So! What do we have this week?
First (and probably most importantly), Karim has put together a review of On Stranger Tides. And it is as highfalutin as a book review should be.
It is this tension between the “wild” and “ordered”, between freedom and authority, which the book uses as currency for its various themes, integrating questions of free will via Thomas Hobbes as a motif to work off of in a novel about a puppeteer and the magical ability to possess and manipulate people. Powers expects his readers, or at least trusts them, to pick up these allusions, though On Stranger Tides is perfectly entertaining as simply a fantasy pirate novel.
Thomas Hobbes? Yeah, I had to Wikipedia him, too. But that’s what Mojo provides: Education and entertainment. Edutainment. Go read.
Meanwhile, IGN has published a three-minute video of Keeper gameplay:
Looks appropriately bizarre, though calling it “Psychonauts Dev’s New Game” seems a bit reductive.
It’s what every ZX Spectrum owner has been waiting for: A demake of Fate of Atlantis! That’s right, you, too, can enjoy a text version of the best Indy game – this time in that patented Spectrum yellow.
Finally, if you’re interested in perusing visual timelines of the Monkey Island games, The Legend of Monkey Island has published just that.
Stay tuned next week for… well, I don’t even know what, but I’m sure it’ll be exciting.
– Remi
Let’s go crazy and listen to the NES version of the Maniac Mansion soundtrack. Does it sound different than what you’d expect? Jason has the story in this Behind the Music article.
A bunch of lines were changed in the special edition of LeChuck’s Revenge. Here is a fairly comprehensive collection of them.
Last week, we asked if you were planning on playing Ron Gilbert’s next game, Death by Scrolling. 43% of you said no, 38% yes, and 19% will wisely wait for Mojo’s review.
As for the tepid response, I’m not all that surprised people are shying away from Ron’s next outing. Death by Scrolling certainly looks great, but it might not be what our little corner of the world is interested in from a genre perspective. We will see soon enough.
This week, in celebration of the On Stranger Tides article:
Full News Roundup
25 Sep: Mixnmojo finally reviews On Stranger Tides, by Tim Powers: The novel inspired Monkey Island, but how good is it? Let’s find out.
24 Sep: Death by Blogging: Purgatory wasn’t built in a day.
Last Week’s Mojole Results
It’s the game that sweeps the nation! Can you beat Mojole, our fiendishly difficult daily puzzler? Only hardcore LucasArts aficionados need apply.
22 Sep: “cdrom##” – You probably own many LucasArts games on CD-ROM.
23 Sep: “meche##” – Aka Mercedes Colomar in Grim Fandango.
24 Sep: “bosco##” – Character from Sam & Max -- Proud Boys like to see him as a martyr.
25 Sep: “simon##” – … Jeffery, former LEC honcho. Jury is out on if that ended well or not.
26 Sep: “sword##” – Famously used in swordfighting.
27 Sep: “timmy##” – ‘Hey, it’s Timmy The Monkey!’ -- Quote from EMI about a random monkey.
28 Sep: “bolus##” – Apparently a henchman in Full Throttle?
And for the competitive amongst you, the Mojole forum thread has gone strong for more than two years. The two juggernauts to beat: Sushi and Huz.
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