It’s been a bit of a quiet week on the forums, but our sophisticated community has once again shown its appreciation of works of art that don’t just involve Monkey Island. Here’s a thread about Puzzle Agent, a game by Telltale featuring Graham Annable’s art. It’s highly recommended! While you play it (in case you haven’t yet), you can think of some new threads to post on the forums, and maybe yours will be featured here next week!
Celebrating the long-awaited release of Tales of Monkey Island on the PlayStation3, Telltale announced today that the entire five-episode series will be available for $19.99 on PlayStation®Network and on Telltale’s website, starting from June 15.
“Tales of Monkey Island has been an incredible hit, and we’re excited to bring it to PS3 gamers next week,” says Telltale Senior VP of Marketing Steve Allison. “If you haven’t grabbed Tales of Monkey Island yet, now is a great time”. Tales of Monkey Island will also be released on PlayStation Network in Europe, with final dates to be announced shortly.
In other related news, the same game company released some sort of teaser for their upcoming titles: Back to the Future and Jurassic Park, both being scheduled for this winter. Take a look!
Telltale Games just announced that some of the pre-ordered stuff has arrived in their stock and the shipping will begin “very soon”.
Currently, the items in stock are as follows:
As for the rest of the items left to ship, such as the voodoo cards, the art portfolio or the Deluxe Edition of ToMI, the fans will have to wait just a little more. You can check out some VERY teasing pictures of the new merch here.
Telltale has made the Collector’s DVD of ‘Tales of Monkey Island’ available for pre-order! The DVD is yours for $34.95 and contains all five episodes of ‘Tales’ in both Windows and Mac versions. Special features include:
- Highlight Reel with Team Commentary – Funny and insightful, the Tales development crew gets together for some monkey talk about Monkey Island
- I Wonder What Happens – This collection features all episodes of the popular fan-generated “I Wonder What Happens,” created by Majus Fietzek and friends
- Tales of Monkey Island Trailers – All both of them! Together again for the first time.
- Concept Art Gallery – View the art that inspired the design of the game.
- Wallpapers – Suitable for all computers
- Preview of Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse -Third season of gaming’s favorite dog and rabbit Freelance Police
If you already bought the entire season of ‘Tales’ then you get all this for the favourable price of $0. You only pay for shipping!
If you pre-ordered the season before the release of chapter 1 then you also get a special DVD cover designed by Steve Purcell.
That’s not all though. Telltale has also put together a treasure chest full of swashbucklin’ swag and aptly named it the ‘Deluxe Edition’. For $49.95 you get everything mentioned above as well as:
- Slipcover case art from Monkey Island art legend Steve Purcell — if you missed out at pre-order time
- Exclusive Voodoo card, not found in the Voodoo Card Set (available separately)
- One of Reginald Van Winslow’s favorite maps: The Gulf of Melange printed on cotton fabric
- Piratey Piece of Eight – metal collectible coin
- Coaster from the notorious Club 41
- Souvenir button from the Trial of the Century (2.25 inches diameter)
If you already bought the entire season of ‘Tales’ then this box of goodies is yours for only 14.95!
There is also some other nice Monkey Island merchandise available and if you make an order for $50 or more then shipping is free (through midnight PST on March 28th). Check out the Telltale store for the DVD, Deluxe Edition, a Voodoo Card Set, TMI Art Portfolio, TMI Buttons, TMI T-Shirt, and a TMI Drinking Vessel. Everything is pre-order and items are expected to ship in Spring 2010.
Go here to see pictures of it all and shop till you drop, I know I will 
The days that Mac owners have been crying, pulling out their hairs and banging their heads against their shiny hardware because they couldn’t play Tales of Monkey Island are over! Telltale have announced that they are releasing Mac ports of their games, beginning with Tales of Monkey Island! Join the revolution at this web location, where you can also vote for the Telltale game you’d like to see a Mac version of next.
In other news, our very own Junaid has created some marvellous Valentine’s Day cards, which have been featured on the Telltale Blog. Check them out!
Gamasutra have published a Q&A with Darrell Rodriguez, who became the new LucasArts president not long ago, and who has already brought some much-needed change to the company. There are no direct mentions of new Monkey Island games, but Mr Rodriguez has some hopeful messages on original IP. Here’s what he says about LucasArts’ relationship with Telltale:
We had a great partnership with Telltale, and we hope to do something in the future with them. They’re phenomenal partners. They get it. Will we do stuff like that in the future? Yeah, I mean, I’ll look at all opportunities.
And take a look at this quote:
That’s what we did with Monkey Island, right? We brought it back and we reimagined Monkey Island with the Special Edition. We’re working with Telltale on the Tales Of series.
Perhaps it’s not what it seems, but he does say ‘we’re working’ in the present tense. Could that mean they’re still working with Telltale, on a new Tales of Monkey Island series? Maybe not, but LucasArts are definitely listening to their fans:
If you look on Steam, we’re doing a number of interesting bundles on Steam, and we’ll continue to do that sort of thing because the fans want it. If you look at the blogs as well as all the emails and all the letters that we get, we’re going to do what they want.
So this is looking good for fans of old-school LucasArts adventures. Be sure to read the entire interview!
Many of our dearly beloved fans requested an interview with Jared, the multi-talented person that voiced DeSinge and composed music for games such as Bone, Sam & Max, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, and Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures. In 2003 he worked as a member of LucasArts’ musical department on a variety of games, including Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb and Star Wars: Republic Commando. Jared has also worked as a sound editor for other companies’ projects, such as James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Psychonauts (This guy is so awesome, there’s an entire article about him on wikipedia!).
Read the interview and be amazed!
Who is sweet and adorable but can also be strong and all-piratey? No, it’s not me! …silly fans! It’s Nicki Rapp, the great voice actress who gave life to Morgan LeFlay!
Nicki was very happy to answer to our interview questions. As you will see, we, the fans, were not the only ones who were extremely excited about Monkey Island coming back. Read on to find out why!
“Morgan is very smart and tough, but also pretty vulnerable – I do like spending time with her (…) Ha! I do read the forums and frankly I am shocked!! ”
The End of the season coming closer, we don’t really know when we’ll have the joy of seeing and hearing these people again. Alexandra Boyd, the actress who lended her voice to Elaine in SoMI, CoMI and ToMI, was kind enough to share her thoughts with us regarding the experience she had in the past five months. Thank you!
“(…)I’ve seen some Halloween costumes for Elaine and Guybrush on line. I’d love if they came trick or treating to my house…”
IncGamers have just posted a lovely interview with Dave Grossman, about the success of Tales of Monkey Island. In it, he divulges a tiny bit about the next and last episode, which will continue on the dark note that chapter 4 has introduced. When it comes to future Monkey Island series from Telltale though, Dave remains silent, promising only (through PR guy Chris) that an announcement will come soon, and saying that a lot is being worked on at Telltale.
So, any idea what that announcement might be? A new season of Sam & Max, an earth-shattering licence agreement, new IP, or already a new MI series? Take a guess in the comments, and if your idea turns out to be correct, you win eternal fame! (Which is worth at least one cookie on the Internet, if not two.)
Update: Also check out this interview with Joe Pinney on Boomtown.
Telltale Blog Talesofmi.net Twitter