indiana Jones has got a new game coming out as well. It's called "Fate of Atlantis Wii Port" and it has a free "Staff of Kings" game bundled with it as well.

Actually, I tell a lie: Staff of Kings is the main game, and apparently it's rather good.

Or in the Official Xbox Magazine's podcast that is. Run over to their site or check out the MP3 directly (might want to jump to about 21:21) and hear Dom gush about his first Monkey Island experience on his SEGA.

But yeah, why are you still reading? Go!

So we know what Ronzo thinks about the new and re-imagined Monkey Island games, and Dave Grossman is obviously the man behind TMI. But what does the third of the original Monkey Island design team think? You know... Tim Schafer... God.

Well, in a nice long interview with Joystiq, he says...

I'm excited that you can play the original one again. Dave is doing the new episodes, Dave Grossman. Other than Ron, there's probably no one else that should really be doing that. I'm really happy about that.

So there you go, you are allowed to like the games now. Read the whole interview as it's pretty entertaining.