The International House of Mojo

ScummVM is taking part in the Google Summer of Code again and they require students who are willing to work on the program and want to earn $4500 to apply. The deadline is the 31st. of March (yep, today) and they would really like to get some more applications.

So if you think you know C++ and want to contribute, why not head over to their site and send in your application?

Update: The deadline's been extended to April 7th!

This is cool - Double Fine's own Scott Campbell, the mastermind behind the original Double Fine comic has his artwork featured in the DVD release for The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.

If you haven't seen the movie - well, why not? Oh, right, because of its extremely limited release. Well fair enough. But it's a great movie! If, apparently, a little inaccurate.

Anyway, Scott's cool artwork can be seen here.

What do you mean, 'not good enough?' FFS. Okay, well how about this: Scott C. Will be in LA on the 22nd of March to sign copies of the DVD. Or, as Tim pointed out, "Psychonauts. Or your bus pass. Or your backfat. He loves all of those things."

For the record, my personal high score on Donkey Kong is 133900. This is a high score ;

Source: Double Fine Action News

You may remember when it was announced that Dark Horse Comics would be re-releasing their old Indiana Jones comic stories as well as some new work in a series of omnibuses in anticipation for the new movie. Despite a release date that claims to be four days away, the first of these books is now shipping from Amazon, and presumably everywhere else. Included in this volume is the comic adaptation of Fate of Atlantis. Although it is very loosely based on the game's plot and apparently has some spotty writing (you can check out ATMachine's detailed write-up on it here), any fan will find it worth reading. Also included in the collection is Thunder In The Orient, which features Sophia Hapgood.

The second volume, which is set to be released on June 25th., will feature the even more interesting Philosopher's Stone and Spear of Destiny stories, both of which were based on cancelled adventure games. Both titles were attempts at genuine sequels to Fate of Atlantis but multiple issues resulted in their demise, making the far more action oriented Infernal Machine the next installment in the archeologist's video game series. You can read about Iron Phoenix's (which spawned the Philosopher's Stone comic) troubled development in our database entry - ditto for Spear of Destiny. While the games themselves were killed, the stories lived on through the comic adaptations. Though there's good reason to assume that the adaptations are extremely loose and probably not representative of how the games would have been, they are nonetheless fascinating reads.

In any event, if you're a fan of Indiana Jones or comics, then you owe it to yourself to check out these new collections, which contain many long out-of-print stories!

Since we all love a good pirate-themed painting here at Mojo, we were thrilled when Steve Purcell posted more from his collection!

Steve Purcell has been in a piratey mood again and posted more pirate-inspired paintings at his blog, SPUDVISION.

Go take a look!

And it is called Spudvision, updated by Purcell's alter-ego "Starchie Spudnoggen." The place is pretty quiet thus far, but there are some great paintings/drawings being shared so keep an eye on it.

You may remember "Spudvision" as Purcell's perpetually work-in-progress web site that eventually exploded, as well as the name of some sort of comic collection that was supposed to be published by the apparently defunct Tantrum Entertainment - a company that involved Gary Winnick of Maniac Mansion fame and that at one point sold those two signed Sam & Max posters you could later buy from Telltale. At any rate, keep an eye on Spudvision, the blog.

Happy Holidays from The International House of Mojo! (yes, that card's all my own work! And if a guy called 'Steve Purcell' turns up I'm not in)

The team here at Mojo are all hard at work (cough) at making 2008 an even better year for gaming than 2007, and that was pretty darn special! More details in the New Year!

Merry Xmas Everyone!

Shout Factory head honcho Brian Ward has announced in the Telltale forums that the Sam & Max TV Series DVDs have gone gold and been sent to production.

Well, gang... It's a bittersweet announcement to make, but Sam & Max: Freelance Police!!! The Complete Series is officially done. We shipped off the master DLTs from which the discs will be pressed this morning and the artwork shipped last Friday.

Expect it to hit stores (both retail and internet) in March with an SRP of $29.99. It's three discs, the first of which will contain the 13 episodes and the last disc will be the bonus disc...

Full details and cover art can be seen here at TV Shows on DVD.

Source: Telltale Foums

In what can only be described as shocking news, everybody, the two publishing giants Vivendi and Activision have announced that they are to merge, creating a serious competitor to the all-dominating Electronic Arts.

No news as yet how this will affect games slated to be published by either company, such as Ghostbusters or Br?tal Legend. CVG however are optimistic that this merger will persuade both the new Activision Blizzard (adios Sierra, we'll miss you) and EA to focus more on original titles then rely on games they release every sodding year.

Update: This FAQ from CVG makes it seem like we've got nothing to worry about. Specifically:

Q: Will the release schedules for any Blizzard games be impacted?
A: No, the transaction will not have any impact on our games, our day-to-day operations, or our release timelines.

Although a lot of the FAQ seems to focus on Blizzard, it looks likely that no games will be affected by the move. Let's hope that it will give Br?tal Legend
more of a chance at being successful... and coming out on PC.

Who knows if this will end up being a good sale or not? Congratulations though to the guys who founded Traveller's Tales & Giant Interactive (now TT Games), creators of the wonderful LEGO Star Wars series who have just sold the company to Warner Brothers.

The purchase of TT Games is said to have no effect on the company's current relationships with LEGO, Star Wars and Indiana Jones property holder LucasArts, or Guinness World Records, which has granted the company the rights to develop and publish games based on its yearly record book. As previously announced, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will handle the publishing of LEGO Batman, which is being developed for "next-generation and current generation platforms and the PC.

Full article here on Shacknews.

Source: Shacknews

As he does every year, Dave Grossman has mutilated a pumpkin in a manner most unsavory to fulfill some sick, twisted need of his. Weep for his soul and check out the whole gallery while you're at it.

On the embarrassingly outdated Telltale news front, the company's latest blog post hosts a bunch of snapshots that the guys took when they went down to the "E for All" convention. Check out that Flint Paper poster! The blog also lists a couple of new previews for Season 2, and the one from The Inquirer has an episode 2 screenshot!

Billions of blue blistering barnacles in ten thousand thundering typhoons: tis that day of t' year again! Nay, not bath time, ya scurvy watermelon: tis Interna'ial Talk like a Pirate Day! Ye better be charnin' t' sea-shanties handsomely t'night, an' no bilge for yer pansies, or else tis Davey Jones Locker for you, and t' crow's nest for ya mamsie. I be havin' yer lights and liver if ye dare be a landlubber: and a dram o' rum to any seadogs who nae belay a saucy wench, on t' account. Now man t' poopdeck ya swabs, or I?ll be pooping ya salt m'self, BeGad.

Comic book publisher Dark Horse has announced plans to release new and old Indiana Jones comics early next year.

Lucasfilm's celebrated action/adventure hero, Indiana Jones, the forerunner of popular characters such as Lara Croft, will be making a triumphant return in 2008 with the yet-to-be-titled fourth installment of the Indiana Jones film series. Starring Harrison Ford and directed by Steven Spielberg, the film is slated for release in May 2008. Dark Horse Comics is excited to announce that it has acquired the comic book rights to the world's most famous adventurer and will launch a new series in 2008. Fans can plunge themselves into the adventures of the fedora-wearing archaeologist well before then. In February 2008, Dark Horse Comics will publish the first of two Indiana Jones Omnibuses collecting Dark Horse's previous entries in the saga. Then April sees the release of volume one of Indiana Jones Adventures--a digest-sized graphic novel designed for the enjoyment of young readers as well as adults. The Indiana Jones Adventures volumes and the Omnibuses will continue on a quarterly basis--including Omnibuses for the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and the original Marvel run of Indiana Jones comics.

A comics adaptation of the film will be released simultaneously with the motion picture, followed immediately by an all-new Indiana Jones comics series.

If these releases truly do include the entirety of Indy's graphic novel back catalog, then it should mean the availability of the Iron Phoenix and Spear of Destiny volumes which were based (albeit extremely loosely) on the canceled adventure games of the same name. While these hand drawn works sadly do not benefit from Euphoria technology, those who've read them do claim that they were quite enjoyable.

A set of giant, high-resolution icons for ScummVM/Lucasarts games have been released. Author Thanius offers them for download as both png's and standard windows icons. Further icons are still being added so keep an eye on this forum thread for future updates.

Vista users will also want to check out the Sam and Max icons offered on the Telltale forums.

Source: ScummVM Forums

Now I may be getting this wrong. I'm on the wine while the wife's watching ER or Grey's Autonomy or some such.

Anyway, this guy, Pinkhamster, on the Telltale forums pointed out a game of sketch-ping-pong whereby 25 years ago a Sam & Max fanboy sent Steve Purcell some fan art. Steve took that art, added more and send it back. Mark Martin (fanboy) added more and sent it back. Steve, ditto.

It's in anti-chronological order, so best to quickly scroll down the page and work your way back to the top.

What page? This page.

It's not every day one gets to see Purcell's take on God.

Source: Jabberous