The International House of Mojo

Since only those with a higher education in LucasArts adventure history read this site, you already know “SCUMMlette” as the term of affection for the junior programmers being trained in the SCUMM engine. There were two waves of these cadets between 1989-1990. In the first class you had your basic Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman, Jenny Sward, and Ron Baldwin, while the second batch consisted of Mike Stemmle, Tony Hsieh, Sean Clark, Tami Borowick, and Wallace Poulter. (Sources: Mike Stemmle)

Some of those names will be more familiar to you than others, but they all played integral roles in games you rank in importance above your own loved ones. In the case of Tami Borowick, those contributions are now far less shrouded thanks to an excellent new interview published by the highly scholarly and inescapably Italian Lucasdelirium.

As you’ll learn, Borowick’s primary LucasArts project was Monkey Island 2, after which she became one of the developers who followed Ron across the desert to Humongous Entertainment where she co-created the Freddi Fish series. The full interview is a real barn burner, with lots of great war stories from a most romanticized period at LucasArts, including how Borowick implemented the pants-falling gag in the Woodtick cemetery, and how Ron accidentally obliterated her laborious dialog tree for Rum Rogers. There’s even a photograph of an office whiteboard she shared with Dave and Tim in 1991. What more could you need?

Source: Lucasdelirium

You’ve gotten your Milk Duds and Diet Mr. PiBB and found your seat again, all just in time to catch the second half of Genesis Temple’s roadshow interview with Larry Ahern. Picking up where we last left off in August, the story continues with the post-CMI act of Ahern’s LucasArts career, a similarly frustrating stint at Microsoft, the noble casualty that was Insecticide, and an only recently ended stretch as a Disney Imagineer that sometimes reunited him with his old cohort Jonathan Ackley.

It’s an altogether great read, but I draw special attention to the fact that Ahern divulges new information about Vanishing Act and Attempt #1 at the Full Throttle sequel (which was never really called Full Throttle: Payback, a moniker which he indirectly chides Mojo for perpetuating), as well as some soon-to-be-stolen concept art for those games that I don’t believe have surfaced before. (Update: After review it turns out we did already have them. I should have known better; fortunes have been lost betting against Mojo.)

I guess it’s up to Dune: Part II to disappoint you, as the back half of the Larry Ahern interview delivers the goods.

Source: Genesis Temple

We’re a day or two or three or so late on this one, but to quote Scummbuddy:

Well, hell! Resident Evil: Village looks to have won “Ultimate Game of the Year,” which… is what it is.

The real question is: Will Psychonauts 2 win Mojo’s coveted GOTY award? Stay tuned and see if we actually remember to hand it out.

Source: Scummbuddy

You love Double Fine and you love Psychonauts 2. Multiply that with your infatuation with new merch and you pretty much have no other option than to buy a bunch of new stuff from Fangamer. That “psychedelic cast” t-shirt isn’t going to wear itself after all. Run and shop!

Source: Jason ¬

Yesterday brought a new video of the Skunkape crew playing twenty minutes or so of their latest Sam & Max remaster, commenting on some of the new stuff they've added:

One of the highlights is the much larger hole blown through the wall separating the Freelance Police's office and Flint Paper's, allowing the opening office scene to be cinematically shot through it. In fact, it's already the talk of the forum. But as a member of the "in" crowd you knew that already.

Source: IGN

We at Mixnmojo humbly considered ourselves natural shoo-ins for an Indiana Jones 5 set visit, but we responded to our snubbing professionally.

Most of us, anyway. Remi was heard to declare "I have been flouted, and I shall be revenged" before storming out the door. Now, we figured he was just going blow off some steam on a round of bowling. Then we saw this and knew better:

It is being said that Indy 5 is unimpacted, but who among us would have been surprised to see this production carbonized in a sudden inferno? It's just on brand at this point.

Jokes aside, we hope no one was harmed.

Or your Limited Run Games pre-order, if you prefer to look at it that way. Check it out:

You can read a few more words about Ron's sorrowful passion here.

Loyal readers who dug into our Bay Area Sound interview from April will not have been shocked to notice in Skunkape's announcement this morning that Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space Remastered will be boasting eight new music tracks. That's up from the five additional cues the first season received.

You might be wondering if these bonus arrangements will be of similarly high production values replete with live instruments. Well, let this tease that Skunkape just uploaded to their Youtube channel put that question to bed:

While it's been confirmed by implication nine different times now, Skunkape has officially announced their expected remaster of Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, aka the second season of Telltale's better-with-each-installment take on Purcell's property after LucasArts fatefully said, "Nah, give us Thrillville."

Knowing you, you're probably still coming off the high of thwarting Hugh Bliss's hypnosis conspiracy in painstakingly re-lit HD, but Skunkape doesn't see your recovery time as their problem. They're ready to start hyping you up for the next mission in Sam and Max's oeuvre, which you may recall involves improbable excursions to the North Pole, Easter Island, a zombie rave in Stuttgart, the malleable fourth dimension, and the middle management bowels of Hell itself. Behold what these once poly-starved destinations look like in all their newly uprezzed fury by checking out the trailer:

Don't forget to start saving up for some absurd physical editions from Limited Run Games that history has sculpted us to anticipate are sure to follow this launch, and of course you'll want to get loudly and pre-emptively outraged about whatever CENSORSHIP! is sure to be committed by those known vandals of art over at Skunkape -- the better to impress your friends on the Steam forums.

Whatever you've gotta do to prepare your body and soul, be quick about it: launch is December 8th.

Source: Skunkape

This fan is a defense attorney's dream witness -- he really sticks to his story:

What do you mean Mojo has no business making fun considering we are dining out on this to disguise our paucity of things to report on?

Source: Twitter

Here is a behind the scenes promo video for next year's Willow series in which the titular hero himself, Warwick Davis, introduces us to his castmates in this long-awaited, long-form sequel.

That was quite humorous, one ascertains. Anyway, look for Willow to stream on Disney+ in 2022.

Sometime back in 2004, Mojo and The SCUMM Bar banded together to create an April Fool’s Day joke for the ages: a fake Monkey Island movie trailer. Yet, close as the prank came to fruition, the plans to execute it was aborted on March 3rd, 2004. Why? I take a quick look back at this footnote in Mojo’s history.

Bonus fact: this was the last time we attempted an actual April Fool’s joke, too. You’re welcome! (Update: OK, looking back through the archives it turns out that wasn’t entirely true, but any further attempts were pretty, pretty, pretty bad.)

By some accounts, Indiana Jones 5 has wrapped up its extended stay in Italy. Next up for the production is another extensive location shoot throughout various cities in Morocco. It seems the principle crew will be joining up with a second unit that’s already been busy filming stuntwork for action scenes, as this cheeky phone footage out of Fez testifies:

What strikes me about this glimpse is how reminiscent the set is of the Cairo marketplace in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’d sure be nice to reclaim some of the Casablanca vibe that the series really dispensed with after its first installment (Though we know it wasn’t for lack of trying, Frank Darabont), and surely I cannot be alone in thinking that the above location is highly Sallah-appropriate.

It wouldn't be Halloween in a week if Dave Grossman wasn't carving a pumpkin up into something delightfully grotesque, would it? Take a look at the latest addition to the Pumpkin House of Horrors.

Update: Turns out Mixnmojo's already covered this news item, making this a scenic route towards that obligatory second link.

Source: Phrenopolis

On Tuesday, the passing of prolific voice actor Jack Angel was reported by multiple outlets. Among his many roles across film, television and video games, Angel contributed voice work to a number of LucasArts titles, including Star Wars: Dark Forces, Full Throttle, Outlaws, and most notably Grim Fandango, where he played the roles of Bruno Martinez, Seaman Naranja, and ol' Chepito, whose substandard sense of direction and undying love for the "Lil' Chipper" were legendary.

Happily, Angel's talent is eternalized via these classics. Now lift those knees, stay close to his light, and try to sing in key:

Source: Legacy

After bringing the world to its knees with his revitalization of the Monkey Island 2 cover, Laserschwert decided to direct his talents toward The Secret of Monkey Island. I forget which installment that is, but Lemon Head liked it all right so I’m guessing it’s one of the good ones.

Using a cross-section of rare sources of Purcell’s iconic art smuggled to him by Jake, who definitely didn’t murder any orphans to obtain them (so put that idea right out of your mind), Laserschwert was able to complete a smashing restoration that’ll have people making out with your wall. The amount of recovered detail isn’t exactly negligible, as the comparison images prove, and even more alternates are said to be on the way. You might as well cancel Christmas now because Santa just got preempted.

Source: Mojo forums

First thing's first: some startlingly high quality set photos of the Indiana Jones 5 Sicily shoot, taken just this week, can be found right here. The curious should be forewarned, however, that the glimpses get into spoiler-y territory.

One highlight is the first peek at the Antonio Banderas character, who is dressed as a rugged sea captain and seems to be an ally to Indy. You might think this an innocent development, but you'd be wrong:

See you on Thera!

Speaking of October traditions, an old Telltale classic just got dug up by the custodians at Skunkape. Submit some Halloween themed Sam & Max fan art for a chance to win Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space Remastered, a game which will exist by implication. Just follow the link below for all the details.

Source: Skunkape

Dave Grossman's unflappable tradition of pumpkin desecration enters what I think might be its twenty-fifth year with his latest installment, dubbed "Brain Worm".

Indulge your sick curiosity and enjoy the past entries all over again while you're over there.

Psychonauts 2 – already a bona fide classic – is not about to go gentle into that good night. Springing into your Humble Bundle account right npw is a 29-track volume one of the soundtrack. Want even more? Greed is good, and you can stay tuned for future volumes.

Log into your Humble Bundle to get going.