monkey-island posts

The co-creator of the very first LucasArts adventure game, Maniac Mansion, would like to see the publisher do a remake much like it did recently with the two Monkey Island special editions. Eurogamer reports that speaking at GDC 2011 Ron Gilbert states, "I think that would be really neat."

If he were to be in charge of such a remake, Gilbert has though about "fixing" what he feels were flaws in the original 1987 game. However he added, "Isn't that a little bit like George Lucas going back and fixing all those problems with Star Wars? Maybe the game really needs to be what it is back then."

The original game, released back in 1987 for the Commordore 64 PC, has the gamer controlling a teenager that is trying to rescue his girlfriend from a mad scientist inside a dark mansion. The game was the precursor to all of the great LucasArts adventure games that followed. Gilbert himself is currently working with another former LucasArts adventure game designer, Tim Schafer, on an unannounced game at Double Fine.

Steam's big holiday sale continues today with a new batch of price cuts for PC games from now until 1 pm Eastern time Sunday. In addition to today's Steam deals, GamersGate ends its daily sales event with Men of War Red Tide for just $5.49. Also the streaming PC game service OnLive has put several games on sale for as much as 75 percent off from now until January 2.

The games on sale today on Steam today are as follows:

Batman Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition - $7.50
Splinter Cell series - Save 50 percent off all games in the series or save 60 percent off of Splinter Cell Conviction if you own Splinter Cell Double Agent.
Red Faction series - save 75 percent off all games in series.
X Superbox (all games in the X space sim series) - $19.99
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 - $29.99
Dragon Age series - save 50 percent off all games in series
Monkey Island Special Edition 1/2 - $3.75
Altitude - $2.49
Shank - $7.49
Flatout series - save 90 percent off all games in series
Civilization V - $37.49
Tropico 3 Gold Edition - $6

We know, we know. It's something that a ton of us have wondered about over the years, too: When will we see Monkey Island's main hero Guybrush Threepwood in a Star Wars game? Well, your deepest, darkest fantasies have been granted ... and Guybrush is being put in a Star Wars game, too.

The official Facebook page for Star Wars The Force Unleashed II has revealed that the upcoming LucasArts action sequel will have a Guybrush character skin. There's no word yet if you have to unlock something in the game to gain access to Guybrush using a light saber and wielding Force powers. He's certainly more interesting to look at than the bland main hero of the game. Now if Max shows up in a Dark Forces sequel we will be all set.

[Via Kotaku]

Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day where everyone is expected to join in and say stuff like "matey" with a straight face. It's also the time for some good PC games to get some price cuts. After we had posted up our sales for the current weekend on Friday afternoon, developer Telltale Games sent over word of an extra special sales offer.

From now until Monday you can get their five chapter adventure game Tales of Monkey Island for a mere $4.95 which is less than the normal price for one episode of the game. Keep in mind that LucasArts is also selling the two Monkey Island graphical remakes for 50 percent off this weekend.

Steam's week of deals for LucasArts published games is getting near the end. The Star Wars-themed bundle of 13 games together for just $14.99 will shut down on Sunday. However there's one more extra special sales bundle that you should also consider.

Steam has cut the prices of the two acclaimed remakes of the classic Monkey Island games by 50 percent. You can choose to get either The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition or Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge for just $4.99 each from now until Sunday. However you can save even more if you get both games in a special bundle for the price of $7.49.

LucasArts is about to release the Special Edition version of their classic adventure game sequel Monkey Island 2. The downloadable game will be released for the PC via Steam on July 7. But if you put down your hard earned $9.99 for the game beforehand you will be getting a nice little bonus. Pre-orders will be able to get the Special Edition version of the first Monkey Island game, released this time last year, for free.

Just a reminder, the new version of Monkey Island 2 will not only have full voice acting and a graphical revamp but also has some new features such as being able to control your character's movement directly and a commentary track with some of the game's original creators relaying their memories of making Monkey Island 2.

LucasArts' decision to revive their Monkey Island adventure game series via a remake of the original Secret of Monkey Island and the all new Tales of Monkey Island (developed by Telltale Games) has certainly sparked a lot of interest in the original property. But what if the original art style of the first game was put into the highest tech game engine?

Thankfully we don't have to speculate. A German modder named Hannes Appell has created a level with Monkey Island's original 2D artwork and projected it into the CryEngine 2 3d game graphics engine. The result, as you can see in the above video, is pretty darn cool (even if the illusion is taken away somewhat by seeing Crysis's Nanosuit running around the level). You can check out another video which show the 2D-to-3D projection tech after the jump. Maybe LucasArts should get together with this guy.

This trailer for DeathSpank, an upcoming hack-and-slash action RPG developed by famed game designer Ron Gilbert (Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island), was shown at PAX 2009 and reveals quite a bit of gameplay. Complete with humor and plenty of monster stomping action, the upcoming episodic series is really living up to its "Monkey Island meets Diablo" description, especially with the final scene in the trailer.

There's currently no official release window, but we're hoping DeathSpank will come out some time in 2010. Also check out Big Download's DeathSpank impressions from PAX.

Download HD DeathSpank PAX 2009 Trailer (127 MB)
Check out all DeathSpank downloads

Telltale Games has sent over a minute video showing off gameplay from the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island, the upcoming downloadable adventure game series based on the classic LucasArts adventure game franchise. The first chapter in the series will be released on Tuesday, July 4

Download the Tales of Monkey Island gameplay trailer (146 MB) at Big Download

LucasArts got slammed by fans of its adventure games when the publisher decided to discontinue their adventure game line. Today LucasArts announced plans to return to one of their most popular adventure game series, Monkey Island. Our sister site Joystiq has posted up word that the the company will release Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition , a downloadable graphical revamp of the game. It will also have new voiceover tracks and a new musical score.

But that's not all. LucasArts has also teamed up with Telltale Games (made up of a number of former LucasArts adventure game creators) to release an all new five part downloadable episodic Tales of Monkey Island game. No release date for that game was announced.