The International House of Mojo

If you've played Sam and Max Hit the Road (and if you haven't you should) then you know about the various Stuckey's's* you can rob admire. Apparently the suits over at the real Stuckey's (which you can't rob) are awesome, in a Dan Connors way: because how else can you explain Sam and Max being on their newsletter?

*I think I just killed a grammar teacher.

Yes, it's confirmed, in big letters on Telltale's front page.

The release date of Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay is August 20th.

Now go back to sleep.

Oh, but first check out the brand new and awesome screenshot on Telltale's blog page.

Source: Telltale

Video Gamer has a lengthy interview with Telltale CEO Dan Connors. It's mostly about Tales of Monkey Island (with some minor plot spoilers on the direction Episode 2 is heading). Also, this:

VideoGamer.com: After Tales of Monkey Island, what's next for Telltale? Is there a known IP you're currently looking at, or might we see something completely original from you guys?

DC: We're looking at a bunch of different IP, and we've got a few original designs floating around the studio we're getting closer and closer to a position to green-light.

Here's the full interview.

Update: More "Dan Connors in long article goodness" here at Now Gamer.

Source: Video Gamer

Alternative Magazine Online has posted an interview with the voice of Guybrush Threepwood, Dominic Armato.

3D has some mighty fine talents of its own that 2D doesn’t bring to the table. But I don’t know how much longer it’s going to be an either/or proposition. When you see something like that fan-made 2D/3D hybrid scene of Woodtick that went up on YouTube a week ago, it gives you an idea of where these games could go. The technology isn’t something I know a lot about, so I don’t know how feasible something like that would be on a large-scale right now, but it sure is exciting, isn’t it?

Click here for the rest.

Update: Alexandra Boyd (Elaine Marley) speaks too.

As well as the Dominic Armato interview, Alternative Magazine also has an interview with the voice of Elaine Marley, Alexandra Boyd.

Source: Alternative Magazine

Telltale games has kindly release eight cracking Jared Emerson-Johnson MP3's from the first three Wallace & Gromit episodes, free to download from the Telltale site.

Help yourself.

Source: Telltale Games

We kid you not.

JP Update: Via Twitter: It's also out now in all PAL regions.

According to VideoGamer.com, Tales of Monkey Island has exceeded Telltale's expectations and become their strongest performing title yet.

Dan Connors on phone:

“Unfortunately I can’t get into the specific numbers, [...] but I would definitely say it’s our strongest performing franchise to date. We’re pretty excited. It was number one on Steam for a few days. It did really well. It’s been our best performing title from our side as well.”

Source: VideoGamer.com

The fourth (and final!) episode of this season of Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures, "The Bogey Man", has been released. Any game with kilts is a game worth buying, so get going.

In stupefying news, Telltale have surprised us all in announcing the date for Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures Episode 4: The Bogey Man, the final episode of the four-part series of four, is... Wednesday 29th July!

Tomorrow!!

Hooray! Just, um, don't expect a review or anything just yet...

UPDATE by SurplusGamer: In other not-so-imminent release news, some guy called 'Jake' or something has stated on the Telltale forums that we can expect Chapter 2 of Tales of Monkey Island 'a bit further into the month than that (August 9th), for sure.' He later added:

It's the double-edged sword of game development and releasing. People say they'd like us to take a little more time to give the games a bit more love, and then are sad when we say it will be coming out a little later than they guessed it would.

Fair 'nuff.

Source: Telltale

Gamespot have posted 2 lovely pieces of concept art, reported to be from the 2nd Tales of Monkey Island episode The Seige of Spinner Cay. You can see them here.

And while at Gamespot, you may like to see some footage from the Telltale booth (with Will Armstrong) at Comic-Con, where minor spoilers on the plot of "Spinner Cay" are revealed, plus a look at the 4th Wallace & Gromit episode.

Source: Gamespot

There have been vague rumblings about it for a little while now but now it has been unleashed: the Treasure Hunting game for Tales of Monkey Island. Here, say Telltale, is how it works:

Until the end of the season, we'll be releasing maps on various locations on the web, which can be used within Tales of Monkey Island to uncover some cool Monkey Island extras.

Once you discover a new treasure map, open up the first chapter of Tales of Monkey Island--Launch of the Screaming Narwhal (it works on the demo, too!)--and select "Treasure Hunt" from the game menu. Guybrush will arrive in the jungles of Flotsam Island, where you can have him start searching for the X. Once you find it, you'll be awarded some swag back at telltalegames.com

Such prizes apparently may range from wallpapers to even discount codes and other, yet to be announced stuff. There have been hints on the forums that the treasure hunt will become more involved as time goes on, too, and that the fun has only just started.

Sounds like a pretty neat extra! Find out more here.

Source: Telltale

Yahoo! Games hosts the exclusive first look at CSI: Deadly Intent with a trailer and some first screenshots. Take a look.

You may remember Symbiote Studios from such statues as Sam & Max: Freelance Police? Or maybe from when they kierdorfed LucasArts?

Well in this case it actually worked. They are now producing a Monkey Island statue.



There's simply too much Monkey Island goodness going on right now, I fear I'm going to pop.

Full details here.

Update: It's now available to pre-order at starwarsshop.com.

Source: Symbiote Studios

Telltale Games are giving fans the chance to get a line of dialogue and a credit in a future episode of Tales of Monkey Island.

The rules are simple: just invent a line of dialogue accusing Guybrush of some sort of wrongdoing (like 'Yar! He shivered me timbers!') and submit it to this page here. Users will then vote on entries in four rounds across as many weeks, before a winner is finally announced.

You'd best gird yer mind and sharpen yer loins for this one; there's bound to be plenty of competition.

Source: Telltale

After sitting out a round with the latest release (a poorly received game based on the TV show's NY spinoff), Telltale will be developing a new CSI game for Ubisoft with the original Las Vegas cast once again - CSI: Deadly Intent. Ubisoft has a product page for the game which lists the Wii and Nintendo DS as platforms; the write-up by Adventure Gamers states that there will be a PC version as well. The publisher lists a date of October 20th for the title.

A formal announcement is unlikely to be far behind. It'll be interesting to note if Telltale is behind that DS port, as it would be the company's first foray on that platform.

Update: My bad. AG states that Other Ocean Interactive is developing the DS version.

So we all suspected it was coming but now it's official: Murray the Skull, fan favourite of the post-Gilbert Monkey Islands is to make a return in a future chapter of Tales of Monkey Island.

Voice actor Denny Delk himself twet-- twot... did some sort of Twitter thing about it, and it was later confirmed by Telltale thusly:

Bwahahahahaha! Murray confirmed! RT @dennydelk Getting excited about reprising Murray for the new Monkey Island game.

So there you have it! Give us yer best Bwahahas to celebrate!

Source: Twitter

According to Nintendo Life Tales of Monkey Island: Ep 1 should be released tomorrow, 13 July on Wiiware for North America. Consider it a rumor until you hear it direct from Telltale or Nintendo themselves though.

Let's hope it's true and the PAL release follows quickly on Friday 17 July! Yeah, so Nintendo Life reported a piece of IGN guesswork. Heh. Still hoping for a PAL region release this Friday though...

Source: Nintendo Life

It looks like a bonus Monkey Island minigame "Guybrush's Treasure Hunt" is set to be released / unlocked by Telltale Games.

Its existence first popped up at the end of the Screaming Narwhal demo, as evidenced in this thread on the Telltale Games forum.

Source: Telltale Games

Guess what? The first [fifth of a] new Monkey Island game in nine years is now available. Yes available, to download right now from Telltale's web site. The launch was a slightly troubled one that caused unprecedented traffic on Telltale's humble site and saw throngs of rabid fans acting completely nuts. (The most noteworthy moment of it all was best buddy LEC came to Telltale's defense in their twitter feed.)

But such details are boring now, as the game is out, and it is the time for rejoicing. Oh, and for your convenience, on the off chance that The SCUMM Bar's and our own reviews aren't sufficient for you, I've compiled a large (but by no means complete) list of reviews, in no particular order of importance or credibility. The critical response has been quite positive overall:

• guardian.co.uk - 4/5
  
• Joystiq - Positive (no score)
  
• Team Teabag - 10/10
  
• gamezine.co.uk - 9/10 (and probably just The Tingler reviewing for another site ¬¬)
  
• bit-tech.net - 8/10
  
• DarkZero - 9/10
  
• 4 color rebellion - 8/10
  
• VideoGamer.com - 6/10
  
• Strategy Informer - 8.5/10
  
• TopTenReviews - Positive (no score)
  
• Endsights - 9/10
  
• N-Philes - Positive (no score)
  
• WindDamage - Positive (no score)
  
• Adventure Classic Gaming - Positive (no score)
  
• IncGamers - 7.6/10
  
• Koku Gamer - 8/10
  
• Vooks - 9/10
  
• Loading Reality - 8/10
  
• PerezStart - 8.5/10
  
• Total Gaming Network - 8.5/10
  
• PAL Gaming Network - 8/10
  
• LucasNews - 4/5
  
• Digital Spy - Positive (no score)
  
• Infendo - Positive (no score)
  
• GameOctane - Positive (no score)
  
• NowGamer - 9/10
  
• The Geeky Rewind - Positive (no score)
  
• Shacknews - Reserved (no score)
  
• Adventure Gamers - 3.5/5
  
• The Next Level - 4.5/5
  
• Talesofmi.net - 5/5
  

Assuming you're not one of the infinite number of obscure, two-bit bloggers who for some reason was able to get an advance review copy of the game, I suggest you get playing, ye swabs!

I'm sure most of you are impatiently waiting for Telltale to iron out the technical hiccups they seem to facing in launching, well, "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal" (and fear not, I'm sure they'll prevail against Dan Pettit's army of hackers in the end), but in the meantime you may want to check out this lengthy Gamasutra interview with Dave Grossman about Monkey Island held by none other than Chris Remo. It's worth your time, and we both know you've no shortage of it.