Unofficial Trailer
Wait! Before you read 'Unofficial' and decide you are not interested... you have got to see this! Jake over at Mixnmojo has put together a quite oustanding EMI trailer using footage from the recent E3 stuff. I just want to say many thanks to Jake for letting the SCUMM Bar be part of it!
To answer a question that many people have asked about the CMI Easter Egg... unfortunately Emma does not know how the lightsabre sounds were activated... it was a case of pressing some random buttons! Sorry that we can't tell you how to activate it yourselves.
you@monkeyisland4.net
From EscapeMonkeyIsland.com:
EscapeMI.com has today opened it's free e-mail services! The e-mail service will let you choose any open username for the @monkeyisland4.net domain. To access to e-mail login and signup page, head on over to: http://email.monkeyisland4.net/. Here are some of the features:
Globally accessible (web based)
Hotmail Interface
Hold up to 6 MB of mail
Address book
Folders
Spam Filter
POP3 mail extractor
Signature
E-mail notification
Tons of custom Preferences
Support from the EscapeMI.com staff
Also be sure to check out the banner contest at escapemi.com... you could win a copy of any Lucasarts Monkey Island game of your choice!
CMI Lightsabre Easter Egg
The ever lovely Emma has found what most of us have been looking for for many months! The Light Sabre Easter Egg! SCUMM Revisited found Light sabre sounds in CMI, but now we know that they are use in the game!
Below is the savegame to try it out... just unzip the savegame.006 into the CMI directory... then load the 6th Savegame.
Novel Updated
Well, it's that time of the year again (hehe, sorry Chris!) The Novel Adaptation by Chris Gerrard has been updated. So please read the latest part and let Chris know what you think!
PLEASE NOTE
No animals were harmed during the writing of this Novel!
New Plunder 3D shots
The Plunder Island 3D webpage as been updated with new shots from the Half Life map. These shots are of Puerto Pollo, you can really see the town taking shape!
More EMI footage
Saw this over at Mixnmojo... AGN3D have posted a large number of Real video clips of E3. Included are some shot of EMI. So take a look!
17th May 2000
BAD, VERY BAD!
Michael Land leaves LEC! PeterBr and MrCoulomb have informed me (and the whole of #monkey-island) that when emailing Michael Land they get this message.
Michael Land is no longer with LucasArts. However should you need to reach him, his new e-mail address is *****@*********.***.
What does this means for EMI? Has the music been recorded or will someone else be doing it? We shall keep you posted! Sorry the addresses are not included... but I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate a few hundred emails today.
16th May 2000
Moving Pictures
EMI Videos
Now this is what we have all been waiting for... game footage! DailyRadar.com have 3 (count 'em) MPEGs of EMI game footage! Let's forget the chatter and get to the downloads!
Many thanks to Telarium, www.escapemi.com, Simon, Spaceface and anyone else that I forgot to mention for the news!
15th May 2000
Law on Lucre Island
Too... much... info... but we like that, don't we? I was just about to update when the Mixnmojo news dropped into my email box.
Mixnmojo EMI Preview
What can I say but WOW!Mixnmojo has a huge E3 EMI Preview. Jake got to E3 and has brought home 6 new screenshots and the name of the 4th island in the game... Jambalaya Island! It would be evil of me to post them here... so go visit Mixnmojo! Thanks to Swordmaster for the news.
Some More EMI Screenshots
Now this is very interesting! www.travel.ag.ru has a couple of new EMI screenshots. Looks like the inside of the Melee Mansion to me (they seem to have repaired that hole in the wall). Also, the text mentions that we will get to control Elaine Marley as well as Guybrush! Thanks to pla@cland.ru for the info.
EMI Previews
A few more EMI previews to mention... first off is one over at GameSpot. Quite a bit of info in this one.. including the name of one of the new Islands, Lucre Island. Thanks to the many people who emailed about this one.
The two have just returned from their honeymoon to Melee Island, but find that Elaine has been declared dead. As such, Guybrush and Elaine must travel to Lucre Island and visit the Marley law firm to set things straight - and discover what could just be the beginnings of a bizarre and sinister plot that's being hatched by a mysterious and truculent Australian land developer...
Second preview is over at DailyRadar.com, it includes some encouraging words about the 3D engine. Thanks goto Mad Lord Snapcase! (hehehe.. classic name!)
...there was a huge outcry against LA's
decision to go 3D instead of using the beloved 2D
SCUMM engine. After taking a look at the early
version of the game that LucasArts had running in
their booth, we're able to say with some confidence:
Chill out, it's all gonna be okay.
Plunder 3D Update
Not at all related to MI4... Plunder 3D, the Plunder Island Level for Half Life, has a new screenshot of outside the Voodoo Hut. Very impressive!
12th May 2000
A Pink Pirate Ship?!
New Screenshot www.cdmag.com has a MI4 Preview, it's a very detailed preview and gives a lot of info about what we can expect. It includes a new screenshot and reveals that you will need a 3D card to play. It also says something about a pink pirate ship... well, at least it will match Guybrush's party dress. Below is a small snippet taken from the Preview:
The game will use a modified version
of the Grim Fandango 3D GRIME
engine. The backgrounds are still 2D, but
gorgeously rendered in 3D, maintaining the
style of the last game in the series. A 3D
accelerator is required, however. Four
overhead maps will make navigation
simple, as before-Melee and Monkey
Island, and "two new locations."
Many thanks to Jun Kim and Leonid for pointing out this article!
11th May 2000
Bye, Bye mouse
Just a quick request, could everyone just pass the word about that the address for this site is http://thescummbar.com. Any other address will no longer work.
New EMI Details Games Domain have been able to get a glimpse of EMI at E3. Visit their EMI Article for the full details! Below is a little snippet... it seems that the mouse will not be used at all, hmmm... I think this calls for a new poll.
So, how does the 3D graphics and the manipulation work together? This
time round, Lucas Arts have designed the game to use key board
commands to move, chose options and dialogues, and actions. As a
character runs smoothly about, text appears at the bottom of the screen
when a hot spot is encountered. If the character moves on, the text then
disappears, so it only appears at the hot spot.
It also mentions that Alexandra Boyd will be back as the voice of Elaine, and Dom will be back as Guybrush (But we knew that already, didn't we #monkey-islanders, hehe)
Credit to Porsmond1@aol.com (sorry, I don't know your name) for sending me this news!
Murray invades GameSpot
Murray has been voted Second in the Gamespot Readers Top Ten Sidekicks. MUHAHAHAHA!! On a less demonic/evil level, Max was voted 3rd and Glottis was first! (That didnt't work out, Max is evil and Glottis is a demon... ahh well)
Ron Gilbert Interview GameSpot have an Interview with Ron Gilbert. It's a very interesting read as it covers the early years at Lucasfilm Games, Monkey Island and why he finished at Cavedog. Here is a small snippet:
For me, it was taking all the lessons from Maniac Mansion and Indy and putting into
practice the theories that I had been devising about good game design.
The Secret of Monkey Island is certainly still my favorite of the games I've done.
I'm a little late with this news.. but thanks to everyone who emailed about it!
CMI Cutscenes
I saw thins over at Mixnmojo, a site called WildBrain.com allows you to see cutscenes from CMI and Grim Fandango.
