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Best of the Rest: Xav's Picks of 2009
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Upon release, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars immediately found its way on my top five games of 2009. With its style, humor and variety it's clear Rockstar was trying to shine a new light on the popular franchise. Not only that, Rockstar took chances in hopes to attract a similar audience to a handheld GTA as it has on consoles. From a new class of criminal, fighting for honor and turf in Liberty City to an addictive (albeit, mostly cloned from Drugwars) illegal narcotic mini-game, Chinatown Wars felt like a breath of fresh air. Sadly, the game was a commercial disaster, relative to its console-based siblings. Be that as it may, Chinatown Wars was not only my favorite on-the-go game of the year, it was easily one of the best games to release across any platform in 2009.
iPhone Secret of Monkey Island half off, soundboard app free
We're delighted to report that the iPhone version of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has been discounted 50% for the holidays. It's available for just $3.99 from now through January 4. If you didn't get it at half-price on Xbox (or even if you did), now you can enjoy savings on this version! Our delight comes only partially from being able to tell you about a great price for a wonderful portable adventure game, but mostly from what we learned when we went to verify the price on the App Store: There's been a free, official Monkey Island soundboard app (iTunes link) available since September! We would never have known had the game not gone on sale. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition ($3.99):
Today's Xbox Live deal: 50% off Secret of Monkey Island: SE
Yearning for a hearty adventure, but struggling to get by on the pathetic wages of a Caribbean flooring inspector? If so, today's advertised Xbox Live Deal of the Day (part of an ongoing promotion) should float your cup of tea -- right onto the shores of Monkey Island. The Xbox Live Arcade version of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has been marked down by 50 percent to 400 MS Points ($5). Some readers reported having some difficulty obtaining yesterday's deal at the advertised price. If the reduced price doesn't reflect on the Xbox Live Marketplace yet, be sure to try again later today. And if you're the good sort that's already completed this classic bout of pirating, perhaps you should join us later today as we taste pies and assign numerical scores to them. Add The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition to your Xbox 360 download queue %Gallery-64664%
Direct2Drive slashes prices on LucasArts games
Direct2Drive is offering some pretty good deals on LucasArts games this week. Three bundles are on offer, one catering to the adventure gamers out there, another for Star Wars afficionados, and a third that combines the first two into a massive LucasArts love fest. The bundles include the likes of Dark Forces, Indiana Jones, KOTOR, Jedi Knight, Monkey Island, Armed and Dangerous, and plenty more. The smaller bundles have been discounted from $49.99 to $24.49, while the massive bundle has been reduced from $99.87 to $39.95. Not bad for LucasArts fans. The sale ends November 23 at 10:00am PT. See details of each bundle after the break.
Monkey Island: Special Edition team unearths lost dialogue
As designer Adam Bormann dug through old code and notes while making Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, he made a curious discovery. Along with notes from Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and crew, he also unearthed dialogue that didn't appear in the original game. Though the lines didn't make it into the special edition, Bormann, like a comedy archeologist, dusted off some of the best bits and collected them on the LucasArts Workshop blog. Though we can see why some of it was left out, we can't help but feel a little wistful about how close we came to being able to ask Meathook for a sample of stump balm. And yes, now that you mention it, Meathook's Stump Balm would make a very good name for a band.
Attend Tales of Monkey Island's Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood on Oct. 30
Tales of Monkey Island's fourth chapter will be available for download on this Friday, October 30. The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood features Guybrush stuck on Flotsam Island with a bunch of poxed pirates (including a greenish, poxed Elaine). Will he be tried and executed? Our guess is yes. The middle of this episodic game series seems like the right time to kill off the beloved protagonist of a long-running franchise. Why not? In addition to a probably-dead Guybrush, Trial marks the return of Stan, the fast-talking salesman from the original games! Ever the classy businessman, Stan appears to be selling souvenirs at Guybrush's trial. %Gallery-76680%
Oh, the huge manatee! Monkey Island Episode 3 on WiiWare this Monday
Telltale just announced that the third chapter of Tales of Monkey Island, called Lair of the Leviathan, will arrive on WiiWare this Monday, October 26. Given the success that the series has seen so far, it's sure to attract interest despite taking place in "the guts of a giant sea manatee". And not, we suppose, inside the rare land manatee.Leviathan's PC version was released on September 29, giving it roughly a month of lead time over the WiiWare release. That means if you know any avid PC adventure gamers, you should stay away from them or risk being totally spoiled. They'll understand.
Monkey Island 2 CryEngine remake defies expectations
We were all set to write a dismissive post about the video (after the break) of fanmade Monkey Island 2 environments in CryEngine -- "Hey, wonder what Monkey Island 2 would look like if it had all the life sucked out of it?" We don't have anything against loneclone, the modder who created the project -- we just assumed that the remake would take all the personality and quirk out, and replace it with hyperrealistic lighting effects. But we can't snark about it, because loneclone completely nailed it. It looks pretty much exactly like the original, but in 3D. You can see art comparisons at the modder's site. [Thanks, Christopher L.]
Celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day with free and cheap Monkey Island games
Telltale Games and LucasArts are observing the September 19 not-quite-holiday Talk Like a Pirate Day in fine form. What do pirates talk about? All the games they got without paying, of course! On that great day, you'll be able to unlock the demo of the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island by gathering a code from the company's website. You'll also be able to get the full season for five bucks off. You can grab that demo now straight from Big Download so you're good and ready. LucasArts is also dropping the price of the Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition on Steam and Direct2Drive to $5, as well as cutting down the iPhone version's price to $4. That offer is available right now through September 21. With savings like that, you'll be able to afford your own parrot! [Via Big Download]
Argentinian reporter warns of the dangers of Monkey Island 'Grog'
It's awfully hard to type when you've been chortling for four hours straight -- still, this video is too beautiful and perfect for us not to share with you. Here's the rundown: A reporter at an Argentinian news station was working on exposing the teen drinking epidemic when he stumbled across a popular beverage with startling ingredients. Said ingredients include kerosene, artificial sweeteners, rum, acetone, red dye no. 2 -- sound familiar yet? Played any Monkey Island games recently? Yes, a major Argentinian news station recently shed some light on the disturbing trend of imbibing Grog -- in fact, the emoticon-unsavvy reporter actually calls it "Grog XD." The video of this hard-hitting news, spliced with footage from Secret of Monkey Island (and subtitles!) is posted after the jump. We attach a 100 percent guarantee to your viewing of the video -- it will light up your life.
WiiWare Monkey Island Ep. 2 on sail Monday, Aug. 31
Our last post about a Tales of Monkey Island episode launching on WiiWare was written entirely in pirate speak. This one won't be. Nope, we'll just tell you that the second episode in Telltale's ongoing series, "The Siege of Spinner Cay," will be available on WiiWare this coming Monday, August 31, for 1000 Wii Points ($10). See, that wasn't so harrrrrrd. (Darnit!)
Tales of Monkey Island available at Amazon in one-tale increments
Telltale Games is selling the entire season of Tales of Monkey Island -- buy it now and get each chapter as it's released. But what if you're interested in only one Tale of Monkey Island? And you don't want to play it on Wii? The company announced today that individual episodes of the adventure game revival are available for purchase from Amazon.com's Game Downloads shop, for $8.95 each. The availability of the games on Amazon will help expose them to a wider audience, and will also serve to offer a low-risk trial to potential adventure game fans who will almost immediately wish they'd just purchased the whole season. %Gallery-64680%
Video: Telltale teases Tales of Monkey Island's second episode
One of the best things about being a pirate must be seeing all of the awesome cave structures littering the Caribbean. There are caves shaped like skulls, caves hiding trunks of gold doubloons and, in the case of Tales of Monkey Island's second episode Siege of Spinner Cal, caves for chatting with your special someone. It's a heck of a lot more romantic than those seedy motels you often frequent. Oh yes, we're watching you.
Tales of Monkey Island is Telltale's 'strongest performing' title
Steam sales charts suggested that Telltale Games' relaunch of the Monkey Island franchise, Tales of Monkey Island, was doing well. Telltale's Dan Connors gave Videogamer an idea of just how well: "It was a great launch for us," he said. "We're really happy with it. I think it even exceeded our expectations." Connors didn't offer specific numbers, but he said that Tales of Monkey Island outperformed Telltale's other launches. "I would definitely say it's our strongest performing franchise to date," he said. "We're pretty excited. It was number one on Steam for a few days. It did really well. It's been our best performing title from our side as well." With the WiiWare version having launched just this Monday (and not having been mentioned by Connors), it's unlikely that it factors into Telltale's rejoicing. We're eager to find out how the console version's launch compares. %Gallery-64680%
Monkey Island shirts fail to capitalize on the obvious
Don't get us wrong, the Monkey Island shirt above is pretty boss (apart from the unnecessary game title on the sleeve). The Guybrush vs LeChuck shirt is pretty nice too. Hell, even the Monkey Island buttons are decent. But there are T-shirts just waiting to be made in the actual game. Where is the "I beat the Sword Master" T-shirt? What about the "I found the Treasure of Mêlée Island™ and all I got was this stupid T-shirt!" T-shirt? Come on, LucasArts! Get with the program. [Update: Apparently LucasArts is more on the ball than we initially gave them credit for ... you see, they did hand out "I found the Treasure of Mêlée Island™ and all I got was this stupid T-shirt!" t-shirts at E3 this year though, perhaps conspiratorially, your old pals at Joystiq here didn't get one. Our old pal Snorre, from Norway's Dagbladet newspaper, sent us a pic of his tee which we've included for you after the break. Alright, LucasArts. We give up. Uncle. Just take our money and give us the E3 tee.]
We're buying this Monkey Island statue
It's one of the defining struggles of our generation: Affable loser Guybrush Threepwood and his lifelong foe, the evil zombie/ghost pirate LeChuck, battling for the love of Elaine Marley. Now, it's been captured for all time in this gorgeous, 10-inch resin statue that you can pre-order right this moment. Remember how, just the other day, you said you were looking for the perfect International Childbirth Education Awareness Day present to send us? And that you were looking to spend around $90? Hint, hint. [Thanks, Drake]
The Secret of Monkey Island: SE released for iPhone
As was winked and nodded at by LucasArts CEO Darrell Rodriguez just over two weeks ago, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has sailed onto iPhone and iPod Touch [App Store link]. It'll set you back $7.99 (plus 351MB of space on your device) and sports the same fully voice-acted dialog and ability to swap between ye olde school and SE visuals on the fly as the PC and 360 versions. We're downloading it right now to put it through its paces. Have you grabbed it? If so, post your impressions in comments! [Thanks, Kevin!]
Secret of Monkey Island has strong start on Steam
The popularity of one Mr. Threepwood and his pirating ways remain strong, as sister site Big Download reports the The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition remake has managed to be the top seller (based on revenue) on Steam last week. Guybrush and his gallivanting managed to best the likes of recently released Street Fighter IV, as well as Steam favorite Left 4 Dead. Steam isn't the only platform the game has been a success on, though. After debuting on Xbox 360 last week, the game has managed to brighten the lives of at least 38,693 individuals (based on game leaderboard data at the time of this post). So, how about that LeChuck's Revenge remake, eh LucasArts?
LucasArts games also going Direct2Drive starting with Monkey Island SE
If, for some reason, you should find yourself in need of an alternative to Steam but don't want to miss out on LucasArts's recent reissuing of back catalog titles, you're in luck. IGN has sealed a deal to distribute the publisher's titles via its Direct2Drive service, beginning today with The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition for $9.95. Unfortunately, the announcement makes no mention of what other LucasArts games will be offered, saying only that there will be others. At some point. We've contacted IGN to find out if its lineup will mirror Steam's, or if there'll be any notable additions (or omissions).
X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Tour de France, Madballs in Babo Invasion, The Secret of Monkey Island SE
XBLA gets a surprise threefer this week, as Tour de France was added to the roster at the last minute. The cycling sim is joining the two previously announced titles, Madballs in Babo Invasion and The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition. Watch the latest XBLA in Brief and see what they're all about. Each one will set you back 800 ($10).Oh, and download Monkey Island. Just do it.Download the trial version of Tour de France Download the trial version of Madballs in Babo InvasionDownload the trial version of The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition[iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly.[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[M4V] Download the M4V directly.
