Vainamoinen, your patience has paid off: Return to Monkey Island will be released on GOG “soon.”
(That’s literally all I got.)
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Xbox Wire—apparently an official Xbox publication—coaxed Dave Grossman into writing what looks suspiciously like a Buzzfeed article: “Eight Things You Should Know Before Playing Return to Monkey Island.” And, if you, like me, had prepared to drop some hardcore anchor facts during your next cocktail party, well . . .
Also, in case you don’t forget them, I want to be sure you understand that the “facts” are made up. The character in question is not a deliberate liar, but she is a confident person who is not very good at doing research. Please do not use Return to Monkey Island as a factual source for your Wikipedia article about anchors. It’s probably best not to use the game as a factual source, period.
. . . I apparently have a lot of opinions I have to reconsider.
Sometimes, the DIY spirit benefits us all. While waiting for an official OST, BillyCheers said enough is enough and released his own mix of the Return to Monkey Island tracks. You can download them from Google Drive.
Listening through the “Suites” version of the soundtrack—the complete score is also available—I gotta say . . . the three guys did a pretty OK job with the music. It’s almost like they knew what they were doing.
I wouldn’t be against a vinyl version of the OST, so, y’know, if anyone with some clout is reading this . . .
Variety is reporting that Disney+ is eyeing up an Indiana Jones TV series. Seems perfect timing now that Harrison Ford has retired from that iconic role to join the Marvel universe. Quite what the show will entail is still a ways off.
Details are still scant as Disney isn’t sure what kind of show this will be, a prequel, a sequel, a spin-off, or a reboot. But the vital thing to know is that the company has something non-specific in mind, the perfect place to start when reviving a beloved character.
Nice to see the character finally getting some more attention, what with the forthcoming movie and videogame.
Source: Variety
You can never have too much Sam & Max in your life, nor too much vinyl, which is why this is a perfect package for you.
Chef’s kiss!
Sam & Max Save the World OST on three discs in a loving analog format, composed, of course, by Jared Emerson-Johnson. I mean, look at the thing, how could you not want that on your living room shelf? Go purchase, but note: Only two per customer. So don’t be too greedy.
You saw it coming—possibly because you were using the pre-release version—and now it has landed: Quick and Easy’s Dinky Explorer. Meaning, Return to Monkey Island-hacking has arrived at your fingertips. Benzo says:
A huge amount of work has gone into supporting Return to Monkey Island and very little of it was by me. The wonderful Jan Frederick has restored my faith in open source, contributing tons of code to ensure that all file types in ReMI can be heard, viewed, decoded and dumped. He’s even added the ability to edit the functions within the main weird.dink script and create patches that others can then use.
Getting other people to do the work for you: It’s a page out of Thrik’s playbook. Now go find the secrets hidden within ReMI’s source files.
Apparently, November 8th will be another Return to Monkey Island milestone: Not only will we see the game available for more consoles, it’ll also be available with German voiceovers. Wunderbar! (That’s all I got.)
Disney is meeting the interesting challenge of resuscitating Lucasfilm’s Willow with a certain amount of “How do we do this?” where the marketing is concerned. Few things say Modern Trailer quite like monotonous pop music and overdelivered comic beats that land with a thud, and the latest promo for the series is nothing if not fashionable:
Sorry you had to go through that, but you’ll probably find yourself less cringe-stricken on average by this poster:
I can’t identify the artist, but the victory here is that a poster was commissioned that actually called for one.
In any event: Willow.
It might not come as much of a surprise, but Return to Monkey Island is headed to Game Pass next Tuesday, the 8th. That means PC, cloud, and, indeed, Xbox. Hey, it plays great on Switch, so the more console platforms, the merrier. Presumably, PlayStation can’t be far behind.
Update! PS5 confirmed, too.
It's time to put that kidney up for auction.
Limited Run is throwing together yet another boom of a collector’s edition, this time for Grim Fandango. We’re talking USB drives, posters, prints, Bone Wagon replicas, and postcards. All for a mere $99.99.
The sale goes live on November 4th and runs through December 18th. Platforms:
Oh! There’s also a triangle box for those who order Grim, DOTT, and Throttle. This is literally getting ridiculous.
There’s a lot of chatter both on and about social media today, and for good reasons. Today marks the major shift everyone was anticipating with various degrees of dread and excitement. The takeover has happened: Mojo has moved The Adventurer from Revue to Substack!
“Why” is a whole thing that will be laid out in the next issue—publishing in a few minutes. If you haven’t already, you probably should sign up. Why? Well, you can never have too much Mojo in your life! (And if you already signed up for our Revue newsletter, don’t worry. Your account was ported over to Substack.)
Meteor Mess 3D, the 3D fan remake of Maniac Mansion that began development in 2008, was released just three weeks ago. In other words, it still needed less gestation time than an Indiana Jones sequel.
The phrase “labor of love” gets thrown around a lot, but I think a number of recipients of it would be well within their rights to feel embarrassment in the face of this victory, which Gabez’s coverage can surely only claim some responsibility for. Investing this long toward bringing a fan game to its finish isn’t merely dedication – it’s downright hardheaded. So celebrate the occasion by grabbing your very own download of the game, and be inspired by Mojo’s solidarity in updating its gallery – yes, we had one! – with more representative screenshots.
Amberfish Arts: There’s hope for you yet.
Source: Meteor Mess 3D
OK, look, I haven’t watched it yet, but going by her chat with Ron, we can assume her interview with Grossman will be good, too. (And there probably won’t be any grilling.)
(More, maybe, as soon as I’ve watched it.)
By now, you probably have noticed that Return to Monkey Island sounds great, and not just in terms of voices and music. The sound design is fantastic, too, and to learn more about it, A Sound Effect sat down to talk with Elise Kates and Andy Martin, two of the leads behind that work.
When things were taking place deep inside wooded areas, like on Terror Island or on Melee Island, there was always an opportunity to work in some canopy wind that had a bit of a swish and sway up above everything else. But I had to dial the wind back a lot because Ron kept hearing it as the ocean in the distance. And since we were in the interior part of the island, we didn’t want it to sound like we were next to the beach. So, with a bit of sadness in my heart, I pulled that back.
Head over to A Sound Effect for a lot more.
It only makes sense that NRK (the Norwegian state broadcasting corporation) comes running to Mojo when they want the word out about yet another Return to Monkey Island interview. Read the story if you can, but for most, the video interview—which is quite good—is the better/only option.
This is where I would embed the video, but as the Norwegians giveth and the Norwegians taketh away, you’ll have to go to NRK to view it. Or, read the full transcript for all the dirt.
I’m going by second-hand information here, but that is what friend-of-Mojo Laura Cress told us in an email. I haven’t had a chance to watch her new interview with Ron yet, but looking at the chapter listing, it does indeed look like a must-watch...
So do just that. Watch. Because you must.
That’s right, ReMI and Terrible Toybox are setting their sights on “Best Storytelling,” “Best PC Game,” and “Best Studio.” Not shabby, and they’re up against some large, mainstream names—an honor being nominated, and yada, yada, yada definitely does apply here.
Yet, the masses can vote, so go show ol’ ReMI some love right here.
As revealed in a tweet from Geoff Keighley producer of The Game Awards, Rob Smith, the author of the comprehensive LucasArts retrospective book "Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts" has passed away.
Rob was also the editor of several gaming magazines over the years. You can read a mis-titled Mojo review of his book here: Rouge Leaders: The Story of LucasArts. There's also an interview with Rob himself about the book still to be found on the web archive, even though the original host site is long gone.
Source: Geoff Keighley's twitter
It was meant to be a simple beta release, but after Ronzo couldn’t contain his excitement, we decided to make it public: The Return to Monkey Island Trivia Card Game.
If you played ReMI-proper, the core should be familiar: One hundred cards, four options each, a trivia game for the ages. Of course, ours is a Frankenstein-ed version: Run and play, and see how you rank on the MojoMeter!
Needless to say, this game will contain some ReMI spoilers, so enter at your own risk.
While waiting for an official soundtrack to drop—and the wait could be a long one—we decided to take matters into our own hands and release each and every track from Return to Monkey Island ourselves. That’s four hours of music, spanning more than hundred-and-forty files. You can download the OGGs or listen to the whole shebang on YouTube...
.... granted, completely without chapters/track indicators. We’ll leave it to the semi-professionals to do proper remixes of all of this. Need an example? Check out this twenty-minute mix our in-house DJ made of “LeShip,” arguably the best suite in the game.
Now, see if you can live up to that.