If you own the Monkey Island 2 special edition on Steam, you’ll have noticed that it has been updated. The update fixes the bone song, which was horribly out of sync before. The intro sequence with the credits has returned as well, but only in the classic version of the game, meaning you’ll have to press F1 right at the start of the game to see it.

Did you notice any other fixes or changes, or do you know of patches on other platforms? Let us know in the comments!

Update: You can read about all the fixes on Steam’s website.

Bill Tiller, lead background artist on The Curse of Monkey Island, tweeted this on July 17th:

“No CMI SE for me. Not sure there will even be one. Bummed.”

Apparently, Bill knows that LucasArts is not interested in making a Special Edition for Monkey Island 3 and, honestly, who can blame them? The graphics are holding out fine, the voice acting is top notch and the game really doesn’t seem to need a face-lift. Sure, you still need ScummVM to play it, sure it doesn’t support 16:9 monitors… but it’s still okay.

Pure speculation: wouldn’t it be cool if someone could convince the heads of LA to concentrate their efforts into making a NEW Monkey Island game? What do you think? Post a comment, don’t be shy!

(thanks to mixnmojo.com for the heads up)

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge has been out for a little over 24 hours for PC (via Steam), iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Xbox Live Arcade, and PlayStation Network. If you’re still not sure whether to buy it or not, check out some of the reviews that have already popped up.

Mixnmojo (PC)
IGN (PC)
1UP (Xbox 360)
Metro (PlayStation)
Touch Arcade (iPhone/iPod Touch)
Youtube video of the iPad version

There is also a free demo for the iPhone/iPod Touch and one for the iPad. Enjoy

Woah, Guybrush seems to be the center of attention this week as the guys at LucasArts made THIS awesome thing. It’s a Voodoo Doll quite similar to the one you can see on the cover of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge.

“I suppose you better start watching for community events for your chance to get your hands on one. First stop – E3. See you there next week!” – Monkey Island Adventures’ Facebook page. How awesome is that?!

It would seem that Darrell Rodriguez’ career at LucasArts is short-lived, seeing how he has announced his resignation, according to several online reports, like this one from Kotaku. Under Rodriguez’ tenure, LucasArts have returned to their roots a bit, with the release of special editions for the first two Monkey Island games, and outsourcing a whole new Monkey Island series to Telltale. We can only hope that this regime change will not bode ill for old-school adventure fans.

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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!

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If you’ve been debating whether you should get The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, Direct2Drive might have just the deal for you. Now you can get it for half the normal price, if you buy it in a bundle with several other classic LucasArts games.

There’s the “There’s Action, Adventure & Puzzles” bundle, which includes Lucidity and some classic point & click games, on sale for $ 24.95. If you want even more games, maybe you’re interested in the LucasArts Premier Pack, which has additional classics, such as Knights of the Old Republic, for $ 39.95. One thing though: these offers are only valid in the United States and Canada.

IGN has published a list of what they think are the ten best LucasArts adventure games. Unfortunately, Monkey Island gets a meagre 7th and 6th place with the first two games in the legendary series. Towards the top, it seems to turn into a Tim Schafer love fest, with the top 3 games being Tim’s creations. There’s no accounting for taste of course, and I think most of us can agree with Grim Fandango taking the top spot, but some more Monkey loving would have been appreciated. Where’s The Curse of Monkey Island, for instance?