The International House of Mojo

Let’s be clear about this: there’s the EGA version of Loom, and then there are the imitation versions. Unfortunately, the initial and definitive release has been out of legal circulation for a lifetime; what you’ll find representing this classic on Steam, GOG and wherever else is the “VGA Talkie” version, which Brian Moriarty himself has gently called “an abomination” for its revisionism and myriad of compromises.

Limited Run’s Monkey Island Anthology from a few years back offers some hopeful precedent for the inclusion of archival builds, as the USB stick in that package came loaded with a bunch of legacy versions of the game (original .exe’s included, which is crucial in a world where DREAMM exists). The idea of the upcoming Loom box following that lead was hoped aloud for on the forums, leading local poster restoration pundit – and by now routine collaborator on these LucasArts Limited Run releases - Laserschwert to confirm that the EGA build will be included. Justice.

Honestly though, can’t they just put all these old SCUMM builds on an FTP server at this point? I mean, what are even talking about here. Cripes.

Source: The forums

As noted on the forums, a feature-length interview with Aaron Giles is now streaming on YouTube. The chat covers Aaron’s prolific history in the dark sciences of porting and emulation, and you’ll get to hear some of his stories directly from the horse’s mouth. His LucasArts tenure is of course highlighted, with DREAMM getting discussed at length in the second half. Though the games are not supported yet, he also relates adventures in expanding his emulator to run the two GrimE titles, and he even namechecks some non-adventures in the LucasArts catalog he’d like to tackle.

More important, you finally know that Aaron’s last name is pronounced with a soft G, so you no longer have to worry about making an ass of yourself if you ever bump into him at your local Delchamps.

Source: Conversations with Curtis

It seems Indy was driving around Morocco when he came down with some sort of a metaphor for Mojo’s backend. But seriously, folks.

Source: CoveredGeekly

We’re getting into the weeds here, with Loom set to receive the LRG treatment:

$75, so not too bad compared to some of these bundles. Currently unknown is if the EGA version will be included. We shall see soon enough.

Pre-orders start on January 13th, and it begs the question: What’s next? The Dig? Or Zak, a game Germans would legally be obliged to buy? Time will tell!

In November, Hit Point Films released Tales of Melee Island, the charming fan-film directed by Julian Stamboulieh. Mojo got to talk with Julian not long after. Like a pirate shanking a privateer, get some insight into the inner workings (by reading the interview). We cover inspiration and making of, plus gain a glimpse into Montreal's film and TV industry. Get readin', then rewatch the film below. (Also be sure to read our interviews with Monkey Island head honchos Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, plus artist extraordinaire Rex Crowle.)

We’ve possibly become a bit entitled, having been delivered superb Sam & Max remasters two Decembers in a row. The third and final – and, let’s face it, best – season from the Telltale archives is obviously requiring a bit more elbow grease, but Skunkape has offered official assurances today that it’s most definitely on its way:

Just as Mojo was ready to embrace the sweet release of death, it’s condemned to afforded another welcome lifeline.

Source: Youtube

Don’t start spending those Christmas cheques yet—Sam & Max Hit the Road is running Limited on January 6th:

$100 will get you... Well, a bunch of stuff. Thrik is looking at getting a good dozen copies as Mojo’s Christmas bonus was a decree making each of us give him a cool hundy. For the rest of you:

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director Jim Mangold has some teases and a new production still for Entertainment Weekly, but only because the Webmonkey address bounced.

He also confirms that Mutt will be unseen but acknowledged, while Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s character is the daughter of “a friend of Indy’s, who we will also meet in the movie.” That’s gotta be Toby Jones. Anyway, you’ll need to read the article for the rest.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

While we were on a CEO-mandated furlough, no less than two stories passed Mojo by. And if you subscribed to our newsletter, you would have known what those stories were.

...

Fine, I’ll post them here, too:

I’m fairly certain NME—née New Musical Express—was my dad’s magazine of choice during the sixties, so it only makes sense that this grand old magazine sits down with the grand old game developer, which subsequently is being “reported” on by the grand old Mojo. That is to say, NME has a lengthy interview with Tim Schafer. There might not be a lot of new information to be found, but it is an interesting read nonetheless. Not least because of this:

ReMI tops his list—that’s just heartwarming!

Doing a one-eighty, The Force Engine has hit 1.0. What is The Force Engine, you may ask? Have a gander at the trailer:

Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders have been irreversibly tied together ever since that can of chainsaw gasoline was found on Mars, but a new fan game is taking it to a whole other level. Below is the spiel for Zak the Maniac - An Interactive Music Video:

You can download the game and the cover tune that suggested it right here.

Source: Error 47

If you've read our big 25th anniversary interview with the Curse of Monkey Island project leaders (and if you haven't, there's still time to do so fashionably), you're well aware of the legend of Bear Pig -- a classic example of programmer art that Jonathan Ackley cooked up to occupy "room zero" to the satisfaction of SCUMM's inviolate laws.

But just as everyone sees a different statue in the marble, BearPig represents different themes to different interpreters. In his latest blog post, CMI programmer/writer Chuck Jordan casts BearPig as his inspiration for some brief reflections on the concept of art that is "good enough." Read it, and lament Ron's delinquency in reprising the series' most indelible character.

Source: Spectre Collie

Sure, only the first and last words of “Best Puzzle Game” properly describe Return to Monkey Island, but any nomination is a worthwhile nomination.

Somewhat more awesome, in my not-so-humble mind, is “Best Performance in a Game,” where Dom received a well-deserved nomination. Says IGN:

Sounds about right to me. The results are set to be delivered on December 12th.

Source: IGN

By all accounts, George Lucas had virtually no creative role in the development or production of the new Indiana Jones, but a story is circulating that, having been shown a cut of the movie, Lucas requested to be onboarded as an Executive Producer. You can see his name among the EPs listed in Lucasfilm’s press release for this week’s trailer, whereas it was notably absent from previous issuances.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a departure from tradition in that Steven Spielberg has ceded the director’s chair and assumed more or less the George Lucas role, while Lucas himself seemingly removed himself from the equation altogether in his embrace of retirement. With the movie essentially finished, his name being lent as a producer at this late date would seem to function as a vote of confidence. When asked for comment, Willow responded as follows on formal letterhead:

:~

Source: The Raven

Attendees of D23 got to see it in September (sans title). Attendees of CCXP22 - that would be Brazil's Comic-Con, for those who find unintuitive acronyms to be unintuitive - got to see it today. And now, so do you.

A lot to discuss here. And if you're Too Cool to carry it on in the comments, take it to the forum thread why don't you.

Big-budget video games take something like seventy-five years development on average these days, dwarfing the investments represented by a tentpole movie or joining America's coasts by high speed rail. So you can probably expect next year's Indiana Jones movie to be celebrating at least its first birthday before you'll be playing the upcoming Indy game by MachineGames on whatever space-age platforms the average zero-gravity household will boast by then.

That we're still a ways out is endorsed by the fact that details on the title remain thin on the ground. However, a few comments were extracted out of Todd Howard of Bethesda (that would be the game's publisher, albeit one that also functions as a studio itself and which happens to share the same parent company as MachineGames, just to confuse matters) in a new interview with said Executive Producer:

Pretty useless. But hey, at least the project is still trucking along. And if we know one thing about long-in-development Indiana Jones games, it's that it all works out in the end.

Source: PC Gamer

So, let’s see...

Return to Monkey Island is not only available to order from GOG, but it’s also 20% off. Run and buy another copy, right now!

Meanwhile, LRG slams down with the Humongous Classic Collection for Switch. $60 gets you six classic (Footnote: Presumably, I never played them.) kids games and a soundtrack.

Grumpy Gamer has less than grumpily revealed an early ReMI puzzle dependency chart. Spoilers abound, of course, and definitely some cool “what if” revelations in there.

Three updates for the price of one—we’re all about convenience here at Mojo.

While Disney may have sunk its new Pirates of the Caribbean film, Tales of Melee Island, a lovely little Monkey Island fan-film helmed by Montreal-based Julian Stamboulieh, is happy to be flying its flag:

Source: YouTube

That's the title of the new Indy movie, per historically reliable purveyor-of-Indy-5-exclusives "ThrowMeTheWhip" over at The Raven, the forum of TheRaider.net.

Meanwhile, folks have gotten their hands on print copies of Empire's latest issue containing their big Indy 5 spread -- that would be the six-page "first look" of the movie that Empire's online presence has been teasing excerpts and photos from over the last week. Inevitably, somebody's got scans, but we at Mojo trust you will all do the right thing and refer to these only as a convenience after buying your own copy in support of print media.

Source: The Raven

Surprising few, Return to Monkey Island took home the Golden Joystick award for “PC Game of the Year”:

What is there to say at this point, really? ReMI has run victory laps since its day of release, and little suggests it will stop anytime soon.

How will it fare when we hand out the coveted Mojo Game of the Year, though? The competition is steep, so time will tell (Footnote: Actually, it’s the only Mojo-related game of 2022, so the odds look to be on its side.).

While Mastodon’s mainstream impact remains a question mark, we’re happy to see that Ron is throwing out some exclusives there. To wit:

Exciting times ahead!

And, if you haven’t already: follow us on the nascent social network!